I don't read a lot of YA, and even less indie pubbed YA, but this one caught my attention. It's dystopian, in the sense that all the characters live in a society that's inherently dysfunctional and has abandoned them to the edges of a wall, a barrier between the city of Dios (which means gods in Spanish) and the desolation of what's (presumed) to be beyond -- the Outlands.
Jett is part of a rag-tag band of teens who would rather eke out a living on the edges, living in abandoned buildings and stealing as they must to survive. They're led by super-smart and Jett's long-time childhood friend (from better times), Victor.
But there are signs, early on, breadcrumbs, that Victor's a bit too smart, better than all of them, and certainly too smart to live like an animal the rest of his days.
Then Jett steals a data pad off a high-ranking official. And suddenly, they're all on high-alert. It's just the excuse Victor needs to push him toward the ultimate betrayal, a deal with the status-quo and banishment of his friends to the Outlands, which promises to be the premise of the next book.
I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, The Tides of Reckoning!
10 Question & Answer with Indie Author Tyler Edwards, author of YA dystopian The Outlands & The Tides of Reckoning.
This interview is part of a periodic series of interviews with successful indie-published authors, hoping to shed some light on the indie publishing path to publication.
What was your inspiration for writing The Outlands? My high school was very click-oriented; jocks, nerds, band kids, cool kids, etc. Everybody had their little group of kids like them. There was this pressure to find a group and to fit in. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t feel like I fit in. For a long time, I thought that meant there was something wrong with me. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized not only is it ok to be different, it can be a good thing. I wanted to a tell a story for people like me; people who struggled to find their place in the world. The Outlands was born out of an idea of how to find yourself when everything in the world is trying to make you just like everyone else.
What were your most significant challenges when writing The Outlands? In a word, balance. There’s a lot to think about when writing a book. Add to that the joyous complexity of world-building and it can get overwhelming. One of the things that I really struggled with was taking time to develop the minor characters. In fact, after the initial draft was complete I went back in and added 17,000 words because there were so many missing ingredients, especially with the female characters, whom I had unintentionally neglected.
Did the challenges change while you were writing book 2? Yes. After spending book 1 building up how bad the Outlands are I felt a lot of responsibility to deliver on that hype. I’ve read a lot of books and seen a lot of shows that build that tension of something really well and then when you got there or met the person or whatever it was, the payout was wildly disappointing. Having learned through book 1 a better way to build and develop characters, book 2’s challenge was really delivering on the hype of what the Outlands were like.
Did you pursue a traditional publishing route for The Outlands at any point? Querying agents, etc.? Why or why not? Not really. Mostly because the only publishers that will even respond to you without an agent are publisher who want you to pay to publish the work with them and I heard too many horror stories about that model. While I would love to get in with a publisher, finding one who would be willing to consider a book pitch seems to take more time than writing the book itself.
What led you to go the indie-publishing route? I had just put a post on social media looking for some friends who might be interested in offering some editorial assistance / feedback. A guy I didn’t know reached out and offered to take a look. His company works with new authors to help get them all set up and published through KDP. After talking for awhile, he encouraged me to try and I decided to just go with it and see what happened.
Can you discuss, briefly, some of the challenges of the indie-publishing process? What was most difficult and why? Marketing is probably the hardest part in my experience. You don’t want to fatigue all your friends and contacts by blasting your book out there all the time. Without burning through a bonfire of cash it's difficult to find ways to get your book in front of an audience to even see how people feel about it. Publishers have editors and people who provide some encouragement and feedback along the way. When you go the indie route, you have to find ways to get feedback just so you can get a sense of how people are feeling about what you’ve created.
My blog features books that kids and teens can get through their public library. Many indie-published works, unfortunately, are not approved for library purchase. Did you make any publishing choices to consciously ensure The Outlands could be bought by libraries? If so, what were they? I did. I published it through Ingram Spark as well so that the book could be ordered by libraries, Barnes and Noble, and other book-sellers.
What YA books and authors inspired your writing? The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, Maze Runner, The Chronciles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Prydain, just to name a few.
What do you most hope readers of The Outlands walk away with from Jett's story? I hope that readers see that one of the most important journeys we take in life is self-discovery. It is difficult to find our place, peace, or even happiness when we don’t know who we are. We live in a world that wants to define that for us. There are social pressures all around us trying to conform us to a certain mold. I wanted Jett’s journey to tell a story of someone finding themselves without just becoming what others said he should.
How important are reviews? For an indie-author, I can’t imagine there are many things more important. When a book is a best-seller, it sort of sells itself. When a book is written by someone the reader has never heard of, reviews are probably the only reason the person may be willing to give it a chance.
Bonus questions:
How can young readers help indie authors like you if they can't buy/purchase your books? There are a couple of ways that can be very helpful. The primary one is: your people. Talk about the book, post about the book, share it on social media or wherever you connect with your friends. The hardest thing for an indie book is building an audience. If you like the book, you can make a huge difference by talking with other people about it. Other things you can do: ask your local library and/or bookstore to carry it, create a fan-page or fan-art.
If you have any words of wisdom for new/budding authors out there...please share. There are two things I would share here:
One: Get beta-readers and seriously listen to everything they have to say. When you write a story there is so much you have in mind that you are naturally filling in blanks that what you’ve written hasn’t. Having people who will provide you with honest, constructive feedback and point out issues, confusing elements, even offer suggestions is like having your own private gold mine. Use it!
Two: A good story is worth telling. There are many great stories that most people have never heard of and many well-known stories that aren’t that great. Don’t sacrifice a great story just to gain a greater audience. Your first responsibility is to the story. Do what is right for the story. Don’t write to sell books. Don’t write to please people. Write the story.
