Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
I wrote the first draft of Powerless for Nanowrimo in 2019. When I revisited it a few months later, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked the story, and I thought I had a chance of getting it traditionally published.
Over the next year, I got beta reader feedback and manuscript critiques. I revised the book. And in April 2021, I sent my first queries.
Almost 18 months and over 80 rejections later, I'd decided that clearly this book wasn't good enough to get published, so I was going to put Powerless to the side and focus on something else. But then I won an award. And was shortlisted for another one. And got great editor feedback. And was accepted into a selective writing workshop based on pages from Powerless. Maybe it wasn't that bad after all?
In this video I share why I decided to self-publish, which is both exciting and also terrifying.
PRE-ORDER POWERLESS:
Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B0BXFCQ32G
ADD POWERLESS TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR:
goodreads.com/book/show/123213427-powerless
FIND ME ONLINE:
Instagram: instagram.com/jp.writes
Website: jpwrites.co
Nanowrimo: nanowrimo.org/participants/jpwrites
#selfpublishing #writing #authortube
I wrote the first draft of Powerless for Nanowrimo in 2019. When I revisited it a few months later, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked the story, and I thought I had a chance of getting it traditionally published.
Over the next year, I got beta reader feedback and manuscript critiques. I revised the book. And in April 2021, I sent my first queries.
Almost 18 months and over 80 rejections later, I'd decided that clearly this book wasn't good enough to get published, so I was going to put Powerless to the side and focus on something else. But then I won an award. And was shortlisted for another one. And got great editor feedback. And was accepted into a selective writing workshop based on pages from Powerless. Maybe it wasn't that bad after all?
In this video I share why I decided to self-publish, which is both exciting and also terrifying.
PRE-ORDER POWERLESS:
Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B0BXFCQ32G
ADD POWERLESS TO YOUR GOODREADS TBR:
goodreads.com/book/show/123213427-powerless
FIND ME ONLINE:
Instagram: instagram.com/jp.writes
Website: jpwrites.co
Nanowrimo: nanowrimo.org/participants/jpwrites
#selfpublishing #writing #authortube
