Your writing journey is a marathon. It's not a sprint. Life happens. You got to balance it and do your best with it.

Trying to develop a thick skin. For self-publishing, I think developing a thick skin comes when you actually publish your book and market it.

And you're so vulnerable in those moments of putting something you've worked your heart and soul

bore out into the world and people can tear it to shreds.

So it's important to develop the thick skin.

Welcome to the fiction writing made easy podcast.

My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works.

I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week,

I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you

can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a

seasoned author looking to improve your

craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started.

In today's episode, we're going to go behind the scenes of one writer's journey to hear how

she wrote, edited, and published her debut novel, Air and Ashes. My guest's name is Margaret Mantor,

and she's the author of Erin Ashes, which she describes as a young adult science fantasy romance.

And in this episode, we're going to talk about things like what it was like to write the first

draft of her debut novel, a novel she'd been dreaming about since high school, no less,

how she handled getting feedback from both a developmental editor and beta readers, including when

she reached out to each and how she approached incorporating their feedback into her revisions,

and then you'll hear all about Margaret's marketing strategies that made her book an Amazon bestseller

upon its release. And spoiler alert,

it was not social media that did the trick for Margaret. So if you are a little social media

...