Join us in hearing about author A.K. MacBride and her journey as an Indy-published author. Also, her take on writing principles and style. Visit her website at https://www.akmacbride.com/
Tea and Tales
S1:E12 Author Spotlight: A.K. MacBride
I'm at the point I'm a week past when I wanted to be querying. It's making it hard to focus on these last edits that need to be done before I query. I'm just, I'm in that weird edit funk. I love the story, but I want to write book two. I want to query. Yeah. You just got to press through that. I'm sometimes I'm trying to say this. I've had the opposite situation because I actually started being excited about writing a game. So I went back to a novel that I started at the beginning of the year, because for the past eight months, I've just been editing my current novel. And I told my one of my writer friends, I was like, I actually miss writing so much because I haven't done it in such a long time. And I was actually like this whole week, even if it was five minutes, even if it was two sentences, I actually started writing again. And I was just like, score like I'm actually feeling good about that. Don't know if that helped you. It's all helpful. You know, it would be more helpful, though, is to go into this episode with a guest author. I love the idea of having guest author on today. I think we should. I have a new tea today. I have a maple walnut roibus tea. So we're going to try this one while we do this episode. Fantastic. And I'm going with my tried and true apple cider. Hey, ho, let's go. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tea entails. I'm now and I'm Sarah before we get started today. We want to give a big thank you to everyone who has been following us, commenting and sharing all of our posts. Thank you so much, especially the Kathleen Zoll and Olivia Daniella. We love you both. And thank you so much for joining us today. We have a great episode because it is a spotlight episode. I am so super excited for this episode today because we have as fellas of African on our podcast today. And it's the base thing ever because I have so many questions. Our guest today is A.K. McBride. She is a romance author out of South Africa and a self-published indie author. Welcome, Alicia to the tea entails podcast. It's looking forward to having you here. I've been looking forward to being here on the same time zone. Isn't that fun? Yes. That is like the base thing ever because usually I have to get up the pool or three to do anything that remotely has to do with my face being some way. Right. Crazy. Well, funny enough, I actually discovered you on Instagram. I don't know how I don't know where I don't know when, but it happened. It was an algorithm blessing. Right. Right. And so I was like, wait, she's from South Africa. She's a writer. Do we have South African writers? Honestly, in my whole life, I never knew that South Africans could publish novels. You always think that writers are from overseas. You always think America or England or wherever. So when I saw that, I was just like, I'm not going to be the first South African published author rude. First of all, I apologize. Come on. I have more faith in your country than that. So that was such actually such a nice thing to see. So then, of course, I was like, immediately follow, I was like, let's do this. I hear that you have a book coming out this next year. Is that right? This one is going really well. Like I literally just had a conversation with someone during the week because I had a very fantastic writing experience when I wrote slow burn during lockdown. And the book just kind of flowed from my fingers. And it wasn't huge word count days, but they all added up and the book came together really quickly and it felt effortless. And since then, it's been kind of a battle. Like the book after that one, I shouldn't say this, but I hate the book. And then I switched to the billionaire because I wanted to move out of small town because I thought I was just not enjoying that anymore. And then I rewrote the first book I ever published. And that's how I got my love for billionaire again. And that book was, it was fun because it was a rewrite, but I knew the character. So it went easy and then came the next book. And these characters were so freaking closed off. I literally got to know them as I was writing, which meant there was a lot of rewrites. I had to go back and change things with their personalities because it didn't fit. It was for another book and I was so frustrated. But when I was with them, it was a fun experience. But with this book, I am halfway through, actually. And I started when my daughter went back to school with the, which term are we in now? The second one, the second one. I said, well, which one was that? I started writing when she went back because we had a whole host of sickness and it was just, it was a long winter. And I checked and I was like, ah, I'm like halfway through the book. How did we get here? Which has been fun because these characters are really just speaking very loud. And I enjoy it when it's like that because then you literally, you just sit down and you type and things just happen. And with me, it's like this, I have this weird thing where I can sit down in the morning. I will open the manuscript and then I'm just staring at it because I'm not quite sure where I'm supposed to go. And then I have an hour or so where I just type random stuff and then all of a sudden comes together and then it's like two hours of really fun writing time. And then I have to go get Amber at school and I'm like, but I don't know. What do you want to keep writing? I love that you say that feeling. I know that feeling. Time, literally, that's how I would be. I would be sitting in front of the computer and I'm like, oh, I want you right. But nothing is coming. And I'm like, then I start like single words and I'm like unicorn bubbles. And then it just starts like moving and I'm like, oh, wait, no, no, I'm busy. I'm in a groove. Yeah, and then the scene just comes together. And what I was going to doing with this book, especially, I will write a hate, but not with like with the other books, like chapters. I would just write ahead in this chapter so that I know somehow I have to make these two. But this scene right now, it's speaking to me. So let's go to the scene and then I'll be like, oh, oh, so this is what happens before that scene. So that's been fun with this book. Like it's not these major rewrites. I was in inevitable marriage. I think I tossed the K that didn't, it wasn't for these characters. And I had to remove it and it was painful. I was stuck for months on the same word count because I had to be coming back and doing things and rewriting. And the whole thing just, I was frustrated with the characters being so quiet and leaving everything until 99 was very frustrating. But at the end of the day, I do love them. They are probably so far my favorite couple. I can just hear our audience going, you're not supposed to go back and rewrite. You're just supposed to write forward. You're not supposed to go back and rewrite. And I'm like, hey, leave her process alone. I can't do that. Like everyone always is you can't edit a blank page. Like that part, I understand. But I will, it will bug me to knowing that then I cannot move forward. So I have to go back and then I'm like, okay, but I know I'm not supposed to. I'm supposed to be doing this in the editing phase, but, you know, I'm a rebel. I'm so that you're going to do what I want to. There we go. But you know what what I found though is when I have to start a new day and I have to start a new scene, I go back to read what I wrote because I was like, then I can kind of get an idea of what I'm reading. But then as I'm reading what I wrote, I'm like, that doesn't sound. That's really a little bit do that every morning. It's like a ritual when I come here with my little coffee. Now I'm waiting. So I have, I have a routine because I try to do my TikTok and social media stuff. I try to do that early in the morning so that it doesn't bug me for the rest of the day. So I do that probably five o'clock when my husband leaves. Then I'll grab the TikTok phone and I'll quickly post and do what I need to do. Then when I get to the computer, I do my scheduling for my Instagram reels because we have to schedule everything. Then when I get my coffee, then I will reread what I wrote. And then it's like, again, this is a wiki, but same to structure. I don't like it. A lot of times I into the indie author here because you're talking about, I sit down to write, but then I have to schedule this and I have to make sure this is done. I have to do my marketing. I have to all those little pieces that are all up to you. Yes. And it's frustrating because you think, I don't think everyone is like me, but I think that, okay, I might need someone to help do that. But then I think of something as simple as my newsletter. It is so personal. I cannot imagine someone else writing that and sending it. And I don't, I'm very particular with how I want my stuff posted and the way it should look. So I cannot imagine being on someone's neck about that. So I just do everything myself, but you get frustrated and tired and a whole lot irritated because we have to do ads and you have to look at how the ad is performing. And then some days you just don't look at it at all because you don't have the energy because you want to spend that time writing. I would much rather be writing all day, every day. I enjoy the times or I miss the times when it was just writing. And you didn't think about the business side of, of the book world. You could just sit down and just write whatever was in your brain. So as an indie author, we say you have to do marketing and stuff like that. And I think we've talked about it a little, where I was like, um, how many tech docs do you do or like, how many Instagrams do you do? So what is your, what is your marketing basically look like? I have my ads, my ads of my hard worker. So I set them up, they have to, they have to work. And then you have to go back and, you know, you adjust them sometimes once a week, sometimes for me when I'm like in a writing zone, I adjust them once a month, which is not advisable. You have to be there on top of it because they will just chow your money. My main thing to try and get new readers is my ads, my Facebook ads with TikTok and Instagram. It's free marketing. It's only costing my time. And I think last year, we had that whole big uptake with, um, TikTok being really good for booktock. So a lot of us jumped on, I think at this moment now, I think it's very oversaturated. So it's like you're posting, but, you know, it's, it's views. Everyone's views has taken a dip and it's awful. But they're funny thing though, when you don't post, especially for me, when I don't post or when videos don't perform, I can see that it's doing something on the backing. Like if, even if it's like a small tick, I can see that it's doing something. So, you know, we keep pushing and it's frustrating. Like with, I think with Instagram, I have them scheduled for twice a day to try and hit all audiences. So, but it's frustrating because you sit there and then you have to make these videos and you take the time, like sometimes it takes you a whole day to make two, three videos and then it's wanting for two days, if you're lucky. But again, it's not costing money. So, you know, we, we put it, I tried to put in the time or just divide my time so that I'm not spending all of the time there. I do see it as a necessity in today's day and age, while TikTok and Instagram and the Facebook Reels are still doing something for us without passing too much. Yeah. And especially as in the author, because you do have to spend money on editing and all those other things that you wouldn't have ever published. I slowed down so much. I'm only releasing a book once a year, which I'm trying desperately to change with this. If I can finish this book, like before the year is done, then I'm not going to change the pre-order date. I'm just keeping it as is and I just want to keep writing. So I can just get ahead to just trying to catch your breath because I feel within me, we actually have to publish more, but not write and publish, write and publish, because you want to give your readers quality over quantity. So I don't want to just write and send them off. But I do feel, because everything is over saturated, that we have to publish more and just to get in front of those readers, because there's so many readers, we have not even tapped in remotely tapped into. It's just, it's a whole freaking world full of readers. It's just finding them, which is, I think, the problem. But I think even for Indiana, traditional, it's just finding those readers. Yeah. And I love the meme. You've probably seen it going around that says, how do you support an indie author that says, like their posts, share their posts, comment on their posts, leave your review, no matter what three is, no matter like your comment can be, love your cover. It doesn't matter. The algorithm doesn't care, but the more that you just interact in any way, the more that they can get out to more readers. And it's free. That's a big thing. It's free. It doesn't cost anything. It will make sure, like, if I see something, a fellow author, I will comment share or do whatever I have to, because I know that at the end of the day, that is their algorithm working and Instagram, Facebook, wherever you post, or do that, it's going to see, like, okay, this interaction. And then it might show it to more people who will actually be the readers they're looking for. You just have publishing, but have you ever thought of doing traditional publishing or has that never been a book? I did. I did, actually, when I started writing, I desperately wanted to write for Hyloquine, that's how I wanted to do something because I was reading my mom's moles and green books as we all do. Yes, moles and blue books. And that's how I started. I actually know how I started reading, but that's where I got into romance. That's apparently how all South Africans get into romance. So we had, so we had, so that's how it started. Like, I wanted to write for them. And then, you know, they have to hold this of, like, a formula and rules and as I was writing, I didn't like rules. I didn't want to be told my characters have to kiss on page 120 and whatever has to happen on page 300. I didn't like that whole being boxed in. And then I actually started writing on Butpad, before I even knew that be could self-publish. So I figured out we could do this on Butpad and that was fun for, like, two seconds, not people are brutal, Whatpad readers are a whole other breed. I tell you that they scare me. I am terrified of them, but they're not just, I was actually just searching for publishing methods and KDP popped up and I was like, what? We can self-publish. We can really do that. So that's how I got into self-publishing was very exciting. And then when you publish, there is no big confetti raining over you and I think it's crickets. So then I had to figure it out. What? Your husband didn't say we have confetti over you. How dare you? No. How dare you? Yeah. So that was like a nice kicker because, oh, crap, we have to, we have to advertise and then I realized, well, wait a minute, I should have gone traditional, but I'm still, I still don't agree with it though. Do you ever think you'd want to do traditional publishing? I don't think I would fit well with traditional publishing. He has spoiled me. I have reports and everything that I can check on a daily. And I have one book that is kind of, kind of with a publisher. It's, we did the cocky world with me, Keaton and Penelope Ward. So that is through them. So basically they are on the publishers and the whole thing with waiting for reports. And you don't, you don't have to say in a lot of things. I don't like that. I really don't. You want something wrong? Like when there's something wrong with my cover, I can literally just tell my husband to fix it. Because he does my covers. And like the whole, he's just fits with the generation of, you know, we want everything immediately. But that's what you get with, within me, that's not a good side. You can immediately see if an ad is working or if a post that you're doing has done something where I think with traditional, it just, it takes longer and you don't know, you literally have to wait till the end of the quarter with most things. Because my audiobooks are like that, they have, they are with publishers or my audiobooks. And it's, it's frustrating as fun as it is not to spend that whole huge amount out of the gate waiting for reports to see, like if you, if this ad is working or no, well, what is happening on the audio side, it is frustrating. So I'm curious because I am in the United States, but I did, I did live in Spain for the last three years trying to get a publisher and found, found some interesting roadblocks. I was curious about your experience there in South Africa. Does it feel like it is harder to be a published author in South Africa than you think it would be in, if you were in another country, like Europe or here? Absolutely, absolutely. I think, I, I wish I was in the United States. I think simple like book signings, we cannot do that here. And like you have to do everything virtually, so I cannot go out and physically need readers, which is something I feel that is, it's missing because that would, it would be nice. There is a voracious bunch of South Africa readers that I just discovered this year, which I am very excited about, like there's a whole group of people, I believe this. They come in herds, I swear they come in herds, I actually, I had physical copies of my books that I ordered and they sold out, like I let my box came and I had to send them to someone else so that she could ship their way after she sprayed their edges. So that was quite cool. So we do have readers, but we don't have these big events that are so nice. And something on the business side, which is really awful, is with ACX, we can't claim our titles because we're in South Africa and ACX just, they throw their hands in the air. So literally anyone can go and my titles that are not in audio, they can make them audio and I cannot do a single thing because I can't claim my titles on ACX. No. So that is, yeah, that is a struggle, that is a, like you constantly check because, you know, I'm terrified that someone might do that because there are a few of my books that are not, have not been turned into audio. And if I don't claim them on ACX, which I can do, literally any publisher can go claim the book and record the book and they get all the presents. No. Wow. That's terrible. Yeah. So then with all of that complication, is it easier for you to find editors who are there in South Africa or do you reach out to these other countries to find editors for your book? I have, my, my editor is actually in, in the UK. It's very Americanized, which is quite funny that you go to someone who's from the UK because they also don't use it in the UK. No, no, but she, she's very good with like she, she does a bunch of American author stuff. So she's very good with the American way of saying things, but my proofread is American. So she comes and she picks up everything that, you know, we both missed. But finding an editor, I think again, with being indie, it's a very hit and miss because we have to do the legwork. We don't have a huge company that does the legwork and can see if these people are reliable. And I have had more than once that I have hit my head against some blocks that, you know, you, you cry in very large amount of dollars because you think everything's fine and then it's, it's really not. So it takes a lot of diggings and that's how I got to this editor, like there was a bunch of authors that you have to go and you have to go see the books. Like I had to go read the books and check if this is the way that I like for her to edit my stuff and if she's going to change my voice or any of that. So, but she's very, she's very thorough and she's very good at keeping your voice because I know a lot of authors, they do worry about that. And that comes with, I think, being or just writing for a while because in the beginning, if someone suggested I made a change, I would change it. I wouldn't just trust my gut and be like, no, I don't want to change that. I would just change it because you think it's going to be better. And that's the one big thing that I've learned is that you just have to trust your gut because no one knows the story that's inside you, the way that you know the story that's inside you because I can give you a plot and I can have the same plot and we will not have the same story. But now I have to ask, though, because I've read your novels. I think, Sean, you do realize you're self-African, right? And you do realize you do live in South Africa, right? So, are we ever going to see a South African character in your novel? No, if we can wrangle up a South African billionaire, maybe. Listen, I couldn't imagine because when I think of South Africa, right, I think of Daniel Piplos with his cocky and his button down and his little leather hat. And I'm like, I cannot see this working in a book. Can? Oh, my word. So cute. I don't read romance. You will know, I'm sorry, now you will have to do a farmer's series. I can see the cover now with a tractor and just imagine it, although I wouldn't know what the dialogue would be. Like, I, like, that, that would be there, that would be there. And there would definitely be something about renovating. Yes. And building. Yes. Yes. A bride. There should definitely be a bride in there somewhere as well. Yes, there'll be a bride. Like, I just saw a trip today that was really funny. And someone compared a bride to a barbecue and the comments were very funny. It's things like that that we're missing in literature right now, in my opinion. And that people are looking for because I don't know in romance because I don't connect to the romance so much. But in the fantasy world, going into cultures that are not explored is huge right now. I think that it's a brilliant thing to break into being from South Africa to give us that perspective. I think my brain is just, I don't want to say conformed, but, you know, when we started this publishing journey, you look at so many authors and then you think, like, okay, well, this is what I'm supposed to be doing and this is the way I'm supposed to be writing. And this is what I'm supposed to say and do again. So I have never ever, honestly, and it's terrible to say this, I have never considered a South African character, even though it would be the easiest thing to write because it's the one thing that I know, the research would be this, going into this that I'm doing now. But it's, it's weird. I mean, all the novels that I have in my head, I've written one novel that's about a South African, but she goes to the Netherlands. So you kind of see her culture and the Dutch culture, which is cool. But then the majority of the novels actually are set in America. With this book that I'm writing now, there are things that I know people are going to not like, but this is the way the characters are. And I cannot, meddling with that feels like not being true to the story. So I, I wrote it the way it should be written. And I know there are some people, they are not going to like it, but I'm sorry. I've just been reading the little sneak peeks that you've been giving and I'm like, "Where is the book?" Give it to me. Thank you. So, so much for taking the time to be with us and for talking to us. It has been such fun. And I'm so excited about a new novel, which still has no title, but I will forgive you for that. It has a title. It has a title. Oh, we can only, yeah, no, I will, I will share the title here first. It's called a play pretend marriage, because love it. Playing and pretending happening. Love it. Because I thought I was like, there should be a marriage in the title, because the previous one was an invertible marriage and an inconvenient marriage. I marinated on it for a while and then I talked to my two author brains and we all agreed, like, okay, no, it sounds good and it will flow with the rest of the series. So we still have one. Okay. So, to come after this one. Before our listeners, so her next novel will be out when? Somewhere in May. Next year? It's, I think it's the first of May. I don't know. We'll, we'll, we'll be nice and say in May 2025, yes, that is the hope. If you can definitely go, let's go read, listen, whatever you feel like doing, to the first two in the big series and then absolutely all your other novels keep up. I'm very excited to see what more you will bring for us and thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you for having me. It's been so much fun. For all those who want to follow her on Instagram or go to her website, it's www.akmcbride.com. All those links will be down in the details. Thank you so much for joining us, Alicia. Thank you for having me. And thank all of you for joining us as well. We want to keep it short and sweet here, get your pants back on the paper and your fingers back on the keyboards. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram and Facebook @tntell's podcast on Twitter/x. And now you can follow us on TikTok at podcast details. Go follow us on all of those platforms. Go comment and especially go on to Apple podcast, that purple icon, wherever you are listening to. And please go give us five stars and comment. We would love to chat with you on all the comments. It doesn't matter where you comment, we will see it. Happy writing. Happy writing. Thank you.