What do you do when you can’t find anything you want to read? You write it yourself. After plumbing the depths of Amazon for erotic romance featuring queer POC and coming up empty, Katrina Jackson took matters into her own hands and started writing her own. More than seventeen books later, we chatted with her about why word-of-mouth is still the best marketing tool—even for self-published authors!—why publishing her work on platforms besides Amazon allows her to reach a much wider international market, and why cats (!) have been crucial to her books. We also discuss the revelation that Amazon may not be the actual devil, inasmuch as it allows work by historically overlooked and marginalized groups to find an audience, something that traditional publishing has emphatically not been able to do, and the importance of self-reflection when it comes to building your personal library.

Katrina wants to remind you to check your voter registration and vote!

https://www.usa.gov/voter-registration

Donate to a bail fund (we pick PDX for obvious reasons):

https://www.gofundme.com/f/pdx-protest-bail-fund

And support the USPS (um, you can buy a mail carrier costume for your dog for Halloween??)

https://store.usps.com/store/results/gifts/_/N-nnxamr

[PERK ALERT] Sign up for our newsletter and get access to our free tool: The HPS Guide to Picking Your Publishing Path. This nifty tool aims to help you gear up for the frontier between traditional and indie publishing, and deciding which of the two is right for you. Get it right here: https://mailchi.mp/da9486666cc5/hps-guide-publishing-path

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