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Episode 63 – Alexandra Rowland
Alexandra Rowland grew up on a sailboat in the Bahamas and then in a house in Florida. Sick to death of the tropics, she attended Truman State University in northern Missouri, where she studied world literature, mythology, and folklore.
She now lives in western Massachusetts where she works as a game monitor at an escape room company, occasional bespoke seamstress, and writer under the stern supervision of her feline quality control manager.
Alex’s 2012 novel
Self-Publishing
Her first book, IN THE END, was self-published in 2012. Alex sees the book as a monument to the accomplishments of Alex of 2012 and feels she learned a lot about what it takes to publish a quality book as a result of finishing and releasing her debut novel, including layout and design, book promotion, and editing.
Traditionally Published
She then began writing another story in a world that would later be introduced to readers in A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS (Saga Press, November 2018). The book began as an experiment in how much world building she could cram into a story. It wasn’t ever supposed to be anything. She also wrote a YA Steampunk Novel, which was what she queried to her agent, DongWon Song. He didn’t want steampunk in fall of 2016, but he liked her writing and knew she had another story in first draft mode (it was a week old, people).
“Don’t send your work out on query if you finished it last week.” (But she did—per the agent’s request, it should be noted—and it worked.)
A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS is a mashup of K J Parker, Les Miserables, and 1,001 Knights: A wandering storyteller gets arrested on charges of witchcraft, accidentally indicts himself for espionage, and starts a civil war from inside a jail cell by telling stories to the queens.
Working with Navah Wolfe (The Starlit Wood) and DongWon Song, Alex was able to cultivate her vision (without getting away with any writer shenanigans). Their communication worked very well and NW was able to draw the best version of the story out of Alex. (YMMV: every agent/author/editor triad will have its own dynamic.)
DongWon Song has emphasized author branding to his author clients. He jokes that his authors must never change their hairstyle (Alex has long hair). You do need to be aware of how you present yourself, and be consistent: distill the image you want to project. At conferences, you are ‘working’ and visible to your peers and readers. Alex dresses with the intention of being taken seriously.
Pro Tip: Don’t change your social media profile photo and display name at the same time (you may throw off your enemies, but you will also confuse those who follow you). Keep your ‘branding’ of social media consistent across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Alexandra Rowland can be spotted occasionally wearing a corset made from her jacket proofs.
Hopepunk
Alex created
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Alexandra Rowland grew up on a sailboat in the Bahamas and then in a house in Florida. Sick to death of the tropics, she attended Truman State University in northern Missouri, where she studied world literature, mythology, and folklore.
She now lives in western Massachusetts where she works as a game monitor at an escape room company, occasional bespoke seamstress, and writer under the stern supervision of her feline quality control manager.
Alex’s 2012 novel
Self-Publishing
Her first book, IN THE END, was self-published in 2012. Alex sees the book as a monument to the accomplishments of Alex of 2012 and feels she learned a lot about what it takes to publish a quality book as a result of finishing and releasing her debut novel, including layout and design, book promotion, and editing.
Traditionally Published
She then began writing another story in a world that would later be introduced to readers in A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS (Saga Press, November 2018). The book began as an experiment in how much world building she could cram into a story. It wasn’t ever supposed to be anything. She also wrote a YA Steampunk Novel, which was what she queried to her agent, DongWon Song. He didn’t want steampunk in fall of 2016, but he liked her writing and knew she had another story in first draft mode (it was a week old, people).
“Don’t send your work out on query if you finished it last week.” (But she did—per the agent’s request, it should be noted—and it worked.)
A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS is a mashup of K J Parker, Les Miserables, and 1,001 Knights: A wandering storyteller gets arrested on charges of witchcraft, accidentally indicts himself for espionage, and starts a civil war from inside a jail cell by telling stories to the queens.
Working with Navah Wolfe (The Starlit Wood) and DongWon Song, Alex was able to cultivate her vision (without getting away with any writer shenanigans). Their communication worked very well and NW was able to draw the best version of the story out of Alex. (YMMV: every agent/author/editor triad will have its own dynamic.)
DongWon Song has emphasized author branding to his author clients. He jokes that his authors must never change their hairstyle (Alex has long hair). You do need to be aware of how you present yourself, and be consistent: distill the image you want to project. At conferences, you are ‘working’ and visible to your peers and readers. Alex dresses with the intention of being taken seriously.
Pro Tip: Don’t change your social media profile photo and display name at the same time (you may throw off your enemies, but you will also confuse those who follow you). Keep your ‘branding’ of social media consistent across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Alexandra Rowland can be spotted occasionally wearing a corset made from her jacket proofs.
Hopepunk
Alex created