The book you’re holding in your hands almost wasn’t.
It began as an experiment. My friend and YA podcast co-host Christen Krumm suggested we blog books during the month of August 2020. At that point we had nothing better to do so we both went for it.
I finished out the month blogging each day (Suspended in the Stars was around 50,000 words by the end) and realized it was only half of the story. I’d had so many people reach out to me through the month to tell me that they loved the story and were looking forward to reading it each day that I knew I needed to finish it. I was blown away by the support and decided I wasn’t going to let them down.
I went back to the drawing board for the second half and finished writing it, then did the hard work of editing it into shape. Once it was polished, my agent sent it out to publishers and editors and the wait began.
When the feedback started to come in, it was overwhelmingly positive, but the answer was “no” across the board. Science fantasy is a hard sell in any market and it seemed no publisher was willing to take a risk on a previously unpublished (in young adult) author.
Talie and Renner took a backseat to other writing projects, but they were never far from my mind—or my heart.
Enter Kickstarter. At that time, I’d supported several projects but had never seriously considered it for myself. It seemed daunting and like such a risk. I was afraid to put the book out there only to experience failure.
Then I ended up designing a cover for my friend CJ Milacci for her first Kickstarter. She is such an inspiration and ended up telling me all about Kickstarter and I was able to ask the questions I hadn’t been able to. With her support and cheerleading, as well as that of so many others in my writing circle, I took the plunge. Suspended in the Stars went up on Kickstarter in March and raised over $10,000.
The rest, as they say, is history, but I wanted to take a moment to share this backstory for anyone who might be in a situation like I was. I honestly thought SITS would never see the shelf because no one would take a chance on it. Instead, I decided to take the risk and go for it. And, better yet, people were there to support it. They came on board and backed the campaign and are the whole reason SITS is in print now.
Wherever you are, whatever you may be afraid of doing, hear this story and feel encouraged. It’s never easy to do risky things and success isn’t guaranteed, but I’ve found the reward of facing my fears is so much greater than playing it safe.
Boldly go!
Emilie