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Rory Marsden is the self-published author of six books – the first in his series of historical fantasies, Tales of Castle Rory. We caught up with him to ask how he got started with self-publishing, and what he’s learned about the process.

Jericho Writers: Hi Rory, thanks so much for taking part in this Q&A with us! We know lots of people in our community are intrigued by the idea of self-publishing – but many don’t feel confident about trying it. How did you get started?

Rory Marsden: I learnt what to do by taking the amazing Simply Self-Publish course. My tutor was Debbie Young, and the course was invaluable – and not only because of the information it provided and the feedback I received on my assignments. Just as important were Debbie’s gentle encouragement, and her willingness to answer all questions. It was Debbie and her course that gave me the confidence to tackle the whole business, after which I found it isn’t as hard as you think. The course got me started, and now I’m on my own unique journey.

JW: We know lots of people worry that self-publishing means doing absolutely everything yourself. Was that the case for you?

RM: No! First, my books have all been professionally proofread, and they all have professional cover designs. These are important investments; expensive but worth it. For Books one and two, I also paid for professionally formatted interiors, but after that I bought Vellum, a brilliant piece of software, and I’ve formatted all the other books myself. I feel very confident with this now – but of course, it might not be for everyone.

This logic applied to the whole process of self-publishing: at all stages you can choose how much to do yourself and how much to farm out to professionals. The more you do yourself, the less you have to pay, and you really do learn as you go along. If you’re nervous, you can pay other people, and you’ll still retain all your rights.

JW: Are there any things you’d never consider doing yourself?

RM: For me, it’s cover design. A DIY approach for this is a false economy and will come back to bite you. Amateur covers are too obviously just that, though of course if you have graphic design experience you might get away with it! Professional editing or proof-reading is equally essential.

JW: So - once you had your book ready, what was your next step?

RM: I opted to publish through KDP Select, meaning the ebook couldn’t be sold anywhere but on Amazon. However, the paperback can be sold anywhere at all, so I used Draft2Digital, an aggregator that handles making your paperback available from different online retailers.

Being in KDP Select means your books are available to anyone who has signed up for Kindle Unlimited. They can “borrow” your book and read it on their device, and you get royalties for every page they read. I’ve found this works well for my books.

You can get a KDP account set up way in advance of publishing, and then it will be there, ready for you, when you’re poised to publish. I’d advise doing this as soon as you’ve made the decision to self-publish – it’s one less thing to think about further down the line.

JW: What can you tell us about the nitty-gritty of self-publishing – the finer details you’ve had to get to grips with?

RM: I’ve learned an awful lot about how Amazon works! The platform needs to know what it’s selling and who’s likely to buy it. It asks you to select the categories your book fits into, and the keywords customers might put into a search tool when they are looking for books to read. You need to choose these with care, and there’s a limit to how many you can put in. There’s a short cut to researching dozens of similar books, though, and that’s to buy an app called Publisher Rocket. You have to pay for it, so more money going out before anything comes in, but it really does solve the Category and Keyword issue very quickly.

JW: You seem to have picked up a lot of knowledge since starting your self-publishing journey. Have some lessons been harder to learn than others?

RM: Yes! Getting your book up online and available to purchase is only the start, as I have discovered. You see, nobody knows about your book. So, nobody buys it! Amazon gives you thirty days to do something about this. In those thirty days, the Amazon algorithms are working in your favour, pushing your book at anyone who might (in the algorithms’ opinion) be interested. The algorithms work from the categories you’ve selected, and this is why it’s so important to get them right.

After thirty days, if your book isn’t selling, Amazon doesn’t care anymore, and the book is no longer pushed. It’s still available, just not very visible. That’s what happened to me. I had to look into marketing, something I’d never done before.

JW: What happened next?

RM: I was told, by various experts, that most self-published authors are not interested in marketing. They shy away from it, wanting to spend their time writing their books instead. However, self-publishing means understanding that your book is a product. It needs to be marketed efficiently and effectively. You, the author, need to be marketed too. You need a brand, an identity people can connect with, and a story that will resonate. Not the story in your shiny new novel, but the story of you.

I needed help with this and paid for time with a marketing advisor – but if you’ve worked in this sort of field before, you can probably save a lot of money!

JW: In your view, what are the main advantages of self-publishing?

RM: As an independent author, you retain all rights and all control over your manuscript and everything that happens to it. Traditional publishers often offer contracts in which you relinquish rights such as translation into other languages, new editions, new formats, which books might come next in a series, cover design and much else. With self-publishing/independent publishing, it’s all in your control. So, you do all the hard work – but you also get to say what happens, and your royalties per book sale are much greater.

JW: What do you think is the most important self-publishing advice you could share with our community?

RM: Probably that the publishing part of self-publishing – uploading your files to Amazon, for example – is the easy bit! Everything that comes with it is fun, but you need to enjoy the challenges of marketing, branding, selling and so on. I made some bad decisions early on. For example, before I hired my marketing advisor, I spent money on Amazon ads without knowing what I was doing. Most of my other decisions were good ones, thankfully.

You will need to invest in self-publishing – and that’s how to think about it. I considered joining the Simply Self-Publish course the first step on that road, and I’m really glad I took it. I wish anyone else thinking of taking the plunge the very best of luck!

About Rory Marsden

Rory Marsden is the author of a series of Medieval fantasy adventures, the Tales of Castle Rory. You can visit his website at: talesofcastlerory.co.uk and buy his books here.

As a writer of romantic novels, one of my top priorities is making sure sparks fly between my protagonists. My readers expect sizzling chemistry that slow-burns into a satisfying happy ever after – but readers of all genres want to meet people whose relationships they can invest in.  

Whatever genre you’re writing in, creating chemistry between your characters is crucial. Whether you’re working on a dystopian horror novel, a sweeping fantasy trilogy or a gritty crime thriller, it should be as high up your authorial to-do list as mine.  

So, what is chemistry?  

This is a good question. Often, chemistry is one of those ‘you know it when you see it’ things.  

Consider Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, or Harry, Ron and Hermione. Think of the push and pull between the very different Dashwood sisters in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, or the relentless bickering of the many Bridgerton siblings.  

To me, chemistry is the force that animates fictional relationships, taking them from flat to 3D. It’s what makes them feel real and believable, but also what makes them entertaining.  

Establishing effective chemistry really means creating connection between your characters. Often, this link involves recognition and / or resistance. Perhaps the characters see things in one another that they love or hate – or maybe they perceive pieces of themselves in the other person. This might be joyous or deeply disturbing.  

In any case, the most important thing to remember is that chemistry is founded on feelings. It requires characters to provoke strong reactions in one another, whether positive or negative. 

Tried and tested methods for creating chemistry 

1. Equal or opposite responses to events. Whatever type of relationship you’re building between characters, putting them in a tricky situation can pay dividends. Will their problem pull them together? Will it expose the differences between them? If so, good – because conflict is excellent fuel for chemistry.  

On the other hand, perhaps getting out of their pickle will force your characters into a rapprochement that brings them closer. It could help them recognise qualities in one another that they hadn’t known were there.  

Throw your characters into the deep end to test a long-standing relationship or show the formation of a new one. Whether they sink, swim or struggle awkwardly to the side of the pool will help your reader understand who these people are – but also who they are to one another.   

2. Physical touch. In romance novels, physical touch is key to creating chemistry. However, the same logic applies to any genre of novel where there’s a romantic sub-plot. Robert Galbraith’s Strike series is an obvious example.  

Touch doesn’t have to be overtly sexual or gratuitous – it can be a fleeting brush of fingertips or a comforting hug that lasts just a moment too long. The point is for it to evoke emotions that go beyond platonic boundaries.  

Between friends, touch can be grounding: a signal that your character isn’t alone in facing whatever challenge is before them. Touch can also denote a shift in a relationship, from friendship to more or from casual to committed. Never underestimate the significance of one character taking another by the hand.  

3. Little (and large) intimacies. Think in-jokes, nicknames or one character knowing another’s coffee order by heart. All signal connections that can be romantic but don’t have to be.  

In my current work-in-progress, the first thing my protagonist’s best friend – a chef – says to her in chapter one is: ‘Hungry? I’ve saved you a plate with all the good stuff.’ It’s easy, effective shorthand for: ‘I know you and I care about you.’ 

Elsewhere, the delivery of tough love – or the prodding of old wounds – can signal and strengthen characters’ chemistry. When one person knows about another’s painful past or calls them out on their BS, the bond between them becomes clear and feels real. 

An article in The Bookseller recently argued that we’re now in a “golden age” of self-publishing – and if you’re currently debating the best way to get your novel into readers’ hands, taking the ‘DIY’ approach has almost certainly crossed your mind.

Self-publishing is rewarding in a wide variety of ways if you can do it successfully – not least because you’re likely to make much more money per book sale than if you published traditionally.

It’s also worth noting that self-publishing no longer places you and your work beyond the purview of traditional houses. Far from it. Many successful self-publishers are now taking a ‘hybrid’ approach to putting their work out there – in some cases selling audio or foreign rights to their books while retaining self-pub rights elsewhere. There’s also what The Bookseller describes as ‘a pipeline’ developing, with self-pubbed authors using their previous success as incredible leverage when negotiating trad deals.

With self-publishing in the spotlight, and as we approach the deadline for applications to our Simply Self-Publishing course, we asked tutor and indie publishing expert Debbie Young to answer some of the burning questions you might have about how it really works…

Jericho Writers: One fear we know people have – despite the changing landscape – is that self-publishing is for authors who simply aren’t good enough to get traditional deals. What do you say to that?

Debbie Young: Self-publishing is not the home of second-rate writers! There are a lot of authors now self-publishing by choice, for the autonomy, for the control, and because they don't want to compromise their vision to fit whatever narrow mould traditional publishers are pursuing.

JW: What about the idea that self-publishing a novel is essentially a vanity project?

DY: Forget the word vanity – when you self-publish seriously, you are not pursuing a vanity project. This isn’t just about printing a book or getting an ebook up onto Amazon so you can say it exists. You are – or should be – publishing a high-quality book because it will appeal to a real market. Your intention should be to reach that market and achieve sales. Basically, if you’re doing it just to see your name ‘in print’, you’re doing it wrong – and you’re almost certainly not making the most of it.

JW: It sounds as though your best chance of success as a self-publisher is to be quite businesslike – to see it as something entrepreneurial.

DY: Exactly. But that doesn’t mean you have to do absolutely everything yourself. You’re not going to have to learn to design covers, format ebooks or print books, or edit or proofread. Instead, self-publishing means taking the same responsibility as a publisher would in a commercial firm – and assembling a team of experts to get your book off the blocks. They can provide any special skills that you don’t have, under your management and direction.

JW: One thing we know people worry about is approaching the ebook market – especially if they are not Kindle or ebook readers themselves.

DY: This comes back to being businesslike. Sell ebooks, even if you don’t read them yourself! Self-pubbed authors typically make around 95% of their money from ebooks, so it’s not a market you can afford to ignore. This is a good example of how a course like Simply Self-Publish can make all the difference to people embarking on this journey: it’s going to expose your blind spots, help you avoid mistakes and arm you with the knowledge you need to move forward successfully.

JW: And what about Kindle Unlimited? People are confused by that, too – particularly how (and even if!) authors get paid when their books are included.

DY: You do get paid as a self-published author when your books are in Kindle Unlimited, or KU. You must agree to exclusivity with Amazon, but you’ll earn ‘page reads’ income for every page of your prose that’s consumed by a KU reader. KU is a really important platform to understand properly as a self-publisher, so we cover it in some detail on the Simply Self-Publish course.

JW: And how does print-on-demand (POD) work? This is another key question we know would-be self-publishers are keen to have answered…

DY: It’s a good, and important, question! POD is the lowest-cost method for printing books, and POD printing though a service like Kindle Direct Publishing or IngramSpark allows just-in-time ordering. This means there’s no upfront cost and no need to hold hundreds of copies of your book in your spare room or a pricey warehouse. Thanks to POD, you can now publish a book with a print-run as low as one. Again, we go into detail about POD on the Simply Self-Publish course.

JW: This final question is probably the biggest one: how do you know if self-publishing is right for you?

DY: I think it’s about being honest with yourself, in terms of your goals and ambitions, the level of control you want to have over your own work, and how much you’re prepared to put into the process. I’d never tell anyone self-publishing is easy, but for many authors it is now their preferred option. And to some degree, it’s about what you’re writing, too: self-publishing works especially well for writers of genre fiction, for books that form part of a series, and so on – but less well for children’s and academic books, which are still mostly consumed in print.

JW: Do you have any final advice?

DY: Learn as much as you can before getting started. Think about doing a course like Simply Self-Publish and consider it an upfront investment in the business of becoming an author. Through Simply Self-Publish, my students create actionable strategies and marketing plans for their books – and that’s exactly what you need to organise upfront, before you even consider putting your book up for sale. Approach it in the right way, and self-publishing can be the starting point for a super fulfilling writing career. I wish you all the best!

Interested in learning more from Debbie?

You can find out more about Simply Self-Publish and apply for your place right here on our website.

About Debbie Young

Self-publishing expert Debbie Young is the author of thirteen novels, two of which have been shortlisted for the prestigious BookBrunch Selfies Award for best independently-published adult fiction in the UK. She now combines licensing selective rights for her books to various publishers including Boldwood Books, DP Verlag, and Saga Egmont, while continuing to self-publish. Debbie has seven years’ experience as Commissioning Editor of the Alliance of Independent Authors’ daily self-publishing advice blog. She is also an Ambassador for ALLi and has written several advice books and pamphlets for indie authors.

A renowned champion of indie authors everywhere, Debbie now shares her passion for self-publishing and her enjoyment in supporting and nurturing other authors as a mentor and course tutor for Jericho Writers.

We're delighted to share that the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme alumna S.J. King's debut novel, Where You Belong, has been published this week by Storm Publishing. We caught up with S.J. to chat about her writing journey, the support she found most valuable along the way and her plans for the future.

JW: Hi S.J, thank you so much for chatting to us about your writing journey. You have not one, but two books coming out in 2025 with Storm Publishing - congratulations! How are you feeling in the run up to becoming a published author?  

S.J: Thanks so much to Jericho Writers for being a big part of my story these last few years. 

So how am I feeling...? Firstly, excited and still surprised. After years of writing, editing, pitching, re-editing, agenting, un-agenting, being on submission, being rejected and then writing, reading, submitting and editing more... I am thrilled that this has ‘suddenly’ happened. I still can’t quite believe it. 

Secondly, it’s a lot of firsts! It's my first time to get a book deal (for starters), but also first time to get a structural edits letter from my editor, select a voice actor for the audiobook, to get an amazing cover and have a cover reveal, to receive ARC reviews and have people tag me on Instagram. Another day, another first! I feel young again.

JW: Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a published author? 

S.J: I think it is clear I am not an overnight success! But I almost was… my first agent was an incredible top-level agent who called me within fifteen mins of my first submission. Yep, that happened.

She sent my book to London Book Fair the following week, said she hoped it would go to auction. Nope. All the big publishers liked it, but not enough. Seeing all her other books sell for six and seven figures over the years, and her authors going on to become bestsellers, has been exciting to watch - but a little sad, as I thought my ship had sailed. 

But as a writer, resilience and persistence are absolutely key. I put myself back on the horse (a horse on a ship?) and wrote more books, got another agent, went out on submission again and experienced more rejection. Just as I was on the point of giving up, I came upon the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme (UNWP). In the year after the programme, I landed a two-book deal. 

My second book, Lauren is Missing, is the book I was originally agented for, and the one my publisher (Storm) first read - but is not my debut. I have two more books in the bag, one of which I wrote on the UNWP with the fabulous Emma Cooper as my mentor. Working on this helped me go back to the others with a better skillset.

JW: After having spent a long time writing and re-writing the same story, spending infinite amounts of time with your characters – how did you know it was time to send it out into the world?  

S.J: You don’t.

Lauren is Missing has probably been rewritten a hundred times. I have so many files and versions. I have butchered it to the point where I was word blind. Where I loved it and also didn’t think I could read it again. Then, after UNWP and all that I learnt, I picked it up and edited it with fresh eyes, adding a whole new POV. Bingo, book deal. (Of course, I have had to edit it again, but I am now finally on the home straight.) 

Make sure you love your work, but not so much that you’re stubborn.  Use all the support available (such as reviews and the video courses that Jericho Writers offer as part of their Premium Membership), then send to a few agents or consider a one-to-one. Test and try. Rejected? Keep going. Write a new book. You learn something from each one, and you widen your chances.

Also, read. Read books in your genre that have what it takes. Then reread your book. Does it hold up? Do you get tangled in parts? If so, take them out.

JW: Have you got any tips for writers who are preparing their novels for submission?  

S.J: RESILIENCE. Believe in yourself (without arrogance.) Be willing to take the hits, the rejections, but not personally (easier said than done). Don’t refresh your mailbox every three seconds. (Easier said than done.)  Accept that most authors don’t get a deal with their first book, and many authors don’t make it big with their first even if they are published. Stay in love with writing, not just one book. Have a strong pitch, and remember it doesn’t have to be entirely unique. In fact, comparisons are your friend. A lot of reviewers have said they didn’t quite know what to make of Where You Belong because it is not what they expected. It's a psychological thriller with a thread of dystopia.

JW: Can you tell us a little bit about the process your book has gone through, post-book deal, in preparation for publication? How have you found the experience of working with an editor?  

S.J: Joyful.

I guess because I had done rewrites for agents and myself, dismembering my books, knowing that these are the final rounds of edits has felt fabulous.

Vicky, my editor, is just so calm, encouraging, supportive and committed. It feels that with Storm I have a team of caring professionals all around me. I focus on being a writer and they have everything else in the bag. They know their stuff and are very author-friendly.

JW: Before you signed with Storm Publishing, you completed the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme. Can you tell us a little about that experience? 

SJ: Oh, so good.

I learned so much that I can keep mining for improvement. Just after I joined I was asked to step into my manager’s role. So I had two jobs and was on this course. (Plus kids, husband, cat on prozac... all the rest.) I thought I would have to stop the course. But my mentor, Emma, was brilliant, the course was flexible, my group were supportive and understanding. Somehow it all fitted and the course was so interesting that I made time for it and the assignments, and the assignments added up to a finished novel. Plus you can work on the content wherever you are in the world, or to suit your work/life schedule. Even the team sessions are recorded so you can watch what you miss.

Each month felt like an unboxing of writing gifts. I just wanted it to go on forever. When it finished, I really missed it for months afterwards.

JW: In all the time you spent developing your craft, both on and off the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme, is there anything you found particularly useful?  

S.J: The friendship of fellow writers. I can honestly say I have made lifelong friends through writing. That it feels like the escapist, introvert, and sometimes sanity-sucking world of writing needs other writers to understand the obsession, the process, the highs and lows.

You need people to empathise and share with you, and critique your work - but also to put you back into the game when you are ready to give up. I love other writers, and hope I can give back more than I ever take. I think writers are truly the most generous givers of encouragement and knowledge.  If you have questions you'd like to ask, I will share…

JW: Have there been any surprises along the way? Or perhaps anything you wished you had known earlier? 

1. You can be a plotter AND a pantser. I create an outline and then suddenly… wow… who is Josh? Where did he come from? Oh, OK Josh wants to be a main character does he… wait, why did he do that…?
2. Don’t keep editing the first chapter. You can write a book for five years and still only be doing that.  You’ll have some VERY overwritten first chapters that are probably worse than when you started. Write forward…
3. It is a lot about luck, BUT you can make your own luck if you are resilient and don’t only nurse one project. Diversify and try to be a bit more prolific.
4. Straddling genres or ‘challenging genre norms’ is not as appreciated as you think. Most readers like things to match their expectations. A domestic psychological thriller with dystopian hints… never! Believe me, my reviewers all comment on it.
5. Celebrate all milestones. A new book idea, a finished draft, an edit, a positive review, non-form feedback from an agent. Whatever it is, feel FABULOUS. I don’t do enough of that, I’m a bit ‘well, let’s wait and see, it’s just a step.’ Fortunately my husband is my biggest fan and wants to celebrate everything.
6. Help your family/children/friends to understand what this means to you. My kids have grown up with my writing and my daughter is now the absolute best advisor on my work. She is blunt and nearly always right.

JW: Can you let us know what are you working on now?  

S.J: A bit of social media for my book launch (not needed, but quite fun). Editing book two – Lauren is Missing - out in July 2025. The last 25,000 words of a next book. And a new idea just burst into my brain, so I'm trying not to get too tempted or to lose it before I can get to it. (Oh, and my job…) 

JW: We love asking our writers for one piece of advice they wish they knew at the beginning of their journey. If you could go back, is there anything you would tell your past self?  

S.J: It probably won’t happen when you think it will. But don’t give up, it will happen.

(Oh, sorry… a second thing: Jericho Writers is amazing. I truly mean that. I could write a book about all the support I have received over the years.)

(Oh… last one, I promise: writing is an amazing escape and meditation from the world when it's a little crazy, so be grateful that you were given the key to this little special room inside your head. Not everybody gets that…)

Want to follow in S.J. King's footsteps? You can learn more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme and how it can help you write a publishable novel in a year!

About S.J. King

S.J. King is the writer of dark, literary psychological thrillers, and fun lover. She will publish two books with Storm in 2025.

For more on S.J. King see her TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook.  Feel free to ask her questions if you have them. She’s been in the trenches for a while…