Wela Kabane

  It is a fact that being a self-published author is excruciatingly painful. You want to write that story that everyone reads and hope you break even at some point. You yearn for the day when BookTok recommends your book ad nauseam to everyone. Yet, it all remains elusive. Why? Budget, obviously.  We simply cannot compete with big companies that have large budgets for marketing and publicity. Your tiny little stall in that community event hardly will make a dent in your sales. You're exhausted by all the unsuccessful Amazon and Facebook ads. You have listened to every YouTube marketing tip. Yet, you're still invisible in the grand scheme of things. The struggle of self-publishing remains the same. We cannot afford to pay all the BookTokers to plug our book at every upward swipe of the algorithm. We will not secure that coveted spot in the morning show where you talk about your book. You remain...obscure. I sound like a Debby downer, but this is the reality of a lot of self-publ

The cover of the third book in The Kenryk Series is finally here.  It was not an easy journey. Being a self-published author means robbing Peter to pay Paul. With the economy this year, I just couldn't afford to pay anyone to make my book cover for me. So, my sister and somehow made this happen.  With the mixture of her drawing skills, Photoshop and Canva, we worked for two days and finally, here it is. I have a cover.  Pre-order the book on  Amazon  . I need to go do the final touches on the manuscript!

Sigh. Sigh, again. Do you know that feeling when you connect either to a song or series or something, and it instantly sparks your creativity? Well, for me music has always been my muse, even way way back in Nsync and Backstreet Boys days. Over the years, that became BTS and Lloyiso (if you haven't listening to this man's music you are missing out). Alas, BTS is on hiatus. I have listened to Lloyiso's EP within an inch of its life. If it was a cassette (yes, I know what that is. I was born in 1986), the tape would have been out of tune by now. So, I find myself floating aimlessly in an ocean with no land in sight. I am seeking inspiration. I am in search of that one song that will get the creative juices (this is quite a disgusting phrase) flowing. I just want to write again.  My playlist is diverse. I don't limit myself to any specific genre. Yes, I have even ventured to the world of heavy metal once and hastily retreated. So, please, can anyone suggest a song that I c

I don't get it. I have been writing since I was 10. It came naturally to me. Never had to think it over. I'd open a book, write Chapter One and the story would flow.  After publishing my second book, I felt the fatigue. I have never had writer's fatigue before. Ever. It is so bad, I have realised I will write as and when the story demands. This includes waking up at 3 AM when the story demands to be written and start writing. I don't know how to navigate this new writing. I won't force it though. I need to like and enjoy the book if I am going to give it to the readers. On the bright side, I have been quite busy. I am on a drive to collect books to help set up a library at a school I went to as a child.  This will a short blog because writing is draining me at the moment. Enjoy yourselves and remember, dreams never expire. 

It has been ages. I know. This is my first post of 2023.  Lazy, you have probably brandished me. Maybe she's writing the third book, some may assume. The truth? My previous book  The Kenryk Series: Rise of the Emoryk  took everything from me. It wrecked me mentally, spiritually, and physically. I had such a hard time producing the second book that I had to take time away from anything book related? I only read 1 book in 2022- that I didn't even finish. For the first time since I was 10, I read less than 60 books a year. As someone who has been writing since I was a child, it had always come naturally. I never had to force myself to write or feel any kind of pressure. I was writing book after book without pause. Then, I decided to self-publish (because they don't traditionally publish fantasy fiction in South Africa). Book 1,  The Avaris  was not quite a struggle. For someone who had been writing endlessly since I was a child, for the first time, I found myself stuck in the

Yes, Amazon is the go-to place for authors.  However, I have now expanded to other platforms. You can get the book on sites such as Smashwords . This offers a larger distribution to places such as Apple Books, Barnes & Noble , the Smashwords Store, Scribd, and Kobo , OverDrive (world's largest library ebook platform serving 20,000+ libraries), Baker & Taylor Axis 360, Tolino, Gardners (Askews & Holts and Browns Books for Students), Bibliotheca CloudLibrary (3,000 public libraries), Odilo (2,100 public libraries in North America, South America and Europe) and Califa's Enki (powers ebook checkout systems for over 100 Califoria libraries) So go get my books at the Smashwords  website. 

Hear me out. I have absolute respect for people that create YouTube content full-time. I made a video and I was left feeling emotionally and physically drained. The editing is frustrating! I digress. I opened a YouTube channel! Not so much to market my books, but because I had been receiving a lot of questions about how I self-published my books. Here is there the thing. That is not a conversation I can simply give to you in a 5-minute conversation.  So, I have created a comprehensive series about how I self-published my books. I will be uploading once a week, on Sunday. I welcome any questions and will make follow-up videos based on these questions. I know, this blog was short, but listen, I was creating YouTube content, TikTok content, and running my Instagram and Facebook page while also managing to score an editorial on a local magazine. The marketing of an indie author never stops.  So, go check out my YouTube Channel  to see how you can get self-published. 

  Why am I posting a video? Because this blog is putting spaces between words and making my writing seem questionable. I spent years studying first language English and now, I have a blog that puts random spaces between words. I am peeved. Alas, I will find a solution. I am a fixer. I fix. I will fix this.   Above is a video you can find on my TikTok  @welawrites  . I post at least once a day. This is the most compressed character profile of my protagonist yet.  Anyway, signing off before I get random spaces between words. Hoping this post will come out as intended.