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!

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