Following Your Dreams ~ by Diana Nixon

Today we welcome Author Diana Nixon, Founder and Editor in Chief of INKS AND SCRATCHES magazine.
                                        

Hello everyone!  It’s a pleasure to be a guest of this blog.

First of all, let me tell you a bit about myself.

So… I never thought I would become a writer. Back in high school I was sure I loved Law more than anything else in the world. Six years later, I got a Master of Law degree and dived into my new job as a lawyer. Which was never supposed to last forever.

Here goes a confession – when I was a kid, I HATED reading (smiles). That’s why it took me more than a decade to realize I couldn’t live without a book in my hands. I started swallowing one story after another, until one day I knew it – I wanted to write a book too. The ideas for Love Lines were overflowing my mind, so one month later I had a manuscript of 100k words ready to see the world.

Now what? I asked myself. Needless to say, I didn’t know anything about publishing a book. Excited about the idea of becoming a super popular author, I started sending my manuscript to different publishers. Just to receive their denials weeks later…

I can’t say I was devastated or anything. Probably because it was my very first book and I didn’t expect much from it.

Then a friend of mine came to my rescue and told me to try self-publishing. Back then, it wasn’t as common as it is now. Readers often compared self-published book with those released by the well-known publishers. And it was hard to gain their approval if there wasn’t a traditional published behind your name.

I thought I did a great job by writing a book and sending it to Amazon. But I was so wrong…

And so it was time to learn my first lesson – NEVER forget about

promotion. Now I know that promotion begins even before you start writing the first line of a new book. It all depends on how well readers know what you have in that mind of yours, and the ways to keep them on the edge on their seats until the moment they can read your new story.

Over the years, I realized that choosing to be a self-published author, you need to be ready to work 24/7, 365 days a year. Because even a short break will make you start everything all over again. Readers will lose their interest in your books and you will be as down as ever to write anything new.

One day, I came across an editor of a very popular, back then, literary magazine. She asked if I wanted to feature my works in that magazine. Of course, I was all for it. Until…

I saw how much I needed to pay for that advertisement.

I couldn’t afford it. It was beyond expensive even though my books sold well. So I declined the offer.

I think that was the moment I realized I wanted to do something to help other authors who always wanted to see their names in a magazine but didn’t know how to make it happen.

I started nursing the idea of opening a literary magazine. I talked to my friends who willingly agreed to become partners in that crime (smiles). I had an amazing designer to create a cover and there was an author I really wanted to interview because I always loved her books. So I contacted Wendy Higgins and patiently wanted for her response…

A few weeks later, I published the very first issue of Inks & Scratches with Wendy Higgins’ interview in it and her picture on the cover.

It was a true victory and I couldn’t be happier about it.

After some time, more and more authors started approaching me about featuring their books in the magazine and I knew I did the right thing by giving them what they wanted – a magazine, where everyone could talk about their stories, let their readers look inside their writing lives and maybe find new fans as well.

Today, the magazine is a home for everyone who has anything to do with writing, publishing and reading. We interview authors, we review books and we talk to readers. We discuss everything that a new author might face at the beginning of their career. And I truly hope it helps those who always wanted to create a story but were too afraid to go for it. Not to mention the happy smiles I can see on our featured authors’ faces when they receive a paperback copy of the magazine with their names in it. To me, as the founder of Inks & Scratches, it’s the best reward that I could have ever hoped for…

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Diana Nixon is an International bestselling author of contemporary

Diana Nixon

and fantasy romances. A Master of Law, she never thought she would betray the world of law and dive into fiction. She has written 19 books and can’t imagine her life without her fictional characters. She never stops thinking about the new story lines that haunt her dreams. She’s married and has two daughters - her biggest source of inspiration. She loves music, traveling, coffee, and chocolate. She believes that writing is the best cure, for everything can be healed with words.