Author of the Mina and the Undead trilogy, Amy McCaw, writes about her journey from reader to blogger to author!
Being a blogger definitely gave me an advantage when it came to getting my first book deal. The contacts, publishing knowledge and events I went to all played a part in becoming an author.
I became a blogger after attending a workshop at the Young Adult Literary Convention (YALC) about starting your own blog. I’d wanted to create a blog for ages, but I lacked the confidence to take the plunge. The workshop was run by several bloggers, including the brilliant Chelley Toy and Andrew (Pewter Wolf). Doing the workshop walked me through the technical side of blogging and offered lots of practical tips. I’m so glad I started my blog, as this was the moment I really joined the book community. I’ve made lots of friends and had so many lovely experiences since then!
As a blogger, I was invited to various book events. This gave me a really good insight into the publishing industry through conversing with authors and publishing staff. It also gave me lots of contacts, which were useful when it came to reaching out to authors for blurbs and reviewers to read my book.
I was also asked to participate in lots of online book marketing. This was really helpful for when I became an author, because I’d been involved in lots of successful campaigns, and it gave me good ideas for my own.
The next big landmark in my publication journey was getting a place on the Write Mentor summer mentoring program. I learned about it on social media and was so excited to be paired with an author mentor, Marisa Noelle. There was an agent showcase at the end of the process, and I found it a great opportunity to polish my book and get my work seen by agents. Write Mentor are still doing amazing work for aspiring authors, and I highly recommend checking out what they offer.
While I was on the summer mentoring program, I attended the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC). This was probably one of the most important decisions I made on my journey to become an author. There are lots of workshops about the publishing industry and opportunities to meet authors and publishers. This particular year, they were also running agent 1:1 pitching sessions. I pitched to several agents, but Sandra Sawicka really loved my idea and asked to read the book. She soon offered representation, which was another massive milestone.
After editing my book with Sandra, we went out on submission to publishers. Being a blogger had given me realistic expectations about how long this would take and what it would feel like to get rejections, so I felt really prepared for the process.
I’d been on submission for a few weeks when the next YALC came around. This time, I got talking to Hazel from UCLan Publishing. She asked Sandra to submit my book to her, and they offered to publish Mina and the Undead a few weeks later. Once again, being a blogger and attending YALC gave me a brilliant advantage.
Being part of the book community was so useful at every stage of the publication process and it has definitely helped me to navigate the often very challenging waters of publishing!
Mina and the Undead, Mina and the Slayers, and the most recent addition to the series, Mina and the Cult, are all OUT NOW and published by UCLan Publishing.
Amy McCaw
Amy McCaw is a YA author and YouTuber. She’s the author of the Mina and the Undead series, YA murder mysteries set in 1995 New Orleans. She also co-curated the A Taste of Darkness horror anthology with Maria Kuzniar. Her main interests are books, movies and the macabre, and her novels have elements of all of these. Unsurprisingly, she’s a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan and has gone to conventions to meet James Marsters more times than she cares to admit. If you want to talk with Amy about books or 90s movies, you can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok and YouTube.
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