Friday Indie Q&A with Author Colin Brooks

On today’s Friday Indie Q&A we spent some time with Author Colin Brooks discussing his novel Paint, where the title comes from, and the importance of building an audience. We also discuss how to put yourself out there in freelance and work toward your dreams.

Drag is an Art Form

Q: We love the title of your coming-of-age novel Paint. Tell us about your process to title your book and the significance of your title.

A: The title, Paint, comes from a term commonly used in the drag scene to refer to someone’s makeup, usually in a way to praise them–“Girl, you look painted tonight!” or “Your paint is gorgeous!”

Something I touch on in the book is that drag is an art form and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that a person’s paint (in or out of drag), or how they choose to express themselves, is their own. 

Colin Brooks, Author of PAINT

Q: You may want to check out a couple of feature articles we did on Indie It Press called The Art of “Dr.a.g“, and World’s Most Glamorous Book dr.a.g Returns.

Publish on Own Terms

Q: What brought you to your decision to be an indie author? 

A: I chose to be an indie author because, after doing a lot of research and debating between going this route or trying to pursue traditional publishing, I decided that I wanted to do things on my terms. I think there’s a common misconception that people that choose to become an indie author simply couldn’t make it in traditional publishing, and that is definitely not the case. I wanted complete creative control of my work and found that this was the best option for me.

Build Your Audience ASAP!

Q: What kind of advice would you give to an Indie Author that you wish you had prior to starting on your Author journey?

A: Build your audience ASAP, but don’t compare numbers to anyone else. Everyone is on their own journey, and some people work extremely hard and are able to find their tribe right away, but some people take time to build an audience and that’s absolutely okay too! I waited to create my author social media platforms until I was about to announce Paint‘s upcoming publication, and I think that was a mistake on my end because I feel like I didn’t give myself enough time to get my name out there.

Numbers are great, but remember that you’re writing to express yourself and your art form, not to make money (though money is nice too!). 

Don’t Be Afraid

Q: I noticed that you also freelance for Out Front Magazine and also edit for other novelists. Tell us a little bit about your freelance experience. What are your favorite parts of being a freelancer?  What advice can you offer to anyone wanting to freelance?

A: I am! I work a full-time day job, so I don’t have as much time to write as I’d like, but I was very fortunate to have an article featured in Out Front Magazine‘s Pride issue last year and hope that I can start writing articles again soon. Now, when I’m not working on my next novel, I still freelance as an editor (usually developmental) and have now worked on three separate novels that are pending publication thanks to the connections I’ve made on Upwork.com.

My favorite part about working as a freelancer is that I’m able to choose what projects I’m working on and feel like I’m applying my degree in English that I spent so long earning. For anyone looking to start freelancing, my advice is to check out sites like Upwork.com and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

You may not have the experience right away that people are looking for, but someone will give you the chance you need and it will help you to get your foot in the door for future endeavors. You never know who you’ll meet or what connections you’ll make!

Catching Small Things

Q: On the other side of it, what kind of books do you enjoy editing, what kind of editing do you offer, and what is your process with that?

A: I enjoy editing fiction the most and have had the privilege of working on a few different subgenres within the Romance umbrella so far. Right now, I’m mostly acting as a developmental editor, which I really enjoy because I get to be that new perspective to catch small things and work with the authors to expand their worlds in ways they might not have thought of. I also have the training to work as a copy editor or proofreader. Manuscripts are sent in chunks of 15K words to help break things up and usually return them with edits within two days.

Planning is BIG

Q: How do you find balance day-to-day in order to keep writing, promote your book, and work a day job? If you do other things, please share that with us too!

A: Planning is a big thing, and it’s something that I’m still working to get right. I work 9-5 Monday to Friday and work weekends at least once a month, so I stay busy with my day job and it can be hard to find the time or motivation to work on other things after a particularly hard or long day, but planning ahead helps with that.

I write a bi-monthly newsletter to my subscribers, have a blog that I’m trying to get better at updating on my website colinbrooksauthor.com, and try to post at least once a week on my social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (and am trying to get into TikTok now as well, which is much harder than it seems!). People try to create a theme to help with consistent postings, like Book Meme Mondays, so I might be trying to implement that into my social media as well.

Publishing for the WIN

Q: What is one big win that you’d like to share with us?

A: It seems a bit redundant, but I think my biggest win was getting Paint published. This started as the first act of a screenplay I’d written for one of my classes during my time at the University of Central Florida, and I was able to rework what I had and expand upon it in novel format after finding it again two years post-graduation. I’m really proud of myself for achieving one of my dreams and plan to continue publishing more in the future. Next goal is to get physical copies in a bookstore!

A Shoutout To…

Q: It’s not redundant at all and is truly something to be proud of. There are so many people that assist us along our publishing path. Who would you like to give a shoutout to?

A: I couldn’t agree more–without the help of my editor, Dominic Wakeford, and my dear friend Candace Neal, who created the cover art, Paint would not be out in the world today. I am so thankful for them and for my friends who read early drafts and gave me such helpful feedback, and I just feel so fortunate to have people like that in my life.

Social

Q: Where can we find you on social media?

A: I’m in a few different places!