Guest Post: Sara Palacios

Last week I had the pleasure of reviewing Love In Translation, the debut novel from Sara Palacios. (Read my review here if you missed it). Today Sara has a guest post for you all that talks about her road to publication. I'm always interested to see what it was like for an author to go from idea to actual book and I would like to thank Sara for this lovely post. I hope you all enjoy it!

I’ve dabbled in writing for a few years now. I finished my first book, BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, shortly after I graduated from college but didn’t really think that it was good enough. I think I saw it merely as practice and appreciated it for what it was. But then, I decided to really give it a go and write another book and see how it turned out. If I felt like it was good enough, then I would pursue publishing which was obviously the ultimate goal. So, I gave it another go and spent many months working on what would become LOVE IN TRANSLATION. Actually, back then it was titled A SUMMER TO REMEMBER, but I like the new title so much more. Anywho, I finished the book and thought it was decent, so I decided to give it to an editor. I began working with Erica McCormick who is a friend of one of my best friends and she was amazing. She really helped tighten the writing and reel me in during scenes where my writing was all over the place. After she went through it very thoroughly, I went through it again myself at least a dozen more times and really tried to make it shine. Then I presented the book to a really great gal pal of mine, Cristina Reyna. She read the book in its entirety and really helped help bring the story to life. After that, I sent my MS out to a handful of publishing agents and had a few bites, but nothing really solid so I decided to pursue self-publishing. By that time, I had been working with Samantha Robey over at Chick Lit Plus for roughly a year and saw firsthand how successful an author could be when self-published, so I went for it. I think deep down I was always intended to self-publish because I had so much fun with it all.  Luckily I had my husband to help me out with everything, and together we converted my book into ebook formats and designed the book cover (which was by far one of my favorite aspects of publishing). Then, I set a date and went from there.

Overall, it was a lot of work but it has been so worth it. I think ultimately the deciding factor was giving birth to my son. For so long I’ve dreamed of being a writer and had always been so scared to pursue my dream fully. Sure, I’d written things here and there but had never been published. After Ethan was born, I needed to prove to myself that I could do it and I needed to show him that he could do anything … be anything he wanted to be. How was I supposed to convey those messages when I was scared to do it myself? So, I dove in head first and went for it and I haven’t looked back since. Now I am on tour, with lovely bloggers (like you, Kaley) and I am having such an amazing time. I am so lucky that I have been able to do this and I am so grateful that I’ve been able to experience all of this. 

About Sara:

Sara Palacios is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Advertising and a minor in English Literature. It was during her time in college that she really fell in love with the written word and ventured into writing her own stories. In addition to writing, Sara spends a majority of her time reading the works of other authors.  She reads most genres  – but thoroughly enjoys chick-lit, women’s and historical fiction. When she isn’t busy reading or writing, Sara enjoys spending time with family and friends. She is happily married, the owner of two precious doggies and a new mom to a handsome baby boy. Sara is also an avid animal-lover, runner, yoga enthusiast and wannabe vegan.

Connect with Sara:

Twitter: Sara Palacios

Facebook: Sara Palacios

Email: sararpalacios@gmail.com