No one will know about your books if you don't talk about them... An interview with author Kaytalin Platt

Kaytalin Platt is the author of the genre-bending fantasy series, The Equitas, which follows a powerful time mage trapped in a recurring war with a creature bent on destroying the universe--and who stole her husband as his host. She is also the author of the spicy dark fantasy romance novel, Of Silver and Sin, and several short stories appearing in Writing Bloc and Duskbound anthologies. Born in Deer Park, Alabama, Platt now resides just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband, child and neurotic rescue dog, Mr. Bones.

Platt’s latest book, The Equitas, releases April 29, 2025 and is available for digital pre-order through Amazon, and physical pre-order through Beventi. 

Thanks for spending some time with us today, Kaytalin. To get us started, what inspired you to start writing? 

Author Kaytalin Platt

My mother heavily inspired me to write by telling me to jot down what I imagined was happening while we listened to instrumental music or movie soundtracks. I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I "published" my first book via construction paper in kindergarten. It was titled The Unluky Leprican—spelled exactly that. I wrote short stories throughout high school and tried my hand at novels, but I didn't really start to take writing seriously until college. I started writing The Equitas Series in around 2007 and used the text as a basis to my design thesis, focusing on publication design and marketing collateral surrounding it.

Do you have a specific routine or schedule for writing?

My writing routine is chaotic, to be honest. I would say it is less a writing routine now and more of a writing hustle routine. Every night of the week from around 9:00 pm until I drag myself to bed (somewhere between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am), I focus on something writing or publishing related. One night I'll work on drafting, the next I'll work on editing another project, the next I'll work on social media graphics, the next I'll work on freelance, the next I'll update my website, etc. I cycle through those, but I am ALWAYS doing something EVERY night related to my indie author goals—just not always writing. 

What is the most challenging part of writing for you?

The challenging part of writing for me is having far more ideas than I have time and living with a perpetual fear of never getting them all out. Sometimes it’s hard for me to focus on something I've been working on for a while, because my crow brain wants to jump on the next glittering, shining idea in the back of my mind.

The Equitas Series is complete come April 29, 2025, but it took me seventeen years to finish. In that time, all the glittering ideas in the back of my mind fought for some time in the sun. I have dozens of partially completed manuscripts, or stories that have one or two pages, and twenty documents that are simply brain-dump story ideas or story blurbs for future projects. Of Silver and Sin, which released in August 2024, is the exception to this graveyard of unfulfilled potential. It was the pallet cleanse I needed between The Equitas Books 3 and 4. 

How do you develop your characters and plot?

They kind of come to me at the same time. I write via maladaptive daydreaming in the beginning. It is something I've done since I was a child. I've lived in my head for a very, very long time for one reason or another, but for me it was to help cope with certain things going on in my life. Perhaps, for the sake of necessity, let's say that the characters are first—a glimpse of someone set within a world that blooms to life, and I sort of... follow them around. The story evolves organically, as if I'm watching a movie for the first time.

At first, it begins as a movie trailer of sorts. I see the overarching story, the physical attributes of the characters, the basis of their ultimate goals. Then, there comes the movie itself, and it pieces itself together in parts over the course of weeks (or years in the case of most of my story ideas) but it’s never really a complete picture until I start putting words down. That's when I get to explore the characters individually and dig deep into who they are and what the world around them is about. 

Which character in your book do you relate to the most and why?

Saran from The Equitas series holds a big place in my heart, but I don't know if I can say I relate to her. I think she embodies my desires to control time. I am haunted by never having enough of it, and I think that manifested itself in Saran, who is a Time Mage. 

You have done an amazing job at self-marketing for your books. Can you share some tips for others who may want to follow a similar path?

If you don't tell people your book exists, no one else will. No one will know about them unless you're constantly talking about them. We all wish we could write books, hit publish, and that they'll find the readers via the distributors search engines or bookstores, but that isn't the case. Whether you like it or not, you have to have a social media presence, and it matters where that presence is based on your audience. 

On the social media front, pre-2020, I could have given you a straight line, a definitive guide to content marketing your books through social media. Twitter played a huge role in that. Book Twitter was a big deal. Then, the pandemic happened, and BookTok (TikTok) became a juggernaut for book marketing. Simultaneously, Elon Musk acquired Twitter, and Book Twitter met a slow, miserable death. There are countless apps now: X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Lemon8, Threads, Bluesky, and more, and it would be absolute insanity to try and have a presence on them all. Burnout would be fast.

My advice to authors looking to market their books is to follow your audience and have a presence where they are. For example, if you write Young Adult fiction, your audience is likely going to be on TikTok and Instagram. 

I will tell you where I wouldn't put my time and energy just because of the ROI on that time and energy—X and Facebook. Facebook has an aging demographic but the algorithm is also fighting you every step of the way. There is little to no ability to get organic growth there. Make a Facebook Page so you can run ads, but don't worry about trying to maintain content on it. X is a dumpster fire, just walk away. 

For me, the best bang for my time has been TikTok, and I was a devastatingly slow adopter. I think my author career might be leagues ahead if I had jumped onboard in 2020, when the world fell apart and everyone took up reading again by the recommendations they got through BookTok. You just have to get comfortable talking to the camera. It took me a bit, but that's where I've seen the most growth. Unfortunately, its future in the USA is still in question. 

From a content generation standpoint, my advice is to set aside at least two nights a week in the beginning to focus on your marketing. Generate eye-catching graphics using Canva or other design programs, purchase templates if you're not design savvy from places like Creative Market, or use the templates Canva provides. Take a few weeks to generate lots of imagery using your books, quotes, excerpts, reviews, character art, etc so that you have a catalogue of content to cycle through and reuse.

Also create a document with your marketing pitch for each book—short blurb or book-centric text and a list of hashtags. Then, going forward, dedicate one night a week to scheduling posts. For Facebook and Instagram, you can use Meta Business Suite—a built in page management system within Facebook that allows you to schedule content up to 29 days in advance for free. There are other platforms out there that help you schedule content, like PostPlanner for example. Scheduling out your content will stave off burnout as well as make sure you're posting consistently without having to think about it. TikTok also allows you to schedule out directly through their website version (not the app, unfortunately). I tend to batch film content, keep them in my drafts, and post them 1-2 a day. 

How do you balance writing with other aspects of your life?

I live my life until 9:00 pm and then I switch to publishing. I focus on my job and my family from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm and then shift gears. My husband and I will sit on the couch and put on a movie. He's usually catching up on work too because he often has more to do than the day allows, so it works out. Designate a time for your goals and make it a routine. 

What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?

I enjoy gardening and illustrating, and spending time with my family. 

You are part of Duskbound Books, a hybrid publishing team. Can you tell us a little about Duskbound Books and what you do?

Duskbound Books was founded by some members of The Writing Bloc cooperative who had been volunteering their time for quite a while to help authors achieve their dreams. From editing to cover design, all work with The Writing Bloc was unpaid and volunteered, and it wasn't sustainable in the long-run.

Duskbound Books was created to still provide authors with the services they needed, but to provide those services through a freelance basis. We also still wanted to publish books we believe in. So, some books we produce from a volunteer standpoint still, but not every project we connect with authors about. Far Flung by TCC Edwards and the Sacrifice Anthology was our most recent Duskbound-funded projects. I primarily do cover design and illustration through Duskbound Books, utilizing my fifteen years’ experience in design and marketing. 

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About Kaytalin Platt’s most recent novel

The Equitas, Platt's upcoming release, is the last book in her genre-bending portal fantasy series, similarly titled, The Equitas Series. It caps a seventeen-year writing venture in Platt's quest to merge all the parts of fantasy and science fiction she loves. The Equitas Series follows a time mage trapped in a recurring war with a creature bent on destroying the universe—and who stole her husband as his vessel. Join Saran D'mor across multiple threads of time and universes as she fights to stop the end of her world and save the man she loves. The Equitas releases April 29, 2025 and is available for digital pre-order through Amazon, and physical pre-order through Beventi.