Helen Scheuerer broke through as a writer by self-publishing 14 romantasy books in eight years
About a decade ago, Helen Scheuerer had secured a book deal with a traditional publisher for a literary fiction manuscript.
It never saw the light of day — but she’s relieved it didn’t.
While Scheuerer was editing that untitled manuscript in 2016, she experimented with writing young adult (YA) fantasy romance to escape from the pressure.
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That was when she realised she’d been “forcing [herself] into a box to write ‘serious’ literature”.
She also realised she didn’t want to traditionally publish her debut novel: the lack of control didn’t appeal to her, and she ended the deal.
By August 2017, the then-27-year-old had self-published the YA story she’d started writing for a brain break.
Heart of Mist — the bestselling first instalment in what would become The Oremere Chronicles — did so well that she quit her day job about five months after it was released.
“[I was making] a lot more than I was earning at my day job, and it was more money than I thought was possible,” the Australian-born, Aotearoa/New Zealand-based writer tells ABC Arts.
“And my thinking was that if I wasn’t stuck at the day job writing about mesh fencing, imagine what I could do [instead].“
After breaking through with the The Oremere Chronicles, Scheuerer went on to publish a prequel of short stories. She released a second YA fantasy series in 2021, Curse of the Cyren Queen, before moving into dark adult fantasy romance (romantasy) featuring explicit sex scenes with her bestselling 2023 series, The Legends of Thezmarr, which she followed with a standalone prequel.
At no stage has she had to return to writing about mesh fencing to make ends meet.
How Scheuerer knew self-publishing was right for her
While Scheuerer has traditionally published the audiobooks of her stories, she’s self-published all the physical and ebook versions.
Her latest adult romantasy novel, Iron & Embers, is the first book in The Ashes of Thezmarr series, a spin-off from the popular Legends of Thezmarr — and her first hybrid release.
That means Scheuerer is self-publishing it in the US and Canada, and traditionally publishing it in Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, the UK and other Commonwealth territories.
Iron & Embers is a trope-filled dark academia love story that follows Wren Embervale, an alchemist-turned-assassin fans of the original Thezmarr series will recognise. (Supplied: Pan Macmillan)
Scheuerer says she’s had interest from traditional publishers ever since she started working on Heart of Mist but was reluctant to go through the process again after the experience she had with her previous literary fiction manuscript.
But when her second YA series struggled to gain the same traction as her first, her life as a writer felt precarious. Her confidence was knocked, and her mental health suffered.
So, she gave herself an ultimatum.
“I decided to pivot from young adult fantasy to fantasy romance for adults with explicit content and it was either that and it goes well, or I really needed to go back to work,” Scheuerer says.
By 2023, she’d published the first book in the The Legends of Thezmarr series, Blood & Steel. The series has gone on to be her most popular to date.
“When the second book in that series launched, I was like, ‘Oh, I may actually be able to buy property at some point’ and the future wasn’t so bleak.“
What it takes to self-publish a novel
Scheuerer was arguably as close to the ideal self-publishing candidate as you can get.
Before she’d even started writing Heart of Mist, she’d completed a degree in creative writing as well as a masters in publishing. And she enrolled in a $1,000 course after she decided to self-publish her debut novel.
Still, Scheuerer says quitting a steady job to self-publish her own romantasy novels was a “risk” even for her — and it hasn’t been easy.
Scheuerer says self-published authors must become “every single one of the different departments a traditional publisher has”. (Supplied: Helen Scheuerer)
There is a stigma attached to self-publishing (let alone self-published romantasy) that essentially comes down to two assumptions: independently publishing a book is easier than traditionally publishing one, and self-published books are lower-quality vanity projects.
To Scheuerer, this generalisation is undeserved. On top of writing the novels, she explains self-publishing requires authors to develop an intimate familiarity with book production, marketing, advertising and accounting.
A finished manuscript is but the first step of many. Next comes the editing. Scheuerer has used professionals for each of her novels — the one she hired for her first three books had 20 years’ experience, many of which were spent at Penguin Random House.
“I think that’s been really helpful in having them get taken seriously,” she says.
Then comes developmental feedback from beta readers, followed by copy-editing, proofreading, typesetting and a final round of proofreading physical copies to make sure they’re formatted correctly.
“And while you’re doing all that, you’re also getting the cover designed, trying to build a platform so that once you’ve got a physical product, you can launch it there … and [organising] a launch party,” Scheuerer explains.
“It’s a big production, and it’s a financial risk.”
Though Scheuerer has typeset and marketed her self-published books, she’s hired experts for everything else and puts the initial investment at roughly $5,000 per book for her earlier novels.
What it took to self-publish 13 more books in less than a decade
While Scheuerer always knew she wanted to write full time, the pace she has set for herself has been gruelling.
In the early years, she got up at 6:00am and wrote until lunch, when she’d take a quick break before continuing on until dinner, when she’d take another break, followed by social media marketing.
“I definitely worked longer hours and much, much harder for myself than I had for anybody else,” she says.
Scheuerer says it’s been “a lot” to publish so many books in quick succession, but she also finds it rewarding because her readers “love it”. (Supplied: Helen Scheuerer)
Things have eased off in recent years — Scheuerer now starts writing between 7-7:30am, works until lunch, has a break, then continues writing until her partner gets home, when she pivots to life admin. She fits book-related admin, marketing and PR commitments in when she can, and takes weekends off.
It’s still a lot. But Scheuerer says working at such a pace ensures she has multiple books “in the back pocket” that she can release at regular intervals.
At the moment, she’s working on the third and final book for The Ashes of Thezmarr, even though the first novel in the series has only just come out.
The release of books so close together is a common strategy among romantasy writers, and it particularly makes sense for self-published writers, who traditionally sell more ebook versions of their stories. Releasing fast-paced, moreish books in quick succession helps keep readers invested. And the more time readers spend consuming (and finishing) indie authors’ ebooks on giant platforms like Kindle Unlimited, the more money writers make.
Rebecca Yarros, of Fourth Wing fame, is one of the most high-profile examples: the first two books in the Empyrean series came out months apart in 2023. But the pace isn’t necessarily sustainable — even Yarros recently signalled her plans to slow down.
“Publishing at this rate consistently does start to bring with it this rising anxiety of, ‘I have to keep going, I have to keep going, I have to produce more…’,” says Scheuerer, but she’s sticking with the regular release strategy for the time being.
So why would she change the successful self-publishing strategy now, and work with the traditional publishing world again?
For all that self-publishing can do for writers, this bestselling author says there are two things it hasn’t been able to do for her: get her books in brick-and-mortar stores; and get her story in publications like this one.
Iron & Embers, the first book in The Ashes of Thezmarr series, is out now.
