Building Something from Scratch

There’s a very specific kind of chaos that comes with independently publishing a book. It’s the kind that lives in browser tabs, thrives in bureaucratic portals, and flourishes in 2 a.m. “just remembered I didn’t do that” moments.

Over the last few months, I’ve jumped head-first into two new ventures:

Releasing my debut novel, Welcome to Seagull Street, a slice-of-life story set in Ocean City, Maryland (May 24, 2025)Setting up Red Hill Creek Enterprises, my marketing consulting and publishing company

Both have been labors of love, and stress, and spreadsheets. Just a month before my book launch, I lost my full-time job… and many of my bigger launch plans went under like a riptide. So, I pivoted fast, working to kick-start Red Hill Creek as a Fractional CMO consulting business as well as my publishing company.

What No One Tells You About Doing Everything Yourself

Indie publishing isn’t just writing a book. It’s ordering ISBNs and barcodes, wrangling metadata, applying for sales tax IDs, calculating shipping fees, adjusting printer margins, Googling how to send a 1099 to your editor ASAP because you had no clue, and answering emails like, “Your barcode placement is not up to spec,” at 1:27 a.m.—when all you wanted was to hit “publish.”

Starting a business isn’t just launching a website. It’s endless bureaucratic forms, wrestling with Stripe settings that refuse to save, chasing down domain records, troubleshooting why your emails keep landing in spam, shelling out for Canva Pro and then spending hours making all your templates look just different enough that no one realizes you’re using it. And yes, it’s lying awake at night wondering why you never once considered finding a traditional publisher instead.

And losing your job? It’s not just losing income. It’s losing part of your identity. Your confidence. Your sense of timing. It’s trying to keep your momentum going when your world tilts, and doing it with grace, grit, or at the very least, a halfway decent to-do list and some strong coffee.

What No One Tells You About Having Time

For the first time in years, I had time. Time to write. To edit. To build. To slow down enough to ask myself: What do I actually want to make?

But I also had… no money. To launch the book properly, I would be going into debt.

Every book order, social media ad, event ticket, shipping charge, and domain renewal felt like a gut check. Every decision became a math problem. I started looking at everything in terms of, “How many books will I need to sell to cover this cost?”

It’s an odd thing, to feel creatively free and financially stuck at the same time. It forces you to get scrappy, thoughtful, resourceful. It strips things down to their essentials.

ChatGPT Becomes Your Virtual Best Friend and Business Partner

I had a million questions about publishing a book and starting a retail business. Like:

Why am I only earning $3 per book? Why doesn’t Amazon offer a reseller sales tax break and IngramSpark does? (Amazon is all about Amazon. Sorry, not sorry.)What is a CRN and why does Maryland want it? (I needed to apply for a sales tax license. Duh.)Can I sell books on the OCMD Boardwalk or do I need a permit? (Artists don’t need a permit… and an author is an ‘expressive’ artist. Yay! That was good news!)But You Also Learn That Most People Are Cheering You On

From early ARC reviewers who take a chance on your story, to bookstore owners who give you five minutes to pitch, to neighbors who just get why this thing matters to you, there are little moments that make it worth it.

And if you’re lucky, you get to create something that resonates.

Something that feels personal but ends up feeling universal.

The truth is: most books that are bought are never finished, or even started. And no book is universally liked. It’s all so subjective. You just hope a few readers make it past the slow build, connect with the characters, and maybe feel a little hit of Ocean City nostalgia along the way.

That’s really all you can ask for.

If You’re In the Thick of It Too

Whether you’re launching a business, writing a book, freelancing full-time, or just trying to build something meaningful in a noisy world, I’m right there with you, and I’m cheering you on.

It’s messy. It’s humbling. It’s never a straight line. But it’s yours.

So here’s to the duct tape and the hope. The pivots and the sticky notes. The KDP dashboard refreshes and the late-night Goodreads review checks. And whatever your next good thing turns out to be.

If you want to follow along as I figure it out in real time — with a little chaos, a little creativity, and hopefully a little wisdom along the way — you’ll find me @alissaarfordauthor on all of the major channels:

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