Sacha Black Builds Her Author Career on Authenticity, Helping Other Writers

Who knew growing up in a remote village in the UK would be the spark that started a young woman’s journey to authorship?

Such was the case for Sacha Black, podcast host, content and communication strategist for the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and self-defined writing rebel. Sacha’s role in the author community is multifaceted, but those facets have helped her shine brightly within the author community. Last week, she was gracious enough to have a chat with me, where I learned what made her who she is today and where she envisions the publishing field heading in 2024.

Early On

As most future authors probably do, Sacha read a lot as a child, but in her small village, she found an equally small library. Eventually, she grew tired of reading the same books, and her parents had to drive her to a nearby library that was bigger so she could have more choices.

Later, she studied at university, earning a master’s degree in psychology and another in public management, with plans to pursue a PhD and enter academia. She says she quickly discovered that this wasn’t the path for her, but around the same time, she had been blogging—rather, drinking wine and blogging, she clarifies—and naturally fell into a writing community as a result. The experience taught her how to write, and she shared her lessons learned on her blog, with “lots of dick jokes and swearing,” she says.

Sacha also explored a bit of the writing market at the time and found a limited supply of craft books on villains. Given her interest in the topic, she decided to write the book herself. That book, published in 2017, was titled 13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains. She sold eighty-seven copies, she says, and is proud to admit it. Throughout our conversation, she spoke humbly, and we shared how and where we each got our start. A lot has changed since then.

Today, Sacha says she’s focusing more on her fiction prose, which amounts to nearly seventeen published novels in YA Fantasy and Sapphic Fantasy. She also boasts five books on writing craft, which include topics such as writing compelling heroes and villains. But writing isn’t the only corner of the indie author world where she’s found a home.

Patreon and the Rebel Author Podcast

Sacha seems determined to carve out her little corner of the publishing industry. Alongside her own writing, she is the host of the Rebel Author Podcast, where she’s cleared over two hundred episodes alongside industry guests, covering topics such as writing craft, marketing, and publishing news.

Sacha says her Patreon page meshes well with the podcast—they fuel each other. On her Patreon, Sacha will pick a book and dissect it, from the prose to the structure, pacing, and more. Then, she and her Patreon group will discuss what they’ve discovered, and she’ll give her own unique take on it in a podcast episode, a sort of mini lesson on the book. She says the group allows her to have a sense of community and a chance to share and learn about writing together.

On her end, Sacha says she makes sure she provides valuable insight into what works or doesn’t work, slipping in kernels of knowledge about marketing and advertising along the way. She was candid and quick to let me know that she too had to learn how to be a great writer—and that she will never stop learning.

Outside of her podcast, Sacha shares the knowledge she’s amassed through courses and consulting. She’s also a guest speaker and has appeared at 20BooksTo50K® events and the London Book Fair. I asked at one point if she had any plans to use her graduate studies in psychology in her career. She laughed and said she does, only now, she applies what she learned at university to a field she loves.

Alliance of Independent Authors

ALLi is an international nonprofit organization that values ethics and excellence in self-publishing. The group advocates on behalf of independent authors, guiding them with knowledge to help them selectively license their publishing rights, give contract advice, and provide much-needed advice in an ever-changing field.

There seems to be a shared vision between Sacha and ALLi—that of helping authors from all walks of life succeed. Sacha’s close involvement with the organization makes sense, then. She started off as a blog manager and conference organizer and says she was enthralled at the opportunities she had to campaign on behalf of indie authors. Later, as her own writing developed, she took on a more nuanced role as ALLi’s content and communications strategist. She still works with the organization today, but her current role allows her to focus on more high-level strategies for delivering ALLi’s message to the masses.

One Lesson to Share

Near the end of the conversation, I put Sacha in a box and asked her to share one piece of advice for new authors—some amalgamation of all she has learned. I had the treat of watching her wrack her brain for a way to summarize what had to be a treasure trove of knowledge.

“Find the unique thing about you,” she finally said. “That’s when you’re most authentic, and that’s when you’ll find your tribe and connect to readers and find success.”

I started to see a greater vision of what Sacha teaches her audience: authenticity above all else, community with other authors and readers, and to capitalize on what makes you unique. For Sacha, it’s in the name of her podcast, the Rebel Author, where she says you can find “books, business, and bad words.”

Eyes on the Future

Before parting, I threw out a question to Sacha, wanting to know where she saw publishing heading in 2024 given she regularly keeps a pulse on the industry.

Sacha says she’s been in the indie author community since 2013, and right now, it feels like the blue waters of that time. She says she believes direct sales will be the next frontier, and there will be a focus on higher quality products. She writes in a small, hungry niche, and feeding them what they are looking for is getting easier and easier, she says. Sacha’s goals for now are to focus on her small, dedicated family in her Patreon group—her nonfiction community—and, otherwise, to try to be more human.

We can all take a few lessons from Sacha, things that not only she has said but other industry professionals have as well. Focus on community, remain authentic, and always try to improve your craft. If you do those things, you’ll “find your tribe and your readers, and find success,” Sacha says.