I grew up loving magic school stories like Harry Potter but, as an adult, I wanted one about grown-ups. So I wrote a trilogy about two professors at a magic school in postwar Scotland.
I wrote all three books before publishing, then built a team on Reedsy: three editors, each handling a different type of editing, and a cover designer. It felt like having my own publishing house.
The investment paid off: in its first few weeks, my debut novel — The Gold Keepers — sold over 400 copies and hit #1 in Amazon's Low Fantasy category.
Here’s how it all came together.
From Hollywood research to historical fantasy
After graduating from Brown University, I moved to Los Angeles and spent seven years at a large Hollywood talent agency, working my way up from its mailroom training program to a leadership role in the research department. All the while, my passion for writing was growing.
The story had been percolating in my mind for years, but it took a special trip to get it onto the page. My husband and I met while studying abroad in Edinburgh, and in December 2024, we returned there for our wedding. Between Scotland and our honeymoon in the Cotswolds, I came home brimming with inspiration — being surrounded by so much history was the spark I needed to finally take my book idea seriously.
For the next year and a half, I wrote late at night and on weekends around my corporate job. By mid-2026, with all three books complete, I decided to self-publish them and become a full-time author.
The Gold Keepers is set in Scotland in 1953. Magical archivist Eileen Binchy returns to teach at her old school of magic, Dunroven Academy, only to find herself working alongside Calum Markaine, a former classmate with a criminal past. Suspecting he's hiding something darker, she follows him across centuries on a hunt for powerful relics, never sure whether he's the threat or the one person she can trust. It's a grown-up magic school fantasy with time travel, elemental magic, and slow-burn romantic suspense.
Writing the whole trilogy before publication
Like many fantasy readers, I'm wary of starting a series that isn't finished: you never know how long you'll wait for the sequel, or what you'll forget in the meantime. Plenty of readers hold off until a series is complete so they can binge it, so I wrote all three books before releasing the first. Getting readers the full trilogy quickly was also part of why I chose to self-publish.
I was also drawn to the freedom of going indie. Every writing, publishing, and marketing decision rests on your shoulders, but that also means you get to make those decisions yourself. It's a fine line between feeling overwhelmed and empowered, so partnering with experienced freelancers makes a huge difference — which is why finding Reedsy was a blessing.
Building my editorial team on Reedsy
The first two books of the trilogy are set in Scotland (and the third in Ireland), so I knew I wanted editors who could help localize the language to British and Irish English and make the dialogue of my characters feel authentic. I hired three editors on the Reedsy Marketplace, each for a different stage:
Clem F. handled developmental editing, helping me refine the pacing and find beats where the worldbuilding could be more atmospheric and unique. Becky S. copyedited the manuscript and was my best friend when it came to localizing the prose and dialogue to British English, suggesting word swaps that heightened the immersion. Finally, Lucy L. proofread the manuscript, catching the last errors and giving me confidence that the book was of the highest quality.
Having a clear scope for each editor made a huge difference: when it was their turn, each could go deep into their own area rather than trying to fix everything at once.
Giving the series a strong visual identity
For the covers, I hired Roderick B., whose portfolio I'd long admired. I wanted covers that signaled fantasy with a literary lean, and he blew me away with his creative interpretation of the stories and the way he balanced the series' different elements. For The Gold Keepers, the cliffs and birds evoke its Scottish setting, while the gold linework reflects the title and hints at something valuable hidden beneath the surface.
Working with the same team
I was so happy with book one that keeping everyone on for books two and three was easy. I love books that ask readers to make leaps and inferences, and because the same team worked on the whole series, they could keep track of the seeds I'd planted and help elevate the payoff one or two books later. My editors also learned my style and habits as we went, which made their work more efficient, too.
Launching and marketing a debut series
The Gold Keepers got off to a strong start for a debut, and there's more to come: the prequel, The Gold Prince, comes out in October 2026, followed by the sequel, The Gold Agent, in November.
Still, marketing has been more challenging than writing. Luckily, my agency background has proved enormously valuable: we often coached celebrity and brand clients on using social media to nurture their fan bases, and I've applied that same advice to building my own reader community.
Getting early reviews with advance copies
Before launch, I gave free advance reader copies (ARCs) to early readers in exchange for honest reviews, recruiting them through NetGalley and a sign-up link I shared with my TikTok followers. That meant the book had reviews from day one, plus a group of readers excited to recommend it. The book also received a “Must Read” review on Reedsy Discovery.
Finding readers with Instagram Reels
I pushed hard on TikTok and Instagram, and Instagram Reels turned out to be the breakthrough. One organic video passed 100,000 views in two days and led to a sales spike on days three and four after launch. Several others broke 50,000 views and kept converting viewers into buyers and followers.
These videos came from months of honing my pitch, with text hooks, strong visuals, and trending sounds. I often post trial reels first, to test a video on new viewers before sharing it with my followers. Above all, I lead with the emotional experience of the series; the videos that flopped usually didn't, or failed to hook viewers in the first few seconds.
While Reels attract new readers, I use Instagram stories and a small newsletter to stay connected with existing ones through early updates, behind-the-scenes peeks, and lifestyle content.
My advice: start marketing early
If I could pass one thing on to other debut authors, it's this: take marketing seriously, and start early. I underestimated how demanding it is as a solo team, and I've had to set aside significant time for organic social media — it's the only way I've broken through. But seeing your hard work pay off in sales, reviews, and word of mouth makes it all worth it.
Elizabeth Falkenberg is a New York City-based author of historical fantasy. The Gold Keepers is available on Amazon. You can follow her on TikTok and Instagram.
