Meet Reji Ex, author of “The Broken Kingdom of Orion”

Tell us what your book, “The Broken Kingdom of Orion” is about!

Sure! Here’s the summary: 

Elenora grew up in Area 51, not knowing what planet she was from. Shortly after her 21st birthday, the notorious space pirate, Captain Aries, shows up claiming to be her father. Elenora decides to leave her life on Earth to learn more about her origins. But she finds out more than she was expecting when she learns that her father is at war with an evil queen, her mother. Elenora and Captain Aries must fight the queen's army to save the galaxy.

What did you love most about writing this book?

My favorite part about writing is watching the characters come to life on the page. Sometimes the characters stray from their story path because they've just created themselves instead of me controlling them. It's a magical moment as a writer to have your story be so developed that there's genuine life behind your imaginary friends.

How did you start writing?

As a young kid, I didn't have a lot of friends. I spent a lot of my free class time alone. So I just borrowed a school laptop and opened google docs. At first I didn't take writing seriously. I wrote mostly character arcs but then I got into writing fanfiction. Between writing fanfiction and writing my own characters, I got serious about writing.

Tell us a little bit about your self-publishing experience.

It has most definitely been a struggle to say the least. Originally, the Orion series was published with an indie publisher. They have unfortunately closed its doors and the publisher is helping me turn everything into self publishing. The process is slow and hair pulling but at least my book is still on the market.

What was your biggest challenge in bringing the book to market and how did you solve it?

Marketing itself is its own entire challenge. What works for some authors doesn't work for everyone. I like to make skits for my characters to get an audience to vibe with them and want to read their story. Some authors have better luck talking about themselves. If you ever just go, "Hey audience, what marketing appeals to you the most," you get crickets. The trial and error (mostly error) method is the most frustrating when it comes to marketing.

What's one piece of advice you have for other writers?

A story has a beginning, middle, and end but no where does it say that you need to write it in that order. Write that action scene, love scene, big dramatic twist scene that's stuck in your head first and then go back and write the connecting scenes.

What's the link to your book?

https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Kingdom-Orion-Trilogy-Book/dp/B0DT4ZNFL2/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0