Indie Author Advent Day 27: Jessica Todd
Welcome to day 27 of the 2025 Indie Author Advent! This fun series will help us to get hyped for 2026 by celebrating some of the wonderful indie releases of 2025! Today I am interviewing Jessica Todd. Be sure to check out my Instagram for even more excitement with this event!
Jessica's 2025 Release
1. What is your favorite thing about your 2025 release?
"I've written a lot, but this is my first time publishing any of my works. The funny thing is that this genre has never been on my roster. I mainly read and write fantasy and sci-fi, but this was the one to get published. Why? This is my favorite thing about this book is what it taught me. I rarely got caught up on the intricacies of what shape a Utahraptor's teeth were or thousands of years worth of fantasy lore. It's a short, fairly simple story about things I've dealt with and am familiar with: anxiety, church hurt, and an ever-increasingly obvious fear of failure. Now that I've crossed that line of throwing it out into the sea of other self-published books, I'm not as terrified as I was before hitting that button. It's a sea, but I know it's out there. I write much more confidently than I did, knowing that while yes it is scary to go to book signings and I still get stuttery and garbled when someone asks me about my book, but that feeling of knowing that I put something very personal of myself out there makes it so totally worth it - plus that serotonin you get from someone buying or even being interested in your book is awesome."
2. What are your inspirations for your book?
"My inspiration came from a few different sources, but the main one has to be church hurt. As I've grown up in church my whole life and have been around one of many aspects of that culture, I've seen and experienced firsthand how abusive some people will become when given power and/or authority. While largely there are people trying every day to do good and be the best representatives of Christ they can be, the law of big numbers applies - especially to such a large religion - and there are thousands of people who use God's Word for their own evil pursuits, and a lot of those are doing it intentionally. This was how my antagonist was born - out of a hatred for good being twisted for evil, pushing hatred towards our fellow human beings, and that person setting themself up as the cream of the crop when they aren't fit enough to clean a pig's sty... Also, I just love baking cookies."
3. Why do you think representation is so important in books?
"Representation is one of the most important attributes of a book while also being one of the most mishandled. It's one thing to have a character that is a POC, queer, or other marginalized attributes, but it's so important to represent that person well, not only in having that attribute, but also a personality outside of that one aspect. A character whose sole characteristic is the color of their skin, especially a hyper-stereotypical version of what the author sees that race as, is not a good character. 'They're black, so they act like a black character.' No, that's not how people work. It's difficult to fully represent the spectrum that is humanity in one book, but doing research into your characters' attributes, even if they're a side character or passing NPC, will be the difference between a real-feeling world with real-feeling characters and a one-dimensional addition to the ocean of token _____ characters. This representation will speak to someone reading your book, and whether that's an insightful nod or an insult is up to the author."
4. Any advice for people who want to publish in 2026?
"Do it. Has the idea been done before? Sure, but not by you. Does it need polishing? They always do, even mainstream published authors have typos and plot holes. Get it written, make your mark, even if not many people read it. You will have done it. You can do it."
5. What are you most looking forward to in 2026? Any more releases on the horizon?
"I'm excited to do a couple of book signings I have planned, but I'm most excited to see where this book-writing will lead. I'm currently working on the sequel to my first book, but I am also working on a Sci-Fi western with robot dinosaurs... and yes, I too am excited for that one to come out."
6. Is there anything else you would like to add?
"Thank you, Harlow Rose, for featuring me and my little book, and to you, the scroller, for reading. I hope each and every one of you has a good day and a better year than last year, and know that you're loved and worth more than the lies you've been told."
Outro
Thank you to Jessica for getting involved in this advent! I am excited to see what they come out with in 2026. Stay tuned tomorrow for another amazing indie author and their releases!
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