Why Indie Authors Feel Set Up to Fail | Bitty Balducci

Season 1Episode 30Bonus EpisodeGuest Author

Jun 24

June 24, 2026

Featured Guests:
Bitty Balducci

Bitty Balducci is an indie author, marketing professor, and storyteller whose work ranges from YA dystopian sci-fi to dark speculative fiction. She is the author of *Nascent*, the first book in *The Clockwise Chronicles* trilogy, and *Shades Drawn*, a timely novella exploring identity, conflict, and survival through the eyes of a young boy navigating a rapidly changing world.

After our conversation about author scams, we kept talking—and the discussion quickly turned into a candid conversation about publishing, creativity, and the realities of being an indie author.

Bitty Balducci joins us for a bonus episode covering everything from writing and publishing a novella in less than a week to navigating traditional publishing expectations, querying frustrations, BookTok debates, and the challenges indie authors face when trying to break into the industry.

Together, we discuss creative freedom, publishing gatekeeping, long publishing timelines, and why many authors feel like they're forced to learn the rules as they go. It's an honest conversation about building a writing career on your own terms and finding the courage to follow the stories that won't leave you alone.

In This Episode

How a dream-inspired idea became a published novella in less than a week
Why Bitty believes writers should follow creative momentum when it strikes
The inspiration behind Shades Drawn and its timely, Black Mirror-style premise
Querying frustrations and the challenges of fitting books into industry expectations
Why some authors choose indie publishing over the traditional route
The realities of marketing and selling books as an independent author
Whether BookTok is changing publishing—or simply exposing existing problems
The role of gatekeeping in today's publishing landscape
Why traditional publishing timelines can feel disconnected from modern readers
Creative freedom, risk-taking, and building a writing career on your own terms
The importance of transparency and information-sharing within the author community
Hot takes on publishing, creativity, and the future of books and authorship

NASCENT

Bitty Balducci

In the wake of global unrest that dwindled the population to a fraction of
what it once was, Dr. Kate Sona’s ground-breaking technology provided
hope to many and changed world order as anyone knew it in the process.
The product at the center of The Clockwise Revolution? Time. Dr. Sona’s
team of skilled scientists commercialized sleep banking - the process by
which one extracts the restorative properties of another’s sleep. Juniper
has only ever known life at Dream Corp Onyx, the first of twenty-four
sleep banking facilities the world over. Although she has long questioned
the eugenic class system Dream Corp Onyx imposes upon its residents, an
unexpected message prompts her to scrutinize the nature of her reality
more closely. Her search for answers leads her on an epic journey and the
truth that she uncovers is more disturbing than she could have ever
imagined.

cait (00:00)
so Biddy, this is your episode. Tell us what you're doing, tell us what you're up to. Let's jump off from more. Let's start there.
Jenna (00:03)
Yes.
Bitty Balducci (00:06)
Yes, so I started off a couple of years ago writing a young adult dystopian sci-fi trilogy, and I finished the first book, got that released ⁓ in August of last year, and since then I've been in like promotion mode. Like, I don't know, like I've mostly just been like focusing on that, and I have like the book two kind of like drafted, like I have a
very weirdly extensive outline of what I'm gonna do in each chapter because turns out planning is good and I didn't do any of that the first time. So I'm like I should really probably try to do that. ⁓ because I was like constantly rewriting sections last time.
Jenna (00:43)
What?
cait (00:44)
Okay.
Bitty Balducci (00:53)
And so I was working on that, and then I got a wild hair up my ass ⁓ last month to do something totally different. So, like in the span of less than a week, I wrote a novella and like published it on Amazon, and it's totally different than what I've currently been working on. ⁓ it's kind of like Black Mirror vibes where it's kinda messed up, to be honest with you. So that's
What have I been doing?
cait (01:25)
That's wait, so were you just like it just came down from the heavens? Were you going through something? Was it a thing? Like, how do you do that?
Bitty Balducci (01:33)
You know?
I'm thinking I'm gonna go with the Came Through the Heavens. So apparently I get ideas like when I'm asleep and I'm not even kidding you, because the like core of the idea for my trilogy came like in a dream as well. And ⁓ then this idea also came in a dream and so yeah, I'm gonna go with the heavens and so I just ⁓ I don't know, I just really wanted to do something very different. Like I said, like the trilogy is young adult dystopian sci-fi so
cait (01:42)
Mm-hmm.
Bitty Balducci (02:04)
You know, there's some dark aspects to it, but it's not that heavy. ⁓ whereas this novella is like I felt messed up writing it. I'm like, what who thinks of this shit? So
Jenna (02:17)
Like I went on a trip.
Bitty Balducci (02:20)
Yeah, but I it was a ton of fun to do and ⁓ because it was such a quick turnaround, like I didn't have beta readers, I didn't have any like editor besides myself, and I kind of just wanted to put it out there because actually ⁓ we were my fiance and I I just got engaged, which I'm very excited about. So
cait (02:39)
Wait, let me see that
Jenna (02:39)
Whoa,
wait, flash that again. Show me that.
cait (02:40)
rain again? Yeah.
Bitty Balducci (02:42)
⁓
It's Jade. I love it. it's like very unique and I don't know. Anyway, so my fiance and I were going to Europe for like three and a half weeks, so I just wanted to like
cait (02:46)
Stop. That's beautiful.
Jenna (02:51)
Stunning.
Bitty Balducci (03:00)
get it out there. So yeah, I didn't do anything. Yes.
Jenna (03:02)
It's like you were
in this moment of transition and the world was just like bloop.
Bitty Balducci (03:06)
Yeah, and I think you have to listen to that as a writer. I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but it's like you might have like your plan of like, I I have to do book two or whatever it might be, but you gotta listen to those moments of inspiration because
In my experience, they don't like, you know, you can't like map it on to a different thing. It's just it you're you're energized about what you're energized about it and you're either gonna use it or lose it. And so I was like, okay, this is this is my week. This is how I'm spending my week.
cait (03:38)
That's
awesome. This had to have been very recently though. Like when did it come out?
Bitty Balducci (03:43)
It was. ⁓ May sixteenth, so not even a month ago. Yeah, yeah.
cait (03:47)
Like pitch it pitch it now, because it's that's recent. Let's promote that.
Bitty Balducci (03:51)
It is.
Okay. So the name of the book is Shades Drawn, a twisted and timely novella. And basically it like I said, it's Black Mirror.
Meets ⁓ Leave the World Behind. I don't know if you've seen that movie, but anyway, yes, so it's Black Mirror Meets World Leave the World Behind, and it takes place in the spring of 2026. Right now. And it's from the perspective of a little boy who's seven years old, and like the US Iranian war broke out. And so him I know, I'm sorry. Like I said, it's messed up. And ⁓ so him and his mom and his grandmother.
Grandfather with dementia go into hiding, and they spend the next two years, like kind of just trying to avoid detection and living in squalor. And basically, something happens that kind of breaks his whole identity and his world open. And I'll just leave it at that. It's it's a very quick read because, like I said, it's a novella, so it's like 80-some odd pages.
cait (04:56)
That's insane.
Bitty Balducci (04:59)
I there was like a long
laws and I was like, ⁓ no, did I lose?
Jenna (05:03)
No, like
cait (05:03)
No.
Jenna (05:05)
Wow. So
cait (05:06)
Dear Mike,
yeah, like what and Jenna, initial reaction when you f heard that.
Jenna (05:12)
⁓ well my initial reaction was w why are you punishing yourself?
cait (05:19)
Yeah.
Bitty Balducci (05:20)
⁓
Jenna (05:22)
Like the world's
already fucked up as it is and that sounds real fucked up.
Bitty Balducci (05:26)
I
know. I know. That's what I'm saying. It's like I felt I felt messed up writing it. But I'm like, I'm I'm doing it. I'm going for it. Very different vibe than than my YA book.
Jenna (05:28)
MY GOD!
Gosh.
cait (05:39)
What's incredible,
my fur when you were saying this, my first thought was how badass it is. And this just speaks to like you as a writer, that like you get that idea and you're like, Yeah, I can write that. Like I could do it. I could do it. That's what makes me want to read it, honestly, because I'm just like 'cause if if for some reason I was struck with an idea like that never, but like
Bitty Balducci (05:55)
Okay.
Jenna (05:55)
That like that you just like leveled up and you're like, Yeah, I can do that. Cool.
Bitty Balducci (06:02)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
cait (06:09)
You get an
idea. I would be like, that would be good if somebody wrote that.
Bitty Balducci (06:14)
Mmm Yeah, you know, I I guess I have to credit my ADHD for that because I can just go into a tunnel and not really consider if I should be in said tunnel.
cait (06:24)
Yeah.
Bitty Balducci (06:28)
So yeah, that was kind of my perspective going into it.
Jenna (06:32)
Well, I really shouldn't say
why would you punish yourself because it's like the books that I write are always they're like pretty dark. So
Bitty Balducci (06:40)
Mm, yeah.
cait (06:41)
Yeah, it it's true.
And you guys like do such creative stuff and like make up fake things and magical th like I couldn't do that with my imagination, but that's what I I don't know. I just think it it it definitely speaks volumes to you as a writer that you're like willing to take that and you like it's so important to also it's something we I feel like we've never really chatted about this in depth, but like when you get those moments of clarity, like I don't even want to say inspiration or like
It's like clarity. It's just like, yeah, like this is the idea. And you you strike. Because I'm somebody who doesn't strike, like I'll think about it. And you struck and you knew that you had to get it out now because it's for right now. It's topical right now. It had to come out. It had to be a novella and it had to come out right now.
Bitty Balducci (07:16)
Yeah.
Mm, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, yep, yep. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the relevance of this topic I sure hope this time next year will be obsolete, right? Like this whole US Iranian war, phew, it's done, it's over, it's in the past. But right now, I I
Who the heck knows what's going on? I certainly don't know what's going on.
Jenna (07:52)
Wow, yeah, that's so timely. And I think you're looking at like the themes of so many other books, you're like, yeah, like I can see how that's a commentary on XYZ topic, but like being bold enough to like, Yeah, that's exactly what this is and it's not it's gonna slap you in the face and you're gonna deal with it as like a reader. And I think that's a very
cait (07:52)
Yeah. That's all Yeah.
Bitty Balducci (08:03)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna (08:13)
Yeah, like a really bold approach with writing and I think wouldn't it be so freeing if we could do that like all day every day? It'd be like I'm just gonna I'm throw my cares to the wind and I'm going to write exactly how I wanna write it and what I wanna write it about.
Bitty Balducci (08:29)
Mm. Ya.
cait (08:29)
Mm-hmm.
I don't wanna say plan, but like what how do you feel about indie publishing? Is that something that you're like, I am an indie publisher, like I wanna say indie. Do you query? Do you like have something you wanna do for the next book? Or like what do you put your vibe on that?
Bitty Balducci (08:43)
So, okay.
So I think I did everything the wrong way, actually, turns out. So like literally, like I
cait (08:53)
Yeah.
Bitty Balducci (08:54)
attended a like writer's conference after I had published my book, self-published my book, and it was only then that I realized like at every single possible step I went against what the guidance was and I didn't even know. And I'm like, well crap. So basically as far as like publishing goes, I so my YA dystopian sci-fi, I did try to query like a little bit, but I'm
basically impatient as hell. And like the manuscript was a hundred and ten thousand words. Maybe a hundred and fifteen, I can't really remember. And then people were like, Okay, you gotta cut twenty thousand words. And I'm like, no, I don't like
That's like a fair chunk of the book. I don't want to cut that. So I kind of just and then they were like, because it's already published, we'll have to take it down, totally rename it. And I'm like, but why? It doesn't even make any sense. Anyway, so I feel like it's possible I would try to query agents in the future. But if I'm honest with you, I
I kind of feel like they just have like this idea of what mainstream wants and I don't think they're really I don't know, are they branching out a ton? And are they actually appealing to like like more distinct tastes? I'm not sure. It kinda seems like they want everything to fit into like a mold that it has been in for however long. Like, hey, YA books should not be longer than 95,000 words. Why? Who the heck says so? Like, you know, it just take the
Take the idea, and also the concept that well, we would have to take it off and rebrand it because, like, if it's not selling well as an indie author, it's not gonna sell well with us. And it's like, how do you figure? You have like this like massive system in place, distribution networks, brand power. How the heck is an indie author's success indicative of the book's potential? I believe that it is not at all because I actually am like so.
So I'm a marketing professor. I know how to sell. I can like hustle my ass off. I call it pimping, I call it pimping my book out. And I
Jenna (11:08)
YES!
Bitty Balducci (11:15)
I've had a really difficult time. And so frankly, like if I'm having a hard time and I'm perfectly comfortable putting myself out there and like having people tell me no constantly, like, how do indie authors stand a chance? It kind of just seems like the whole system is like stacked against them.
Jenna (11:34)
I completely agree. But
cait (11:38)
Yeah. And it's
like, why do you I mean, they don't really want indie authors to succeed. Like that's the whole point, right? Like why why would it benefit them?
Bitty Balducci (11:44)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. I so right.
Jenna (11:46)
Mm-hmm.
Bitty Balducci (11:50)
I so think you're right. Yeah, because they want, you know, obviously they want their cut, so they want you to need them. And that's like part of you know, like
I knew eventually we were gonna get to scams, but I swear, like I think that's why there are so many scams because there's such little information about what things are like in this industry if you're coming in as an indie author that you don't know to be wary of all of these different things. You don't even know what like the foundation of this industry is. And if you Google it, you're gonna get a bunch of spam and like you know what I mean? So I think it's like intentionally just
behind this veil so that people can't really figure out how to go about it.
Jenna (12:36)
And it's like they well, I think the you know, the common theme is just like gatekeeping. But it's like not just I'm gonna gatekeep like my tips and trick. It's like no, they're like gonna gatekeep the entire frickin' thing. But I think what's most intriguing from you know, seeing and like talking to so many different authors is that and and some that are
Bitty Balducci (12:43)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jenna (13:03)
traditionally published, some that are both, some that are only indie. And it's always this feeling of what you are the most comfortable doing. And some people it's like I am uncomfortable doing this whole entire thing. I want like Jesus take the wheel kind of moment and like let them do their thing. But others are like, I'm a little bit more comfortable like having a bit more risk. Having a bit more like
Bitty Balducci (13:16)
Mm-hmm.
And ⁓
Uh-huh.
Jenna (13:33)
Transparency, trying some new things. And some people are just like bl straight up like risk averse. And that's totally fine. Like in some areas of my life I'm absolutely risk averse. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, don't make me do that. ⁓ But I I think that's the beauty of what's happening now on social media and you know, there's this quote that like book talk kinda like ruined publishing. I'm like, nah. It it's changing it. And yes, like we're trying to
Bitty Balducci (13:36)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Jenna (14:03)
you know, steer a giant vessel and like change the trajectory of a ship and it's taking a while, but at least now there's more of us like shoving it the other way.
Bitty Balducci (14:15)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah, I saw your post about like like book talk ⁓ you know ruining the publishing industry and I'm like admittedly very out of the loop. I joined social media when I published my first book in August. So like I haven't been on social media an entire year. So I'm like really out of the loop. But like what do they even mean by that? But in what way would book talk have ruined like I know we I know that you don't agree with it, but I don't even understand how people are thinking that way.
Jenna (14:46)
They're worried that the quality isn't there. I.e. someone isn't dignifying or like isn't labeling something as good. So it's kind of like the like I have an art history background, so it's the what is considered good art. And is it only the proclamation of it? Is it the right people in the room saying it's good art? Or is it someone looking at art from a different angle and saying, I get it?
Bitty Balducci (15:00)
Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna (15:15)
And there's really no correct answer, but I also think that as ⁓ Western civilization, we have a really hard time learning from past mistakes. ⁓ and we love to repeat ourselves. So I think this is just another opportunity for the publishing industry to understand that trends are moving moving faster, books are coming out faster, y'all gotta get on board and try something different. Like, have an imprint that is like
Bitty Balducci (15:15)
Yeah. Sure.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Jenna (15:43)
Low barrier to entry, fast moving doesn't take two years for your book to come out.
Bitty Balducci (15:50)
Seriously. So much happens in two years. That's actually another reason I I just went ahead with indie publishing because like
you know, you can't get anything through in less than that that that's like the shortest possible window is two years. And so like think about how much happens in two years. Are you even gonna be interested as an author in promoting said book in two years? Like you might have moved on to something totally different, you know? And then you're having to like relive like that specific stage in your life. And I don't know, it just seems kind of wild to me.
Jenna (16:29)
Totally agree. I think it's Cait I don't know what your topic for today is, but this is a really interesting one.
Bitty Balducci (16:37)
Ha ha.
cait (16:38)
And this is why we just chat usually.