Is this thing on?

scottfsowter
Sep 16
2 min read

Things I Didn’t Know When Publishing My First Book... Turns out it’s a lot!

It’s the 16th of September, 2025, which means Criminal Cove has been out in the world for just over eight months now. Released on January 30th, it has been an exciting ride since then, equal parts thrilling, surprising, and at times, frustrating.

Criminal Cove is my debut novel, and today marks not only a chance to reflect on that journey but also to launch this blog officially. If you’ve read my posts on Instagram (where I’m most active), you might have seen me hint at some of these things before. But here, I want to go a little deeper into what I didn’t know about publishing a first book.

The Publisher Story (Or Lack Thereof)

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that my original publisher has vanished from my website, and I’m not exactly singing their praises on social media

anymore. Long story short: I wasn’t satisfied with the way they were advertising and promoting Criminal Cove.

For a debut author, marketing and visibility are everything. And while I’m grateful for the experience of being published, it wasn’t what I hoped it would be. So, after a lot of thought, I leapt.

Which brings me to…

Criminal Cove: The Shock Edition

The book has been reborn in what I’m calling the Shock Edition, now available through Amazon, sfsowter.com.au, and on Indie Reads (a platform I’m very proud to be part of).

This new edition is largely the same story, but it comes with two extras:

A brand-new preface
The first two chapters of Criminal Cove 2 (yes, it’s coming, eventually!)

Publishing, as I’ve discovered, isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. But self-publishing? That’s where I’ve found a sense of freedom, control, and even joy. And I’ve been lucky to learn from amazing authors I’ve met along the way, people like T.D. Lawler, E.M. Peck, John Franz, and Kara Zone. The indie writing community is vibrant and generous, and I’m grateful to be part of it.

What’s Next?

At the moment, I’ve just finished my second novel, Strike Force Delta, a military thriller that I’m very excited to release.

I plan to use this blog to share the journey of bringing that book into the world, step by step.

But that’s not all. I’ve been itching to branch out into movie reviews, reflections, and all kinds of creative commentary.

This space, I hope, will become something alive, something worth coming back to.

And speaking of upcoming adventures, I’m off to Oz Comic Con Sydney this week! Expect a full blog post about the event soon.

Final Thoughts

So, here we are. The first of what I hope will be many (many, many, many) blog posts. Some will probably annoy you, others I hope you’ll love, but most importantly, I hope you’ll engage with them.

Because of this, writing, publishing, and sharing stories isn’t just about me. It’s about community. It’s about building something together. And if Criminal Cove has taught me anything, it’s that the journey is always more important than the destination.

Here’s to the next chapter!

SF Sowter

16/09