Where has Alaina Rose been?

Hey y’all! It’s been a while. Why?

Well, after my last book release, Not Looking, I had a dark night of the soul. (I said this jokingly to a friend yesterday, but it’s really so true.)

I’ve been self-publishing since April 2023 and with my July 2025 release, I felt utterly defeated. I wrote and published five books in just about two years, self-promoed to the edge of my bandwidth, and didn’t have much to show for it. Still don’t. Other than, you know, the books. I contemplated quitting, unpublishing everything, and sublimating into mist.

I didn’t. But I did take a break. Cleared my socials of most of my book promo, did a few signing events (which I loved), wrote 25k in a novella that probably will never see the light of day, cycled between 275 different book ideas (a couple that I talked about here but never became anything), and debated different publishing paths.

I’ve been in publishing long enough to see a lot of author paths unfold. But the most inspiring are the ones who never gave up. One author, who never stopped writing and promoting, finally has meaningful traction. Another who queried different books for years and just debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list. Another who queried a book for nearly a year to ultimately sign with a great agent.

Time is a weird thing, because while I’ve been published for almost three years now, that doesn’t mean much in publishing time. Traditionally published authors get deals that they can’t talk about for a year re: a book that doesn’t come out for another year after that. Going viral can mean a book with mid page reads becomes an author’s best read book nearly overnight.

All this bitching and moaning to say, I’m still here. I’m my own worst enemy by far. I write books I love, that sell well in person, and I’m not ready to give up.

Stay tuned for what’s coming next. And if you’re interested, you can find me over on socials yeeting reels into the void.

• Third Coast Author Festival, Grand Haven, MI, March 21

• Dreaming Dirty, Ann Arbor, MI, April 12 (my third publish-versary!)

• Detroit Festival of Books, Detroit, MI, July 19

• Lust in the City, Owosso, MI, November 7

Will I see you at any events? Make sure to come say hello!

Thanks for being here.

Cheers,

Alaina Rose