M.K. Williams is a multi-genre author writing and publishing science fiction and thrillers since 2015. Her romance debut, Fake Out Make Out, was released under her Kate Williams pen name in 2026. Williams has a thriving YouTube channel detailing her author journey with over 30,000 subscribers and growing daily. She enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter when not reading or writing.

“You’re what, twenty-three? What could you possibly have to say?” Those words, like a slap across the face, were an inflection point in my journey as a writer.

At the time, I was an earnest young aspiring author. Eager to do the hard work, take rejections from agents and publishing professionals with grace, and ‘pay my dues’ to the system in order to see my name in print one day. I had expected the thinly veiled insults, the harsh no’s, and the interminable silence when querying. I hadn’t expected the outright dismissal from a fellow author.

It was 2012 and while I was a card-carrying optimistic millennial, I wasn’t good at ‘networking.’ Living in a suburb of Tampa, FL I surely could have found other authors on social media, but the thought hadn’t occurred to me. When my library advertised an event with a local author, I couldn’t wait to go. This was my chance to make an author-friend. Someone to connect and commiserate with. I was naïve and hopeful. We’d meet, become fast friends talking about all things books, and this lonely journey to publication would feel a little more bearable.

Until I introduced myself and those terrible ten words shot out at me.

Ouch.

I wasn’t prepared for fellow authors to shut me down. To tell me I wasn’t good enough simply because of my age. I had already written two novels by then. I had an idea for a new one. But this person dismissed me and my stories as trivial, meaningless without even reading one word. Without even getting to know me.

I wish I could say that I quipped back with the perfect one-liner to show I was just as capable as her. That I turned on my heel, went home, wrote the next great American novel, and laughed all the way to the bank after a ten-way auction for my revenge book. None of that happened.

Instead, I deflated. For months my writing time became chill-in-front-of-the-TV time. Until my boyfriend (now husband) noticed and called me on it. He could see the toll rejection had taken.

“Why don’t you try self-publishing?” he offered.

Hadn’t I already explained this to him? If I self-published I would never get a publishing deal. Never see my book in stores. Never make any kind of list. I opened my laptop, determined to show him some kind of proof. Details about the prohibitively expensive cost. The space the books would take up in the garage.

Instead, I found Amazon KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing. Surely, something was too good to be true. But the more I researched, the more I found that self-publishing wasn’t the black hole of dreams and money that it had been years earlier. It was possible. And I liked the idea of a challenge. A way to find an audience and see if my work had any merit.

I wrote my next book, an apocalyptic dystopia, and spent time between drafts researching everything from ISBNs and cover design specifications, to the nitty gritty of listing the book on Goodreads and marketing. In late 2015, Nailbiters was finally published.

This was only the beginning. I had more stories to tell and all this new knowledge of how to self-publish. I released another book one year later.

And then the questions came in.

Slow at first and then all at once. Acquaintances from college. Old friends. They wanted to write and publish a book too, how did I do it? Their cousin’s friend’s sister wanted to write a book, what advice did I have? I knew I wasn’t an expert. But I also knew I was going to do whatever I could to make other writers and aspiring authors feel welcomed, that their stories mattered. I wrote out answers to their questions. Resources I’d found on self-publishing. Mistakes I’d made on book 1 that I avoided for book 2.

I was paying it forward. But it was eating into my precious writing time. Instead of writing my third book, I was carefully crafting each response. I thought about copy-and-pasting my answers from one email to another. But that felt impersonal and dismissive. I vowed to never let any author feel that way. ‘What if I started a YouTube channel?’ Surely, this would allow me to answer the most common questions, would feel more personal with my face and voice on camera, and then I could win back my writing time.

Of course, starting a YouTube channel did not save me time. It was a whole new system to learn. And I’m a words-creative. Not an A/V enthusiast. Eventually, I got the hang of it. Short and sweet videos answering one question for newbie authors at a time. Somehow, it worked. My channel launched in 2018 and now has over 32,000 subscribers.

Each time I’ve published a new book, switched to a different genre, or launched a new pen name, this audience has been there to cheer me on. And I’ve been there to cheer for them as well. I shared the highs and lows of querying agents (again) in 2023. I shared my excitement when I signed with an agency and the daunting feeling of starting over again with a new pen name earlier this year.

This October will mark 11 years since I self-published my first book. To date I’ve self-published 5 novels, two novellas, 4 self-publishing guidebooks, and my mack-daddy workbook of all things for first-time authors. With my agent, I had my first translation published and debuted as a romance author this summer. I’ve had two short stories accepted to literary magazines. I found my voice and a community over the past decade.

“What could I possibly have to say?” Turns out, quite a bit.

Fake Out Make Out by Kate Williams

Chronic illness can take down anybody, even women’s running champion Charlie Ross. Since she wants to stay involved in the world of sports but needs time to heal, she decides to take a job at FIRE, a company that specializes in international sporting event logistics. However, when Charlie questions why the “Strategic Operations” budget is inflated, she clashes with its grouchy yet annoyingly seductive manager. However, this manager has no time for love. Declan Davidson, the head of FIRE’s clandestine espionage activities, holds the weight of keeping his coworkers and other people safe from danger. He allows nobody to get too close to him, especially not after he lost his closest ally on a mission. But with the World Games approaching and stolen arms in bad hands, Declan must enroll curious Charlie into “Strategic Operations” to prevent catastrophe. Declan promises to keep her safe at every threat they encounter, but while Charlie can take care of herself on missions, keeping her feelings at bay is becoming the bigger problem.

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