Alex Aster’s Starside isn’t her first novel nor is it her big foray into a new genre or age group. But it still feels different. The author hosted a big party to announce the book back in September much to the surprise to her biggest fans who had no idea what the author had up her sleeve. After all, between her hit Lightlark series and the upcoming Barbie fantasy novel she’s also been working on, the author has been booked and busy recently. So how did she suddenly have a new book that was going to be released in less than a year?
It started off as a secret that not even her own agent knew about. Unlike her other books that have gained big fan fare and excitement—as well as plenty of fan theories of what was going to happen next—Alex decided to keep this one for herself. This wasn’t just another Alex Aster novel that she was giving her voracious readers. This one was from Alexandra Pierson for Alexandra Pierson.
“I wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible, because I had been writing it for years before that point, and I really wanted to just keep it mine,” she told Cosmopolitan. “It meant a lot to me, and I wanted to get back to that place that I used to be in when I was 12-years-old and first starting to write books.”
What came from it was an over 500-page adult romantasy that follows a young woman named Aris who signs up for a deadly competition to get revenge on the gods. Her biggest foe is Harlan Raker, a guard who hides behind a mask and whose deadly sword makes everyone who come near him fear for their lives. It’s all the makings of an Alex Aster classic, even if it also brought its own unique set of challenges that forced her to look back at her own journey of success and self-discovery in a way she hadn’t before.
Cosmopolitan got to chat with the #1 New York Times bestselling author about her surprising new journey to Starside, how turning 30 changed her point of view of success, and navigating the internet in a time where reader and author spaces have started to blur.
Everything about this novel’s release has been different. How has that been for you to navigate?
It was really different because I wrote the book in secret. For the last few years, I have shared what I'm writing. Summer in the City was kind of a surprise, but I did share it a year before it came out, and so people knew it was coming. I wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible, because I had been writing it for years before that point, and I really wanted to just keep it mine. It meant a lot to me, and I wanted to get back to that place that I used to be in when I was 12-years-old and first starting to write books and it was just me and the page, and I didn't have readers that cared about anything that I was writing. It was truly just me writing exactly what I wanted to read. There were times when I honestly considered whether or not I would publish it.
As the years went on, I kept writing it. I just felt so in love with the story, and so I did not want to announce it until I knew for sure it was done. It felt very personal in ways that other books haven't, just because it was my secret for a long time. It's my favorite book that I've ever written. It was also the hardest book I've ever written to just because it's so long and because the character was so different.
You’ve written in this genre before and Summer in the City is an adult novel. How was it bridging those two together to create your first adult romantasy?
You have someone who is a fully formed character. This isn't necessarily like a self-discovery. She knows who she is, but it's inner growth. She's kind of growing past some stuff that she's held really close to her heart for a while. She has a lot of female rage, but she she's also very kind and loves the magic of Starside. Writing her was also a journey, and I felt so bad for her at so many times, because she has such a tragic backstory. So it was fun, but also the hardest book that I've ever written.
We’re both 30-years-old, so I’m curious if that had also something to do this. I feel like I still didn’t know myself in my 20s, but have more of an understanding of who I am in my 30s.
I agree with you. I love 30 because I think you spend your whole 20s scared reaching 30 because there are so many expectations, but I love it. When people find you and your books when you're 26, they always just think that you're that age. They don't realize that, obviously, you grow. I know who I am, for better, for worse, right? I'm not ashamed that I love to just be inside and not go out and my perfect day is just sitting on the couch and either watching reality TV or reading with a hot chocolate. Before, I used to be like, What's wrong with me?
It did change how I approach the character. With Lightlark, you have a character who has never experienced anything. She's been trapped in this tower and she's never experienced romance, has never experienced the world. Aris has been through so much that the day that the worst thing ever in her life happened, she kind of grew up. She spent the last 10 years so committed to a goal, but also she's had to just survive. This book starts with the line, “This will kill me,” and she knows that she's diving head first into something that she should not survive, and she's okay with that. It was different because in YA, I was writing a character who transforms so much book to book. Aris definitely will transform throughout the series, but in a way that an adult does.
Writing is already a solitary experience, but things change you suddenly have editors you work with and a fan base behind you. How your approach change knowing you weren’t sure if it was even going to come out.
The good thing about it is that you have readers who are waiting. But on the flip side, it really can be paralyzing to think, Oh, whatever I write right now, I know a lot of people are going to read right. Having that feeling of someone looking over your shoulder can be really hard. I'm lucky enough that at this point, I feel like I could kind of write whatever I wanted, and the publisher would not be telling me, Oh, we don't think this would sell. Or, maybe you should change this, because I had proven myself over many years and with sales.
I really love my readers, and I am extremely grateful, because they are the difference between me having a career or not. I tried for so long to be an author and they were the ones who made it possible for me to write books and publish them. I always feel this pressure to make sure whatever I'm handing readers is the best work that can possibly do and something that I think they'll enjoy. The cool part is, because I'm so active on social media, I do feel like I know my readers, and that we have the same taste.
After years working so long with a specific schedule and cadence, how do you balance getting to work with something with no limitations?
I had so many deadlines, especially with Lightlark, that I was writing this in between. I know it sounds wild, because when that's your job, wouldn't you want to be doing anything else? But I genuinely love to write, and writing has always been the only escape I have mentally. It's the only thing that will quiet my anxiety, like I just need to plunge into a world. And so it really was kind of therapeutic for me to have something in between that series—that has such a large readership—to just write something for me. Sometimes it doesn't work. But it was refreshing to write something from the beginning, just not knowing and having the freedom to be able to say, Okay, maybe I won't publish this. When I told my agent about it, I was like, If anyone finds out I'm writing this, it might be my Midnight Sun. When you're writing, it is so solitary, and you do trick yourself to saying, Oh, whatever, it's just me. But just knowing that there are any expectations, even from the publishing side, I didn't want to put that pressure on this book.
I often ask this question to indie authors, but it’s very interesting that it applies here to you as well: When did you know that it was the right time to take a real chance on it and give it to the world?
Publishers definitely want you to reveal a book with as much time as possible to get more pre-orders. In a perfect world, they would have loved for me to reveal it a year before. And I honestly asked, Can we just reveal it a month before? Not because I wanted to keep a secret that long, but because I'm a reader. I know what it's like to have a book announced and you're like, It comes out in a year. I don't want to wait. I genuinely wanted to be like, Here. It's coming out and you could read it tomorrow. But there's so many other parts of the publishing industry that I don't control or don't know anything about. So I basically was like, What is the last possible moment you can give me? I announced it in September, so six months before, which in publishing time that's nothing. As a reader, that feels like forever.
As a person who is now working with a publisher, six months feels like a nightmare.
I'm genuinely such a fan girl for other books. Reading is what got me into writing. I get so impatient too. I just can't wait for readers to finally have it in their hands after so many years of it just being mine.
You mentioned how your previous book sales have proven that a publisher can take a chance on something new from you, but one can also argue that you’ve also proved yourself with your own writing.
Summer in the City was the first real risk. People definitely told me, This is a dumb career move. Your YA fantasy is what's selling. You should just keep doing that. When I first started trying to get published, over 15 years ago, that was not a thing. You could not go to another genre, because people thought your audience would not follow. But, in the last five years, readers have changed the entire industry. They read widely. Someone reads a rom-com one day, romantasy the next day, historical fiction the next day. People's tastes are so varied and hat was a book where I was just like, Well, that's what I was reading. That's what I really want to write. HarperCollins took a chance on it and it did really well. That was the point where I proved my readers will follow me to a totally new genre and a new age group. She knows not only what she's doing, but she knows her audience.
I knew Starside would be an easier sell, because it is romantasy. This is my ninth published book. I published three books last year. With every little new thing that worked, I got more trust, but it took many, many years and many releases. Luckily, now authors have a lot more power, especially if they have a social media presence. I do all the marketing myself for social media. I'm the one recording the videos, editing them, posting them. It's obviously extra work that did not exist 20 years ago. For an author, my job is very different than it was before, because social media exists. But if the readers hadn't responded to every release, the next one wouldn't have happened.
20 years ago it was also hard to imagine an author releasing three books in one year.
I've always written a lot and I've always just spent all of my free time writing. During the five years that I only had one book a year come out, I was writing other books. It's a mix between the fact that now publishers want to publish me and a lot of the books that came out last year or coming out this year I wrote years ago. It’s like an actor. One year they have like five movies come out, but they recorded them many years ago. With the Lightlark books, I spent a lot more time during those years doing social media. I used to film videos every single day, for years, now I only film videos once a week. Now I'm lucky that readers have really taken that over.
I start writing at 6:30 A.M. That's my Golden Hour, because no one's emailing me. I put my phone in another room and it's just me and the page. Then I'll eat, and I'll do emails and maybe something for social media. Then I go back. The last few years, when I was given these opportunities that I just never had before—like the Barbie book—it just became me writing seven days a week, all day, writing more than ever, having to give up some of the social media time and just really fully immersing myself. It's less about me wanting to keep up with the moment and more about how this is what I've loved forever. I’m so happy, but it's not sustainable. I definitely cannot do this forever.
I did not have a life. I went on five different tours. I was writing seven days a week from 6:30 A.M. to way past midnight. I didn't see anyone. I was just in my apartment for weeks without leaving. But things ebb and flow. I had so much energy to write last year, but if that changes, then I don't publish as many books in a year. As long as I keep loving it and I keep I waking up every day so excited to dive back into the world…but if that ever changed, I wouldn't do it. Some books are harder than some. Some are longer than others. But nothing distracts me or gets me out of my head like writing. I have the most fun and I'm happiest in my life when I'm writing a lot. So, I'm like, Let me write more.
You mentioned how you’re starting to spend less time on social media and there’s a lot of conversations happening about reader spaces online versus author spaces. But as a person who spends a long time navigating both, how do you deal with that especially with those who have very strong opinions about you, your writing, and what you do?
I'm really lucky that my readers will tag me in the videos they want me to see. I just go through all my tags and I repost a lot, because, first of all, I am still genuinely shocked that anyone has read any of my books. I know how lucky I got with everything lining up at the time that it did and that Tiktok even exists. I'm so grateful for social media. I was 26 when Lightlark came out. I was 12 when I started querying. Lightlark was my first book that got any sort of sales that were meaningful. From 12 to 26 I was fighting to try to get an agent, then a book deal, than any readers. Tiktok was the difference so I can't ever feel negative towards something that changed my career.
I don't get tagged in or like stuff I don't want to see. When I scroll, if I ever see my book and I didn't get tagged, and I just keep scrolling. That is not for me. I do scroll a lot on Tiktok and Instagram, because you have to know the trends. But also, I like it. That's how I get my recommendations. On Instagram, I never scroll. I only see people's stories.
We also were talking about turning 30. I don't know, I feel different. I just…I don't care, you know? I wake up and I'm like, A day where my shoulder doesn't hurt? It's
a great day! You're so grateful for things you took for granted before.
Speaking of social media, I need to ask because I saw some of your fans were surprised to see you cancelled your appearance at BookCon.
Oh, it was just a scheduling conflict because I'm going to be in the UK for
tour. I couldn't get back on time. My panel was supposed to be late in the day, and then my signing was in the morning. My flight gets in just in time for the panel, so if I couldn't do the signing, I didn't want to disappoint readers.
And I was like, I'm probably going to be so tired. That’s something with signings. I'm a huge introvert, but I love meeting my readers. I even recognize people's faces now. But if I can't give so much energy to every single person, then I won't do a signing. I would rather someone not meet me and be like, Oh, she didn't smile or wasn't excited. So, yeah, it was purely just a scheduling conflict.
We’re out of time, so to wrap up, any final words for readers?
Starside is my favorite book that I've ever written, and it was such a portal and such an escape for me. I hope that readers find the same escape in the book.
Starside, by Alex Aster is available now from Avon. To preorder the book, click on the retailer of your choice:
AMAZONAUDIBLEBARNES & NOBLEBOOKS-A-MILLIONBOOKSHOPAPPLE BOOKSKOBOLIBRO.FMTARGETWALMARTPOWELL'S BOOKSHUDSON BOOKSELLERSGOOGLE PLAYEBOOKS.COM
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