Staying motivated can be tough when you want to publish your creative work. Nicole Capó Martínez has learned how to be a published writer, creative florist, and retail manager. In this Studio 78 podcast interview with Nache Snow, Nicole reveals how despite her 9-to-5 job, she is still able to satisfy her passion for writing.
Martínez wanted to be a creative writer but was discouraged by her mother, so she studied journalism instead. She always was drawn to poetry and felt the need to be creative.
After being in an unfulfilling, uncreative job, she decided to put together something creative in a short, two-month stint. Her need to write was directly after the 2016 election, and she did not feel that she was in a safe space.
She used that fear and hurt to make something pretty with it. The result was her first book of short essays and poetry: What Makes You Soft. She wanted to find softness in everyday things and moments.
Her process of making sure that she had something real and published was daunting. She always wanted to write a book. She has many books that she started but never finished filling up her Google Drive. These were the factors that helped her finish the first book:
- She had a lot of down-time at work. Sometimes having unexpected free time gives people the motivation to get work done that they would not do otherwise.
- She needed something to help her get through the moment. After the 2016 election, she had thoughts and feelings that she needed to share. The moment guided her to get it done.
- She needed something that she put together with her own two hands. With a job that offered her no opportunities to be creative, she needed to be creative. Writing the book satisfied that need.
She wasn’t sure whether she was done or not, but she reached a point where it seemed worthy of going out into the world. She showed it to a few people who encouraged her to publish her work, and that was enough motivation.
Martínez wrote the first book in less than four months. She was going for it and in the creative space. She knew what she wanted to say.
After finishing the book, she had to decide whether to pitch it to a publisher or do it independently. She originally wanted to use a chapbook publisher because she didn’t want to have her book in her hands forever. She wanted to put her book out into the world.
Martínez looked into self-publishing and found it easy, and she discovered that Amazon had an excellent self-publishing platform. The platform is pay-per-print, so no one has to pay anything in advance.
Martínez published her book, and she marketed it in several ways. She posted on social media, and she shared it with people she knew. She worked with the Duende District pop-up bookstore in Washington DC and Albuquerque. The bookstore is for authors and readers who are people of color.
To carry her weight at the pop up, Martínez helped them with marketing and events to get her book in the pop-up, which helped her sell her books. It happened to be a time when she had resources and excitement.
Martínez chose her cover photos and inside photos from the website Unsplash. She also did all of the formatting through Google Docs. She used all the free resources she could to get her book in its final format. Martínez considers herself a cheerleader for free resources, especially as she encourages more people to publish their books.
Today’s book publishing world is different than it was several years ago. Even the people who have a publisher have to do their marketing and events. Self-publishers have to do the same thing, and they get to keep most of the money from their sales. As the world changes, writers are doing what they can to get their words out there.
After writing What Makes You Soft, Martínez decided to write a second book called Mother Tongue. She wrote her second book after Hurricane Maria hit and made her feel impotent because she could not go home to help. Martínez’s family is in Puerto Rico, so she wrote pieces about her experience growing up on the island.
You can find Martínez’s work on her website. Besides her poetry and essays, she has books that include her photography and art. She is passionate about making her art accessible to people of all financial situations.