Author Angela Douglas on the Thrill of Writing, Pitching, and Marketing in a World of Multi-Hyphenate Writers

It started with a chance encounter at a book signing at the local Indigo (think: Canada’s Barnes & Noble). The red and black cover of Every Fall caught my eye, coupled with my ever-present urge to support local creators and artists. The back cover blurb clinched it. It’s compelling, people. Entertaining and so timely. Angela Douglas knows a good hook.

Unsurprising, it turns out, because when we sit down to chat a few months later, she reveals that in her ‘other writing life,’ she’s a marketer. Aha! This woman is not only creative, lovely, and poised, but business savvy. These days, that is a beautiful and wholly necessary marriage of convenience in a writer’s life.

Douglas is fresh off a book tour, and we dive right into that. Though Every Fall released in January, which is when the tour originally kicked off, it was interrupted by that oh-so-typical and uncontrollable Canadian winter weather. So, Douglas took the opportunity of better weather to tour her old stomping grounds on the West Coast, as well as accept the exciting offer to interview on Global TV as part of Palma’s Picks— a very cool cherry-on-top of Douglas’ marketing efforts.

“Some traditional publishers do some marketing for you. It's very specific what they do. Marketing is actually my background, so I knew that I was going to come into this and market the heck out of it, just to give it its best go! I sent out press releases, and I did a bunch of stuff online. But the interview didn't come from me. They let readers submit who they think she should interview. So somebody who read my book—I still don't know who, I'm trying to track them down—said, ‘Oh, you have to have her on.’ At first, I thought it was a scam! But no. Palma was lovely. Of course, I was nervous because it's live, but I’m so very grateful to whoever [put me forward].”

Let's dive into the marketing. Inquiring yet-to-be published authors want to know …

“Every publisher is different, and I only have experience with this one. It’s a lot of learning! Rising Action Publishing is an indie publisher but distributed through Simon and Schuster. So, it's kind of the best of two worlds, where you have the large distributor, and then you've got the indie press who you know has their own marketing plans.”

But Douglas doesn’t count on her publisher to do the heavy lifting.

“I'm also a part of lots of different writing organizations, like Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers, and they have a lot of their own opportunities. So, I kind of looked into what each thing offered and took advantage of as much as I could, leading up to the release.”

Putting yourself, the human behind the work, out there can be tricky. By nature, a lot of us are writers so we can squirrel away behind our screens, collecting memories and experiences and imaginative wonderings to spill onto the page for others to consume. But in order for our audience to even learn we have something to share in the first place, we need to step out from behind our desks, stretch, and welcome a little one-on-one.

Douglas recently did just that at ‘the premier conference for thriller enthusiasts’ in NYC.

“ThrillerFest: The International Thriller Writers puts it on, and it's basically the thriller nerds all in one room. I went to it in 2022 when I was pitching Every Fall. I had just finished writing it, I ran it through a bunch of editors, and they have a section called Pitch Fest, where you're in a room of 60 different agents and publishers, and I think 400 authors. You have three minutes, and you're running left and right, and I did get a lot of interest at the conference, though that's not who ended up signing my book. But when I went there, I was so focused on just that, that I didn't even notice all the cool stuff happening around me. Then when I had the chance to go back [this year] and was able to speak on a panel, I definitely wanted to take advantage of it all. This time I also did a full six days. I was able to pitch my third book, and I was able to meet a lot of these people who I've read for years and then some other people who I've only ever met online, through Zooms and conferences and stuff. It was amazing.”

Wait: but Douglas already has a publisher. More pitching?

“Every time you have a book, you have to pitch it, and your publisher will sometimes ask to read your next book, or take your next book, and sometimes you want to carry on with them, and other times you want to see what else is out there. And my first book, very exciting, good to go. My second one comes out in June of 2026, and then I wrote a third book, and I have been shopping it around—I actually have five books. I have a fourth one that I need to polish, and I've outlined a fifth—but I want an agent to be able to help me. We're lucky that a lot of us don't need an agent in Canada, or we can go direct to publisher, but I definitely want somebody on my side. So, that's what my next goal is: to get an agent.”

Getting repped: Every writer’s dream. Meanwhile, Douglas is focused on the most important part. The #1 goal and sometimes, the hardest part of being a writer: The Writing. Knowing your story and your audience.

“It's different for everybody, because a lot of us writers are introverted, and we don't necessarily like doing this kind of stuff. I will say I've done marketing for many different corporations and industries, and it's way different doing it for your own novel. It's good to have a background in it, but it's still just as hard to balance, because your number one goal is to write the book, and then for people to like your book, that's basically what it boils down to.

"Getting the right audience is lucky for just about anybody, but it's huge to go to conferences and to read in your own genre and be very familiar with what people are looking for. It does all work well together, the networking, the promotion, the events and the organizations. It's a lot! But I think you lean into whatever you're comfortable with.”

And Douglas is very comfortable in the world of Every Fall. A blend of psychological tension and supernatural elements, it touches on heavy themes like PTSD and PPD, explores toxicity within police culture, and as the spouse of a retired police officer, she’s writing from a place of firsthand experience coupled with endless research.

“My personal experiences deeply influenced the authenticity and emotional depth of Every Fall, having lived closely with someone in law enforcement, I’ve seen the unspoken hardships and the mental toll it takes. This intimacy helped me shape the psychological landscape of the characters, particularly the stress and trauma they endure, which I believe adds a layer of realism and relatability to the story.

"I was motivated by a desire to shed light on issues often shrouded in stigma. PTSD and PPD are profound and debilitating conditions that can isolate those affected. By weaving these themes into my narrative, I hope to foster understanding and encourage conversations that lead to more compassion and support for those suffering.”

This balanced perspective blends with Douglas’ goal to portray the complexities of police culture without bias, using supernatural elements as metaphor for the “unseen battles people face internally.”

Does she still worry how the story might be perceived, due to all these sensitive topics? Absolutely.

But Douglas also believes that “writing is a great way to work it out. I want to honor the people that do this in real life and do it in a way that’s respectful. Also, postpartum is talked about a little more now than when these characters were going through this in the 2010s, same with PTSD. These were both topics that people shied away from that impacted a lot of people. And of course, the icing on the cake is when you get an email from somebody who really resonates with the book, that makes some of the [bad] reviews go away, and some of the other things, because you've touched somebody. Not everybody will agree with the way that I perceived it, but that's the same in any art form.”

Douglas’ multi-faceted approach to writing—the writing itself, marketing, networking—is also supplemented by other writing-inspired means that make for a fulfilling writers’ life. Like teaching pitching workshops, freelance work, volunteering with a number of groups, and being a good mom. Along with finding your people—remember all those writers’ associations Douglas is a part of!

Her best pitching advice?

“There’s a piece of us in everything that we write. Every book that I’ve written is very different. They are in the thriller/suspense category, but at the same time, my characters make different choices than I would. You do have to justify why you are the right person to write it, but it’s not because you have it as a lived experience. It’s because it evoked an emotion in you that drove you to write the story.

“Every time you write a book, you get 100 objections. You're like, well, I'm garbage. But then 101 comes, or you get a five-star review, or somebody emails and says your book moved them. You have to keep those, hang them up, ignore the rest. I think most writers on book 5, 10, 20 still have imposter syndrome and go, ‘oh God, nobody is gonna like this.’”

And how do you talk yourself through that?

“I don’t!” she laughs. “I ignore myself. When you’re saying those things to yourself, you’re not being rational. And if it’s going to hold you back, you have to go through that happy file of good reviews. Not everybody is going to like you. There isn’t a single book out there that everybody has agreed on. And think: why did you start writing in the first place? You must like it, or you’re a bit nutty, or both. Something is propelling you to keep doing it. Take a few days off if you need to, but remind yourself why you keep doing it.”

*Feature Photo: Angela Douglas (Credit Deanna Dunham Designs)