We were lucky to catch up with Briana Garrett recently and have shared our conversation below.
Briana, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Deciding to publish Love Be Damned independently after walking away from traditional publishing was challenging, and I was definitely riddled with self-doubt and imposter syndrome. There were a lot of times I felt like I was a fraud because I was choosing to walk away from an opportunity that could have changed the course of my career. I didn’t want people to think I was doing this because I was incompetent or because I “wasn’t good enough” although admittedly sometimes it felt that way.
Reflecting on it now, I feel like I still have a bit of imposter syndrome, but it’s much more manageable now. Joining online communities for people in creative fields was helpful for me because it showed me that there is definitely more than one way to end up where you’re meant to be. In my case, I surrounded myself with other authors who were also hoping to be published, along with friends and family who believed in me and my work. Their support helped me see the bigger picture and showed me that a lot of the doubts in my head were wildly overblown.
As an artist, it’s easy to give in to self-doubt, but I was fortunate enough to have a great community to fall back on so that it didn’t overtake me. Seeking out other authors in my situation made me feel more confident about my decision, and it was nice to have others understand what I was going through. I was definitely able to combat my imposter syndrome by relying on the people in my life: my online writing community, my family, and my friends were all there to encourage me and help me feel secure in my abilities. They’re the reason why I’m able to do any of this.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My name is Briana Garrett, and I’m a young adult author born and raised in Las Vegas, with a BA in Literature from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. I love writing stories about Black girls finding their way in the world. Whether it’s sci-fi, fantasy, or anything in between, I believe that Black girls can face anything with humor, heart, and family.
Recently, I decided to self-publish my debut novel, Love Be Damned, about a young fashion designer who has to save her younger sister from a demon, with the help of her guardian angel. The book is set to release on May 15th, 2025, and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.
For more information about me, or Love Be Damned, you can visit my website: https://brianagarrett.com/
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities and skills that I believe were the most impactful for me personally were: resilience, research, and self-confidence.
The ability to persist despite challenges that arise is very important. I could have given up multiple times throughout this process once things got a little bit difficult, or I got a little tired of the project. There were several times when I was frustrated by having to go through the publishing process on my own. However, deciding to see the project through was very special because it meant that my book would be published, and that was worth the challenges.
I was always a good student, and so I knew I was going to have to conduct some research in order to successfully publish this book, and so I followed other authors online and read blog posts and watched YouTube videos about how to successfully launch a debut novel. Most of the information I needed was available to me for free, and that removed a lot of the guesswork of having to navigate it all on my own. Compiling a list of resources and knowing when to refer back to them was invaluable in this journey, and I would recommend doing research and building knowledge before you launch into any project.
Thanks to the research I did, I had confidence in my ability to make decisions that would be good for my book. I knew how I wanted my book to look and what platforms I wanted your book to be available on because I had reviewed the information from other credible sources. I can’t state enough that being able to feel confident about the decisions you are making in the moment is an incredibly helpful skill. It can also help combat imposter syndrome when you feel you’re making the most informed decision for you.
My advice to develop all three of these skills is to start small. Find something that matters to you that you would like to work on. It can be something simple- like a book, or a small business, or a new recipe. Make sure it’s something that matters to you, though, because it’s much harder to give up on something that’s important to you. Then do some research about the topic until you feel confident enough to decide how to make that project your own.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
As an indie author, I’m interested in reaching as many readers as possible and finding my audience. I would love for booksellers and librarians to reach out to me if they are interested in reading a copy of the book for review and placement in one of their locations. I would also love to partner with a book box or a subscription company to offer exclusive editions of my book so newer readers who may not be familiar with me could enjoy them. If they’re interested, they can reach out to me through the contact form on my website, at https://brianagarrett.com/.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brianagarrett.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/books_by_bri/
- Twitter: https://x.com/brianawrites
- Other: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/brianawrites.bsky.social
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
