Perryville author pens first novel

"He promised himself he would stay away from her. She has to make him believe she wants him". This is the tagline from local author Mindi Hope's debut novel.

Hope is from Perryville and has recently decided to self-publish her novel "The First Sun". This novel was an idea she had around 2018, but said she never got to sit and write the story until 2022.

"I started writing six years ago, I think I just thought it might be something that I was good at. I've always really been interested in writing. So I kind of sat down and started clicking away, but didn't take it seriously until my daughter left home about two years ago."

With her nest empty, Hope said she was trying to figure out who she was and start the second part of her life. This is when she started to write heavily.

Hope graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a master's in Criminal Justice, Justice Administration and originally thought with her background she would write a suspense novel with all the information she knew about the courtside and the legal producers.

"The First Sun", Perryville author Mindi Hope's first novel.

The more she wrote, the more she felt connected with the family dynamic of the story and the connections between the people in the story more than the police procedures.

Hope said after she had her developmental editor look over it, the novel opened up and turned from suspense to a contemporary romance.

"I think her reworking some of the things that weren't moving at the right pace helped me see what the story needed and how to change it. It went heavily to the more romantic side after that." Hope said.

"The First Sun" is about a teenage couple, 14 years old, and they accidentally start a fire that kills someone. They decide to keep the source of the fire secret from their families and move away from one another.

The novel follows them 18 years later, when they're united for the first time since. Hope says the story follows the impact of the decision they made, and how it impacted their lives and relationships, but it is primarily focused on their relationship and reconnecting after time has gone by. The main characters in the novel are Abilene and David.

Hope says one reason she wanted to write a story is because she is a recluse by nature and is not the greatest when it comes to verbal communication but is good at writing. She says by this she put pieces of herself into Abilene's personality through her writing.

"She's not 100% me, but there are bits and pieces of her that feel like pieces of myself. So it made her easy to write. She's kind of closed off to people and afraid to open up to others, and things like that. So it kind of felt a little bit cathartic to put pieces of that in her personality to make the characters connect," Hope said about her female main character.

One thing Hope said about this being her first novel is the hardship of getting published on the traditional eBay. She said there are two routes to get published: traditional and self-published. Those who self-publish, such as Hope has done, are called indie authors.

She said to get published traditionally is very hard, as you need an agent to represent you and to query many agents before they will agree to read your manuscript. Hope said many, such as herself, go through Amazon's platform, which is the largest self-publication and by doing this route she is her boss. This means she has to promote herself on social media and hope others help her as well.

"My book is doing well on Amazon and selling copies and people are reading, but like one in 25 people leave a review. If you don't have a product that has a lot of reviews on it, it's difficult to decide to go with that product because it doesn't have credibility," Hope said about trying to get her book out to the public.

She said it is challenging and that others who want to write and self-publish have to know that going in they will get rejected several times before they see any real success. But that does not mean you shouldn't keep trying.

Hope's ideal readers for this novel are women who love to read and enjoy a good book that fills one's stomach with butterflies. She said readers of Christina Lauren or

Carley Fortune will enjoy her book.

To follow and learn more about Mindi Hope, she has a website www.authormindihope.com. She is also on TikTok under the name @authormindihope.