Ed note: I’ve embedded a few TikTok videos in this post, which autoplay for NO GOOD REASON but the audio should be off. 

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Hi again Smart Bitches! Amy Zed here with an extra special Q & A. Today I’m chatting with viral Booktoker and author Liz Shipton.

We’re going to get into some fun stuff—including magical parts, and we’ll dive into more serious subjects, too—like how Liz’s upcoming urban fantasy romance tackles AI’s impact on marginalized communities.

Honestly, getting to chat with the authors I admire has been one of the hugest highlights that’s come out of self-publishing my cyberpunk romantasy, A Symphony of Starlight, and I’m especially excited to chat with Liz because she started out in self-pub just like me!

With the seven-book seafaring Thalassic Series under her belt and Booktok content getting millions of views, Liz is in the midst of tackling a new adventure—her trad pub debut. Dot Slash Magic, and urban fantasy romance with a techie twist, releases on August 15th!

Amy: Liz, I’m so excited to talk about Dot Slash Magic, but before we get going on books, I just have to say, your life sounds like an adventure novel in itself! What’s it like living on a sailboat?

Liz: You know, you would be surprised how quickly it becomes normal! I think when people hear “sailboat life” they automatically assume “living the dream” but to be honest, after four years, it’s really just “living.”

Don’t get me wrong – some days are definitely an adventure. We anchor in some of the most beautiful places in the world, and we’ve seen some truly amazing things (the bioluminescence in Costa Rica is stunning, and some remote parts of Panama feel like something straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.) But there’s also a lot of just…buying your groceries, working on the computer, figuring out how to get around without a car, taking the dog to the vet, etc. And then there are days when it’s raining and you accidentally leave the hatches open so your bed gets soaked, and you question why you are even doing this with your life at all, LOL.

Amy: Now, I first encountered you through your videos. I’m a romantasy reader through and through, but I’ve always found certain aspects of romantasy… questionable… so when your “Enemies to Lovers Fantasy Romance” video popped up in my feed, I found myself nodding along emphatically and yelling, “EXACTLY!”

The way you poke loving fun at our favourite genre is pure gold. What inspired you to start posting these videos?

Liz: I think those videos came, first and foremost, from a place of me realizing that I wasn’t quite the writer I wanted to be when I started out. I had visions of myself crafting these mind-bendingly unique, poetic sentences that would leave people speechless.

But the reality was that I found myself writing “she narrowed her eyes” a lot. And then I started reading other books in the genre, and realized that…everyone was kind of doing that. So it was a combination of me poking fun at my own writing, and also poking a bit of fun at the genre.

It was also, to be honest, a way to vent my frustration at the way books are marketed these days, particularly on places like Booktok. When you’re on the app a lot, you start to feel like everything is just tropes, and as someone who’s striving to write something a bit different, it can start to feel a little aggravating.

@lizshiptonauthor Who doesn’t love a good enemies to lovers? #womenwritingmen #bookboyfriends #bookboyfriendsdoitbetter #fictionalmen #enemiestolovers #fantasyromance #lizshipton ♬ In The Forest (Acoustic Indie No Copyright) – Instrumental – Lesfm & Olexy

Amy: Liz, I feel that in my bones. My combo of cyberpunk and romance is definitely not the norm. It’s hard to market! And I can see how a seafaring dystopian romance series like Thalassic would be tough to market in the world of Fae Kings and Shadow Daddies as well. But it sounds like your videos worked!

You had The Thalassic Series, you gained a big following with your Booktok content, and now you’ve got your first trad pub deal. How did it all go down?

Liz: I originally got on social media to promote The Thalassic Series back when it was just 3 YA books with very little romance. I got “corrupted” by Booktok and decided to create an aged-up version of the series with more romance and spice. During that time, I was learning a lot about the tropes and expectations of the genre, which is what led to me putting up those videos.

Those videos landed my face in front of an agent – Amy Collins – who reached out to me via DM. I was skeptical, because I’d never heard of that happening, but I’m very much a person who thinks you should throw lots of things against the wall and see what sticks, so I did some due diligence to learn more about her (turns out, she’s awesome!) and said yes. We pitched Dot Slash Magic as three chapters and a synopsis, and it was picked up quite quickly by Angry Robot Books.

My social media presence was definitely instrumental in me landing that deal, but I do also want to give my writing some credit: the book is awesome!

Amy: Absolutely. I’m so excited about Dot Slash Magic. Based on the blurb, it’s got everything I love—banter, magic, tech, spice. Can you share a little more about the story?

Liz: It’s about a self-taught coder in her mid-twenties, who never went to college and has been bumming around Europe since high school. She’s kind of a deadbeat and very cynical, and after she gets dumped by her boyfriend, her mom is basically like “You need to get your shit together” and convinces her to come back to San Diego to go to community college. At school, she stumbles into an underground magic society, discovers she has magic, and then uses her coding skills to build an artificially intelligent assistant powered by sorcery. Hijinx and hilarity (and murder) ensue when monsters show up and start hunting her friends. Everyone blames her magic AI, but she’s convinced someone is trying to frame her.

It’s kind of a satirical take on the tech industry, wrapped in an urban romantasy. It’s funny, a bit spicy, and very bonkers, but it also tries to dig into some fairly deep questions surrounding the current state of AI, particularly its impact on artists and marginalized communities.

@lizshiptonauthor When the relationship should really be disclosed to HR #womenwritingmen #womenwritingwomen #fictionalmen #bookboyfriend #dystopianromance #fantasyromance ♬ Dark horror, vampire, vampire, bizarre(1146217) – G-axis sound music

Amy: You have such a great sense of humour that I knew your book would be bursting with fantastic lines. Then I saw this quote:

And then his dick began to grow. Not get harder. Literally grow. Seven’s eyes went wholly wide as she looked down between them. “No.”
He grinned. “Yes.”

I squealed when I read that. Clearly you’ve outdone yourself. I HAVE to know, what’s the deal with the MMC and his member?

Liz: Hahahaha! Well, as I’ve said, I spend a fair amount of time on Booktok, so I guess I wrote that for them, LOL. I think I was striving for something a bit different from the standard “shadow daddy.” Because to be totally honest, I don’t really get the whole “shadows” thing. Are they actually shadows? Or are they more like smoke? He can pick stuff up with them? HOW??? It never made sense to me, and it seems like a hugely missed opportunity to have a dude with magic in a book and not make his dick magic. Like….why is everyone not doing that??? Who gives a fuck about shadows when you can literally have a magic peepee???

Amy: And speaking of magical peepees, your video “Women writing *ahem* MEN” has over one hundred thousand views on Instagram and that’s not even counting all the views over on TikTok and YouTube.

@lizshiptonauthor The ML of Dot Slash Magic has a ✨magic✨ ding d0ng and if THAT doesn’t make you want to pre-order it, I honestly don’t know what will ‍♀️ #womenwritingmen #fictionalmen #bookboyfriend #romantasy #fantasyromance #urbanfantasy #bookish #booktok ♬ Carmen Habanera, classical opera(1283412) – perfectpanda

But every new account starts with low views and zero followers. I’d love to know how your social media journey progressed. Did you always create such bold content, or did it take a while to discover what grabbed viewers’ attention?

Liz: I do need to take a moment here to credit A.L. Brody/Jason Pinter (author of Dating & Dismemberment) with inventing that style of video. It was after seeing one of his TikToks that I decided to take a stab at putting my own spin on it, and to be honest, I didn’t expect it to go anywhere. Posting to TikTok, you get really used to seeing someone else’s video and thinking “That looks fun! I’ll jump on that trend,” only to put up your own version of the thing and get less than 200 views. So when it took off, I was very surprised.

I was also really worried when it took off, because I assumed Jason would be pissed that I stole his idea, but fortunately, he is extremely cool and has been nothing but supportive. His videos do really well too, and we even made a video together. The Booktok community is really great in that way – there is space for everyone, and it feels more like a collaborative space than a competitive one.

Amy: And speaking of collaboration, I was also intrigued when I saw your vibrator ad come through my feed. My brother is a gaming Youtuber and he gets sponsorships to show off computer gear and gaming chairs. But I’d never thought about what kind of sponsors might approach a booktoker until I saw that ad. How did the sponsorship come about (no pun intended)? And are there any other kinds of sponsors you can see yourself working with in the future?

Liz: That was a surprise to me too, actually, and not something I ever saw myself doing – but then, writing spicy books isn’t something I ever saw myself doing either! People might be surprised that I actually identify as asexual and outside of my books, sex is not something that is super on my radar. But even though I’m not the most sexual person, I am very supportive of other people being as sexual (or unsexual) as they want to be, and normalizing all types of orientations, sexualities, drives, kinks, etc. So when the company reached out, I figured “Why not?!”

Amy: Sponsorships aside, I’m sure right now you’re busy using most of your time to promote Dot Slash Magic. I seriously can’t wait. I’ve already preordered so I can start reading the minute the book releases. For readers who don’t have Dot Slash Magic locked down yet, where’s the best place to preorder?

Liz: That’s so wonderful to hear you’re excited and THANK YOU for pre-ordering 🙂 For other folks who are interested, you can read a blurb and some reviews (the book just got a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly!) and see some of the art I had made, plus find a pre-order link for various outlets.

Amy: Thanks again for chatting with me, Liz! I’m sure anyone who’s hearing about your content for the first time is racing over to their socials to hit the follow button, but how else can we keep in touch? Do you have a newsletter readers can sign up for so we’re sure to hear about your next release?

Liz: Yes! Right now when you sign up for my newsletter you get the first 3 chapters of Dot Slash Magic

for free!

And I’m always on socials (I’m reading Dot Slash Magic Live on Insta every M-F at 4PM EST up until the launch) or you can find me at my website lizshipton.com. I’m on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and have a Patreon.

Or come to the Caribbean some time and we can hang on the beach.

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About the interviewer: Amy Zed’s debut novel A Symphony of Starlight combines elements of cyberpunk and rockstar romance to bring you a fast-paced action adventure that received 4 ½ stars from The Paranormal Romance Guild. It’s available to read FREE with your KU membership, or you can buy it for $3.97 on Amazon.