During the day, Bill Kilpack of Kilpack Enterprises works his semesters away as an adjunct communication professor at Salt Lake Community College’s Jordan Campus.
At night, he moonlights as W.D. Kilpack III, a nationally published freelance writer with over 200 publication credits to his name. This includes anthologies, magazines and books such as “America at the Millennium,” “Ellipsis: Literature & Art,” and “East and West Literary Quarterly.”
Inspired by other award-winning authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and William Shakespeare, Kilpack finds that the concept of world-building and the process of learning the characters’ minds is the most fun part of the writing process.
“A good story is made through creating characters that you care about, either through creating characters that you love or characters that you love to hate,” says Kilpack. “I enjoy creating elements that both make sense and surprise readers within a story.”
June 2019 marked the debut of Kilpack’s “Crown Prince: Book One of New Blood” on Amazon, a foray into the high fantasy genre that was six years in the making.
“Crown Prince: Book One of New Blood” centers around the story of Natharr, Guardian of Maarihk, a protector rooted in the ancient role of standing guard over all men — including the life of the newborn Crown Prince.
Kilpack encourages aspiring writers at SLCC to keep writing and to not be afraid to ask for feedback.
The Journey Into Self-Publishing
According to Bowker — the official ISBN Agency for the United States and Australia — the combined total of self-published books and ebooks with registered ISBNs grew to more than 1.6 million titles in 2018.
In 2019, Bowker also released its annual report on self-publishing trends within the United States, aptly named “Self-Publishing in the United States, 2013-2018.” This annual study has discovered that the number of ISBNs created for self-published titles — both online and in print — has increased by 263% since 2013, along with the trend of self-publishing itself growing by 40% from 2017 through 2018.
“The self-publishing landscape continues to improve … [leading] to more authors taking advantage of the abundant tools now available to publish, distribute and market their own books,” says Beat Barblan, vice president of publishing and data services at Bowker.
When asked about his own foray into the self-publishing sphere, Kilpack says that the hardest part about self-publishing is getting your writing fit to specification — whether that would be online or in print, “[Self-publishing] is a process of trial and error.”
“Crown Prince: Book One of New Blood” is currently available for purchase for $3.99 on Kindle and for $14.99 in paperback on Amazon. Additional information regarding Kilpack’s “New Blood” series can be found on his website.
