Kent State student now self-published author from KentWired.com on Vimeo.

Haylee Holt was looking for a new read when she decided to put the pen to paper herself.

“I have always been a writer myself. I love writing poetry, scripts, basically anything that can be really creative. And I’m a big reader. They say you write what you read,” Holt said.

And she did just that. Drawing inspiration from her own life, Haylee wrote To My Wonderwall, a story about a girl learning to find her way through life’s struggles.

“It’s really interesting to see your words really come to life in a story with characters you created and a vision you have and to really know that this kind of thing is possible,” Holt said.

Though possible, self-publishing puts all the risk and all the time on the author.

“When you self-publish, you take all of the work that the publisher would normally do. So, the production, the promotion, the marketing…you would have to do all of that yourself,” Professor Jacqueline A. Marino said.

But for Haylee, the process of publishing her own book was a simple one.

“If you have the self-will, the patience, you really need patience if you want to go through this process, and the support system that you can really get through and publish your own work,” Holt said.

And her support system was there, every step of the way.

“It was very cool to read the book and know her, so that way I could see what parts she pulled from her own life,” Alexandra Koss, Haylee’s best friend said.

“The creative side is one thing. You know, you have a book, you write it. Wonderful. But how do you get that book to the audience?” Professor Marino said.

Amazon released the book on Feb. 10, but this experience was more for Haylee than it was for fame.

“For me, this book is not about being read as much as it is being written. I wanted to write and I love to write and if only a couple people read it that’s still ok with me,” Holt said.