by NCC has quite a number of published authors on campus, including Melissa Koberlein who has published 4 books in 8 years. She writes science-fiction romantic-comedy young adult (YA) novels.
Koberlein’s book, ‘Fireflies’, is the first book of the ‘Fireflies’ Trilogy. ‘Fireflies’ is about “two completely different souls crossing paths,” Koberlein said. The main character Marley, discovers someone that harbors tiny aliens that give them special powers.
Along with being a wife and mother, Koberlein has been a professor at NCC for 16 years. Her position at NCC has given her the opportunity to combine her passion for writing and helping others.
Koberlein has said that her careers “compliment each other. I’m a writer at my core, I also enjoy teaching.”
Koberlein teaches publishing courses and communication. She helps inspire authors to learn about the journey of becoming published. She teaches her students how to write synopsis for their stories and query letters to agents and publishers.
Koberlein is also one of the creators of the IndieChicks Project. The project focuses on helping women with publishing advice, education and support. She has a podcast on Spotify and her website Indiechicks.net is a platform she uses to review and speak with other authors about their journey.
When asked if this has helped her in her journey, she answered, “Of course. I love talking to and connecting with other authors and publishing professionals.”
The advice she gives to authors who are looking into self-publishing is, “Take your time. Do it the right way. You want to put your best work out there.”
Being able to teach young adults at NCC gives Koberlein an advantage when working on her books.
“Relationships, science fiction related, aliens, androids, space,” she said are what inspired her to write.
Koberlein’s favorite character is Raven from her book ‘Raven’s Sphere’.
“It’s my book baby. Raven is an anti-hero and she says and does all the things that I wish I could. Just kidding,” Koberlein said.
Koberlein has 3 more books on the way. She is currently working on ‘Ashwater book 2’, ‘Raven’s Sphere’ , a mature YA space adventure, and ‘Deadlock’, a mature YA futuristic virtual reality.
