The Secret (Agent) of Author R. S. Twells’ Success
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To say it’s been a whirlwind year for YA author R. S. Twells is an understatement. Since publishing The Field Agent with FriesenPress — her first book in the Agent Bennet series — in August 2021, R. S. has already released its follow-up (The First Traitor) while amassing over 90,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, where she provides writing and publishing advice.
Perhaps most remarkable of all is that she’s accomplished these feats with virtually zero writing, publishing, or marketing experience. However, R. S. did have the one thing that matters most: a great idea. In this case, an imaginative young adult book series about secret agent twin brothers trying to save the world.
Now we’re at the halfway point of publishing the four-book series and her online presence has taken off. We spoke with R. S. Twells soon after the release of The First Traitor to learn more about her unexpected publishing path, what drives her social media success, how chocolate helps her edit, and so much more:
FriesenPress: Your second book in the Agent Bennet saga just dropped — congratulations! How does it feel to be a now twice-published author?
R. S. Twells: Thank you! It feels good to hold [the two books] together and see that we’re moving forward and making progress. I can see the growth in where I was last year compared to where I am this year.
It’s going to be a four-book series, but I remember when I was first thinking about these characters and these stories, and I always knew that it was going to be more than one book.
It can be a little intimidating writing sequels because, with the first one, no one knew about it, so I was writing it for myself. It would just be me with my laptop in my bedroom, writing for fun. And now, all of a sudden, I have this audience that is wanting to find out what happens, which is both fun and a little intimidating at the same time. It’s really cool to see that people on Instagram and TikTok are excited about [the series].
FP: Was there a lightbulb moment that you remember thinking, “I want to publish this story, and I think people are going to be into it”?
RST: I’m trying to think of what the light bulb moment was, because the origin story of this book is very different from most people’s origin stories.
I never knew I wanted to be a writer. When I went through high school, all I knew that I wanted to be was a teenager. And so when I became a young adult, it was really traumatizing for me because I just wanted to go back to high school!
I worked at a horse barn after high school. I was shoveling horse manure and feeding the horses at six in the morning, and it was a very lonely job — because the horses didn’t talk back to me. I started creating these stories in my head and eventually Bennet and his twin brother Collin showed up, and they just swept me off my feet and took me on this journey. One day, after asking, “Wow, where are they going?”, I started writing it down. I was able to see [the story] for myself, and I got really excited.
I remember telling my friend one day that I was working on a book, and she just got so excited for me. As I slowly started telling people that I was writing this book, it started becoming more and more real to the point where my dad said, “Well, if you don’t publish this, you’re going to regret it.” That was the catalyst for figuring out where I could publish this book, and that was when I called [FriesenPress].
FP: For those who don’t know, what is the Agent Bennet series about?
RST: The series is about a boy, Bennet, and his twin brother, Collin. They’re taken as babies by a mysterious organization, and they’re trained to be field agents — secret agents — and to help save the world. They don’t exist to the outside world but, as they grow up into teenagers, they’re sent off on an assignment. When Bennet loses his other half on that assignment, he has to figure out who he is apart from his brother.
Bennet goes forth in the book by trying to recruit Collin’s ex-girlfriend, to train him to be exactly like his brother as a field agent. It’s a story about discovering who you are, but also about trying to save the world — with teenagers running around with tasers.
FP: Who are you writing this series for?
RST: When I first started writing the Agent Bennet Saga, no one knew about this book series that I was thinking up in my head. I thought back to 16-year-old me and what kind of books she loved to read. She was a very emotional child. She was going through a lot, so I was writing for her. And that was a little interesting because I had to eventually move past that and think, “No — there are more people who’re going to read this book than just me.”
I happened to also be a youth leader at a non-profit. I was looking at my youth kids at the time, and they were 16 years old when I was first publishing and writing The Field Agent. And I was thinking, “Okay, what message do they need to hear?”
In my second book, all of my youth girls made it into the acknowledgement section because they just have such a huge inspiration and motivation to me. They’re always encouraging me. One of my favorite things is, they all go to the Metrotown Indigo together, and they take the book off the shelf and put it on the TikTok bookshelf instead. And then take a picture of it. It’s really fun to have them support me.
FP: How did the writing process of Book 2 go, in comparison to that of your debut?
RST: It was a lot quicker the second time around. A piece of that was [1] I knew I could actually do it because I had done it before. So if I had written one book, why can’t I write two books? [2] I also knew, in my head, I was creating myself a deadline of needing these books to come out relatively close to each other so that they still stay relevant. That was a huge motivation as well.
Also, as I was writing the first book, things in the second, third, and fourth book that will eventually be written, became a lot clearer to me. Whereas in the first book, I was still a little bit grasping at the straws of, who are these people and what do they want? Now, I know all of that.
When I was writing the first book, I had never trained in creative writing. I never went to university for that. I had no idea how to write. It was a bit of a learning curve of figuring out things like how to actually structure dialogue; I had to do a lot of research on that.
FP: And today, you’re giving writing and publishing advice and coaching to others through TikTok and Instagram. With nearly 90,000 followers across both platforms, you’ve carved an impressive niche for yourself. What’s been your approach to social media? Has that evolved as you’ve built up such a large audience?
RST: Social media was definitely a scary thing for me to approach. I remember entering into this thinking, “I don’t want my picture out there. I don’t want to be known. I just want my book to be known.”
I was watching TikToks, I was on Instagram, and not really doing anything on either because I knew nothing about social media. It was always something that my friends posted on and I would just like their photos. Eventually I realized, “Oh man, to get the word out there about my book, I need to do something.” So I looked at what other people were doing on TikTok, and I thought I could easily recreate that.
So, I tried to be funny on TikTok at first, and it just was a disaster. Copying other people wasn’t working for me. What is unique about me that I can share with other people? And because I hadn’t heard anything about self-publishing before I started my journey, I thought, “Well, I can talk about my self-publishing journey.” And people just ate that up! It was great. And so I slowly became the person that started her videos with, “Are you writing your first book?” My friends still make fun of me about that — sometimes they approach me and say, “Are you writing your first book? Are you writing your first book??” Which can be a little annoying, but also: that’s now how I’m known.
It’s really cool to see the people who have followed me along this process on TikTok, and they’ve always been so encouraging about this. It was also something to easily recreate on Instagram. People are able to ask questions and questions that I wouldn’t have thought of. So then it helps me magically create more content because I just answer their questions the best that I can. And through that, we’ve been able to create a bit of a community there. There are other authors who are also really great at giving writing tips, and some of them reach out to me so we can talk about things and share our books, which is so awesome.
FP: Did you learn any lessons from publishing your first book that helped you with your follow-up?
RST: On the editing side, I remember getting edits back from my first book, and I think they sat on my computer for a week. Emotionally, I just couldn’t open them. I cry so easily, and I just felt like, “I don’t know if I can handle this.”
Finally, I thought to myself, “Okay, the longer it takes me to go through these edits, the longer it’s going to take for this book to get published.” I finally sat down, I opened it up, and I remember reading the first negative comment and… First off, negative comments in editing aren’t negative — they’re constructive. They just help your book become better. But “Emotional Me” at the time had to get up and do a lap around my house and then come back to it. I felt attacked! To create a positive experience for editing [my first book], after I finished each chapter and read all the editor’s comments, I would eat a piece of chocolate. That’s how I got through most of it.
Upon reflection, and now that I’ve held the finished product of this book in my hands, I know that editing makes your book so much better. So when I approached the second book and was getting my edits back from the editor, I went in with the mindset of, “I know what it’s going to become, so we just have to work through this.” I was able to sit down right away, take in the comments, and not feel so personally attacked. I knew that we were making this book what it needs to be.
I’m curious to see how I’ll go through the editing process in the third book and how much less emotionally attached I’ll be to it then.
FP: You have a signing coming up at an Indigo bookstore, correct? How are you feeling about that?
RST: I do! I have a book signing at the Langley Indigo on November 26th. I’m really excited. The Indigo stores have been very encouraging to the local author scene, which I wasn’t prepared for. I was at the Langley Indigo [for a signing] back in June, and it was such a positive experience. Right away they said, “We’d love to have you back for your second book.”
Reaching out to the Indigo stores to ask for a book signing is so easy, which makes it that much nicer when you are trying to put yourself out there. I’ve told all my friends about it, so I’m really excited to see the outcome.
FP: How do you make sure a live author event is a success? Are there any “must-haves” you recommend authors bring to their events?
RST: The best thing I’ve ever brought is a sticky notepad. I remember going to my first book signing of another author, Cassandra Claire, at the Metrotown Indigo. Before you went up to her, someone had a sticky notepad and would ask your name and how to spell it, and then stick the sticky note on the book so that Cassandra Claire would spell your name right. And I think I was panicking because I’m like, “If I’m writing in pen in people’s books, I don’t want to misspell their name!” So, when people come to the table and we talk for a bit and then they ask for a signed copy, my first thing is, “Oh, how do you spell that?” And then I write it down on a sticky note and get them to confirm it. Now I tell every author to bring sticky note pads to book signings.
You can also never have too many pens — you’d rather have way too many than only one. You don’t want to be asking the bookstore for extras. I obviously bring my bookmarks for the book as free things to hand out. And then I also bring a bottle of water because you do a lot of talking.
Also, as a self-published or indie author, you’re not always going to have a constant lineup at your table. One of the tips that I got from the Indigo Manager was to stand the whole time because it looks more approachable than someone sitting behind the table all the time.
Lastly, I try to hype myself up with the correct body language and smiling to engage with the customers.
FP: Fellow FriesenPress author Celine Perron wrote an early review praising The First Traitor — was it important for you to connect with a variety of authors for book blurbs?
RST: When I was first getting on social media, my promotions specialist James (at FriesenPress) was really encouraging me to network and get connected with other authors, and I found that very scary and very intimidating. Then one day, it hit me that the easiest way to do this is to connect with other FriesenPress authors.
I found and followed Celine, we briefly connected and were supporting each other, bought each other’s books, that kind of thing.
When I was reflecting on my first book and thinking, “Okay, what do I need to do differently for my second book?” Blurbs from other authors were at the top of my list.
I reached out to the authors I knew and all of them said, “Yeah, we’d love to do that. That’d be so great!” I sent over a copy and [Celine] was very supportive and read through it. That was really awesome.
I find that sometimes, authors get in their heads and look at other authors as competition. But rather, we need to look at other authors as our coworkers, because we want to support each other. And I think that’s a way better, healthier environment to live in the author industry: as coworkers instead of as competition.
FP: What are your top promo tips for new authors?
RST: My top advice would be to hop on social media and create a name for yourself there. People love following other people and getting a glimpse into their world. The huge thing would be to experiment, because what works for me might not work for them. They need to find something that is unique to them and use it. When I first started out, I was trying to do what other people were doing, but then I realized I had to find my own thing. It’s so important to ask what’s unique about your book that you can advertise around to get people interested. What’s unique about you as a person that can get you noticed? Make videos and content about that.
FP: What are some of the highlights on your author journey thus far? What are you most proud of?
RST: The first thing that comes to mind is when I was doing a book signing at the Indigo location in Morgan Crossing, which is in South Surrey. Most of my sales are just random walk-ups, but then someone came up to my table and said she drove an hour to come see me, and she was so excited. She wanted to tell me that she was also writing. It was really cool to be able to talk back and forth with someone who actually follows me on social media and to know that the work that I’m doing there is actually working. To see these people in real life that have been following me, and get a glimpse into who they are, is really awesome.
Another cool thing, because I have established myself as the “writing tips” person, is whenever I get a comment that says, “You’re the reason I’m writing my book,” that always makes my day and helps me remember why I’m making this content. Sometimes it feels like it’s just going out into the void. Some of the people who do follow me have gotten brave enough to actually email me. Actually, there’s a high schooler who had to do a project for school, and he contacted me to be his mentor for that project. That has now continued on past the project, which is so awesome that I get to see him grow as a writer.
FP: Before you started writing this book, did you ever think you’d be where you are today? What’s next for R. S. Twells?
RST: It’s really funny. I would probably be a horse stable manager if not for these books, because I was supposed to go to school for that… and then I didn’t. The dream now is to be an author full time. I’m still working on making that a reality, but that is a goal that I’m able to work toward, which is really nice.
I’m hoping for a 2023 release [for Book 3], but it might be early 2024 instead. We’re still working away at the Agent Bennet Saga and finishing up the third book. But I’m also being distracted by some different characters that are playing around in my head and that I’m writing about also. It’ll be cool for my readers to see that I don’t only write about kids at a spy school, that there are multiple genres under the YA umbrella that I love and that I’m capable of writing in. I’m excited to see where that takes me!
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The Field Agent and The First Traitor are available now.
Visit rstwells.com to keep up with the latest on the Agent Bennet Saga.
Follow R. S. Twells on TikTok and Instagram.
