Meet Kelly Giles: The Author, Poet, Healer & Storyteller

Life is not about goodness but grace, as we are all loved, but sometimes we need the healing power of art, and/or others to see us through the eyes of love, to enable us to love ourselves. 

Kelly Giles

Who or what were your biggest influences growing up, and how did they shape your career choice?

I was in a foster home for 11 months and then adopted, so I was always looking to prove myself worthy of belonging. The first adults to truly make me feel like I belonged were a high school careers teacher named John Clazie and a female English teacher that same year, who told us on the first day of class that she had only given out two A’s in her entire, lengthy teaching career. Both instructors had us keep journals, which we were required to turn in at the end of the year, but both also said that whatever we wrote wouldn’t affect our grades. Aside from falling in love with writing for the sake of writing, John Clazie made me feel like a grown-up when he confided in me that the greatest tragedy of my generation was the loss of childhood. My English teacher also told us on the first day that she was an atheist, but when I wrote a lot about God in my journal, she actually bumped my grade from a B+ to an A for having the courage not to censor myself.

How did you manage your first major failure or setback, and what did you learn from it?

When I was rejected by every agent I pitched my debut memoir, Killing Justice, to at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference because I wasn’t a celebrity and didn’t have 30,000 Instagram followers, I decided to go with either a hybrid publisher or self-publish. I researched the field of hybrid and assisted self-publishing companies and chose Dartfrog because the company’s owner took the time to read my manuscript and actually recommended I pay them less money to go the assisted self-publishing route because my memoir is unconventionally structured. I learned from this experience to trust the power of my own story to reach readers and not rely on gatekeepers like agents to realize my dream of sharing my memoir with the world.

How did you educate customers about your products?

have been educating customers about both my current memoir and my earlier self-published poetry books through my website, www.kellygiles.com, and my various social media profiles. I have nearly 24,000 connections on LinkedIn, and although I only have about 1,000 Instagram followers, I have maintained high engagement with readers by providing regular content. In addition to content specifically related to my memoir and poetry, I consistently post content related to the themes of my writing, particularly law, justice, spiritual and psychological healing, as well as other arts-related content. I attend many film screenings and volunteer for concerts, often providing reviews of both.

What aspects of your brand or company culture do you believe make you stand out in the market?

One aspect of my brand that I believe makes me stand out in the market is my openness about mental health. While 40% of men never talk about mental health, I spend a great deal of time in both my memoir and poetry discussing my PTSD and how art, especially writing, has helped me in my healing journey. When I was searching for comparable works to my memoir, I struggled to find stories of men talking about abuse, as most of the stories I found were written by women. Eventually, I discovered Flea’s memoir Acid for the Children and recently watched the first two episodes of Baby Reindeer, both of which made me feel seen. I believe that by discussing my PTSD and the abusive relationships that caused it, my brand will stand out and help others feel less alone, encouraging them to find their voice to talk about similar struggles.

How important is persistence in achieving success, and how can one cultivate it?

Persistence is essential for achieving success, but it doesn’t come easy. I wrote my three volumes of poetry in just over two years, but it took ten years to write my debut memoir Killing Justice: A Lawyer Lands in Prison and Finds His Freedom. There were many times I considered giving up, but I would sign up for another writing class, receive feedback from instructors and classmates, and keep rewriting. During those ten years, I also built a writing community by attending the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and joining a writers’ group with friends I met there, workshopping monthly for almost seven years. Despite receiving numerous rejections from agents, I persisted and eventually self-published this past May with the help of a company. I also ran two successful crowdfunding campaigns, one to raise funds for my editor and another to raise half the funds I needed to hire the company that helped me self-publish.

"Life is not about goodness but grace. We are all loved, but sometimes we need the healing power of art and others to see us through the eyes of love, enabling us to love ourselves."

Check out Kelly's company: Desert Waves Media

Official Website: www.kellygiles.com

Follow Kelly on social media:

Instagram: @kellyab303

Facebook (Writer Page): Kelly Giles

Facebook (Personal Page): Kelly Giles

LinkedIn: Kelly Giles

Twitter: @kellyab33