Indie Author Gabrielle Marie KozakIndie Author Gabrielle Marie Kozak
J Hirtle The Last Storyteller
Host J Hirtle talks with indie author Gabrielle Marie Kozak about her dystopian Trooper series, fast publishing schedule and character-first writing style. They also discuss using AI as a helper, the realities of self-publishing platforms and finding readers on a tight budget.
31:36•3 Apr 2026
Writing Fast, Thinking Deep: Indie Author Gabrielle Marie Kozak on Series, AI and Getting Seen
Episode Overview
- Writing a series around character first can naturally generate plot, genre and even multi-generational timelines.
- Deadlines and working ahead on launches help maintain a steady publishing pace, especially with a backlog of older writing.
- AI can be a helpful partner for blurbs, timelines, covers and brainstorming, while still keeping the actual storytelling human-written.
- Self-editing skills and simple tools like text files for dates and locations support continuity over long, complex series.
- Indie authors often need a day job while treating writing as a primary career, using creative, low-cost ways to reach readers.
““I basically already consider it as my main career. It’s just… the returns have not started coming yet, so I’m getting a job to stabilise while I wait for publishing to start compounding.””
Curious about how others shape a creative life around books, deadlines, and day jobs? This conversation between host J Hirtle and indie author Gabrielle Marie Kozak gives a lively peek into exactly that. Gabrielle writes what she calls a cinematic metaphysical thriller and dystopian fiction, with her Trooper A1 series at the centre of things.
As she explains, she writes “character first”, letting plot and genre grow around the people she’s created, even across a 40‑year timeline and an intergenerational arc where “by book four, the main character of book one is actually the granddad.” She talks frankly about her ambitious monthly launch plan, made possible by huge amounts of writing she did in high school, and the very practical tools she uses to keep going: deadlines, simple text files for continuity, and a flexible routine that boils down to “I write when I’m awake and I’m able to write.” For indie authors and sober creatives juggling real life, the back half of the chat is pure gold.
The first book, *The Purple Blitzkrieg*, began with a simple “what if?” inspired by the character Bucky Barnes, then became a story of a teenage boy, his twin sister, and a murder mystery layered over underground superhuman conspiracies.
Gabrielle and J compare notes on using AI as a “soundboard and kind of like a business partner” for blurbs, timelines and covers, the joys and headaches of KDP and IngramSpark, and the reality of marketing in a sea of millions of titles. They also touch on the emotional side of putting your work out there — from learning to talk about your own books without cringing, to chasing reviews and finding readers who “feel with the characters”.
If you’re trying to build a creative path that fits around recovery, work, or family, this one might nudge you to ask: what small step could you take today toward your own story?
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