Student writer meets goal for ebooks, releases paperback version

A University of Rhode Island student is releasing her novel in paperback this week after meeting the quota for her eBook sales.

Elizabeth Miceli, a junior at the university, released her book “Barren” last October.

“I constantly hear, ‘Oh I wish it was paperback, I want to read it,’” Miceli said. “I think that’s a boundary for so many people, so having it [in] paperback is going to make such a big difference.”

Her novel, which covers topics like sexuality and drug use, received a five-star rating on Amazon.com.

“Seeing 5 stars is amazing,” Miceli said, after expecting to hear a lot more negativity because of the novel’s graphic content. “Sometimes when people pick up books, they want to read this ‘guy gets the girl’ thing, but that’s not how life works.” “Barren” covers many different issues that adolescents struggle with, but Miceli said she feels they are topics that most girls can relate to.

“I was expecting people to say, ‘Oh my gosh. Why is she writing about sex and drugs?’ but I didn’t get that response,” she said.

Miceli recently visited her high school in North Kingstown, Rhode Island to speak to students about her experience and what it was like writing her novel. She said that she felt these talks also contributed to meeting her quota for eBook sales. She eventually hopes to have her book released in stores, but said she is taking things “one step at a time.”

The sequel to “Barren” is set to be released on June 10, 2016. In the new book, the main character from the first novel, who was a high school senior at the time, goes to college.  

 “I think the reality is that when you first go to college, nobody is watching you,” Miceli said. While writing her sequel, she said she wanted to tap into topics more about drugs and alcohol because of how prevalent they are in college. “I tried to make it as realistic as possible,” she added. “I don’t think somebody can go through that much and then go to college and not be phased.”

After completing one round of editing that Miceli referred to as exhausting, she already sees an improvement in the soon-to-be continuation. The sequel will start off as an eBook and, if that does well too, then it will go through the same process as “Barren,” according to Miceli.