Between founding her own publishing LLC and releasing her debut fantasy novel while pursuing another bachelor’s degree, K.D. Prince defied conventional expectations and circumvented the traditional challenges of being an author.
With numerous out-of-the-box solutions, she navigated the brutal industry of writing and publishing in a way unlike anyone before.
Under the pen name K.D. Prince, Kendall Prince, a creative writing major, released “The Last Dreamwalker” in February. A 700-page high fantasy novel, the book is now available to the public on Kindle and in paperback.
The conception of “The Last Dreamwalker” began when Prince was 16, but she did not truly start writing until her mid-20s. In total, she said the writing process took about two and a half years.
It follows protagonist Val, a God-Kind, who experiences the memories of mortals—memories that will seemingly help defeat the world’s overarching evil. The reader follows Val’s journey to discover why the memories of seemingly mundane people will contribute to the salvation of the world. The story is told through multiple perspectives: through the protagonist and through the memories of mortals.
“Picture ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ having a love child with ‘The Golden Compass,’” Prince said.
While her novel is now finished, it was a long journey from the first idea to the final product. Despite always wanting to write and publish, Prince’s life took her in different directions before she could complete one of her life’s goals.
Born and raised in Lewiston, Idaho, Prince attended community college in Washington when she was 16, marking the first unconventional track she took in her life.
“I’m technically a high school dropout,” she said. “I bamboozled the Running Start program… and graduated with my associate degree at 17 without a high school diploma.”
Prince joined the military afterward, but not before receiving an honorary high school diploma from Washington state based on her college degree. She joined the Air Force as a Mandarin Chinese linguist, working active duty for six years until she was honorably discharged. She then worked as a government Mandarin translator for two years but left due to a lack of fulfillment and engagement, deciding to go back to school.
“I went from making a six-figure salary and having a beach house in Florida to basically living out of my car as a broke college student—but magically I was somehow much happier,” Prince said.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in arts and letters from Portland State University, she moved back to Lewiston and said she felt aimless at the time. She worked as a 911 dispatcher for a year, then took a few months off to focus on finishing her book.
Starting this spring semester, Prince joined WSU as a post-baccalaureate student, or a student working toward a second bachelor’s degree, this time in creative writing. She also plans to earn her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing later on.
“I’ve always been a Coug fan, and I’ve always wanted to attend, but just never had the right timing for it,” she said. “So finally, the stars aligned.”
A month into the semester, her novel was published, fulfilling a lifelong dream. While most new authors go through rounds of queries with publishing companies or self-publish, Prince took another unconventional approach.
“I started looking at third options and basically came up with the idea of launching my own publishing LLC,” she said.
Her company, Lochwood Court Books, is run in collaboration with her two best friends and business partners, who she said truly breathed life into the LLC. By creating her own publishing firm, Prince said she bypassed many of the pitfalls of both traditional and self-publishing.
One particular issue she had with traditional publishing was the exceedingly low royalties authors receive for their work. Extending beyond herself, Prince said she wants Lochwood Court Books to eventually accept queries and offer authors between 25% and 50% royalties, compared to the 5% to 15% large publishing houses typically offer.
While creating an LLC takes significant capital and effort, Prince had the means to do so, solving many of the problems she had with publishing. Not only did she avoid low royalties, but she also made her book more credible and professional, addressing a common stigma against self-published books.
With Prince’s unique journey through writing, editing and publishing, she has experienced both the traditional challenges an author faces and more. Through this, she has realized the biggest help in staying motivated and persevering was finding support and grounding herself in reality.
One of Prince’s biggest struggles was defining what she saw as success, a conversation she believes every author should have with themselves. While she ultimately aims to make a living from writing, she set her goal post at simply finishing her book. That is how she defined her satisfaction and happiness, saying it is best to find and celebrate small milestones as they come.
“At the end of the day, I wanted to write a book,” Prince said. “I wrote a book. No one can take that away from me.”
Following the publication of her novel, Prince was recognized by Crimson Reads and will be featured as a panelist alongside two WSU professors during their 12th annual event from 2–4 p.m. on March 27 in the Terrell Library Atrium. They will speak on challenges with the writing process, including writer’s block and finding inspiration.
“The Last Dreamwalker” is available for purchase on Amazon and the Lochwood Court Books website. Prince encourages readers to read and review the book, as it is the most important way to support a small author.
