The Atlas SixAuthor Olivie Blake Credits BookTok for Her Novel's Success: 'It Didn't Feel Conventional'

Mar. 15, 2025

Olivie Blake and the cover of ‘The Atlas Six’.Photo:Olivie Blake/Instagram; Amazon

Olivie Blake/Instagram; Amazon

Amazon

The Atlas Sixfollows a group of magicians who are competing against each other to earn a place in the prestigious, secret, Alexandrian Society.“It was my ninth self-published book, so at that point, I was like, ‘You know what? Publishing is maybe not interested in what I have to say. Maybe what I’m doing with characters is not relatable enough. I’m having trouble getting through the gatekeepers,’” Blake said.

However, the book grew in popularity online, and particularly on BookTok, which Blake credits as helping her as well.“BookTok, generally, is just word of mouth,” Blake said, adding that, “Sometimes, I feel that publishing as an industry doesn’t realize … how diverse the market actually is. "

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“Publishing, the machine, doesn’t understand that yet, and BookTok pushed it there to some extent,” Blake said. “I don’t think it’s 100% a perfect system, but certainly I benefited a lot from the analytics. People respond to it because of the type of storytelling it was. It didn’t feel conventional, and I appreciate that.”

Blake has written two more books in theAtlas Sixtrilogy, including 2022’sThe Atlas Paradoxand 2024’sThe Atlas Complex. The author also spoke about the writing process, and navigating her six core characters as well.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!“The way that I structured the series, it would not have worked if I had a favorite character, because each character has to be equally interesting,” Blake said. “And so, this is an exercise too. It was like, if I finished a chapter … I would stop myself and ask, ‘Well, who is the next most interesting person? What would be the most exciting for me to work on next?’”

“I will say that certain characters are easier or harder to write,” Blake said. “I was actually just telling someone this earlier, that likable characters are so hard to write. It’s a craft exercise to constantly ask myself ‘Is this logical? Would she do this?’ It’s so boring … Callum Nova is probably the easiest character in the world to write because he didn’t have any rules.”And as for which of her characters’ magical powers Blake would love to have?“Telepathy, for sure,” Blake said. “I definitely don’t want anyone else’s emotions. That feels very stressful to me, but I do have a little bit of voyeurism. I’m interested in what other people think.”

source: people.com