Benmiller teen author finds success self-publishing first book

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

St. Anne’s Catholic Secondary School is now home to a budding author in the form of 14-year-old Grade 9 student Nate Potvin, whose Arf the Intergalactic Dog has been impressing and selling well locally since he self-published it earlier this year.

 

Not only has Potvin, who lives in the Benmiller area, self-published his own book, but he’s established his own business, called Novels by Nate, which was recently recognized with the Young Entrepreneur Business of the Year Award at this year’s Children’s Business Market in Clinton. Furthermore, he’s already mapping out the second and third installments of the Arf series, with hopes of a career as a novelist.

 

The book tells the story of 12-year-old Theo who finds a small, red orb that summons a dog named Arf. From there things take a turn towards the intergalactic and they have to fight evil, complete a prophecy and much, much more.

 

In an interview with The Citizen, Potvin admits that he just jumped into writing the project at first, which turned out to be a bit of a false start. When he took a step back, regrouped and began to plot out where he wanted the story to go and how he planned on getting there, the more methodical approach paid off and he could see results on the page.

 

Potvin has been an avid reader for much of his life, but he says he began to grow frustrated and found the books he was reading wanting for better characters and more intriguing endings. He felt as though if he couldn’t find the book he wanted to read, he would write it himself.

 

He then incorporated his love of science fiction and fantasy books, television and movies and began a  months-long journey on the book, taking breaks when he needed to and returning to the writing process when he felt the creative juices flowing.

 

Whether he was working on the book or taking a break, however, he said the book was always on his mind. As he would lie in bed trying to get to sleep at night, he said he couldn’t stop his brain from coming up with scenarios for the characters he’d created or ideas on where their stories should take them next. To that point, he’s already done a lot of the planning work on a second book, which he hopes would be published by the early summer of 2026, if not sooner, and brainstorming some ideas for a third book that would conclude the trilogy.

 

After Potvin self-published the book, complete with cover art he created himself, he began sending copies out into the world, but the Children’s Business Market in Clinton was a bit of a big break for him. There, he sold dozens of books and won the aforementioned Young Entrepreneur Business of the Year Award. Potvin said he was proud of how his book was received at the market and pretty surprised, but pleased when he was told that he’d won the prestigious award.

 

Since then, he’s reached out to a number of local book stores and you can now buy the first installment in the Arf series at Fincher’s in Goderich and The Village Toy Castle in Brucefield in addition to a number of the branches of the Huron County Library.

 

The book, either in physical, soft cover form or as an e-book, can also be purchased online through blurb.ca.