[12][13] Kontis has learned and honed her writing under a variety of teachers including Orson Scott Card and Andre Norton.

[20][21] Building on the skills she learned as a book buyer, Kontis started reviewing fiction for The Rutherford Reader and eventually earned her own book review column, "Princess Alethea's Magical Elixir," in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show online magazine in 2008.

Kontis' fiction writing career began after two events that inspired and transformed her: attending Orson Scott Card's week-long Literary Boot Camp in 2003,[26] and connecting with author Andre Norton,[27] who happened to live in the same small town.

To continue honing her craft, Kontis helped found and participated heavily in the Codex Writers Group online workshop, starting in 2004.

This expanded version of the fairy tale story "Sunday" won numerous awards and inspired the two follow up books, Hero (2013) and Dearest (2015).

After speaking about fairy tales at the Library of Congress in 2013, Kontis was asked to give the keynote address at the 2015 Lewis Carroll Society of North America's Alice150 Conference in New York City,[29] celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Kontis cites multiple authors and publishing industry greats as her teachers and mentors, notably Andre Norton, Orson Scott Card, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Jane Yolen.