When you hear the word “trim size,” your first thought might be…a haircut? But in the world of self-publishing, trim size refers to the dimensions of your book—and it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make when preparing your print edition. 📏 What is Trim Size? Trim size is the final size of your…
Category: Books
When to Format Your Book: A Self-Publishing Launch Plan Timeline for Indie Authors
Formatting your book is one of the final steps before publishing—but if you wait too long, you could find yourself scrambling at the last minute. Let’s talk about when to schedule book formatting in your launch timeline so you can publish without panic. 📚 You Typed “The End.” Now What? You’ve edited your book, survived…
Why Book Reviews Matter: How Leaving a Quick Review Helps Your Favorite Indie Author (and Other Readers!)
Have you ever finished reading a book, flipped to the end, and spotted a little note that says something like, “If you loved this book, please leave a review!”? Maybe you’ve seen it and thought, Eh, does it really make a difference? Spoiler alert: YES, it does—more than you probably think! Today, I want to…
The Inspiration Behind Aerial Ambitions: Circus Dreams, Grief, and Harry Styles
Every book has a story behind the story, and today, I want to share what inspired my third young adult novel, Aerial Ambitions. This book was on my heart for years before I had the chance to sit down and write it, and some of the inspiration behind it was expected—while one source completely surprised…
How To World Build Real “Fictional” Places
When most writers think of world building they start thinking about space odyssey, fantasy realms, or worlds with lots of magic but I’m here to tell you that it’s just as important when building out real “fictional” places to help ground your readers into the reality of your story. What is World Building? …
Mix & Match A Customized Writing Ritual Built Just For You
Do you have a writing ritual that helps you put more words on the paper? Would you like one that’s totally customized just for you? I believe that having a writing ritual can help you actually look forward to writing so you sit down day after day with a smile on your face. This…
2020…What a Year!
Wow, 2020…you have definitely been a year. Would I say a good year? Probably not, but was it a total wash? Nope, not really. Let’s take a little look back at some of my favorite writing posts from this year and you tell me down below in the comments, which was your favorite? I started…
Who And What Inspires Me
The other day I dropped one of those Question boxes onto my Instagram story so that I could do a big Q&A style blog post, but I only got one real honest-to-goodness question, the rest were spammers and bots. I was a bit disappointed until I realized that the human question that was asked was…
How The “New Normal” Is Affecting My Writing Life
“How’s the novel coming?” This question, to be honest, leaves me feeling cold lately. The writing is just not flowing. Editing feels like I’m trying to create a beautiful statue from a giant slab of marble, slow and meticulous. Kinda tiring really. 😞 We discussed a few weeks ago the concept of new…
Why I Write Coming Of Age Stories for Young Adults
I write contemporary coming of age young adult novels. It’s a mouthful and it might not even be the correct terminology – I have no idea – but it’s what I write. I write books set in the now, in a real city in the real world with fictional characters going through things that…