SO many of you asked me about this, and I’m only sharing this link with my street team and my patrons for now… you can order signed copies of my books! Just fill out the form, and I’ll ship them out to you ASAP.

If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments!

Hi friends! Want to help me spread the word and generate book buzz on release day? Please fill out this form, and feel free to share the link!

Let me know if y’all will still like to see these!

This week, I started my full-time office job as a content writer. I REALLY enjoy the work, and I think the job will be a great fit for me, but I’ve been exhausted. It’ll take me a while to get back into the swing of things and readjust to my schedule, I think.

Still, it’s nice to have some financial stability. And I know it’s good for me to get out of the house every day.

In case you missed it, I also stopped offering my editing services, at least for the time being. I have way too much on my plate, and I want to spend my free time outside of work writing and furthering my publishing career.

Last night, I fell ill with a fever, aches, and congestion. I battled those all day today, too, which meant calling out of work and forcing myself to rest. I planned to catch up on writing and film a YouTube video today, but it didn’t happen. And that’s okay.

I’m learning to cut myself some slack, especially during weeks like these. So, there won’t be a video this week, but I’ll still upload one next week. Thank you so much for your support. <3

Tell me a little about your week!

This video goes live for everyone on 2/18 at 6:00 pm EST, so please don’t share the link with anyone before then. Enjoy!

Comment letting me know what future video topics you’d like me to cover!

What would you like to see most?

UPDATE: I’ve messaged everyone, but if you’re pledging more than $1, you MUST manually update your membership. I cannot do it on my end, and it won’t happen automatically. Updating your membership is the ONLY way to ensure you get the right rewards for your tier.

Please look around! I’ve made some HUGE changes to this page. My old rewards and tiers seemed to be the most beneficial to me and my patrons, so I’ve switched back to the way things were not too long ago.

And… I’ll be going back to YouTube! You heard it here first. That means more YouTube-related rewards, so if you like those, you’re in luck.

Feel free to browse the changes and update pledges as needed. Thanks again for your support!

This post goes live tomorrow morning, so please don’t share the content or promote it until then. Thank you!

Instagram for writers… whether you love it or hate it, there’s no denying Instagram’s prevalence in modern society. In 2019, more than 200 million users visited a business profile every day, and 60% of users learned about new products through Instagram.

So, what does this mean for you as a writer?

The bottom line is this: you should be on Instagram. If you want to build your platform and attract an audience as a writer, Instagram is one of the best places to do so.

Problem is, Instagram is a primarily visual platform. As writers creating words and books rather than photos, it can be difficult to translate our work to fit that mold.

It’s difficult, but not impossible.

A lot of writers think they just can’t do well on Instagram, or that there is no market for their work on the platform, but this is almost never the case. As long as you’re willing to put in some effort, you can make it work for you.

How do I know? After taking some courses, studying free resources, and honing my Instagram strategy, I organically grew my Instagram account to more than 7K followers (at time of post). I did not buy any followers, nor did I participate in any follow/unfollow schemes, comment/engagement pods, or anything like that.

All I did was put more time and effort into taking and editing photos, figured out my audience’s wants, planned my posts rather than winging them, and paid attention to my analytics.

Interested in making your Instagram account the best it can be? Keep reading to discover what you might be doing wrong—and how you can fix the issues.

You’re posting low-quality images.

This is one of the most prevalent issues I see in the world of Instagram for writers. As I mentioned earlier, Instagram is a primarily visual platform, so image quality matters. You can’t just put up a low-resolution, grainy, or poorly lit photo and expect it to gain any traction. Take your photos in bright, natural lighting, and avoid using too many filters, which can muddy an image. If it doesn’t look good, don’t post it.

All you post are screenshots.

So many writers are shooting themselves in the foot by only posting screenshots. In most cases, the screenshots are at least varied, but needless to say, this isn’t a good look. Here’s a big Instagram tip to help with this one, as well as most other aesthetic-related issues: check out your whole feed in your profile, and ask yourself if you would follow your account. If the answer is no, well, why should anybody else?

It’s okay to post a screenshot every once in a while, but try not to make it a habit. I share screenshots of Twitter posts regularly, but I put them on my Stories, where they’ll vanish after twenty-four hours and don’t conflict with the rest of my feed.

All you post are memes.

Same concept as the previous. Unless your author account is purely a meme account (which it shouldn’t be), avoid posting memes unless they’re directly related to your work. Jenna Moreci shares memes specific to her series, which totally works for her. You are not Jenna Moreci. Besides, Instagram should showcase your creative side, and what’s creative about reposting other people’s content?

It’s all about you.

Although your Instagram is your Instagram account, it shouldn’t be all about you. I have a harsh truth for you: if you’re a new writer, no one cares about your work. You have to make them care. How? By providing value, insight, and entertainment. You have to earn their trust and develop a relationship with people before you try to sell them them.

Your Instagram account should not be self-promos all the way down. Balance promotional posts with informative and educational content. When you’re posting, ask yourself, “Why does this matter to my audience?” If it doesn’t, don’t post.

Another bad look: Don’t comment on people’s photos or DM them anything along the lines of “hey, please check out my book!” or “follow my account!!!!” It’s off-putting, to say the least, especially if you’ve never spoken to that person before.

You treat Instagram like a Facebook photo album.

One of the biggest reasons I unfollow someone on Instagram is that they post too often. I can handle several times a day as long as the posts are spread out, but when someone uploads twenty-five photos from their most recent vacation—and the photos are only seconds apart—it’s spammy, and I’m out of there.

Instagram is not a Facebook photo album. When in doubt, share only the highlights rather than every single photo, and really make it count. If you want to share multiple photos, please spread them out too.

If you incorporate the tips I’ve given in this post, you should see great results. I started out on Instagram with almost zero guidance, especially because there aren’t many authors on Instagram using the platform to its full potential, but I’ve grown exponentially and want to help other writers do the same.

As an author, so many of my website page views and book sales come from Instagram. As an editor, most of my clients find and book me via Instagram too. I cannot say enough good things about the platform and its role in my business.

I want the same for you.

If you’d like to see more posts about Instagram, let me know in the comments below. Also, if you have Instagram-specific woes or questions, leave those for me too and I’ll address them in future posts!

WHEW! Thank you for your patience with this belated update. Last week was wild.

A LOT of personal life stuff happened, culminating in me no longer being able to go to school. This kinda sucks, but I can spend that time on freelance work and furthering my writing career.

LIVINGSTON GIRLS is in formatting, so I’m really hoping I can share the interior with y’all this week. That, and I can put up the physical preorders. We are in the final stretch!

Thank you to everyone for helping me promote it so far. I appreciate all your help and support.

I’m also putting the finishing touches on this month’s short story and craft notes, so those will be up later this week!

You all rock. Keep it up. <3

Hi hi, lovelies!

I’m so excited to share this month’s short story and craft notes with you soon! They’re not ready yet, but here’s some info:

• The short story is “The Tricker-Treater,” which some of you may remember me sharing snippets of. It’s horror with a little sci-fi/fantasy flair thrown in. I AM SO THRILLED.
• In case this wasn’t made clear in the tiers, my patrons are the only people who will get to read this story. It’s exclusive, baby!
• This story will also be included in the annual chapbook that goes out to all my top-tier patrons (the level with “Chapbook” in it). If you want a physical copy of the story, that’s the only way to get one!
• After I’ve posted the story, I will share all the research notes, outlines, website links, and all that I used to help draft and edit it. Be on the lookout!

As this is the first month I’ve implemented this system, thank you all for your patience. I hope you’re as excited about these new developments as I am!