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April was okay overall, except the very end of the month, when I received some bad news at work AND my son got some sort of flu. In many ways, it was still better than March. Running updates I ran a 10km race, as I usually do once a month, in 1h25! In comparison, I did the same distance last month in 1h37. I’m quite happy about it. And I got a medal for it! Isn’t it gorgeous? The Londoners updates…
I felt extremely excited when I saw the cover for Once Upon A Sky . So I thought I’d do a small cover reveal before the full cover reveal in August. Are you ready? That cover has been made by French illustrator Florian Garbay . He’s made incredible covers throughout the years and I’ve worked with him through Reedsy. I literally cannot wait for you to see the full cover this coming August. If you…
March was a rollercoaster of emotions. On one hand my author life was crazy exciting, with lots of positive news. On the other hand, some personal stuff took its toll on me. In between all of it, I still ran a 10km race in 1h37, which is not nothing. The road wasn’t flat at all, haha. The Londoners updates Read-along The Londoners celebrated its 5th anniversary on March 23rd. I’ve…
February is the smallest month of the year, but there were two weeks off from school for the little one, and a few painful days for the husband, so… Yeah, not an easy month in terms of general organisation. However, as I’m listing everything I accomplished this month, I’m kinda amazed that I could still cram a few things in there that I can be proud of. Office update I told you last month that my…
I thought I’d be going strong in January. My todo list was packed with ambitious stuff like fixing all the plot holes from my middle-grade novel and creating a brief for my maybe future cover designer. Unfortunately I believe Fate wouldn’t have it. January was a busy month, but not in the author activities area. We started with all the new year celebrations with friends and family (Happy New Year…
Another year, another income report on my writing and self-publishing endeavours. You can read the previous one here: 2024 . 2025 started with me wanting to release a book. The owner of a bookshop even told me that, if I had a book published, I’d be welcome alongside him at a big literary event in October (which he couldn’t attend in the end, but neither did I release the book in the first place,…
Solo Leveling by Chugong Résister by Salomé Saqué 🇫🇷 Steal like an artist by Austin Kleon Shamira et les milices fantômes by Sobral & Aurore 🇫🇷 Orgueil et Préjugés by Aurore & Jane Austen 🇫🇷 Keep going by Austin Kleon Les prêtresses d’Isis by Mariolle & Aurore 🇫🇷 Under the Oak Tree by Suji Kim Spare and Found parts by Sarah Maria Griffin Holly Molly by Antoine Piers 🇫🇷 What…
I’m writing this from the comfort of my office. My son is at school for the morning, so I can calmly settle in to think about what to update you on. Three months is a long time between updates, and I’ve got a sheet of paper next to me to help me remember everything. Let’s start with what I think is the most important: the writing. Progress bar Overall, it isn’t easy to just…
When I was way younger than I am now, I tried karate for a day and was in pain for a week. From all the sports I had tried at school, the only one I kinda liked was running. It wasn’t a team effort to run, it was my own. I didn’t depend on anyone to have a good run. From those days of high school, I remember my Dad taking me to the forest so we’d bond over a running session. But his pace was way…
This journal entry is in progress as I go through the conferences at my own pace, so maybe come back later for more thoughts, haha ;) New Takes on Marketing Must Dos: Insights from ALLi’s Reach More Readers Guidebook Speaker: Orna Ross With my decade of work in marketing, I thought I’d know most of what Orna would talk about. But, in the end, the talk wasn’t much on marketing…
Allow me to (re)introduce myself! Hi! I’m Estelle Van de Velde, and I’m a Belgian indie author! If you’re here, that means that once upon a time you found me or my work valuable in some way, and for that, I cannot thank you enough. I hope you’ll continue to stick around because there’s a lot of really awesome things coming your way! But first, how about a recap? I feel all over the place, so it…
Maybe it’s time to talk about this, as I’ve just ordered a proof copy for said middle-grade novel and I’m about to un-fridge it to see if it needs any more work before I self-publish it 🤭 “ Once Upon A Sky ” is a project I’ve been working on, on and off, since 2015. The original first chapter had been written as part of my application package at Brunel University London when I was looking to…
I’m always impressed when I read people had a complete disconnection. In this day and age, how do you simply stop? Is it a work in progress? Or do you just stop and never look back? Honestly, I thought I would talk about an addiction to social media, and maybe it is. But I’ve deleted my Facebook account in November 2023, I barely use Instagram for checking on my friends’ stories, I’m on LinkedIn…
Okay breathe I’m an author. I have a degree in Creative Writing from a UK university, I worked as a copywriter and a content manager. I published three books already—one of them being a translation of the previous book. Writing good copy is difficult. I simply know it. I spent five years of my life writing a middle-grade novel, queried it and was rejected by agents around fifty times. Writing that…
Being an indie author is a lot of fun. It’s the fourth time I’m doing an income report for this side of my life — the first one on a blog. While preparing this post, I was impressed by how much I actually did for my side hustle in 2024. I wasn’t expecting it, because I kinda pushed the “pause” button on everything. You see, I got laid off from my marketing job in…
On Web Typography by Jason Santa Maria City of Stolen Magic by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak Solving Product Design Exercises by Artiom Dashinsky King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo Fair Play by Eve Rodsky Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo Generating Product Ideas by Artiom Dashinsky Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher We were there by Yuuki Obata Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum Arca by Van Jensen…
The Successful Hybrid Author by Katlyn Duncan Blood Alone by Masayuki Takano 🇫🇷 Jayben and the Golden Torch by Thomas Leeds Daronne by Emy Ltr 🇫🇷 Fish don’t sneeze by Kristie Watson Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug Gallant by V.E. Schwab Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Readers, I Tweeted Him by Emma Bennet Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo Siege & Storm by Leigh Bardugo Ruin & Rising…
Note: this is the transcription of a YouTube video I made in 2023 My book got downloaded more than 300 times in one week. Want to know how I did it? Alright, I had promised that I’d do a recap video of the book marketing experiment I did back in February. Here we go. CONTEXT For context, I found an interesting list on Kindlepreneur. That list showed free and paid websites that offered ways to…
You’ve got a book and would like to translate it yourself in other languages? Let’s talk about this. English is not my native language. However, English is an international language spoken by many people. I personally write my stories directly in English, I don’t translate them in English. As it happens, I live in Belgium where we either speak Dutch, French or German (for a small part). English…
ExtraOrdinary by V.E. Schwab Je ne m’attendais pas à ça by Alexandre Marcel 🇫🇷 Hold back the tide by Melinda Salisbury Amazon Reviews for Books by Dale L. Roberts Whole book marketing by Victorine E. Lieske Can’t Catch my Breath by Sarah Sutton Bridge of Souls by V.E. Schwab Promotional strategies for books by Dale L. Roberts Author your ambition Workbook by M.K. Williams Amazon…
Note: this is the transcription of a YouTube video I made in 2022 Preparing the Christmas market was a bit stressful. I live in the French part of Belgium, so French was mandatory if I wanted to sell anything locally. And I was already in the process of translating my book in French… but this time I had a deadline: December 3rd. I needed to get the translation and the publishing done as fast as…
Your Author Business Plan by Joanna Penn Amazon Decoded by David Gaughran Angel Sanctuary by Kaori Yuki 🇫🇷 Comte Cain by Kaori Yuki 🇫🇷 God Child by Kaori Yuki 🇫🇷 The Royal Doll Orchestra by Kaori Yuki 🇫🇷 Adolescent by Kyra Gregory The Bewilderness by Ben Reeves Book marketing for the first time author by M.K. Williams Parenthèse by Samantha Bailly & Antoine Fesson 🇫🇷 Platform Mastery by…
Indéterminés by Samatha Bailly 🇫🇷 Lady Liberty by Aurore 🇫🇷 Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson Witcher: Blood of Elves by Andrzei Sapkowski Bientôt maman by Melissa Bellevigne 🇫🇷 The Indie Author checklist by Adam Croft State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab Light and Shadow by Ryu Hyang A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab The Stolen Kingdom by…
Whether you’ve finished your manuscript or not, having a book cover design ready can be a good incentive to keep going. Here’s my little guide to help you defining what you’d like to have, how to brief a cover designer and how to hire one. Keep on reading! Content: Why is book cover design important? Why is it important to have a good book cover? Anatomy of a book cover How to…
Time flies, and there are only 24 hours in a day. Fighting procrastination has been (still is) a big thing in my life. As an author and full-time employee, I have to commute every day and I don’t specifically have the time for my writing… if I don’t make it. I started a writing routine last month and some of you asked what it was. In June, I have written no less than 6,000+ words on my non-fiction…
When I was younger, as I’m sure you’ll relate, I’ve been asked what I wanted to do when I grow up. At five years old, I had endless paths laid ahead of me. I could be anything: fireman, astronaut, ballet dancer, singer, doctor,… My relatives thought I was cute and smart, and that I could do whatever I wanted. At fourteen years old, the possibilities started to shrink. I already had some school…
Camelot. If people have dreamt of it, written about it, sung about it, it is natural that a writer like me went on an adventure to find its location. Arthur’s Seat, in Edinburgh, Scotland, is one of the potential places where, according to the legend, King Arthur had built the famous castle. Love and I went to amazing Edinburgh for our 1st wedding anniversary. We visited Holyrood Palace, where…
Learning a language as a second one is difficult. People say French is hard, but believe me when I say English is as difficult to learn. You have to unlearn your mother tongue and get other grammar rules in your head. You have to learn new vocabulary to name things you always called a certain way. You have to form sentences, mixing grammar and vocabulary. And that is not all: sometimes you even…