Laurel is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), has various advanced degrees, and a tendency to smuggle vegetables into storylines.
In 1969, Dario Fontanella Gregori invented a new ice cream sundae that is iconic today in cafés throughout Germany. He started with the standard tropes—vanilla ice cream, red berry syrup, whipped cream, and grated chocolate—and built something surprising yet inevitable: a sundae that looks like a plate of...
Moving to a new place can feel like living life on the fringes, especially for indie publishers working to make connections. The culture of your new home can be confusing and isolating, and the language might differ from the one you are writing in. When you are uprooted, how do...
Friends, Romans, publishers, lend me your ears! Marc Antony’s famous speech from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar defends the titular character—just murdered by Brutus—not from his attacker but from the charge of ambition. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it...
Your X-Wing’s Dashboard To prevent crash landings, get familiar with your X-wing's dashboard—your money decision tools—before launch. Just like Luke Skywalker, you have a speedometer, a gas gauge, and an oil pressure gauge. “Your net income statement is like the speedometer … to let you know...
Six Marketing Features that Make the Marketing Service Worth Exploring As an indie publisher, you have likely built up a hoard of shiny, eye-catching ideas about how to get the word out about your books over the course of your author journey. Unfortunately, the sheer number of opportunities may be...
A Different Way for Indie Authors to Approach Publisher Events Although many international book fairs, such as Bologna, London, or Frankfurt book fairs, have introduced author tracks or highlighted best-selling authors for prestigious readings in recent years, the primary players at these fairs are, and have been from the beginning,...
