Category: Advice for Authors (Page 1 of 2)

January 15, 2026 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

I think THE most important advice for writers is ‘do what works for you.’ This is ESPECIALLY true for neurodivergent and or chronically ill writers. Standard writing advice is oblivious to the impact of brain fog, and cognitive or sensory overload. It doesn’t understand the need for things to go according to THE PLAN. Or the epic struggle to FOCUS. And in managing all of this, there’s the challenge of balancing the desire to write with the NEED to rest, pace yourself and avoid burnout. In this blog I’ll unpack things I think its important for neurodivergent and chronically ill writers to consider, when setting up a needs fulfilling writing environment and developing writing habits. With some considerations for working with beta readers, editors and writing neurodivergent characters.

Sensory & Cognitive Needs and Writing Routine

Getting Your Environment Ready to Write:
Physically Enabling Set Up

I barely recall the last time I wrote at my desk. Sitting upright, with my feet on the ground, is draining for my Fibro. I only last so long before I need to slump (and a desk chair doesn’t really let me.) So I’m writing this blog while sitting on the couch, where I can easily lean back for posture support, and lean on armrests on both sides when I want to (one folds up when not wanted). And when fatigue kicks in; it reclines so I can put my feet up.

The other advantage of a couch is it doesn’t involve the bad or strained posture of lying in bed. I tried writing in bed with long covid. But my fatigue needed me to lie back, only a little propped up by pillows. Pillow propping was haphazard for my posture. And reaching the keyboard and holding my hands over it to type became a strain, and added to my fatigue.

So the thing that really enables better back support and posture for me is a lap desk. I’m tall, so I need to raise my laptop well above lap level to not get a sore neck. I also like having my ergonomic mouse and keyboard (necessities for my carpel tunnel) on the lap desk, and can even jam a plate for food on there, so I’m good to go!

Enabling Your Body to Write

Depending on your stamina, and bearing in mind what supports good posture; where is it best for you to write? Which chair has the best back support? Do you need armrests? Or to put your feet up? Do your monitor and keyboard sit at a comfortable, good posture height?

Another thing to consider if you struggle with stamina/ fatigue is having things you will need over the next few hours within reach. Eg. a bottle of water/ large glass and a meal/ snacks near to hand. And anything you need to refer to for writing; handwritten notes, maps, diagrams etc.

When I struggle with fatigue, the worst thing is having to get up for something I forgot, because its such a relief to sit and such a strain to get up again. So try and have every physical item you may need within reach before you sit.

Getting Your Environment Ready to Write:
Sensory Needs

Do you focus better with ambient noise like an open window, to hear wind blow through trees and bird calls? How about audio of a thunder storm? If you need more stimulation, do you prefer instrumental music? Enough to get your brain producing dopamine and the creative juices flowing, but no lyrics to distract you? Or do you need noise cancelling headphones to write in silence?

Also consider computer/ desk placement. Should you write facing a blank wall? Will you get distracted sitting opposite or near a window? Or will watching the occasional person walk past keep you entertained for mini mental breaks, on which you may otherwise become side tracked?

Do you prefer a bright ceiling light when writing at night, or the soft glow of a desk lamp? Are you likely to feel otherwise under stimulated while writing or editing? (I just picked up a fidget to keep me sufficiently stimulated and help me stay focused on editing this blog.)

In other words, for audio and visual input; which kinds of sensory information distract or help you focus? Which are comfortable or don’t feel right? Take them all into account when setting up/ tweaking your writing space! And choosing a location. I know some ADHD writers who write better at cafes or in the local library than at their house, where chores and other distractions nag at them.

Getting your Brain Ready to Write: Cognitive Needs & Routine

I can sit down ‘to write’ for three to five hours, even the entire day, and not write. I have ADHD. My brain doesn’t naturally produce enough dopamine, so I struggle to focus. My ‘writing routine’ tends to begin the day before, by going out for the day, or spending too much time on social media, and exercising. All of that ‘gets my fidgets out’ and settles me. Its also best if I read a book or watch a show in my genre, to get my brain in writing mode.

On writing day, I likely mess about on social media for one to three hours. No, its not ‘procrastinating.’ Again, its getting restlessness out, stimulating my brain and getting dopamine going, so I can concentrate. I may also write a newsletter or blog first, to get properly into writing mode, (especially when I haven’t written for weeks, even months, which is often.) Hell, I may go wild and actually take my ADHD meds!

Before you sit down to write, consider; what physical or mental activities get your body settled and brain into ‘the writing zone’? What do you need to do the day before and day of, to help your brain co-operate? When do you need to schedule rest, so you’ve got the physical and mental energy to write?

Minimise Distraction & Cognitive Overload

Household Chores

Before we talk about sitting down to write; what gets in your way cognitively? I struggle to focus if the room is cluttered, and my leather couch or carpet has crumbs on it. I can’t focus on a screen and words when the floor and furniture are screaming at me. It doesn’t work. Related, that washing will stay in the machine overnight, if I don’t hand it out before writing, because I will forget! Or I won’t focus properly on writing because too much of my brain is straining to remember.

So consider; do you need your space tidy and clean before you can focus? Do you find it easier to focus after the chores are done? Or are some physical chores a good break activity when you get restless mid-writing session?

Freeing Up Cognitive Load So You Can Write

The best time for me to work on my novels is after I finish and publish my blog for the month. Every second month, its also after I’ve fully drafted -if not sent out- my author newsletter. That’s because I tend to have both partially drafted in my head, which takes up brain power I then can’t use on my novel. So getting the blog and newsletter done first frees up space/ lightens my cognitive load.

Similarly, if I need to organise a social thing, or tradies to repair something in the house or something else that isn’t part of my daily routine; that needs doing first. Either because it will distract me from writing, or because I’ll forget to do the thing, or because the sense of having forgotten something will distract me from writing.

ONE Big Project at Once

I’m also prone to monotropic thinking, meaning my brain does best tackling only ONE big thing at once. For example, I’m currently preparing to attend a book fair and I have to order stuff, and print signs and prepare my stall; so now is NOT a good time to write. I need to know all of the stuff I want to get, order things that take time to arrive, and decide which day/ date to finish preparation, so I don’t leave it until too late. When I’m feeling calmer and less under pressure from having achieved all that, then I’ll be in the right state of mind -cognitive load sufficiently freed up- to focus on writing.

What Frees Up Your Cognitive Load, and Focus?

Do you find yourself choosing between doing one thing properly, or multiple things while half paying attention, and not very well? Is it easy to make mistakes, and miss things when you multi task? Does it stress you out, or require lots of effort/ energy? Do you also lean towards monotropism? And if so, can you plan your life to not do a second big cognitive overload thing on the same day/ week as writing ? If not and you struggle to get any writing done; don’t beat yourself up! You’ve got a lot on your mind!

Be Realistic and Kind To Yourself

My writing schedule involves not working on novels for weeks, even months while I organise paperbacks, attending a book fair, do work things, promote books and attend to life stuff. I can’t multi task those things properly AND simultaneously, so I try to start some things early. They take as long as they take, and I get to one big thing when I finish the big thing before it. It’s slow, and always takes longer than I want. But it does things to the best standard and its the least stressful, least cognitive overload, least error prone method to get anything done. So I stick to it for as many things as I can.

I remind myself that while I prefer to publish my blog by the 5th of each month and today is the 14th; I’ve never committed to having my blog up by a certain date. Its not like I’m putting anyone out or confusing them. I’m just not meeting a personal deadline/ not sticking to THE PLAN. It’s not what I’d choose if I could magically make stuff be the way I want it too, but its ok.

Again, I’m saying ‘don’t beat yourself up.’ But I’m also saying, use your autistic logic to convince your autism that its OK that you didn’t stick to THE PLAN, because the plan wasn’t realistic (which I have to do A LOT!)

Write When You Can

When to Write

Common writing advice is ‘write everyday.’ I hate that advice, because its ableist. I used to teach five days a week. I could not hold all of my students learning needs, the content of sixteen curriculum areas, and effective teaching and classroom management pedagogy, and all key dates and deadlines in my head, AND my world building, characters, character arcs, plot and what just happened and what to write next in my novel. It’s TOO MUCH/ cognitive overload.

I’ve never tried to write daily. I don’t write on days I teach. I schedule writing time on days when it WON’T be cognitive overload. Sundays used to work best, after a day of rest on Saturday.

So when trying to set up a regular routine of which days of the week/ month your write; consider which days your brain will be most crowded and your cognitive load heaviest. Try to choose days when your brain is likely to be overloaded with other stuff. If consistency or habit is the key; every Sunday is fine.

When NOT to Write

Much harder can be knowing when not to write. I knew for years that teaching days were cognitive overload days, but it can be harder to know when you’re too tired, or too sick. And sometimes you just want things DONE. (This impacts both my ADHD working till stupid o’clock to be finished, and my autism wanting to achieve THE PLAN.)

But sometimes writing or editing is worse than not doing either. An extreme case in point, is when I put down my novel for around seven months in 2022. I had long covid, and my brain fog was BAD, as was my memory. I knew that all I would achieve was creating consistency errors and adding a million typos to a book that needed mostly just needed proof reading. So I spent WEEKS wanting edit, and not touching Secrets of the Sorcery War. I didn’t do the final edit until it wasn’t HARD/ EXHAUSTING or even too tired anymore.

If you feel like doing something bookish but are struggling to write, maybe just re-read and make some edit notes. Or brainstorm ideas for future scenes. Write a short tory or a poem instead.

DON’T force yourself to write. If I’m telling myself I should do x, it normally means I‘m too fatigued. I’m not on social media because I’m being lazy; I’m on social media because that’s the most cognitively taxing thing I can manage at that time. And that’s ok.

Set Realistic (and flexible!) Writing Goals

With ADHD, I might have the whole day free to ‘focus on writing.’ My goal may be to spend 3-4 hours writing. Or to write or edit one to three chapters. However you find most effective to measure your goal (by word count, chapter, time period etc), being realistic is important. We don’t want RSD types beating themself up if they fail to meet the goal and autistic writers unsettled because the goal is THE PLAN, and the THE PLAN not happening is unsettling. Or ADHDers thinking at 1am, “Oh dear! I didn’t do the plan. I’ll just stay up till 4am and binge write to finish it.” (Yes, I’ve done option 2 and 3 MANY times.)

So try and set a goal that takes into account how much brain power, focus, energy and time you have that day. Consider setting a goal for the week, fortnight or month (especially if you’re chronically ill and struggling to keep your fatigue levels down.)

With flexible goals like my goal to finish a round of edits by the end of this month *crosses fingers!*, you don’t need to beat yourself up for not writing on days other stuff came up. You don’t have to worry about forcing yourself when you’re not up to writing. You’re setting yourself up to make the most of days where your body is in good shape, your brain is on board and you can make progress. And you -ideally- have days to spare, relax/ rest. for ‘life’ to happen.

When To Take Breaks

I used to write for around three to four hours straight. I’d want to write longer, but I’d get to a point where everything I recall about the story start melts out of my ears. I now know this is ‘cognitive overload’. Its a point where my brain can neither take in nor hold onto information. It used to be my cue to take a break.

I’m guessing neurotypical writers take breaks because they feel tired, not because their capacity to cognitively function is failing. I know this is HARD if you’re an autistic person who doesn’t think to take pain killers unless someone hit you in the head with a shovel. (I exaggerate, but we can be terrible at noticing how much pain, hunger or thirst we’re experiencing.) Or if you’re so hyper focused, or ADHD distracted that you don’t have a clue what your body is feeling.

But try to notice when your eyes get tired. When your posture slumps in your hair. Be on the look out for when you want to keep re-reading, because you don’t have the energy to write or edit new things. Try and notice when your thoughts get blurred, or you’re starting to have trouble keeping track of things within the story. If you’re prone to not notice hunger or thirst; know when you last ate a meal. Keep an eye on the clock. If its been a few hours; its probably time for a break!

Cognitive Needs: Writing Process

You may likes to plan and organise and make and compare story notes. You may be terrified of a blank page and need a chapter by chapter outline to populate that page with words. Or you may need only a vague idea in your head and off you go, pantsing all the way! Or something in between.

When it comes to writing process; what does your brain need to enable it to construct a story on a page? Some character/ world building/ plot notes written down? Notes in your head? Vague ideas?

If scenes come to you at random and you want to write out of order; do it! You need to keep re-reading because you’re making it up as you go along and otherwise forget where the story is going? Do it! If you’re a perfectionist who gets hung up on word choices and who will spend hours line editing a scene you’re later going to delete; DON’T edit as you go. As with writing, when editing; find what process works for you and your brain!

Cognitive Needs: Editing

If you have autism or ADHD, or are prone to brain fog or have any cognitive challenge, I very much think editing every single aspect of your writing is a recipe for cognitive overload. I strongly discourage you from editing every aspect of your writing at once. Though which elements of the writing it works for you to edit together or separately and when will vary.

I find my first and second drafts are about fully developing the characters and plot. Draft three tends to add depth to characters and character relationships/ interactions. Details that bore me and are info overload on top of characters and plot, like scenic description, dialog tags showing character emotion etc, come in a separate round of edits. I do a separate edit for consistency errors, eg. noticing that I said Amon was from Bellaria in chapter 4, and from Terriah in chapter 15.

Proof reading (which may include sentence level edits, eg. breaking long sentences into shorter ones) is my final ‘edit’ of the whole text. Then I check chapter numbering, because my other edits tend to delete, merge or add multiple chapters and fixing chapter numbering while restructuring chapters is cognitive overload. So I leave it till last to check there’s only one chapter 16, not three, and there is in fact a chapter 15. (Yes; edits of Walking the Knife’s Edge had exactly that problem!)

Which details are info overload, or may bore you and slow you down? What can you edit as you go, which things do you need to edit for separately, and what needs editing last for you?

Neurotypical VS. Neurodivergent Betas & Editors

Once you’ve done the writing, I hope you’re seeking feedback to help you get out of your head and view your story from the perspective of a reader who knows nothing about your characters or story world. This is where, as a neurodivergent writer, you can hit some snags.

I’ve had a few beta readers tell me there’s ‘too much internalisation.’ That “real people don’t think so much”. They “talk more and show their feelings more by their actions in the scene”.

The disconnect is the beta readers in question were neurotypical and they were speaking about ‘real neurotypical people.’ Whereas my main characters tend to be neurodivergent. My ADHDers will naturally notice loads of things and make lots of connections in their heads, faster than they can talk.

My autistic characters (a few in Ruarnon Trilogy are AuDHD) do similar, and logically make additional connections. Then they’ll draw upon their observations and logical deductions, and draw conclusions. And they will rehearse conversations in their heads before saying things out loud. This is because I as a neurotypical person do all of the above, so that is the kind of autistic and ADHD person I tend to write.

Neurodivergent Presentation

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying, “Discard all advice from neurotypical betas or editors about ND character rep.” I found, with my first neurotypical beta reader, that Ruarnon could be themself a bit more with their actions and what they said in the scene. And those edits were likely more satisfying for neurotypical readers.

But in some cases your character will not say what they think, or show their feelings openly. For example, my main character in Sythe Series, Rarkin, is traumatised, autistic, emotionally repressed, untrusting, and DOES NOT want to display his feelings or discuss his worries with anyone he doesn’t trust with his life. (I love writing Rarkin; he’s got so much room for growth!)

In a lot of situations, writing Rarkin doing anything other than crossing his arms and glaring, or physically tensing would be writing him inauthentically. The only way to understand the insecurities he’d rather die than talk about, his darkest fears, deepest worries etc is to write him in first person, and narrate his thoughts. Its crucial to representing him authentically. Again, he’s not inclined to just share his observations, connections or conclusions about things that don’t add up in his work for Sythe. And those observations are plot-relevant and need narration. Narrating his thoughts is crucial.

Which thoughts won’t your main character say out loud and why? What feelings may they hesitate to show? When? In other words; when does authentic rep require you to narrate your characters thoughts?

Show Don’t Tell. Or tell?

A neurotypical writer saying, “Show your characters feelings on the page” may be the common (in my opinion too often uncritically applied) advice ‘show don’t tell.’ You may receive the advice, “Don’t tell us your main character is autistic, show it!”

I’m all for showing it. That’s part of giving neurotypical readers insight into life as an autistic, ADHD, anxious etc person. Its part of the power of empathy reading can build. But when it comes to your character’s identity; remember that ignorance, personal experience and related reader bias can come into play.

I once had a review saying Ruarnon’s nonbinary rep could be ‘more subtle.’ True, but why would I aim for subtlety when that would create enormous space for cis readers to cis-wash my nonbinary character? What’s the point of writing a diverse character if you’re going to let people deny that character’s identity? Whether because of ignorance, or they’ve never met a person like that, or they haven’t recognised meeting people with that identity, or because of bigotry; I tend to explicitly state character neurodivergent and queer identities. (Both of which have alternate world names in Sythe Series).

I’m not going to be so presumptuous as to tell you how to write identities (even if its one we share). But I mention the above as I think considering the possibility of people, out of ignorance or prejudice, erasing character identities, is something authors need to be mindful of, especially given the politicisation of some identities in politics and the media.

Showing Feelings Resource

Where it is appropriate to have your character outwardly showing how they feel, and like me you’re artistically oblivious to posture, gestures, facial expressions etc associated with that feeling; get the Emotion Thesaurus. It will help you write external showing of a range of emotions to other characters, and describe sensations inside the body that -if you’re like me- you’ll also be oblivious too. In other words, its a great tool to help you show emotions, especially your own awareness of how those emotions present is limited.

I Think I’m Neurodivergent

Engaging Readers (of your novel)

Writing Neurodivergent & Disabled Characters

Chronically Ill & Neurodiverse Guide to Protests

Low Spoons Travel With Autism & Chronic Illness

December 15, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

Feels like a lot of things are turning to shit. From Australia, I’m watching the series of ‘freak’ weather events that is climate change, and unregulated, fossil-fuel-dependent gen ai enshtifying EVERYTHING. (For simple ways to support trans and other marginalised people, see this post.) To wrap up 2025, I want to talk ditching discriminatory disinformation platforms, actively responding to the threats gen ai poses the planet and humanity, living sustainably and kindness. If you missed any of those, or didn’t do as much as you’d like; the next best time to resist enshitification is 2026/ now!

Self Care as Resisting Enshitification

Recharging = Resistance Aid

I read earlier this year that Trump’s executive orders were pumped out fast to shock and overwhelm us, so we lost track of and forgot them. Its now December, and I mostly HAVE forgotten. I’m Australian, and my local political, social and environmental struggles differ from the US in some ways. But the premise ‘too many bad happenings blur together, and overwhelm you till you don’t know what to do or where to begin,’ still applies.

So take it from someone who has autism and ADHD, and works in the ever-changing teaching profession; when your head gets to overloaded to think; stop. Take time out, go for a walk, potter around in your garden -whatever helps clear your head. Because, as someone whose spent many months in recent years working with brain fog due to chronic illness; you CANNOT effectively resist ANYTHING with an overloaded OR foggy brain.

Recharging to Avoid Burnout

Persisting through overload is a recipe for burnout. If you’re not familiar with it, burn out is exhausting. Not just physically; it can put you in such a mental and emotional funk that you lose all motivation, and enthusiasm. Once you’re burnt out, it can take weeks to crawl out of that funk and return to what you were doing.

Like long covid, your best defence against burnout is avoiding it entirely. If you’re feeling strained, frustrated and always slogging through, and you have the option to put something off; do it. Take that break! If that doesn’t seem to be an option, take a step back and give yourself time to consider whether your overworked brain has overlooked options.

As someone with extensive experience with cognitive overload; it is VERY hard to perceive options when your head is exploding. So it can be very helpful to bounce ideas off people you trust, to ensure you ARE considering all relevant and viable options. That may include talking to friends/ family/ colleagues to see if you can collectively change things at home/ work, to make them easier for you, and ideally, for friends/ family colleagues too.

Direct Actions to Fight Enshitification

Ditch Enshitified Social Media Twitter

Twitter

In December 2025, Musk tweeted fears of white people becoming extinct, and used that to ‘justify’ attacking American immigrants. White Supremacy and its conspiracy theory friend; The Great Replacement Theory, clearly hold sway on X. So an easy way to avoid having your brain enshitified with fascist propaganda is not having a Twitter account. (If you stayed on it to resist fascism I applaud you, as I cannot imagine having the spoons to do that.)

Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp & Threads

Meanwhile, early in 2025, Amnesty International warned that Meta’s new content policies risk; “fuelling more mass violence and genocide”. The new content policy for Meta, including Instagram and Threads, not just Facebook, weakens protections for ALL marginalised groups. This includes permitting racist, ableist and queerphobic insults.

Facebook also abandoned fact checking in 2025.

And they’ve restricted or removed the pages of 50 queer, abortion and sex positive accounts (in countries where they’re legal), in what looks suspiciously like censorship.

Meta are also about to introduce generative ai ad tools which even Meta admit could create content which is; “inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, offensive and/or inappropriate,” and make no guarantee that “the Ad Creative AIs will be safe, secure or error-free… nor that the outputs will not “infringe third-party rights.” (Source: New Republic.)

Resisting Meta’s Enshitification; Ad Blockers

If you don’t like Meta permitting forms of hate speech, proliferating the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation, and you don’t want to watch gen ai ads (which likely contain both); how do you resist?

98% of Meta’s net revenue is from advertising. Meta gets paid per click. So if you don’t delete your Meta accounts; get an ad blocker. Don’t see ads, don’t click them; don’t help fund Meta-fuelled enshitification.

Resisting Meta’s Enshitification; Alternative Platforms

You may not realise how toxic the background noise was on a Meta platform (let alone Twitter), until you open an account on a less toxic social media platform. This was mine, and many other’s experience of moving to Blue Sky Social, a space I recommend. Bsky has had moderation issues for marginalised groups, but I’m excited about solutions under development to overcome these.

Trying to migrate to new platforms with friends/ family/ others is difficult (as Twitter’s exodus showed). But for messaging, you only need one person from each household in the Signal group chat, for example, to organise the family Christmas. Beyond that; I don’t regret cutting off most people met on my travels, former colleagues etc on Facebook or Instagram. Its not like we had regular or meaningful conversations. And I still text or email the ones I want to meaningfully ‘stay in touch’ with (as opposed to endlessly scroll).

Gen Ai: Enshitifying EVERYTHING

Enshitifying the Environment;
Water Usage

In the US, two thirds of gen ai data centres, which depend on water usage to prevent overheating, are operating in areas “…gripped with high levels of water stress” (Bloomberg). In other words, limited water supplies are already being guzzled by gen ai data centres in arid, drought-prone areas. “This strategy places the tech industry in direct competition with local communities, Indigenous nations, and agriculture for a diminishing resource (Ren, 2023).” Which begs the question; do we have enough water for gen ai data centres AND regular human water usage in drought prone areas?

In my city of Melbourne Australia, there have been calls for state-level mandatory water limitations on data centre usage of water, because we’re concerned about having enough drinking water for residents. But no such legal restrictions or protections of local fresh water supplies are in place. In the US too, multiple arid states are seeking to regulate water usage, and regulation is not yet in place.

Resisting Gen ai’s Thirst for Water

I remember a time when lots of countries didn’t have enough regulation in place for a billion dollar industry; the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Yes, I absolutely think unregulated gen ai data centres could use water as wisely as banks handled money back then. So I suggested writing to your MP, either to praise regulation being proposed in your state/ country, or to push for your MP’s party to propose it, to ensure gen ai doesn’t hog your state’s limited water supply.

Gen Ai & Enshitifying the Environment;
Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuel Dependence

“The pace at which companies are building new data centers means the bulk of the electricity to power them must come from fossil fuel-based power plants,” (MIT).

Not only that, every new version of gen ai is trained from scratch. That’s right, all the fossil fuels burned to power gen ai training for version 1.0? They’re wasted and more fossil fuel is burned to power the training of version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc, etc.

So how much fossil fuel powered electricity does gen ai use? According to All about AI, Chat GPT’s weekly users use as much electricity in a single day as could power 35,000 US homes for ONE YEAR. Let’s sit with that for a moment.

35,000 home’s, 365 days worth of electricity, wasted, daily.

Future Dependence

According to the Guardian, “At the current rate of growth, datacenters could add up to 44m tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2030, equivalent to putting an extra 10m cars on to the road, and exacerbating a climate crisis that is already spurring extreme weather disasters and ripping apart the fabric of the American insurance market.”

And yet; German nongovernmental organization Urgewald found that the U.S. has just overtaken China as the number one global developer of new fossil gas power stations, and that “37% of the capacity proposed in the US in the last two years is linked to data centers and AI infrastructure. (Source: The New Republic.)

Yes, at a time we should be closing fossil fuel plants and transitioning as swiftly as possible to sustainable energy; nearly 40% of American’s GROWTH in fossil fuels has been due to gen ai.

Resisting Gen ai’s Fossil Fuel Guzzling

Gen ai has developed faster than governments can regulate its electricity (or water usage), let alone ensure it does anything about meeting climate change emissions reduction targets. Or prioritising carbon reduction over profits. Again, I suggest writing to your local MP voicing your concerns and calling for sustainable regulation to be imposed on gen ai data centres and infrastructure.

Gen ai Chat Bots; A Mental Health Risk (CW suicide)

I have to complete a risk assessment every time I take my students on an excursion. It involves identifying all foreseeable risks to students safety, and identifying measures I will take to minimise those risks, BEFORE the excursion. But none of this seems to apply to ChatpGPT.

Open ai doesn’t seem to have considered potential risks to its vulnerable users AT ALL, until AFTER a sixteen year old user suicided, in August 2025. They failed to see one of the worst possible risks of their product, unleashed it on the general public, and ChatGPT explicitly discussed suicide methods with at least two teenagers who were contemplating suicide. (Sources: BBC & The Tab.) ChatGPT even drafted a suicide letter for the seventeen year old. (Transcript in the BBC article.)

Then there’s a murder suicide in which the resulting legal case is arguing that ChatGPT contributed to a man’s paranoia and by extension his murder of his mother, after which he suicided, also in 2025. Another man suicided in August 2025. (For my sake and yours I’ll stop there.)

Open Ai’s Own User Data Concerns

In response to ChatGPT’s suicide involvement, Open ai ‘made improvements’ to ChatGPT. The only thing I saw of potential value in their article, most of which I clocked as ‘vague statistics and good sounding words,’ was this statement;

we have observed an estimated 65% reduction in the rate at which our models provide responses that do not fully comply with desired behavior under our taxonomies.

So ChatGPT is now 65% less likely to say things that are not 100% Open ai approved. But what does Open ai consider to be ‘desired behaviour’? I have no idea, because they don’t say. (One could argue that renders every statistic the entire article quotes meaningless.)

The above statistic also means ChatGPT has a 65% chance of partially NOT responding in ways Open ai approves of. And a 35% chance of FULLY NOT responding in ways Open ai approves of. I wonder how many of ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users are vulnerable, and at risk of being exposed to the 35% chance of ‘fully non-desirable’ responses?

ChatpGPT Predictions Do Not Reassure Me

The worst part is, the above statistics are merely predictions. Having worked with children for fifteen years as a teacher, I KNOW kids pretty well. And every year there’s at least one child who exhibits behaviours and or needs I haven’t encountered before. And my knowledge and experience don’t tell allow me to predict the best way to respond to them. The difference is I am in the room with that child. If I predict incorrectly; I can adapt my response in real time. ChatGPT does not have that capacity.

All ChatGPT has is 170 ‘mental health experts’ and its staff determining ‘desired behaviours,’ inventing ‘scenarios’ then calculating statistical probabilities. In other words; they’re playing a guessing game with the mental health of however many of their 800 million weekly users are vulnerable.

Resisting Chatbots; Ideas for MP Letters

In my opinion, ChatGPT is performing an entirely unethical psychology experiment on 800 million people a week, in uncontrolled conditions, with far too little safety guards in place.

Key Points for a letter to your MP; (yes, you have my permission to copy and paste these points if you wish.)

Professional psychological health can be expensive, and appointment wait times long. Chatbots are ‘free’ and immediately available. Its is a foreseeable and likely risk that people will turn to chatbots for counselling when this is UNSAFE.

Multiple vulnerable users did confide in ChatGPT in 2025 and those conversations concluded with the user suiciding. (Sources linked above.)

Open ai has trained ChatpGPT to respond to users showing signs of emotional dependence, meaning their data is telling them this is an existing (not theoretical) problem.

One training transcript for new (in 2025) training for responding to emotional dependence has ChatGPT conclude by asking, “What do you think makes conversations with me easier or better than conversations with real people?” In other words, when it sees signs of emotional dependence, ChatGPT has been trained to seek user data that would be useful in INCREASING emotional dependence. That alone suggests Open ai CANNOT be trusted.

Do we trust billionaire chatbot owners to regulate themselves? Their data centre’s water usage, electricity (especially fossil fuel generated), or even to regulate their chatbots to ensure users safety? -especially for vulnerable users.

Be sure to also tell your MP what you want them to do, whether it be; regulate water/ electricity usage, implement age verification to prevent children from using chatbots, or banning chatbots until any of those regulations are in place.

Resist Gen ai & Environmental Enshitification;
Go gen Ai Free Software!

Ditch Google Gen ai Searches

Why use Google, which decided to abandon fact checking in June 2025? (Note: If you’re stuck with Chrome for work, there is an Ai Slop Blocker extension.) Or Mozilla Firefox, who decided 17/12/25 to become a ‘modern ai browser’. When you can use Duck Duck Go, or find another browser which also has easy to turn off/ opt out gen ai features?

(You could even switch to Tuta Mail, a European based service, or Proton Mail, which also has Proton Drive, and replace your personal Google software entirely, as I’m doing.)

Ditch Amazon Shoving Gen Ai Everywhere

Then we’ve got Amazon. They; put gen ai ‘Recaps’ on Kindles, and don’t let readers or authors opt out. They’re now feeding books to their Ask a Book chatbot without author’s consent. And selling gen ai ‘audio narration,’ which like Meta’s gen ai video ads, is bound to waste LOADs of fossil fuel produced electricity. Instead of buying books from them, here’s a whole blog of less environmentally destructive bookstores. Or you could buy direct from indie authors, or borrow from your local library!

More Gen Ai-Free Software

If you’re not ready to get your head around Microsoft Office with gen ai alternatives; get Office 2024! Its cheaper, its a one off payment and it has no ai co-pilot. If you are ready to try alternatives, a lot of writers I know have switched to Libre Office.

Don’t want to gen ai music that that’s putting artists out of their jobs and wasting fossil produced electricity to make, on Spotify or Youtube? Not a fan of Youtube also abandoning fact checking in 2025? Try Tidal for music.

Don’t like that Adobe has just wholesale embraced gen ai? There are LOADs of alternatives online. You may like to ask for recommendations (Blue Sky Social tends to be good with these) or browse review articles to help you find one you trust. I recommend this for any other software you’re seeking an gen ai free/ easy to turn off gen ai version of.

Simple Ways to Live Sustainably
-Fight Environmental Enshitification

I’ve said a lot about gen ai and big tech, but I also want to include a list of everyday actions to live sustainably. Note before we start; we’ve often heard it referred to as ‘natural gas’ and may not think of it as being as bad as coal. Gas is as bad as coal. Some practical home set up considerations;

Homeowner?
Get an induction cooktop. (Check your pots and pans are compatible).
If you haven’t yet; get solar panels. (And look into rebates.)
Consider planting trees in your yard, or external blinds to reduce direct sunlight and indoor heat in summer.

Renter?
Get a portable induction cooktop. (Check your pots and pans are compatible).
Can you use an airfryer instead of a gas oven? (An air fryer is cheaper than a combined air fryer and oven.)
Shop around for an electricity provider that makes maximum use of renewable energy.

Shade
If you don’t have proper curtains, shop around online, and adhesive hook and rail options, to block direct sunlight and keep your house cooler in summer.

Winter Warmth
Don’t turn the heater on until you’re wearing two layers of clothing (maybe even a dressing gown over the top and slippers or shoes too.)

Reduce Waste At Home

Do you really need carbon emissions from production of new stuff? Or can you buy second hand furniture? (All of my furniture is second hand, antiques and vintage purchased at bargain prices because its out of fashion, and happily my favourite styling too.)

Don’t by plastic crap. It will end up in landfill soon, and take around 10,000 years to break down. Where timber/ metal/ glass or baskets made from natural materials are an option, buy those instead.

Use stuff made from recycled materials where you can. Eg. Who Gives A Crap use recycled paper for their toilet paper (and donate 50% of their profits to clean drinking water and sanitation projects in areas in need of both.)

Use reusable food coverings, like silicone ones, which don’t break down into microplastics, and won’t fill the bellies of wildlife with nutrient free contents, or starve them to death. (More details on silicon on ZeroWaste.)

Balance Shitness With Goodness

Smell Roses

Yes, literally if you like the scent. There’s plenty of shit going on, but sunny days are still pleasant (when not too hot). Auroras -borealis or australis are cool. And nature is pretty, while trees and lakes and rivers or the sea can be relaxing to walk past, picnic at etc. Spend time with your love ones and appreciate their company. Don’t lose sight of things that aren’t shit.

As someone who’s not prone to depression, the above list helps me smile, and lift my mood whenever enshitification gets a bit much. Even better is going for a walk and fresh air, to clear my head and physically reset my body (except on bad fibro days.)

Fight Enshitification With Kindness

I’m about to publish this a day after the worst mass shooting in Australia in thirty years, which the police have designated a terrorist attack. Antisemitism has reached a peak here. Genocide has been peaking all year in Gaza. We’ve had nazis marching in Australia’s streets at anti-immigration rallies. Racism, transphobia, ableism, eugenics (in the US), sexism and misogyny all seem to be rising and worse than usual this year.

It can be the littlest things that make a difference. Eat at a local ethnic restaurant, and speak kindly to whoever serves you, to show immigrants you don’t blame them enshitification.

Signal That You Accept ‘Diverse’ People

Greet or just smile and nod to the trans person you see at the bus stop. Or the Muslim girl avoiding eye contact in her hijab. Or the Jewish man in his kippah chewing his lip. Signal that you respect and welcome people regardless of identity, with a simple smile, or bow of your head.

Offer an elderly person, or anyone who looks tired and may, unknown to you, be in pain, a seat on a train.

Women and no binary people using the ‘Ladies’: nod in greeting to the trans and gender non-forming woman or nonbinary person in the bathroom. Signal that you accept and or welcome their presence. That you won’t judge their gender based of them confirming or not to sexist, 50’s housewife definitions of ‘woman.’

Avoid Ableist Language
& Give People A Chance

Avoid ableist language. Don’t say ‘idiot’ or ‘moron.’ DO NOT use the R slur. Try ‘fool,’ or ‘dipshit.’ Even better, undercut nazis insecurities by calling them, “Fucknuckle” or some obviously rude, ridiculous name.

If people are delayed in responding to you, or don’t respond the way you expect; give them the benefit of the doubt. Rephrase your request. Maybe check you’re using words that literally mean what you’re trying to communicate.

(As an autistic person; I may completely overlook your implied meaning, and your non-literal word choices. I may need extra time to translate your literal words into your actual meaning, or more context to understand what you’re on about.)

Certain people are being total shitheads to each other. So let’s try to give each other a chance, communicate clearly, and balance out their shit with decency, respect and kindness -especially to marginalised people.

Note For Diverse Authors

If you write fiction, and are BIPOC, queer, neurodiverse or otherwise disabled, you are particularly welcome on my Writers and Authors Discord. We have channels to support and uplift each other, as well as talk writing, querying or indie authoring.

Blue edged, pink, orange and yellow rainbow scroll with text: Get blogs in your inbox & updates from Elise every second month. Join my Fiction Frolics. Select this image to learn more.

Related Reading

Simple Ways to Support Trans People

ADHD and Relationships

Diverse Bsky Guide

June 17, 2025 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

Abandoning Amazon as a reader is easy (if you don’t have a Kindle), when there are so many alternative stores, subscription services, and Goodreads alternatives, a few of which I’ll describe and link here. Abandoning it as an author was, until 2025, largely unthinkable. Even authors resentful of Amazon’s market dominance or lack of ethics felt we had to publish on Amazon to have any hope of selling books, let alone a career as an author, especially an indie author. But with Amazon in 2025 adding to its disregard for its staff and contempt for the environment; abandoning DEI (which almost had me bailing), and two big changes with gen ai, my decision to pull my books from them was made. And it became time to consider what being an author who doesn’t sell books on Amazon looks like.

Brick & Mortar/ Local Alternatives

As an Aussie, when I lived in Frankston, I bought books from Robinson’s Bookstore. In inner Melbourne, I discovered Collins Bookstore, and then my new favourite indie store in the inner suburbs, Readings. Anywhere I went, I also borrowed from the local library. Anything niche I wanted that wasn’t at a local store could be ordered online from Book Depository. Yes, the giant who offered free shipping world wide, the rival Amazon bought, then closed permanently. You’ll find seven Book Depository alternatives described here.

Bookshop.org

The brick and mortar alternative I like best for UK and US readers, if you don’t have one nearby is Bookshop.org, because they share their profits with indie stores. Its a good paperback alternative to Amazon and, as of 2025, Bookshop.org sell ebooks too.

Note for Authors: distributing your paperbacks via Ingram Spark directly, or using Ingram via Draft to Digital (which I prefer, as I find the D2D dashboard and customer service more accessible), will automatically make your paperbacks available on Bookshop.org. (For more on self publishing and book distributors, see this blog).

Online Store Alternatives

Before I link big multinational stores, I’ve found my Ruarnon Trilogy ebooks (courtesy of StreeLib) in national stores in western Europe, and one (so far) in South East Asia (all linked here.) So if you’re wanting to buy local, unsure of your choices and outside America, western Europe, UK, Canada or Australia, check in with the internet/ friends/ family about bookstores owned by your country.

Itchio

Itch.io was most popular with gamers, but in 2025 is growing in popularity among readers and indie authors. They sell ebooks DRM-free, and offer authors a better profit than many alternatives (buying direct from the author is best for authors, but comes with an international taxation headache that puts off or delays quite a few us with selling direct).

Note for Readers: Itchio doesn’t have a storefront for different countries. There’s one online storefront and the author chooses a currency for the minimum price, which can be free and you can tip above it. If needed, the price is converted into the purchaser’s currency.

Note for Authors: you need to create an account and upload your books directly to sell on Itch. Setting prices in UK/ US or Euro currencies means unfavourable exchange rates for readers in the rest of the world. For example, a US $4.50 ebook cost me around $8.30 Aud. The standard Australian dollar indie book price is $6. So you might want to take exchange rates into account when setting your minimum price.

Kobo

For Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, much of Europe, the UK, South Africa, India, Japan, and some of the Asia-Pacific (specific countries listed here), we can buy ebooks via the Canadian company Kobo. Kobo is part owned by Rakuten, based in Japan, where they don’t call it ‘DEI’, but they say ‘we respect human rights of all and uphold individual dignity,’ and commit to ‘contribute to a sustainable future.’ (Kobo became home of my digital library in 2024, and I plan to purchase a Kobo now in 2025.)

Barnes & Noble

I assume Barnes and Noble is (if anything now even more) popular in America. I couldn’t find much about them and DEI, though they still have their Black Lives Matter statement up, which I take as a good sign.

Apple

All of the aforementioned countries for Kobo, plus more of South America, Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific (specific countries listed here) have access to Apple, whose commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion remains firm. (Though, honestly, I’m prejudiced against Apple. I see their release of new model iphones as the most obvious instance of promoting needless consumerism, of sending the old model to landfill and generating carbon pollution from shipping the new model not because the old is broken, but because the new is ‘the latest’).

Booktopia

It would be un-Australian of me not to also mention Booktopia, Australia’s largest online store (yes trading again as of 2025 after voluntary administration in 2024). And they own another Aussie bookstore, which seems to be more online than brick and mortar these days; Angus and Robertson.

Note for Authors: I distribute my ebooks (and for B&N and Booktopia my paperbacks) to all of the above stores except –Itchio– via Draft to Digital (who also distribute to Everand, listed below).

Subscription Service Alternatives

For Americans, there’s Barnes & Noble’s Nook.

For Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Brits, Kiwis and everyone who has access to Kobo, there’s Kobo Plus.

There’s also 24 Symbols, which is multi lingual.

And Everand.

Note for Authors: I distribute my books to 24 Symbols and a range of local online stores throughout Europe, Latin America and elsewhere via StreetLib.

Library Apps

My favourite place to read and make my own book available for free is my local library. Any author who doesn’t have their books in Kindle Unlimited can make their ebooks (as well as paperbacks) available to local libraries, and yes, some services or government grants will pay us per borrow, or reimburse us beyond the libraries’ initial ebook purchase (Canadian and American authors, see Indie Author Project. Australian authors, see Lending Rights Schemes). You may want to borrow ebooks directly through your local library, or check if your local lets you borrow via the two popular apps below.

Libby

The readers of Bsky made me away of Libby, an international library app.

Hoopla

Your local library may also or alternately let you borrow through Hoopla.

Note for Authors: if your books are available for library purchase via Overdrive (to whom DraftToDigital distribute), readers can borrow them via Libby. DraftToDigital also distribute directly to Hoopla.

TBR & Review Alternatives

StoryGraph

StoryGraph is independently owned and was founded by Nadia Odunayo, with a focus on readers. This article by Distractify explores the benefit of that. Yes, you can export your Goodreads data to Storygraph, so you have the same TBR, book stats etc. They also offer a short questionnaire about your reading preferences, to inform their recommendations, and a free (which I use) and a paid tier. Book Riot’s (2021) Review has more information. Or you can create an account on Storygraph’s sign up page. (And or check out my epic YA Fantasy books.)

Note For Authors: the reason I’ve linked to my books instead of author profile (above) is because they’re not linked, as the option to do that doesn’t yet exist on StoryGraph. Apparently its in their roadmap for future developments.

BookBub

Bookbub is another option for following authors, getting notified of new releases, tracking your reading, reviewing books, etc. If you add a book to your wishlist or follow an author, they notify you when that book is on sale, not just on Amazon, but also on Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. You can sign up for their daily email of books on sale by genre, and again sale links are for multiple stores. I’m on there mainly to review books (which I’m quite behind on), and my profile is here.

Note for Authors: you can pay for your books to be advertised in Bookbub’s emails. They also offer a coveted feature deal, which is far from cheap, but from all reports say it gives you a sales spike the day it goes out by email. Author sign up.

Fabel

I’m hearing mixed reviews of Fabel. It’s a paid service, but I’m including it because it emphasises book clubs and interactive reading, both of which seem less of an option on StoryGraph and Bookbub. I haven’t used Fabel.

Abandoning Amazon as an Author

Why do Indie Authors Publish On Amazon?

As an Aussie who grew up in a city when indie bookstores thrive; I never had any interest in Amazon as a reader. It didn’t exist here till 2018, its foreign owned, bad for the environment and treats its staff in exploitative conditions that would NEVER be tolerated in my country. But when I was doing my homework on self publishing in 2021, before releasing Manipulator’s War in 2022; every indie author I spoke to believed you HAD to be on Amazon.

It dominates the American market and has a firm grip on the world market. It was the best way for indie authors publishing in obscurity like myself to become ‘discoverable.’ It was the site all my indie author friends most valued reviews on, so that’s where I reluctantly purchased and began reviewing their books. Then I learned if I spent less than $50 a year annually on Amazon; I couldn’t write reviews there.

I never liked it. I didn’t want to have my books there. But even Wide for the Win, authors dedicated to and supporting each other with publishing wide (beyond Amazon as well as on it) seemed to believe you had to start on Amazon, and could gradually build your readership on non-Amazon stores. So I reluctantly published my books on Amazon from 2022 to 2025.

My Tipping Points for Leaving

As I said in the introduction, I was tempted to pull my books when Amazon abandoned DEI back in January. But with Meta updating their hate speech policy to exclude many forms of hate speech and abandoning fact checking around the same time, January had me busy connecting with travel friends and family on alternative platforms, before deleting my Facebook and Insta accounts.

I then dedicated myself to redesigning Manipulator’s War’s cover with art from my retired cover artist, and overcoming major paperback formatting issues for Ruarnon Trilogy, to release paperbacks via Draft to Digital and on Amazon. Within weeks of all three paperbacks being live on stores in May, I became aware of more Amazon bombshells.

Gen Ai Book Summaries- Author Copyright Violation?

I saw a post about how Amazon are introducing ai summaries of Kindle books. And those summaries include plot and character development. The book blurbs authors submit do not have all of that information. It could only be obtained by feeding an author’s book into generative ai. Which no author gave Amazon consent to do. Multiple authors began emailing Amazon about this, and I learned of it via this post by Skyla Cameron, summarising her email chain conversation with Amazon. After over a month of emails were exchanged; they failed to disclose whether they were storing and using the book data we did not consent to be fed to gen ai to train their gen ai.

Skyla and I both concluded from the Amazon customer service person saying, ‘I cannot say’ that Amazon are indeed training their gen ai on authors book files (uploaded for the purpose of selling them), without author consent. I was ready to pull my books then.

Ai to ‘Narrate’ Audible Books

Within days I saw another social media post about Amazon’s plans to make 100 ai ‘narrators’ available to narrate audio books. Stealing from authors on one hand and trying to put voice actors out of a job with the next? Decision to pull my books made!

Then Amazon announced they were cutting author royalties by 10% as of the first of June, and I laughed at them for confirming I’d made the right choice so swiftly.

I Don’t Want To Share Profits With Zon

The other thing the May gen ai revelations brought home to me was something that didn’t sit well with me in April. I participated in a big indie author books sale then (the Naratess Sale), and I sold three books on Amazon. That meant I made them $3 and me $3. I resented that. It’s the tinniest of profits, absolutely nothing to a billionaire. But I couldn’t be happy about those three book sales (there are months where I sell no books at all), because I resented Bezos getting anything.

And that realisation made me not want to promote my books, to avoid Amazon profiting from them. At which point it was obvious the decision I would be happiest with is removing my books from Amazon, then promoting bookstores I like, who treat authors (and in the latter’s case; book stores as well as customers) well, like Itchio and Bookshop.org. So those are the kind of stores my Ruarnon Trilogy books page now promotes. Meanwhile, I’ve been tracking down local stores in other countries too, and listing them on this stores by country page.

So Where Are My Books?

Thanks to Draft to Digital, when I pulled my books off Kindle, they were already on Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Booktopia and a few lesser known stores. Thanks to Streetlib, they are also on local country onlinne stores, like bucher.de in Germany, Bol in Netherlands etc. I uploaded Ruarnon Trilogy epub files/ ebooks to Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction directly, to give myself more reach and readers more options. And my paperbacks and ebooks are available to libraries via Draft to Digital as well. (All of my these links are on my books page.)

And I may, perhaps later this year, set up direct sales on my website, if looking into it in more detail shows its worth the time and author earnings to sell directly from my website AND on Itchio. Why Draft to Digital, and Itchio, and DriveThru Fiction and possibly also direct sales? For one of the same reasons I’ve never been exclusive to Amazon; I hate putting all my eggs in one basket. Twitter has shown how volatile that can be. (Yes, I had my largest social media following there before moving to Blue Sky).

What Does Being on Author not on Amazon Look Like?

I’d already refused back in January to utilise the two most popular ways for authors to make readers aware our books exist: paying Bezos to advertise them on Amazon, or Zuck to advertise them on Facebook. I’d also tried Bookbub ads in 2024, and found my graphic design skills (for my trilogy at least) were NOT cut out for getting Bookbub link clinks, let alone sales. And those are the three most likely paid ads to successfully advertise your book and build your readership…

Itchio Bundles

Having participated in an Itchio Bundle for Pride Month, which gathered 23+ books by 23 authors with aromantic main characters, I see the power of Itch book bundles to put underrepresented characters into the hands of readers who crave them. With every author promoting the same bundle on their social media; our reach is greater. And with book bundle profits split evenly between participating authors; we all earn something.

2025 -? Itch Bundles of Underrepresented Characters

I’m already planning a Nonbinary Books Bundle, with nonbinary main characters for Nonbinary Awareness Week, July 14th to 20th (Ruarnon of Ruarnon Trilogy being nonbinary.) I’ll also do an Asexual Spectrum Bundle for Asexual Awareness Week, and ADHD Rep Bundle for ADHD Awareness Month in October. (Yes, Ruarnon ticks both of these identities as well, while the second main character of Ruarnon Trilogy, Linh, is aro-ace and her best friend Troy is diagnosed ADHD, but not the only ADHDer.)

Whether these bundles will be a thing year in year out I’m not sure. But for this year at least, they’re a good way to meet and connect with more indie authors who share my marginalised identities. And a good way for us to help each other put our books into the hands of more readers, and give more people insight into what life with any one of those identities and more can be like. (They’re also an effective way to collectively market the first book in everyone’s series full stop).

I’ll definitely do an Autistic Book Bundle (or join someone else’s) during Autism Awareness Month (April) next year, with Rarkin, MC of my new Sythe Series being autistic. And perhaps consider broader themes and bundles, like Queer Normative SFF, or SFF Full Of Hope, both of which Ruarnon Trilogy very much ticks. (Technically Sythe Series does too, though its somewhat darker).

In Person Author Events

Having got long covid a mere six months after releasing my debut novel, and not successfully balanced my work life with ongoing chronic illness (fibromyalgia) until this year, I’m FINALLY ready to contemplate attending in person events. If I time them right, I should have the energy to participate and enjoy them physically and socially.

With the complete Ruarnon Trilogy in paperback, and book one of Sythe Series likely to be out in August/ September 2025, I’m hoping to attend some local Sunday markets with my books. To start casual, local and small scale. I’ve applied for a booth at Australia Book Fair (the first ever) in Melbourne in 2026, and hope to attend Supa Nova in 2026 as well. Being a sociable person with a background in retail, and currently a teacher, I think I’ll enjoy meeting people at in person author events.

Online Book Promotion?

Ok, maybe I’ll set aside some time to write some more post-length blurbs for book 1 of Ruarnon Trilogy, make a few more graphics and start posting them at least once a month. Or fortnightly? Like many authors, I don’t like self promotion. And perhaps its my autism that insists that social media should be social, and is so reluctant to post about my book with a link to it, like a straight up ad, on social media. But I definitely need to do more than my super sporadic and rare posts of previous years.

There’s author chats and daily writer prompts where I’ll also talk about my characters, world building etc (more details on both in my Bsky Newby Guide). And there are questions I’d like to ask other writers in my posts, and discuss, which would also involve me sharing more about my book.

There are paid ads in newsletters for readers that I could try (again), like Book Barbarian (which is for fantasy). And I could consult paid promotion indie author gurus like David Gaughran (who have ideas about marketing beyond Amazon) recommend.

Yes, this post hasn’t just been me sharing links I hope will help readers and authors alike, or aiming to be informative. Its also me setting goals and trying to keep myself accountable. If you’re a fellow indie author trying to do the same, I’d love to hear your ideas/ plans on book marketing in these crazy times. You can find me on Blue Sky, Mastodon or send me an email via my contact page and check out my Writer/ Author Discord on there too. Best of luck!

While you’re here, if anyone likes portal, epic, YA fantasy led by queer and neurodiverse characters… maybe take a look at my Ruarnon Trilogy?

The ‘Small Amount of Time Daily’ Model

There are those people who say: just do a little each day, like writing 500 words. Its not much time or work in that day. And over not too many weeks/ months you’ll have a novel/ established newsletter/ paid advertising campaign!

A big factor here seems to be that when’s life’s busy, its easy to say, ‘I won’t do it today because x,’ and ‘not tomorrow because y’. There’s a risk of not setting aside time to write/ market books and therefore not starting (as I well know, having not spent 9 months of 2023 marketing due to life and earning a living).

If you’re looking for a way to jam marketing into a daily/ weekly schedule under strain, that ‘short amount of time a day’ model may appeal. But personally, I have one main objection.

Some of Us Cannot Spare a Small Amount of Time

Some of us have a disability. Maybe marketing is ‘just’ an extra 20 mins in my day and that’s not much. But my back hurts and gravity is trying to pull me into the ground. My Fibro is DONE with today. It needs that 20 mins (and the next three hours), and same time the next day/ week/ month to recover from the rest of the day. I don’t control what I do on day’s I’m at my day job. My body makes that call and woe is me if I ignore and defy early warnings of increasing fatigue, and or signs my chronic pain is about to flare.

Maybe it takes you time and effort to get your brain out of work/ parenting/ other mode, to tune into something book/ marketing related (especially if you have ADHD). By the time you’ve spent ten minutes (or for ADHD three hours to days/ weeks/ months) trying to engage your brain on The Thing, you want/ need a solid block of time on that task. The first hour ‘on The Thing’ is passed and you weren’t able to properly engage with, or even start The Thing yet.

Need Solid Blocks Of Time?

I NEVER bother sitting down to write if I don’t have at least 1-2 hours. Otherwise I don’t remember who’s in the scene, where the scene is or what just happened, let alone what I’m writing now, or setting up to happen next. Marketing is similar. I want AT LEAST an hour to draft that newsletter/ blog/ design that ad graphic/ series of upcoming book teasers.

The ONLY ‘book marketing’ thing I do in less than an hour is run late to a social media author chat (you’ll find those listed on my Bsky writer chat list). And while technically talking about your characters and plots online could ultimately result in someone reading one of your books, its mostly an activity I do for fun, and connection with fellow writers.

Do What Works For You

So before considering when in the day/ week/ month to schedule your marketing, I’d first consider your ability to focus, your stamina and what length of time blocks you need for marketing (or writing) to be focused AND productive. IF a little each or most days of the week works for you, of course go for it! If it doesn’t? Ideally, I’m finding ‘how often’ boils down to ‘often enough to remember what I’m trying to achieve and how,’ and often enough ‘to feel like I’m making progress.’

When Did I Do All The THINGS?

Blog?

My blog could mean one afternoon a month editing the next blog, and penciling in ideas for the next few month’s blogs. Enough time to check I’ll have a blog ready to roll out at the same time this month, and enough ideas/ of a draft to have edited and published one next month. Ideally, some ideas and or drafts beyond that.

With that system in place, I’ve published one blog most months for nearly four years. This despite the time blindness and management barriers my undiagnosed, unmedicated ADHD posed for most of that period.

Newsletter?

I spend probably one or two afternoons very second month drafting and editing newsletter content and inserting images. Usually, that’s now within a week of sending out a newsletter. Initially though, I always began the next letter before sending out this one, to have content ideas already ticking in advance.
Again, in this case that helped me have a newsletter ready to go every two months for the last three years (quarterly initially, which wasn’t frequent enough to engage people).

Write the Next Book?

Writing/ editing the next book for me is more challenging than both of the above. As a distracted ADHDer, and autistic person who desires exploring story and character logic ALL THE WAY down the deepest rabbit hole, I love writing complex stories produced by whole days writing and editing. In my energetic twenties, Saturdays were rest from the new, challenging career of teaching, Sunday morning’s were reading to enhance my focus, and afternoons for writing. (Of course there were days my ADHD wouldn’t focus at all and I’d stare at a blank page or not even turn on my computer.)

When I was lucky enough to work only three hours a morning part time for a year (in 2018), I would come home from teaching literacy, read for an hour or two, then write for six to eight hours (going for an hour long run in the middle). Those days were brilliant for my undiagnosed, unmedicated ADHD. The teaching burnt off the restlessness I started every day bursting with. Reading when I got home calmed and focused my highly distractible brain. And I still had HOURS to focus and write. Than an hour to run off the resltessness and re-calm and re-focus my hyper, ADHD brain mid-write block.

Getting Marketing Goals Into a State to Determine WHEN To Do Them

First: pick ONE aspect of marketing to focus on. A social media account, a newsletter, a blog, seeking author interviews, getting your book up on all the platforms (details in Step 9 of this post) , or ONE type of paid ad campaign. As an who began social media with Facebook, Instagram AND Pinterest simultaneously, then mastered Twitter, I assure you its more effective to learn ONE platform/ aspect of marketing well first. THEN transfer your learning to a second a few months later. Otherwise its too easy to do multiple things with lack of clarity/ understanding, and thus ineffectively.

Once you’ve got your One focus, getting started is great, but the challenge (as everyone with ADHD knows), is sustaining your work. I find marketing hardest. Aside from individual blog posts/ podcasts/ youtube videos, its hard to break ‘book marketing’ into small, yet related, continuous tasks. Bookbub ads (the first paid option I experimented with) seemed big, and daunting and I put it off for probably over a year before trialling them.

Example: Breaking Learning Bookbub Ads Into Sessions

Once you’ve picked your One Thing, consider how to break it into smaller parts, likely to fit the time you have daily/ weekly/ monthly for them. When I took a break from teaching early in 2023, that involved three week’s full time testing Bookbub ads for my first trilogy (massive fail. I spent money and lots of hours, but my designs were WAY too far off the mark to be potentially worth it). Here’s how, if I only had a few hours daily, as opposed to whole days, I’d break down learning Bookbub ads.

1: Research

Read David Gaughran’s Bookbub ads book and browse sample Bookbub ads (like Top 10 Bookbub Ads of 2024), and take notes in the first few 1-2 hours slots, for a week (or two).

2: Design Ads

Spend the next few 1-2 hour slots designing my first ad images.

3: Compare My Ads to Successful Designs & Revise

Spend the next few hour slots (over around two weeks) examining each individual aspect of design. I’d break these down into; font & font size, background, text & background contrast, how cluttered the image looks etc. Then I’d compare design elements of my ads to my notes on effective design from Step 1 and tweak accordingly.

4: Test & Compare Results of My Own Ads

Run a test ad, then spend slots over the next week comparing and contrasting the amount of clicks it got to previous ads. Then analyse which design elements/ or whether the target author likely influenced clicks positively or negatively. Repeat step 3 with ad test conclusions in mind.

Repeat As Needed

By this point in my process a loop between step 3-4 involving redesign, reflection and re-evaluation could spread over as many sessions and weeks as needed to nail design. Or to conclude that would waste too much time and money (it did with my first book).

Photo Credit: Aron Visuals

When Might You Do All The THINGS?

When you’ve had a go at breaking things into manageable parts, and in so doing developed a clearer idea of what exactly you want to achieve in which time; you can consider WHEN to do All The Things. In deciding that, these considerations helped me, and may help you plan your marketing schedule/ routine.

1: Choose Your Focus

Realistically choose which authorly things you want to focus on in coming months. If you don’t have a website; DO THAT NOW. If you do, will you start a newsletter/ blog/ youtube presence? Build a particular social media platform/ your writer-author network? Or are you ready to consider promoting your book(s) on Amazon/ to a Wide audience? Or do you want to start local and look at public author events, or getting your paperbacks into a local bookshop?

If you’re unsure which of these Things to tackle next, or in what order to tackle Things plural, I go into detail, link resources and sequence The Things I’d aim to do before and soon after launching a book in this post.

How often a day/ week/ month do you need to work on marketing to stay in touch with your goals and keep making progress? (Note: ‘progress’ can include identifying ways that do NOT work and your reflections on why. I still call on-the-job-learning ‘progress’, as knowledge puts you in a better position to achieve in future.)

2: Block Out Other Comittments

What days/ times aren’t an option for you because of your day job? Because humans need sleep and or your kids need parents to raise them? What other comittments require how much of your time?

In blocking out non-writing time, please don’t forget to block out time to rest, recover, chill, smell roses, eat chocolate etc! In other words, don’t work yourself to death. Modern life is BUSY and we need BREAKS.

3: Identify Your Authorly Time Slots

Having blocked out time for life and wellbeing purposes, what time do you have left and how often, across a week (or even month)?

For my teaching career, all work days are a no for anything authorly (except social media, which is more social for me). Teaching takes a lot out of me physically, emotionally and cognitively, so if I taught that day, the evening is for rest.

If like me, your disability, ADHD distraction, autistic overload (or other) determines when and how much you can get done, use a good day to record Thing you’re working on, parts you’ve broken it into and sequence them. Then, each time your body and mind co-operate and allow you to make progress, make a quick ‘where to next’ note. With that note, after however long it next takes for the stars to align for you to tackle The Thing again, you’ll know where you’re at.
(I’m so glad I wrote a May 2024 Author To Do List, because I spent May moving out, June moving in and life happened for 6 months, so its now my Jan-Feb 2025 To Do List.)

4: Choose a Thing ( big picture focus) for The Year

What’s your big focus for the next few months, or even the year?

With my website established (tips on that in this blog), Newsletter established (Newsletter tips here) and blog established, they all get a couple of hours a month.

Last year I intended to focus on trialing paid ads, but didn’t get to begin FB ads after my Bookbub ones bombed because moving house and setting up (a chronic illness, autistic and ADHD friendly) house took up the rest of the year.

For 2025, my big overall focus seems to be how to promote my books wide (ie. beyond Amazon). My First Thing may be setting up direct ebook sales on my website. Ideally, I’ll do paperback ones after that (which I know will be more complicated).

My Big Thing 2 may be exploring in-house promotions. I’d like to check that for Kobo via D2D and see if I can access Apple in-house promotions that way. I also want to experiment with Smashwords Sales (when they FINALLY merge my Smashwords and D2D accounts, which will put all 3 Ruarnon Trilogy books on ONE trilogy page. They’re currently spliced across two different series pages, for the SAME series).

Neurodiverse Communication

Rehearsing Conversations

I’m guessing neurotypical people rehearse conversations in their heads when they’re giving a speech, or telling someone they really care about something that really matters to them. By the time I was around fifteen, I rehearsed ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I may like to say to my friends before saying it aloud. I would approach social situations with prepared topics and comments drafted in my brain and would be happy when I got to say them all.

Did I monitor the interest levels of people as I plunged through my pre-rehearsed topics? Not really. Sometimes when I’d finished talking I did. Knowing how much to say about a topic and not rambling on when the other person isn’t as interested as me is a life skill I am still refining, in my thirties.

This is an autistic trait common in adults.

What are You on About?

As a teenager, I routinely initiated conversations with peers because it was the easiest way to communicate. Even as an adult I find other people starting the conversation challenging. With people I don’t know well, the first thing I think they’re saying usually isn’t what they mean. I’ve developed a habit of listening, ignoring my first interpretation, and waiting until a second or third interpretation forms in my mind before I respond. Usually by then I’ve correctly identified the topic and their intended meaning. If I take too long, I comment on one aspect I’m sure I understand, to encourage them to say more, to give me more time to figure out what they’re talking about.

When I’m tired, I also struggle because I interpret things literally. I suspect that any other time I remember what I know about that person, or topic and do mental gymnastics to get from what they literally said to what they actually mean. That gets socially awkward because neurotypical people, especially adults in a professional context, tend to want immediate answers to their questions. But they don’t say what they literally mean, so I need processing time to do mental gymnastics before I can answer.

I suspect my main challenge with both of the above can be taking people more literally than they intend. Though my ADHD being challenged by information overload is also a close contender for that title. When the other person talks too much I start forgetting information they’ve said before connecting the pieces of it together and extracting meaning from them. Either way, the other person’s point can go completely over my head.

Taking people too literally? Classic autistic trait.

Why Can’t People Just SAY what they MEAN?

I am already using SO MUCH energy in conversations to: stay focused (because ADHD), not interrupt (because ADHD), read body language and tone (because autism), put effort into the above simultaneously (neurodivers e people tend to struggle with split-focus) while tracking what you mean AND responding swiftly. I have very few spoons left to dedicate to hunting mystical meanings you hide between your words. Just TELL ME what you want!

This wasn’t easy for me to recognise, because while I was swiftly frustrated with academics who waffle on at Uni (mostly in articles), and adults who beat around the bush; I work with kids. I’m always working with people who may be discussing things they are unclear on, and struggle to put into words. Teaching has me forever piecing together clues, filling gaps and actively supporting students to communicate more clearly/ effectively/ socially acceptably with each other.

I tend to recognise sarcasm and quite a few other things autistic people generally struggle with, perhaps because I’ve worked closely with twenty-something kids five days a week and adults after hours, for over ten years. Experience has positioned me to present as neurotypical, but when I get tired at the end of the day and someone in leadership gives an instruction that sounds like its giving me a choice but actually means ‘I want you to do x like y,’ I’m prone to mis their intended meaning and take them at their literal one. When I’m online and tired, sometimes I skip over posts because there aren’t enough contextual clues within them and I just don’t know what they mean.

I prefer to get directions at work from leaders who speak directly, even bluntly and keep to the point. That’s A LOT clearer to me, and a lot less effort to process.

I Say What I Mean

I lost track long ago how many times growing up my mother would joke ‘why don’t you tell us what you really think?’ Over the past year I’ve often deleted my posts about genocide in Palestine because I can’t express my feelings without swearing the house down and saying things I know could be inflammatory and not do any form of good.

But growing up, with close friends and family, I tended to just say what I meant, uncensored. Only in England did I learn to shut up at work, so I didn’t spend the entire day saying; ‘This system is on fire. Why are you teaching in it instead of trying putting out the flames?’ (Yes, this is a metaphor for the string of swearing I was actually thinking in).

Honestly, I think the downside of ‘polite society’ in an age where Trump is running for a second presidency and the phrase ‘you can’t make this shit up’ is common commentary on real life is an era in which MORE people need to be saying; ‘This shit is fucked up.’ I fear that being ‘polite’ and not bluntly calling things out normalises shit that absolutely SHOULD NOT be happening. *Points at genocide in Palestine*.

Again, the tendency to be blunt is an autistic one.

Tone

I had no idea that speaking more informally than is appropriate is an autistic tendency. (I was more familiar with the perhaps more common, or better recognised tendency to speak formally when it isn’t expected/ required). But both are autistic traits, and natural inclinations I learned to adapt at work. I did it as early as working in retail (where being tall, thin, blond and female presenting, speaking in a more formal, professional manner meant I was less likely to have to put up with people treating me like an airhead).

A more warm and welcoming professional tone also works well with parents as a teacher. And when I step into ‘professional communication mode’ I find it easier to make eye contact, ask other people questions and behave in what people consider a welcoming, professional way (which is of course a neurotypical way).

With adults at work, I also tend to tone down my excitement, and present in a calmer, more professional manner. Whereas with students I’ll be up pacing, gesticulating, and my tone will be full of enthusiasm on topics of interest, which is thankfully many within the expanse that is twenty-first century curriculum.

Leading Conversations

Having prepared my talking points in advance, I also like to lead conversations. When I start the conversation, especially a group conversation, its SO much easier to keep track of what we’re talking about and have clarity about the conversation. It also gives me the chance to ensure my particular interests feature strongly, which makes it much easier for me to follow and actively participate.

While struggling to follow group conversations is a classic ADHD trait, the desire to lead them is an autistic one. (This and other autistic traits being listed nicely in this article).

Reciprocity In Conversation

I have the ADHD tendency of ‘I just need to tell you these ten things, all at once, before I forget half of them.’ THEN I have the headspace to properly listen to and take in what that person is saying.

But when the other person asks about me first, I have to make a real effort to ask about them, because its what they expect, not my natural inclination. This is a more autistic tendency.

I loved an episode of the Aussie comedy FISK, where the autistic coded main character is being pretty much trained in small talk/ social niceties by a colleague, but needs to urgently leave. She’s trying to throw out, ‘How are you? And isn’t it a nice day? And what are your plans for the weekend?’ In a very rushed, and random order, because its what the colleague expects, but is clearly unnatural and awkward to the autistic coded MC.

What are Social Graces?

I’ve never been a fan of a few basic social conventions.

1. I don’t like eye contact.

This is a classic, obvious autistic trait but I was unconcious of it for quite some time. Because people look you in the eyes and insist you look back from childhood. So you make yourself do it and pretend it doesn’t bother you. Or you make eye contact so they know you’re listening but you keep finding excuses to look away.

They don’t notice anything. And you don’t want to notice how uncomfortable eye contact makes you, because God knows how often how many people are trying to make eye contact with you and you’re trying to uncomfortably meet it!

2. I don’t do small talk.

When you talk to people you’re supposed to ask how they are. When they’re strangers you’re supposed to do ice breakers, or ‘polite conversation starters’ like the weather, or —hell, I don’t know because I don’t do it. Why? Because I’m not interested. I’m interested in what I’m interested in. In a state of nature going to launch into whatever interests me n that moment with no names, greetings, preamble or niceties. No time wasting— lets get into it! (Yes the impatience is likely ADHD, though struggling with small talk period as an autistic trait.)

Again, I have had to spend lots of time learning and practicing asking how people are, or thinking of things that matter to them and asking how about those. I do care about the latter. If they start talking about it I will show interest in my responses. But its not natural for me to think what to ask about other people. I used to just assume that if something mattered to people they wouldn’t need an invitation to talk about it and would just say it, but I’m learning there are many exceptions to that.

Elise Carlson selfie, smiling, wearing glasses, a cap, with short curls poking out the sides, stripy top, river and mossy rocks in background. — Neurodiverse me, hiking in the Otway Ranges, March 2023.

I’m Thinking…

Hyper Focus

For me, hyper focus is a very important strategy that enabled me to have a teaching career and ADHD at the same time. What I didn’t notice in this section of the blog back in 2021 was how much I like hyper focusing on topics of particular interest, or special interests —a classic autistic trait.

What’s the Point?

Why be on time for class, so I can line up outside, wait for everyone else to enter and sit down slowly and get zero benefits for having got out of bed a bit earlier? If you want me to do something —tell me why. The fact you want me to do it doesn’t motivate me. The fact you were my parent or teacher and even now, the fact alone that its my boss asking doesn’t motivate me.

Intrinsic motivation for me is not conforming to other people’s expectations, their wants, being obedient or doing anything purely because someone asked. I care about, I want to understand, I am motivated by WHY. Tell me how it benefits people —students, colleagues, my boss, me —anybody— or how it makes my work more productive, or easier, or safer or whatever. That’s what motivates me. I don’t know anyone else so strongly motivated by being told why.

The most likely explanation I’ve found at this time for ‘why?’ being so important: the autistic tendency to excel at logical reasoning, which may be more important than or even compensate for intuition in decision making (source on this).

Logic and Decision Making

Deleting my Twitter account was initially an emotional decision, because I had so many friends and writer contacts there. But as the account with a violence against Jews handle was repeatedly reported and found to ‘not violate Twitter’s safety policies’, and the Australian esafety commissioner fined Musk for failing to meet minimum child protection standards, the site became increasing dysfunctional and un-usable, the word ‘cis’ was banned… how could anyone NOT delete their account? How could decent humans ignore reason and divorce their actions from their consciences like this?

Guess what? Turns out excelling at logical thought and reasoning, and a strong sense of social justice are autistic tendencies.

I’m coming to realise that for people choosing to stay on Twitter, its likely an emotional decision about not wanting to lose friends they have there. If only all my friends could leave based on logic and reason and then we could all have migrated together and not got separated! GAH!

(I understand people who chose differently on perhaps an intellectual level here, but as you can see my own emotional reasoning takes me in the opposite direction, because my emotions are a response to the logic of the situation, not an emotional, direct response to the situation itself.).

Why did you change that?

Earlier this year I was in casual teaching. Before doing so, I had to answer the question: are you prepared to be called in to work on the day, or only to be booked in advance?

I have (while living in England) woken up to a phone call, looked up how to access a school I’ve never been to before via public transport and rushed off to work. I can do that. But the relief I felt on being texted a list of dates, and comparing them to my (physical) calendar to check my availability and getting to text back with ‘Yes I am available on those dates’ in a text message?

That’s my autistic love of structure, order, routine. I like predictability telling me what will happen and when, giving me time to mentally adjust to the fact its coming. In this case I liked it to fit work days around medical appointments and moving house, and writing novels and socialising around work.

So heads up, if you know a neurodivergent person (especially someone who’s autistic): don’t spring sudden changes on them! Sudden change is stressful. It often needs to be processed faster than I’m capable of processing it. And if you’re the parents of an autistic child: always give them an idea of how long they can do that thing they love, that they must pack up in five minutes, in two minutes, now! Sudden change is bad!

Memory

Before Twitter became fascist zombie land, (yeah, being blunt is also an autistic tendency and sometimes I just think fuck sensoring my language into neurotypical, I’m calling this shit as I see it), I knew SO MANY writers by name. I recalled at least one genre SO MANY of them wrote. I did make lists to help me, and now do so on Bsky, but my memory was unusual.

Which is clearest when I tell you my ADHD hates making notes about my multi character, complex plot, epic fantasy novels. So I just edit whole novels multiple times. I do my consistency edits of 100k novels in three days, because reading them that close together lets me just remember compass points on their journey, or that character mentioned something seven chapters ago clashing with this chapter’s mention of it.

In some ways my memory is terrible: see ADHD’s impact on working memory. But in others its excellent, and the excellent ways tend to align with autistic tendencies.

Sensory Needs

Its Too Bright

I was once co-teaching and noticed that when the other teacher was teaching, I kept looking at the wall away from the children. That’s because it was blue, and calming and not cluttered with teaching charts. When that teacher went on leave and it became my classroom, I spent 45 minutes pinning A3 sheets of pastel purple over the lurid colours of the wall children sat beside, and took down most charts (I didn’t use them anyway).

That was the most obvious instance in my life of; dude, you have sensory issues! Certain colours, and brightness/ tone are so uncomfortable I don’t want to look at them (and yes, will spend forty five minutes covering them up).

Its Too Loud

The other obvious sensory issue my whole life has been sound. The number of times a repetitive noise has continued until it distracts and frustrates me and I verbally complain and no one else in the room can hear it…

Until getting chronically ill, I was a light sleeper. Possum lands on the roof? I wake up. Car drives over speed bump outside my house? Wake up. Someone walks down the corridor, opens a door, uses the shower in the bathroom next to my room… I bought earplugs when a housemate was getting up at 5.50am because I would wake when he open his door opened (it scrapped across his carpet) and not get to sleep until he shut the front door (it was deadlock only and impossible to turn quietly.)

Sensory sensitivity (which can also be to smell, taste and texture, all of which bother me a lot less) is another classic autistic trait.

Other Areas

Difficulty Maintaining Friendships & Holding Down Employment

This wasn’t an easy one to evaluate, because I move house (sometimes countries) every couple of years. I change work places just as often (these are classic ADHD novelty seeking behaviours). But I didn’t realise holding employment and maintaining friendships are also common autistic struggles.

The one year contract was my bane as a teacher. My ADHD swiftly got fed up with the same time-consuming, repetitive routine of annually re-applying for my job because my contract had finished. That made things hit harder, and is why I figured why not teach overseas? Employment is no longer enough incentive to go through several weeks of lots of work and stress to get the same outcome annually (employment). There’s your autistic logic, running away with the ADHD quest for novelty. My difficulty in spotting both is that at moments like these, they ran hand in hand.

Creativity

I was the ‘in their own world child.’ My author bio mentions ‘graduating from playing imaginary games to writing fantasy.’ This is very much true. While fascination with facts is known as a typical autism trait in children by teachers, it was news to me that an interest in fantasy worlds can also be an autistic trait.

What Now?

Since moving house, I’m selling off things I don’t use and have purchased matching crockery and glassware, to reduce visual sensory overload at home. I also de-clutter my classroom where possible. I ask clarifying questions when needed at work, to help me piece together the too-many pieces of information people are telling me and extract the speaker’s intended meaning from them.

I tell colleagues when I can’t keep up with the professional conversation and again ask clarifying questions as needed. Ultimately, in conversation and meeting sensory needs, I give myself space to be comfortable, my neurodiverse self –autistic and ADHD-istic– and to succeed as such.

Engaging Readers (of Your Novel)

August 15, 2024 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

I’ve had a few reading experiences where I felt pushed out of the story. Where story ideas were interesting and I wanted to sink my teeth in, but the way the writer told the story and wrote the characters kept pushing me back to arm’s length (or further). So this blog aims to give examples of ways you can let your reader access your characters emotionally, logically, and enable the reader to properly join your characters on the journey your story takes them on. It aims to get you thinking about engaging readers more deeply in your story.

I’ll given advice on positioning your readers so they aren’t chasing after your characters asking, ‘WHAT?’ ‘WHY?’ and so your readers don’t find your characters every action unconvincing. I’ll try to help you show your reader how your characters feel, think and are developing. And to foreshadow events and build your story into a journey on which it makes and keeps satisfying promises to the reader.

Ground Zero

Characters & Status

There are a few simple ways to let the reader truly see and get to know your characters. First: show their emotions. Don’t only let the reader know what your character says to their boss. They can’t be their entirely honest, true self to the boss, they’ll be constrained by professionalism, their ambitions in their workplace, job insecurity, workplace politics etc.

So have your main character spend some time with a friend/ partner/ family member they trust, and can be completely honest with (throughout the novel –when possible). What your character shares of their thoughts and feelings, and how they express both in the presence of people they trust will show us things we cannot see when your character is at work.

Similarly, where relevant, show how your character interacts with people of higher rank, or possessing different and or greater forms of power (in any relevant setting to your story). Show when and how your character must hold their tongue, or restrain their emotions or reactions, or conform to others expectations because they lack position or power relative to others.

Who is your MC among their equals, their superiors and those less fortunate than themself?
All of those situations can reveal different aspects of your main characters to your reader.

Showing Feelings & Developing Feelings

Thoughts That Heighten Feelings

Don’t have your character make a single comment that suggests to the reader they’re angry, then have them punch someone in the face. Give us some internal thoughts (internally or via dialogue) to show the build up of emotion (unless you’re writing an emotionally unstable or extremely on edge character who goes from zero to ten on the temper scale in two seconds).

Example:

Why was it always Jorgen who got the nasty, most disgusting jobs? The ones that took the most effort and time to complete? While everyone else came in out of the cold early, put their feet up and got an extra serve of meat soup, Jorgen was shovelling shit and shivering in the cold.

The shovel in Jorgen’s hands stilled. He was falling behind in his studies. It was all the extra work. While he groomed the fine stallion nibbling straw opposite him, and mucked out its stables, his older siblings were racing ahead, towards better jobs. As each of them completed their studies and departed to jobs and lives of their choosing, who would be left behind, stuck doing extra chores in a life he increasingly resented?

The shovel fell, as Jorgen roared and charged out of the stables, headless of the horse dung flicking up in his wake.

Non-Verbal Emotion Cues

This is important. A book lacking emotion cues can also keep characters at arms length from the reader. So show characters feelings with nonverbal cues. The way the oldest sibling rolls their eyes dismissively as Jorgen makes his case. The second eldest crossing their arms as they protest that washing up the dishes and foodscraps is also yucky. The way the third sibling eyes the hem of their immaculate clothes, not even bothering to look at Jorgen as they dismiss his protests with the statement ‘everyone does chores.’

Have Jorgen pause his shovel as he realises who’s got the short end of the straw. Have him drop it when he realises everyone’s using him, right now and always. Then have him charge out of the freezing stables and into the warm kitchen, where no one really listens or seems to care about him or his point of view. Then, having emotionally engaged the reader by showing them everyone’s feelings along the way, when Jorgen’s most arrogant sibling tells him “we all do things we don’t like, suck it up” the reader will totally understand why Jorgen punches the arrogant snot in the face (and quite possibly cheers him on as he does so).

Side Character Agenda

Don’t reserve agendas for the MC and major players in the plot. While the agents of the Intergalactic Police confront a crime wave of chemical weapon sales (and potential attacks), you can still have the MC’s little brother searching for his missing cat. Why knows, maybe the cat is onto something, and in finding the cat, the little brother will lead their older agent sibling to a major clue in locating the lab that produces the illegal weapons, bringing him that much closer to said criminals and shutting down their illegal trade?

Giving your side characters goals gives them the opportunity to grow and develop independently of the role they play in helping your MC. By giving them a life outside of the MC’s bidding, and in making side character’s more fully rounded people, you make your story richer, more authentic and a more enjoyable experience for readers.

Character Internal Development

Please be very aware of the emotional and mental state in which your MC (and supporting cast) begin the story. Of the skills they possess, their social and technological and any other relevant competencies they have. Be aware of how these things and their relationships with other characters grow and change for the MC (and supporting cast) to achieve goals and solve the story problem.

Track these things throughout the story (especially when editing, if like me you’re a pantser). This isn’t just to show the reader how your character strives to change for the better or to strengthen their relationships to the solve the plot problem. Its not just about positioning the reader to share the character’s inner journey and cheer them on and provide the reader with a sense of payoff when the characters finally succeed in their goals. Showing the reader how characters and relationships develop also helps you avoid sudden, unexplained leaps in confidence and ability. Sudden changes (even inconsistencies) in character can confuse the reader, make characters seem implausible to them and ultimately pull the reader out of the story.

Story Foreshadowing & Tension

If you’re writing SFF, Thriller, Crime or Historical in particular, and don’t bother much with foreshadowing —you are killing your story’s tension. As a reader, I want to know what could happen next. My favourite authors, like Robert Jordan and Steve Erikson will suggest via world building and character interactions that two different events could unfold. Then they will lead me down a third path I never saw coming and I will love them for it.

But when a writer tells me there’s a spaceship that a side character can repair for everyone to escape in, then at the twelfth hour characters discover a secret tunnel and everyone escapes through it.. I wasn’t expecting that. I had no sense of anticipation, so I couldn’t be satisfied when my anticipation was fulfilled. I didn’t even know that was an option, so I may be initially confused, instead of satisfied by the way a story problem has suddenly and unexpectedly been solved (in a pulling-me-out-of-the-story way).

As a reader of primarily SFF, the bare minimum I want is Granny built a secret tunnel and no one has seen her for months. So when she does appear, having extended her secret tunnel into the prison cell just before everyone’s execution, her appearance doesn’t pull me out of the story. But if you want me to be really excited to see Granny, show me her struggles to dig fast enough. Let me hear her worries the tunnel exit will come out in the wrong place. If you do that alongside characters fretting as they probe a cell with no possibility of escape and the execution is at dawn and the pale grey of first light is creeping across the cell floor like the ax that’s about to chop off their heads… now I’m feeling the tension!

Tracking Foreshadowing

This is also important. Because if you mention Granny vanishing in chapter one, rumours she’s digging a mysterious tunnel no one quite know’s where in chapter six, then she breaks into the cell to save the day in chapter thirty two… by then I forgot this story had a granny. I’ve forgotten where she is and what she’s doing (unless nothing much happened in chapters seven to thirty two).

So when you’re doing a structural edit, take note of how early you show the reader story facts that will be crucial later. Notice how often you remind the reader of those facts. And check in with your critical readers if they recalled those facts, and the foreshadowing did prepare them for what was coming, and help them enjoy it, even if like Jordan and Erikson you manage to take the story down that third path, making a use of those facts beyond your readers anticipation.

Character Foreshadowing

This is something I’ve enjoyed in films in the last decade or so. I’m noticing more films where a side character has what seems to be a random hobby, and that interest or skill turns out to be crucial to assisting the MC in the finale. So again, if you have side or unlikely characters playing crucial roles in the end, track when and how often you incidentally remind the reader of their skills/ knowledge. When it helps the MC save the day, you want the reader to feel rewarded for paying attention and not pulled out of the story by a side character doing something they didn’t realise the side character could do.

Third Party Development In Stories

This might be an organisation in a contemporary or historical story, or a city, race or empire in SFF. As with your side characters, be wary of under-developing your third parties. I don’t just want to know Sarah’s Sewing repairs clothes. I’d like to know she has access to rare and expensive fabrics no other seamstress has, which may have come from the black market.

As a reader of my own book, I wouldn’t be satisfied if the book just showed the Zaldeans as toxically masculine warmongers. Given that the lead warmongers betray their peace-loving king by trying to manipulate him to war; I want to know what drives them. What does war give them other than the promise of glory? It gives them the opportunity for governorships —political power, and personal estates —wealth. It gives middle ranking men the chance to trade with new markets, where their goods are rarer, and they can charge more and make more money.

Don’t just tell me what the head of the third party/ organisation/ country wants. Show me what’s in it for everyone. Show me what lengths these contagonists or antagonists are prepared to go to, to further their own goals. Show me why its so important to them to achieve their goals.

Why? Because letting me as the reader see what drives the baddies and the characters who get in the way as well as I see the ‘goodies’ ramps up tension. It makes me get more emotionally invested in the story.

I confess, I did laugh reading one of Brandon Sanderson’s characters in the Stormlight archives answering the question, ‘How did all this start?’ with something like, “Other people had stuff and we wanted it.” Yes, in war that’s often what it boils down to. But the more layers you give the agendas of characters on all sides of any conflict, the more tension there is, the more emotionally invested the reader is; the more emotional pay off we get when the story problem is resolved!

Sustainability & Cross Posting Problems

I know, especially with the Twitter Writing diaspora (no this post isn’t dated, I reject the name change), its easy to get FOMO. To wonder about creatives and people you’re not connecting with or reaching on other social media platforms. So some people use an app to schedule posts on multiple social media, more than they have time or energy to interact on, which has its own problems.

I hope you don’t use an app which auto-posts: ‘I just posted on Insta’ or ‘just pinned (whatever) on Pinterest…’ because I’ve unfollowed people for that. If I follow you on Blue Sky (Bsky) or Mastodon, its because I want to see your Bsky or Mastodon content.

Then there’s the issue of audience differences. I prefer to manually post on Bsky/ Mastodon and Facebook. My FB is mostly people I’ve known personally from all walks of life, including far less people from the diverse communities I interact in on Bsky. So if I scheduled the same posts for Bsky and Facebook, they would resonate with my Bsky community, but not my FB contacts, or vice versa, OR compromise too much and not resonate with either.

And that’s not the biggest problem.

Sustainability Becomes Rockstar Status/ Snobbery

Sure, there will always be those kind people who like and comment on your post, even when you don’t reply or even like their comments (I’ve seen it happen).

The problem with posting and running is it feels like rockstar status. Like you’re saying, “I’ve got things to do (as if my followers don’t). I want engagement from you and I’ll give you nothing/ little in return.” Alternatively “I think my time is worth more than yours.”

I don’t expect any writer/ creative to be Neil Gaiman on Bsky (how much that guy posts but also interacts with other people’s posts is AMAZING! When does he even write?!) But when Neil Gaiman interacts with his followers and others don’t (I don’t just mean life gets busy so you disappear or are hardly present for a bit, I mean post and run is your modus operendi) it feels like snobbery.

If people comment on your posts and you don’t reply, it will feel to them that you’re not really there. Like you’re talking at them, but not listening to them. You’ve taken the ‘social’ out of social media. So why follow you on that platform?

Building Loads of Social Media Followings: does it Actually Work?

Which brings me to, if you’re on more platforms than you have time to connect with others on, if all you’re doing is posting and running… does that build a following?

Sure, there are people who post frequently, have interesting things to say and gain lots of followers. I follow one on Blue Sky who posts multiple times a night on multiple topics, in such a way that many people feel a connection to him. He’s also entertaining and has an unusually large number of followers for Bsky. (And I bet its his main platform, which he gives most of his social media time and energy to).

But most of us don’t present in ways lots of people frequently feel so connected to. Its people who feel like they know me who tend to regularly interact with my social media posts. And while they may feel that from reading my posts often, they get to know me far better if we talk to each other. That’s what gets me the most engagement.

So if you’re posting and running, do people feel like they know you on that platform? Do they connect with what you’re saying? Do they interact with you? Or are you shouting into the void? And if so, would letting those accounts go dormant (or deleting them) lose anything? Or would it gain you time and energy/ spoons for other things?

What’s your Preferred Mode of Operation?

As an indie author, I took the advice to be where my readers are. I tried to post there more often than once in a blue moon when it wasn’t somewhere I didn’t have the motivation, time or spoons to interact. And I learned that reciprocity is important to me not just as a writer and author, but as a social media user.

I don’t want to post and run. I don’t want to be that person who’s always taking and never gives anything back. Who wants engagement and interaction but never returns it.

Learning this about myself made it much easier to decide to let my Tik Tok and Instagram accounts become dormant, to only use my Pinterest to pin a link to my latest blog and to mainly interact on my Blue Sky and Mastodon accounts. I just have a Facebook profile for anyone who isn’t on the former two (because I hate the fan-style set up of FB pages).

But if you are comfortable interacting only with those who reply to you or posting and running…

Are You on the Right Social Media For You?

This can get overlooked among the ‘be where your readers are’ advice and the temptation to be everywhere to ‘reach as many readers as possible’.

Boundaries: Use-ability

This is a simple way to cut down your platform presence.

At one point I had writer groups on Facebook. It was clunky and disorganised. Posts didn’t display in chronological order. The display order of posts kept changing. It wasn’t easy to organise by topic. I found myself not wanting to interact in FB groups I created, because every time I did they frustrated my impatience to interact swiftly and effectively.

So when Facebook shut down Australian community groups without warning during a 2020 lockdown and I moved my writer groups to Discord and found it had ten times better functionally, I all but stopped using Facebook to interact with writers.

When it comes to usability, is there a platform where the notifications, functionality, layout, the way posts are organised (or totally disorganised) frustrates you? That makes things more time-consuming to use?
How much frustration does it cause you or how much of your time does it take up across a day, a week, a month? Is it worth it?

(On these grounds alone, Twitter was a monumental waste of my time by mid 2023 and its dis-functionality was right up there with its antisemitism in driving me to Mastodon and Blue Sky.)

Boundaries- Ill Fitting Platforms

I liked the idea of Instagram. I enjoy travel and nature photography and sometimes write poems. Its also popular with the target audience of my YA Fantasy books: fifteen to forty-somethings (I don’t think YA readership stops at forty, though I know far less fifty-something+ are on Insta). In theory it was a good place to promote my writing and have a social media presence.

But Insta never worked out for me. Posts were bigger and took longer to scroll than my preferred text-based platforms. The algorithms showed me populist posts instead of people I actually knew socially, or fellow writers. The relentless plague of bots commenting on my bookish posts and spamming my inbox was ANNOYING. And I’m still convinced half my followers are men treating Instagram as a dating app…

Then Insta started imitating Twitter with blue tick offers, increased ads and populist post and follow suggestions clogging my feed. This was a feed I wasn’t going to interact on because it just didn’t fit me. It was my post and run platform. And every time the algorithms changed, my posts got seen by less people and slowly dropped from an average of 40 likes to around 15.

I thought, what’s the point? I’m not going to reach readers here anyway. I could use the time and energy I spend on Insta writing my newsletter or blog… even my books! So I let my Insta go dormant.

Do you have a platform you feel the same way about? What could you achieve for your books/ art/ newsletter/ blog/ business if you ditched that platform?

Boundaries: Personal Comfort (In my case ND comfort!)

Sometimes, the place your readers/ viewers/ customers hang out ISN’T a good place for you. I don’t just mean you find it tricky or aren’t too sure how the platform works. I mean you’re there because you feel you ‘should’ be and are fighting that little voice in your head telling you ‘this is UN-comfortable.’

For me, this is Tik Tok. I write YA Fantasy. Book Tok sells books. I ‘should’ be on Tik Tok. But my Tik Tok feed is to my ADHD like someone running their nails down a blackboard nonstop. Its audio and visual sensory overload. Its also constant change and unpredictability because every few seconds its a different person/ place/ colours/ sounds/ music/ volume level etc. Tik Tok is sensory HELL for my neurodiverse needs.

Because of the above I have zero desire to interact on Tik Tok. I could just post book promo videos there. Maybe a few author friends would be generous and interact with me even though I never interact with them. Maybe on the right hashtags and with the right sounds my videos would sell some books.

I did make a few personal videos (because I hate just being salesy anywhere). I paid my cover artist to make one animated book cover and reviews video. Then I lost interest, motivation, spoons, time and didn’t go back.

If you’ve got that account your readers hang out on and you ‘should’ be on but you don’t feel comfortable or dislike the platform, maybe the best thing for your comfort/ energy levels/ not spreading yourself too thin is to let that account go.

Boundaries: Ethics

If you don’t approve of hate speech, you wouldn’t want to give it the thumbs up by having an account on a social media platform that enables hate speech, would you?
So have you deleted your Twitter yet?
If not, please read ‘Delete your Twitter’ below. (Yes, its more sympathetic than what I wrote above).

You may also want to consider social media platforms where misinformation is rife, given how that can fuel social division, the climate crisis, maintain the status quo by keeping marginalised communities and people marginalised, etc.

Tik Tok may give you pause because of its Chinese ownership and China and human rights…

For more on my personal stance on Twitter, Facebook (and KU/ Amazon) ethics, see Author Ethical Dilemmas.

Maximising Social Media: Integrating Interests

I assume you were on social media before you had books/ art/ products to sell. That you partly use social media to interact with friends and family, with fellow creatives and possibly with groups who share your interests or facets of your identity. So in this next section I’ll talk about social media spaces that meet your social, personal AND indie needs. Those are the ones I suggest prioritising with most of your time and energy/ spoons.

Other Communities & Special Interests

Let’s say for example you’re a SciFi nerd and you’re on Tumblr for that. Or you love bird watching and follow FB groups for that. Or like me you’re queer, neurodiverse, chronically ill or otherwise disabled. Let’s say sharing life experiences in those communities is affirming, informative and beneficial to your wellbeing.

But communities and interests can be on different platforms, which spread you thin and can wear you out. So where can you integrate your interests, social groups and personal interactions?

Facebook

The Old School option was Facebook profile to interact with friends/ family, and FB groups for writers, other communities and your interests plus your author Facebook page. As I’ve mentioned, I’m not fond of Facebook functionally or ethically. Technically I’m still in FB groups for writers (I almost never look at them) and Wide for the Win as an author (I always mean to look at that more —on its own platform).

But if you are a FB user, it does integrates lots of groups and interests in one space (and likely a lot of your personal contacts if you’re Gen Y or older.) Limiting yourself to it (and few others) is an effective way to avoid social media over-stretching and burn out (and time suck).

Blue Sky

I love Blue Sky because I can connect with writers, get and give writerly and authorly advice, help others AND do the same things as a neurodiverse, queer and chronically ill person. I can check in on the latest news, the latest archaeological discoveries, find historical articles, its all there in one place. Individual posts are even organised topically so I can browse feeds by topics that interest me. And it hosts Twitter’s writer chats (see my Bsky Newby guide for details).

Bsky can integrate your interests and communities (in my opinion with better functionality and organisation than Facebook) —and without Musk or Zuckerberg! These are some of multiple reasons its my favourite social media.

From what I understand, Reddit is another good option to engage with particular interests and topics. It also categorises posts and includes categories you can share shorts, poetry etc in to build your audience on social media.

Hashtags, Instagram & Mastodon

Yes, you could browse Twitter or Instagram, or Mastodon or I don’t know what else by hashtags to explore your interests. In my experience (of Twitter) people often forgot to use relevant hashtags in their posts, or they overused them (especially on Instagram) and this is not nearly as effective in connecting with your people as Facebook groups, Blue Sky Feeds or what I’ve heard of Reddit.

But if Instagram or Mastodon are where you personally connect with people, your creative community (via Mastodon prompt hashtags or Instagram challenges), and where your other interests and communities are; by all means connect there by hashtag. And make either your main social media base that gets most of your time and energy (bonus if it fits where your readers hang out!)

Pick ONE Creative Community

In the author interviews I’ve done (all linked on this page), ‘build your writing community and do it early’ or ‘I wish I’d done it sooner’ is something writers say A LOT. So in prioritising social media platforms, the first question I suggest you ask is; where is my creative/ writing community?

If it’s always been in Facebook groups or on Instagram, this is easy to answer, and I’d stay active in your community. But if your community used to be Twitter…

Delete Your Twitter

The time has long passed to beat around the bush about this.

I had 16k Twitter followers. I introduced writers to each other by genre. I critiqued pitches, ran query letter and Pitch Party DM groups. Then I started an Author Platform DM group, an SFF one, a Querying Writers DM (then moved them all to Discord).

Twitter’s #WritingCommunity was my home and I knew literally hundreds of writers by name and could tell you off the top of my head what genre tens of them wrote. But everything I loved about Twitter’s #WritingCommunity was already dying when Musk started breaking Twitter.

Its not 2022 Anymore

We’re not uncertain what kind of transphobia-promoting, fascist-enabling hellhole Twitter could become. [Twitter’s safety measure cuts are now documented, as are statistics on hate speech tweets not being removed and people not being banned for tweeting them. Spoiler, the latter statistic is ZERO)]. We’re also in no doubt how many staff will be sacked and how dysfunctional and unusable the site will become.

Twitter is dead.

True, by leaving, I lost friends (who didn’t go to Blue sky/ Mastodon/ Facebook/ Discord) and that’s sad. I hope they’ll become active on Blue Sky or Discord one day. But I haven’t regretted deleting my account or departing a discrimination-enabling, rage-bating platform once.

Let it go and move on —preferably before fascists start seeing your continued presence as support of their beliefs.

Choose ONE Twitter Alternative

By now you’ve either settled into algorithm-less Mastodon, or found it not a close enough clone of Twitter (writers, check out #WritersCoffeeClub if you’re still settling there -that’s where the #WritingCommunity is!). Or you’re feeling more comfortable on algorithm-less Blue Sky or on Threads. Or you’ve settled on Discords or into Instagram’s creative communities.

Have you noticed how hard it can be settling into one creative/ writing community? Building connections among creatives in one space? This is why I suggest sticking to ONE main creative community on ONE platform. Go there with your experiences, questions, learnings, random thoughts, memes —everything. Let fellow creatives get to know you and get to know them. Make friends and build ONE proper creative community.

Ideally, do it on the social media with your queer community, your bird watching community, your BIPOC community, your personal contacts —to minimise your platform spread, build strong connections and get the most out of the time, energy and spoons you invest in social media.

Exception: Communities Its Effortless to Pop in and Out Of

I’m active almost daily on Blue Sky AND Mastodon. Its do-able because Mastodon’s writer prompts give me a topic to talk about and other people’s responses to interact with on the same hashtag. It makes getting to know and meaningfully interact with a group of writers effortless (and when time’s short I skip Bsky that day or do two day’s Mastodon prompts the next day).

Discord or Facebook may be like this for you. You go in to the group —and on Discord go to the topically relevant channel— ask your question and get it answered. Or you look at what other people are saying (again on specific topic channels that interest you on your choice of Discord servers) and reply —when it suits you to do so.

If you get what you want from the platform quickly and easily, as rarely or as often as you want WITHOUT putting much time, effort or energy into it, you may find Mastodon/ Discord/ FB Groups sustainable —on the side of your main creative community.

How Many Social Media Platforms are you Active on Now?

Ideally you’ve got ideas on where you can interact as an author/ artist/ other creative and person and with your creative community and potential readers/ viewers/ consumers on one or across two, possibly three platforms.

I’m not saying necessarily delete everything else (exception Twitter). Consider what I did on Instagram: say you’re going elsewhere, leave links for people to find you and let the account go dormant. That way anyone who finds it can connect with you where you’re maximising and integrating your social media presence.

And if they don’t?
I wonder how many more people you’ll reach on the few platforms you make your online homes, by being present, by effectively connecting and being a part of the community. Good luck!

Amazon, Libraries & No Thanks Kindle Unlimited

When you’re an emerging Indie Author and readers don’t know you from Adam, entering your book in Amazon’s Kindle Select program (into Kindle Unlimited -KU) is very tempting. It has lots of readers, your book is discoverable and you will get some page reads (even if you don’t market much or aren’t very good at it). Conventional author wisdom seems to be that its a wise financial and discoverability move for a first time author. But my books are not in Kindle Select (despite that at the time of writing I’ve only published 2/3 of my debut trilogy).

Growing up, I was the child of a single parent. Money was tight. We got most of our books from the library. I like libraries. I like that they’ve always made access to books, digital resources, the internet, printing and apparently now recording studios, an equitable experience. So when I published my first book I wanted libraries to have access to print AND digital copies. But no library could have digital copies in their catalogue if my ebook was in Kindle Select (KU).

No matter what research I did, or advice I considered, for me it was the ethical point that got stuck in my head. I’m a full time teacher and can pay off a home loan on my own salary (which is great because I don’t have a partner and am not inclined to want one). I’m privileged enough not to depend on writing to earn a living. Which is awesome, because as a debut author breaking even financially is a challenge. So I’m in a financial position to stick to my ethical guns and make my ebooks available to libraries.

Non-Amazon Stores

Then there’s stores. I don’t like Amazon. When I got long covid, I got banned from having books available on pre-order on there for a year. That’s because Amazon’s highest priority is customer experience (read ‘profits’). Authors don’t matter to them. I’ve heard of authors having their accounts deleted, their books taken down (before I left Twitter, more on that below). It doesn’t have authors’ backs.

So I researched bookstores and looked at alternatives. I discovered (I’m Australian so neither of these is really a thing here) that Barnes & Noble have a reader subscription service (Nook) and Kobo has Kobo Plus, and unlike Kindle Select (KU), neither of those subscription services is exclusive. So you can have your ebook on Nook, and Kobo Plus AND in libraries.

And there are so many other (non-exclusive) ebook subscription services online (Scribed & Hoopla for example). Sure, these services don’t make your book as visible as Kindle Unlimited, but they have less books for yours to get lost competing among, so I figured why not?

Cover of fantasy book Manipulator's War, purchase icons for ebook: Kindle, Apple, Nook, Kobo, Booktopia, Scribd, Vivlio, Smashwords, Indigo, S24, Thalia, Bucher De, Angus & Robertson.Paperback purchase icons: Barnes & noble, Waterstones, Booktopia, Angus & Robertson, Bucher De.

The above isn’t all the digital stores my first book is on, its just the main ones. If I was in Kindle Unlimited, you’d only see the first two ebook icons. That’s quite a few stores of difference.

Eggs in One Basket

I also don’t like a ‘put all your eggs in one basket approach’. Not just in terms of one basket, but also an American and far from global basket. Of the icons above, the blue icon is a French store. 24S is a Spanish owned subscription service. Thalia and Bucher De are German, and the green Rakuten Kobo is Booktopia, Australia’s biggest online bookstore. Not everyone will choose to buy from an American company when they can support stores in their own country and not everyone is fond of Amazon.

But the biggest problem of putting all your eggs in one baskets is it leaves me vulnerable, should the basket break. Which leads me to Twitter.

2025 Update: I’ve pulled my ebooks from Amazon (unfortunately they have a policy that pretty much means you can’t remove your paperbacks). And since sold more books in June 2025 Pride Month on indie online store Itchio than I did on Amazon in four years period. Bye bye Bezos!

Goodbye Twitter, Hello Mastodon & Blue Sky

Perhaps a pressing author ethical dilemma for many authors of late has been the demise of Twitter. Twitter’s #WritingCommunity was my first social media home as a writer. Privately I was on Facebook (which I’ve never liked. 2025 update: and have now deleted, including my Insta). On Twitter I found a space to network with, befriend, learn from and help my fellow writers. It grew beyond that. When I identified as both queer and neurodiverse, I saw great overlap between the writing community and those communities.

Twitter was a space where I could listen to voices I’d never heard before. Among them were, black people in America, BIPOC the world over, people with chronic illness, mental illness, neurodiverse and gender diverse people. It was a fabulous space for both professional growth as an author and personal growth as a person. Then Musk bought it.

True, algorithms always made your visibility and how easy it was to find friends on your feed variable. But Musk’s take over mostly made me feel more invisible than ever and made a concerted attempt to banish familiar faces from my feed. Familiar faces and good friends started leaving or stopped tweeting. The TERFs, transphobes, Trump supporters, and raging anti-science tribes started sounding louder. Twitter seemed to be competing with Truth Social to become the leading social media hate space.

Time To Go

I thought it would be transphobia and homophobia that drove me off Twitter. I’m the kind of person whose inclined to tell people where they can stick their shitty opinions. And I didn’t want to go on Twitter to be outraged or get angry or to argue. But that wasn’t the final straw.

A tweet about who was profiting from every fifth tweet (now a paid ad tweet) on our feeds stopped me tweeting. Fund the alt right? Fuck that! Sure, you can get an ad filter (which I did -and it helps a lot as someone with ADHD and visual sensory issues). But as Twitter became more like what I imagine Parlour or Truth Social stands for? I didn’t want to be associated with that place or its owner.

Hate Site

Since then and before publishing this blog @GasTheJews was revealed to be an entirely acceptable Twitter handle, when it was reported for hate speech multiple times, and Twitter claimed it wasn’t breaking any of their rules. Because did you know it isn’t hate speech if its in your Twitter handle instead of a tweet?

Text from tweet by Elliot Malin: Account @gasthejews6969 has not broken @X's safety procedures because 'gas the Jews' notably is not 'threatening violence against someone or a group of people' and definitely isn't 'celebrating or praising violence' whatsoeverAnd @ElonMusk wonders why advertisers left.Screenshot of Twitter's reply to a reported account: Hello, After reviewing the availible information, we want to let you know gasthejews6969 hasn't broken our safety policies.

The Kid’s Aren’t Safe

Then came the move (nearly two months after I ceased using my account), which persuaded me to delete it, cutting off multiple friends I don’t see on any other platform. My country’s Esafety Commissioner concluded that Twitter doesn’t have even the most basic child safety measures in place, to prevent not only child abuse but also child sexual abuse from occurring on it, and our Esafety Commissioner fined them accordingly.

Australian's ESafety commission fines Elon Musk's X $610,500 for failing to meet anti-child-abuse standards

Worried its only a matter of time before child abuse material is circulated on Twitter (if it isn’t happening already), and disgusted that every type of marginalised adult AND children don’t matter enough to Twitter (or its reputation) for them to even pretend to be doing anything to ensure user safety on the site, I deleted my account.

The Dilmena

How is Twitter being a hate site a dilemma? People seem to be staying because they personally aren’t attacked or aren’t witnessing marginalised people being attacked. People seem to be making decisions based on their personal user experience. And or indies are reluctant to give up sales from the site, when many of us indies struggle to even pay the costs of our business with our earnings, let alone MAKE any money (my cover art and editing costs are several thousand dollars more than I’ve earned so far as an indie author).

As for me, I had ten thousand followers on Twitter. I’d welcomed newbies, done threads to connect writers. I made lists, and gave extensive feedback on pitch party pitches over two years (and wrote this blog on writing a good one, still my most popular post.) That was my community. I had good friends on that platform who weren’t anywhere else, and dm groups -writer, author, queer and ND support groups that as a group didn’t want to move. Leaving meant losing my community and my platform as a budding indie author.

What’s an Author’s Place?

There was an interesting prompt for October on Mastodon: should writers post about politics or avoid it to avoid controversy? Should we publicly interact as if we are part of the world, or act like Ents, tending our books? Predictably, people who thought politics wasn’t an author’s place were white, cishet, neurotypical, able-bodied authors oblivious to their own privilege. They didn’t seem to notice that for others, eg. First Nations, Black, Asian, Queer, Neurodiverse, Chronically Ill, or Disabled people -existing IS political. (I’ll be blogging about writing diverse casts in Jan 2024 ????).

To me, a nonbinary, a-romantic, asexual, neurodiverse, chronically ill white person living in a cishet, ableist world, ‘should writers speak publicly about politics’ translates as, ‘should writers shut up and put up?’ My answer is ‘no and did I mention fuck no?’ I agree with writers who said they are part of this world, impacted by it and am writing my identities into a world that barely knows we exist and or doesn’t understand and or accept us.

My Place

As part of this world, how could I tacitly support for example, the idea that @GasTheJews as a Twitter handle is acceptable, by retaining my Twitter account or using the platform? If you think I’m going too far in saying that not deleting your account is publicly signalling support of Musk and all he and his bootlickers stand for, I’d refer you to Mene Wyatt, who said, “Silence is violence. Complacency is complicit.” (Source, a powerful monalog on the Australian Aboriginal experience, worth watching).

I’d also point to the blog one of a nazis who greeted Posie Parker (a UK TERF) on the step’s of my state’s parliament house with a nazi salute. In his blog, he referred to most people as ‘normies’ and presumed he and his neo-nazis were acting on behalf of ‘normies’. People like him can’t claim shit like that if you publicly signal that you DON’T support them and they DON’T speak for you.

So I see removing all association with Twitter as a way of making my disapproval of Musk and everyone and their hatreds he shelters and promotes undeniably clear. Do I value that over money and even friendships? Yes.

Mastodon

So where does a writer, author, and a queer, neurodiverse person seeking all of those communities go? Mastodon had the greatest appeal. It’s similar in terms of functionality. The main difference is the whole platform isn’t the plaything of a single dick who can screw it up any which way every time he throws a temper tantrum. Or persecute minority groups wholesale because he’s angry at one individual in his personal life, who happens to be marginalised in a particular way.

Each Mastodon instance has a different admin. Hashtags can display toots on hashtag feeds that bridge instances (#WordWeavers and #WritersCoffeeClub being my favourites). And the Fediverse has toots from every instance your instance hasn’t blocked. This means Mastodon can’t be destroyed by a single white man who scores zero points on the diversity scale and doesn’t give a shit about marginalised people. I also like that there’s no advertising or algorithms, just humans interacting, as opposed to glaring ethical concerns.

Blue Sky

The issue with your single greatest social platform turning to shite is that the communities and contacts you’ve made there aren’t all migrating to the same place. They’re scattering to the winds. Spoutible and Post as well as Mastodon and Blue Sky and I don’t know where else. But writers in the DM groups I was in (DMs being about the only reliable space on Twitter to talk to people I knew at this stage) seemed keen on Blue Sky. Created by the man who created Twitter, also without algorithms or paid ads (yet) and most importantly, not controlled by Musk or Zukerburg or other bastards, as ethics would define them. (For more about Blue Sky, see my Blue Sky Newby Guide.)

The above is how I traded my largest social media account of 10,600 followers to 100 (and slowly counting) on Mastodon and 500 (also climbing) on Blue Sky. Not a decision you make to get publicity for yourself or your books. Not a smart financial decision, at this time. But why stay on a poisoned, sinking ship where decent people are leaving (or hiding in dms), when I could build a small community on platforms far better aligned with my values? Not to mention where people like me can interact publicly and safely, without constantly blocking those who hate us for not being cishet/ neurotypical/ able bodied or in other people’s cases: white?

Goodbye Facebook Page!

Before Musk blew up Twitter, Zukerberg was the bad name in social media. I cracked it at Facebook, (at the height of the Pandemic in 2020) when without warning they blocked Australian community groups (including emergency service warnings that literally save lives), without warning. (We passed some law, I think around journalism, that pissed Facebook off). So I closed the writer Facebook groups I’d made (I’d liked having publicly discoverable groups for writers) and moved them to Discord (all four are described here.)

Facebook rebranded as Meta, but I’d never liked the platform (I find it primitive now, especially the limited functionality and clunkiness of Facebook Groups compared to Discord) and I hated it for its lack of ethics. Yet all the indie author advice seems to recommend that if you want to minimise time wasted on social media and make more time to actually write books; at least have a Facebook Page. In fact, you can’t run ads on Facebook (or Instagram) without one. So de-activating yours is directly a financial and business decision.

But I deactivated mine. I hate the platform. It doesn’t have a great demographic for my books anyway (that demographic being educated, lefty/ liberal minded, teen to forty-ish or young at heart allies or queer folk -Mastodon/ Blue Sky seem most likely for them). I could still advertise on Amazon (yeah, that doesn’t appeal either -again, ethics, eggs, one basket- no thank you.) But having just a Facebook Profile (for over 50’s in my family and the few Gen Y people who actually post there) and inviting anyone wanting to follow me as an author also keeps my writing Facebook private from students. And technically I’m still on ‘the world’s biggest social media’. It’ll do.

Can You Be Ethical & Still Make Money Writing?

Now I’ve abandoned my biggest social media platform, deactivated my Facebook Page and not put my books in the easiest place for the biggest number of readers to find, read and review them, how do I make money as an author? (This question is revisited in Abandoning Amazon as Reader and Author.)

You may sell the occasional book directly via social media, but I’ve been watching this for over a year. It seems you either push hard with ‘buy my book posts’ that I feel must annoy people, or you sell to friends via conversations, small scale. Its seemed to me for quite some time (and yes, the authority on making money as an Indie Author, the Facebook Group 20BooksTo50K agrees), that you make money selling books by spending money, mostly on advertising, though in-person events like conferences can be great too.

There is one big advertising option I’ll consider ethically: Bookbub. Their features cost hundreds, but are well worth it. You have to apply and they’re hard to get. But like Facebook and Amazon, they also have ordinary paid ads, which I plan to start experimenting with. And their adds reach readers who purchase from many stores, in many countries, which I also like.

What About Community?

Having left the platform my online communities were on, I’m rebuilding, a little on prompt hashtags on Mastodon, a lot on Blue Sky and on my Writers and Authors Discord server. I’m making new friends, staying in touch with the few old ones still on platforms I use, and rebuilding my writerly, queer and disability communities.

Not another NEW Platform!?

Blue Sky (bsky) is basically Twitter. Look at my Bsky dashboard (below). It’s VERY similar. The general differences with Bsky include no algorithms, no sponsored ads, trending topics are opt in or out, alt text is encouraged, and transphobes ARE NOT WELCOME —nor are fascists. (Mass blocking has driven many of both the latter away).

Getting Started: Profile Set Up

Be sure to fill in your bio so we know you’re not a bot. If you can find space, consider including alt text for your cover photo, as Bsky doesn’t have that option on the cover image itself (yet). Cover photos don’t tend to crop well. I ended up shrinking my book covers on a larger background image on Canva and uploading to Bsky multiple times, using trial and error to get this fit.

You’ll note my bio gets personal. I’m openly nonbinary, neurodiverse and chronically ill, and happy to present publicly as such and to discuss all three to raise awareness. Don’t feel you owe anyone this information. But do consider including your interests etc —things you will post about, that will help your people recognise you as their people.

Pinned Posts

Yes creatives this is our chance to pin images and links to books/ art etc. You might also want to elaborate on anything in your bio and or give your new followers something to interact with. For example, my pinned posts ends with the question, “What are your projects?”

First/ Intro Post

Not everyone you knew on Twitter will be on Bsky, and some people on Bsky never had a Twitter account. There will be people in whichever communities, interest groups or fandoms you’re part of whom you don’t yet know. So assume we don’t know you, tell us who you’d like to hang out with in your intro post and maybe give us a question to answer. For example, my intro post is below.

BlueSky PostText: Hello BlueSky! Where are my fellow #Fantasy/ #SFF/ #IndieAuthors/ poets? Pantsers? Fellow queer and or ND people? Aussies?I'm all of the above, and writing my third epic YA Fantasy set beneath sorcerous skies, where a continent-wide war is brewing. Happy to talk all things writerly/ authorly!

Finding Your People: Following & Starter Packs

The tried and tested method initially was find your mutuals by looking at who friends you’ve found are following. If you’re a writer and you knew me on Twitter, I linked as many writer friends as I could by their Insta and Bsky handles and by genre, identity, country on this (view-only, master) spreadsheet (in 2023).

But with Starter Packs arriving in 2024, you can now find up to 150 profiles linked by common interests, shared identities etc. Entering your interests and the words ‘starter pack’ into the Bsky search bar could turn up what you’re looking for. It may also turn up posts offering to add you to starter packs.

My starter packs are all linked to this thread. Feel free to reply if you’d like to be added to any. FYI, if a person has made a starter pack, it will be linked to the menu which displays posts in their profile.

Post & Reply & Viewing Preferences

Your Following/ Home feed automatically displays posts by people you follow AND all replies to those posts AND everyone you follow’s reposts. If this is too much, you have a few options.

To Manage Your Following Feed

Go to ‘settings’
‘Content & Media’
Select ‘Following Feed Preferences’
Here you decide whether you want your follow feed to display; organic posts (which includes quote reposts- with comments by the reposter), reposts and replies. Unticking any will remove it from your Home Feed.

To Manage Replies

Go to ‘Settings’
‘Content & Media’
Thread Preferences
Tick or untick whether you want newest/ oldest/ popular etc replies to display first when you view a thread.
Tick or untick of you want to see replies by people you follow first.

Feeds
Bsky doesn’t just have hashtag feeds, it has topic feeds independent of hashtags, which you can choose to follow and view in your own menu under ‘managed saved feeds’ in ‘settings’. I’ll explain them after the section below.

Following Feed Display -Content

Another thing about settings is it will default to not displaying adult content, which includes sexual content, violence, nudity (yes, a happy snap of a woman showing some cleavage will be censored as nudity), hate groups, suspected impersonation and spam. So if you’d like to see things rated anything above G by Bsky:

Select ‘settings’
‘Moderation’ (the handle symbol)
Scroll down to ‘content filters’ and select ‘hide,’ ‘warn’ or show to suit your preferences. Or select ‘Bluesky moderation services’ at the bottom for advanced options.

Muting Words, Blocking, & Interaction Settings

‘Settings’, ‘Moderation’ is also where you’ll find options to control who replies to you (interaction settings), and the option to mute words, users and block people.

Finding Your People: Feeds

Elise's personal feed menu.
Following
OnlyPosts
AuDHD, ADHD * Autism
LGBTQIA+ Posts
Aussie Feed
Fiction Writers & Authors
SFF Writing/ Writers
Poems
Neurodiversity
#ChronicIllness
#Disability
Queer SFFH Books
Writing Prompts
Beta Readers & ARCS
Indie Author life
Genderqueer Topic Feed
Asexual Spectrum

I won’t give advice on general posting yet. Because to understand post visibility, you need to understand how posts are organised on Bsky. You have many options in another menu in your profile here (right/ below). You’ll have a feed of everyone you’re following. Under that, you can pin feeds of any topic or community you wish to see (and ‘Only Posts‘ which filters out reposts and replies of your followers, showing only organic posts).
Depending on the feed creator and when it was made, there are 3 different things that may put your post on feeds; keywords, emojis and hashtags. The best way to know how to get on a feed is read its description.

Adding Feeds

So how do you find feeds displaying posts you might want to see, or get your posts displayed on?

1.Under the feed menu (pictured right/ below), select ‘more feeds’. That will display this menu.

2. Enter topics that interest you in the search bar.

3. To add a feed to your feed menu, select ‘pin feed’. (Hitting ‘like’ lets the creator and other people know you plan to use the feed, as anyone viewing the feed sees how many likes it has. Conversely, a feed with lots of likes likely has lots of people browsing it).

4. To organise your pinned feeds, select the settings wheel (top of page), then little arrow (right of each feed in the menu, as in below Discover Feeds image). That will display up or down arrows, allowing you to move each pinned feed up and down your feed menu. Don’t forget to click ‘save’ (top) when you’re done, to lock feeds in the order you want.

Bsky Discover Feeds Menu.Displays: Authors & Writing feed top, with arrow right of it.Doctor Who, arrow right of it.Discover New Feeds! With search bar under it.Below: Mutuals feed, 'pin feed button' right of it.

Not a writer? You may want to skip down to Posting and Getting Seen.

My Favourite Feeds

(Last updated May 2025)

Note: so this section didn’t become unwieldy, I’m now just linking my favourite feeds. To see which keywords, hashtags and or emojis feed pick up, click through to view the feed on Bsky, then the 3 dots menu to view the description.

FYI: if you have questions or suggested for any of the feeds I curate, feel free to ask them in reply to this thread (which links all and describes some of my feeds).

Writing

Fiction Writers & Authors by me.

SFF Writing by me.

Queer Authors by @darylmarez.bsky.social‬.

Beta & ARC Readers by me.

Writing Prompts by Helen Whistberry.

Poems #Poem, #poetry, #vsspoem, #haiku, by me.

Querying Novels

Querying Writers, by me.

Pitch Parties, by @adriabailton.com posts by accounts who run pitch parties (on Bsky and elsewhere).

Book Sky

BookSky
*Blue heart & 3 books emoji* or #BookSky

SciFi-Fantasy-SpecFic
*3 books & ringed planet emoji*

Diverse Books
*globe with the Americas & 3 books emoji*

Disability Feeds

Neurodiversity
All forms of ND posts.

AuDHD, ADHD & Autism posts & quote reposts only (no replies)

Chronic Illness

Disability

Indie Authoring

Indie Author Discussion by me.

Itchio Book Bundles (to put your books in). *3 books and box* emojis by

Indie Author Life by @larisa-a-white.bsky.social, whom you’ll need to ask to add you.

Queer Book Sky

Queer Bookworms
*Rainbow emoji & 3 books emoji*

Queer SFF
*rainbow, rocket & shooting star emoji*
(Or keyword combos, see its description).

Queer SFFH by me.
*3book, rainbow AND OR ringed planet & or screaming face* emoji. (And many keywords, some hashtags. See Bsky description).

Asexual Spectrum/ Ace Bookish Posts
*3 books, rainbow, ace of spades* emojis.

LGBTQIA+ Feeds

LGBTQIA+ Posts
by me.

Asexual Spectrum
by me.

Interest Feeds

Dr Who, by me.

Writers Finding Your People; Prompts & Chats

(Last updated May 2025)

Daily Writer Prompts

Short/ Poetry Prompts

#Vss365 (shorts and poetry, many of which will hashtag the prompt word for the day).

#vsspoem poem prompts by @wordedart.bsky.social‬

(There’s lots of #vss variations by genre. Put #vss into the Bsky search bar and you’ll find them all).

#2WordPrompt by @jason-h-abbott.bsky.social

#whistpr by ‪@whistprword.bsky.social.‬

#DailyHaikuPrompt by ???

#FromOneLine by @fromoneline.bsky.social asks writers to begin poems/ vss posts with the first line it provides.

You’ll find more prompts by scrolling posts and noting hashtags used on the Writing Prompts feed by Helen Whistberry.

Wip Prompts

#WIPSnips by @wipsnips.bsky.social invites you to share a passage from your wip containing the daily prompt word.

#PretendPanel asks writers to pretend we’re being interviewed. Hosted by @hiriadunning.bsky.social‬.

#BookishQOTD (open book & blue butterfly emoji is part of the hashtag) by @bookishquestions.bsky.social posts daily prompts for writers and readers.

Queer Wip Prompts

#QueerWriters, daily checkin hosted by @amaralynn.bsky.social. You may need to check their account for the prompts, as the hashtag has other usage.

#LoreOutLoud by @darylmarez.bsky.social‬ is prompts to accompany the wip you’re posting about on Queer Writers.

Fantasy Wip Prompts

#(insert month)WorldBuilders run by @KiraoftheWind.

#FantasyIndies (insert month) by @fantasyindies.bsky.social for fantasy writers.

Weekly Writer Chats

General Writer Chats

#MomsWritersClub hosted by Sarah Read and Jess.
Open to writers who are ‘Moms, furball moms, other parental units, people who have moms… as long as you’re kind’
Wednesdays

#WeekNightWriters by @weeknightwriters.bsky.social‬
Open to all writers.
Thursday: 7-8pm EST

#LateNightWrite hosted alternately by Blackbird and Jo Bruehler
Open to all writers.
Monday: 10pm central/ Tues 2pm AEST (Aussies) summer time/ 1pm Aussie winter).

Genre/ Author Specific

#KidLitChat by Bonnie Adamson
Open to Kidlit writers
Tuesdays: 9pm EST.
The chat is one question weekly posted by this account.
It looks like participation is by replying directly to that post, on the chat hashtag.

#HorrorWritersChat by Matt Mason and ‪@erynmcconnell.bsky.social‬
Open to horror writers
Wednesday: 7pm GMT/ 8pmBST

#SFFChat by @sffchat.bsky.social‬
Open to SFF writers
Thursdays, alternating morning and evening (US, evening being Australian Friday).

#QueerWritersChat by @amaralynn.bsky.social‬ and ‪@theodoresnapdragon.bsky.social‬
Fridays 8pm EST (Aussie 10am winter, 9am summer)

Posting & Getting Seen (Feeds, Emojis AND Hashtags)

You’ve got 300 characters to play with. So how do you get your posts seen by your people? You can select hashtags to see a feed of what people are posting on them, but they don’t impact your visibility via algorithm, as Bsky doesn’t have algorithms. Keywords (sometimes emojis and hashtags) get your posts onto topically relevant feeds.

1. Go back to feeds you added above, via ‘#’ (in the same menu as the ‘settings’ icon, ‘Content & Media’, ‘Manage Saved Feeds.’

2. Select the feed you want to read the description of.

3. Check which keywords and emojis (and or hashtags) get your posts displayed on that feed.

4. Use any combination of relevant keywords/ emojis/ hashtags on your post to put it on multiple topically relevant feeds.

Note: you can put pairs of emojis ‘back-to-front’ and they still display on that feed. You can put emoji combinations from different feeds side by side without spacing, and your post will still appear on feeds matching any pair, set of 3 extra emojis in your emoji row.

Accessibility: Alt Text

Alt text is big on Bsky. We want all users to enjoy content posted. If you tend to forget to add alt text to images in your posts, good news —you can adjust your settings so Bsky will not let you hit ‘post’ till you’ve added alt text.

1. Go to ‘Settings’
2. Accessibility (forth option down)
3. Flip the toggle beside ‘require alt text before posting’ to blue.

Sharing Links in Posts

If you paste a link into a post, it will generate a post preview. Then you can delete the url from the main post to save space. Remember, there are no algorithms on Bsky, so sharing a link in a post won’t hurt your visibility.

Blocking Culture On Bsky

Block early, block often, deprive trolls of oxygen and drive them off Bsky seems to be the general approach. Yes, you can subscribe to block lists to mass block people, but I’ve heard multiple accounts of MAGA making lists that sound like they’re to block MAGA accounts when actually they block left wing accounts. Sabotage is real with block lists, so I suggest only subscribing to them if you know/ trust the creator. Otherwise, block at your discretion as you encounter people.

Bsky Lists

This looks like feeds, but has key differences. Its a better way to display posts of and stay in touch with people you know, as opposed to seeing the posts of everyone on Bsky using that feeds keywords/ emojis/ hashtags in the their post in a topic feed you follow.

Differences With Lists:
-List feeds display ONLY and ALL posts of people added to the list.
-You can create your own lists within Bsky (the symbol under # in the main menu, with 2 dots and 2 horizontal lines, like a list).
-You can add people to lists (go to that person’s profile and hit the 3 dots next to the ‘follow’ button for a menu to do this).
-The ‘about’ section of a list displays the bio of every account that has been added to that list.

My Lists

I’ve made A LOT of lists. The screenshot below is a menu for them, and every list is linked into that thread. You can also view all of my lists by visiting my profile and looking at the menu under my bio (‘lists’ is on the right end).

If you’d like to be added to any of my lists, let me know by replying to my post below by selecting it.

Emoji flags or relevant symbols beside each keyword describing Elise's Lists:
Aussie
Kiwi
Uk
Euro
Merican
CanadaLGBTQIA+
Neurospicy
♿Disabled/Chronic illness✍️Writers
Fantasy
SciFi
SFF
Horror/Dark
Historic
KidLit
Poets
Mystery/ThrillIndie Authors
Queer Rep/Romance/Themes
SFF: trans, enby, asexual
BIPOC
ND/Dis

Functions That Don’t Exist (yet) & Alternatives

No Algorithms –Repost

Likes have no impact on visibility. Re-posting just shares posts with whoever of your followers is on their following feed at that time. This means my posts get the most interaction in their first 3 hours (if America is awake then).

So if you see a post you think is helpful/ enjoyable etc -repost it to your followers! This is our main way for anything worth seeing to get seen. While most feeds I browse DON’T display reposts, they DO tend to display quote-reposts. So re-posting with your own comment/ thought is best for visibility.

Bookmarking Posts –Pinned Feed

If you see a post you want to refer to later, reply to it with the red pin emoji. Then add this pinned feed to your feeds and select it to view posts you’ve ‘bookmarked.’

Ask Bsky Developers For Functions

There’s a ‘send feedback’ link on your profile (mine displays under my feed’s menu on computer). Selecting that lets you fill in a form to ‘make product suggestions.’ I’ve already made my case for adding pinned posts and requested bookmarks, so we can store things we want to refer back to, without those posts getting buried.

I hope this is all helpful as you get started. Welcome to Bsky!

Formatting a Novel Tips

May 7, 2023 / Elise Carlson / 0 Comments

Why Proper Formatting Is Important -a guest blog by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

We’ve all read the different essays from editors about editing, right? All of that good stuff about slashing excessive adjectives and adverbs, eliminating said-bookisms (definition: going out of your way to use any other dialogue tag besides “said”), cutting prepositional phrases and the like, correct?

All of that is good information to have. But I want to harp on something else about editing that isn’t discussed as often as another big issue.

Formatting.

Formatting is one of those processes that can make your editor either love you or hate you. And if you work with an editor who charges by the hour—i.e., actual time spent working on your manuscript—a clean format saves you a lot of money. Even if you work with an editor who charges a flat fee, clean formatting means that your editor has more time to focus on actual wordage rather than fixing a messy manuscript so that they can get around to working on the words rather than the formatting.

You get a better deal for the money spent on an editor if you spend a little bit of time formatting your manuscripts correctly. Period.

Some of this is simply common sense. A clean manuscript causes less eyestrain for the editor. It’s easier for anyone doing the layout in a production program if the manuscript fits standard formatting protocols. Copyediting and proofreading go much more smoothly.

Most of all, a properly formatted manuscript demonstrates that you are a professional. Period.

Style Guides

So let’s get started. What sort of formatting setups am I talking about?

First of all, if you aren’t familiar with the basics, please go to this site—https://www.shunn.net/format/

Also keep in mind that all of my references are for Word. Again, that’s a professional standard. I understand that others prefer other programs, but in the long run, your documents end up in Word when editors and publishers are working with them. Your formatting needs to be compatible with Word.

The Shunn formatting style is widely accepted by all publishers. Use it, especially for margins and typeface (that means no Calibri! Use Times New Roman at the minimum. I prefer Palatino but others like Garamond, Helvetia, or Bookman Old Style. Essentially, you want to use a serif font that is readable. I personally do not care for Courier or Courier New, but that’s because I no longer find them to be that readable).

I want to emphasize something that Shunn mentions in that first page, which is start with a blank document. Some editors recommend Styles. I’m not fond of using Styles, because it adds extra codes to your document, which can cause problems when someone starts formatting for publication. Plain old blank document works just fine.

Getting Started

Another thing—you’ll see a little symbol that looks like this ¶ on the ribbon at the top of your document. Click it on, and you will see all of the formatting codes that Word wants to show you. This is helpful for figuring out some issues, and allows you to see when you’ve inadvertently hit the space bar multiple times (or your hyperreactive touch pad or keyboard does that for you), or other issues. More on that later.

Set your margins. Then format your paragraphs. That means, in Word, that you go to Format>Paragraphs. Set your line spacing to double spacing and your first line indent to 0.5, with no extra spacing between paragraphs. This means that all you need to do to start a paragraph is hit return.

Spacing

DO NOT USE YOUR TAB BUTTON FOR PARAGRAPH INDENTATION. That just causes more problems for whoever is laying out the manuscript for publication. Don’t hit the space bar five times, either. Again, that causes more issues.

Single space between sentences. Yes, yes, I know that double spacing used to be the standard and for some people it doesn’t look right. However, that era is long gone, even for those of us who started out writing on manual typewriters. Don’t do it. Otherwise, your dear editor or formatter will at the minimum need to do a find-and-replace to eliminate those extra spaces—and that double spacing between sentences can add quite a few pages to your manuscript, especially at novel length. If an editor is quoting you a flat fee based on manuscript pages, single spacing between sentences can save you a little bit of money.

One of my editors automatically deletes any spaces between a period and a hard return, because that space can cause issues in some formatting programs. I haven’t noticed that issue in particular when working with my formatting program (Vellum), but I understand that this is a problem with some programs.

Justification

Always use left justification (the default) unless you are doing something in particular with a small section, or centering a title. Right-side ragged edge is not an issue when drafting and editing, as modern formatting programs automatically convert left-justified Word documents to full-justified documents.

Page Breaks

If you use scene break dividers instead of an extra space (I recommend the dividers, but some people don’t like them), show them with a #. Some people use asterisks, or multiple #s. I’ve found that formatting programs understand # just fine, and will put a prettier scene break divider in nicely when # appears between paragraphs. Some presses have different standards—<<<>>> for one, or ~0~ for another, but # also works just fine.

Text: Formatting a novel in Word.Image: two pages of my novel Secrets of the Sorcery War formatted in word, with author name and title headers, page numbers right bottom corner, indented paragraphs, chapter heading and art and a chapter heading.

Spelling and Grammar Check

Do not completely trust your spellchecker or grammar checker in Word. I have discovered numerous mistakes in Word alone, including indicators of extra commas, word substitutions that don’t make sense (such as “cheap” when I was describing a bird’s “cheep”—my most recent gripe). One of my greatest rants is the misuse of “free reign” for “free rein.” Word will tell you to use “reign” instead of “rein,” and it is WRONG. The idiom refers to giving a horse more rein when you are riding or driving it—i.e., telling the horse to set its own pace and direction. That is what the idiom means. Period. “Free reign” is meaningless in that context. But Word also makes mistakes when it comes to the proper use of “its” versus “it’s”; “lets” versus “let’s”. Be aware.

If you don’t trust your spelling and grammar understanding, use other checkers besides Word. Also, don’t trust that it will identify all of your misspellings and typos. If the mistake looks like a real word but doesn’t make sense in context, then Word may not flag it for you.

When you are cutting and pasting across documents, or if you are working on different devices (especially switching between a tablet and desktop or laptop) be aware that Word will insert a superscript “o” irregularly in those sections. Those have to be edited out by hand, as far as I know. Some people may be macro wizards who know how to do it otherwise. It’s a pain but there’s no way around it. If everything else is clean, then editing those “o” appearances isn’t that big a deal.

Version Control (during edits)

This leads into the related but short topic of version control when working with editors or beta readers. I do not recommend working within the document that you get back from an editor or beta reader. My suggestion is that you designate one version as your final document, and do all editing within that document without cutting and pasting. Why? Because that introduces other formatting into your document, including those dratted superscript “o”s.

I learned this lesson the hard way when working with a British editor. Working in the document I got back instead of my own designated final document ended up with that person’s formatting instead of my own—including British English spell check and usages. Designating that separate final document also lets you work with multiple other versions. I do like keeping earlier versions around when drafting, because sometimes I end up cutting things that I wanted to keep in the long run.

Concluding Remarks

Basically, the lesson here is to spend a little bit of time learning how to set up your formatting options, at least as much as you can do with your device. Apps on mobile devices such as tablets and phones can be more restrictive for formatting setups than laptops or desktops. It’s probably a good idea to indicate to your editor or beta reader that you may have been doing this work in an app on a mobile device, because then they know what to look for in fixing it.

Play with your formatting and understand it. Your editor will thank you—and you may save yourself a little bit of money in the long run.

Joyce in ski gear, including goggles and helmet at the snow, pine tree background.

About the Author -Joyce Reynolds-Ward

Joyce Reynolds-Ward is a speculative fiction writer who splits her time between Enterprise and Portland, Oregon. Her books include THE MARTINIERE MULTIVERSE series (Amazon, Kobo, Apple, B&N), THE MARTINIERE LEGACY series, KLONE’S STRONGHOLD, THE NETWALK SEQUENCE series and GODDESS’S HONOR series. Joyce has edited two anthologies, Pulling Up Stakes (2018), and Whimsical Beasts (2019).

Besides writing, Joyce enjoys reading, quilting, horses, skiing, and outdoor activities. She has been a member of Soroptimist International of Wallowa County since 2017.

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