Jaclyn Paul's Blog, page 2
October 6, 2023
One platform lesson we can already learn from #swelce
In the Wild West of today’s internet, you kind of never know when something will blow up. Often it happens when we aren’t even trying, and with content we didn’t intend to prioritize.
They say any publicity is good publicity, but I’m not so sure. I prefer to build a well-targeted audience gradually. A viral moment would be nice, but only if it felt relevant. That is, only if it put my work in front of people who needed to see it.
As someone who thinks a lot about professional identity, and...
September 13, 2023
A week of author events and happy times
Last week was an absolute whirlwind. Lots of traveling, lots of smiles, lots of good book stuff. I’ll share some highlights and photos.
Side note: I started my first blog in 2003. Remember what blogs were then? They were all full of posts like this! I loved it. Honestly, I would scrap every piece of social media we have today to bring back personal blogs. But I digress.
I almost can’t believe last week was a short week. After a day off with family for Labor Day, I packed so much activity i...
July 27, 2023
Hometown show alert! Frenchtown Bookshop September 7 @ 6:30 p.m.
Starting this fall I want to focus on more in-person work and events. After ten years of focusing heavily on blogging and social media, I feel drawn to a more IRL existence.
More on that later (maybe). For now I want to talk about the kickoff to my real-world fall and winter.
It’s a hometown show!
I’m so excited to do this event. Frenchtown is right across the river from where ...
July 4, 2023
Book review: Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi (YA)
Note: versions of this review also appear on Goodreads and Instagram.
How about an unintentional Fourth-of-July themed post? I forgot to post this on Friday, but the timing feels right with the Declaration of Independence theme and the Philadelphia setting.
Last week I read Ibi Zoboi’s new book NIGERIA JONES (affiliate link). I chose it for Philly-specific reasons, but I ended up loving it in general.
We meet sixteen-year-old Nigeria on the fourth of July. It’s also her baby brother Fre...
May 31, 2023
Bonjour tout le monde !
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May 19, 2023
How to prepare for a bookstore author event
Today I’m going to share some of the ways I prepare for an author event. Specifically, a bookstore appearance where you read your work and participate in a discussion with the audience.
After the She’s Not Home launch event I got some feedback that I was really prepared and easy to work with. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this after an appearance. I always find it a little baffling because…me? Really? I don’t consider myself particularly easy or comfortable in the spotlight.
Neverth...
May 5, 2023
Book review: Through the Groves by Anne Hull (memoir)
Entirely by chance, I read a whole stack of engrossing memoirs in April: Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott, Mary Louise Kelly’s It. Goes. So. Fast., and Anne Hull’s Through the Groves (affiliate links).
I want to share them all with you, and I will. First up I’ll review Through the Groves.
Through the Groves focuses on author Anne Hull’s early life growing up surrounded by orange groves in central Florida. The book opens with Hull, then around six years old, riding along with her fath...
March 31, 2023
Book review: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (memoir)
Note: versions of this review are also shared on Goodreads and Instagram.
Crying in H Mart is a heartfelt memoir by Michelle Zauner, a Korean-American musician best known for her indie pop project Japanese Breakfast. Most of the book centers on Zauner’s grappling with the loss of her mother to cancer when Zauner is twenty-five, and the impact this has on her identity. She invites readers into a very vulnerable place as she learns to embrace her heritage and process her grief through family an...
March 15, 2023
Book Review: Fly with Me by Andie Burke (romance)
Note: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley, and I also know the author personally, but all assessments here are my own.
Andie Burke’s debut sapphic romance Fly with Me (affiliate link) is a captivating read in its own right. It also opens the door to representation I haven’t yet seen in the romance genre. In other words, it succeeds in two very different goals: being deeply important, and being straight-up fun to read.
Fly with Me opens with flying-phobic Olive talking he...
March 8, 2023
Just a writer with a painting degree, learning how to doodle (in German)
Confession: I have a four-year degree in visual arts. But I’m really a language person. I always have been.
Hence the whole author thing. Makes sense, right? And yet I graduated from a rigorous studio art program.
Look — I’m suggestible, I love working with my hands, and I have a deeply ingrained work ethic (strong Protestant/German roots, perfectionism in family of origin, etc. etc. etc.). I could’ve ended up in any college degree program (ADHD), but I was drawn to the intense discipline,...
