K.M. Allan's Blog: K.M. Allan, page 3

March 2025 Roundup

Welcome to the March 2025 roundup!

It’s been a busy month, and it started with getting my Writing and Editing Checklist ARC out to a handful of readers. So far, the ones I’ve heard back from have given the final format the seal of approval, and I’ve only had to make some formatting tweaks. I’ve also been editing, creating graphics, and formatting the free ebook companion of Authoring Checklists.

While both projects still require images from my busy designer, more feedback/changes from beta/ARC readers, and a paperback proof to be ordered and checked, the books are inching closer to publication. I was hoping for late April, but May or June may be the safer bet at this stage. This is the part of publishing that always seems to be so rushed yet moves so slow .

As for what else I got up to this month, read on…

As mentioned above, my writing this month has been editing my Authoring Checklist ARC, and I almost managed to get it ready for my ARC readers, who are also doubling as Beta readers because no one has seen this book but me. To get it ready for them, I read through the manuscript, made changes, and then tried to make the ebook look as good as I could.

In February’s Roundup, you might remember that I mentioned using Atticus for the first time to format my books. While the print version looks great, it has odd spacing for bullet points in the ebook and no way to adjust it. Not happy with the look, I decided to use Scrivener to make the ebook instead, which is what I’ve used for previous releases with no problems. Cue the problems.

Scrivener wouldn’t display headings as they looked on the screen, and I wasted a whole day mucking around with it. Then, my designer came up with the solution of using yet another program to fix the funny spacing in Atticus instead, and now the ebook looks how I want it to. Good for me, but also annoying about the wasted day. It put me behind doing another final read-through, where I found more mistakes than anticipated, and meant I spent yet another day editing and wasn’t able to get the ARC out to readers by the end of the month like I’d planned to. I should have no trouble getting it out in early April, however, so that is the new goal.

Running Point

When Isla Gordon is put in charge of the LA Waves, a pro basketball team started by her late father, her brothers don’t believe she has what it takes to help the team out of their slump, but Isla proves them wrong in a very Ted Lasso-esq way. Already renewed for a second season, this is just a fun series with great characters, and the top-notch cast led by Kate Hudson is one of the reasons it works so well.

The Gorge

Drawn in by the star power of Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, this genre-mashing movie was surprisingly good. Levi and Drasa are two highly trained snipers who are offered a mission where they will each spend a year on either side of a gorge, protecting their side from whatever is below the mysterious mist-filled space.

They aren’t supposed to communicate with each other, but during the months of isolation, they end up exchanging messages via whiteboards they can see from their telescopes. Cue a romantic relationship, then a mission to save each other when Levi ends up in the Gorge and Drasa goes after him. From there, the movie delves into sci-fi, action, genuine jump scares, and clever twists to pull off some satisfying viewing.

In the Dark by Claire Allan

Claire Allan is an author who has been on my TBR list forever, and now that I’ve finally read one of her books, I’m sorry it took so long. I was instantly hooked and thoroughly enjoyed this mystery about a child who disappeared in the woods, the mother who was there but couldn’t remember what happened, and the documentary filmmaker and the members of an Internet crime forum who tried to help solve the case. Highly recommended for readers of true crime-inspired stories with a psychological twist.

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

When the opportunity to take part in a writing retreat with her favorite author comes her way, talented yet stuck writer Alex jumps at the chance. Little does she know, however, that the retreat will force her to face her former best friend, their secrets, a vanished participant, twisted mind games, and a horrifying event that will alter everyone’s lives forever.

While some parts of this book went in a strange direction, it does settle into an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller and has the perfect ending. Highly recommended for fans of stories about writers and what they’ll do to pen their masterpiece, no matter the cost to themselves or others.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

This is another book that has been on my TBR list forever, ever since I watched the documentary it’s based on a few years back. While the documentary talked about the GSK being caught, this book was written before he was, and it’s interesting to hear the theories the author and detectives were working on while trying to find him. They believed DNA and ancestry sites held the key, and that is exactly how the GSK was eventually caught.

Pieced together from Michelle McNamara’s notes, finished chapters, and various articles written before her untimely death, her writing skills, care, and voice really shine, elevating it above a standard true crime book.

Not F#ing Around: The No Bullsh#t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground by Jeff Leisawitz

This is a super quick and easy-to-read guide that is full of inspiring tips and mottos about going for your dreams and pushing aside self-doubt to get there. While there’s nothing ground-breaking amongst the advice, it is delivered in a humorous, frank way that provides a lift to any creative person having a hard day and wondering if the pursuit of art is worth it.

Let’s Be Book Friends!

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your faves! You can also find and follow my book reviews on Amazon and BookBub.

This month, I’ve been taking photos of… a bird on my morning walk.

This has to be one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever snapped, and it was done via pure luck. I was taking a photo of the sunrise, and a bird flew by so quick I didn’t think I’d even captured it. The perfect shot was there on my phone when I looked at it later, though, and I just love the phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes vibe

In case you missed any of my posts or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

February 2025 RoundupWriting Tricks: Elevating Description With Character Observations

And that’s it for this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed my March Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Threads, and sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

Writing Tricks: Elevating Description With Character Observations

When studying the craft of writing, there are many tricks to try and classics to learn.

This includes basics like mastering your descriptions so that readers can imagine your fictional world and characters as vividly as you do.

While descriptions will always have a place in any story, if you’re looking for another way to get that info across or to elevate your descriptions to another level, give character observations a whirl.

Writing Tricks: Elevating Description With Character ObservationsSubbing In Character Observations

How it works is pretty simple. Rather than describing how someone or something looks via the narrator, you’ll instead write it as something observed by the POV character.

Narrator Description: Carla entered the room dressed in a yellow jumper.

Character Observation: Jenny lifted her weary head in time to see Carla enter the room, her yellow jumper the color of the sun. At that moment, that’s what Carla was—the sun arriving after the darkest of days.

Using a character observation over a straight-up description gives you the chance to let the reader know more about your characters.

In both examples, the reader knows Carla is wearing a yellow jumper, but with the observation example, they also know more about Jenny and how she’s having a bad day, giving just a little more depth to both your characters and story.

Elevating The Observations With Character Senses

As you’re subbing in observations, don’t forget to get the senses in there too.

Ask yourself what the POV character is smelling, tasting, and hearing, along with their visual observation.

A standard description of cars backed up along a road, traffic lights flashing, and a crowded sidewalk may set the scene, but those descriptions coming directly from the POV character as they navigate the sidewalk, jostled by stranger’s elbows, ears ringing from the near-constant blare of car horns, and eyes squinting as red light burns from the traffic light they pass under immediately puts the reader in the irritated shoes of the character. Their sense-filled observation of the surrounding setting is more immersive than a typical setting description.

Tying The Observations To The Character’s Personality

Now that you’re on a roll of writing descriptions to a character’s senses, take it up a notch and make what they’d observe part of their personality. All you have to do is ask yourself, what does this character see that no one else would?

As an example, let’s go with a main character who is a detective.

They got into the profession because they’re excellent at noticing things others wouldn’t. It’s a natural part of their personality to view others with suspicion and their profession has helped them hone those skills. A nervous look or hand wringing may go unnoticed by everyone else, but not them. Their observations will get the description of dubious characters to the reader and it will come across naturally because of their personality.

No matter the head/POV you’re in, whatever the character’s predicament, write what they would notice, the action they would take, or what they’d observe about everything and everyone around them.

Combine those guidelines with the five senses and substitute standard descriptions with observations when it suits the story and enjoy adding this simple yet effective writing trick to your repertoire.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and Threads. You can also sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

February 2025 Roundup

Welcome to the February 2025 roundup!

While I don’t want to open another Roundup complaining about how quick time is going, February only had 28 days in it, so I think it’s justified! .

As usual, I tried to make as much progress as I could and actually felt like I got somewhere for once. My big goal for this month was to get my Writing and Editing Checklist book ready for ARC readers, and I did! It came at the cost of new blog posts, though (more on that below), and I did spend the bulk of last week learning how to use the writing/formatting software, Atticus.

I’d been meaning to get it for a while because my sanity can’t handle trying to get Word to start page numbers where I want them to anymore, and as my luck would have it, I purchased Atticus after a big update that saw the program run really slow. After struggling with it for a few days and getting frustrated at how long it took to do basic tasks, a Reddit thread advised uninstalling and then reinstalling it as the “Simple” version that was given by Atticus as a temporary workaround. Thankfully, that fixed most of the glitching, and I ended up with a shiny PDF of my latest WIP, all ready for a read-through that I could work with to get the final ARC version together.

As for what else I got up to this month, read on…

Well, for the first time in almost 8 years, I didn’t deliver a new blog post when expected/scheduled. For the last few years I’ve been publishing 2 new blogs and 1 roundup a month, but this month, I only managed 1 new blog and this roundup.

I tried. I even spent a whole day last week working on a blog draft, but when I read it back, I just wasn’t happy with it. This was stressing me out because I was hoping I’d gotten over my burnout after writing such a lengthy blog about that very topic at the start of the month, but it seems as if I’m still getting stuck when trying to write about writing.

In the end, I abandoned the blog post for another time, decided 1 blog and 1 roundup will have to do for the foreseeable future, and chose working on the ARC. With that done and ready to be sent out next week, I’ll be straight on to editing the companion checklist book I want to offer alongside the main book. I need them both ready to go at the same time, which means making them the priority for now. So, you may see fewer blogs from me for a little bit, but once the Checklist books are out in the world, I’m sure I’ll have the mental space and inspiration to write and publish my regular number of blogs again.

School Spirits (S1 and currently airing S2)

Not sure how I hadn’t heard of this show until the second season was about to air, but that just gave me time to catch up on season 1. It revolves around Maddie, a teen having the kind of day where her boyfriend is acting suspicious and her drunk mother has shown up at her school. The next thing Maddie knows, there’s blood in the boiler room and missing posters with her face on them. The school is holding a vigil for her, but she’s there, and no one can see her.

Dun, dun, dun! Maddie is dead and now trapped in the school, alongside other ghosts who also perished there. Trying to help Maddie come to terms with her situation, things get complicated when they realize Maddie’s body has never been found, and she can be seen and talked to by one of her best friends, Simon. Together, they try to work out what happened to Maddie, and the answers are very surprising.

Cobra Kai (S6, Part 3)

(Light spoilers) Did it take forever to finally get to the final 5 episodes of Cobra Kai? Were they packed with essentially the same pep-talk given to different characters by other characters? Was there lots of fan service? Was there an out-of-place yet not-out-of-place bond villain-esq death battle? Was Daniel as whiny as ever? Was there a weird AI dream sequence with Mr. Miyagi, and did they tie up every plot and character ARC in a neat little bow? Yes, yes they did. Did I simultaneously both hate and love it? Yes, yes, I did! There were some real highs and lows over the 6 seasons, but Cobra Kai reinvigorated, and I’d argue, out-peaked the original Karate Kid films, proving that some reboots are worth it.

The Mess of Us by Chantelle Atkins

My first read for February was The Mess of Us by Chantelle Atkins. This book is a sequel to The Mess of Me, and it was so great to revisit the characters two years later. By now, Louise and Joe have turned 18 and are navigating their first steps into adulthood and their best-friends-turned-couple dynamic. When an unexpected pregnancy and a horror from their past reemerge, Lou begins to wonder if their love can survive. Like the first book, it deals with heavy, everyday topics, but there’s a hopefulness baked in, too, making it a satisfying and compelling read.

Haven Wakes by Fi Phillips

This book has been on my #TBRPile for a long time and it was a fun read to finally pick up. When Steve’s parents go missing and a mysterious package sent by his recently deceased uncle puts him in danger, Steve needs help, and he doesn’t expect it to come from new friends and magic traveling doors. Mixing futuristic elements of technology and robots with old-school fairies and spells, Haven Wakes is a solid, magical adventure, and just the start of this unique fantasy series.

Anomaly by Emma Lord

This was one of those books that just grabbed me from the first page. I knew right away that I was going to like the main character, style, and story—and I did! When a virus sweeps the world, killing almost everyone, 17-year-old Piper Manning wakes up from its effects changed. Electricity now runs hot through her veins, and she needs to learn to control it before she can risk finding her family.

When another teen, Seth, ends up on her isolated farm and they save each other from an otherworldly creature, Piper discovers the virus was not the worst thing to happen to the world, and that her devastating power may have some use after all. Layered with flashbacks, expertly revealed secrets, a plot that goes in some very intriguing directions, and the kind of ending that leaves things open for the next book, this is definitely one for fans of supernatural YA with a difference.

The Power of Writing It Down by Allison Fallon

I wanted to get back into the habit of reading one writing craft book a month, and thankfully the list of books I’ve saved to Goodreads and the Libby app came in handy! The Power of Writing It Down is part therapy, part writing advice, and all relatable. Author Allison Fallon challenges you to dig deep and start a simple daily writing habit to unlock your inner writer and get to the core of what compels you to write. Asking, amongst other things, what you want to write and why, the book is rounded out with her own real-life and client examples, which I found both interesting and inspiring.

Let’s Be Book Friends!

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your faves! You can also find and follow my book reviews on Amazon and BookBub.

This month, I’ve been taking photos of… my writing buddies!

As I got busy at my writing desk this month, my writing buddies, Dash and Luna, weren’t far behind. They join me early in the mornings when I get up to write on Threads with the #6amAusWriters, where they sit at the window and watch for scary birds. Later in the day, one of them usually takes up residence on the cat tower to supervise my editing. If it’s Luna, she’ll also try to sneak into my lap, which always makes it impossible to type, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

January 2025 RoundupTips For Overcoming Authoring Burnout

I also wanted to give a huge shout-out and thank you to the Australian Book Lovers Podcast, and its wonderful hosts, Veronica and Laurie, for mentioning my Tips For Overcoming Authoring Burnout post during Episode #132 when they discussed their own burnout experiences, and to the awesome Kelly Sgroi who also mentioned and quoted it in her informative and inspiring newsletter (which you can sign up for here).

And that’s it for this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed my February Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Threads, and sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

Tips For Overcoming Authoring Burnout

If you read my first blog post for 2025, you’ll know it was all about moving on from writing goals that don’t serve you anymore.

Based on the comments after publishing, it would seem that the concept of a New Year Writing Reset struck a relatable nerve, and it made me want to explain how I’d slipped into such a mindset.

A Little Background Info

I actually wrote that post in 2024 to publish in December, but I was so out of spoons at that point that I couldn’t do it.

Instead, I turned what was supposed to be a two-week break into a month away, and I purposely kept that post unpublished so I’d have something to publish when I got back.

This was because I knew once I stepped away from my writing desk, I’d have a hard time coming back to it. Not at the pace I was or in the way I was working, and not because I didn’t want to write books anymore, but because I was too overwhelmed by authoring.

Everything related to writing that isn’t writing—which for me is blogging, social media planning, posting, and checking—had become too much.

The break helped—a little. I got back into my blogging schedule and published the reworked reset post and my January Roundup, but when it came to writing a new blog post, I got stuck again.

I tried completing a few half-written drafts, writing from old ideas, and even tried writing new ideas, but still ran into the same frustrations. I was, still am, burned out.

Based on the comments left on the reset blog, I believe authoring burnout happens for you guys too, which leads to the only post I could pull together this week, and one that I hope will be helpful for all of us.

Tips For Overcoming Authoring BurnoutTake A Break

That holiday break I took was very needed, and during that entire month, I stayed away from my writing desk and off all of my author accounts—and it was wonderful.

As much as I missed my writing routine, seeing what the writing community was up to on social media, and reading fellow blogger’s posts, the mental load of constantly feeling like you aren’t doing enough, or that everyone else is more successful than you was too much.

I don’t think anyone deserves to feel bad when opening up an app. And although some of those negative feelings came screaming back as soon as I returned to social media, having the break did wonders for my mental load. It also proved that social media keeps ticking away while you’re gone and really doesn’t notice if you’re not there for a bit.

If you can, I highly recommend taking a break from everything for a length of time that suits you, and really take the break.

Don’t write. Don’t blog. Don’t check your author accounts (or any social media if you can swing it).

It may feel like you’re forgetting to do something, and you may even be bored the first day or so, but trust me, taking a proper break is the first step to overcoming burnout.

Decide Your Priorities

When you get back from your break, hopefully, it makes you realize you can take time off, and that it is okay to step away from old habits and the way you were structuring the creative time that led to your burnout.

Thanks to your break, hopefully, you’ll have a refreshed mind, a fresh perspective, and a spark of desire to get back into things, even if it’s only a flicker.

As you sit at your writing desk again, ask yourself:

How do I want to spend the majority of my writing time?What projects do I want to work on?How can I maintain authoring tasks without burning out?

With those questions asked and answered, try to come up with your own plan for achieving your main writing goals and still author when needed—without the burnout.

If you’re like me, structure can also help, such as implementing writing routines like the following:

A Non-Overwhelming Writing Routine To Gain Control Of Your Endless To-Do ListTime Blocking Your Writing Routine

I used to use them all the time but fell out as my writing goals got busier. Now that I’ve had burnout derail me, I’m going to give them another try to see if they can help me get the balance right.

Work Your Way Back To What You Love

One reason I burned out on blogs last year was the different ways I was coming up with my content.

For 6 years, my posts were more or less based on the particular issues I was having when trying to write, edit, publish, or the tips I was learning while working on a WIP.

Because I wasn’t writing a fictional book last year, I didn’t have issues or tips I needed to explore through a blog post.

Instead, I wrote from years-old blog ideas or topics I always intended to cover but hadn’t yet, and it just wasn’t the same. It felt less personal; I guess? And it eventually made writing those blogs feel like a chore.

When I needed a new blog post for this week, I tried completing half-written posts and looked at old ideas again and it reminded me why I’d hit a wall with my blogging.

When I switched to writing about my struggles to pen a blog post, however, the words poured out. So much so, that I wrote over 3,000 and spent days editing it it down. But, I was back to writing blogs that were exciting for me.

If you’re feeling the same about your own blogging, go back to what you originally loved about it or discover a new way to get excited again and see if it combats your burnout too.

Scale Back Social Media

As a modern writer, not only do you have to write the books, but you have to market them too, and that marketing takes the form of social media—the biggest authoring task and time suck of them all!

Unfortunately, social media is important for writers and may be the only way anyone ever hears about your work.

Also unfortunate is the fact that you can post about your books every day of the week, multiple times a day, and on every platform available, and it still doesn’t mean anyone will see your posts or buy your books.

This is a hard truth to accept when you rely on social media for income, sales, or getting yourself out there. You may feel the need to up your social media game by spending hours of each day creating content, posting, liking, and commenting. That kind of commitment quickly leads to burnout, and if that type of social media activity is making you miserable, really define what works for you and what’s worth doing, and make changes.

When I returned from my break and my social media accounts were the same as when I left, I realized taking 100’s of photos, agonizing over captions, organizing multiple posts, interrupting tasks to post across multiple platforms, and the merry-go-round of checking notifications was something I didn’t miss. It also made me realize how much writing time those “must dos” were eating into.

I now concentrate on creating 4 different posts a week instead of 7, and I only regularly check the social media platforms I enjoy using. The others (Hello, Adbook, I mean Facebook) get a once-a-week check, if that, and I no longer dread opening the apps.

If you’re feeling the same way, delete the social media you don’t like, prioritize the apps and communities you do like, limit your time so you’re actually writing as well as authoring, and let go of the guilt.

No one is sitting there judging you for not liking 50 posts or commenting on 100. They probably haven’t even seen what you’re doing or your posts (Hello, who-knows-how-it-actually-works algorithm).

Social media is worth doing, but not at the expense of burnout or as a priority over your writing.

Cut Yourself Some Slack

And now, the final tip for overcoming authoring burnout is to cut yourself a little slack.

We’re all trying to do the best we can, and it’s too easy to get swept up in having to do these things, having to do them now, doing them perfectly, and doing them all the time.

That kind of pressure, self-imposed or from others, will only make you uncreative and disillusioned, and it does nothing but feed the burnout.

If that’s not what you want, cut yourself some slack, and combine it with the other tips here to balance your authoring and writing so you can overcome the burnout and get yourself back to your creative best.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and Threads. You can also sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

January 2025 Roundup

Welcome to the January 2025 roundup!

And welcome to a new year! Here we are, already at the end of January, which means it’s definitely time for me to start rambling about how fast the year is going already .

Just kidding (kind of). After a month-long break, I’ve been back at my writing desk for two weeks, ready to slip back into routine, work on my goals for the year, get some more books written, and actually publish them too!

If you’ve got similar goals or just goals in general, I hope the year ahead brings you the opportunity to achieve them, and I wish you the best of luck! I’ll be rooting for you in between my rambles and writing and editing my own work. We’ve got this!

As for what I specifically got up to this month, it’s all listed below…

Let it be known that in January 2025, I started a new manuscript! Having not written anything creative in over a year, and having not worked on a story that wasn’t from my Blackbirch series in decades, it was so fun and creatively freeing to write new words again.

Unfortunately, it only lasted a few days, spanned a few hundred words, and mostly involved note sorting and planning before I got caught up in other things. One of those other things was of course the two Writing Checklist books I worked on for the majority of last year.

They are coming this year—I promise! I stopped working on my shiny new idea to get back to them after finalizing the format for the checklists with my graphic designer. Now that I have a template for the design, I’m working as fast as I can toward an ARC version, which will get the project even closer to the publication version.

We Live In Time

Told in the present day and in flashbacks, We Live In Time covers the life of Almut and Tobias. Switching between their current lives, the day they met, their dates, the crazy birth of their daughter, and two cancer battles, it’s a movie about love and family. It’s also about making the most of what time you have when it’s cut short and poses the question of whether chasing your own dreams at the cost of others is selfish or a fact of life. As usual, the performances of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are amazing, and they elevate the story, giving it the heart it needs to cover such heavy topics.

The Pitt

With each episode covering an hour in a single day, The Pitt is a modern-day version of medical show classics like ER, and it helps that Dr. Carter himself, Noah Wyle, plays one of the main characters. Grittier than slicker medical shows, there’s an interesting crop of doctors, med students, nurses, and patients full of real-life problems, all while shining a light on the triumphs and tragedies of working and ending up in a hospital emergency room.

Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep A Secret by Amy Doak

Picking up with Eleanor Jones a few weeks after the events of the first book, this sequel builds on the characters’ relationships and has Eleanor finally admitting that her feelings for one friend may be deeper than she’s letting on (and it’s such a great relationship to ship).

It of course wouldn’t be an Eleanor story without a crime to solve, and this time it comes about as Eleanor’s class spends time with residents in a nursing home and Eleanor’s companion tells her a decades-old secret about a rumored runaway, a body, and danger. Highly recommended for readers of YA books with deep friendships, great characters, a little romance, and an exciting, yet not too dark, mystery.

All Shall Mourn by Ellie Marney

This is the third and final book in the None Shall Sleep series by Ellie Marney, which is all about two teens working with the FBI to help catch serial killers. After infamous serial killer Simon Gutmunsson escapes the US with his twin sister in tow, the FBI lures him back with the help of final girl, Emma, and her FBI trainee-turned-boyfriend, Travis.

Wreaking havoc and dropping bodies, Simon and Kristen stay ahead of the authorities, but not Emma and Travis, who manage to cross paths with them on more than one occasion. Uncovering the biggest secrets, and devastating lies, All Shall Mourn ties up the series’ long strings, character arcs, and character relationships, and nails the ending. Definitely one for fans of entertaining thrillers.

There’s Something About You, Olivia Bennet by Valerie G. Miller

After the loss of her last remaining family member, Olivia Bennet is given a trunk containing items belonging to her mother, Rosemary, who passed away in tragic circumstances when Olivia was a teen. Never knowing about her mother’s heritage, or who her father was, Olivia finds clues in the trunk that force her to confront her own issues and discover secrets that change her world.

Effortlessly switching between the POV of Olivia and Rosemary, the story takes you on a journey across generations, features relatable characters, real relationships, touches of sweet romance, and a dash of mystery as Olivia unravels her origins. Highly recommended for readers of historical fiction that features secrets, immigrant stories, first love romance, and found family.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

When Bel was a toddler, she was found in the backseat of her car, and her mother was missing. Sixteen years later, Rachel’s disappearance is part of a new documentary, but as it’s being filmed, she reappears. The story of where she’s been doesn’t add up for Bel, who teams up with Ash from the film crew to look into Rachel’s secrets, discovering she may not be the only one lying. Great characters, hints of mystery, fantastic foreshadowing, a climactic ending, and a masterclass on flipping good characters to bad and vice versa, this is hands down my favorite book by Holly Jackson so far, which is saying something as I also loved her other books.

Let’s Be Book Friends!

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your faves! You can also find and follow my book reviews on Amazon and BookBub.

This month, I’ve been taking photos of… my routine!

After a busy 2024, I really needed the break I took, but by the end of the four weeks, I was also eager to get back into my routine and I took the photos to prove it! Under the supervision of my office shadow cat, Luna, I set goals, drank lots of tea, read/listened to books, and went back to my usual morning walks.

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

Yearly 2024 RoundupNew Year Writing Reset

And that’s it for this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed my January Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, Threads, and sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

New Year Writing Reset

I’ve done a lot of thinking about the future this last year after taking a break from fictional writing.

It was something I had to do. The story ideas weren’t there and no characters were talking to me. In the past when I finished one book, ideas for the next cropped up, but when I completed the final Blackbirch novel, there was just silence in my head.

I enjoyed it for a while. Then I started working on my upcoming checklist books.

That project allowed me to see how far I’ve come with blog posts during the 7 years I’ve been writing about writing. It also made me wonder if I still have the heart for new content as blog ideas I was excited about were also a struggle. But, as I close in on the final drafts of those two books, the excitement of new blog posts and stories has thankfully returned.

I think putting away the past helped, as did packing up the files on Blackbirch, and going through my blog post ideas. Looking again at some of those years-old notes, I realized I’m no longer that blogger. This helped me let go of the self-imposed expectation to turn those ideas into content, lifting an invisible weight.

During a month-long break that started in December 2024, I also took stock of my achievements, and as we wipe the slate clean for 2025, I’m doing a New Year Writing Reset.

This will be different from my usual New Year goals, which involve specific plans and what habits I’ll use to make them happen. For the reset, I’ve decided I want to move on from writing goals and ideas that don’t serve me anymore and set new ones that I’m actually excited to work on.

If you’re feeling the same way, I hope you’ll also use the fresh start of the next 12 months (or the time between the end of one project and the beginning of another) to reassess your own writing goals, what you want to achieve, and to then put those goals rich with new promise and unknown possibilities into action. I know I will be.

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and Threads. You can also sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

Yearly Roundup 2024

Welcome to the 2024 blog roundup!

As has been the tradition since the start of my blog in 2017, I’m rounding up the year that was and my December!

I’ve had a busy month, as I’m sure everyone else has too. It’s always crazy at this time of year with the rush to get things finished by year’s end and the increase in activities. The family and I will be spending our Christmas in Sydney, so we’ve also had the added busyness of getting ready for the trip.

As for 2024, this was the first year in forever that I wasn’t writing, editing, or releasing a Blackbirch book, which was a little strange. After releasing 4 books in the last 3 years, I also took a break from fictional writing and I didn’t work on any new creative writing at all. That was also strange, but something my brain needed. At the start of this year, I had no story ideas and no characters talking to me. Now, after having that long rest, the ideas are back and new characters are forming in my mind, so I’m looking forward to writing a new book in the new year.

Speaking of Blackbirch, this month, I dropped the prices of both the paperbacks and ebooks at all retailers (although Amazon AU still continues to slap their books with whatever ridiculous price they want, so my apologies to ‘Zon Australian readers. All I can suggest is trying the other retailers who honored the price changes).

For this price drop, you can get the first ebook for $1.99, with the other 3 ebooks only $2.99, and the paperbacks are as low as I could go without owing money, making it the perfect chance to start your trip to Blackbirch or to finish up your journey. All of the retailer links are here if you’re interested.

As for the 12th and final month of 2024, this is what else I got up to…

What I’ve Been…Writing

The Writing Checklist Projects – Although I managed to get the two books almost finished, I didn’t get everything completed by my break-time deadline, but that just means I’ll get straight into finishing them as soon as I’m back at my writing desk in 2025.

Watching

Christmas Movies! – As usual, my December was full of Christmas movies. The classics my household watches every year are Christmas With The Kranks, Die Hard, Four Christmases, and Christmas Vacation. We also watched…

Hot Frosty

If you’re after a Christmas movie that’s as silly as it is heartwarming, this year, it’s Hot Frosty. When widowed cafe owner Kathy puts a love-luck scarf on an ice sculpture, it turns the sculpture from a snowman into a real man, one who is determined to find Kathy and enact the usual Christmas movie hijinks. What makes this movie worth the watch is the commitment to the story by stars Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan, and the host of other well-known comedy actors that pop up in supporting roles, including a Brooklyn Nine-Nine re-team of Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio.

Carry-On

A new entry in the Die Hard-esq action/Christmas genre is Carry-On. Working a shift on Christmas Eve at one of the busiest airports was always going to be rough for TSA agent, Ethan, but when he receives instructions to let a specific bag through the x-ray scanner or see his fiancée targeted, it becomes an intense cat-and-mouse game that both himself and the man on the other end of the phone will do anything to win. Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman star in this thriller, and they’re both great.

Reading

My Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year was 48 books (4 a month) and I hit that goal! I also finished my years-long challenge of rereading the works of my favorite author, Christopher Pike, when I ticked his 6 adult books off my TBR list. 2024 was also the year I discovered author Holly Jackson and started devouring her backlist.

December Reads/Reviews

Five Survive by Holly Jackson

An intense book that takes place inside an RV. When Red and her friends set off for spring break, they’re expecting to meet up with their fellow classmates, not get stuck on a forested back road. When the RV blows a tire, she and her five other friends think nothing of it. But when they fix the tire and try to drive away, the others blow, and they soon realize it’s bullets that have taken out their transport.

Trapped in the RV, a voice speaks over their two-way radio, telling them that someone aboard has a secret, and if they tell them that secret, the other five will live. What happens next is a twisty story full of tension, intense characters, secrets, lies, and some action-packed final chapters that sprint toward a satisfying end. Highly recommended for readers of mysteries that slowly unravel and feature morally gray characters.

Boney Creek by Paula Gleeson

Having once been the hunting ground for a highway serial killer, the residents of Boney Creek are used to death and brush off a recent spate of seven deaths as bad luck. Newcomers Addie and Toby find the deaths suspicious, however, and as Addie was once a journalist, she starts digging into the deaths, hoping to uncover a connection between them and the town’s serial killer past.

Instead, she discovers long-held secrets and small-town loyalties that could make her the next victim. This second book by author Paula Gleeson is just as twisty as her first, and I recommend it for fans of outback thrillers where everyone is a suspect.

As The Crow Flies by Steven Smith

Another solid steam-punk adventure from author, Steven Smith. As The Crow Flies is a sequel, and perhaps the kick-off to another adventure under a different character if the last chapter is anything to go by. This book sees young Captain Edison Crow find an ancient treasure that leads him and his airship crew to big riches as well as possible answers to his street orphan past. When a museum curator fills in some blanks, Crow, Selah, and the crew head off on the Blood Trail, a place told in stories that might just let Edison finally know where he came from.

The clues to and the history of the ancient civilization are a real highlight of the book and give it an Indiana Jones adventure-like feel. The mix of future technology, and the characters, are also a big part of why this book works so well, and I really enjoyed my second visit to this creative fictional world.

The Mess of Me by Chantelle Atkins

Lou Carling is dealing with a lot at 16. Her mum wants her boyfriend to move in, her older sister has moved out, and Lou has lost so much weight that she’s too afraid to eat and undo all her work. She’s also helping her best friend Joe deal with his bullying older brothers, one of which Lou is horrified to realize she has a crush on.

When Travis kisses her at a party, it kicks off a change in her relationship with Joe and she begins to wonder if someone she’d always thought of as a friend could see her as more than the mess she is. This is a gritty, and at times, confronting, story that deals with big topics and coming-of-age-themes. It includes characters you’ll want to root for, and others you’ll despise, and is another emotional story from talented author, Chantelle Atkins.

2024 – Top Picks

Looking back on what I read and watched for 2024, my faves (in no particular order) were…

TV Shows

The Lost Flowers of Alice HartFrom (Seasons 1-3)SweetpeaAgatha All Along

Books

Rebel Rising by Rebel WilsonUnder The Bridge by Rebecca GodfreyVanishing Act by M.L. DavisA Good Girl’s Guide To Murder Trilogy by Holly JacksonTaking Photos Of

The cats dressed up for Christmas! As we’ll be in Sydney this year, the house is only semi-decorated with a new mini tree instead of the usual big one, which Dash wasn’t too happy about as he loves sitting underneath the Christmas tree. He was also not too happy to be dressed up, but look how cute he and Luna are!

I also usually take photos of what I’m baking, but as I won’t be cooking anything until Christmas Eve this year, there aren’t any photos yet. When I do bake, I’ll make Christmas Chow (at the request of my Evil Twin), Chocolate Lasagna (readers of Blackbirch: The Collector might recognize that delicious dessert reference), and I’m going to give Rachel’s Thanksgiving Trifle from Friends a go, but it will be the dessert version, not the one with beef and peas that tastes like feet .

Top 9 Instagram Photos

And here are my TOP 9 Instagram photos for 2024! Thank you to everyone who sees my posts and leaves a like or a comment.

It’s nice to know that you enjoyed my Taylor Swift Eras Tour pics, my selfie with Luna, my writing desk wall, Luna stealing the seat at my writing desk, the Lego booklovers set I added to my writing desk, the two book launches I went to this year, the annual #6amAusWriters retreat, and a collage of reader posted pics of the final Blackbirch book, The Collector.

On The Blog

In case you missed any, or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

November 2024 RoundupFantastical Holiday Gifts For Writers

Your Favorite Blog Posts For 2024

Thanks to the magic of WordPress stats, I also have a list of the top five viewed blog posts in 2024…

3 Simple Ways To Make Readers Care About Your CharactersThe Chapter Checklist5 Ways To Avoid Info-DumpingInvoking The Five SensesWhat To Include In An ARC Ebook

My Favorite Blog Posts For 2024

And a list of five blogs I enjoyed writing this year…

Reminders About What You Can Control In Writing Vs. What You Can’tFantastical Holiday Gifts For WritersThe BacklistAuthor Lessons: Part 1 and Part 2.The Blackbirch Series One Year On: Part 1 and Part 2.On To 2025

Of course, I can’t end this blog without a huge thanks to all of you for taking the time to read the posts I’ve written this year. I hope they’ve been helpful, useful, and informative. All of your feedback, comments, conversations, and social media sharing are also appreciated so much, and it truly makes me feel not so alone in the writing world of rejections, setbacks, and endless goal-chasing.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

I’ll see you again in 2025!

— Kate

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Fantastical Holiday Gifts For Writers

For the last few years, December has been the time to post a holiday gift guide on this blog.

This year, however, I couldn’t think of any I hadn’t already covered, so I was going to skip it. Then, the idea for this blog came to me like all good story ideas—at 4 a.m. when I was supposed to be sleeping.

Bleary-eyed, I wrote some notes (in one of my various notebooks, which is a reference you’ll understand after reading this post) and once I had decoded what I’d scribbled down, this blog was crafted!

Fantastical Holiday Gifts For Writers

If you’re stuck on what to get a writer you know or if you want to get yourself something, these fantastical gift suggestions should inspire some fun ideas.

Tiny glass jars to hold author tears when edits aren’t working and rejections are too much, for sacrifices to the muse, for offerings to the publishing gods, or just something pretty to sit on a writing desk.Matches to light those rejections on fire once the author’s tears have stopped. As a fun bonus, if you’re gifting the jars too, the tears inside will extinguish the flames!Books about Positive Thinking.Books from the author’s To Be Read List so they can delude themselves into thinking they’ll start ticking books off their list.An animal familiar conjured from mythical origins to do your bidding—or a cat/dog, because that’s a little easier. Whatever writing buddy is chosen, it must steal chairs, sit in the way, block access to keyboards, and demand pats when its author is in the writing zone.An endless cup that magically refills itself with the author’s beverage of choice—or a pretty new mug that will be refilled by the writer until their books become bestsellers and they can afford an assistant to do the refilling for them.The fantastical ability to keep drinks hot all day—or online shop for one of those USB coffee mug warmers.A fancy notebook that’ll sit on the author’s desk and never be written in.A regular notebook that can be written in and will be covered with drink stains, food crumbs, and let’s face it—tears—by the time the author makes it to next Christmas.A waterproof notebook for when the author is in the shower and all the breakthrough plot points and perfectly composed sentences pop into their head when they’re nowhere near a keyboard/phone/regular notebook.Various notebooks for the author’s bedside table, car, and bag for when they’re away from their desk because that is the only time the best ideas strike.A digital notebook for authors to keep their cut darlings. They’ll never look at them again, or use them, but now they’ll be kept in a safe place for a few years until they’re eventually deleted.Chocolate for everyday writing energy.Chocolate for everyday writing frustrations.Chocolate for rejections.Chocolate for celebrations.Chocolate because a writer can never have enough.Another fancy jar to hold all the author’s chocolate, which should not be confused with the author’s tears or sacrifice jar, as that would ruin the delicious chocolate.

And for the ultimate way to shower an author with a gift…

The Writing Starter Gift PackA voucher for a pastry/cake and Insta-worthy beverage that they’ll take 100 photos of to post on social media while “writing” at their fave cafe!A time allowance to reread yesterday’s words before editing as they go.A pretty hourglass that allows them to keep track of time spent staring at their document.The gift of existential dread, paired with impostor syndrome for good measure.A music gift card so they can listen to the same song on repeat until the scene they’re stuck on writes itself, or they go insane.One very special chocolate treat for writing one sentence. You can give them two treats if you think they’ll be controlled enough to pen that sentence and then keep going instead of disappearing into a social media rabbit hole for the rest of their writing session.

Finish your gift pack off with a Permission to Cry slip, but only if you’ve also included a tear jar.

I hope you enjoy gathering/receiving these fantastical gifts. If you’re after something a little more practical, these blogs have you covered…

Holiday Gifts For The Writer In Your Life
More Holiday Gifts For The Writing In Your Life
Free Holiday Gifts For The Writer In Your Life
Writing Holiday Gifts To Give Yourself

Happy gift-giving!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and Threads. You can also sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

November 2024 Roundup

Welcome to the November 2024 roundup!

Here we are at the end of yet another month, with the 5th blog I have published this November, and it happened because I tend to ramble .

What was supposed to be 1 blog post about reaching the first anniversary of my Blackbirch series turned into 2 posts on the topic, and then 2 posts on the topic of author lessons learned in the last 9 years.

All 4 of those posts were fun, reflective, and a little bittersweet to write and publish. I was nervous about putting them out into the world, but they were met with such great feedback, so thank you to everyone who read the posts, left comments, and openly shared your writing journeys and experiences. They were an honor to read and reminded me why the writing and blogging communities are such a joy to be a part of.

As for what else I got up to this month…

What I’ve Been…Writing

The Writing and Editing Checklist Project. In addition to the blogs, I worked on my checklist book by writing intros for the different book sections, editing the intros in the main text, and adding various “related checklist” sections. I still have more to do before giving the entire MS another read, and then looking at formatting and graphics, including finishing off a design for the cover.

Because I like to set unrealistic deadlines, I’m trying to do this by late December. I want it finished by the time I take a break for Christmas, but I’m not sure I’ll get there, as December is such a busy month. I also can’t even think about the Authoring Book companion which I should also be working on but haven’t touched since my writing retreat back in August.

Watching

Agatha All Along (Season 1)

I absolutely loved how this show opened as if Agatha was a detective solving a crime, and the twists didn’t stop. The subtle hints throughout the episodes that built to the finale and its many reveals are just brilliant writing, and it all matched with the top-notch cast.

When Agatha needs a coven of witches to help recover her magic, they set out along the mythical Witches’ Road, facing trials that will expose their secrets and put them all in danger. The only thing better than the overall story is the numerous musical renditions of The Ballad of the Witches’ Road. Written by the team behind Let It Go from Frozen, it’ll be stuck in your head for days!

Wicked

I haven’t seen the musical or read the books, so I had no clue about this Oz story going in, and I do think that was an advantage because I had no expectations.

Carried by the stunning performances of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, and Ariana Grande as Glinda, Wicked tells the story of when the two future witches of Oz were sorcery students together, and how their frenemies-turned-friends relationship is tested when Elphaba is summoned by the Wizard of Oz and doesn’t agree with what is asked of her. Featuring amazing sets, and great songs, it’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of big productions and musicals.

From (Seasons 1-3)

I have no idea how I hadn’t heard of this 2022 show until recently, but I’m glad I have now. From centers on a town that many travelers have come across after a fallen tree sends them on a detour. The trouble is, once they arrive they can’t leave, and each night, monsters who look like people emerge from the surrounding forest to kill anyone they come across. While the answers about the town and who the monsters are still aren’t clearly given 3 seasons in, the characters, their backstories, and what they’re trying to do to survive are so gripping that it doesn’t matter. If you’re a fan of horror, mystery, great characters, and slow-burn mysteries, give this show a watch.

Reading

Shattered by Pauline Yates

A tense space thriller that moves at a rapid pace. After Kate’s brother supposedly dies on a mining ship in space, she goes undercover to find out what happened. On board a scavenging ship, the crew picks up something that could prove her theories, but also wipe out humanity. Filled with snappy scenes, interesting characters, horror elements, and an ending that is perfection, this is one for fans of gripping novellas that will keep you entertained.

Original Twin by Paula Gleeson

A year after May’s twin sister June goes missing, May discovers a note leading to a trail of clues. They beg her to not only look into June’s disappearance but also the disappearance of their now-dead mother, Diana, who was once kidnapped without the perpetrator ever being found. Convinced that June discovered something she shouldn’t have, May finds herself on the same dark path.

Told in multiple POVs, the mystery of what happened to Diana in the past, and June in the present, as well as many other family secrets, will keep you reading right up until the final secret on the last page. This is the first book I’ve read by author Paula Gleeson, and it won’t be the last if all of her books are this twisty.

Kill Joy by Holly Jackson

A quick read based on The Good Girl’s Guide To Murder world. Set just before the events of the first book, we get to spend time with Pip and her friends as they attend a murder mystery party. It’s during this party that Pip realizes her knack for solving crimes and it inspires the topic she sets her high school project on that kicks off the trilogy. The murder mystery part of the party is fun, and working out the whodunit along with Pip is very entertaining, especially the twist of who the “Killer” is.

Eleanor Jones Is Not A Murderer by Amy Doak

When Eleanor Jones and her mother move to yet another new town, she writes it off like all the others and does little to make friends. Her one mistake is befriending a boy on the school bus who looks as if he’s struggling with chemistry. Having already studied the subject at her last school, she offers to help Angus, but when he cancels on her last minute, she thinks nothing of it. Then, the police contact her. Angus was stabbed and is in a coma, and Eleanor was the last person he texted.

Now, rumors of Eleanor being a murderer are flooding her new school. In a bid to clear her name, she’s offered help by one of Angus’ old friends, Troy, his friend Alfie, chemistry whiz, Namita, and bad boy, Ethan. Together, the group forms a tight friendship, and it’s these relationships that are the heart of the book as they look into the mystery of who attacked Angus. It’s not a big twist story; it’s a feel-good read, and the characters and the voice of Eleanor make it well worth picking up.

If you’ve got any good book recommendations, let me know in the comments, or be my friend on Goodreads and share your books/recommendations! You can also find and follow my reviews and book recommendations on Amazon and BookBub.

If you’d like to add the Blackbirch books to your Goodreads “Want to Read” shelf and/or check out the reviews, click the following links:

Blackbirch: The BeginningBlackbirch: The Dark HalfBlackbirch: The RitualBlackbirch: The CollectorTaking Photos Of

Book Launches and Library Writing Sessions. This month, I attended the book launch for Katya de Becerra’s new book, They Watch From Below, and had a productive library writing session and lunch with my fellow #6amAusWriter friends, Belinda and Kat.

Blackbirch Review Of The Month

This month’s review is from The Ritual and was such a lovely review to receive. The book world of Blackbirch was with me for 22 years and I’m so happy that it comes across on the page.

On The Blog

In case you missed any of my posts, or want to reread them, here are the latest blogs.

October 2024 RoundupAuthor Lessons: Writing Community, Social Media, Newsletters, and SupportAuthor Lessons: Indie Publishing, Burnout, Author Extras, Control, and Writing Project GriefThe Blackbirch Series One Year On: How It StartedThe Blackbirch Series One Year On: How It’s Going

And that’s it for this month. I hope you’ve enjoyed my November Roundup. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!

— K.M. Allan

Find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Threads, and sign up for my Newsletter to get my blog posts delivered directly to your inbox!

The Blackbirch Series One Year On: How It’s Going

Welcome to part two of a blog post celebrating the first anniversary of the completion of my debut series, Blackbirch.

In this post, I’ll cover how the series is going, four years since the first book was released, and one year since the fourth and final book was published.

In part one, I shared lessons learned and fun facts about paying for writing assessments and line editing, building an author brand, querying and rejections, signing and giving up a small press contract, becoming an indie publisher, and my thoughts on the best time to release a book. You can read it here.

Now for the rest…

How It’s GoingSales

I debated whether to include numbers here. Not because I don’t want anyone to know them, but because it’s a triggering topic. My numbers may be well below other authors, or well above. My numbers may make someone laugh/feel sorry for me, or they may make someone question why they should bother because they haven’t reached the same figures.

There’s a reason why the end of the month on social media can be a hard place to scroll when you see other writers posting about their hundreds of sales when you haven’t sold anything in months. I get disheartened by those posts too, and that’s because we generally don’t know what we should be selling. We have no idea or expectations, or we have the wrong ones.

When I released The Beginning, the numbers surprised me. I expected to sell to family, friends, and maybe a handful of followers. I sold more than that. In fact, the first book in the series is still the book that sells the most.

When that book came out, many people told me that series sell more as each book is released, or that it’ll all take off once the last book is out because readers prefer to wait until a series is complete. I was also told that ebooks sell the most.

I listened to and held onto these expectations because I didn’t know any better—and those expectations messed with my head.

I’ve always sold more paperbacks than ebooks. This isn’t a complaint. I prefer paperbacks too, and my covers are stunning on the paperback version. But ebooks barely selling, especially when everyone said they’d be the biggest seller, made me think I was doing something wrong. That I must be terrible with my marketing, the price is too high, or that I’m not reaching the right audience if I’m hardly selling any ebooks.

But the hardest advice was that each book in a series sells more than the last. If that’s true for you—fantastic. It has not been true for me. Neither has the series “taking off” once all the books are out. My series has been completed for a year now. The first book is still the one that sells the most, and that is one copy every few months, if I’m lucky.

Now, you might think that must mean books 2-4 aren’t as good as the first. Based on reviews and how much I’ve grown as a writer, I don’t believe that’s true. I’m proud to say each book is better than the last, and I hope that one day the number of sales and reviews posted will reflect that.

Now for the numbers. In 4 years, I’ve sold 399 books (paperback and ebook) through IngramSpark, bookstore sales, and direct-to-customer sales. Almost 400 copies of my books are being read by readers around the world, and I’m extremely grateful for that fact. If you are one of those readers, thank you, and I hope you enjoyed/will enjoy the book/s.

Table 1 is the total sales (IngramSpark, Dymocks, Direct). Table 2 is from IngramSpark’s sales dashboard.

As you can also see from the Year/Print/Digital graphic, which is taken directly from the IngramSpark sales dashboard, the numbers ebb and flow. 2020 was the release of the first two books, so the numbers were high. 2021, there were no new books. 2022 was the release of the third book, and 2023, was the release of the fourth and final book. 2024, is no new books, but the whole series is there for any readers to buy and those 13 sales are a mix of all four books.

Reviews

Most people will advise you not to look at reviews, and I think that is good advice. Even if most of your reviews are good, there will always be that negative one that becomes the only review you remember. I do look at reviews to get content for promo graphics, but if I didn’t want to, I know my husband would get the quotes for me.

Not-so-fun fact: the very first publicly posted review I ever received was a blog post and Goodreads 3-star review that summed up everything wrong with my book. It left me in tears on the day of release, and after the stress and mess I’d been through with the small press and getting the book out, it really was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Funnily enough, this review was based on an ARC, and the reviewer bought the book when it came out, reread it, and updated their blog review a few weeks later, saying I’d improved some things. Reader, I had not.

The only difference between the ARC and the published book was typo corrections. I hadn’t changed the story or characters, and now this reviewer was saying the published version read better. Color me confused.

Thankfully, the next handful of reviews were high praise, and they’ve steadily grown in the years since.

Goodreads is the place where most of my reviews are posted, and once again, book 1 has the majority, which makes sense as it is the best seller of the series.

I’ve seen books that have been out for mere weeks get thousands of reviews, while new ones for my books (and many others based on the posts I see on Threads) are months or even years in between. It’s one of the most frustrating things about being an indie author. You need reviews so readers will take a chance on your book, but getting readers to leave them is completely out of your control.

Lesson learned: you can’t control what others write about your book or if they’ll even leave a review. For my books, the reviews reflect that the majority of readers like the plot and characters, and that’s all that matters. To gather reviews, all you can do is ask and make sure you do it via a page in your book.

Eternal thanks once again to anyone who has left a review for my books, with a bonus thanks to those who post reviews on multiple platforms. It is very much appreciated.

The current Goodreads ratings.Promotion

Another indie author rite of passage is self-promotion, although traditionally published authors are now also finding most of this falls to them too.

Like a lot of writers, I use Canva to make graphics for book teasers, reviews, cover reveals, and book trailers, and I post these consistently on social media.

For the release of The Beginning and The Collector, I also funded swag items for comps and beta reader gifts via Vistaprint.

This promo approach worked for The Beginning. A celebration giving away copies of the book, a tote bag, bookmarks, and a mug got the word out and was shared around successfully. A similar promo to promote the final book and entire series attracted less fanfare, but this was in a post-pandemic/tanked algorithm time when friends who’ve been following me for years never saw the giveaway posts in their feed.

At the one book launch I had, I gave away tote bags, wrapped chocolates, tea, and bookmarks. For the release of the last book, I sent beta readers bookmarks, a tarot card mentioned throughout the series, and an enamel pin as a thank you for their feedback and support.

I’ve sent a paperback of The Dark Half to a lovely reader in America because he was so supportive of The Beginning after reading it (Hi, Dave!). I’ve given free ebooks to people I’ve met at writing events who’ve expressed interest in the books, and I’ve done ebook giveaways as part of anniversary celebrations and put books on sale whenever a new book was added to the series.

Sadly, most of the time, I couldn’t even give a book away, let alone sell a book when it was on sale.

Lesson learned: I enjoy doing giveaways because they’re fun and I get to give something back to readers and those who have helped me get my books out there. I think for giveaways and sales to make an impact, you need a big following and an algorithm that will show your followers the giveaway/sale posts.

Does that mean promo isn’t worth doing? Not at all. Like everything, you can only keep trying and hope the next time it works like it’s supposed to.

The first Blackbirch giveaway, themed chocolates for my one and only book launch, and the final Blackbirch giveaway/beta reader gifts once the series was completed.The Art Of Letting Go

I’ve heard other authors talk about how a book isn’t yours once you’ve released it, and I used to think, how can that be? A book you’ve thought about for years and put everything into will always be yours. But it’s true. Once you release a book, it really doesn’t belong to you anymore.

Your opinion of the book also changes over time. For me, this series was something that saved me through some big life events, entertained me, and got me through rejections. It was my first taste of success but also failed success when my small press contract evaporated.

When the books sold more than I thought they would, hit #1 on various Amazon’s Hot New Releases charts, and became a favorite series to people I don’t know in real life, they reached heights I never dreamed of when receiving rejections and battling self-doubt. These were all things I never took in and appreciated at the time, and I wish I had.

The series is also something that never met my lofty expectations, and I hate that too. It’s now morphed from what I was convinced would be my big break to my backlist. It might not have taken off like I hoped it would upon release or completion, but there’s always hope that one day it will find a bigger audience.

Lesson learned: follow your own heart. Get your books in the world the way you want, whether that’s through indie publishing, a small press, on your blog, or with a traditional publisher. Strive for what you want, but also know your limitations and your own expectations. It’s okay to be disappointed if a book release doesn’t hit the milestones you want, but don’t let it stop you from striving for those same goals with each subsequent release.

What’s Next?

So, where to now that my series is complete? On to the next book, of course! After taking a well-deserved break from fiction writing this year, I will release two non-fiction books early in 2025, and start work on a new fictional book that I began outlining in 2017. I’m excited to write about new characters and situations, but I know I wouldn’t have gotten there without everything The Blackbirch Series taught me.

Thank you so much for reading my look back on the series for its first anniversary. It was fun and reflective for me, and I hope you got something out of it too.

If you have any questions about the topics raised in this post, please let me know in the comments.

— K.M. Allan

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