One of my favorite moments in my professional writing career was working for a local newspaper. I had come from the world of backpack journalism — that is, I worked in a TV studio but also had to produce work for print mediums — and I just knew that writing was going to be the backbone of my future career. My nosy self loved getting the inside scoop on the happenings in my community, but I ultimately knew I wanted to go corporate. Content marketing and corporate communications seemed like the perfect fit for me, as my writing would flourish in a world where I’d be dipping my toes in short and ..read more

In every well-lived life, one will encounter moments that ultimately define us. These little deviations from the norm may be wholly mundane, but they’re powerful enough to change us in ways we could never have anticipated. At first glance, these deviations seem insignificant, but beneath the surface, they play an important role in the person we become. Reflecting on my own life, there are a few defining memories that stand out in each stage of growth. My earliest memory comes from when I was nine months old. As a tiny bundle of beauty bound in white fabrics and topped with a veil, I felt fabul ..read more

I love digging into new worlds. Books have the power to take us to faraway galaxies and fantastical kingdoms, and honestly… they should! There’s nothing that quite compares to exploring a world that exists beyond our own, and Emerson couldn’t agree more. Emerson is truly a future-facing author, utilizing a virtual persona to interact with readers. Armed with a Madonna-esque first-name-only-approach and a mysterious internet presence, this Virginia-based sci-fi author truly allows the characters in All is Quiet in the Cosmos to take center stage. Nikki: Thanks for joining me, Emerson! I’m a su ..read more

There are many paths a writer can take to publication. One is self-publishing, one is traditional publishing, and one is hybrid publishing. For many writers, being traditionally published – that’s when a publisher handles publishing, printing, and selling your content – is the sought-after dream. It allows you as the writer to do what you do best (write) while industry experts help you with the hard stuff. It’s not often that new publishers arrive on the scene, but Owl Talyn Press is now accepting submissions. With a passion for captivating storytelling and a commitment to promoting diverse v ..read more

All too often, I believe there’s a stigma associated with indie authors. After all, traditional publishing has put a certain vision in readers’ heads about what success and storytelling look like. Despite this, there are indie authors writing voraciously every day, setting new standards, and capturing the hearts of readers. Nobody knows heart quite like Dr. Melissa Dymond, author of Holiday Star and the upcoming Paging Dr. Hart. Now, this best selling author doesn’t just write medical romance… she lives it! Melissa lives with her doctor husband, three sons, and one adorable Siberian Husky. To ..read more

Working in content marketing, I love witnessing trends in real-time. It’s like a case study, in a way, to see how the world around you reacts to something so addicting. In the Bookstagram realm (that is, the corner of Instagram that is all about books), there are a few trends that have taken root. Lately, I’ve seen the “how similar are we” trend and, of course, the massively popular, “If you’re a Bookstagrammer, just say hi” audio. But I’ve also seen one Bookstagram trend that I’m obsessed with. This Bookstagram trend is the task of asking your significant other about your reading preferences ..read more

Whenever people ask what I do for a living, I always struggle to summarize how I wear a million hats every day. I always say, “I’m a writer!” It’s easier than explaining that content marketing means I’m writing ad copy and ghostwriting articles for leadership, that my travel writing requires alignment with affiliate content calendars and conversations with my readers, that my novels are an entirely new layer of writing, content planning, and scheduling… and I’m not the only one struggling to define myself. Madeline Nixon, a Canadian author, has also worn a million hats. From shoe sales to baki ..read more

Industrialized, Part One: Experiment is a dystopian book. Plain and simple. It’s somewhat anti-romance, in a way. Sure, there’s love, there’s drama, there’s… I came up with a million excuses for why Industrialized is not a dystopian romance book. Part of that is because I’m aroace, so super gushy romance has the potential to give me an ick I can’t shake. But gosh darn it, “dark romance” exists, and my book sits firmly in this genre. It’s a dystopian romance book, and I honestly never would have guessed that when I was writing it. I want to talk about dystopian romance as a genre, as well as th ..read more

My first dystopian novel, Industrialized, Part One: Experiment, is coming out in April of 2024. However, I started writing it in the midst of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, as I remember watching in awe and horror as protesters destroyed ancient artifacts. The thought of a proud nation falling victim to unrest and striving to erase their own culture captivated me… and it sparked one of many dystopian book ideas that led to the birth of the Industrialized series.  Dystopian fiction has long captivated readers with its gripping and thought-provoking narratives. But how do you create a wor ..read more

Science fiction, like every genre, has its big players and familiar names. As a reader, however, I’ve increasingly found that indie authors are the future of science fiction… it’s kind of funny, really, given that so many sci-fi books dig into worlds set in the near or far future, and that era is sitting in the hands of someone you might walk past on the street without even realizing it. Under the pens of independent authors around the globe, the world of science fiction is evolving rapidly with new and innovative ideas emerging every day. Some of the most exciting dystopian and indie sci-fi b ..read more