J. Elle (she/her)

Yesssssss

Feel free to reach out! The link in my bio should direct u on how to reach me :)

Appreciate all the work you’re doing to connect us!

Excited to unveil the limited edition of my boooooook!!!!! #kidlit #blacksky

Omg this is amazing!!! I’d love to send your student a video message thanking them for reading. Feel free to reach out!

I love it here!

Ty!!!

91 pages left to edit and the end of my trilogy is DONE!!! Pls clap

1️⃣0️⃣ Hold on to your love of story. With talking about market, professionalism, rejection, it becomes difficult to remember why you love writing. But it’s your love of storytelling that’s going to create the best stories. Project it. Nourish it. And push away anything that compromises it.

11/11

9️⃣ Rejection never goes away. Regardless of where you are in your writing career, there will always be someone who says, no. Or doesn’t like or have vision for your work. Learn to take anything constructive from it and toss the rest. Processing rejection in healthy ways is a vital skill.

10/11

8️⃣ It’s a long game. Longevity in the industry is less often built by break-out unicorn level success & instead steady audience building, publishing consistently, around a clear brand. (Switching brands is doable. Your most loyal readers will follow.) Don’t be discouraged, keep chugging along.

9/11

7️⃣ Beware of too much too fast. It can be tempting to take on multiple projects at once early in ur career. Beware of burnout. Respect the bandwidth you have to put forth ur best work. Rest refreshes creativity. Don’t be seduced by dollar signs. They’ll be short lived if those books don’t sell.

8/11

6️⃣ Be a nice human. Treat people with decency. Help when u can. Say thank u especially to booksellers, educ. (Send a note!)Remember what it was like to be new. Be authentic when networking. Genuinely root for peers. (Wont hurt ur book sales!) Community is critical. U have to be REAL to find it.

7/11

5️⃣ Your representation matters. A LOT. Having a bad agent or (more commonly) an agent who isn’t a good fit, is worse than having no agent. Ur agent is ur face to publishing. Their reputation, sales history, communication style, professionalism, etc, influences how they approach working w/ u.

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4️⃣ Treat your career like a business. Because it is. Putting a book out in the world is such a sentimental experience but for publishing its business. The more you can filter your experience in publishing through a business lens the smarter you can advocate for yourself and pivot when needed.

5/11

3️⃣ Dont focus on the market, but take note of it. Publishers often acquire books based on market trends. Thats the ugly truth. Chasing trends will rob u of joy in ur writing. But noticing whats selling is savvy business acumen. Dont spend yrs on a steampunk sci fi if one hasn’t sold in 5 years.

4/11

2️⃣ Focus on what’s in your control. Becoming a NYT bestseller is largely influenced by the marketing support a publisher elects to give you OR random luck. Focus on writing the best books you can and secure the best representation you can. Those 2 things have a huge impact on your career.

3/11

1️⃣ Know when to move on from a project. Some story ideas exist to teach us about craft or something about ourselves. Every idea you flesh out is not going to make it to shelves. That doesn’t mean they’re a waste of time or you’re a failure. Refining your craft matters just as much. If not more.

2/11

As a traditionally published author writing their 10th book, who has been a NYT bestseller multiple times and an international bestseller, here are 10 things I’ve learned about writing & publishing that I *wish* I would have known at the beginning.

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Omg hiiiiiii

me! I am here!!

hard same lol

legendary

Love this so muc h