State Of Sparkle, Author Coaching

11/19/2025

Greetings fellow creatives! I'm not sure about you but this past year has been a challenging one (also filled with countless gifts and blessings). I just sent out my latest State Of Sparkle, Author Coaching newsletter on the importance of self-care during the holiday season, especially as the hard working creatives that many of us are. 🩷🩷🩷

If you're interested in subscribing, this is a free bimonthly (every 2 months) newsletter in which I share tips around navigating the publishing world, building your author platform and author brand, and leveraging the latest marketing strategies to get your books into more reader's hands.

You can subscribe by visiting the website link at the bottom of newsletter. Link is in the comments.

Hoping you all have a beautiful holiday season and that you're pacing yourself. It's so important that we take care of ourselves during this time of the year. 🩷

11/11/2025

09/10/2025

For any of you nonfiction writers who have dreamt of bringing your ideas together into a book, I highly recommend dear friend and writing teacher Gail Reuben Kerzner's 5-Day Nonfiction Writing Challenge. It's FREE and packed with value! I took this as well as the 45-Day Book Writing Challenge and absolutely loved it! She gives so much to her students and provides enormous value. It's running Sept 15th to the 19th and is live on zoom.

It was truly one of the funnest things I did last year and helped me process and refine the direction I want to go in with my next book. 🩷🩷🩷

Kick-Start Your Book Writing JourneyFree 5-Day Nonfiction Writing Challenge September 15 – 19, 2025 – Noon – 1:15 EST Reserve Your Seat Today! Do you have a book idea brewing, but you don’t know where to start? Are you having trouble getting words from your head to paper? Are you having diff...

05/16/2025

If you've been feeling a deep desire to see your fellow scribes, receive some invaluable feedback, and connect with some of your tribe, I highly recommend registering ASAP for this June's Santa Barbara Summers Fest! Our fearless leader Grace Rachow has an all star lineup of some of our longtime favorite teachers offering 3 days of more intimate workshops. And word on the street is that spaces are filling up QUICKLY!

Check out the website and get yourself signed up so you can join me and a few other like-minded writers for 3 days of FUN! 🎊🎊🎊

https://sbwfest2025.square.site

Send a message to learn more

03/20/2025

If you're a writer, author, editor, publisher, book coach or aspiring writer in Southern California and looking for an amazing and value-packed festival, check out the San Diego Writers Festival! It's happening on Sat. April 5th at the Coronado Public Library in San Diego and is jam-packed with panels, workshops, and keynote speakers and it's ALL FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! I'm looking forward to attending for the first time this year and seeing some friends of mine who are involved.

02/18/2025

This is the latest FB ad I helped make for my longtime true crime, award-winning, memoir client Deborah Holt Larkin, Author. I'm so proud of the ads we’ve made over this past year and the momentum they’ve brought her over this past year with her book sales! Her renowned trad publisher PEGASUS recently ISSUED A SECOND PRINTING of her hardback b/c they LITERALLY RAN OUT OF BOOKS this past fall due to our combined marketing efforts.

Debby and I originally met at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference a couple of years ago. It's been such a joy working with these past couple of years. During these years of working together, it's been clear to me how driven, bright, and supremely focused she is.

It brings me such joy seeing my author clients' dedication paying off! She's a wonderful example of how DILIGENT AND FOCUSED MARKETING PAYS OFF in the long run.

Many congrats, Debby! ♥️🎉

01/27/2025

If you're looking for a value-packed writing, publishing, and marketing conference which you can attend from the comfort of your home, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Annual Women in Publishing 2025 Summit happening this March 5th to the 8th run by the inimitable Write, Publish, Sell with Alexa Bigwarfe. She'll be featuring loads of speakers and workshops covering everything from the navigating the dizzying array of publishing pathways to writing techniques for multiple genres to editing tips and the latest marketing strategies.

You can attend LIVE on Zoom during the conference as well as enjoy watching all of the replays which will be available until the end of 2025.

This will be my 3rd year attending. I always come out of it feeling fired up to try out new software programs, connect with fellow authors and industry experts, and expand my own writing, marketing, and publishing world.

And the good news is that there's an early bird discount of $147 going until this Friday.

Here's my affiliate link if you'd like to check it out. Lmk if you do end up going and I'll see you in one of the lively zoom rooms! https://stateofsparklecoaching--writepublishsell.thrivecart.com/2025-wip-conference/

01/24/2025

Public Service Announcement for my fellow writers and authors: As you've probably noticed, there's been a proliferation of companies and individuals posing as marketers, publishing companies, film rights agents, literary agents, and ghost writers. If you don't follow them, Writer Beware is a fabulous org designed to shed the light on these dark corners of the publishing industry. Their latest blog highlights a ghostwriting company which goes by multiple names.

As always, do your due diligence when considering hiring a company for any marketing or publishing services. Check to see who registered the domain, what country they're in, who it's owned by, and how long they've been around. Check websites like Writers Beware to see if they've been featured there. And lastly, always research the authors and books they claim to have worked with. I've noticed many companies using "fake" testimonials and either claiming to work with famous authors or making up reviews from people who don't even exist.

Have you had experiences dealing with scammers? How did you handle it?

Stay safe and vigilant out there!

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/01/24/us-pen-press-the-ghostwriting-scam-of-a-thousand-websites/

Well, not actually a thousand. But a lot. It’s been a little while since I’ve written about ghostwriting scams (previous posts include the markers that identify ghostwriting scams and the scams’ misappropriation of the Amazon name and trademarks)…but given how prevalent they are, and their i...