K.R. Simler's Blog

As authors, reviews are coveted and our nightmare, often in equal parts. We need them for our own books, sometimes so much we feel like resorting to begging, even for just a few. If you've been in the book community long, you've probably heard that authors don't belong in reviewer spaces because they are meant for readers. And sure, no one wants to go on a downward spiral because of a bad review or respond unsolicited to readers' opinions about your books. But what about books that aren't yours?

In my humble opinion, if you want to be an author then you better be a reader as well. There is no way to truly master the art of writing without studying other's work, and the best way to do that is by reading books (preferably in the genre(s) you write in).

But wait, if you're an author and a reader, does that mean you should seek out book review spaces?

Yes...and no. Let me break it down for you.

When they say authors shouldn't stray into reviewer spaces, what they really are saying is don't jump in and respond or reach out to people who have left reviews on your book, especially if it wasn't the type of glowing review we all dream about. There are few things worse and discrediting than someone getting up in arms and defensive about opinions that truly are subjective. It doesn't matter if you wrote the most poetic, well-crafted, beautiful book out there; someone won't like it. Just take a peek at the reviews for your favorite book; I promise there's gonna be at least a few 1-star reviews.

There is also your mental health to consider when looking at reviews for your own book. If you've published a book, it's likely you've poured a lot of time and energy (and maybe a few tears as well) into this book. It's your literary baby, and you put it out into the world, hoping against all hopes that it finds its way into the hands of people who will love it just as much as you. Aaaaaaand then you look at the reviews, and I promise, no matter how many 5-star ratings you have, you are going to notice that one negative rating/review, and if you let it, it will haunt your every waking moment. (Not really, but it will probably sting for a bit.)

If you venture into the weeds of negative reviews too often, it's easy to make them your sole focus, which would be a massive mistake.

So what about books you read that are written by other people? Should you be the one leaving reviews and stars for their books?

You definitely can! But I would recommend caution.

The Internet is forever, and it is easy to write up critical feedback when there is a screen separating you and the other person. So the real question is, do you want other authors to know you hated their book? Do you want readers to know you're handing out 1 or 2-star ratings to others?

You could get around this by only reviewing books you enjoy (4 stars or above is the general rule), and I think this is a valid option. It gives you the opportunity to still enjoy giving reviews and you potentially make another author's day if they happen to see another positive review!

The other option is one I'm still playing around with myself, but one I really like the idea of, which is instead of leaving star reviews at all, is discussing which audiences you think would enjoy this person's book, whether you liked it or not!

I recently started doing this on my YouTube channel, and I love how it has allowed me to still discuss and share the book with others without stressing about how to rate a book that may not have been written with me as the reader in mind.

No matter what you decide, just remember to remain professional and courteous whenever discussing other people's books and writing, whether you love it or not.

Happy reading!

Are you considering self-publishing? If not, consider this your sign that you should!

Do you write short stories, poetry, or novels? If so you may have contemplated publishing it and in this day and age with self-publishing as easy as a click (or few clicks) away it's a route many authors consider taking. And you should! The world of self-publishing offers a wide range of benefits compared to the traditional publishing route, but there are a few things to consider before you dive in.

Hi, I'm Karina. I'm a self-published author of two books, at this point in time, under the pen name K. R. Simler. I'm a dog mom, normal mom, wife, and one of the most chaotic creative people you will ever meet, you won't find any perfectly curated planners and schedules here! I'm here to help other writers and authors along their writing journies and show that you don't have to have a perfect outline to reach your goals.

With that out of the way, let's get started!

(If you'd rather watch a video here that option as well.)

There's 4 things we'll talk about in this post, though you should know there are many pros and cons to both routes, far too many for me to talk about in one sitting. Before making a decision I recommend doing exactly what you are doing right now, research! Hearing from both sides is the only way to know what option is best for you. At the end of this post, I'll list some of my favorite resources I used when I was a brand-new writer looking for some answers.

Now, on to the original point...4 things you need to consider to know if you should self-publish!

Freedom

Pace

Motivation/Resilience

Genre

Freedom:

Do you like being in charge? Even more important, do you like having a say over your creative work like where it's accessible, how much it costs, when it releases, etc.? If so, self-publishing might be for you.

When you go through a traditional publishing house they are the ones that call most of the shots and while some may find handing the reins over to the professionals a comforting thought, it fills the rest of us with an undeniable sense of dread. No matter what you write, you probably spent a lot of time, effort, tears, and a whole lot more on it, do you want someone else calling the shots with it? For me, that answer was a resounding 'no'! I enjoy doing things at my own pace and in my own way so the thought of answering to someone else's deadlines, and controlling how many are printed, and where it is distributed was truly a scary thought.

Of course, that isn't to say that traditional publishing isn't without its merits, one of the biggest in my mind is the fact that you as the author take on little to no financial risk when publishing. We all have heard that to make money you have to spend it and publishing is no different, just know that with that safety net comes less control for you.

Pace:

Now this may not seem like it would make a big difference, but depending on how fast or slow of a writer you are might make a difference in whether self-publishing is a good idea for you. If you are a fast writer and can pump out a few books a year, first off kudos to you, secondly, this may be in your favor when working for yourself. Some readers, particularly for genres like romance tend to be avid readers and will breeze through multiple books a month. If you are able to put out books quickly not only will you satisfy established readers and keep them in your loop, but you'll be able to direct new readers to your backlist of books.

On the flip side, if it takes you a long time to write (like me), you may find it difficult to keep up with publishers' deadlines. Taking a long time to publish has a whole slew of problems all on its own (we can get into that in another post), but it's a lot less stressful only having to explain to yourself why you aren't finished yet instead of an agent.

Motivation/Resilience:

Are you a go-getter? Someone who likes to set their own goals and does whatever is needed to make it happen, even if it means learning new skills? If not then definitely don't self-publish.

When you self-publish, assuming you want anyone to actually find and read your book, which let's be honest that's most of us, then you can't just wear the writer hat, you're everyone. That's right, you're the writer, the publisher, the marketer, the social media manager, and everything else rolled into one hot mess of a person. (I'm speaking purely about myself of course .) Except of course an editor and cover designer unless you already know how to do those, otherwise you probably don't want to attempt to do those on your own.

Now, I think this next misconception has been mostly dispelled, but I have still heard it a time or two so just to set the record straight; even if you are traditionally published you will still have to market your own book. A lot of aspiring authors think that the publisher will handle all of the marketing and maybe they used to, but that's not the case anymore. So if that was the only thing drawing you to traditional publishing you may want to reevaluate your goals and which route is best for you.

Either route is tough though and you will have losses; a book release that flops, negative reviews, not knowing how to work with a social media algorithm, and so many more. But if you want to make a career out of this you will have to pick yourself up, push forward, and write that next book.

Genre:

And last but not least for today's list is the genre you write in. Most of us are familiar with the most popular ones (fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc.), but there are subgenres within those and mashup genres that may not be as well-known and are harder to sell in. Does that mean you shouldn't write those ones? Not at all! I'm a firm believer in writing what you love and if you love zombie princesses who have to fight off alien invaders, or non-steamy werewolves (like I do) then that's what you should write. You just have to keep in mind that there will be fewer readers actively searching for those kinds of books and almost certainly no agents.

Of course, you can still self-publish if you write in popular genres too! That's the beauty of self-publishing, it really is all up to you!

Final Thoughts:

I hope this gave you a few things to think about as you look at starting your publishing journey, whichever one you choose! As promised here is a list of some of my favorite authors who I've learned a lot from, I'll also list what kind of publishing I believe they do (it may change for some of them since I checked last.) I hope you find some treasures from them as well!

(None of the links are affiliates nor am I sponsored by any of these authors.)

Lindsay Puckett - Traditionally - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayPuckett

Lidiya Foxglove - Hybrid - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lidiyafoxgloveauthor

Bethany Atazadeh - Self-published - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BethanyAtazadeh

Recently, I've been asked what platform(s) I use for writing, and although I still consider myself a baby author (newbie if you will), I figured I'd share some of the different programs and tools I use for writing and how they impact my process.

*This post is purely my opinion and personal experience with these programs and tools, you are welcome and encouraged to form your own opinions on them *

There isn't much that you need to start out writing as any child who has made a homemade storybook will tell you. All you need is paper, a pencil, and your imagination, and voilà! You're a writer! But if you're anything like me, I'm a little too chaotic and disorganized to actually compile a complete short story, let alone a novel simply with pen and paper, plus paper feels a little too fragile to store all of my ideas of progress. So what should you use?

Notebook/Journals:

As stated before, maybe not the safest or most organized but it is one of the easiest places to start. And I still love using a good notebook in my planning and plotting phases.

Pros:

Price Flexibility - This can basically be as cheap or expensive as you want. Anywhere from a dollar store notebook to the fancy leather-bound ones most of us are terrified to mar with our scribbles.

Immaculate Vibes - Be honest, is there anything that makes you feel more like a writer than when you sit down with a good beverage, light a candle, and pick up an actual pen and put it to paper? For me, there isn't. Plus, this is a great time to pull out the fun colored, pens or markers or whatever makes you most excited!

Cons:

Organization - I'm not sure if organization is the right word because some people can be very organized with their journals. I am not one of them. Whether it's losing track of where I put the notebook or just trying to track down certain information it can be difficult to utilize long-term.

Google Docs:

This is one of the first programs I used and I still use sparingly today. You'll note my use of the word 'sparingly' here. While it has a lot of uses I have a few reasons I no longer write full-length novels in here.

Pros:

Free - It's hard to get much better than something that is free to use! As long as you have a Gmail account you have access to Google Docs (if you don't it's ok, you can make one just for this!).

Online - It's accessed online so you don't have to download anything to use it and as long as you have internet access you can log in and pull up the most up-to-date version of your documents. This is super helpful if you work on multiple devices.

Sharing - You have the option to share a document with others through email granting them access to read, comment, and even edit the document if you so choose. This can be useful if you are using critique partners, I've even seen authors do this with beta readers.

Cons:

Speed - This one may have been more user error than anything else, but I found that while I loved Google Docs for smaller documents, once my novel hit a certain size (more than 100 pages) it became a chore to get later parts of the document to load. It became choppy and overall just difficult to navigate, edit, and overall just work in.

With that being said, I feel it still has more pros than cons and I use this to store a lot of my story ideas, plotting attempts, and discarded chapters that I'm not fully ready to let go of yet.

Microsoft Word:

This is what I currently use for the bulk of my writing and while I do love it there are still a few cons when it comes to working with it.

Pros:

Ease - I personally find Word very easy to work in for the whole writing process from the very first draft all the way to editing and formatting. This is one of the biggest pros for me.

Online - Now, with Microsoft Office not only can I download my documents to specific devices but I can also access them online as long as I have internet access to log into my account, which is pretty nifty when traveling or don't have access to my own laptop.

Sharing - You also can easily share any documents with others, just like Google Docs!

Cons:

Price - Unlike Google Docs, Microsoft is not free so there's that to factor in. At this time I find other Microsoft programs helpful such as PowerPoint, Teams, etc.

Formatting - OK, I know I listed this as one of the pros, and it still is, but that doesn't mean that there still aren't some things left to be desired. While I do all of my formatting in Word and I do think it is much easier than Google Docs, it still took some time and lots of tutorials to figure out how to get things just right for a book.

Others:

These next ones are not programs I have used personally but have heard about through the writer grapevine and may be good options to consider if you need or want more resources meant specifically for writers. Now because of this, they both are a lot pricer than the other options so I would only consider these if you think the extra tools they offer you will outweigh the financial cost.

Vellum - This is for Mac users only, Vellum is a writing and formatting software made specifically for authors to format ebooks and/or print books. Because it's made for authors this makes it much easier to format a beautiful interior for your book.

Atticus - Very similar to Vellum except this one works for Mac and Windows ( and a couple of others according to their website). At the time of writing this post, Atticus is significantly cheaper than Vellum, but I have also heard mixed reviews from other writers online about this one so be sure to do your research!

In short, there are a lot of options out there to consider, but don't be afraid to stick with the cheap or simple ones if those are working for you, but know that there is more out there if you want to use it.

Old and new projects and hopeful timelines

Alright, we all know it's a new year which inevitably comes with new goals for most of us. Usually, I'm against New Year's resolutions (too many gone awry in the past), but I do find that it offers the perfect excuse to revisit my author business plan, project timelines, what projects I thought I'd be working on vs what I'm actually spending time on, etc.

You get the picture.

(see picture of Venellope below as actual picture tribute.)

So, now that 2024 is here, what is in store for my writing this year?

Current Projects:

*Brief mention of pregnancy & morning sickness

Last year, not for the first time, I found myself struggling to find not only the motivation to write but also the creative energy needed to make any kind of progress in Blood Wolf #3. This was due to a few things, but mostly it was getting my physical health back after months of terrible morning sickness (yay pregnancy fun!).

Wait, does that mean you're not working on the last book of The Blood Wolf Trilogy? Thankfully, no it does not mean that!

What I discovered was that even if I felt stuck on Jade and Darren's story I did have inspiration and enough energy to begin plotting my next series, which has now given me not one, but two books I'm attempting to write this year!

Blood Wolf #3 (title reveal coming in a couple of months) A dark(ish) Cinderella Retelling with a paranormal twist

I know working on multiple projects when I was struggling to work on one may seem counterproductive, but so far I have found it to be the exact opposite. Not only am I writing more often in general, but my word count for those writing sessions has gone up as well. By having two very different kinds of books I'm working on I'm basically guaranteed to have inspiration or a plan in place for at least one of them, therefore, upping my productivity overall.

Timelines...what are those?

To be honest, with the baby coming early this year I am trying not to give myself too firm of deadlines for any of my projects knowing that life and writing as I currently know it is going to drastically change. That being said, I still find it helpful to have a timeframe to shoot toward and will adjust as needed as I find a new routine.

I would love to have the last book of Blood Wolf published in the fall of 2024, but I already know it's going to be a longer book (similar to Blood Trials), which means not only is it going to take longer to write but to edit as well so it may end up being closer to the end of 2024 before it's ready.

The Cinderella Retelling on the other hand seems like it might be shorter which means I'll likely finish it before Blood Wolf #3. If that ends up being the case I'll have to decide if I'm going to go ahead and publish it once it is ready or wait to publish after The Blood Wolf Trilogy has been completed.

Let me know if you think I should wait or not in the poll or comments below!

Some part of me feels that this is an odd first post to have for an author blog, and the other part thinks this is the perfect one.

With the end of the year right around the corner I always find myself reviewing my Goodreads and Storygraph to see the list of books I finished and reminisce on the inspiration they gave, or the worlds they whisked me far, far away. As an author, I hope that someday my books can make it onto someone else's favorite books list, and as a reader, there are few things more exciting than getting to share a book that changed your life or brought you moments of joy with others. Here are the ones that did that for me this last year.

Fiction Books:

There were so many amazing books I read (mostly listened to) this year it was difficult to narrow it down to just my favorites, but there was no question these all made the list. A couple of these like The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and A Taste of Gold and Iron will be ones that regularly make it into my reading rotation. Belladonna was such a poetic, intriguing story I still find myself thinking of Signa and her relationship with Death. For the latter part of this year I found myself mostly reading fairytale retellings and without a doubt, A Dance of Silver and Shadow took one of the most unique twists!

Non Fiction:

I don't read many non-fiction books, mostly because as an adult I've struggled to rediscover my love of reading again, but I do try to sprinkle a few in throughout the year, especially if I think they will provide value or insight into something specific I'm searching for. While they all offered me something, these three were the ones that left lasting impressions.

Which books made it on your favorites list this year? Let me and others know in the comments so we can add them to our 2024 lists!