Hey, all! Unfortunately I am having the tech week from hell! I'm having some issues with my domain and email deliverability. I *think* I finally have it sorted out. . . But if you need to get a hold of me for any reason, please use lorna@moonstoneva.com as my lorna@lornakbailey.com email is down for the moment! Gotta love tech gremlins. . . It's all part of the adventure. 😉

Being an indie author is a lot. Like, genuinely a lot! There are a hundred things pulling at your attention at any given moment, and it is so easy to spend an entire afternoon dreaming about what your author life could look like someday. . . the full-time income, the loyal readership, the book that changes everything. . . but then you close your laptop having actually done nothing. Many authors have been there. More times than they'd like to admit! Here's how to change this. The thriving author businesses I've watched get built weren't built in big, dramatic leaps. They were built by authors who just kept showing up. One small step at a time. On the days it felt exciting and on the days it really didn't. Dreaming and vision casting is great. You need the dream and to keep chasing it! But the dream needs you to also take the next right step today. So that's my question for you today. Not "what are your big goals" but what is your next right step? The one small thing that, if you did it today, would move you forward just a little? Drop it below. Let's make each other accountable.

Let's talk covers. Cover design might be one of the most stressful parts of being an indie author. There's so much riding on that one image - genre signals, reader expectations, years of your work distilled into a thumbnail. Some authors work with designers from the very beginning. Some wait until the book is done. Some buy premades, some go fully custom, some have made every mistake possible and lived to tell the tale. I want to know yours. How do you approach covers? Do you come in with a clear vision or hand it over and hope for the best? Have you ever loved a cover that didn't sell, or been surprised by one that did? Tell me everything. This is a safe space for cover horror stories too. 🫣 😵‍💫 😬

Sometimes tracking data can feel cumbersome and exhausting! So I always recommend authors keep it super simple. A small handful of things you can actually check regularly like: - Email list growth - KU Reads - Royalties - Traffic (social media, website, etc.) - Words written It doesn't need to be fancy. But it needs to be able to tell you if something is working or if something needs your attention. I'm curious what you track or whether you track anything at all. No judgment if the answer is "nothing yet." That's more common than you'd think. So tell me: what metrics do you actually keep an eye on in your author business? And is there anything you wish you understood better?

Every author has a reason! I’d love to hear even the ones that maybe feels a little embarrassing to say out loud. Was it a book you read as a kid that made you feel less alone? A story that lived in your head for so long you finally had to let it out? A hard season of life that needed somewhere to go? Share with us below. 🖤