Allison Pottern

I have had the distinct honor of reading this book in various draft forms and it. is. so. good. Nettle has gotten herself into a hot mess, but this book is a thrill ride. @ash-howell.com is a writer to watch (or, you know, rep! get on it agents!)

@alecjmarsh.bsky.social you had me at glittering heist (the best kind). Attention editors and agents scrolling #dvpit don’t miss this!

A stack of the book AS THE EARTH DREAMS: BLACK CANADIAN SPECULATIVE STORIES sits on a wooden bookshelf beside a standing copy that displays the cover. The cover features bold blue text with a vibrant illustrated bug on a black background.

🪲 “As the Earth Dreams offers a distinctly Canadian vision of Black life that is as lush and expansive as it is tender and rooted.” —The Walrus

🌀 AS THE EARTH DREAMS, edited by Terese Mason Pierre (@teresempierre.bsky.social), is out October 14th, learn more here: houseofanansi.com/products/as-...

Ginger Scallion Sauce (姜葱酱) Elevate your dishes with Ginger Scallion Sauce, a fragrant blend of fresh ginger, scallions and oil, enhancing flavors to meats, rice or noodles!

If you're like me and never made a ginger scallion oil before it is sooooo easy and yum.

rackoflam.com/ginger-scall...

Khao Man Gai (Thai-Style Chicken and Rice) | America's Test Kitchen This simple cooking method gets a boost from a remarkable sauce.

Struggling not to get sick rn? ME TOO. A friend made this for me post-surgery & now with half my household down with illness, it was the nourishment I craved.

The key is the chicken & broth. Make your own rice + a quick ginger scallion oil. SO GOOD.

www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/1292...

AI at its peak.

LUNA LILY and the LUNAR PARK - Issue One A Sci-Fi Fantasy middle-grade Graphic Novel About Family, Friendship, and Finding Your Power!

Help me support the brilliant @teabowart.bsky.social and his new graphic novel that has science, magic, friendship, and incredible art!

I just backed LUNA LILY and the LUNAR PARK - Issue One on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/bob...

We've reached our goal—BIG THANK YOU! There is still time if you want to contribute and get cool rewards.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/for...

NASA successfully sends and receives data encoded with lasers from 218 million miles away NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) recently sent and received laser-encoded data from a location 218 million miles away from Earth. This technology demonstration project has opened up a…

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has fired off a stream of laser-encoded data across 218 million miles. And Earth caught it. The test, part of the Deep Space Optical Communications project, used California telescopes to aim and decode the faint beams.

Attention all my published author friends and followers — you may be eligible to receive compensation from the Anthropic Settlement. I know it doesn't really make up for what they did, but if they took your work, you deserve to recoup something. File a claim!

This is blame I'm happy to accept. Authors, check to see if you're eligible to receive compensation in the Anthropic Settlement and if you are, file that claim.

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Happy Book Birthday to my fellow writer-parent @mizdoomcookie.bsky.social out there making the magic happen! So excited to read about romantic, magical, winter witches!

Tumblr post from every-lemon Sep 8 so my spouse is part of a weirdly intense but mostly benign men's workout group that meets at like, 5:30am outside every day, even in winter. they do a lot of burpees and lugging cinder blocks up hills and stuff. they take turns leading the workouts and tomorrow is his turn. I asked what he was planning. he handed me a sheet of William Carlos William poems from a large stack he'd printed. I said "what" and he explained, helpfully, "it's a William Carlos William themed workout." I asked what inspired it and he said "l've been planning this for months."

Follow up tumblr post every-lemon Sep 9 it was a smash hit. a dozen guys showed up (more than usual). spouse brought a red wheelbarrow and they took turns bringing cinder blocks up the hill with it. then they broke up in teams and did a relay with an "icebox" (cooler filled with 40lbs of ice). at the end he opened the cooler to reveal it was full of beach plum lacroix and all the guys cheered. they drank sparkling water as he read 'approach of winter' out loud. he was home by 6:30am.

dudes rock

Embassytown is my favorite Mieville, definitely recommend. And reading in These Times gives it extra resonance, for better or worse.

"Writing and Marketing consults with Allison Pottern Hoch. You've spent years crafting your book to get it out into the world — and I've spent 20+ years helping authors develop and market theirs. Now let me help you! Does publishing or marketing overwhelm you? Are you a debut author with book launch jitters? Does it feel like your publisher isn't giving you the marketing guidance you need? Do you need help getting your speculative fiction novel over the finish line? Are you struggling to figure out what publishing path is right for you? Book a consult today: pottern.com/book-a-session"

Just booked a writing retreat, so, er, I'd love to fit in a couple more clients/workshops for fall to help offset the cost!

I'm a writer, editor, & marketing coach. My sweet spot is helping authors w forthcoming titles navigate the book marketing engine + plan for launch. (pottern.com) 🧵

Why am I telling you all this? Because Tiffany once more has a couple of slots for new clients. If you're even curious, I highly recommend you contact her via @tiffscribes.bsky.social Chat with her to see whether the two of you might be a good fit. Do it soon. She's a precious and limited resource.

And publishers: start the marketing convo with your authors *earlier.* The average 4 - 6 mo of intermittent communication is not enough to bring a new author up to speed/hear their thoughts/needs without added support. I believe so many opportunities are missed because folks are just not *informed.*

Readers and reviewers: it's up to us to share as much about the backlist we read as the front list. Books don't have just one pub date: an old book is new to someone every day! Let's help make those kismet encounters happen.

If you've been dealt a rough pub date hand, here's what I recommend: make your own "pub date" that better fits the needs of your book. If you can, center it around a holiday/ current event/location that vibes with your book. Then build your own marketing snowball around that.

Especially when it's the publisher who *controls* the pub date. I've worked with debut authors who were given crap pub dates. The day *after* Christmas? Election week? Mid-January? Tough times to promote anything new, by someone no one's heard of (yet!) But somehow a lack of sales = a book problem.

Publishers seem to be assessing the "success" of a book earlier and earlier, to the point where, as @justintaylor.bsky.social points out, it gets meaningless. It becomes less about a book's success and more about a marketing campaign's success. Not a fair (or accurate) metric of of the book's worth.

This is something I've also come to believe in my years working as a book marketing coach. While it is helpful to have a date to coalesce all your marketing around so it can snowball, using the sales of that one instance of concerted marketing should not define a book's success! 🧵

Grandparents for Vaccines launches to share stories of life before immunizations New volunteer group aims to educate parents about vaccine importance by sharing personal experiences with preventable diseases.

“A new volunteer-led organization called Grandparents for Vaccines launched Sunday on National Grandparents Day with a mission to share firsthand experiences of life before vaccines were widely available.” [kgw.com]

a bunch of lit candles are on a table Alt: A ton of flickering candles sitting in melted wax on the ground

Hey, who turned out the lights?? 🕯️🕯️🕯️

The theme for September's flash fiction contest is CANDLELIGHT! You have until the end of this month to submit. Full submission details linked below ⬇️

www.patreon.com/posts/septem...

The Truth About Crows by Jo Miles The clink of gold against diamonds woke Artrullaxi the Magnificent from her slumber, and she held statue-still, listening. Someone had intruded on her lair. Another knight with more ambition than s…

New story day! "The Truth About Crows" is a sweet fun story about what happens when a dragon finds a crow trespassing in her lair. I think my fondness for both crows and dragons is well documented by now!

It's the perfect length for a Friday afternoon break, too: factorfourmag.com/the-truth-ab...

Eventually you have to accept that no matter how many different notebooks you buy, they won’t make you a better writer. For that, you need to spend a lot of money on the right pen.

Allison is a brilliant writer, editor, and marketer (and a joy to work with to boot.)

Jellyfish disrupt French nuclear power plant for second time One of France's largest nuclear power stations partially shut down after the jellyfish blocked cooling filters.

Look maybe the jellyfish are trying to tell us something.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Cryptid Car Rental - Trollbreath Magazine by Allison Pottern

It's Thursday, so we are looking through our bag of gems to feature. This week, enjoy a laugh to get through: Allison Pottern's Cryptid Car Rental magazine.trollbreath.com/cryptid-car-...
@apottern.bsky.social

Wicked Fun (Jane Hawkins, Unretired Serial Killer) Amazon.com: Wicked Fun (Jane Hawkins, Unretired Serial Killer): 9781629554426: Pasquantonio, Dave: Books

Ok, a pal of mine wrote something similar "If Jessica Fletcher had a body count and zero patience, her name would be Jane Hawkins"! www.amazon.com/Wicked-Hawki...