Masterlist of Notebooks I’ve designed

I use a lot of notebooks. Like, a lot. I have a large collection of notebooks, and a year ago I actually decluttered about half of them because after moving house I realised I had more notebooks than I could reasonably use in my lifetime. I gifted them to friends, it was a good time.

What that’s left me with is a few shelves of notebooks I genuinely love. I use a lot of notebooks, right now I have probably a dozen in active use for all my life admin and writing projects.

I’m telling you this to try to explain my love for notebooks because I think it was always a matter of time before I started to make my own. I watched some YouTube videos on how to do it, talked to a friend who is also in the notebook biz, and got to creating.

The Reading Log Journal – flower garden design

US amazon
Australian amazon

The reading log journal includes a 60 book reading challenge at the front, a series of pages with room for reviews and prompts, and then a generous number of pages of dot grid so you can continue to review or make notes however you like.

Reading Log Journal – tea and treats

This is the same interior as the other reading logs, but with a bright and cheery tea, baked goods and berries design all over the cover.

Tea and Treats reading log links:
US amazon link
Australian link

Reading Log Journal – Bookshelf

Bookshelf reading log links

This is the same interior as the other reading logs, but with a funky bright doodle of a bookshelf that wraps around the cover

US amazon

Aus amazon

Reading Log Journal – Forest friends

This is the same interior as the other reading logs, but with a cute repeating pattern of deer, rabbits and birdies to give a forest-core feel to the cover.

Forest friends book journal links

US amazon

Aus amazon

The TTRPG journal – dragon

For nerds, tabletop roleplaying gamers, LARPers and anyone who just likes to take nerdy notes. This notebook is designed to make you think deeper about the characters you design – with prompts for character backstory, Non Player Characters, spaces for doodles or pasted in pictures.

The second part of the notebook is space for campaign notes, sketches and anything else you want to record.

US link
Australian link

The TTRPG journal – phoenix

The same interior as the dragon character journal, but a bright red cover with a phoenix on the front.

US link
Australian link

The TTRPG journal – unicorn

The same interior as the dragon character journal, but a deep purple cover and a unicorn on the front for your most special and magical characters.

US link
Australian link

The TTRPG journal – octopode

The same interior as the dragon character journal, but a bright blue cover with a kraken on the cover.

US link
Australian link

A useful book to put things in

When I was a teenager I started the habit of carrying around little notebooks that people gifted me, or that I bought on sale at the old Kirk’s department store. I invariably called these “useful book to put things in” and this is my iteration of those beloved notebooks.

Fully dot gridded and 180 pages, it’s a book for you to use any way you like

US link
Australian link

A dream journal

200 pages

6 inch by 9 inch

journal to record what you dream at night. To improve your dream recall, write down whatever you remember soon after waking.

US Amazon

Australian Amazon

Sad Axolotl Boys Club

Maybe you’re a boy who feels like a sad axolotl? Maybe your favourite character is a sad boy who resembles an axolotl.

This one is a Misselthwaite universe joke and it won’t make sense until a few more books are published, but I like it and so should you!

Australian link
US Amazon

Social Media for authors part one: Your voice, your brand

This is the first in my advice series for building customer engagement with readers as an author.

Disclaimer: I’m still very new at this business in particular so I expect this advice will date quickly. That said, I have been doing professional social media for various companies for almost a decade on and off and I know a bit about engagement.

Before you do anything else, you need to think a bit about how you want to come across to a total stranger. You need to plan your brand.

I’ll admit, if someone asks me what my brand is, my mind blanks out. I don’t like the idea of reducing my entire self to a few words, and I hate the idea of selling myself as an idea. But when it came to a pen name it became easier for me to get my head around it.

When I came up with Jaxon Knight for the Fairyland romances, I knew I could leverage off my love for theme parks, fluffy happy stories, romance and food, as those are all things which feature in those books.

For a more hypothetical example, if I have a pen name to write science fiction stories about spaceship battles in space, then that pen name should have a brand concerned with military tactics, spaceships, physics and all things space. If I was to be posting on social media for that pen name, I could do things like retweet NASA and share photos from the International Space Station. Basically you want to connect to your readers on the things that they’re into and you are too.

In terms of politics, it’s important to decide early on what you’re willing to get into. A lot of authors will recommend not being political at all, just stick to the books and the fun stuff. I think this is impossible, frankly. Nothing you write or release exists outside of politics. The choices you make around what to write and what not to, is political. But that doesn’t mean you want to go on twitter and start fights with politicians as your author persona. Just be mindful of what you choose to share.

I, personally, am okay with complaining about transphobia as my author persona, because I write trans and gender diverse characters, and if people are following me for my books then they’ll know that. If someone who disagrees with me unfollows me as a result, that’s okay because they probably wouldn’t like my books anyway. The upside is that if there’s someone, somewhere who looks up to me as an author and identifies as trans or gender diverse, then they’ll know I’ve got their back. Trust is super important.

Keep your voice authentic to you. Don’t make up a bunch of lies that you have to keep track of, because people will catch on, catch you out and assume you have something to hide. Trust lost! You don’t have to be posting photos of yourself and sharing details of your life, but share enough to show you’re a real person. For example, my Jaxon Knight instagram features a lot of food I’ve made, because I put a lot of food and cooking scenes in my Jaxon Knight books.

So what I’m saying, basically, is that you should think a little about how you want to come across before you get stuck into social media as an author. Think about the kinds of things you can share on your social media, decide how much of your true self you’ll share and what you’ll omit from your real life, and have a think about politics as well.

Take a look at what some of your favourite authors are doing, on their facebook pages and twitters you’ll notice it’s not just ads for their books. They’ll be sharing articles and retweeting people etc.

Take a look at what other authors in your genre are doing as well. Obviously, don’t just copy them, but the more you immerse yourself in the community the more you’ll get an instinctive feel for how to interact in a way that works. Watch and learn, and then do your own version of it.

Don’t fake it, if you don’t actually care about the stuff you share, it will read as dull and flat. Be yourself, but be a refined, targeted version of yourself.

Phew, okay. Apparently I have quite a lot to say about brand and voice, despite finding those terms a little cringey. Please comment if you have any insights or extra stuff to add! In this series I’m going to do some specific Twitter, Facebook and Instagram advice and whatever else occurs to me. If you’d like to see me tackle something in particular please let me know!