rebranding + updates again and perhaps a small rant

By Brooke Riley - March 23, 2022

Okay, so I'll point out the obvious. We have a new look around here that I am absolutely in love with. I stumbled upon this blogger template by accident and loved that it let me keep my lowercase letter aesthetic on the sidebar.

Now that my blog is looking spiffy, I want to talk about how I'm going to be rebranding.

This blog will serve as a place for me to get my thoughts out and connect with my readers. If you're new, hi, I'm Brooke and I'm the author of YA dystopian novels How We Rise and United We Fall. My brand of dystopian is a bit different from what is usually found. If you're interested in my books, you can find links under the "my books" tabs.

But I am actually working on reformatting my books and fixing some errors that happened in the publication process. Because yes, I am an indie author and that means a lot of the workload falls squarely on my shoulders.

I take my writing seriously, as well as publishing, which means I go through the most professional route possible. I have a lovely editor and a wonderful cover designer, but all the formatting and final processing of files fall on me. And I'm a human being who makes mistakes. So if you want the first editions that will eventually be gone from publication and perhaps worth a lot of money when I'm a rich and famous author... 👀

In seriousness, these books are my heart, despite the minor flaws inside them. I know a lot of readers get annoyed with indie authors having any errors, no matter how minor, but we're trying our best I promise. Not all indie authors are equal in what effort they put into their books so don't judge us all by those who don't put effort into making their books professional. There are a lot of us who are working on changing the industry and making professional books.

For instance, Abbie Emmons and her sister, K.A. Emmons. You've probably heard of 100 Days of Sunlight. 😌 A lot of people have no clue it's an indie book.

Anyway, indie author rant aside, welcome to my rebranded blog. I'm leaving my old posts up as they are part of my journey to this point.

This new space is going to be where I talk about the things on my mind, about writing books, sharing about my current projects, and just ranting in general. Sometimes I may post poems or short stories, or even just Pinterest images that make me feel something.

This blog is going to be a random and wild place for me to express myself in words. Kind of like the good old blogging days. (If you remember those, you're a rock star.)

I'll also probably share some thoughts I have on being an indie author and advice for any aspiring authors who aren't sure if they want to pursue traditional or indie publishing.

I'm open to suggestions also, so if any of these posts are of interest, or if you have suggestions, comment them down below!

I think that's it for now.

Keep rising, friends <3