Author, Editor, Formatter, Graphic Designer, and lover of all things positive!
Hi there, I’m Mel, and I’m a multi-genre author, freelance editor and book formatter, author graphics designer, and a lover of all things positive, uplifting, and enriching. I love to learn, read, and chat with people about all sorts of topics, especially the deeoer kinds. I’m also a stay at home mom, wife, and friend to many authors in the self-publishing community.
I started my authoring journey back in 2019, publishing my very first book in late 2020, after having my first child. I was looking for something to do, something to give me purpose and hopefully make a little money from. I felt that I needed something for me, a passion, something I could be proud of after all my years at home with my child. There was also the hope that I could use the endeavor to teach her that you can still be successful and have dreams even when life changes or things get tough. I may not be a bestseller, but I do sell, I do have readers, and that success still matters, so I keep going, keep growing, keep writing for those who are here with me. I've learned a lot and grown a lot, and it's been the experience of a lifetime.
As an avid reader for my entire young life, I thought it couldn’t be too hard to write my own stories and get people to read them. Authoring turns out to be much harder than I thought, especially without a budget to spend on it. It hasn’t stopped me from writing multiple series in multiple genres that I love, though, and despite all my struggles, I’ve managed to find plenty of readers to love my works, and I hope you will, too. I write romances because I'm a hopeless romantic at heart and love a good romance. But I write multiple genres because I have multiple interests, like many readers. Sometimes I enjoy a good contemporary or crime drama more, other times, I want something out of this world and different. So I write both because I love both. I write what I love, stories I would enjoy reading, and I know others will, too.
I believe that we can learn so much from reading and experiencing another's life through their eyes. I know I have learned tons from reading in my life. Because of this, I put a lot of emotion into my stories. I write characters who have trauma to overcome, struggles to push through, and lessons to learn. The characters encourage each other, find family in friends, and build healthy habits that are useful to readers like you and me, so you can learn from my stories as well as be entertained. I write characters that fight to grow and better their lives no matter how hard their circumstances. This belief is also why I write my positivity newsletter and my author tip newsletter, to help share advice and lessons with those who may need it in a way that is easy to absorb.
I believe in strong romances, strong friendships, loyalty, and you will find that in all of my stories because I think it's important for everyone to have that kind of devoted love and support in their lives. Also another reason I write multiple newsletters, to provide the support some may need and not have in their journeys.
I believe there is more to the universe, to our world, than we understand, and I love to keep an open mind. You'll find that some characters in my stories have that same open-minded curiosity about the world, the universe, and people. They accept everyone, as do I, regardless of differences because a person is a person. We all deserve the same love and opportunities in life, and my book characters help each other despite differences to grow in a world that is filled with love and support, a world I want to live in.
If all of these things sound good to you, then you're in the right place and will probably enjoy a lot if not all of what I write.
I intend to continue my journey of writing for as long as I have ideas pouring into my head, and I have so many in the plotting phases already, it’s hard to think some days! If you’re interested in crime drama romances, scifi adventures and alien romances, and YA scifi adventures, then make sure to check out my series pages for more info on my books! (These are just the current series that are completed or being finished, there is a lot more to come!)
Despite my struggles to make money and grow as an author, I still managed to find ways to fulfil my passion of helping others and still do something for myself. In meeting other authors, I learned to beta read and edit, I practiced making graphics for my own things, and I’ve only gotten better over the years. I absolutely love helping other authors perfect their work, but I also love sharing positive messages and life lessons in my stories to help others grow and learn as I did from many books in my younger years.
Editing started out as my main service, and I’ve grown and learned a lot over the years that I’ve been working. I’ve worked with over a dozen authors, many of whom have left wonderful and sweet reviews, and with such great experiences, I decided to expand my abilities. For a time, I worked as an assistant to a few authors, but I decided to keep my focus on editing. Formatting is something I enjoy for my own books, and now I help those who need with their own as well since I have a nice formatting software to make it easy. Graphics have been a challenge, but the more I practice, the more I get better. For a time, I stopped doing them, but I’m feeling so much more confident in my abilities that I’m once again offering it to those who’d like a little help.
As a passion project, I created a self-publishing guide for other aspiring authors in my shoes with little or no budget to get started. I'vespent very little, mainly just on Canva Pro and Bookfunnel, as an author. I don't pay for ads, helpers, or other things because what income I have is needed for my family, but there are plenty of ways to gain sales and a readership without those. It’s slow going, yes, but possible, and as I’ve seen so few other guides like this, it felt as if I was filling a hole for some in need. After this, I also created a companion journal for that guide as well as several plain journals for whatever because I love journals and enjoy making pretty things, plus I hope they help someone.
If you’d like to contact me about my author services, you can email me, and make sure to check out my services document with examples of my works so you know how I like to handle things!
Since finding Substack, I’ve made 3 publications on here to fulfil my passions. I’m always working to find new things to share, more insights, and attempting to build my own knowledge as well as others who may be in my shoes and in need of helpful advice to get started. We all need someone in our corner, and I aim to be that person for my readers and fellow authors.
If you’d like to contact me or have questions about my books, you’re welcome to email me or follow me in all my other places. :)
If you’re interested in checking out or subscribing to my newsletters, here is some more information about each one for you. You can also find a page here on my site for my books/series and what I have planned moving forward. I’ll do my best to update as I can, and I look forward to sharing with you and hopefully connecting with you!
The first of my publications is my official author newsletter, one that will always likely be free, since many sign up from other sources and don’t use Substack as an app or social site. You can sign up as email only if that’s your choice or check out the backlog for all that I’ve ever shared. I use this newsletter to share about my life, my writing progress, upcoming books, share teasers, exclusive content, and even book recommendations and promos from myself and others.
The second publication is my author & editor help newsletter. As someone who’s been working for a few years to build up my own authorship and abilities as an editor, I wanted to help share what I’ve learned, what some of the best free resources and tips are, and help others in my position. Being a self-published author or self-made editor is NOT easy, and we all need support sometimes. I won’t claim to be an expert in anything, but I will offer to help wherever I can. I was fortunate enough to have good help in the beginning of my journey, and I want to extend that kindness.
The third publication is my positivity newsletter, where I share posts I’ve found on socials and share my thoughts, lessons, uplifting quotes, and more to help you find better thought processes, positivity, community, and even to heal from traumas. Again, I’m no expert, just a person who wants to help out and reach out to those who made need these little reminders from time to time. I need them, I’m sure others do, too.
So, if you’re interested in any or all of those, please join me in my journey of life to figure all this out, share what I know with you, and build a community of love surrounding a love of reading, positivity, and sharing our resources.
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