Author Gold

Hi Friends, Before I dive in, I need to be clear that I amnot a Facebook Ads expert and this is also a learning experience for me. Still, I wanted to share some of what I’m doing behind the scenes at Author Gold.

[Hero image or collage of artwork] Harvey Walls discovered he was an artist in kindergarten. With his love for drawing, he added to his skills by graduating with a B.A. in graphic design at Kutzown University of Pennsylvania. He currently resides in the northeastern United States. Recognized as a thinker and a perfectionist, he primes and moils a clean, atmospheric style with blooming environments and moods of color.

I always referred to myself as a Pennsylvania farm girl... I grew up on a 100-acre sheep farm in rural Pennsylvania. I’ve always loved animals and feel that we overlook an incredible source of creature knowledge and spiritual companionship by seeing non-human life as merely planetary decoration. As a result, I like to tell the stories of animals from their perspective, with the human audience watching from a distance.

Even the most beautiful books need readers to find them. Photo credit: Freepik After spending months (or maybe it’s been years) writing your first book, you’re finally, finally getting to the BIG DAY! You’ve rewritten this thing more times than you can count and agonized over every component, from the cover to the title to the blurb. And now there’s just one more hurdle: the launch. This Substack is reader-supported.

You’ve spent months writing your manuscript. It’s been hard work but you are proud of it and you know your characters inside and out. You know why they make the choices they do, and you've been creating their story for so long that every scene is familiar. But how do you know if it’s working for a reader? What if the pacing drags in the middle? What if readers say they “just couldn’t connect with the characters,” even though they feel real to you?

There’s an ideal point in the writing process to get a developmental editor. Know when that point is for you and make a confident investment. Image by freepik Developmental editing can be a valuable investment. But hiring an editor before your manuscript is ready may mean paying for feedback on problems you could have identified through another round of revision.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu Three writers. Three publications. One conversation. We came to Substack to write. Each of us has a different publication with different goals. When we started, we expected to improve our writing, find readers, and build something meaningful over time. We did not expect that publishing consistently on Substack would begin to change us.

A chronicle of reinvention told through e-biking in Europe — essays on family, health, hardships, and love, written by an international development professional following unexpected career disruption. Wild by Cheryl Strayed, or Tracks by Robyn Davidson. candid atmospheric restless unsentimental What to Expect: Thoughtful travel stories that explore adventure, resilience, and the courage to keep moving forward.

A chilling thriller that asks what happens when humanity engineers its own extinction. Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, Philip K. Dick, and Brave New World-style speculative fiction with the edginess of a Dean Koontz world.

A speculative mystery where solving murders may cost Annie everything she hopes to save. Adrienne Young's The Unmaking of June Farrow, who love how history and romance can shape an unfolding mystery laced with the fantastical, and Peng Shepherd's The Cartographers, who want a grounded mystery shaped by the impossible.