Your Latest London Dispatch for October 2024
My, what a month it’s been!
Every time I sit down to write these monthly dispatches, I always think that but this stretch from September to October has been particularly action-packed. Attending a conference filled with other writers and then heading straight into jet-lag recovery and releasing a brand-new book will do that!
First off, I wanted to say that some of you may know that I was in St. Petersburg, Florida, in September for the annual NINC conference and flew out as scheduled. A few days later, Hurricane Helene hit. It was terrible to see the devastation across the states affected only for some of those places to be hit again by Hurricane Milton. If you or your loved ones have been affected, I am truly sorry and I hope you’re on your way to recovery.
Back here in the UK, the weather is finally changing, leaves are beginning to fall, and we have been cozied up in front of the fire for the first truly chilly days of autumn. This is the time of year where I tend to dive head first into reading mysteries and atmospheric historical fiction, so I’ll be sharing what I’m reading both on my Substack and also on my Instagram.
Book News
Evelyne Redfern series
As I mentioned above, October has been all about Betrayal at Blackthorn Park (Evelyne Redfern #2) as it hit bookstores on October 1! It’s been amazing seeing your photos of the book out in the wild and hearing from you as you’ve been reading along.
If you have read Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, please consider leaving me a review. Reviews are a huge help to authors like me because they help readers like you find books that they might enjoy. You can leave a review wherever you bought your book if you purchased it from an online retailer, and don’t forget Goodreads!
Australian readers, I just got some exciting news the other day: A Traitor in Whitehall and Betrayal at Blackthorn Park are coming to your bookshops soon! Right now I believe the publication schedule looks like this:
January 9, 2025: A Traitor in Whitehall
January 14, 2025: Betrayal at Blackthorn Park
Some Housekeeping
A Favor
This is rather specific, but worth a shot. If you read European Portuguese (rather than Brazilian Portuguese) and you’re interested in giving me a hand with an upcoming book, please reach out to me at juliakelly@juliakellywrites.com!
Substack Paywall
Some of you might have noticed that I have stopped paywalling content here on Substack.1 There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is that Substack has been a big experiment for me. It’s part newsletter platform and part blogging platform, and there can be a paid element to it so that writers can try to earn a living. I am a big proponent of being paid for your work, and I subscribe to several Substacks that I read religiously.
I turned on paid subscriptions in the early spring, giving those who wanted to opt-in extra content in exchange for the fee. However, I never really found my way with a paid subscription model, and I found myself often making my Substack posts free for all because I was writing about things I didn’t want to gatekeep.
I decided in the end that the best thing for me to do would be to revert to a free-for-all model. I’ve now refunded all paid subscribers any remaining money from annual subscription fees.
What does this mean for 99%? Absolutely nothing. You won’t see any changes. However, it felt important to say something to the lovely people who had been paying for a subscription now that I’ve turned that model off.
Postscript
What I’ve been reading: What a reading month it has been! There is nothing like a vacation to get back into reading, and I’m fortunate that things have carried on since then at a pace. I’ve been on a mission to read some of the really massive bestsellers out there that passed me by, so I’m currently reading A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas.
What I’ve been watching: Sports. At this year of year it’s just sports. My Mets are in the playoffs (although we’ll see how long that lasts…) and my husband, Dad, and I are all big NFL fans, and we also watch football, so there’s a lot of sport (American and British) on the telly right now.
What I’ve been listening to: This year has been a year of pop music for me, and it continues with my constant listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet album. Although I have heard “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please” at the gym so many times I now have a Pavlovian response to them and feel I should be doing box jumps whenever I hear them, I’m completely won over by the frothy, witty, sometimes dirty fun of it all.
What I’ve been knitting: Every year, my sister makes a Christmas jumper for the holidays, and this year I’ve decided to join her. I chose the Holly Sweater by Knitting for Olive, and I’m loving it so far. I’m still in the colorwork yolk as the little berries take plenty of time to make. However, they bring me so much joy I can’t be mad about it.
The platform I use to send this newsletter. Some of you might even be reading on Substack!
Thank you for all you do for your readers! I appreciate the free content of the authors’ Substack and many of them do charge for extra content! I just can’t afford to subscribe to all of the authors’ issues so I love the free content! Thank you for making yours completely free..I am forever grateful!
I love the look of that Holly sweater. Thanks for the link!