Authors Meeting (Early!)

Saturday, September 10 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Google Calendar Event

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/jmn-bcxt-wnj

🦴Kristin’s Updates🦴

I guess my book launch has been kind of soft! I haven’t been keeping it a secret exactly but I’ve only mentioned it in videos, in this group, and in a few group chats.

A behind-the-scenes vid promoting the book:

I’ve posted this on TikTok to almost zero attention, currently at under a thousand views! Oh well, I’ll try again on IG and FB later. Maybe much later. Halloween, Christmas, and the actual publication date in March are probably better times to promote.

Speaking Event in Kansas:

I’ll be driving through Kansas on my way to the Missouri Photo workshop, and I’m stopping to give a talk about the book and how to find a lot of bones! If you’re around, I might go bone-hunting in the morning, too!

More Info and Tickets
📍Location: Flint & Vine, Junction City, Kansas
📅Date: Friday, September 18th
⏰Time: 7-8 PM Central Daylight Time

I’ll probably livestream the presentation as well. But not the bone-hunt, as there’s rarely enough signal for that.

“CARCASS:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!

Have you ever wondered what the actual PRODUCT of all my talk of book-writing would be?

❓What did I do with the funding from the Sloan Foundation?

❓How can I squeeze science, culture, industry, investigation, storytelling, and travel into something as weird as carcasses?

❓Am I actually good at writing and reporting, or did I just get lucky with my book deal?

❓Did I even write a book? Maybe I was faking everything just to yap on Substack.

There’s only one way to find out! Pre-order the book!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”
  
  (This is the best deal I’ve found for the hardcover.)

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

Authors’ Meeting

Tuesday, August 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

🧰Resources🧰

📚 Want a trusted, freely available guide to reporting and editing science stories?

🔗 The KSJ Science Editing Handbook
From the website: “The insights, knowledge, tips and resources all editors need to meet the highest standards for quality of science journalism.”
💵 COST: Free
💀Kristin’s note: Knight Science Journalism at MIT is a respected, trusted source.

🚩 Getting flooded with “marketing” emails promising to turn your book into a bestseller?

🔗 How Authors Can Protect Themselves From Scams, According to a Book Publicist

💀Kristin’s note: Geez, the scammers are everywhere. My publisher sent me this; I’m glad they are warning their writers.

I’m also really glad that I hired a real artist for my cover who I’ve followed for years, and who I know is a real person. So many people get scammed via Facebook and Fiver, I’m really glad I’m in a community of humans who care about their reputations.

🦴Kristin’s Updates🦴

I’m pretty busy next month so I might move the meeting early. Like, really early. Maybe September 12th or so.

“CARCASS:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!

Have you ever wondered what the actual PRODUCT of all my talk of book-writing would be?

❓What did I do with the funding from the Sloan Foundation?

❓How can I squeeze science, culture, industry, investigation, storytelling, and travel into something as weird as carcasses?

❓Am I actually good at writing and reporting, or did I just get lucky with my book deal?

❓Did I even write a book? Maybe I was faking everything just to yap on Substack.

There’s only one way to find out! Pre-order the book!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”
  
  (This is the best deal I’ve found for the hardcover.)

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

Authors’ Meeting

Saturday, August 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

Editorial after this little number…

“CARCASS:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!

Have you ever wondered what the actual PRODUCT of all my talk of book-writing would be?

❓What did I do with the funding from the Sloan Foundation?

❓How can I squeeze science, culture, industry, investigation, storytelling, and travel into something as weird as carcasses?

❓Am I actually good at writing and reporting, or did I just get lucky with my book deal?

❓Did I even write a book? Maybe I was faking everything just to yap on Substack.

There’s only one way to find out! Pre-order the book!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”
  
  (This is the best deal I’ve found for the hardcover.)

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

Subscribe now

STORY TIME:
How I Got What Memoir Writers Want (Without Writing a Memoir)

Whenever I tell The Story About That Thing That Happened — you’ve got one too, don’t you? — people hit me with this:

“That’s so insane! You should write a book about that!”

I thank them for their acknowledgment that the story is totally crazy. And, as I understand the motivations of memoir writers, I think I could get a lot of value out of publishing The Story About That Thing:

• Healing and processing

• Helping others who have experienced something similar (?)

• Preserving a legacy

• Connection to a community (?)

Sounds great. Problems are:

• The story only has enough for about 20 minutes of entertainment if you’re not close with me. Double if you are.

• I wouldn’t want certain people close with me to see it, so who else is there?

• Memoirs take a lot of time and are hard to sell.

  

3 hours. $0. A million readers.

I’ve been around the book space so much I’ve heard the phrase “it’s all worth it if I just get one reader” a hundred times too many. Consider that they spend thousands of dollars and go to conferences and join book-marketing groups and spend thousands of hours writing, publishing, and advertising their books, most of which don’t actually even get published. For one hypothetical reader. That’s not worth it to me.

Plus, how are you even going to know how many people read it? You might see sales, but how satisfying is that unless they actively email you to say what they got out of it? And what percent of the time does that happen?

Not a single damn person at most of these memoir conferences can say their books got that kind of engagement. Can you guess what I did?

Bear with me; this is a story about a story, and the point isn’t about how good The Story About The Thing was, but rather, the emotional ROI of sharing or not sharing your stories in different ways.

Read more

📅July Meeting TODAY📅

Authors’ Meeting

Saturday, July 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

🧰Resources🧰

🔍 Want to learn more about how science storytelling works?

🔗 The Best Science Stories and How They Work
This is ‘s new book!

📱 Are you a news creator, but not a traditionally trained journalist, who wants to get paid to learn journalism skills?

🔗 Trusted Creator Fellowship at News Creator Corps
💵 COST: Free
🏆 YOU GET: $5,000 plus free training in “skills like fact-checking, sourcing, and interviewing to ensure the creators are disseminating accurate information.”

💀Kristin’s note: I’m currently in their rural creator cohort! So I can co-sign that it is real and valuable! Honestly, who needs degrees when you can literally get paid to learn these skills? There is “homework” but no deliverables that they profit from; more like I post on my own pages content based on their assignments. And I would have probably posted this stuff anyway.

From Lynne:

📖 Want to be featured in the Tucson Festival of Books?

🔗 Tuscon Festival of Books

From Lynne from the National Association of Science Writers:

I’m writing to encourage you to apply to participate as a presenting author or indie author at the Tucson Festival of Books, March 13-14, 2027, at the University of Arizona. It is a free and fully in-person event. The 2026 TFoB featured more than 400 presentations by 300 authors. It drew 140,000 people to the UAZ campus.

If you would like to speak on the science stage and your book has been or will be published January 1, 2026-March 8, 2027, by a major publishing house or its imprints, or by a small or University press, use the Presenting Author Nomination Form,

https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=168 . Applications due by Sept 8.

If you are a self-published or Indie author, use the Indie Author Nomination Form,

https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=1656 . Applications due by Sept 30.

Authors, publishers, publicists, and the general public can submit nominations. The festival selects authors based on the quality and relevance of their books, and their potential for engaging panel discussions.

TFoB welcomes authors of fiction and poetry as well as books for children and books in other genres. Learn more at

https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?action=form&form=new_nomination

Seven NASW authors—David Baron, Chris Berdik, Olivia Campbell, Melody Glenn, Beth Malow, Mindy Weisberger, and Carl Zimmer spoke about their books in science-focused sessions at the 2026 TFoB. See NASW’s Desknotes report: https://mailchi.mp/nasw.org/member-newsletter-2026-april

Questions? Email me. (llamberg at gmail dot com)

And don’t forget…

“CARCASS:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!

Have you ever wondered what the actual PRODUCT of all my talk of book-writing would be?

❓What did I do with the funding from the Sloan Foundation?

❓How can I squeeze science, culture, industry, investigation, storytelling, and travel into something as weird as carcasses?

❓Am I actually good at writing and reporting, or did I just get lucky with my book deal?

❓Did I even write a book? Maybe I was faking everything just to yap on Substack.

There’s only one way to find out! Pre-order the book!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”
  (This is the best deal I’ve found for the hardcover.)

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

Authors’ Meeting

Saturday, July 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

🦴Kristin’s Updates🦴

💻 Apologies for Technical difficulties…

Last month, I’m told some people weren’t able to make it into the meeting! This is the first time that’s happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience. :(

It could have been one of two things: I could have posted an old link, or I could have been messed up because it was a very hectic day. I actually took the meeting driving with a dog in the car!

And because I had a normal number of attendees, I didn’t think anything was wrong.

Next time I will be sure to sit down and pay attention to DM’s or emails; perhaps I will enlist someone to help run the meeting while I’m checking on those things.

🐶 I delivered the dog to her home!

For those of you who were in the meeting, you may wonder how the story of that skinny lost dog turned out. I made a video about it! Long story short: the police told me to bring her to them, then told me I had to drive her to the middle of a field and leave her there.

BUT THEN, the cat rescuer, from the rescue where I got my beloved Bijou, is an angel on earth who called during the last meeting, and when I called her back, she was able to find the owner and his contact info within like, 15 minutes!

And I was led to this fantastic carcass pile because of it — don’t click if you cried over Baxter in Animal Farm. There is a Clydesdale. Or if you prefer the video version, here you go. Both graphic and weird.

✈️ FREE Delta Companion Pass for a Round Trip in North America in July (ASAP!)

I have a companion pass that expires at the end of July if anyone wants it! I had several people interested but no one followed through. And I have to be the one to book it, as I understand it, so it’s a little complex, but it should save someone a few hundred dollars.

Rules:

• It’s a BOGO, meaning two people have to be on the same flights.

• Round trip must be completed by the end of July

• Most Delta trips in North America, except Canada, will work

Just look for a trip you want on Delta that matches those, email me your details (including the names of both passengers) and we’ll get it set up. It’s a little weird, but I thought I’d offer. You could go to Alaska!

🌉 I’ll be in the SF Bay Area

July 23-ish to August 6 is the plan, in case anyone wants to recommend sciencey events and such then. (Or…if you want to go bone-hunting.)

🧰Resources🧰

🔍 Do you work in science and want to learn more storytelling skills?

🔗 Wilkes University STEM writers conference

📅 DEADLINE TO APPLY: ???
📅 DATES: January 9-11, 2027
📍Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
💵 COST: ???
🏆 YOU GET: A two-day conference targeted at scientists wanting to learn better storytelling techniques.

💀Kristin’s note: As you can see, there is very little information about this so far. I saw it on TikTok, and here is a little more information on Instagram. So far, you can only sign up for further information, so I’ll see.

📱 Want to be an early adopter of a new social media outlet?

🔗 Get $5 to join Gist (referral code)
💵 COST: Free
🏆 YOU GET: This is a new social media platform, currently in open Beta.

It focuses on videos and text slides. From the site: “Gist is a social media platform for curious individuals who want real substance on their feed – practical, thoughtful content on the things that shape real life. No noise.”

💀Kristin’s note: I like the idea, to counter how other platforms feel so…sloppy. As in, full of AI slop. And I like text+image carousels as a good way to share information. Here’s my profile, RollBones the Carcass Author.

That said: there are lots of new social media platforms, so we’ll see if it goes anywhere. Furthermore, I get paid from TikTok and Facebook, and a little from Instagram and Substack, so if they don’t develop a revenue-sharing strategy, I won’t be putting as much effort into it, except to advertise my book.

Sometimes I like to join these things ASAP to secure usernames.

And don’t forget…

“CARCASS:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!

Have you ever wondered what the actual PRODUCT of all my talk of book-writing would be?

❓What did I do with the funding from the Sloan Foundation?

❓How can I squeeze science, culture, industry, investigation, storytelling, and travel into something as weird as carcasses?

❓Am I actually good at writing and reporting, or did I just get lucky with my book deal?

❓Did I even write a book? Maybe I was faking everything just to yap on Substack.

There’s only one way to find out! Pre-order the book!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”
  (This is the best deal I’ve found for the hardcover.)

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

What should I write about in future newsletters?

I have a lot of ideas. I’ll consider your input on what you want written! Here are some potential ideas I have in mind:

• What I Wish I Knew Before Starting

• Is being an Author Embarrassing?

• Why Authors Will Never Stop Falling for Scams

• Interesting Marketing Ideas: But do they work?

• My Most Unbelievable Success

• Bullshit I learned in Journalism School (and the Truth)

Authors’ Meeting

June 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

🦴Kristin’s Updates🦴

I have several!

Biggest one at the end…

🐱 Enrich your cat’s life and read my article about cat-training!

Check your local markets for this magazine…

📚Or you can buy it here,

📚or get it from your local library via Overdrive here!

I have an article in it about how training your cat to do tricks is good for them! It starts with an anecdote about training My Beloved Bijou, who I dedicated my book to.

Here are the pictures they didn’t use, showing my family’s cat, Thunder, and of course, Bijou as the banner image.

🐂 I’m going to Missouri for a photo workshop!

Just a little success record: I got a scholarship to attend the Missouri Photo Workshop! It’s north of Kansas City, MS at Northwest Missouri State University Agricultural Learning Center.

For that, I’m hoping to work on my photo book more. It’s September 20-27, and I’ll add a few days for driving on either end, and maybe I’ll stop by Kansas again to see the Flint Hills/ Tallgrass Prairie, where I did a residency.

An agricultural learning center! I bet I can find some more piles of farm animal bones or something.

⛰️I’m going to be a fellow at the next Rural Creator Fellowship!

I’m excited to do another fellowship, this time for rural news creators! This one is perfect for me as a rural creator who does both video content and journalism.

My life is so patchwork, but I love having finite projects like this. I learn so many different things!

….

…and the big news?

…

🎉”Carcass:
On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies”
is Available for Pre-Order!🎉

That’s right! With no warning, I got an email alerting me that something with my name had been published somewhere on the internet.

ADVICE: Put on a Google email alert for your name!

Turned out it was this page on Penguin Random House featuring Carcass: On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies. And on that page were links to pre-orders!

There is one more deadline for me, to slide any last-minute edits under the wire for the last time, on July 15. But maybe they were confident adding this page for pre-orders because even if I died right now, what I have turned in is a final draft. I don’t know, I haven’t been informed.

Anyway!

Here are some places you can pre-order already!

📕Hudson Booksellers

• $21 hardcover with code “CANTWAIT”

📕Target

• $30 hardcover

📕📱Amazon

• $30 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📕📱Barnes & Noble

• $22.46 hardcover with code “PREORDER25” if ordered before tomorrow, June 26!

• $18 ebook

📕📱Bookshop.org

• $28 hardcover

• $18 ebook

📱Kobo

• $18 ebook

📱Apple Books

• $18 ebook

📱Google Play

• $18 ebook

🍁Canadian? 🇨🇦

The Canadian Penguin Random-House page has country-specific links.

I will, of course, make another post about this sometime, though I might like to see if and when I can get cover art!

Thank you so much for your support, everyone!

Authors’ Meeting

June 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Calendar Event

Video call link

🦴Kristin’s Updates🦴

Wow, I just got back from three months of traveling! I:

🦬 Was Artist in Residence at Badlands National Park for 6 Weeks

🌾Was Artist in Residence at the Tallgrass Artist Residency

⛰️Spent 2 weeks in Colorado (where I met ANBIP member Jen in person! And there is an active cohort of the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains!

🏜️Attended Wild Creative meet-up in Bryce Canyon

🌳Hung out in Utah and Idaho a bit!

🧰Resources🧰

🍎 Do you write about education?

🔗 Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship
📅 DEADLINE TO APPLY: Last year was February (Applications not currently open; put it on your calendar for next year.)
📅 DATES: One academic year
💵 COST: Free to apply and attend.
🏆 YOU GET: Funding for an education reporting project, mentorship, research support, and access to courses and resources through Columbia University’s education journalism program.

Fellows receive a stipend of $85,000 for residential, or $43,000 for non-residential, plus $7,500 in project expenses.

💰 Want advice on finding grants for your creative project?

🔗 Ask Me Anything: Finding Grants via
📅 DATE: June 12
💵 COST: Free
🏆 YOU GET: A live discussion about finding grants, fellowships, and funding opportunities for journalists and independent creators, plus the chance to ask questions.

🦓 Want to do a wildlife content project in South Africa?

🔗 Wild Creative South Africa
📅 DEADLINE TO APPLY: None, and you might wait for more info, but watch this space.
📅 DATE: Some time in December. Other events have been about 5 days.
💵 COST: It probably won’t cost much outside of getting yourself there.
🏆 YOU GET: A guided creative experience focused on helping a group rewild an area for wildlife rather than livestock.

💀 Kristin’s Note: I’ve talked about this group before, which is typically a free experience (BYO food, gear, and park pass) at National Parks. They’re kind of guided, kind of just like a group of friends on a trip.

They just got nonprofit status, and they’re looking at moving more towards science education, so I think they’d like some science writers and content creators. Most of the group members are photographers, but any “creative” can apply.

Much of this trip is TBD as you can see, but since I’ve been on two previous trips (in driving distance of myself) I can answer a few questions. I’ll probably post more later, and I think there is a decent chance I’ll go.

🌟FEATURE:🌟
Can’t get a Trad Deal and want to
“Just self-publish?”

Friends, I am not going to jump on the bandwagon and say that self-publishing is better or always easier than trad publishing. Most of the dialogue around that debate is tiring, misleading, wrong, and often full of babies who are offended because I got a trad contract and they were so sure that only celebrities get trad contracts. How dare I disprove that!

But! There are many times when you (maybe) SHOULD just self-publish. (Or don’t. I’m just pixels on a screen, not a god.)

Let’s start with a legit publishing professional who gives great advice (mostly to fiction aspiring authors, though,) Gina Denney, who answers a lot of important questions with the truth, coming from someone who really knows her shit.

For example, she answers: Why would someone do trad pub instead of just self-publishing?

My big reasons for Trad Publishing:

• They give you money in advance

• You are eligible for more money through grants (which several people in this group and I got!)

• The publisher does a lot of the boring, complicated work in marketing and such

• There is prestige in it — and that directly translates into more opportunities, which can snowball your career better and better!
  

Oh, you heard that traditional publishers don’t even market the book? Watch Denney’s video on how trad publishers market books, which starts with, “I am ready for this lie to die.”

My reasons for being hesitant to self-publish

(but maybe one day I will, with a different book)

• Few bookstores want to deal with the flood of self-published trash they get. Maybe yours is amazing! Or maybe it’s the worst of the bunch. Either way, they’re tired of the slop coming in the door, and they’ll stack you on the slop pile.

• Even if that wasn’t the case, a lot of bookstores don’t want to deal with paying out a thousand authors, no matter how good they are. They deal with traditional distributors with built-in billing technology to save time.

• Even if you do drive around to all those bookstores and get them on the shelves, you leave your books, and when you come to collect your money, the person there just says, “idk I think Carl was in charge of that stuff, and he doesn't work here anymore.” Your money and book copies will just disappear unless you are extremely dedicated to running around to bookstores.

• Read: “Self-Publish and Be Scammed: Jon’s tale of heartbreak highlights boom in fraudsters using AI to supercharge book swindles.”

• I’ve just seen so many self-published authors being miserable. They are always posting that they spent a thousand hours and $10,000 on marketing and got zero sales, or something like that. And they really tie their self-worth to it. I think most regret it.

• Even this article titled “‘I self-published my own books and made money in just four months’” is about someone who made £500 (USD $669) on her self-published book, which she re-invested in marketing, so one could argue, it was actually $0. (Author says that she didn’t choose that headline BTW, it was the editors at The Mirror who insisted.)

🌟Should I just self-publish or not?🌟

Gina Denney hates when people say “just” self-publish, as most people hate when people say the word “just” in regards to something they did. (“Just become a lawyer!” “Just have six kids!” “Just start a business!” Sounds ignorant, doesn’t it?)

Making a career or even significant profit in self-publishing is a ton of work. Which is worth it sometimes!

Here’s some quick questions to ask yourself before going into self-publishing:

❓Haven’t written a book yet, but just want to get something out there to say that you’re an author?

🛑DON’T self-publish (or write that book)

Books are way too much work to produce just so you can say you did. Write a blog post or do a watercolor instead.

❓Want to self-publish because you heard it’s a quick way to make a ton of money that anyone can do? Or you heard a rumor that no one gets advances anymore? Or you got a DM from a “marketing agency” that “loves your vision?”

🛑DON’T self-publish

You’ve been misled, my dude. On that note:

And:

❓You’ve already written a book, but it’s your first time writing in a genre, and it will never sell much, so you can either self-pub or throw it away?

✅DO self-publish!

Denney says, “If you don’t want to take on any financial risk and you don’t want to put out a quality product, then you’re right: you can just throw your book up on Amazon and be done with it.”

So let me Yes-And that statement: Yes, that’s true. And that’s the majority of aspiring authors. They are making books that few others will want to read, they are not willing to put in the work to make it high quality or of use to anyone except their closest friends (which is fine), they may or may not be OK with that, and they shouldn’t waste their time in the querying trenches. There’s no downside to just clicking “upload” for your project if you’ve already written it. (Unless it’s embarrassingly bad, libelous, or dangerous.)

Subscribe now

❓You’ve built up your writing skills and your book is high-quality and sellable, just running into problems with trad?

✅DO Self-publish!

Here is the experience of , an author with a good book that she had to self-publish, and how it worked out well:

I self-published the first edition of the first TON [The Open Notebook, a fantastic resource for science journalists-Kristin] book, because I couldn't interest an agent in even trying to sell it to a trad publisher — they all thought that a book of works that (mostly) had been previously published at TON and were still freely available just wouldn't sell. I really wanted the book to exist and was willing to gamble that there were enough people who would value a curated collection and something to hold in their hands, so I decided to “just” self-publish it. I'm very glad I did because it sold more than 3,000 copies and led to a contract with a trad publisher for a 2nd edition PLUS another whole book. AND I'm glad I didn't appreciate at the outset what an absolutely enormous task it would be to self-publish a book to professional standards (i.e.,so that it wouldn't scream “self published” and so that it would get some reviews and so that libraries and bookstores beyond Amazon could buy it). It was basically a full-time job for about 9 months AFTER the actual book was completed (that is, after all the text was in place and the cover and interior design were set). That work was worth it, for all that came after, but oh my god, the learning curve. And in the end, one thing I learned is that no matter how good a job you do, if you're self-published you simply cannot get into the earned media and distribution channels that traditional publishers can.

The book in question: The Craft of Science Writing (Self-Published)

Siri’s next book that will be trad-published: The Best Science Stories and How They Work: A Collection with Commentary, University of Chicago Press.

❓You have compelling, specific reasons you want to self-publish, such as a faster timeline, immediate acceptance, and full control?

✅DO Self-publish!

I didn’t want to self-publish a book, but I have been thinking of doing so with my photo book because my agent wants to “see how the first one did” before representing another.

Valid, but that’s going to be in years.

I could be wasting a lot of potential sales with my social media audience and when I’m in the public eye such as the radio shows and articles that I have already participated in—telling people to buy my book when it’s out, but not having anything to sell them while I have their attention.

So, I might self-publish a photo book or a workbook just so I have something to sell, so I can make money from all these people online who want to buy from me, but the trad-published book isn’t available.

On that note, check out the part of this post that says: Pros and Cons of Independent Projects vs. Company Clout for more of my thoughts on that.

Authors’ Meeting

Monday, May 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Google Meet joining info

Video call link

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

Still very busy with traveling…but I’m making time for y’all!

I’m writing this from a The Shining-esque, near-abandoned, mega-discounted ski resort condo, and I’ll presumably be in another one when the meeting starts.

(If you rent your house/apartment/whatever out on AirBnb, you can get the mega-discounts too with Hostshare; here’s my referral code.)

Authors’ Meeting

Monday, May 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Google Meet joining info

Video call link

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

Short update today as I’m traveling! This trip has included six weeks as an artist in residence at Badlands National Park, 10 days as AIR at the Tallgrass Artist Residency, over a week in Colorado, then a trip with Wild Creative at Bryce Canyon.

Join me at the next Wild Creative in Grand Teton National Park! (And look at the pictures! I’m the one with the grey shirt and sunglasses on your left, or hiking with yellow pineapple backpack.)

Unofficially, the organizer mentioned making the Grand Teton trip particularly focused on science communication! So that might be the birth of a future science-content-creation version of the Wild Creative trips, which are basically free, BYO park pass/food/gear.)

💀Check this Out 💀

The podcast, Planet Money, has put out a series of highly-reported episodes about their journey to publish a book!

They’re fantastic; IMO 100x better than 99% of podcast episodes about book production. They actually explain how this stuff works, from the book deal auction, to physical book production, to how to get on the bestseller list. With real actions and results and interviews with the people pulling the strings and making decisions. It’s not just hypotheses and vibes.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t divulge their exact advance, which I dislike because they’re supposed to be a forthcoming money podcast, but they did say that it was “around a million dollars” and “over a million dollars.”

I made a playlist of the episodes here!

And here’s the audiobook on Spotify.

PS. Planet Money is a great podcast. Last time I asked people their favorite podcasts, at a science writing convention, multiple people said “Planet Money.” I haven’t actually heard that the book is all that great, though.

Authors’ Meeting

Saturday, April 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Google Meet link

Calendar Link

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

Not much to add! I’m pretty busy at the Tallgrass Artist Residency, and you can see some of the photos I’ve taken so far here.

I’ll show you the favorite photo I’ve taken so far! Be warned that there is a tiny amount of blood, though neither subject is dead or injured, it’s kind of…sensitive? OK, here it is. It’s in a series where I photographed the process of cattle slaughter.

Just re-posting the event I’m preparing for right now, which you can join online soon!

🦴Learn about Bone-Hunting online or in person the morning of the next meeting!

Join me on TikTok for a Livestream of my upcoming event on bone-hunting!

(Click the link or search RollBones on TikTok, then go to Live Events.)

Or, in-person at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Optional RSVP here on Facebook.

Some bones I found on the prairie. There are lots of prescribed burns here for various reasons. (No, this doesn’t mean that this deer was burned alive, I suspect they are older bones.)

Authors’ Meeting

Saturday, April 25 · 6:00 – 7:00pm MST (Check your local time!)

Google Meet link

Calendar Link

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

📚We have a pub date estimate!

Carcass: On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies should be out in the world in the spring of 2027! Hooray!
I also got the rest of my advance!

📚Question: When can you work on your next book?

Just curious what your experiences are with this: I knew I couldn’t publish (even self-publish) a book while my contract for my first book was active.

But my agent said that selling another book would depend on the success of my first book.

That means I have to wait until it’s published (a year from now) and then wait to see how well it sells, and then maybe it won’t.

Would any of you know:

• What is the time parameter for that? “How well it sells” means “how well it sells in the first 6 months?” Or “100 years?”

• Would it reasonably shorten if it sold really well, really fast? Say, if the first printing sells out during pre-orders, then are we good to go?

🦴The Sacrifice of the Bighorns: Writing and Photography about Killing Sheep to Save Them

Here at the Badlands, I had the privilege of accessing the necropsy of a pregnant ewe and the locations of some sheep bodies for my photography and writing.

The bodies are part of a “Test and Remove” program that involves killing bighorn sheep who test positive for a respiratory disease multiple times.

Here’s what I wrote about the experience. Note: There are graphic images in there.

I also put more images in this showcase, and keep in mind they can be quite bloody. But that fetus was stunning.

This would be an example spread of what would go in the photo book: photos and significant, reported accompanying text.

That said: If you know anywhere that I could sell this essay and these photos, please let me know! I would love for it to get in front of an audience, and of course, I’m ready to translate it into something more objective and reported if that’s what the editor wants!

🦴Learn about Bone-Hunting online or in person the morning of the next meeting!

(NOTE: Timing Update)

Join me on TikTok for a Livestream of my upcoming event on bone-hunting!

(Click the link or search RollBones on TikTok, then go to Live Events.)

Or, in-person at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Optional RSVP here on Facebook.

The same event info can be found on the Tallgrass Residency website.

10:00–11:30am Kansas Time
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Strong City, KS

Join science journalist Kristin Hugo for a presentation and walk at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City. Kristin will discuss a current body of work featuring bone-hunting, and will share tips for finding, cleaning and caring for animal bones harvested in the field as well as the legal and ethical factors of this work (i.e. it is illegal to harvest bones or any other organic matter from national parks without express permission!)

This event is free and will take place in the conference room by the Visitors Center of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, KS.

**Please note that Highway K-177 is closed for construction between Council Grove and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Check detour routes and travel times.

Kristin Hugo is a science journalist focusing on biology, nature, animals, and bones. Her upcoming book, “Carcass: On the Afterlives of Animal Bodies,” is slated to be published by MIT Press.

THOUGHTS:

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Today is my last full day here at Badlands National Park, and I’ve learned a lot about the park, the politics of fossils, how to find them, and a little bit more about residencies.

First, some:

🧰Resources (related to Residencies) 🧰

• There are many videos and articles about advice for getting into residences, such as this one and a recent livestream with Monica Macansantos I attended, though I can’t find if there’s a recording. Go ahead and Google, there is a lot!
  

• Monica has also published a list of free and low-cost writing residencies for 2024. I know that’s in the past, but surely some of these are still open.
  

• Here is ANBIP’s own spreadsheet of Parks/Nature Artist Residencies for Science Writers/Authors. I have it coded with which ones charge application fees and which ones pay you. This one is biased toward nature, writing, science writing, and books, because that’s what I look for.

• A global registry of artist residencies is here at ResArtis. My spreadsheet of artist residencies has a tab for “Other lists/links,” but that’s one I hadn’t yet added. Thanks to Monica for flagging!

A little speculation about increasing your odds…

Unfortunately, I don’t really have great data about how to improve your chances, but here’s what I’ve seen.

• The work sample matters a LOT.

• Fitting the location, the reasoning, and the philosophy of the org matter a lot, too.

• With any org that gets a lot of applicants, compliance is key. Don’t get cute and send 100 pages when they ask for 10 max.

Here’s what I’ve noticed with my whopping four data points:

(If the pink chart isn’t clear enough, I had zero personal in/connection/hookup connecting me to any of these residencies. I just applied as a complete stranger to all of them.)

Remember, when you look at this data, this is chosen only out of the ones that accepted me. Why those? Because…well, I suppose that suggests a higher acceptance rate, and therefore might be more worthwhile for you to pursue.

I’m sure the majority of the ones that exist aren’t specific to writing, and most probably do have application fees. I chose to graph these ones because it suggests that, if you have anything in common with me, like being a writer, perhaps these are easier to get into.

Though, full disclosure, I think one of them gives priority to Wyoming residents, and a lot indicate that they give priority based on other demographics.

In short, I think the ones that are easier to get into are more obscure and have no fee. Most that exist have an application fee; most that accepted me don’t.

FAQ about the Badlands residency:

1. What’s the verdict?
   Love it!
   

2. How do I apply?
   Here! (Put this in your calendar for when applications open.)
   

3. How much does it cost?
   Nothing! To apply or to attend!
   

4. Do you get paid?
   $300 stipend.
   

5. That’s not very much for 4-6 weeks of work!
   That’s not how I’d describe it. I’d call it 4-6 weeks of free housing/vacation. You can rent out the place you live, if that works for you, and make money that way, since you’ll be vacating.
   
   How much would you expect to get paid for 4-6 weeks of renting a place in nature…?
   

6. What do you have to do?
   Not much! There isn’t exactly a formal deliverable, but you want to consider the goals of the park. This one wants more visitors, so they want artists to showcase how cool the park is.
   

7. What’s the weather like?
   The weather was great for me! Maybe in previous and future years it was/will be snowier. I mostly wore pants and long sleeves on hikes.
   

8. What’s the housing like?
   It’s like a studio apartment. I’m staying inside the park, yet I have access to heating, AC, a shower, a real bed, and the works!
   

9. What is the competition like to get this?
   I’m told there were only 30 applications this year, and they selected 3 people, and from another person, that it got “really popular” this year. I don’t know if that’s a discrepancy or if they frequently get even fewer than 30 applicants.
   I’m told our (the winners’) applications were above and beyond anyone else’s, and they’re tired of applications from black and white photographers.
   

10. What are the qualifications of people who are selected?
    Here’s my website, and here’s the site of the digital artist here with me.
    
    For me, I think my stand-out qualification was a book deal with MIT Press and writing samples in National Geographic, PBS Newshour, Newsweek, etc.
    
    You most certainly need a portfolio of work and some way to describe yourself as a professional artist, writer, etc.
    

11. Are there any other reasons you got in?
    The person running the program introduced himself as a taphonomist, a person who studies bodies postmortem! But I’d call him a paleontologist.
    
    My proposal was to gather photos for a photo book of dead animals. So, I think it was fortunate that he happened to like that kind of stuff.
    
    But hey, who knows how many residencies and opportunities I’m not getting because my topic is weird and disturbing!
    

    

12. Are there particular projects they want?
    I think you have to consider what the park can use. I’m offering the park my photos, writing, and some not-gross time lapses of sunsets and such. But I think the digital artist is more useful: She’s creating posters of park features with repurposable assets. Meaning they could sell posters like “Birds of the Badlands” and easily take out the bird illustrations to make stickers, to use as brochure clipart, etc.
    

13. Do you have to be a social media expert?
    No.
    I’m always asking about this, as I do have a lot of social media success (hit 230k followers on TikTok.com/@RollBones recently!) So, I ask people who run the programs I get into: “What got me accepted?”
    
    No one has ever cited my social media presence as a priority, even though I do put my social media success in my applications. Assuming you have something to put on your application, that can take you just as far or farther than an online following.
    
    In fact, the federal government doesn’t really allow TikTok use, hence the reason those National Park TikTok accounts are all impersonations.
    
    I could go on and on on this–and I have, on how you don’t need social media to get trad book deals!
    

14. Would you have posted a bad review?
    Honestly, no, not if it was bad overall. But this is my honest review of this particular one.
    

15. What are the downsides?

    I think this is a reality across the federal government, but there are more delays and inefficiencies than I’d like. One of the three residents missed her chance as, I’m told, she didn’t start the fingerprinting process soon enough. You have to be on top of things and flexible, too.
    
    Until yesterday, I didn’t think they wanted any of my work. I had been emailing asking if they wanted anything—and it’s not all bloody carcasses! I was told there were too many regulations on social media for them to want to bother to post much outside of emergency alerts. But, if they don’t mind, I don’t mind. Yesterday I finally got a text that they might actually be able to use some of my stuff!

    
    
    Here’s more info on the Badlands National Park AIR program. Mark your calendars to apply before June 15!

See you soon!

Wednesday, March 25 · 6 MST (PLEASE check your local time, it’s getting too confusing for me! And if you add the Google event to your Calendar, it will populate with the local time.)

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/xic-oczb-tdv

Google Calendar Event

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

Still here in Badlands! Found a 12-point deer skull. The neighbor showed me where he found a dead bison, and we found several, but only one was still with the skull.

Think I’m gonna finish my Bone-Hunter’s Guide and Workbook, even though I can’t sell until the first book is “done.” (Which “done,” I’m not sure. Meeting in 6 days.)

Pro tip: I searched my email for the word “Congratulations,” and I actually found that I had been accepted to the Bryce Canyon Wild Creative Trip! 3 weeks ago. It was in the promotions folder. Hope I’m not missing too much else. I always worry that stuff is going to spam. Check yours.

That means I have time to fill between April 29 and May 15 to go from Kansas to Utah (the state in between is Colorado). LMK if there’s anything you particularly recommend, like hikes.

💀Event Invite: Kansas💀

I’ll be giving a presentation for my next artist residency at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. If you happen to be in Kansas (1.5-2 hours from Topeka, Kansas City, Wichita, or Manhattan) maybe make a day out of a visit to the Tallgrass Prairie. There’s a cool sculpture path and hiking nearby as well.

(Facebook event here)

🧰Resources🧰

📚 Need a publisher for your book about humans/nature?

The Center for Humans and Nature is seeking proposals
🔗 https://humansandnature.org/book-manuscript-proposals/
📅 DUE: June 1
💵 COST: Free
💵 YOU GET: Book deal with royalties

💀Kristin’s Notes: This certainly has a hippyish, environmental vibe. I don’t love that the FAQ says “maybe” regarding an advance, or that it’s new. Not sure how distributing with Ingram works. Proceed with caution.

👀Reading👀

I saw this article, “How to Spot a Dodgy Litmag,” and thought it was very relevant to this here next section. Any type of business can be dodgy!

THOUGHTS:
How to Get Scammed as an Author

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Facebook groups for “writers,” it’s that aspiring authors love getting scammed!* Here’s a rundown of how to become a victim:

(*concerned joke)

Assume book-writing is the only way to feel good about yourself

Mantras scammers want you to believe without nuance:

• “Think about how amazing it will feel to have your own book in your hands.”

• “Everyone has to write a book because everyone has a story to tell.”

• “Think of all the people you’ll prove wrong once you’re a real author!”

• “Never give up on your dreams” [insert book picture]

• “Your story deserves to be told.”

Once you’ve become emotionally invested enough in the idea of a book, you’re likely to interpret all logical thought that might suggest doing something else as “dream-killing.”

Fall Instantly for Emotional Claims

Remember, nothing is sacred to scammers.

Look at the emotional language of this vanity press, which successfully took $30,000 from someone who appears to be…in an emotionally vulnerable state? The author even had to go into debt to pay for this publishing. The vanity press got her by invoking God: “God tells me you need to write this book,” they lied. (And, of course, the vanity press left off the fact that this person could write it without paying $30,000, but the vanity press wants money money money!)

Think of book-writing as nothing more than entering a small drawing

Things scammers post to get you into this mindset:

• “Even Steven King started as a nobody! You could be the next one!”

• “You could be just one book away from being a New York Times Bestselling Author.”

Don’t think about how much work Steven King put into becoming the King of Horror. No, just imagine he only wrote one novel, nothing before or after, and you are primed to think of yourself as Just One Book Away from his success. So, you must dump your savings into a vanity press to get the One Book out.

Remember: The only writing and storytelling that exists is book-writing!

If you practice writing, you might get good enough to go with a non-scam press.

Or you’ll find that your story can be told well, or even best, as a non-book.

But then how will the poor scammers get your retirement fund? 😔

Believe all flattery, no matter how vague

Put “author” or “writer” in your bio somewhere and watch the scammers flood your inbox. Don’t you just love how these emails clearly come from AI bots and/or people who have no idea what you write about? That’s because everyone gets them.

Pay money to enter contests, never look up how legit they are, then pay a $400 “selection fee,” because they said your writing was so good. (Yes, I’ve seen that!)

Demonize traditional publishing

Believe the following lies:

(I wrote this a while ago, and Gina Denny made a video covering almost the same points! These myths are so prevalent that we both individually addressed the same ones!)

Consider yourself powerless

You’re a babe in the woods, right? You wouldn’t know how to check WriterBeware or do any other research into publishing, right? Don’t ask questions about whether you’ll be upsold, don’t shop around, don’t ask for gut-checks from your community and don’t consider that your book could do well as trad- or self-published without the vanity or scammer “book marketer.”

Feel scared that you are going to lose this opportunity, and empty your wallet quickly!

Then feel bad that your book hasn’t sold, and fork out more money for advertising!

Never stop spending! The scammer will never stop wanting!

……..

Anyway, here is my own counterpoint, as some things that look scammy actually aren’t:

Wednesday, March 25 · 5 PDT, 5 MST, 7 CDT, and 8 EDT.

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/xic-oczb-tdv

Google Calendar Event

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

Bibliography help?!

• Would anyone have any idea how to update the bibliography/endnotes so that the in-text superscript is clickable to the citation in the bibliography? Surely a machine could do this for me?
  
  That got lost during the transfer between Google Docs and Word, but visually it’s already fine; each endnote has a number that corresponds to an in-text superscript. But they’re not clickable. Any suggestions on how to fix that automatically?
  
  Artist-in-Residence Update:

• Greetings from Badlands National Park, where I am the artist in residence for six weeks total! (Until April 15.) I’m thinking of focusing more on the fossils here; there are lots!
  
  Publicity for Carcass:

• I was recently on The Cowboy State Daily Show podcast. Here it is on YouTube! It’s also on Spotify (Start at 0:46:00 or 0:49:00) and Facebook (Start at 1:06:00.)

  

🧰Resources🧰

📚 Want to promote your book in non-social media ways?

Promoting Books Without Social Media
🔗 Register https://authorsguild.org/event/promoting-books-without-social-media/ (Authors Guild)
📅 DATE: March 16
💵 COST: Free

💀Kristin’s Notes: I’m skeptical about promoting book-marketing events since most of them are useless and scam-ish, but at least I know the Authors Guild is decent.

👀Reading👀

This very relatable post about how it takes many years of non-writing to get a trad-pubbed book out into the world:

The Artful Amoeba

Publishing a Book Takes Much Longer Than I Thought

I have some disappointing news: March 2026 is upon us and I am still nowhere near publication of The Slime Mold’s Guide to World Domination…

Read more

6 months ago · 2 likes · 5 comments · Jennifer Frazer

says she sold her book in January 2023, and it’s slated to come out in May 2027. I also sold my book in January 2023, so maybe mine will be out around the same time!

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Question: What have you all been doing while you wait for your book to come out?

I could write another book, but I can’t actually publish one until the first is done. (Not even through self-publishing.) I can’t query now under my contract, so I kind of run the risk of writing a whole book without a book deal. (Though, maybe that’s how it would be with a photo book anyway, since that’s how fiction and memoir works.)

So, while I’m prioritizing Carcass above all else, I am working on other projects. My plan is: whatever gets funded next gets priority.

One of my aspiring projects I’m working with the Bureau of Land Management to do bone-hunting tours, bone-finding hikes (BLM rep says that both the word “hunt” and the word “tour” refer, by default, to animal-killing). But who knows if I’ll get all the right permissions and permits before summer—this would be a very seasonal endeavor!

Author’s Meeting -Feb 2026

Wednesday, February 25 · 5PM PST, 6PM MST, 7PM CST, 8PM EST

Video call link

Google Calendar Event Link

☀️New here? ☀️

I got even more subscribers! Let me know where you came from!

💀Kristin’s Updates 💀

I’m about to leave for six weeks at Badlands National Park, followed by 10 days at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, both as residencies! Yes, I get to stay there for free, and I even get a few hundred bucks with almost no deliverables. I’m planning to work on a potential photo book of carcasses.

Then I might spend a little time in Utah, depending on whether I get accepted to the Bryce Canyon Trip with Wild Creative. (I highly recommend you apply if you consider yourself a creative and an outdoorsy type! I’m hoping to go to Bryce Canyon and Grand Teton, but there is also a trip in Big Bend.)

THOUGHTS: How did you get that?

I get this question a lot:

“How did you get that grant/residency/book deal/follower count/grant?”

(Or, “how do you find so many bones,” but that’s for my bone-themed accounts like RollBones and CarcassAfterlives.)

I am so happy to talk about those things, especially if I think I can help you.

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But. Before you ask, here are a few things to consider:

• Do you really want to know? Because I can talk for a long time.

• The short answer is always, “I worked hard, I applied, and won/they accepted me.”

• I will tell you my qualifications. That will likely sound like bragging. Only ask if you can handle hearing about The Cool Things I Did.

• It’s always similar to getting a job. You wouldn’t ask a lawyer, “How do you become a lawyer? I’ve got some free time next Thursday, so I think I’ll join a law practice.”

• If you were hoping for a cheat code, there isn’t one (that I’m aware of.)

• I’m not on the selection committee, so I usually don’t know why they selected me. I’ve asked the selectors a few times, and the answer is usually something boring and standard. Like, “We looked at the applications, sorted them into ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ and ‘maybe…’”

• Sometimes it is more complicated than that. Hands up if you want to know my most insane and hilarious acceptance story, but I might paywall it…

• That said, I have NEVER won/been accepted/got a deal to anything by cheating or nepotism or anything like that.

Here are some posts I’ve made on successes:

If getting these opportunities is like climbing a mountain, consider this group to be like a group of climbers you meet at base camp. They can tell you to avoid a certain trail because there was a landslide. They can tell you a gate code. They might tell you things that are untrue or irrelevant to your path. You might get lucky or unlucky with trail conditions.

But if you’ve never walked a mile in your life, you’re unlikely to make it up the mountain. All the little tips and tricks are to help smooth the way for you to make your own ascent.

Did you really want to climb the mountain? Or were you hoping for a hack to teleport to the top? There isn’t one.

Author’s Meeting -Feb 2026

Wednesday, February 25 · 5PM PST, 6PM MST, 7PM CST, 8PM EST

Video call link

Google Calendar Event Link

☀️New here? ☀️

Looks like I got some new subscribers! And I guess I’m #85 rising in literature? Very cool.

If you’re new, you probably got a welcome email. In short, this group is where I post invites and reminders to meetings, plus timely information about resources for people writing general-audience journalistic nonfiction books.

Yeah, that’s a mouthful! I used to say nonfiction non-memoir, but that was too negative. How about this?

ANBIP is open to anyone, but is especially useful for people writing books that:

• Require more research than introspection (a lot of us are science writers, but some focus on crime, history, etc)

• Are informative, engaging, and marketable to regular people

By authors who are:

• Professional, in writing and/or on the topic of their books

• Looking for resources on maximizing the quality and accuracy of their books

• Interested in pursuing at least some financial benefit

  Subscribe now

🏆Some of my favorite past posts (that are still relevant)🏆

🧰Resources🧰

🌳Writing about nature/outdoors?

🔗 Wild Creative
📅 DEADLINE TO APPLY: None listed yet, but apply sooner rather than later.
📅 DATES:
Big Bend: April 10-14
Bryce Canyon: May 15-19
Grand Teton: September 25-29
💵 COST: Basically nothing. There is a suggested donation <$100 to help cover the campsite fee, but they don’t hound you for it, and you are responsible for getting yourself and your food there.
🏆 YOU GET: A camping/hiking trip for “creatives.” Most people are photographers but they could use more writers, I think! You can show up, hike, camp, and meet people without much planning.

💀Kristin’s Note:
I did this at Grand Teton last fall and I highly recommend it! I’m also applying to Bryce Canyon and Grand Teton this year, so if you apply, maybe we’ll meet each other! And I’ll happily chat about book stuff/writing/nature/bones/TikTok with you.

I kinda can’t believe so few people seem intersted in this when similar trips are like $3,000!

Add to your Google Calendar

Sunday, January 25, 2026
5PM PST, 6PM MST, 7PM CST, 8PM EST

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/pij-edbv-czi

Want me to read your book and give you feedback for free?

Let’s exchange manuscripts! My editor said that mine is on a really, really final draft (🤞🤞🤞🤞), but she encourages me to trade with other authors for any other feedback.

So: I’ll do yours if you do mine!

You:

• Are willing to read my book about dead animals (which you would do anyway because it’s great, right?) and give feedback. It doesn’t have to be professional, just whatever you think. It’s already been through many rounds of editing.

• Have a manuscript for me to read (or, if you don’t have one and you just want to read Carcass for free in exchange for feedback, I’m fine with that!)

• Can agree to a deadline of the next meeting, February 25. If you read 2 chapters a day, you could get it done in under a week. It’s 80,000 words, which is fairly low for a science book, I think, and pretty easy to read.

I:

• Will do the same for you!

• Will also get it done by Feb 25.

• For up to 3 people. (Bonus if you’re writing about science/animals/nature, but send what you got!)

Just comment here or email me if you’re interested!

r-eqrc-dyd

🧰Resources🧰

📚 Got an idea for a book on an environmental topic?

Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism
🔗 Apply: https://www.colorado.edu/cej/ted-scripps-fellowships-environmental-journalism
📅 DEADLINE: March 1, 2026
💵 COST: $0
🏆 YOU GET: $80,000 and travel (expenses paid) to the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference. A regional bus pass and support for reporting trips is also provided.

If you propose a work of environmental journalism, such as a book pitch (but not a contracted book), and if you are selected, you can spend a year at CU Boulder, learning from coursework and working on your project. No strings attached!

💀Kristin’s Note: This is a VERY AMAZING opportunity. PLEASE go for it if you think your book proposal fits. That’s $80,000 tacked onto your book income.

Free BINGO CARDS

Want to do this New Years’ Resolution BINGO card thing that I did last year? Here are some free templates from The Lovely Planner.

Canva also has them.

As you can see, I got two BINGOs last year! And four more “almost’s.”

Add to your Google Calendar

Sunday, January 25, 2026
5PM PST, 6PM MST, 7PM CST, 8PM EST

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/pij-edbv-czi

THOUGHTS:
Your Two-Word Resolution

You don’t even have to start something new this year, because I’ve found the resolution that many people (myself included) need.

Finish it.

No, no—I didn’t say “start a new project and maybe finish it.” Finish the ones you already have. Close the loop. Always Be Closin’.

Since this is a book-writing group, the resolutions I suggest are “finish writing the book” or “get a contract to publish the book.” (But do not query this week!)

Alternatively, look through the half-read books on your shelf and finish them off. Pick up those art supplies and fill an entire sketchbook. Stop saying you’re “meaning to hang out one of these days” and just accept an invitation. Then just go.

I’ve written about the compulsion to quit things when you’re almost done. Don’t blame yourself if that’s you—it’s extremely common. (And if you don’t have this issue, that’s amazing and I’m happy for you!)

But stopping your work at 99% done is also very bad. It means that you’ve put in all that work for nothing, and for as long as you don’t finish it, the project remains a nothing-burger. It means that you are constantly stressed, having that project on the back burner, open tabs in your mind, and instead of being proud and showing everyone the amazing thing you did, you must sheepishly say, “I’m working on it.” And you have nothing to sell them.

So my goals for 2026 are:

1. Finish the book

2. Keep on top of everything book-related (all emails about marketing, etc.)

3. Get one other project done—but only out of the ones I’ve started. Probably, choose the one that gets funded first.
   

There is such a thing as looking backwards too much. There is also such a thing as looking forward too much. Take a moment and celebrate your wins of 2025. Did you accomplish your resolution? If so, that’s great! Most people don’t even remember what they resolved to do.

(Pro tip: Write your resolution in the back of your planner, or put it as an event in your Google Calendar for December 31, 2026!)

Feel free to post some of your 2025 wins here, or what you’re carrying into 2026 to finish.

Acknowledge that you are capable of doing things—because look at what you did! Then take your “almosts” and make it your resolution to complete them. Boom, you’ll feel and be way more accomplished this year, and you didn’t even have to do more work.

(What does the above photo-illustration have to do with the theme of this newsletter? I guess because vultures are sort of among the last to finish off a carcass.

Or, eating carcasses has the theme of one life ending and another sustaining. Rebirth, maybe.

Or you know. I think I’m proud of the two pictures I took and the composite image I made, so look at it. Cool, right?)

Here is your invite for TODAY. Don’t forget to add it to your calendar, and note that it is early this month!

Authors Meeting December

Sunday, December 21 · 5:00 PM PST - 6:00 PM MST - 7:00 CST - 8:00 PM EST

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/bff-ksfo-dfm

💀Kristin’s Notes💀

Hello friends!

• Typing this as I just got back from some birthday otter necropsies. One had purple teeth. I also attended a dolphin necropsy a few days before. Those things have so much meat on them!

• It must be some kinda season because I’ve just been getting so many rejections and some acceptances, and there are so many applications due.

• The stories of how I got some of the recent accolades are a little more complicated than my usual explanation. (“IDK, cause I’m great, I guess.”) I’ll talk about them in the group if we have time.

• Some things I got include an assignment to write an article that I pitched in July and a a residency scheduled for 2028. Whew!

• I also got some money from Odd Salon (as it sunsets) for my various projects! This one? Sure. Thank you, Odd Salon! I was (am?) a fellow with them.

🧰Resources🧰

💡 Wanna spend an academic year in San Jose, CA?

Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing
🔗 Apply
📅 DEADLINE: January 4
💵 YOU GET: $15,000
🏆 Supports emerging writers (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama) with an academic year at San Jose State University.

💡Got a science book proposal in mind? Wanna get paid to write it in Cambridge, MA?

Knight Science Journalism Academic-Year Fellowship (MIT)
🔗 Apply
📅 DEADLINE: January 9, 2026
💵 YOU GET: a 9-month fully funded fellowship, including a $85,000 stipend, health insurance, and tuition-free MIT/Harvard classes
🏆 Supports journalists pursuing in-depth science, health, tech, or environmental reporting while studying at MIT
💀Kristin’s note: This is one of the things I wish I knew I could apply to when writing the proposal! Instead, I did it for free!

💡 Looking for Global Art Grants, Residencies & Open Calls via Instagram?

ARTCONNECT Opportunities (Curated Listings for Artists)
🔗ArtConnect.Opps on Instagram
🏆 Info about to grants, residencies, fellowships, open calls, and paid commissions from around the world on your Instagram feed.
💀Kristin’s note: I find it helpful to have the opportunities on my social feeds so I don’t have to go out and seek them. ArtistCommunities.org also has an Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn to check out. Though: Personally, if I’m going to sit down and look through residency opportunities, I’d look at a filter-able list, like the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing’s resource database, or ArtistCommunites.org’s directory of residencies. Filtering is pretty important when your fiend — nonfiction, non-memoir writing — is a fairly specific type of “art” that isn’t included in most “art” opportuinites.

Last-Minute Books for the Holidays

You might be able to get these at the last minute!

At the bottom of the last newsletter, I mentioned some ANBIP-associated authors. Here are some more I can’t believe I forgot! And: some from my other communities.

See the previous ones here:

♀️The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us about the Power of the Female Body

by
Read an interview about it in The Open Notebook

🌊Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge

by
Listen to a podcast about it in MongaBay

🐔How to Raise Chickens : Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Revised

by

Listen to a podcast on Urban Farm about it

🔮When We Spoke to the Dead: How Ghosts Gave American Women Their Voice

by

(another author who I helped connect with her agent!)

🪦Grave

by

(Who I know from my Odd Salon Days!)
This book is by a great graveyard tour guide, and you’ll learn everything you need to know about graves.

🧪The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025

by Jaime Green and Susan Orlean

(Jaime did a developmental edit of my book!)
🎁This might be the most giftable of the bunch, as it includes all sorts of science.

🎬How Cappola Became Cage

by
(Who worked with me in hell!)
Shaking things up — this is about actor Nicholas Cage, not science.

🪸Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival

by
(Who I know from science writing speres!)

🧊Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist

by Sarah Boon
(Who I know a little from science writing)
This one sounds extra interesting!

Authors Meeting December

Sunday, December 21 · 5:00 PM PST - 6:00 PM MST - 7:00 CST - 8:00 PM EST

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/bff-ksfo-dfm

To have a Good Village, You Must Be a Good Villager

When I moved to New York, I had no friends.

By my third year, I think more than 30 people attended my birthday party.

That means I attended 35+ birthday parties or other events that year. Including the other events, it might have been one per weekend.

I had put a lot of work into building those friendships, and I noticed that the moment you go from “person I know” to “friend” is when you accept their invitation to something.

That’s their birthday, their talk at a speaker series, their musical performance, or their comedy show.

Oh, you don’t like comedy? Well, here’s your opportunity to learn a little more about a field you’re not familiar with. Or you can find another reason to hate it. It doesn’t matter. You’re not going to The Laff Factory for comedy. You’re going for your friend.

Point being: support the people in your community if you want them to support you.

How to support your community of authors:

(Apologies if some of this is obvious to you. I like social rules spelled out, so bear with me.)

1. If your friend writes a book, try to make it to the launch party or a tour stop if it’s near you.
   

2. Congratulate them on finishing, publishing, awards, etc. Immediately.

   If you need a reminder, finishing projects is hard. If someone actually finishes and publishes a book, they are in the 1% of the 1% of people who say they will! That’s amazing!
   

3. (Almost) NEVER say negative things at positive times.
   Do not say any of the following things when someone is sharing that they just succeeded at something:
   

   “I’ll never achieve something like that.”
   “I bet those awards are easy to get.”
   “Notice how [competitor] gets the better opportunities than you?”
   “Well, of course, an agent picked you; they pick everyone because they are leeches!”
   “That’s all you got? How do you expect to save for retirement?”
   “That kind of stuff doesn’t happen. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!”
   “You probably cheated, or you’re lying.”
   “So it’s basically like a [much lesser/worse thing than what it is]?”

   “You must be lucky!”
   “I don’t have time to do that, I have a life.”
   “Can you turn the offer down?”

   (Every one of these has been said to me 🥲)
   
   When you say these things at a time when someone is trying to share a happy moment with you, it does only bad things: it ruins the vibe, and it makes you a bad friend, for starters.
   
   Worse, it can result in maladaptive connections in the celebrant’s brain chemistry, subconsiously harming their motivation. It’s hard to work towards a goal when succeeding at it immediately makes someone sad because they’re being belittled or doubted. Next time, they might not try as hard for their goals, because their brain will say, “Don’t bother! Doing this hurts now, and it will hurt again when you finish.”
   

   However, there are times you may have a real reason to suspect that your friend is just getting scammed. In this case, I believe it’s important to carefully get them to understand the situation. (Though—over-sensitive people tend to overlap with the easily-scammed, and they frequently lash out at the people who try to help them, so doing so requires some love and risk.)
   

4. Put extra consideration into buying and/or reading the book.
   
   YES, even if it’s not the best book in the world, you give them a little extra support because they’re your friend or colleague. If they saved you $300 by helping you move, you can spend $20 on the book.
   
   And hey, aren’t you a little more interested in the kinds of books that your friends/colleagues/community are writing? I bet they know something interesting that pertains to your interests, too. Maybe they got a grant or residency that’s appropriate for you, because you share a locality/job/background/etc. Maybe the author talks about your favorite hiking spot and tells you more about it than you ever knew, or they share their experience working in the same place you did. Maybe they reveal that they know a lot about XYZ, and that’s something you wanted to learn about, and now you know it’s something about which you can chat further with the author because you’re friends with the author!
   
   Maybe they talk shit about YOU in their book! Exciting!
   

5. If you like it, give them generous praise on the book itself and consider posting a Goodreads review.
   Posting a review might not be great if they’re too close a friend or your partner; there may be bias.
   I would not write a dishonest review in any circumstance.
   

6. If you don’t like it, don’t tell them unless they ask.
   You can consider leaving a negative review, but maybe do it anonymously. (Even so…is there a compelling reason for you to do this?)
   

7. In general, try to embody generosity more when it’s your community.
   
   Inside me are several furry animals.
   A wolf that wants to hoard all the time and money for myself because I am going to run out.
   A deer that wants to buy and consume experiences and things.
   A capybara who wants to help others.
   
   They are not the most logical of animals. Mostly, when I reach for a book, the stingy wolf wins, because my scarcity-mindset with time and money is strong.
   But if you’re going to buy something anyway, and if you’ve been wanting to go out and do something anyway, why not give extra priority to your community?

As with all social guidelines, there are exceptions. Do whatever you want, I understand. Or I don’t. Doesn’t matter.

Books from ANBIP to Buy

Speaking of! Since it’s the holiday season, let me remind you of some of the books you might consider buying from your fellow ANBIP’ers (not me, though. You can buy this baby deer skull I found, cleaned, and put together, if you want. I’ll be sure to blast it when my book does come out.)

1. The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Plants, Animals, and Fungi Wherever You Go
   Rebecca Lexa

   
   💀Kristin’s note: This is probably the most gift-able book, as I think a lot of people can benefit from being a naturalist every day! Also, the author mentions me in the acknowledgements, as she’s one of the authors to whom I introduced my agent! Proof that ANBIP works!

   

   
   

2. Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control
   Mindy Weisberger
   
   💀Kristin’s note: I’ve read this too! It’s a fun sciencey one. Lots of talk on zombies in pop culture, so if you know someone who likes zombies, even if they don’t care for science, it’s a good choice.

   

   
   

3. The Craft of Science Writing
   Siri Carpenter
   
   💀Kristin’s note: This is a very useful craft book! It’s cheaper than a science journalism degree, yet the education herein is about as useful.

   

   
   

4. Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future
   by Vince Beiser
   💀Kristin’s note: This was on the Daily Show!

   

   
   

5. The books in the comments!

   💀Kristin’s note: Leave a link to your book in the comments! Then peruse the other comments to see if anything interests you or your giftees. I might post them in the next newsletter (December 21) or just link back here.

   
   

My goodness, is it some sort of a season? I just sent a bunch of applications (and got a bunch of rejections.)

Maybe some of you can help me with these things:

Know a Literary Arts Nonprofit? We can partner to make a mini-residency happen (and maybe it can be free.)

I found a grant application that supports literary arts projects such as residencies, though it has to go through a literary arts nonprofit. If you know of any such organization that might be interested in being a fiscal sponsor of the mini-residency for nonfiction book proposals, I can help make that happen.

If we get enough funding, we can make it free or cheap for the residents. Perhaps I could even provide stipends to the residents. If you want this to happen, let me know of any nonprofit that would be interested in working with me!

Know a nonprofit that wants high-quality science YouTube and TikTok content for free?

I found a grant to pay for YouTube and TikTok science content, but it also has to go through a nonprofit.

The grant is large enough to cover my salary for making these videos. I’m happy to write the proposal, too!

If you know anyone who would want that, here are some stats of mine to share with them:

• My accounts have 350k+ followers across platforms, including 267k on TikTok

• I made science/animal videos for Bay Nature Magazine, PBS Newshour, Ripley’s Believe it or Not! and more.

• I have an MS in Science Journalism, I’ve written for National Geographic, and I’ve done a ton with integrating popular social media platforms into traditional outlets like Newsweek and PBS Newshour.

• I just gave my fifth talk on social media video (like TikTok) for writers, scientists, or science writers.

• I’ve had grants like this before, where my employer had to pay almost nothing for me to work for them, since the grant covered my salary.

  What have you got to lose?

📅November Meeting TODAY!📅

Google Meet Video Event Link

Date:
Tuesday, November 25
Time:
5 PM PST, 6 PM MST, 7 PM CST, 8 PM Eastern (I think?)

Video call link: meet.google.com/xvr-eqrc-dyd

Subscribe now

🧰Resources🧰

📚 Need help with your book proposal?

The Book Proposal Boot Camp, Winter 2026
🔗 Apply https://christieaschwanden.com/the-book-proposal-boot-camp-winter-2026/ (Christie Aschwanden)
📅 DEADLINE: Rolling until full of 12 people (first decisions by Dec 15, 2025)
💵 COST: $1000; payment plans available
🏆 YOU GET: An 8-week small-cohort Zoom workshop. For nonfiction authors who want support, expert guest speakers, and a community while drafting or refining a full book proposal.

💀Kristin’s Notes: At least one group member did and highly recommends this!

📚 Useful and Trusted Books on Writing and Publishing Nonfiction Books

Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing
🔗 Explore https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/CGWEP.html
🏆 Ideal for nonfiction authors at any stage of a project who want deep, practical craft and publishing advice on tap. (University of Chicago Press)

💀Kristin’s Notes: Wow, you really have everything you need to learn to write and publish a book! Allow me to personally recommend who has several books on science writing there, and always shares smart advice on being a writer.
Also, this list includes StoryCraft by Jack Hart, which is great. I’m sure they’re all great, but those are the writers/books I know and like.

📚Need focused time away to work on your book?

Jentel Artist Residency

🔗 Apply https://www.jentelarts.org/apply
📅 DEADLINES:
• Summer/Fall residency (May 15–Dec 7): applications close January 15, 12:00 noon MST Jentel Artist Residency
💵 COST: $30 application fee
🏆 YOU GET: If you are accepted, you get a 3-week residency with a private room, separate studio space, and a $300 stipend.

For writers and other artists who want quiet time, space, and support to focus intensely on a project in rural Wyoming. Jentel Artist Residency

💀Kristin’s Notes: I’m especially favorable to this one because I did it! And if my mini-residency comes to fruition, it will be with basically the same organization, and just down the road. But there are lots and lots and lots of residencies out there.

THOUGHTS: You Have Most of the Skills You Need To Be a Successful Video Content Creator

If you’re a writer, you’re only a few quick steps away from being a successful video producer.

TikTok star, influencer, whatever, you’re almost there.

When I gave my talk, “Social Media Video for Nonfiction Writers,” at the Jackson Hole Writers Conference, I noticed that most of what I had to say had already been said by other speakers giving presentations at the conference—even though they were talking about writing, not video.

There are a few differences that I’ll go into, but let’s start with this:

Focus on These Writing Skills to be a Good Video Maker

1. If you want other people to buy/read/watch/consume your content, then it’s not just about you anymore.
   Journaling and vlogging your feelings are great. You don’t need to look into them, research them, or think about anyone else’s experience when you’re doing that.
   
   That is not the same thing as making things that people want to watch/read/buy.

2. You need to hook the audience immediately.
   Not only does your hook need to be interesting, but it also needs to compel the audience to want to know more. A technique in both fiction and nonfiction, for example, is to hint at the climax without revealing it.
   
   One of my most popular videos starts with “This is the best skull I ever found, but it was so hard to get out of this bone pile.” (Visually, you see me starting to pull the skull out of the pile, but then I zoom out and talk about how I found the bone pile. You get to see the full skull at the end.)

   

3. The whole world is not your audience. Understand who is.
   

4. Your script should be exactly as long as it needs to be and not one word longer.

   This one has a bit more caveats than others. There are media format limitations and guidelines that one might stretch or squeeze their content into. Social media content tends to be a lot shorter than books and movies.
   

5. Understand the basics of media law and ethics.
   This is the one thing that you REALLY cannot just “learn as you go.” You could really hurt someone and get sued (and LOSE) if you do this wrong.
   

6. Work on your style and substance.
   

7. Create a lot of content before expecting results.