Lupe Farkas

Dear Rebels, apparently the nice people on LinkedIn are finding each other. And somehow I am involved. 😂

Remember Daniel from yesterday’s post? He sent me a genuine, kind message and suggested that I give my own books a little more attention on my website. I wrote about it, he reposted Day 23, and then Promise saw the post and left another suggestion that might help people discover my book and my work. Look at that, Rebels. One kind conversation started another one!

This is what I love. You give what you want to attract. Somebody takes a moment to be kind, you pass it on, somebody else joins in, and suddenly you have a little kindness chain. Daniel, Promise, thank you. I am listening, I am making changes, and yes, I am finally remembering that I ALSO WRITE BOOKS.

Welcome to Day 24 of my one-year indie author experiment. No paid promotion. Plenty of books. An increasingly busy inbox. And apparently a very promising relationship with Tumblr.

Coca-Cola, does this count as a love letter?

Now, Rebels, if we give what we want to attract… could my addiction to Coke Zero be considered a demonstration of love? And could Coca-Cola return that love with a sponsorship? I am just asking. For me. Very much for me. 😂

I don’t know, Rebels. What I do know is that I will keep sending my love by keeping my addiction fed. The commitment is there. The cans are there. Coca-Cola, at this point the only thing missing is your reply.

Still not sponsored. But imagine the announcement. I would become absolutely unbearable. More than usual.

Tumblr is alive. Get in, Rebels, we are going back to 2011.

Did you see how Tumblr is NOT dead? I am shocked! People are following, leaving little hearts and beautiful words, and being so lovely that I feel as if somebody has picked me up and dropped me into the internet of 2011. Rebels, I love it there.

Who remembers Bloglovin’? You added the blogs you followed and could read them all in one place. I nearly called it Blogger. Wrong app, Lupe. My favourites were The Blonde Salad, Garance Doré and the one I remember as La Troisième. Gosh, those women inspired so many of my looks!

Now I want to know what they are doing. Chiara Ferragni, yes, I know. But the others? Where are you, ladies? What are you wearing? What have I missed? Apparently today’s schedule now includes digging through the internet looking for the women who influenced my wardrobe fifteen years ago. Very important research.

But enough nostalgia before I start digging out my low-rise jeans. No. I refuse. Some things can stay in 2011. My enthusiasm for blogs is coming back with me. Those jeans are not.

I miss that old internet, Rebels. Finding a blog you loved, reading everything, going back to see whether there was a new post, getting to know somebody through their words. And now Tumblr is giving me that feeling again! Anybody else miss it, or am I as old as Methuselah? Please tell me I am not the only one. 😂

Eighteen ARC emails. Yes, eighteen.

Yesterday we answered 18 ARC and book-review emails, and I declined one ARC. Eighteen emails about books, Rebels. Books arriving, authors introducing themselves, more things I want to read. At this point my reading list needs its own postcode.

I worked so much yesterday and I loved every second of it. Today I will be posting reviews of books I have read, Chapter Four of The Chosen is coming, and it is THURSDAY. Which means Leslie Reta is on Imperfect Rebel! Come on, Rebels, go give us some love. The podcast is getting around. Like love, everywhere. I wish. Let me dream for thirty seconds.

And WordPress gave me an achievement for publishing a post with more than 10,000 words. That would be the conversation transcript. They gave a woman who loves yapping a microphone, and then she put the conversation in writing too. What did they expect?

Enough yapping. Here are the numbers, Rebels.

Yesterday’s completed website results, plus the latest social snapshots. The green arrows AND the red ones. Facebook has apparently decided to provide some dramatic tension.

The outside-network figures are shares, not growth rates. Facebook’s follower figure means slower net growth, not half the followers leaving. Different reporting windows stay separate; these screenshots measure attention, not book sales.

More people on the website, more people seeing the posts beyond my own network, and Tumblr sending little hearts. Yes, Rebels, I am happy! Now let’s give those visitors some books to look at.

Have you seen the new books pages?

Daniel told me to put more focus on my own books. Promise joined the conversation with another helpful suggestion. So I have been working on the pages, and now I am inviting you to go and have a look. See? Advice received. Changes made. Author remembering to mention her own book. We are making progress. 😂

Explore the redesigned books page and choose your language.

Before October Ends: A Life for a Life is waiting for you in English, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. Elisabetta Rossi leaves Milan for Tuscany with ninety days and a private promise. A psychological diary novel, complicated people, a beautiful place and a woman whose plans deserve a very serious conversation.

Some promises save your life. Others ask for it.

The books page takes you to the edition you want, with the purchase and Kindle Unlimited options on the individual pages. Go have a look, Rebels. I cannot keep introducing you to everybody else’s books and pretending mine is a secret.

And Ksenia? Still absolutely not on a normal holiday.

Chapter Four of The Chosen is coming today! If you have not started my serialized gothic horror story yet, come in. Ksenia’s journey has already taken some extremely questionable turns, and you can catch up with the published chapters before we continue.

Enter The Chosen and choose your chapter.

Imperfect Rebel · with Lupe Farkas

Press play. Stay for the chaos.

🎙

Rebels, Leslie Reta is here! The author of Always, Forever: A Memoir of Love, Addiction, and Letting Go joined me on Imperfect Rebel, and we had a proper conversation. Coffee in Texas. Coke Zero in Slovakia. Books, love, motherhood, boundaries, laughter, emotional moments and, somehow, pancakes.

There is overlapping. There are tangents. There are two people actually talking to each other, as if we were sitting in a café with a friend. That is exactly what I want Imperfect Rebel to be. So come and sit with us!

Listen to Leslie Reta on Spotify.

Read the podcast post and conversation transcript.

Read my review of Always, Forever.

Explore the Imperfect Rebel podcast page.

Go give Leslie some love, Rebels. And then come back and tell me which blogs you used to read, because I cannot be the only person suddenly wanting to reopen every tab from 2011.

Sending love to all you Rebels. Keep the kindness going. I will keep the Coke Zero cold. 🖤