Lupe Farkas

Dear Rebels, today I write Day 50.

FIFTY DAYS, REBELS!!!

I write after many days of silence. Unfortunately, writing every day has become a little bit difficult for one very simple reason: I’m an author. To be an author, I need to write, and to write, I need TIME!!!

I know what you’re thinking. How long can it possibly take to write a little blog post? Well, Rebels, quite a bloody lot, actually.

First, I need to gather all the information. Then I need to check the numbers, make the tables, prepare the images, build the HTML, fight with whatever piece of technology has decided to misbehave that morning, and somehow turn the whole thing into a funny little post for you.

What looks like a quick update can easily swallow hours of my day. Now imagine doing that every single day while writing two books.

Yes. TWO. There’s The Chosen, which I’m publishing chapter by chapter on my website, and there’s the expanded version I’m preparing for publication.

Which, by the way, comes out in… Let me think…

ELEVEN DAYS, REBELSSSSSSS!!!

FOR FUDGE’S SAKE!!!

ELEVEN DAYS!!! Someone please explain to me how Halloween has managed to sneak up on us like that.

I’m also working on After October Ends, which requires its own mountain of research, maps, timelines, locations, notebooks, and the occasional moment of staring into space wondering what the hell I’ve just discovered.

Anyone who has read Before October Ends will probably understand why I pay so much attention to those details. Writing a book involves so much more than sitting in front of a computer and inventing things, especially when you’re writing dark gothic fantasy inspired by real religions, mythologies, history, and traditions.

I spend hours researching things that might eventually occupy three sentences in a chapter. THREE SENTENCES!!! But those three sentences matter to me.

So, Rebels, I’ve made an executive decision. Yes, apparently I’m the CEO of this chaos, which is concerning because I would never hire myself to manage my own schedule.

From now on, our Indie Author Experiment updates will be published every Tuesday. One proper weekly report covering the previous seven days, unless something completely insane happens during the week, in which case you know perfectly well I won’t be able to keep my mouth shut.

The daily reports were becoming repetitive anyway. Let’s face it, numbers rarely change dramatically between Monday and Tuesday. A week gives us something much more interesting to investigate. Then, at the end of each month, we’ll continue with our big monthly recap.

But there’s another reason behind this decision, and it’s probably the most important one.

I’m Living the Life I Once Dreamed About

Now, am I complaining? HECK TO THE NO, REBELS!!! I LOVE MY JOB!!!

I dreamed about this life. I actually cried when I used to imagine it. I visualised my days spent reading, researching, writing, sticking Post-it notes inside books, filling notebooks, and creating entire worlds out of absolutely nothing.

I dreamed of having a big table covered with open books, notebooks, pens, research papers, and little pieces of information scattered everywhere. I imagined myself sitting there, writing stories, investigating historical events, studying strange things, blogging about my discoveries, and living completely surrounded by words.

I wanted this life so badly. And now? I’m living it. The life I used to manifest inside my head has become my everyday reality.

There’s something else I need to confess. When I used to imagine being a full-time writer, I completely romanticised the loneliness of the author.

You know that beautiful aesthetic? The writer alone in her room, surrounded by books, lost inside the worlds she’s creating. Oh, Rebels, I was IN LOVE with that image.

Now that beautiful aesthetic looks suspiciously like me sitting in my pyjamas, looking at the clock and suddenly realising:

“FUCK!!! THE DAY IS FINISHED!!!”

I haven’t washed up. I haven’t eaten properly. I’m still wearing the same pyjamas. I haven’t changed my clothes. I haven’t spoken to another human being all day… and somehow, I’m smiling, because this is exactly what I wanted.

Well, technically, it’s also a lie that I haven’t spoken to anybody… Zita, Maria, Ksenia, and Baba Carlos have been keeping me company all day, and let me tell you something, Rebels.

THESE PEOPLE NEVER SHUT UP!!!

They all have opinions. They all have something to say… someone wants to reveal a secret. Someone is hiding something. Someone has decided that the chapter I planned yesterday is no longer acceptable, by the time I go to bed, I’m exhausted.

I’ve spent the entire day surrounded by people who technically don’t exist, and somehow they’ve managed to drain every last drop of my energy. Who needs an office full of colleagues when you can invent your own?

At least these ones don’t steal my lunch, although I wouldn’t put it past Baba Carlos.

The Happiest I’ve Ever Been

Some friends have asked me: “How can you read and write all day?” Well… I don’t know how to explain it.

What I know is that I love it more every single day; the more I read, the more I want to read, the more I research, the more curious I become; the more I write, the more stories appear inside my head, and the more stories appear, the more I want to write.

It’s becoming a very serious addiction, an addiction that involves paper, ink, books, and an alarming number of notebooks; sometimes I stop writing and look at my hands… they’re covered in ink, because my favourite fountain pen is a BAD BITCH! She misbehaves constantly; she leaks, she gets ink everywhere, she clearly believes that my fingers are an extension of the paper, and she knows perfectly well that I love her. No matter how badly she behaves, she’s going to keep writing the first draft of every bloody chapter.

Then I look at my ink-stained hands and smile, because those little ink stains remind me of the life I dreamed about.

I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. That’s something I never want to forget.

So What Happens to Our Blog?

Rebels, our experiment moves to Tuesdays. Our monthly reports continue. But does that mean you’re going to hear less from me?

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

You really thought you were getting rid of me that easily? Our other little corners of the internet are very much alive.

Rebel Notes will be where I leave shorter updates about whatever is happening in my world. Little thoughts, discoveries, writing news, and things I want to share without turning everything into a giant report.

Chaos Lab will continue to house the research, studies, investigations, and experiments connected to my books and creative projects.

We also have our new Rebels newsletter, where you’ll get book news, beautiful chaos, and little glimpses of what’s happening behind the scenes. Of course, there’s The Chosen, which brings me to something rather terrifying.

Eleven Days Until Halloween!!!

REBELSSSSS!!!

Only eleven days until Halloween! I cannot believe we’re so close to the end of The Chosen. Publishing a story chapter by chapter has become one of my favourite things.

There’s something incredibly exciting about knowing that another piece of the story is about to go online. Yesterday, my husband asked me: “So, when you’re finished publishing The Chosen every day, are you going to start another series?”

Well… That’s a very good question. Potentially a very dangerous one. Because I think I might.

I have become slightly addicted to publishing stories on my own website. Perhaps I’ll invent another novella. Perhaps I’ll come up with something completely different. Perhaps my husband will eventually stage an intervention and remove my notebooks.

We’ll see… For now, I have eleven days to finish this particular adventure.

Rebels, I really, really love writing.

Now, Shall We Look at the Numbers?

All right, Rebels. Time to see what happened while I was sitting in my pyjamas talking to imaginary people.

Remember, this experiment is about discovering what happens when an independent author builds a career organically. No paid advertising. Just books, content, consistency, experiments, and an astonishing amount of stubbornness.

Our main reporting week is 13–19 October 2026. A few platforms use slightly different reporting dates, which I’ll point out as we go.

Instagram

Our latest Instagram dashboard showed:

These figures come from the latest Instagram Insights snapshot. Its exact date range was not shown.

Interestingly, 77.1% of our views came from followers, while 22.9% came from people who don’t follow the account. Which means our existing audience is watching, but we still have work to do when it comes to reaching new readers.

Our podcast collaborations and book reviews also appeared among the best-performing content. Apparently, talking about other people’s books is helping me introduce people to my own little literary universe. I quite like that.

Facebook

Facebook had a more complicated week. We recorded 192 page views, down 5%, and 28 engagements, down 13%. Meanwhile, another content-view metric showed 99 views, an increase of 230%.

Yes, Rebels. One number goes down, another shoots up, and I’m left trying to understand what Facebook wants from me. At this point, I suspect Facebook doesn’t know either.

One interesting discovery was that 45.5% of those content views came from non-followers. That’s encouraging because reaching people outside our existing audience is an important part of this experiment.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn continues to surprise me. In the latest reporting period, we had:

Our Indie Author Experiment updates have been attracting attention there. Which is rather funny when you think about it.

I spent years working in the corporate world, and now I’m back on LinkedIn talking about books, ink-stained fingers, creative chaos, and my adventures as an independent author. Life has a strange sense of humour.

Pinterest and Tumblr: Our Little Corners Are Growing!

REBELSSSS!!! Apparently, Pinterest has been having a party while I’ve been sitting in my pyjamas writing books!

Over the last 31 days, our Pinterest account recorded 615,954 impressions, approximately 29,690 engagements, and 6,490 saves.

SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN THOUSAND IMPRESSIONS!!!

Excuse me while I stare at that number for a moment. During our reporting week, 13–19 October, Pinterest recorded 167,223 impressions.

Those figures don’t mean hundreds of thousands of people bought my books. If that happens, Rebels, you’ll hear me screaming from Slovakia. What they do mean is that our content is circulating, attracting attention, and being saved. Now I want to see how much of that attention eventually brings readers to my website.

Meanwhile, our Tumblr has reached 27 followers! TWENTY-SEVEN REBELS!!! Our little Tumblr corner is growing too.

Every platform seems to have its own personality. Some are loud, some are quiet, and apparently Pinterest has been throwing a party without inviting me.

Pinterest’s monthly numbers cover 19 September–19 October, with comparisons to the preceding period.

Imperfect Rebel Podcast

Now, this one made me smile. Our podcast recorded 28 plays and downloads over seven days. That’s a 250% increase compared with the previous period!

The audience figure was 12. We’re still a small podcast, but we’re growing, and I’m enjoying every conversation.

There are some fascinating people out there writing wonderful books, creating extraordinary worlds, and sharing their stories. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to speak with them.

Our Website

Now for our little home on the internet. The latest WordPress report, covering 14–20 October and including today’s incomplete figures, showed:

Views decreased by 34%, while visitors decreased by 25% compared with the previous reporting period. Am I panicking? Nope.

We’re going to watch what happens now that our experiment posts are moving to a weekly schedule. It’ll be interesting to see whether fewer, more substantial reports make a difference.

After all, publishing more often and publishing better are two very different things. I have books to write, Rebels!

Google God Has Sent Me a Present!

OH, REBELS!!! GOOGLE!!! Google has officially sent us a little congratulations message!

Apparently, lupefarkas.com reached 120 clicks from Google Search over 28 days. We even got one of those little Google achievement graphics. I felt ridiculously proud.

Our latest seven-day Search Console report, covering 11–17 October, also recorded 36 clicks and 954 search impressions.

Here’s what makes me particularly happy. People are finding our website through Google. Our book reviews are attracting search traffic, and the work we’ve been doing to make the site discoverable is beginning to show results.

We’re building this organically. Little by little.

Google God has finally acknowledged our existence. HALLELUJAH!!!

Goodreads and Before October Ends

Goodreads has brought us some lovely developments too. My author dashboard currently shows 19 ratings across my books, an average rating of 4.11, and 11 written reviews.

Meanwhile, on my reviewer profile, I’ve reached 118 reviews written, and Goodreads is displaying me at #34 among its Best Reviewers. Which is quite a lovely surprise!

I started reviewing books because I love reading and talking about the stories that move me. Now reviewing has become another important part of my life as an author.

As for Before October Ends, it’s beginning to find its readers. Kindle Unlimited is showing reading activity, and seeing that makes me incredibly happy.

There’s something very special about knowing that somewhere, someone is spending time with Elisabetta’s story. I hope she keeps them company for a little while.

A Note to the Authors Who Have Sent Me Their Books

Dear authors, I KNOW!!! My emails are piling up, the ARC reading list is getting longer, and some of you are probably wondering whether I’ve disappeared into another dimension. Well, technically, I have. Several fictional dimensions, actually!

Here’s what I want you to know: I’m reading your books. My reviews are being written by hand, on paper, while I read. I’m behind on typing and publishing them because I’ve been ridiculously busy with my own writing, the blog, and everything else that goes into building this little literary universe.

Here, we really read your books, and we treat them with love and respect. Every book represents someone’s imagination, time, hard work, and sometimes years of their life. I know exactly what that means. I know how much courage it takes to write a story and put it into somebody else’s hands.

I want to give each book the care its author deserves. I won’t rush a review just to cross another title off my list, because the stories you’ve trusted me with deserve better than that. If you’ve sent me a book or you’re waiting for a reply, please give me one week to catch up.

I’ll start posting the reviews I’ve been writing over the next few days. To those who have followed up by email, thank you for your patience.

Please keep sending your ARC requests! I love discovering your books, and I love supporting fellow authors. My reading pile might eventually become tall enough to require planning permission, but that’s a problem for another day.

For now, Rebels, I have books to read, reviews to type, and approximately seventeen notebooks demanding my attention.

Your books deserve respect, and that’s exactly how I intend to treat them.

The Latest Scammer Has Entered the Chat

REBELSSSSS!!!

You know how I’ve been receiving suspicious emails from people pretending to be publishers, literary agents, and marketing professionals? Well. This week we had a CELEBRITY!

Apparently, SALLY ROONEY WROTE TO ME!!! Yes, Rebels. Sally Rooney. The bestselling author. Or rather, someone who would very much like me to believe they’re Sally Rooney.

I received an email from novelist.sallyrooney@gmail.com, introducing herself as an author and recommending the 35th Atlanta Writers Conference, scheduled for 6–7 November 2026.

The message discussed literary agents, publishing opportunities, and registration. Then came a follow-up email encouraging me to review the registration requirements and confirm my interest.

How thoughtful! Imagine being such a successful novelist and still finding the time to personally email random independent authors about conference registrations!

Rebels, the generosity! The dedication! The completely ordinary Gmail address! I was almost emotional.

Of course, a famous name in an email signature proves absolutely nothing about who sent it. I have no reason to believe the real Sally Rooney wrote those messages, and I certainly wouldn’t trust the invitation without independently verifying it through the conference’s official channels.

The conference itself may well be legitimate. The suspicious part is the person claiming to represent themselves as Sally Rooney. This is exactly why I’m sharing these experiences.

Independent authors receive all sorts of offers, and some people are clearly hoping that a famous name will make us lower our guard. Imagine receiving an email supposedly from an internationally recognised author and immediately believing you’ve been personally selected for some wonderful literary opportunity.

Exciting, right? Until you remember that the internet is full of people with Gmail accounts and an impressive amount of imagination. Unfortunately for them, I’m also a writer, and I have a VERY active imagination.

Next week, perhaps Stephen King will email me to offer a discount on printer cartridges. We shall see.

The Most Special Thing That Happened This Week

Rebels, of all the things that happened this past week, the best and most special to me was the review that author Harper Dale left on my book, Before October Ends. She wrote:

“Lupe Farkas is an emerging literary great. I truly believe that.”

She also called the storytelling extraordinary. Rebels… To me, this is the most important thing that happened this week. The most special.

And yes, I cry every time I read those words. Because only I know how hard this journey has been for me.

Only I know how much it has taken to get here, how much of myself I’ve poured into my writing, how many times I’ve doubted myself, and how much courage it took to follow this dream.

I might be an emerging literary great one day. I hope I will be. But getting here has been anything but easy.

Having another author read my story and believe in me like that means more than I can explain. I don’t think Harper will ever truly understand how much those words mean to me.

But I will never forget them. Thank you, Harper. From the bottom of my heart.

And to all my Rebels who are following this journey, reading my stories, supporting my work, and sharing this wonderfully chaotic adventure with me… Thank you too.

I love you, Rebels. See you next Tuesday, unless something completely insane happens before then, which, knowing my life, is entirely possible.

Love you, Rebels!

Lupe Farkas