I want a custom floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in my office SO BADLY.

Instead of worrying about worldbuilding in opening chapters, focus on developing the character so that we have something to hold onto. Then let us discover the world around them as they move through it. Trust your reader.

I've been having a LOT of conversations on what is happening in the publishing industry lately. And tomorrow, I'm talking about it MORE!

Everything has ads now and I hate it.

Happy #KidLitArtPostcard day. Illustrator/Animator from Mumbai, India looking for Kidlit and MG illustration work. Cool and spunky characters are my favourite thing to draw! Represented by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social of CMA Lit 💌 - [email protected] For more work,see- kaushanimufti.com

Hi #KidLitArtPostcard day, I'm Mike! I like creating work with a lot of character... or one character a lot of times, if need be. 😄 I'm especially looking for MG work. I'm repped by @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social See more at mdashow-kidlitart.carrd.co #kidLitArt #characterSheet #characterDesign

Can't wait! Registration closes soon!

I need a day off 𝘴𝘰 badly. 😭

Some weeks I feel like I'm keeping all the plates spinning. Other weeks one kid is escaping his room at 2am and my inbox is on fire and the house looks like it lost a fight. 🙃

Excited to speak for the Orange County Library about pre-publication marketing! There won't be recordings so make sure you tune in live!

Eleven spam calls today. Eleven.

Publishing requires a lot of emotional labor. Absorbing other people's disappointment. Managing your own. I'm in a tired stretch and I think a lot of people I know are too.

The online publishing space has been a lot lately. For everyone I think. Just sending love to the writers, agents, and editors who are showing up anyway. ❤️

New agent milestone...in just 2 years at CMA, I've hit OVER A MILLION DOLLARS in deals for my clients! 🥺🎉

Apparently the thing that resonated most with my Substack readers this month was my passionate defense of the em dash. Seven years in publishing and this is my legacy. I'm at peace with it. 😂

I still get nervous before I hit send on anything. A query, a submission, a social media post. The stakes change but the feeling doesn't.

My son tied to eat my manuscript. I'm going to choose to see this as enthusiasm for literature. 😭

Coaching writers through their first manuscript is genuinely one of the best parts of my week. Watching something click into place never gets old.

My favorite picture books to read with my kids are the ones that lend themselves well to funny voices.

Every time I meet an author in person and they say "I've seen you on TikTok" I want to crawl in a hole. 😂

My to-do list has a to-do list. We're in a season. ☕

For those of you that don't know me: I'm Vicky. I represent 36 clients while writing my own books while raising two kids while running @athomeauthor. I do not recommend doing all of this at once. I also wouldn't change it. 😅

Very excited to take one-on-one pitches at the 2026 (Online) Pittsburgh Writing Workshop on May 8-9. Join me! Anyone from anywhere can attend. pittsburghwritingworkshop.com

I joined CMA in 2024 and it's the best professional decision I've made. The right agency changes everything.

Too. Many. Book. Ideas. So. Little. Time.

I choose to believe that most people are doing the best they can with the cards they're dealt.

One of these days, I should document what my days actually looks like. Might be fun. Might be terrifying. 😂

What keeps you writing when it's not going the way you planned?

I left the classroom to write books. Some days I miss it so much it surprises me. Most days I know I made the right call.

I have tabs open I haven't looked at in four days. This is fine. Everything is fine.

Genuinely one of my favorite things: watching a writer in my coaching program get their first request. Nothing like it. 🎉

The authors I know who are most financially stable right now are the ones who built direct relationships with readers—email lists, direct sales, Substacks—before they needed them. It's not too late for that, but it's easier to build before it's urgent.

I made the mistake of reading my WIP to my daughter (a PB, I promise!) and now she's hounding me for the illustrations. Please excuse me as I sketch terrible stick figures to accompany a really rough draft. 🙃

"Just self-publish" is still bad advice if it's said dismissively. Self-publishing done well is a real business with real costs, real strategy, and real decisions. There's no "just" about it.

So many great things happening over at @athomeauthor! Check out our upcoming webinars, if you haven't done so yet!

I don’t like being on camera and every time someone says they saw me on TikTok I’m like 🫠

Picture books are one of the hardest formats to write well and one of the easiest to underestimate. Thirty-two pages. No wasted word. Every line has to carry weight.

Random fact about me: I once complained about how many picture books have music notes illustrated backwards. So loudly that a trad publisher hired me to proofread the music notes in the art for several unpublished titles. 😅

My kids have watched me get rejected and keep going more times than I can count. I don't know yet what they'll make of that. I hope it's something useful.

Just a reminder, I won't be reopening to queries anytime soon, but I'm always open via professional referrals, events, and conferences.

The volume of queries and submissions has certainly gone up, but that doesn't necessarily mean the quality has gone up. I see so many fantastic concepts with writing that is a bit underbaked still.

I used to be *very* particular about reading physical books, but with kids, I don't have that luxury. Audiobooks are the only way I read for fun nowadays.

Publisher-generated IP is more common in publishing than most people realize. The publisher develops the concept internally, hires a writer to execute it. That can be good, steady work, if you go in understanding exactly what you're signing.

I keep seeing writers overanalyze query responses and honestly…some of them are confusing. I broke down a few of the most common ones because there’s usually more being said than it looks like. https://agentantics.substack.com/p/decoding-form-rejections-from-someone

Some days, writing feels like wrestling an alligator.

If you're an author, keep track of the nice messages and emails you receive. Put them in a folder or save them somewhere on your computer. Then, on your hard days, make yourself sit in that space for 15 minutes. I promise, it'll help.

I've been migrating my catalog to PublishDrive, and it's not a fast process. But distributing to 400+ stores from one dashboard, keeping 100% of royalties after a flat monthly fee...the math eventually favors the subscription model over giving up a percentage of every book.

If you've bought one of my books and read it to a kid, I want you to know that it still gets me every single time I hear about it.

I left the classroom to write books and I still have moments where I wonder if my students are okay.

I keep thinking about what's in my inbox 👀 and then immediately trying to act like a normal person