I'm a Jordanian-American author and journalist with over two decades of experience.I help authors, both aspiring and established, publish their books through book coaching or memoir ghostwriting. I publish the weekly newsletter "The Storyteller Quest," offering tips on monetizing your writing and navigating the content-creation journey.
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A new book, and a free webinar
Published about 12 hours ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Time for my weekly update.
Big news from Suburban Media Press: my imprint just published its third book- yes, third. I can hardly believe it.
It’s a qualitative study of how senior leaders in Dubai’s universities and media organizations understand and practice transformational leadership, and how it affects organizational performance.
Watching a manuscript go from messy pages to a finished book with a back cover never gets old.
This week also included a two-hour call walking an author through getting a children’s book live on both KDP and IngramSpark, a podcast training for one author, and a Substack training for another.
And a heads-up for next week: I’m running a free one-hour live webinar on Zoom, “Finish Your Book in 120 Days,” on Thursday, October 29 at 12:00 PM EST. It’s for anyone with a half-finished draft. I’ll walk through why first books stall, how to build a plan you can actually keep (even with a full-time job and a family), and what to do once the draft is done. Live Q&A at the end. Save your seat.
Thank you for reading, and for writing alongside me.
Stay creative, Natasha
✍️ This week’s insight
Write your acknowledgments first.
I know. It sounds backwards.
But the people you thank are the people your book is really for. The ones who shaped the story. Who gave you the time. Who you’d want holding the finished copy.
Naming them does two things.
It tells you who your reader is. That’s the decision that quietly steers every chapter.
And it turns “someday I’ll publish a book” into “this will be in her hands.”
Try it tonight. Ten minutes. Keep the page where you can see it.
🖼️ Photo of the week
I had a blast playing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) as part of their “play date,” where professionals play alongside amateurs like me. I learned a lot and enjoyed being on the stage of Meyerhoff Hall.
Book Funnel delivers your free ebook or sample chapter to readers’ devices without the “I never got the file” emails, which makes it a clean way to build an email list before and after you publish.
📖 Novel I adored—Yesteryearby Caro Claire Burke. It's the best book I have read all year. The writing is superb, and the storyline is so original. The book also reminded me of the memoir The House of My Mother, which I loved. I shared my full review on Instagram below (Click on the image).
🌍 From My Little Corner of The World
🎙️ Watch: I appeared on Purposeful, Productive Pathwaysfor a conversation on how authors can grow on Substack: building authority beyond book sales and turning newsletter readers into long-term book buyers.
💬 Watch: On the Substack Writers Salon, I sat with Daniel Cote from Imagine Art Films to discuss how his company creates book trailers using AI and how this can be a huge asset for authors' marketing strategy. You can watch the interview below.
P.S.: If you enjoy my podcast, you might want to keep me caffeinated, and maybe, maybe buy me a cup of coffee or two. I would really appreciate it.
📣 Featured this week: The Lonely Cucumber
He gets packed every morning.
He never gets eaten.
By lunchtime, he's back home, exactly where he started.
He doesn't understand why. He just knows it's happening again.
The Lonely Cucumber is my children's book — a multicultural story about healthy eating, told through the eyes of one very lonely cucumber. A small character with a big feeling that every kid (and most grown-ups) will recognize.
After a career of writing about murder, identity, and grief, this was my hardest, happiest detour in years. Hand-illustrated by Ahmed Elkhalidi, whose art makes the whole thing feel like a gift.
It's the kind of book you can read at bedtime, talk about at the dinner table, and hand to a teacher looking for a gentle way into a big conversation.
A new service I have just added to my business is sensitivity reading from a Middle Eastern perspective. Writing characters or cultures outside your own experience? I read your manuscript with a careful eye for representation, stereotypes, and details that ring false. You get extensive written feedback with concrete fixes, plus a Zoom call to go through it together.
Here’s what author Russell Carr, who’s writing a novel set in Iraq, said:
👉 Are you looking for a sensitivity reader with Middle Eastern experience? Book a free 30-minute Discovery call below
I'm a Jordanian-American author and journalist with over two decades of experience.I help authors, both aspiring and established, publish their books through book coaching or memoir ghostwriting. I publish the weekly newsletter "The Storyteller Quest," offering tips on monetizing your writing and navigating the content-creation journey.
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