September 2026 Newsletter
A Few Things Worth Celebrating
We’ve had a lot happening behind the scenes at Interleaf Ink lately, but we don’t want to get so busy building what comes next that we forget to celebrate how far we’ve come.
🎉425 of You Are Here!🎉
Our little corner of the internet has officially grown to more than 425 followers across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!
Every follow, share, comment, recommendation, and interaction helps more authors, readers, and creatives find our community. Watching this space continue to grow has been incredibly exciting, and we’re so glad you’re here.
Our First Free Workshop
This month, we also hosted our first free workshop for authors and small businesses!
Creating accessible opportunities to learn, connect, and grow has always been part of the larger vision for Interleaf Ink. This workshop was our first step toward offering more educational and community-focused events, and certainly won’t be our last.
Our Readers Deserve Some Love
Interleaf Ink simply could not do what we do without our readers.
Our reader community volunteers their time, thoughts, reactions, and energy to help authors see their manuscripts through a completely different set of eyes. You catch the moments that make you laugh, the characters you want to yell at, the places where something doesn’t quite click, and the scenes you’re still thinking about days later.
And we know that takes time.
So, we want to do something special just for our readers as a thank-you for everything you contribute to Interleaf Ink and the authors who trust us with their work.
We have a few ideas brewing, but we’d also love to hear from you. What would make you feel appreciated as a member of the Interleaf Ink reader community? Keep an eye out for an opportunity to tell us what you think.
A HUGE Shout Out to Karisa Holland
We want to take a moment to celebrate someone who has been such a wonderful presence in the book community: Karisa Holland!
If you’ve spent any time in the Texas book world, there’s a good chance you’ve crossed paths with Karisa through one of the many markets, tours, literary events, and community spaces she’s helped bring to life. She has poured so much energy into creating places where authors, readers, and bookish businesses could come together.
Now, she’s taking all of that creativity, community-building experience, and apparently not-so-little hockey obsession into an incredible new adventure!
Karisa is joining the Stockton Thunder professional hockey organization as Director of Game Day Operations & Sales Executive, helping create the experiences fans will have when they walk into the arena this season.
While the book community is going to miss having quite as much of her, we are SO excited to see what she does next.
Congratulations, Karisa! We’ll be cheering you on from the bookish sidelines!
What We've Been Up To
A short, personal note from you about what has been happening behind the scenes. August has had a lot going on, so this can set the tone without becoming a giant business update.
A New Home for Trashy Raccoon
We’ve been stretching our creative muscles beyond the manuscript lately!
Interleaf Ink recently had the opportunity to design and build a new website for The Trashy Raccoon, a small creative business with plenty of personality and products made for people who appreciate a little humor, creativity, and chaos.
For this project, we worked with Trashy Raccoon to take their existing brand and translate it into an online space that actually feels like them.
For us, website design isn’t just about making something look pretty. A good website should make it easy for people to understand who you are, what you create, and where they should go next.
That matters for small businesses, but it matters for authors, too. Your website is one of the few online spaces you completely control. It can become the home for your books, events, reader resources, newsletter, updates, and everything else you create as your author platform grows.
And for our readers? Trashy Raccoon is officially open for browsing.
Whether you’re looking for something fun for yourself, a fellow bookish human, or just want to see what we helped create, go take a peek!
🌐 Explore Trashy Raccoon:www.thetrashyraccoon.com
Explore the Active Beta Now Available
Second Half of Love by Mike Owens
When Robin steps across the line to death, Dan now age seventy, her marriage partner of fifty years, is left dangling like a jellyfish stranded in the sand—helpless and adrift among their meticulously collected home. Struggling, he reaches out, and his minister suggests therapy. A psychiatrist suggests online dating for seniors may help. After exploring a few different relationships, from disastrous to surreptitious, he learns about himself and how much he depended on Robin. Through online partners, he finds a warm, pragmatic widow, Jane, who sees past his awkwardness.
Together, they begin to build something new, navigating the delicate process of blending two lives, two histories, and two families. For the first time since Robin’s death, Dan feels a flicker of hope for a future. The central conflict is Dan’s struggle to build a relationship that honors Robin’s place in his life and gives room for a new partner. Eventually, he commits to this second chance at love, he must learn that healing from grief isn’t about replacing what was lost, but about finding the resilience to love again, knowing that every connection is fragile.
Jane and Dan have a variety of experiences with a two-year-old granddaughter, a dying dog, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Love Notes play, and an episode of anaphylactic shock in a public park, all of which bring them to a marriage in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dan and Don grow from adversaries to good friends. Women Dan met before he married Jane reemerge, leaving the reader wondering what could be.
Available August 7th. If you are interested in joining this BETA team, please reach out to Interleaf Ink today!
Meet a Few of Our Community Partners
One of our favorite parts of building the Interleaf Ink community is connecting authors with professionals who understand the creative process and want to help them succeed. This month, we are celebrating two of our wonderful community partners!
Lost Marbles Designs
Looking for something creative, custom, and made with a little personality? Lost Marbles Designs is one of the wonderful small businesses we’re excited to have in our growing community.
From custom creations to fun designs, Lost Marbles Designs is a great place for authors looking for unique items to complement their books, events, or brand, and for readers who simply love discovering creative small businesses.
Go show them some love, browse their work, and see what they’re creating!
Check out Lost Marbles Designs:https://www.facebook.com/LostMarblesDesigns/
M&DK Marketing
It takes a lot more than writing The End to bring a book into the world, and having the right people in your corner can make all the difference.
M&DK Marketing Services is part of the network of literary professionals we’re excited to connect with through Interleaf Ink. They offer support for authors navigating the work that happens beyond the first draft, making them another valuable resource for writers at different stages of their publishing journey.
For our readers, businesses like M&DK are also part of the behind-the-scenes community helping authors turn the stories you love into books you can actually hold in your hands.
Connect with M&DK Literary Services:https://www.facebook.com/Mdkliteraryservices
Author Spotlight: J. Lee Ott
This month, we are excited to introduce a new recurring feature celebrating the authors in our community.
J. Lee Ott is the author of Throbbing Bass, a smash hit here at Interleaf Ink! For those of you who haven’t had the chance to sneak a peek during one of its work-in-progress reading rounds, the story is an emotional MFM romance full of heart, humor, an
d heat that explores the connections between writing and music, love and grief, and neurodivergence.
This spicy read is easily one of my current favorite indie books, and I cannot wait to see how it continues to unfold because I, for one, am obsessed with the Viking.
Not that I’m trying to turn this into a Jacob vs. Edward debate or anything... but I’ve picked my side. 😂 Thank goodness Mel doesn't have to choose because Callen is a catch as well!
If you'd like to connect with J. L. Ott, please email her at author.jlee.ott@gmail.com
We look forward to using future Author Spotlights to introduce more writers from our community and celebrate their stories, creative journeys, accomplishments, and works in progress.
Join the Interleaf Ink Author Network
The Interleaf Ink Author Network gives authors more ways to stay connected, strengthen their writing practice, and participate in our growing literary community.
Members can access reading opportunities, author accountability sessions, educational resources, community networking, and opportunities to earn discounts on select Interleaf Ink services by supporting other authors through the feedback process.
Whether you are working toward your next draft, preparing for readers, or simply looking for a supportive community that understands the writing journey, the Author Network is here to help you keep moving forward.
Watch your inbox and our social media pages for more information about joining the network and upcoming member opportunities.
Thank you for being part of our reader network. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to get our indie authors’ books into your hands, and we truly appreciate the time, care, and effort you put into reading and reviewing.
Happy reading!
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