Hello friends!

These are three images of Kirsten at book events — Left to right: With fellow authors Dana Middleton and Nell Cross Beckerman; with young readers at story time at Once Upon a Time Bookstore in support of Science Saturday.

As you have undoubtedly heard, my next picture book, This Is How You Know , illustrated by Cornelia Li, is out now from Little, Brown. I just hosted two events and have two more coming up. If you are local, I hope you'll join me.

Signing and Storytime at Barnes & Noble - Palmdale at 11:30 a.m. October 4th. Details here.
Author Talk and STEAM Activities - Quartz Hill Library at 2 p.m. October 11th. Details here (you must preregister).

Your reviews appreciated

You can make a huge difference in helping readers discover this book. If you enjoyed This Is How You Know, please review it on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you get your books, even if it's just a single word, like "great!"

Writing Updates

I am 50,000+ words into (and almost done!) with a first draft of Telling It True: Writing Nonfiction for Children. This book covers the full gamut of nonfiction writing from magazines and to picture books to young adult, including research, writing, and selling.

My beta readers gave me feedback on my cozy spy thriller for grown ups. They say the plot is solid, the characters are fun, they loved the voice. I will get back to revisions in October.

Finally, I'm researching a new topic for a potential middle grade graphic novel. I don't have a lot of time for this, so my goal is 30 minutes of research a day. I'm not even taking notes at this point, just reading to see what I think about the topic.

Things I'm Loving Right Now

Chief of War on Apple TV+. It's Jason Momoa's passion project about the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under King Kamehameha. Much of it is in native Hawaiian with subtitles. It is stunning.
The Dead Husband Cookbook by Danielle Valentine is a hoot. A celebrity chef's husband disappeared years ago. Rumors are he's the secret ingredient in her famous meatballs. Are the rumors true? When the chef offers to write a tell-all memoir (with recipes), her editor's about to find out.
Mean Girls: The Musical. Our local theater troupe did this show with an under 18 cast, which was incredible! You can stream the musical on just about any platform for $3.99.

In this issue:

Book Marketing Tips: Connection Matters
Blog roundup: Scrivener tips + Writers Guide to Accountability Partners + Betting on Yourself: Self-Publishing plus a couple of guest blog posts
Reimagine Insiders Office Hours (paid community) – Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. ET on Giving and getting better feedback plus how to decode it.
Upcoming Podcast Episodes: Emily Starr on What STEM Authors Need to Know About Elementary Science (Oct. 3) and Melissa Stewart on Fostering a Love of All Kinds of Nonfiction (Oct. 17)
October 2025 New in Nonfiction list

Happy writing and revising!

Kirsten

Book Marketing Tips: Connection Matters

Getting new books in front of readers is a challenge, but what I've learned is personal connection matters now more than ever. Here are a few new things I've tried out this time around to deepen connections and find new readers. I hope they help you too!

Launch and learn. This Is How You Know had a long and circuitous path to publication. It was the perfect topic for a revision workshop for authors. I hosted a "launch and learn" (term coined by Kathryn 😀), which allowed me to celebrate my new book plus encourage and be helpful to writers at the same time. Over a hundred people signed up! You can still view the replay and get the handout here (free).
Reach out to bloggers with communities (versus social media only influencers). For many years, social media focused on short-form content (on platforms like Instagram, X, BlueSky etc.) as blogs faded to the background. But social media algorithms (and the flood of AI-generated content) makes it harder for people to see your social media content than ever before. For this book, I put together a list of book, STEM, and homeschool bloggers, many of whom have their own subscribers and communities, and offered them a review copy of my book. We'll see how this plays out alongside my publisher's efforts to reach out to influencers.
Reach out to new bookstores. I borrowed this idea from Sarina Bowen at the #AmWriting podcast. Whenever I see an announcement in Shelf Awareness or Publishers Weekly about a new children's bookstore opening, I send the owner an email offering a free signed copy of my book (from my author stash), no strings attached. Honestly, I'm just doing it because it's fun to spread a little joy. But maybe something will come of these budding relationships, like an event if I'm ever in their town.
Newsletters matter. Having a robust newsletter mailing list is more important than ever before. I know it's a privilege to be invited into your inbox each month, one I won't take for granted. Thanks for being here.

📝 Blog Roundup

I've done a couple of guest posts and interviews of late:

Motherly: "7 ways to raise curious kids who question everything (in the best way)"
24 Carrots Writing blog: "Staying Organized and Motivated During Difficult Times: Lessons from Writing Through Crisis"
Writers Digest Author Spotlight: Kirsten W. Larson: Writing Is Just Such a Messy Process for Me

And here's what ran on my blog this month:

The Writer's Guide to Accountability Partners

Are you tired of setting writing goals only to abandon them weeks later? Struggling to carve out time for your creative work amid the distractions of daily life? You're not alone! And you might benefit from an accountability partner.

Read full post

This is a picture of Kirsten Larson and Marcie Colleen with their new books

This is an image of author Darcy Pattison with her book PUBLISH

Betting on Yourself: Self Publishing with Darcy Pattison

Thinking about self-publishing your children’s book? Award-winning author and publisher Darcy Pattison has walked that road for over a decade. Darcy opened up about the lessons she’s learned as both creator and publisher—and why she believes indie publishing can be the most empowering path for authors.

Read article

Master Scrivener 3's Outliner View

One of the easiest ways to get control of your writing project is with Scrivener 3's Outliner view. Think of it as your project’s dashboard: you can see your chapters, scenes, progress, and notes all in one place.

In this guide (and in the video tutorial), I’ll walk you through how to use the Outliner step by step, perfect for beginners.

Read post

This is a graphic for Scriver 3's Outliner View blog post

September Insider Office Hours (Paid Community): Giving and getting better feedback plus how to decode it

This is a graphic for the Reimagine Insiders Paid Community — **Join us!**

How can we make the most out of giving and getting feedback? How do we decode agent and editor feedback? In October 3rd's session (3 p.m Eastern), we'll discuss strategies. Have you received some feedback that's baffling? Bring it to share, and we'll discuss. Read about the community and benefits here.

Upcoming podcast episodes

This month you get TWO podcast episodes.First, on October 3rd, I'll be speaking to elementary science specialist Emily Starr. She is hosting a deep dive webinar series for authors on K-5 science. We'll discuss how authors can write books that help teachers teach science. Then, October 17, I have award-winning author Melissa Stewart discussing why kids need ALL kinds of nonfiction. Melissa is one of my idols, and this interview was a blast.

Tune into the Nonfiction Kidlit Craft Conversations podcast (on Youtube as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) hope you'll listen. Are you enjoying the podcast?

Please rate and review on Apple podcasts
Or like and subscribe on YouTube
Click here to get transcripts
And support the podcast by buying from the Bookshop.

New in Nonfiction

Roundup of October New Releases

Here's the latest roundup of the newest juvenile nonfiction books released by U.S. publishers. You'll find the full list of 192 books in Edelweiss by clicking the link below.

See the list