Looking for fresh, professional Bookstagram Canva templates to make your August content stand out? Good news our August Canva Templates are officially here for The First Editions members!

Whether you're sharing your latest book review, showing off book mail, celebrating a five-star read, or planning your monthly reading wrap-up, these customizable templates are designed to help you create beautiful, engaging content in just a few minutes.

What's Included

Your August template collection includes editable Canva designs perfect for:

• 📚 August 64 Template & Mockups Pack featuring physical books, phones, tablets, Nooks, multiple-book layouts, and so much more!

• 📚 My August Reads (12-Image Story Template)

• 📖 My August Reads (9-Image Story Template)

• ✨ August Wrap-Up (6-Image Story Template)

Simply open each template, personalize it with your own photos, book covers, ratings, and text, then share it across Instagram Stories or any of your favorite social platforms.

Download Your August Templates

📚 August 64 Template & Mockups Pack

Includes physical books, phones, tablets, Nooks, multiple-book layouts, and more!

https://canva.link/9gy2at85l6bl5ix

📚 My August Reads (12-Image Story Template)

https://canva.link/7oxul13fxukpxu9

📖 My August Reads (9-Image Story Template)

https://canva.link/r4viidjfbyvg8v6

✨ August Wrap-Up (6-Image Story Template)

https://canva.link/mtumkrh6y0k4j9s

Happy Creating!

We can't wait to see how you use these templates throughout the month. Be sure to tag The Page Ladies Book Club when you share your creations we love celebrating our members and featuring your beautiful bookish content!

Thank you for being a valued The First Editions member. Your support allows us to continue creating exclusive book club kits, reader guides, author Q&As, Canva templates, mockups, and other premium resources designed especially for our community of passionate readers.

Here's to a month filled with incredible books, creative posts, and plenty of five-star reads. Happy reading and happy creating! 📚✨

It's time to refresh your Bookstagram for a brand-new month! Our FREE August Canva Templates are now available for all The Prequels members.

Whether you're tracking your monthly reading or sharing your August wrap-up, these editable Canva templates make it easy to create beautiful, engaging bookish content in just minutes.

Your Free Downloads

📚 August 6-Template & Mockups Pack

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✨ August Wrap-Up (6-Image Story Template)

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Simply open the templates in Canva, customize them with your books, ratings, and photos, and you're ready to share your reading journey with the world!

Looking for Even More?

If you love these free resources, you'll love everything waiting for you inside The First Editions!

Our premium August collection includes:

• 📚 64 Canva Templates & Mockups featuring physical books, phones, tablets, Nooks, multiple-book layouts, and more.

• 📖 My August Reads (12-Image Story Template)

• 📚 My August Reads (9-Image Story Template)

• ✨ Additional exclusive Canva resources released throughout the month.

Upgrade to The First Editions today to unlock the complete August Canva collection and enjoy new exclusive resources every month.

Happy reading, happy creating, and thank you for being part of The Page Ladies Book Club! 📚✨

Into the Drowning Deep is one of my absolute horror books, so when Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) agrees to blurb, I almost passed out!

These are the gems that were offered:

And we have a preorder update…. We are at 757!!! Only 243 left to hit 1,000!

you guys I am so excited for Tatiana, this community and this book! I’m so glad you’re here!

I just received the most amazing gift! 💝 one of my customers and her daughter got this for me and it truly has made my day!

It could not have come at a better time, when I really needed a moment to see all the good in the world ❤️

“Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.“ —Gandalf

new youtube video is UP for my full color cuties
https://youtu.be/MRy4BG_KFQ4

Hi folks! I'm so excited to help reveal the cover for London Sperry's new rom-com CITY PEOPLE, publishing April 6, 2027 from Penguin Random House.

Rebel Ever After listeners will remember London from our episode last August about her debut romance PASSION PROJECT and her quest to write a self-destructive, grieving baddie who deserves love. We had a wonderfully silly conversation despite the heavy subject matter.

I asked London what the REA community will enjoy about her sophomore novel. She texted me,

"City People deals with the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are, and what it means when you start to question those stories. It’s about change and growth, but mostly, it’s about letting go. It’s also about loving your gramma.

I hope REA listeners enjoy a man who thinks consent, pet names, and being berated by unlikeable female leads are sexy; an intergenerational female-only family; and a woman who wouldn’t know what she’s avoiding if you drew a map for her."

City People is available for pre-order wherever books are sold. You can pick it up from the Rebel Ever After affiliate store here.

About the book

A woman desperate to hold onto her Brooklyn brownstone can’t ignore her chemistry with the one man standing in her way, in this poignant enemies-to-lovers rom-com by the author of Passion Project.

Teddi Cooper, third-generation New Yorker, has breathed city air since the day she was born. Her life is perfectly syncopated with the beautiful, chaotic tempo of Brooklyn, from the moment she steps out the door of the brownstone she shares with her grandmother, to the moment she falls asleep with taxi horns blaring into the frenetic night.

So when Gram announces that she’s selling the brownstone and moving to Florida, the rhythm of Teddi’s life descends into cacophony. How could Gram not see that leaving NYC would be a betrayal of their very identities? If Gram needs a reminder of who she is, Teddi will do anything to show her—including coordinating a reunion show of the Broadway musical that made Gram famous before she gave up life in the spotlight. And to lay the pressure on thick, Teddi even gets Gram’s former co-star Hal Harrison on board.

The show is barely off the ground before Teddi comes head-to-head with Hal’s talent agent Reid Fletcher, who refuses to let Hal partake. Reid is charming, smart-mouthed, and absolutely infuriating, but Teddi knows a thing or two about digging her heels in.  As Teddi squares off against Reid over email, in the theater, and even through a heated game of tennis, she’s prompted to wonder if her dogged stubbornness is holding her back. Who would she be if she wasn’t determined to control Gram’s next move, to be a New Yorker at any cost? Is it possible that her identity is larger than the city she’s built her life around? And, most frightening of all, could her new life have room in it for someone else?

July's SRG Salon was a hoot

It could've also been titled "everything is a scam (&everyone is a scammer)". We talked about:

• the world cup is not about soccer (T-Pain DoorDash tweets were fake)

• Alix Earle's Reale Actives vs Hailey Bieber's Rhode

• The "privilege" of getting to see the odyssey in imax

• bandwagon culture (exemplified by knicks merch). i hate it. I hate 'just let people like what the like' apologists. This is why we have disney adults.

• The ethics of celebs endorsing GLP-1s

• HUM by Helen Phillips came up because there's a dystopian-but-real scene where the character gets in a cab and can't mute the ads unless she pays a fee (Cat made a good point that we are basically here already paying for streaming WITH ads)

• "Low T" (as in testosterone) being totally misunderstood

• The "Enhanced Games" (where you are allowed/supposed to take performance enhancing drugs)

• the "spectrum" of authenticity-- this struck me as oxymoronic because shouldn't something either be authentic or not? how can it be semi-authentic? imagine a counterfeit handbag -- but it's made with leather from the same factory that the real ones come from, by a craftsman trained alongside the authentic craftsman. this feels like a theseus' ship for birkinheads

• so much more

It was such a fecund topic and the convos that I sat in on meandered widely--very entertaining.

Suggested media/reading

• caroline calloway's ozempic essay

• The Feed Is Fake essay in Vulture

• Publishing has a hologram problem LitHub

• reaction to the essay^^ tiktok

• Everyone is an influencer reel

• I Don’t Want to Be Friends With a Corporation Substack

• Reddit Corporate brands being “relatable” on social media and infiltrating

• Ingrid Goes West (movie starring Aubrey Plaza & Elizabeth Olsen)

• Even NFL players have to be influencers tiktok

• It’s Hard Making Friends When Everyone Wants to be Famous substack

• Elmo's Knicks PR crisis... which was just promo?

• Elmo forced to respond to criticism ... which was just ads for the world cup?

• Reaction to said criticism tiktok

• Conan on press tour culture tiktok

• Do You Have to Become a Content Creator to Make It in the Arts? substack

• Confessions of an AI Clickbait Kingpin WIRED

• Gen z knows brands are trying to be friends IG post

• Intellectual influencers, the cool vs the rich, & the allure of a private life substack

• art galleries are turning into failed luxury brands reel

• gen z does not want to be influencers anymore cosmo (if you have a WSJ subscription read this, same info)

• food influencer parody tiktok

• slop economy tiktok (this creator tries to walk a fine line between being critical vs endorsing AI)

• being part of the digital circus IG post (comments section>post)

• not every brand/celeb is a morality compass reel

Discussion questions

• What’s the most obvious ad you’ve seen recently that still worked on you?

• Is the best marketing simply content that doesn’t feel like advertising?

• Is it possible to be a sellout anymore?

• When is content just a vehicle for monetization? Marvel, Coachella, Meghan Trainor’s flop album—are these designed primarily as vehicles to sell merch/make tiktoks (or to exist as “art”)?

• What is your reaction when an influencer you like gets their first brand partnership?

• What's "wrong" with watching ads? There are entire coffee table books that treat ads as an art form.

• Does "stealth marketing" erode media literacy?

• If you enjoy the content, does it matter that it’s an ad?

• If an ad is entertaining (think: comedian podcast where they turn the ad into a bit that is actually funny), does that make it less intrusive?

• Are you more critical when individuals turn themselves into brands, or when brands try to act like people?

• Do you feel like you have “succumbed” when influencers/ads work on you?

The night before my first in-person author event, I tried to stay as busy as possible. I worked, watched distracting shows, and made graphics for social media. Basically, anything that might keep me from thinking too hard about what I had agreed to do.

I took the muscle relaxer that usually helps me sleep, but I still tossed and turned. I felt like Owen Wilson in Armageddon when he says he is 98 percent excited and 2 percent scared, or maybe 2 percent excited and 98 percent scared. That was me. I knew both feelings were in there somewhere, but I could not have told you which one was winning.

Since I am nocturnal, I woke up around noon the next day. I was more nauseous than usual and immediately started trying to get everything ready: my outfit, makeup, nausea medication, books, pens, markers, and bookmarks. I checked everything more than once because my brain had apparently decided this was the moment to stop trusting itself.

My partner and I finally left for the bookstore. The drive was about forty minutes, so I put on a Charli xcx playlist and sang the entire way there. Singing is one of the best ways I have found to calm my nervous system, and I was going to need all the help I could get.

When we arrived, it felt like there was a bowling ball sitting in my stomach. I was already dragging, so I walked around the bookstore for a while and acquired an iced latte, which was probably not the most logical treatment for anxiety and nausea, but it felt necessary.

Then it was almost time for me to be introduced.

I waited backstage and peeked out at the audience. There were about ten people, and a few of them were cradling my book in their arms.

My book.

That part still does not feel real.

I had prepared several sections to read and practiced them ahead of time, but I had not actually timed any of it. We had promoted the event as a reading, signing, and Q&A, so I assumed people would have questions and that the conversation would fill the rest of the hour.

I came out, said hello, and told everyone I would begin with a reading.

For the first few minutes, I shakily read the opening paragraphs of Hiding Lies. I had somehow forgotten exactly how dark the beginning was, so I might reconsider starting with that section in the future.

As I sat there reading, terrified and sick to my stomach, one thought became very clear:

I never wanted to do another event again.

I finished the first section and tried asking if anyone had questions.

No one answered.

I read another passage, this time from Adam’s point of view. I had not prepared anything to say about it, but I started explaining what I had been thinking while writing the scene. That broke the silence a little, but when I looked at the time, it was only 7:20.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do next.

I asked again if anyone had questions.

Crickets.

Then my partner, bless his heart, called out, “Why don’t you talk about how you wrote it?”

Something immediately changed.

I began telling everyone about the life of Hiding Lies, how the story had developed, and everything that had gone into making the book. As I spoke, I saw people smiling and nodding. My nerves started to fall away.

Questions came. Then comments. Then more questions.

What followed was forty-five minutes of an intimate, incredible conversation with readers.

People told me that my book had made them feel seen and understood. One woman in particular shared that she had experienced feelings similar to the ones I had while writing it. It was incredibly brave of her to say that in a room full of people.

I have never experienced a connection like that before.

I definitely want to experience it again.

By the end of the night, I had gone from thinking I would never do another event to immediately understanding why authors keep doing them, even when they are difficult, exhausting, expensive, and terrifying.

I am going to keep trying to arrange events, beginning here in the Pacific Northwest, where I live. I would also love to do one larger event or small tour each year. My health and finances will always have to be a major part of those decisions, and I have to be realistic about what I can manage.

But I am so grateful that I was finally able to give Hiding Lies the event it deserved.

I got to talk openly about what the book means to me. I got to hear what it meant to readers. I got to nerd out about Small Town Slasher, slashers, horror, and writing with people who genuinely wanted to be there.

For the first twenty minutes, I thought the night was confirming every fear I had.

Instead, it became one of the most meaningful experiences I have had as an author.

All, I’m so happy to share that we have hit one of our preorder goals!

We have gotten over 100 preorders at one of our indie partners: Praire Lights!

We partnered with 3 indie books stores for our preorder campaign to give away a poster of the book cover. Our goal is to achieve 100 preorders from each store! Help us support these stores!

This is such great news! If you haven’t preordered yet, please consider preordering at one of these today:

https://mystgalaxy.com/list/what-feeds-below-preorder-campaign

https://www.twistedspinebooks.com/what-feeds-below-pre-orders

It’s also incredibly important for us to get preorders at Barnes and Noble, because more preorders increase the likelihood of them stocking the book well- this can make or break a book! And the only breaking we want to do is onto a best selling list!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-feeds-below-tatiana-schlote-bonne/1148696541?ean=9781967967247

and as a reminder, if you can’t swing the $17.99 right now, the ebook is $3.99 everywhere! (Though I know you will want a physical copy once you read it!)

I would love the first book from my imprint to be a bestseller and this book deserves it!

Thank you early readers and reviewers and thank you to everyone who had already preordered!

Let me know below if you’ve already preordered or if you’re preordering right now

We're halfway through the year and our monthly themed book club! So, I decided to create a spreadsheet where everyone can share their favorite books they've read in the book club. Use it to find recommendations or if you're looking for books for specific themes.

By importing information into the spreadsheet, you're allowing me to share your recommendations in future content (Bindery, YouTube/IG/TikTok)

My only "rule" is to please make sure the books you're adding you've actually read for the book club.

LINK TO SPREADSHEET

The spreadsheet is editable for everyone. You may recommend as many books as you'd like, you'll just have to fill out the row again. If you need to know what the theme was for each month, check the second sheet.

Let me know if you need any help, have questions, and/or if you're having trouble accessing the sheet. You can comment here or ping me in Discord.

Is this the first time you're hearing about the book club? Find more information here.

The book club is run entirely in Discord. CLICK HERE to access the Discord.

Welcome to your exclusive deep dive into the mind of V.S. Lawrence. While our public teaser focused on the campy side of horror, we saved the real writerly talk and the deep cuts for our First Edition members.

In this full interview, V.S. Lawrence opens up about the heartbreak behind Just Us, Here, her squeaky wheel brainstorming process, and why she can no longer eat bologna thanks to The Outsiders. From Scooby-Doo chase music to the relatable motives of horror icons, this is the complete conversation.

1. V.S. Lawrence in Three Words

Q: For readers discovering your work for the first time, how would you describe your books in three words?

V.S. Lawrence: "Nostalgic, campy, broad."

2. Turning Fears into Fiction

Q: Your Goodreads bio mentions that you grew up being scared of everything. What are some fears that have found their way into your stories?

V.S. Lawrence: "I actually have a huge fear of fire, likely from the time I went to blow out my birthday candles when I was young and ended up catching my hair on fire instead. But fire has found its way into a couple of my books, as well as bugs. Cockroaches, spiders, maggots... all have found their way into my books and give me the creeps."

3. The Heart of Horror

Q: Horror can take many forms, from creepy and atmospheric to downright terrifying. What kind of horror do you enjoy writing most?

V.S. Lawrence: "The versatility of horror is one of my favorite things, and I've been having so much fun exploring several different types. But campy, fun horror has my heart."

4. The Spark of Just Us, Here

Q: Your upcoming novel Just Us, Here explores social media, isolation, and a farmhouse that may be hiding dark secrets. What first sparked the idea for this story?

V.S. Lawrence: "A couple of years ago I had the idea for a book where an influencer is experiencing something terrifying in front of her audience, and thought it would be so interesting to explore the idea that for so many of us, it's almost impossible to look away from a trainwreck. We see people falling apart online and feel the need to comment on it, take it all in as entertainment, and I felt that having the comment section stand in as a character almost would be a really fun way to explore that idea."

5. Why Haunted Houses Hit Different

Q: Many readers are fascinated by haunted houses and places with history. What makes a setting feel genuinely unsettling to you?

V.S. Lawrence: "Our homes are supposed to be our safe place, the place where we can relax, unwind, let our guard completely down. But when the floorboards start creaking, strange noises happen, things start moving, it rips that sense of safety right out from under you. It's also presenting us with the idea that maybe there is something after death, that maybe we leave a small piece of ourselves behind that ends up desperate to be seen and acknowledged."

6. The Allure of The Patch

Q: The Patch centers around a cursed pumpkin patch and a town haunted by its past. What drew you to that premise?

V.S. Lawrence: "I'm obsessed with pumpkin patches. It's one of my all-time favorite things to do in the fall, and when I was asked to write something for the Totally Freaked! series, I felt like the classic new kid in a new town that had some interesting beliefs surrounding a pumpkin patch would be a really fun addition to the series."

7. The Scream-to-Laugh Ratio

Q: Several of your stories seem to blend horror with humor and adventure. How do you find the balance between scares and fun?

V.S. Lawrence: "Honestly, I think horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin. Both rely on building tension and timing so that the joke or scare lands just right, resulting in either laughter or screams. I think finding the balance is similar to either straight horror or comedy; you don't want to hit the reader with scare after scare, or joke after joke. It loses its impact if it's a steady stream. But with horror and comedy, it's kind of neat because you don't always know if the tension is building to a scare or just a funny moment, and I think that makes it even more fun to write (because I don't always know, either.)"

8. The Tone of Just Us, Here

Q: If readers could only know one thing before picking up Just Us, Here, what would you want them to know?

V.S. Lawrence: "It's bleak. This book is me trying my hand at modern gothic, and so tonally it's very different from what I've put out so far. It's a slow burn and a little heartbreaking and it doesn't have a hopeful ending like many of my other books do."

9. The Brainstorming Process

Q: What does your brainstorming process look like when a new story idea first appears?

V.S. Lawrence: "A lot of times my book ideas come from a single scene that pops into my head, or just a seed of an idea, and then I try really hard to figure out how to build something up around that single image. I sit down and make a really rough outline that usually doesn't include the ending, because I always struggle with those. I'll bounce ideas off of friends or family as I work on the outline, and bulk it up as I go. Then, when I start the first draft, chunks of that outline just go right out the window as things go off the rails and I have to go back to talking through the new possible paths that the story could take until I finally get to the end. But even then I might find myself having to change the entire ending."

10. Deciding What’s Next

Q: You've written everything from ghost-hunting adventures to camp horror and cryptid chaos. How do you decide which idea to work on next?

V.S. Lawrence: "I have a million idea seeds floating around in my head and my notes app. I tell myself I'm going to work on X project next, but when it comes down to it, I have to work on the idea that's loudest. The one that keeps jumping forward, pushing images and scenes to the front. It really is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease."

11. Publishing Surprises

Q: Looking back on your journey as an author, what has surprised you most about publishing books?

V.S. Lawrence: "How kind the horror community is. I've been welcomed so warmly by readers and authors alike and it has been such an amazing experience I never expected."

12. The Power of Nostalgia

Q: What role does nostalgia play in your writing, especially with stories like 80s Ghosts and Chalupacabra Y2K?

V.S. Lawrence: "It plays a huge role. A lot of horror readers grew up reading things like Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Point Horror, and I think many of us kind of want to recapture the feelings we had reading those books. Back when we devoured books and were rewarded with pizza and didn't have phones demanding our attention 24/7. I know for me, writing things set before we were so distracted is a way to relive those experiences, almost. Even if it's an idealized version of the past, it's a fun thing to escape into."

13. Twist Planning

Q: Do you tend to outline every twist and scare ahead of time, or do some surprises reveal themselves while you're writing?

V.S. Lawrence: "In most of my outlines I know that [something scary happens here] but it's only when I'm writing the scene that what that scary thing actually is reveals itself."

14. Creating Memorable Villains

Q: What makes a horror villain, monster, or supernatural threat memorable in your opinion?

V.S. Lawrence: "Honestly, it's the ones whose point of view is actually kind of relatable. Like, the ones I can understand why they did it. Think Carrie, Frankenstein's monster, and even Pam Voorhees."

15. Horror Shaping

Q: As a reader, what books or authors helped shape your love of horror?

V.S. Lawrence: "Definitely R.L. Stine's Goosebumps. I can vividly remember walking to the swimming pool with my sister and making up our own plot lines for new Goosebumps books."

16. Best Writing Advice

Q: What is one piece of writing advice that has stuck with you over the years?

V.S. Lawrence: "That if you want to be a good writer, you have to read. Read a lot, and read widely. I have seen firsthand how my writing and creativity improves when I'm reading voraciously."

17. The Fictional Dinner Guest

Q: If you could spend a day with one fictional character from any book, who would you choose and why?

V.S. Lawrence: "I'd love to meet Jay Gatsby and go to one of his parties! I'm not really a party girl, but I mean, a Gatsby party would be a must."

18. The Adaptation Goal

Q: Your bio says your books feel like "Scooby-Doo chase music." If one of your books were adapted into a movie, what would you hope viewers would say afterward?

V.S. Lawrence: "That was so much fun!"

19. What’s Next?

Q: What exciting projects, stories, or spooky surprises can readers look forward to from you next?

V.S. Lawrence: "I'm working on a collection of Christmas horror stories for this Christmas, and there may or may not be another slasher in the pipeline!"

Support the Author & Grab Your Copies!

Check out the links below to follow along and grab your copies:

• Official Website: vslawrence.com

• Follow on Instagram: @vslawrence.author

• Goodreads: V.S. Lawrence Author Page

Shop the Latest Releases:

• Pre-order Just Us, Here: Amazon | Signed & Special Pre-orders

• Order The Patch: Amazon | Paperback with Retro VHS Packaging