State of the Estelle // Q3 2025

September 11, 2025

Allow me to (re)introduce myself! Hi! I’m Estelle Van de Velde, and I’m a Belgian indie author!

If you’re here, that means that once upon a time you found me or my work valuable in some way, and for that, I cannot thank you enough. I hope you’ll continue to stick around because there’s a lot of really awesome things coming your way!

But first, how about a recap? I feel all over the place, so it would actually be good for me too.

In my notebook

I started my self-publishing journey in 2021 when I released The Londoners, a memoir about the five years I lived in the UK. I had a YouTube channel back then (more on that later) and I was very determined in making it as a full-time author.

In 2022, I released the French translation of The Londoners. And in 2023, I released SEO for Authors, a guide on how to optimize your content for search engines like Google (and a little bit on Amazon too).

Then, things derailed from there.

I stopped being consistent with my videos on YouTube. I even wanted to shift my content because I was pivoting in my professional life and hoped I'd be more visible for a potential job. I also had a hard time finding time for writing and self-publishing and marketing my books because I had a beautiful son in May 2022. In summary, my family and professional life were taking the lead while my bookish life got into hibernation.

This ends now: I'm BACK!

I've got a few things on the back burner I'm dying to tell you about.

Time is still scarce as of now. My son just turned 3 last May, and I'm spending a lot of time with him that I won't sacrifice for anything in the world. I also found a web design role that I love in a small web agency. So yeah, being a full-time author isn't my dream goal anymore. I guess I've got to adapt because YES, I still feel the pull of writing and sharing my author journey.

So here's the status on my different projects:

Project Sky

Project Sky is a middle-grade contemporary/fantasy novel that I started writing in 2016. I had enrolled a few beta readers in 2022 when the story was completed. Then I hired a developmental editor and... queried it for a year.

I sent my query package to 52 agents and got 52 rejections.

Don't you worry, I'm not sad. It wasn't a good time for it, that's all.

I decided to get back to this project last July. So I ordered a proof copy to be able to read it easily in paperback format. I'm currently reading it in the comfort of my sofa and I'm loving it. There are still a few things to change here and there, but I think it would be a great candidate for publishing in 2026. I'm not setting a release date yet but it's definitely coming your way.

I'll also be looking for an illustrator for the book cover very soon, as those kind of things take a while to make. If you've got any illustrator name you like, please send it my way.

Project Mum

Before I left for a surprise hibernation, I was working on a memoir about pregnancy and motherhood. The first draft was completed in February 2023, and I intended on finishing the second draft this year but things got complicated. This first draft is currently in a journaling state, which means I repeat myself A LOT. I admit it's more complicated to rewrite than I originally thought because I've to rethink the whole book.

So for now I'm focusing on Project Sky before getting back to Project Mum.

Existing work

This Summer, I thought about narrating my own audiobook for The Londoners. This project is on hold until I figure some things out, because I realised jumping head first onto that kind of projects is time-consuming. And also there's the second Audible gate happening right now. But do let me know if getting an audio version of my books would interest you :)

And... all my books are wide ! I've ditched the exclusivity with Amazon, and I'm now on every book retailer platforms. I've added links to those shops on my website.

Social what?

A quick update on social media, because I have been all over the place regarding this topic. But I finally settled with a few things:

• I'll be on my website, newsletter and YouTube mainly. So no Instagram, no TikTok, no nothing else for now.
• You'll get a newsletter once every quarter with my author news and book/series/music recommendations. And sometimes you'll get extra newsletters if I have a timely thing to let you know about, like a book promotion.
• If you follow me on YouTube, you'll get one video every two months + a live video every three months.

Time is scarce, did I already mention it? So that's to keep my sanity in check and not burn out. I'll revise it in a year-time.

I guess that's it for today. Thanks again for all your support. I'll be back with more updates in December. Until next time, friend!