82 Comments
User's avatar
Filing Cabinet's avatar

Congrats! I love your title and the book theme! I’m looking forward to reading it. I love everything about paper and I relate to the pen pal story because we were assigned one in school; it was very enjoyable to receive a letter from the other side of the world. Letter writing is definitely a lost art in today’s tech world; when my son went to summer camp one year, they had to hand in their phones for the week and he said “they actually talked to each other and it was nice.” 🤓

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Oooh, that’s so lovely that you had a penpal in school, too! I really loved that and I agree, letter writing has become a lost art.

That’s so funny about your son and summer camp!

Expand full comment
Amy Brown's avatar

Congratulations on a beautiful cover, a reveal in PEOPLE, and an enchanting book, I have no doubt. I loved hearing about your inspiration for it, as an antidote to loneliness and our disconnected society precisely because we are too digitally connected. I have most certainly noticed the "color blobs" signalling literary fiction and how similar they all were and thus in some ways indistinguishable from one another, a disservice to the author and readers. Your cover illustration is so much better. I just love it. I am also glad covers have moved away from pink when a novel had anything to do with romance in the commercial/upmarket genre. Enough with the pink!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Thank you, Amy! I’m happy that the inspiration for my book really resonated with you. I do love the way that digital places like Substack let us connect but I also miss in-person people…

Expand full comment
Alicia M. Rodriguez's avatar

I love the premise of the book and the book cover is as amazing as the title. Congratulations!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Aww thank you very much, Alicia!

Expand full comment
Sally Ekus's avatar

Congrats on this epic reveal and sharing your next work with us!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

aww, thank you, Sally! I am SO EXCITED about this book, and eeek PEOPLE!

Expand full comment
E.M. Morgan's avatar

I love the cover & title. I look forward to reading it.

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

thank you so very much, E.M.! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful cover. 🥰

Expand full comment
Eva Lydon's avatar

Hi Evelyn! I LOVE the cover, the story, this great post.. everything! 😊 I'm so glad I discovered you on here... and I will DEFINITELY be buying your book... can't wait! 💛 As I was reading the story, I could see it being a great movie by the way 👍

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Eva, welcome!! I'm so happy you found us, too, and I'm also thrilled that you enjoyed this post. Thank you for your incredibly sweet compliment about the book (and your imagined movie!) I am just really really excited about putting this gentle story out into the world for you and others to read. 💛

Expand full comment
Eva Lydon's avatar

I love your enthusiasm and excitement, it’s so lovely 😊 We need more of this in the world 💛 Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me, it really means a lot. 🤗

Expand full comment
Diana M. Wilson's avatar

Oh my goodness!!! This is the best news! I love it--as in REALLY love it--when good things happen to good people. And it's easy to see you are one of the goodies! ADORE the concept of the book--the cover is "leap off the shelves into the buyer's hand" gold. What a delightful post to listen to as I recover in my 10-day long flu sick bed. (I needed a little dose of happy!) Go, Evelyn!!!! And BTW, what a title! Unlike anything I've ever heard before. Congratulations on realizing your major media coverage dreams! 💜

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Diana, your comments are so generous and always bring me such joy! I hope you’re starting to feel better—10 days is a long time, wow. Thank you so much for your happiness for me. It’s always more fun to celebrate with others!

Expand full comment
Diana M. Wilson's avatar

I’m so happy they do—because they are completely sincere! D

Expand full comment
Kathy Gerstorff's avatar

How exciting, Evelyn! It’s a writer’s dream come true to get mass exposure for our books like being in People Magazine will provide. I’m looking forward to reading it, and watching the movie that will likely be made from the popularity of your book!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

awww thank you SO much, Kathy!! I am excited for this book to go out into the world and can’t wait for you to read it, too!

Expand full comment
Chris Anselmo's avatar

That's such a great book cover, I love it! (I also love the premise of the book. I was just thinking about screen time today, in the context of my niece and nephews.)

And congratulations on the magazine feature!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

thank you, thank you, Chris!!

Expand full comment
Chris Anselmo's avatar

😀

Expand full comment
Jane Ratcliffe's avatar

Your cover is so beautiful!! I cannot wait to read the book!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

aww JANE!! Thank you so very much. I think you’ll like this one! 💛

Expand full comment
Jill Amari's avatar

Congrats Evelyn, this is so exciting!!! I can't wait to read The Incredible Kindness of Paper! :)

~Jill

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Thank you so much, Jill! I hope writing and life are going well over in France!

Expand full comment
Ireen Chau's avatar

Congrats Evelyn! Your new book sounds incredible and so wholesome. It was also super cool to hear about the cover design process from your end---I've always heard trad authors NEVER get a say in their covers, so I'm glad to hear that you're involved in the initial concepts and giving feedback during that phase. Wishing you smooth sailing for the launch of this book! So excited to get my hands on it :)

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Thank you, Ireen! Looking forward to cheering you on when it’s your turn with your book!

Expand full comment
L.E. McQuinn's avatar

Congratulations on having a dream fulfilled, Evelyn! The cover is beautiful and the story sounds really special, especially its messaging. I think often about the themes you mentioned—as amazing it is that we have more opportunities for connection than ever thanks for the internet, we've sadly fallen into a habit of overlooking opportunities for in-person connection in the process. I think, as a society, we're starting to really feel the effects of that loss. There needs to be more of a balance. I'm looking forward to reading this book! 🤍

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Wow, thank you so much, Lindsay! It makes me very happy that the intentions behind this book resonate with you so deeply. Happy Friday to you!

Expand full comment
Petra Hernandez's avatar

So exciting, Evelyn! I'm so glad your dream of being featured came true. 😀 Congratulations! Your cover is beautiful. And the premise of your new book sounds amazing! Connecting with people in real life and letters is absolutely necessary. (I say this to remind myself. 😊)

And thanks for a peek into the cover process. I'm working on getting covers for our books right now and it's way harder than writing the actual book. 😂 I'm not sure what imagery says 'cozy fantasy adventure for grown ups'. 🤷‍♀️

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

ooh, cozy fantasy is such a great sub-genre! You’ve probably already seen these, but just in case they’re helpful:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/cozy-fantasy

https://www.owlcrate.com/blogs/oc/11-must-read-cozy-fantasy-books?srsltid=AfmBOoomQisMBxhJ36ucAKGtpY4HrHgbkgXJusBJ1fSXMOW9XyAzDSMZ

Expand full comment
Petra Hernandez's avatar

Thanks for the links! That's so thoughtful of you, Evelyn. I'm going to peruse them over my lunch right now. 😀

Expand full comment
Laura R. Hepworth's avatar

Congratulations on the cover reveal! Also, you hit the nail on the head about what cover design is meant to do. I do freelance cover design/illustration and it's always a delicate issue to approach when the author just doesn't understand that, but it's so important to find that happy marriage of what's best for the book and what the author is satisfied with. Also, interesting about the aphantasia! I'm on the other end of that spectrum with hyperphantasia.

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

Laura, this is SO fascinating to find out your hyperphantasic and also that you do freelance cover design! I imagine your ability to visualize really helps in your field??

Expand full comment
Laura R. Hepworth's avatar

It does! Both for my art and for my own writing. Actually, especially my own writing. It took a little bit of explaining to my family that, just because I'm sitting in the recliner with my eyes closed and my laptop open doesn't mean I'm resting. More often than not, it's that I've just finished rereading what I last wrote and am reimmersing back into the story by letting it play out in my head like a movie to 'see what happens next' so I can write it. Absolutely all of my senses engage with my memory and imagination on at least some level.

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

that is so cool!! And I totally get the eyes closed thing. I like to brainstorm on my bed, although sometimes I accidentally fall asleep…

Expand full comment
Laura R. Hepworth's avatar

That is a very real risk 😂. It's just so much easier though to concentrate on these kinds of things with your eyes closed and blocking out a lot of extra distractions.

Expand full comment
Andrea Bartz's avatar

Congratulations, Evelyn!!

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

THANK YOU, Andrea!!! How’s book life for you recently?

Expand full comment