Consistency, Authenticity & Going Viral

An accidental Instagram post about The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass went viral (174K+ views and counting), and in this episode I share what happened, what it did for pre-orders, and the surprising "secret sauce" behind it. I also open up about giving my Blitches WIP some space, getting back into dance after 30 years, and my upcoming writer in residence role for Howard County, MD schools.  Mentioned Ink & Magic Mastermind (online, Sept 4–6, a few spots left) - https://inkandmagicretreat.com/ Howard County Poetry & Literarture Society - https://hocopolitso.org/ PEN/Faulkner Foundation - https://www.penfaulkner.org/ Pre-order The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass (out Aug 11) + download the first three chapters free - https://lpen.co/zaharaexcerpt My Viral Instagram Post! https://www.instagram.com/p/DaEMBPPFBtp/ Expand Summit (July 22–25, free) — My workshop Doubling Down on Being Human: Building a Distinctive and Authentic Writing Voice — https://expandsummit2026.heysummit.com/?ac=mBuQDzGT Writing From Your Why workshop with Jane Friedman (July 29) — https://janefriedman.com/writing-from-your-why-with-leslye-penelope/ Fiction Makers Conference — live and in person in Baltimore, Aug 22, 2026 — https://lpen.co/fictionmakers Michaela Coel's Emmy speech quote: "Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn't comfortable, I dare you." The My Imaginary Friends podcast is a behind the scenes look at the journey of a working author navigating traditional and self-publishing. Join fantasy and paranormal romance author Leslye Penelope as she shares insights on the writing life, creativity, inspiration, and this week's best thing. Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast  Get the Footnotes newsletter and become an Imaginary Best Friend:  https://myimaginaryfriends.net Support the show - https://paypal.me/heartspell Music credit: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.