Episode 69: On Stable Style, Creating a Coffee Table Book & Positive Relationships with Raquel Lynn (Equestrian Author Spotlight Podcast)

Episode 69: Welcome to the Equestrian Author Spotlight podcast! In each episode, you’ll hear inspirational stories from horse book authors including writing advice and marketing tips to help you write your own horse book. If you are an author, aspire to be an author, or simply love horse books then you are in the right place!

In this week's episode, you'll meet Horses & Heels and Stable Style Founder Raquel Lynn. You'll learn ...

• About the inspiration behind Raquel's new book – Stable Style: Barn Inspiration for all Equestrians.
• What it takes to write, design, print, distribute, and sell a high quality coffee table book. Raquel takes us on a deep dive into her process.
• How the positive relationships she's built over the course of her career creating Horses & Heels as well as Stable Style aided in pulling her book project together and getting it across the finish line.
• And MUCH more!

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Watch Raquel Lynn's Interview on YouTube!

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Or listen to the audio only version.

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About Raquel Lynn

Raquel lives in an equestrian community just outside the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles with her Paint mare, Fira in her backyard. When she’s not riding through the hills, she’s sharing barn tours on Stable Style or posting inspiration on Horses & Heels.

Raquel Lynn created her dream job one blog post at a time on her website, Horses & Heels. With a knack for interior decorating, beautiful photographs and inventive recipes, Raquel has garnered thousands of fans over the years.

Horsesandheels.com’s Stable Style category grew so popular Raquel launched a sister website, stablestyle.net focusing on barn tours and tack rooms. Stable Style draws an international audience of horse lovers eager to peruse barns ranging from quaint two-stall stables to luxury equestrian estates.

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Raquel Lynn Interview Excerpt

Carly: You have a beautiful paint mare named Fira and you share many adventures with her on Instagram. What have you been up to with Fira since the last time we chatted?

Raquel: We've had many new adventures! For example, we've been to the beach. Last time I might have been hinting at this, but now I have a truck and trailer. I've basically been going through trailer life in the city, which is a learning process. That's been kind of my big thing this year since we're in the middle of this pandemic. At least I am able to still go horseback riding and take the trailer out.

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Raquel and Fira at the Beach

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Carly: You recently released Stable Style: Barn Inspiration for all Equestrians. Talk to us about your new coffee table book!

Raquel: Stable Style: Barn Inspiration for all Equestrians is a hardcover book with 190 pages, printed in the United States with love. Inside you’ll find a cool collection of petite and sizable barns along with a sprinkle of tack rooms. The goal of this book to inspire you with appealing stables, celebrating the equestrian lifestyle.

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Stable Style: Barn Inspiration for All Equestrians

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Carly: Tell listeners about your Stable Style website, which is the inspiration for your book.

Raquel: I founded Stable Style in 2015. It is a website dedicated to inspiring you as a reader with beautiful barns and stables. The goal is to excite you with barn and stable tours, celebrity stables, and more. Our articles offer a look into stables across the globe and is based on the original Stable Style series from Horses & Heels. This feature was so popular on Horses & Heels, I wanted to build a dedicated website to share barns and stables regularly.

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Interior of the Stable Style Book by Raquel Lynn

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Carly: I can't even wrap my head around what goes into designing a coffee table book. How did you even begin to figure out how to pull this project together?
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Raquel: Google was my first stop. I reached out to some fellow author friends. but the problem I was running into is everybody had done paperback only. I didn't have any friends who actually had experience with a hardcover book.

I think the hardest thing is just getting started. I had a vision for what I wanted to do. I decided I was just going to start and figure it out. I realized that the most popular program for creating or designing the actual book itself was InDesign. I had never used the software before, but I learned how to use InDesign. I basically did all the design myself.

Note: Raquel takes us on a deep dive into what it takes to write, design, produce, print, distribute, and sell a high quality coffee table book in the full audio interview above!

Carly: What advice would you share with someone who is interested in producing a coffee table book for the first time?

Raquel: Give yourself way more time than you think. In the beginning, when it's just you working on your book, you just keep going, and then at the end there's a lot of things where you're waiting on other people. You're waiting for it to come back from your editor. You're waiting for it to be printed. You're waiting for this. You're waiting for that, but keep in mind if you do it once you can do it again.

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Fira, Raquel & Mango

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Carly: What advice would you offer anyone with a dream, a passion, or something they want to create?

Raquel: I think you have to just jump in. When problems come up, you have to tackle the first problem and not worry about the problem that you're going to run into in five steps. That's what I think people trip up over. Deal with what's in front of you immediately. Don't look at things that are miles in front of you because you'll start thinking of all the reasons you can't do something.

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Connect with Raquel Lynn

Raquel and Fira

Website:
​https://stablestyle.net
https://horsesandheels.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HorsesandHeels/ 
https://www.facebook.com/stablestyle/
Follow Raquel on Instagram @horsesandheels_ and @stablestyle 

Get your copy of Stable Style Barn Inspiration for all Equestrians here:
https://stablestyle.net/shop/

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Want to learn more about Raquel Lynn?

Listen to Raquel's first Equestrian Author Spotlight interview. We discussed ...

• What being an equestrian influencer means to Raquel, how she works with brands, and ways she uses affiliate marketing.
• About the evolution of her very popular equestrian lifestyles sites — Horses & Heels and Stable Style as well as her thoughts on work/life integration and authenticity.
• How she got into freelance writing for major horse publications including Horse Illustrated, the Paint Horse Journal, Chrome and more through her blogging.​
• And MUCH more!

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New Interviews Each Week!

Make sure you never miss a show by subscribing on YouTube or Apple Podcasts. This podcast is made possible by listeners like you. I appreciate your support! 

​Thank you for joining us this week on the Equestrian Author Spotlight podcast I hope you enjoy these Q&A sessions with wonderful equine authors who love all things horses and writing just like me. 

​If you are an author who writes about horses and would like to be spotlighted please let me know. Visit my contact page to fill out a request. I'd be happy to have you on the show, too.

Want a free guide to secrets of horse book authors? Gallop over to https://www.carlykadecreative.com/wisdom.html and join the Equestrian Author Spotlight email list to have the author advice resource delivered instantly to your inbox.

View the Episode Directory

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About Host and Author Carly Kade

Carly Kade is an award-winning independent author, horse owner, creativity coach, and the host of the Equestrian Author Spotlight Podcast. She helps fellow writers start, grow, and expand their author careers. Creative writing makes her spurs jingle!

Carly's In the Reins equestrian romance book series was written with horse lovers in mind, no matter which discipline they ride. The horses are as vital to moving the story forward as the human characters are.

These books are perfect for poolside reading, taking to the beach, or settling down with after a day of horseback riding.

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