Misc

Which publishing pathway should I take?

12 December 202512 December 2025
by Jessica

Which publishing pathway should I take?

Deciding whether to self‑publish or pursue a traditional publisher is one of the hardest choices writers face, and the “right” answer can change over time. I know my answer to this question has changed over the last 25 years. Both paths are viable; what matters most is doing your homework, being realistic about your marketing capacity, and investing in professional editing, whichever route you choose.

More and more authors are turning to self‑publishing because it gives them greater control over how their book is created, packaged, and marketed, and over who they collaborate with along the way. On the other hand, successful self‑publishing usually demands a solid grasp of marketing and a willingness to self‑promote—two areas where many passionate writers struggle once the drafting is done.

Traditional publishing can offer editorial support, distribution reach, and brand recognition, but it is highly competitive and slower, and you still need to be prepared to market your own work. Whichever path you choose, one non‑negotiable is quality editing.

Below are some of my go‑to resources for understanding the different publishing paths, the stages of editing, and the realities of marketing. The key takeaway: do your research before committing to any one route!

Editing A Book – The 5 Stages (David Gaughran)
Breaks editing into five practical stages (including beta reading and various levels of professional editing) and explains how to build an editing process that suits your book and budget.
The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2025–2026 (Jane Friedman)
Maps out all major publishing options today—big‑five traditional, small presses, hybrid, self‑publishing—and compares them on control, cost, speed, and support so you can see where you fit.
Should You Self‑Publish or Traditionally Publish? (Jane Friedman)
A decision‑making guide that walks through your goals, genre, platform, and risk tolerance to help you decide which model aligns best with your situation.
Traditional Publishing: What’s It Good For? (Jane Friedman)
Explains where traditional publishing really adds value (e.g. print distribution, prestige, certain genres) and where its limitations lie.
Calculating the Odds of Getti ng a Traditional Publisher (Leigh Shine)
Uses a US example to illustrate how competitive traditional deals are, what publishers look for, and why strong proposals, platform, and persistence matter.
How to Write a (Non‑fiction) Book Proposal + Template (Jane Friedman)
Step‑by‑step guidance and a template for structuring a proposal, essential if you’re pitching nonfiction to agents or publishers.
How to Publish on Amazon (Ricardo Fayet, Reedsy)
A practical guide to using KDP: formatting, uploading, pricing, and basic optimisation for Amazon self‑publishing.
Pros and Cons of Publishing on Amazon
Outlines the advantages (reach, royalties, speed) and drawbacks (competition, exclusivity issues, reliance on one platform) of going all‑in on Amazon.
Book Marketing 101 (Reedsy course)
An introductory course that covers core marketing concepts for authors—audience, branding, launch plans, and ongoing promotion—which you’ll need regardless of your publishing path.
What is a Vanity Press? A Guide to Vanity Publishing (Reedsy, Martin Cavannagh)
A vanity press is a publisher that profits not from selling books but from making authors pay for publishing expenses. Vanity publishers will publish any novel, regardless of the quality, and usually do this with little or no editorial input.

There’s no simple answer to which publishing path you should take. Much depends on your need for expert guidance, your writing ability, and your ability to write to a book that fits neatly into a publisher’s ‘list’, your resources, and your love of, or issue with, self-promotion. Much depends also on how much control you seek to keep over your creation. Whatever path you take, go in with your eyes wide open. Choose a path that sits well with you and your needs, and don’t, whatever you do, get caught up in a vanity exercise. Vanity publishing can be very costly, and hurt, if not destroy, your long-term chances at writing success.

Above all else, do not be in a rush to reach the elusive goal of ‘publishing’. Writing is a journey through self-understanding, and the creation of a skill. It’s not an end goal in itself.

*Photo by Kevin Woblick on Unsplash

Misc

Grow Your Own Microgreens

3 October 20253 October 2025
by Jessica

Grow Your Own Microgreens

Microgreens are nutrient-packed young greens that can be grown easily at home, even on a windowsill or kitchen bench. They offer a fast, low-cost way to add vitamins and flavour to your diet.

Growing Medium

Use a sterile, moisture-retentive medium like coconut coir, seed-raising mix, or organic potting soil. I like to use Milkwood’s best Ever Seed Raising Mix: 2 parts coir and compost, 1part sand, 1 part worm castings. Avoid regular garden soil, as it may introduce pests or diseases.

Recycled Containers

Plenty of recycled containers can be used—just ensure they are food-safe and clean, with drainage holes:

Takeaway food containers
Plastic salad boxes
Clamshell packaging
Old baking trays
Yoghurt tubs (with holes added)

Best Seeds to Grow

Choose seeds known for reliable microgreen crops (just ensure you’re picking the right seeds for your season):

Peas
Radish
Mustard greens
Broccoli
Sunflower
Buckwheat
Mung beans

Nutritional Benefits

Microgreens often have 3–40 times higher vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant levels than mature greens. They’re rich in potassium, iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, and essential vitamins (A, C, E, some Bs).

Advantages of Growing Microgreens

Ready to harvest in 7–14 days
Require little space or equipment
Provide concentrated nutrition
Add flavour and colour to food
Reduce grocery costs and plastic waste

Best Places to Grow Them

Ideal spots include sunny windowsills, kitchen benches, or any warm, well-lit indoor space. Outdoors in a sheltered spot also works, but avoid locations exposed to harsh weather.

Step-by-Step (Milkwood Method)

Soak seeds (optional for some types) overnight
Fill container with moist growing medium
Sow seeds thickly and evenly
Mist with water; cover with a lid or damp paper until sprouted
Place in a bright spot when shoots appear
Harvest with scissors after first set of true leaves form

Common Mistakes

Overwatering or underwatering—keep medium just moist
Using non-sterile soil
Not providing enough light for strong growth
Overcrowding seeds or failing to cover seeds for germination
Poor airflow, leading to mould growth

Growing microgreens is simple, rewarding, and accessible—bringing fresh nutrition into your home in under two weeks.

Explore this topic in more detail

Milkwood’s free downloadable guide and videos: https://www.milkwood.net/sprouts-microgreens-guide/

Milkwood’s HOW TO: Grow Sprouts and Microgreens, right on your kitchen bench: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPJRtJZLFO8

Milkwood’s microgreens in garden beds: https://www.milkwood.net/2015/11/02/growing-super-microgreens-in-garden-beds/

Common mistakes: https://onthegrow.net/blogs/news/microgreen-growing-mistakes-how-to-avoid

A guide for engineers (or people who like step-by-step photo instructions): https://extension.psu.edu/a-step-by-step-guide-for-growing-microgreens-at-home/

A comprehensive guide to growing from start to finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtvuMNVLISo

Nutrients and health benefits: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9864543/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772566921000057

Fantastic written guide to different types of microgreens, germination times, care, soils etc https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/blogs/microgreens/the-ultimate-microgreen-cheat-sheet

Mistakes to avoid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNvYjh0O5Zc

To soak or not to soak?: https://www.theseedcollection.com.au/blog/Should-You-Soak-Your-Seeds-Before-Sowing

Misc

How to make free unlimited plants!

10 September 202410 September 2024
by Jessica

My most successful cutting to date is African blue basil

How to make free unlimited plants!

Making your own cuttings from plants you have in your garden (or your neighbour’s garden) has to be one of the most satisfying things you can do. (Apart from growing from seed, but more on that later.)

In May’s Sustainability Hub Permabee we talked about making cuttings. This is just one way to reproduce plants, but there are many. The following table touches on the various ways you can create free plants — as quickly as a few days to a few months.

Crop	Reproduction Method
Fruit Trees (apples, pears, citrus)	Grafting
Berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants) Natives (Banksias, Callistemon, Correa, Melaleuca, Prostanthera and Westringia and many more — select firm, current season’s growth)	Cuttings
Vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, radishes, beans, melons, pumpkins etc)	Seeds
Potatoes	Tubers/Eyes
Ginger, Iris	Rhizomes
Strawberries	Stolons/Runners
Bulb crops (onions, garlic)	Bulbs/Bulblets
Clematis (hybrids) Honeysuckle Wisteria Camellia Rhododendron Viburnum Star jasmine Magnolia Cotinus Flowering Cornus species Daphne Hydrangea Various climbers and shrubs	Layering (pin one branch down onto the ground, and wait for it to root) – best done in late winter, early spring

Types of propagation

Exotics to grow, seasons and soil mediums

Let’s now look at what exotics we can make cuttings out of, and when we’d typically do this. This isn’t prescriptive, you can make cuttings in most seasons in a temperate environment (winter may be a bit slow), provided the weather isn’t too extreme and your cuttings are protected.

Plant	Season	Medium
Blueberries	Late spring (softwood) Midwinter (hardwood)	Low-pH potting mix1 (camelia mix works well)
Brambles (raspberries, blackberries)	Late summer	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Currants	Late winter	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Fruit Trees (e.g. apples, pears, citrus)	Spring	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Shallow-rooted vegetables (e.g. herbs)	Year-round	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Medium-rooted vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, peppers)	Spring	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)
Perennial herbs (woody)	Year-round	Soil (Milkwood Best Ever Seed Raising Mix)

Plants, when to take cuttings, and what soil mixes to use

Milkwood’s best-ever seed raising mix recipe:

I always recommend the Milkwood mix quite simply because it’s the one I almost always use. There are many others and it’s up to you what you use. Just keep in mind a couple of simple elements that make up a good seed raising mix:

a teeny amount but not too much nutrient
reasonable water holding capacity — but not too good, balance in all things!
good airflow
good structure, not too chunky for most plants.

1. Two parts sifted compost – preferably from home, or a good supplier (try to get one without any additives – no water-saving crystals or fertiliser)

2. Two parts coco peat – from the garden nursery – sourced from coconuts, try to ensure it’s the fine stuff, not chunky (chunky will not work)

3. One-part worm castings – from your worm farm, you can buy these now, but using your own is the best

4. One part sand – course river sand, not beach sand!

5. A sprinkle of aged animal manure, usually pelletised, like Dynamic Lifter or Rooster Booster

Mix the coco peat with water, until there’s no dry stuff left. You might have to use your hands. Mix until it’s all damp (not sopping wet).

Mix the coco together with all the other ingredients in a big tub until you can’t see any of the individual ingredients. At the end of this process you should have a beautiful fine seed/cuttings raising mix. Then, fill up your chosen pots taking care not to push the air out of the pots, just tamp them down, smooth the seed-raising mix out to the top of the pot, and get ready to plant.

Succulents soil mix

Gardening Australia recommends: Ordinary potting mix, plus sand and gravel

This gives it much sharper drainage so they don’t become waterlogged.

Australian native soil mixes

Mix 1

– 70-75% washed coarse sand
– 25-30% peat moss, fine coco peat, or perlite2 3
– The mix should be disease-free and well-draining

Mix 2

Half compost

Half sand

Mix 3

Regular seed raising mix

Mix 4

Coarse sand

See Australian Plants Society Methods in this illustrated PDF here: Propagation of native plants

Information from https://resources.austplants.com.au/stories/propagation-of-native-plants/

Rooting hormone, honey and willow water

Rooting hormone helps roots grow.

Honey water is a mixture of honey and water which creates a mild bleach. This helps prevent bacteria from invading the cut.

Willow water (crushed willow leaves soaked in water for a few days) contains a hormone that promotes root growth and a chemical that stimulates the plant’s defences. I haven’t tried it but I hear it works well.

Rooting plants in water

Rooting plants in water is often a matter of trial and patience. Doing it in spring is usually easier and faster than winter.

Here’s a guide to rooting indoor plants.

Here’s another one.

How to Make Cuttings: Process

Alternatives

You can cover your cuttings with a plastic bag but you must keep checking back to ensure they’re not rotting or succumbing to fungus or other pathogens.

You can also create a cold frame for your cuttings. This can be as simple as a styrofoam or wooden box or old windowframe with a clear plastic or glass lid, which you lift periodically for ventilation. Read more here.

When cuttings go wrong

Here are some mistakes to avoid:

Letting your cuttings dry out
Disturbing cuttings before they have good roots
Keeping them in a place without light
Keeping them in too hot or cold a place
Using the wrong potting mix for the type of plant you’re growing

Caught on the wind

19 February 202013 November 2020
by Jess

At the asylum seekers centre garden it’s hard to get people to come along. They can been so traumatised by their experience fleeing, but also by what awaits them when they come here — years of detention, they say it’s like a gradual dying — that they don’t want to go out. If I can convince them to get to the garden, I often see a shift.

I see Mo from the middle east, and wave. He is at the end of his asylum process, awaiting a reprieve from the minister; his last and only hope. He is internalised, caved in on himself. Wrapped in a blanket of his own trauma and pain, he hardly speaks a word. I have to ask him a million questions before he answers one. So I learn not to ask. Sometimes even ‘Do you want to come to the garden?’ is too hard a question. His face screws up, lost in the confusion of his trauma-locked mind.

So I just say, ‘we’re going to the garden’. And sometimes he picks up his backpack and he comes.

Within 10 minutes of having his hands in the soil, cutting dead leaves off a plant, clearing weeds his energy shifts, and the most surprising thing happens: he starts to speak, of the foods that he ate at home, of the plants he grew, of his mother and how she would care for him. And then an even more surprising development: he sings.

The songs sound ancient, and I don’t understand the words, but they speak of journeys. Meandering though sad phrases, uplifting to happy family times. I am quiet in the background, pulling the grass from our veggie beds, entranced.

What more can I do to help him and so many others in this time of crisis? I can write more letters imploring the minister, adding to my ASIO file; already a foot deep. But more tangibly I can stop asking questions and just listen. I can provide a safe place in my garden, and I can revel in the moments where their beautiful voices catch, and for a short time, freely dance on the wind.

Category: Misc

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