Julia Soplop, Author & Photographer

You don't want to miss this quick read! There's a twist at the end that will surely surprise you.

A Spooky Story for a Spooky Time — Julia Soplop, author and photographer Gather ‘round. Let me tell you a story. It may feel familiar, but keep reading to the end. You’ll surely be surprised.

Happy to share that I was interviewed for this Millie Magazine article about self-publishing. I'll be over here shouting the parting quote until the end of my days!

7 Things You Need to Know to Self-Publish a Book, From Women Who Have Done It Why women are increasingly self-publishing their work via online platforms or by printing the books themselves.

SURPRISE! I just published a book to help both aspiring and established authors navigate the liberating--but confusing--world of self-publishing. Click for the juicy details and purchase information.

Our Unique New Ebook Teaches Authors How To Self-Publish and Market Their Books — Putting your work into the world on your own terms is a liberating experience. But it can be a confusing one, too. We are proud to announced the publication of Hill Press founder Julia Soplop’s ebook, Untangling the Self-Publishing Process: A Practical Guide to Creating and Marketing a Professiona

We just found out that "Equus Rising" won two Feathered Quill Book Awards! I couldn't be more proud to share this honor with the book's illustrator, Robert Spannring. Thank you to all our supporters who have purchased, read, and shared their enjoyment of this book with us. Now, to help us celebrate, please go write a review of the book on Goodreads and/or the website where you bought the book! Book reviews are essential to a book's visibility.

I've accidentally been keeping two secrets, and it's time to spill the beans. First, I launched a small publishing company called Hill Press. Second, Hill Press just published a short story collection by the extremely talented Erin Connors. It's called "Stray Dogs and Saviors," and you will want to read it. Details in the blog post.

Hill Press publishes first short story collection, “Stray Dogs and Saviors,” by Erin Connors — Julia Soplop, author and photographer I’ve got two exciting pieces of news to share with you to kick off 2021. The first is that last year, I launched a small publishing company called Hill Press. It wasn’t meant to be a secret, but, as you’re well aware, the year didn’t go quite as planned. As for many of you, family obligation...

Happy National Day of the Horse! DM me if you’d like to purchase personalized signed copies of “Equus Rising” as holiday gifts. It’s not too late if I ship them priority!

Friends, I wrote a piece for YOU. It's about how looking beyond the basic COVID-19 statistics can help us to better assess and mitigate the virus’ risks to our personal health.

As a health and science writer, I try to keep close track of COVID-19 research, as well as messaging around the pandemic. I'll bet just about everyone reading this post can recite today's death, hospitalization, and case stats. But there is a lot of crucial messaging about how and WHY we should all be protecting ourselves, regardless of where we personally fall on those little mortality charts, that seems to be getting lost in the shuffle. This is what keeps me up at night.

Sure, things are grim right now. But the future looks so much brighter. (Pfizer! Moderna!) In the meantime, we absolutely have the power to avoid many preventable deaths and adverse health outcomes in the months to come. Please take a few minutes to read and share, especially before the holidays.

Most of us won’t die from COVID-19. But looking beyond the basic statistics can help us to better assess and mitigate the virus’ risks to our personal health.

I'm so pleased to see that this piece I wrote last week has gotten lots of traction. Please keep reading and sharing.

We’ve been having the wrong conversation about abortion. Let’s change it. I was pandemically, politically, and existentially exhausted. And then Ruth Bader Ginsburg died.

As a continuation of our efforts to discuss some of the concrete ways the big-picture concept of systemic racism rears its head in our community, I wrote this post for CORRAL about how the adultification of Black girls can negatively influence their lives. I hope you'll take a look if you're not familiar with this phenomenon. CORRAL works to combat the adultification experienced by many of the girls it serves through a variety of developmentally appropriate and individually tailored programming.

Adultification of Black Girls | CORRAL Riding Academy | Cary, NC 27518 CORRAL's program seeks to combat adultification by providing our girls with the developmentally and individually appropriate support they need to thrive.

I had so much fun back in May being interviewed by Carly Kade of the Equestrian Author Spotlight Podcast, and the episode is now available to listen to or watch. We touched on a lot of different topics related to "Equus Rising." I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

On Wild Horses, How the Horse Shaped U.S. History & Storytelling with Julia Soplop If you are an author, aspire to be an author, or simply love horse books then you are in the right place! In this podcast episode, you'll meet author and photographer Julia Soplop.

We can't make much progress if we fail to make connections
between the big-picture concept of structural racism and its concrete results. In this blog post for CORRAL, I discuss specifically how the dramatic racial disparities of COVID-19 illustrate the heavy burden of structural racism in the U.S. I also talk about how CORRAL offers the girls they serve not only skills to help cope with the numerous stressors they face, but to thrive academically, physically, and professionally. I hope you'll take a moment to read it.

COVID-19's Racial Disparities | CORRAL Riding Academy | COVID-19 has been impacting people of color at alarmingly disproportionate rates, illustrating racial disparities at a systemic level.

I didn’t find the time to squeeze in a beach read this summer, but I did manage to read a few books to start wrapping my head around my next writing project. When I tackle a new subject, I like to read widely and then start to narrow topics by how I envision the chapters falling into place.
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With my background in science writing, I realized long ago that we have a scientific illiteracy crisis in our country. Believe it or not, I started to think about a project to address it a few years ago, well before COVID and COVID-related science denial took over our lives. Now it seems so urgent I can barely sleep thinking about. But I promised my family I’d pace myself. Sadly, it’s a crisis that isn’t going anywhere.
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P.S. In case you’re wondering about the bottom title, I’m trying to find a compelling way to explain that religion is not science but that God and science are not incompatible. These ideas seem to be key parts of the crisis...

I'm excited to be joining the CORRAL community as a volunteer contributing to their communications. CORRAL provides equine therapy, tutoring, and mentorship to girls in extremely high-risk situations. Their outcomes are incredible. In addition to serving these girls, CORRAL is committed to helping dismantle systemic racism in our community. You can read my first blog post here, which is an abridged version of my earlier piece on how our country has long excluded people of color from accessing the power of the horse.

History buffs and horse enthusiasts, this blog post is for you! We're honored to share a blog post written by Julia Soplop, a community member and author of the poignant book “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History." Click the link below to learn how our history has long excluded people of color from accessing the transformative power of horses.

https://corralriding.org/our-country-has-long-excluded-people-of-color-from-accessing-the-power-of-the-horse/

This year has been a thing of nightmares, but it has been a thing of big dreams, too. Today, my family and I headed over to , my favorite bookstore, so I could sign their copies of my book. That’s right, my favorite indie store is carrying signed copies of “Equus Rising” on their new releases table. Last summer, my favorite author, Alexandra Fuller, did a reading here (which was amazing) and called it “one of the most magical bookstores” she had ever seen. I couldn’t agree more. And I can’t believe they’re selling my book!
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has done a fantastic job adapting to what I call the pandemic lifestyle, and I hope you’ll consider supporting them if you purchase the book. They require masks in the store, of course. (We only had ours off for the pics, because we were outside and away from others.) They offer phone ordering and curbside pickup; appointment-only hours; and open-to-the-public hours. If you’d like to stay home altogether, you can order through their page on bookshop.org . Thank you in advance for supporting my dreams to publish this book and to always have a magical bookstore just down the road. @ McIntyre's Books

Happy Wild Horse Wednesday AND National I Love Horses Day!

Boys fighting over girls.
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Exciting news: “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S.. History” is now available just about anywhere books are sold. You can support independent book stores by purchasing it through Bookshop.org or IndieBound.org or by asking your local shop to order it for you. Many of them are offering curbside pick-up right now. (Link below for more info on the book.)

Happy Wild Horse Wednesday! Anybody visiting the Corolla herd this week? I’m missing them (and that sea breeze) right about now.

interviewed me back on May 7 before the book launch, and the podcast just dropped! I’m hopeful that today even more minds will be open to our discussion of the importance of broadening our own narrow perspectives on history. In addition, we talked about what I’ve learned in our three years of homeschooling and how my approach has evolved over time, as well as the benefits I see in teaching kids photography. (More minds might be open to these discussions as of mid-March too). I’d love for you to take a listen. Thank you for this fantastic opportunity, Rebecca Bohman! (Link below.)

By now you've undoubtedly seen the images of Brianna Noble, a young black woman, riding her horse through an Oakland protest to call attention to racism within the horse industry. Critics have insisted access to the (largely white) horse world is a matter of finances, not race.

Having spent the last couple years studying how the horse shaped U.S. history, I can tell you these things: 1) throughout much of our country's development, the horse *was* power; and 2) over centuries and from every angle, the country sought to exclude people of color (especially black and indigenous people) from accessing and benefiting from the power of the horse.

Today’s barriers to the horse industry extend far beyond cost alone.

I wrote a piece to amplify Noble's message and her new program to combat this lack of access, as well as other programs with related goals. I hope you'll take a minute to read this historical perspective on one facet of systemic racism in the U.S. (No need to be interested in horses in particular to learn from this part of our history.)

Our country has long excluded people of color from accessing the power of the horse — Julia Soplop, author and photographer The image was striking: a young black woman riding an enormous horse through the Oakland protests, fist raised above her head. It was bold, powerful—and uncommon, as the equestrian world is heavily white. “There has to be a change in horse sports. This cannot be so white,”  Brianna Noble ...

A powerful image and story from the Oakland protests.

Brianna Noble is the Horsewoman We All Need Right Now - Heels Down Mag Horsewoman Brianna Noble loaded up her Appaloosa gelding, Dapper Dan, and headed to the Black Lives Matter protest in Oakland, Calif. Why? To take a stand.

It’s Wild Horse Wednesday, and I’m longing to visit these beauties. Now I realize I took for granted our annual visits, feeling like this herd would always be accessible to us. Not sure when we’ll feel safe road tripping or renting a house or hanging out on a crowded beach again.

In fun news, though, tomorrow at noon EST, the Kindle version of “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History” will go on sale. Amazon is offering a Countdown Deal, so the price will be 60% off for a day and a half, then 50% off the next, and so on for a week. Go grab your ebook tomorrow!

The shipping of my author copies was pandemically delayed, but I finally have the book in hand and it feels so good! 📷 By Cricket

"Equus Rising" is now available Amazon!

Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History

Happy Wild Horse Wednesday! My phone is telling me I’m 1,700 miles away from where I took this photo last summer in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. It feels like it could be a million miles away right now though—to this wild herd, to my family spread across the country, to any travel adventure. But this time of grounded isolation means the anticipation of every trip will make each one that much sweeter when it's safe again.
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On a lighter note, I’m still amped up after last week’s launch of our new book, “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History.” It’s such an exciting and vulnerable and terrifying thing to put your work into the world for all to see. I’ve been walking around like 😬😱😀 all week. If you read and enjoy the book, please help us out by writing reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. These reviews raise the visibility of the book and make it more searchable to future readers. Thank you in advance, friends!

Happy Publication Day! Let’s celebrate together! Illustrator and I would like to invite you to our virtual book launch party tonight on IG Live at 8 p.m. EST. Just click on my IG profile picture at that time to join us.
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We’ll do a giveaway, talk about how and why we created the book, do a short reading, show some illustrations, and answer your questions. Help us launch this book into the world! 📖 🐴 📚

Three days until our virtual book launch party for Equus Rising!!! 😁 📚 Yippee! The launch will be here on IG Live this Thursday, May 14, at 8 p.m. EST. See my IG story for details. Please join us!

Psst...While the official launch is Thursday, Amazon has listed the book a few days early. The paperback is already available for sale! The Kindle ebook is available for pre-order and will drop on Wednesday. 📖 🐴

Cleaned out my desk yesterday and it felt so good. The two stacks on the right are most of the non-digital sources for my book. The stack on the left is hardcopy drafts and proofs. What a journey it’s been.

Happy Mother’s Day! 🌸 🌺 🌸

Please join illustrator and me next week for the virtual release party for “Equus Rising.” We’ll be hanging on out on Instagram Live on Thursday, May 14, at 8 p.m. EST to celebrate the book. Feel free to DM me questions you’d like us to answer during the launch. Can’t wait!

Another book review! Thank you, !
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“Equus Rising is a compelling, concisely written, beautifully illustrated, important read for any horse or history enthusiast.” -Shelley Paulson, author of “Horses: Portraits & Stories”
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Just 15 days until publication. 📖 Link in profile to read more about “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History.”

I'd love for you to read my interview with Feathered Quill about my book, "Equus Rising." (No, it's not me in this picture.)

Author Interview: Julia Soplop - Feathered Quill Author interview with Julia Soplop

You never know what you'll find once you start digging. Here's a light post about a fun discovery I made while researching Equus Rising.

How my book research revealed a personal connection to the wild horses of the Outer Banks — Julia Soplop, author and photographer When you start to dig, you never know what you’ll find. In researching the origins of the wild horses of the Outer Banks of North Carolina for my book, Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History (May 14), I found something, as a Minnesota native, I could hardly believe—a historic personal c

This piece I wrote on why the results of a 19th century horse epidemic give us hope for change after COVID-19 is now available to read on Medium.

Why the Great Epizootic of 1872 should give us hope for change after COVID-19 The virus swept through nearly every major city in the U.S. and Canada over the course of a year. It killed 1–2 percent of its victims and…

Happy Wild Horse Wednesday!

Is it even Wednesday? Who knows anymore? The weight of all the would-have-dones this spring and summer is growing heavier by the day. We are fortunate to be home and healthy right now, but I can’t help thinking of the traditions, family visits, and travel that won’t happen in the coming months.

I miss these horses already. We usually visit them in June on the OBX but thought we’d go in April or May this year. Obviously that’s not happening. I know right where this band will be hanging out whenever we make it back to them though. 🐴

In better news, you can now snag a free sample chapter from my book “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History.” The sample also includes the full table of contents, so you can see the scope of the book. Follow the link below to the book page, then scroll down to the bottom of the page to get the downloadable chapter. The book will be released May 14 on Amazon. I CANNOT wait!

ANOTHER THOUGHTFUL BOOK REVIEW of “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History.” Thank you, .wildplaces !
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“From the Dawn Pony of the Eocene, to the Thoroughbreds of Kentucky, Equus Rising takes the reader on a tour. Through a rare blend of social and biological history, Soplop tells the story of horses, as wild animals, and also as partners to human beings. Well-written and well-researched, this volume fills a key niche in the science, politics, and literature of the horse.”

-Chad Hanson, PhD, president of the Wyoming Mustang Institute and author of “Trout Streams of the Heart”
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P.S. I just love the little tail swish of this wild filly of Montana’s Pryor Mountains.
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Link in bio to read more about “Equus Rising,” which will be released on May 14.

Our first review is in!

Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S. History by Julia Soplop   Thoroughly engrossing and compelling… In this ambitious book about the powerful influence of horse on US history, Soplop delivers a gripping account of North American history, charting horse…

Sometimes we find hope in the strangest places...like in a 19th century horse epidemic. Check out my post and tell me what other positive changes you imagine happening in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why the Great Epizootic of 1872 should give us hope for change after COVID-19 — Julia Soplop, author and photographer The virus swept through nearly every major city in the U.S. and Canada over the course of a year. It killed 1-2 percent of its victims and kept the rest out of work for weeks. Cities grew chaotic. Public transportation ceased to operate. Food shortages and price gouging ensued. Economies ground to a

It struck me as a little funny when the new business cards I designed and ordered a while ago arrived this week, because...you’d actually have to be allowed to have human contact to exchange them. Share with me some of the “a little funny” moments you’ve had in the last week trying to adjust to sheltering in place.

My opinion piece just got picked up:

Viewpoints: Becoming a More Responsible Consumer of Health and Science News in the Age of COVID-19 - Chapelboro.com Becoming a More Responsible Consumer of Health and Science News in the Age of COVID-19 A perspective from Julia Soplop There’s nothing funny about COVID-19. But it’s a little funny that in any crisis, we suddenly think we’ve become relevant experts based on our few-days-worth of news consumpti...

Happy Wild Horse Wednesday!
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What a crazy week. I’m still moving along towards the May publication of “Equus Rising: How the Horse Shaped U.S.” and hoping presses are still running and mail is still being delivered by then. I emailed some authors this week asking for reviews (which is nerve-wracking enough in a normal situation), but it felt especially awkward in the middle of a pandemic. Luckily several of them shared the attitude that we’ve just got to keep getting stuff done, despite the chaos.
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Speaking of book reviews, I never realized how important it is for readers to leave reviews online. It’s ESSENTIAL to success, because it makes the book much more visible when people are searching. Right now there are many authors publishing books who’ve had to cancel their launch parties and book tours. They’re worried no one will hear about or purchase the books they’ve spent years working on. If you can afford it, will you consider purchasing a new release to read to support that author? And if not, how about heading to Amazon or Goodreads and writing a review for a book you’ve already read to support that author? (Thanks to the person who gave me this idea. I can’t remember who it was!)

Some words of advice on how to become a more responsible consumer of health and science news. Please read and share. We're all in this together. We've got to do better.