Books Forward is celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, and one of the ways we’re celebrating is by showcasing 25 people you should know in the book world. There are many unique roles there are in the book world, and the many kinds of people who play a part in the community we love. Today, we’re getting to know Sara Hildreth (she/her), creator of FictionMatters. Stay up to date on other industry professionals by reading our Lit Happens blog throughout the year.
A fairly typical Monday
I am lucky enough to work at home, for myself, and with books! Everyday looks a little bit different, but this is a fairly typical Monday. At the moment, I’m in the middle of several big projects, so my day includes a lot of upkeep work to keep these projects rolling.
7:30
Wake up. My 3-year-old typically wakes up closer to 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m., but today she slept in. What a gift! But also we have to get moving to get out the door in time for school. My husband and I tag team getting her dressed, making breakfast, and getting lunch and snack packed.
8:15
My husband takes the kiddo to school while I clean the kitchen. Sometimes, I tune into a podcast while I clean, but I’ve been in the middle of an epic audiobook for over a month and I use this time to chip away at it.
8:35 
Open my planner and go through my day and week. I use an undated planner and on Mondays I lay out the entire week, pull uncompleted tasks from last week into this week, and tentatively plan my social posts for the week. I don’t batch my posts (i.e. have a bunch of photos taken and posts ready to go) but I do like to think through what I’ll be sharing for the week so I can make sure to get them done. I aim to post on Instagram three to four times per week and I write three Substack newsletters each week. Once I have my ideas down, I set tasks for specific days as well as putting any personal goings on in my calendar.
9:00
Read! When people hear that I read and review books for a living, they often ask if I spend all day reading, but it’s actually really challenging to make time for reading during my work day. Typically reading gets pushed to the evening and my days are spent with other tasks, but this year I’m trying to carve out more reading time during the day. I treat this reading like work, in the best way! I pull out my pencil and tabs, set a timer for 45 minutes, and settle in.
9:45
I’m doing a brand refresh for FictionMatters and I have some new designs to look through. I love what my designer is doing so I don’t have much feedback, but I make some notes and work on editing my old website copy to be more in line with the work I’m doing now.
10:30 
I’m in the midst of a big reading guide project and spend a couple hours writing book and category descriptions. This always stretches my creativity because when book descriptions are bound together in one PDF, it’s particularly important to keep them feeling fresh and innovative.
12:30
I make myself some lunch at home and turn on the TV. I’m finally watching the cult documentary Love Has Won and it is wild.
1:00
After I eat I spend time adding cover photos and publishing info to my new project. This is very tedious work, but essential to making a guide usable and beautiful. Often I do this kind of work in front of the TV, but after I finish one episode of Love Has Won, I tune back into my very long audiobook.
2:00
It is Monday and I always put out a newsletter on Tuesday, so it is time to write! It’s January so for tomorrow’s newsletter I’m going to be sharing some of my reading intentions for 2025. I don’t expect this post to take too long to write, but I have more to say than I thought (often the case!) so I get about halfway through my post before it’s time to pick up my daughter from school.
2:45 – 5:30
Leave to pick up the kiddo, come home, have a snack, play, hangout, all the mom stuff.
5:30 – 7:00
Eat dinner (my husband almost always cooks) and give the little one a bath (I’m on bath duty). My husband puts Louise to bed while I straighten the living room and put allll the toys away.
7:00
Time to finish Tuesday’s newsletter. While I don’t love having to write in the evening, it’s common enough that I’m used to it and I’ve found that writing newsletters in two sittings is actually ideal. It gives my ideas time to percolate. Now I have even more to say and a clearer idea how I want to communicate my 2025 reading intentions. I finish the post, but I decide I’d like to look it over one more time before I send it. Rather than scheduling it to go out early in the morning, I save it. I’ll give it a once over and add photos in the morning after school dropoff and then send it.
8:00
Sometimes I watch a show with my husband after bedtime, but it’s basketball season for him and summer reading guide prep season for me, so I disappear upstairs to take a bath and read a potential book for my annual Paperback Summer Reading Guide.
10:00 
Bedtime! Hopefully we’ll get another late wake up out of the kiddo tomorrow, but just in case it’s another 6am wake up call, I turn in relatively early.
Prior to becoming a full-time reader and writer, Sara Hildreth earned her MA in English Literature from Georgetown University and spent six years teaching English at an all-girls high school. As a teacher and academic, Sara appreciates the legacy of classic literature and loves dense literary fiction that gives her that scholarly feel. In particular, she loves books with intricate structures, complicated characters, and discussable themes.
Ellen Whitfield is senior publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.
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