Now also a podcast on Spotify https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/laurabernardeschinelson/episodes/Self-publishing-on-Amazon-has-never-been-so-easy-by-Laura-Bernardeschi-Nelson-e35dtn5
- Author of Paper and Fire: An Artist’s Journey Through Change Amazon KDP
- Author of Mixed Media and Climate Awareness: Laura’s Impactful Art Amazon KDP
- Author of The Pose That Hurt: Becoming an Artist Through Life Modeling and Rebellion Amazon KDP
🎉 My Self-Publishing Adventure: How I Brought My Novel to Life
After four roller-coaster years of writing and rewriting, I finally dared to believe: my novel could find its way into readers’ hands. My creative writing tutor once cautioned that publishers wouldn’t bite—and for a moment, I almost believed her. I packed up my manuscript, moved to the northeast of England, and dove into a taxing job at Northumbria University, far from dreaming of literary glory.
But then life shifted. I left that grind and became a librarian—surrounded by stories every day, it reignited my passion. I thought, why not publish it myself? A little research led me to Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon—and everything changed.
Why KDP?
- It’s free & simple — If you already shop on Amazon, KDP uses your existing account.
- Free ISBN — You don’t pay the £91 Nielsen fee for one ISBN. (Save £80+!)
- Global reach — English books can sell via Amazon UK, .com, .it… all with one setup.
My Step-by-Step Guide
- Set up your KDP account – Easy as buying a book on Amazon.
- Choose your ISBN – Let Amazon assign one, or bring your own if you want to sell outside KDP.
- Enter your personal and tax information – Straightforward, even for non-US authors.
- Upload your manuscript – I polished mine in Google Drive, used Grammarly and LanguageTool for error‑free prose, and then saved it as a Word file for Kindle and a PDF for print.
- Design a captivating cover – Use Amazon’s templates or upload your own. It checks for formatting issues and copyright ownership automatically.
- Publish! – Your book typically goes live in about 72 hours, fully available worldwide within a week. You’ll also receive a proof copy at a discount to make final tweaks.
In Just Two Weeks…
I’ve published four books—with zero upfront costs. It’s thrilling to see these works join Amazon’s endless shelves and be discovered by readers globally.
What You Can Do Now
- Share your book’s Amazon link on social media.
- Use KDP’s built-in promotion tools to boost visibility.
- Set it up in multiple languages and markets (.co.uk for English, .it for Italian, and so on).
My Book Is Live!
✨ “Nothing is Impossible If You Want to Reach the Top of the Hill” on Amazon ✨
Click the link to discover if this story speaks to your heart—I’d be truly honoured if it does.
Why You Should Jump In, Too
- Cost-effective: No hidden fees, no pricey ISBNs—just your words.
- Empowering: You’re in control of your artistic vision—from cover to price.
- Instant global distribution: Reach readers in dozens of countries in days, not months.
Amazon’s KDP is hands-down the fastest, easiest, and most rewarding way to get your voice out there. If I can do it, so can you—and I’d be thrilled to cheer you on.
Here’s to your own self-publishing adventure—may your words soar as high as you’ve dared to dream.
Last updates !
The Pose That Hurt: How I Reclaimed My Body and Voice Through Life Modeling
on amazon.com/author/laurabernardeschinelson
When I first stepped into an art studio in London in my fifties, I wasn’t looking for transformation.
I was simply answering an ad for a life model. I was older than most models. My body had known years of movement, grief, motherhood, silence, and survival. But when I disrobed and stood in stillness—bare, uncertain, utterly exposed—something ancient stirred in me. Something fierce. Something free.
That first pose hurt.
Not just in the muscles. Not just in the spine. It hurt because it asked me to stay—in my body, in my skin, in my story—without performing or escaping. And for the first time in a long time, I did.
That’s how the seed for my book, The Pose That Hurt: Becoming an Artist Through Life Modeling and Rebellion, was planted.
Life Modeling as Rebellion
Most people imagine life modeling as passive: holding still while others draw you. But there is nothing passive about being seen without hiding.
As I continued modeling — first in art schools, then in private sessions, outdoors in gardens, or in cold rooms filled with charcoal dust—I realised I wasn’t just a body being drawn. I was a life being witnessed.
Every pose unearthed memories. My body held decades of language that had never been spoken: childhood, exile, abuse, ageing, longing, and quiet joy. Each stillness became a kind of poetry. Each ache became a metaphor.
Life modelling became my rebellion against erasure—of age, of femininity, of vulnerability, of time.
Why Did I Write This Book?
I wrote The Pose That Hurt because I couldn’t find my story anywhere else.
The art world honours muses but rarely asks them to speak. Memoirs are often about reinvention, youth, and redemption. But what about becoming something beautiful through stillness, endurance, and creative witness?
This book is my answer. A collection of lyrical, fiercely honest essays drawn from my life as a model, artist, and woman reclaiming her voice.
In its pages, I explore:
- Aging without apology
- The boundaries we draw to protect ourselves as foreigners—and the ones we dare to cross
- The subtle revolution of being seen
- The healing that art offers when language falls short
A Creative Life After 50
I came to writing and visual art late. But something about beginning “late” has liberated me. It means I carry no illusions. It means my art doesn’t seek approval—it seeks truth.
And in the spaces where I was once silent, I now write. In the places I once shrank, I now stand still and let others draw what they will.
Through Amazon’s self-publishing platform, I was able to bring this book into the world on my own terms. No waiting. No gatekeepers. Just me, my voice, and the courage to press “publish.”
For Anyone Who Feels Invisible
If you’ve ever felt like your story didn’t matter…
If you’ve ever been made to feel too old, too soft, too scarred, too strange to be seen…
If you’ve ever longed to return to your body without fear or shame…
This book is for you.
“We are not just models.
We are not just muses.
We are not just bodies drawn by others.
We are stories waiting to be told.”
🌿 Where to Read More
📘 The Pose That Hurt: Becoming an Artist Through Life Modeling and Rebellion is available on Amazon here:
👉 amazon.com/author/laurabernardeschinelson
💻 You can also explore my art and essays at
👉 www.lauraartist68.uk
Thank you for witnessing my story.
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson is a life model, visual artist, and writer based in the UK. She writes about embodiment, ageing, solitude, and the power of stillness. Her work invites others to reclaim their own voice—one pose at a time.
New Book published on 11th December 2025 on amazon
by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson, mixed media artist and author
Yesterday , 11 December 2025 , I clicked “publish” on Amazon and sent my newest book into the world: Aging Earth, Aging Self.
I feel equal parts proud, nervous, and wildly curious about where it will land—because this book is not only about climate change and not only about aging. It’s about the strange, honest place where the two meet. Where your body changes and the planet changes, and you start noticing that both transformations can feel… personal.
This is a reflective, grounded book built from 25 clear, non-poetic chapters. No haze, no fog-machine metaphors. Just real life, real emotion, and real information—because I wanted it to be readable even on a tired day, even when your nervous system is already doing gymnastics.
Why I decided to write this now
Because I’m watching climate change shape the way we age.
Not in a distant, abstract “one day” way. In the daily way: sleep disruption during heat waves, anxiety spikes before storms, and that heavy fatigue when humidity clings to you like an unwanted opinion.
And for many of us—especially women navigating hormonal changes—these environmental pressures don’t arrive alone. They land on top of menopause, stress, caregiving, identity shifts, grief, reinvention, and the ongoing work of staying resilient.
I wrote Aging Earth, Aging Self because I wanted to connect the dots between:
- the aging body (hormones, sleep, mood, energy)
- the aging mind (anxiety, cognition, emotional regulation)
- and the changing environment (heat, storms, humidity, instability)
Not to scare anyone. But to name what many of us already feel.
How environment shapes emotion (a little science, the useful kind)
One of the most important threads in the book is the relationship between weather and the nervous system.
When temperatures climb, our bodies work harder to regulate internal balance. Heat can increase irritability, reduce sleep quality, and raise stress—partly because it pushes the body into a constant state of adjustment. Add humid air (which makes cooling through sweating less effective), and you get a recipe for exhaustion that feels emotional as well as physical.
Storms and sudden weather shifts can also be activating. Our brains are pattern-recognition machines: when the environment becomes unstable, the nervous system often reacts as if something is “coming”. That can show up as restlessness, worry, difficulty concentrating, or a sense of low-grade alarm.
This is not weakness. It’s biology.
In the book, I explore how environmental factors like heat, storms, humidity, and ongoing instability can influence:
- mood and irritability
- sleep and recovery
- focus and memory
- emotional resilience
- the intensity of anxiety
I’m not trying to turn readers into climate scientists. I’m offering a lens: if you understand what your body is responding to, you can meet yourself with more clarity and compassion.
From Italy to the UK: memory, identity, and weather as a companion
This story is also personal.
I draw from childhood memories in Italy—textures, light, seasons that felt reliable—and then from adult life in the UK, where transitions (and weather) can feel like quick costume changes.
Over time, I’ve learnt that identity is not a fixed portrait. It’s closer to mixed media: layered, revised, sometimes scraped back, sometimes rebuilt. My life has included big shifts—moving countries, changing work, navigating stress, and learning myself again inside a changing body.
And always, the background music of the world: the climate, the seasons, the air.
Why mixed media belongs in this conversation
I love painting in mixed media because it lets me tell the truth with texture.
I’m drawn to rough materials found on beaches or in woods—and yes, even coffee grounds (delicious in a cup, enchanting on a surface). These materials carry the memory of where they come from. They’re not polite. They don’t pretend the world is smooth.
A piece of driftwood, a fragment of sea-worn plastic, sand, bark, rust, paper, ash—these are not just “supplies”. They’re evidence. They’re symbols of fragility and survival at the same time.
In Aging Earth, Aging Self, the book ends with a curated art portfolio: mixed-media works addressing climate change, environmental fragility, and our human connection to nature. Each piece is part of a larger conversation about responsibility, adaptation, and hope.
Because sometimes a painting says what a paragraph can’t.
What I hope readers feel while reading
I hope this book feels like sitting with someone who won’t dramatize your experience—but won’t minimize it either.
I hope readers feel:
- seen in their anxiety (without being defined by it)
- steadier in their changing body
- more informed about how weather can influence emotion
- inspired to notice the parallels between personal repair and planetary repair
- invited into responsibility without losing hope
Aging can be challenging. Climate change can be frightening. But understanding the connection between them can also create strength—because awareness gives you options. It gives you language. It gives you a way to respond instead of only reacting.
If you’re curious…
Aging Earth, Aging Self is now available on Amazon (published 11 December 2025). If you read it, I’d love to hear what chapter stayed with you most—because I wrote it to be lived with, not just finished.
Here the links on amazon.co.uk
And if you want to explore more of my work, my exhibitions, and my mixed-media practice, you can find me here:
Thank you for being part of this journey—with all its layers, weather, grit, beauty, and (occasionally) coffee grounds.
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson artworld and travels 