Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabelle McGee.
Isabelle, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always been a creative person. Growing up I was constantly drawing, painting, writing, playing music, and spending my summers at art camp. Creativity was just how I was wired from the beginning.
As I got older I developed a deep love for reading, and somewhere along the way reading turned into writing. But it was not until I lost both of my parents, my father at 21 and my mother at 22, that writing became something I truly needed. In 2022, as a way of coping with grief, I started putting words down without any real intention behind it. What came out of that eventually became Chasing 25, a collection of lessons I learned by twenty five, written from the other side of some of the hardest years of my life. That book is currently in its final editing phase with an expected release in September 2026.
That process made me realize that writing was not just a coping mechanism for me, it was a calling. I kept going, and Bayou Bound Books grew out of that. My published work so far includes Prompt to Grow and Get Out of the Swamp, both rooted in mental health and personal growth.
My heart and my brand though are rooted in Southern Gothic fiction and that is where I am headed. I am just getting started.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Honestly nothing worth doing ever comes without its struggles and Bayou Bound Books has been no exception.
I officially formed my LLC on May 17th, 2025 and spent almost a full year building the business on the side while bartending full time at night. Then on May 5th, 2026 I walked away from bartending for good and Bayou Bound Books became my sole focus. My fiance has been incredibly supportive in making that leap possible.
The real challenges though have not been the ones people talk about. Yes, you can Google things and watch YouTube videos and find almost anything if you look hard enough. But there is a massive difference between watching a video and having someone actually guide you through the things that matter. Honestly, I wish there were more local resources for entrepreneurs in this area, something like a small business starter pack that actually walks you through everything step by step. Establishing Bayou Bound Books as an LLC was one of the most challenging parts of this journey for me, solely because of the lack of straightforward resources and clear information. The behind the scenes of running a small business, knowing when to hire someone versus figuring it out yourself, understanding the legal and financial side of things, none of that comes with a manual. There are still things I am navigating right now that feel bigger than me, and I have had to learn almost entirely on my own.
Being a young business owner who also taps into a deeply emotional and personal headspace to create adds another layer to all of it. Some days running a business and protecting your mental space feel like they are pulling in completely opposite directions. But I remind myself that everything is “figureoutable.” I am still here, still learning, and still going.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an author and a mental health advocate and honestly those two things are inseparable when it comes to what I do and why I do it.
Right now my published work includes two journals, each built around 52 weekly prompts designed to promote mental health and healing. They are intentionally structured around a week rather than a day because I wanted to remove the pressure and shame that comes with daily journaling. One prompt, one week, no guilt if life gets in the way. In September 2026 I will be releasing Chasing 25, a deeply personal book written from the other side of some of the hardest years of my life. That release feels like my pivoting point.
My brand, Bayou Bound Books, is ultimately rooted in Southern Gothic horror. But mental health advocacy will always come first for me, more than any genre ever could. The way I plan to blend the two is by writing horror characters who carry real, underlying mental illness. Whether that is debilitating anxiety, depression, PTSD, or schizophrenia. I believe that is what makes something truly scary, not just the supernatural but the very human darkness that lives alongside it.
As a bridge into that genre I launched The Bayou Archive, a monthly Southern Gothic short story paired with an authentic Louisiana recipe available as a digital download. It is helping me build that world while staying true to everything I care about.
What sets me apart is the specificity of it all. I am not just writing about the bayou, I am from it. I grew up in South Louisiana where the swamps are not a backdrop, they are a way of life. That history, that landscape, and that culture run through everything I write. The South carries a heavy, haunted history that people are genuinely drawn to and I want to be the person writing from inside that world, not just looking at it from the outside.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The industry is shifting faster than most people realize and honestly I think we are at a genuinely important crossroads.
The most obvious thing is that self publishing is winning. Self publishing is growing, and more authors are choosing the economics of indie publishing over the prestige of a traditional deal. That is a big deal and I think it is only going to accelerate.
Audiobooks are exploding right now and I do not think that is slowing down anytime soon. People’s attention spans are getting shorter and their schedules are getting busier and audiobooks fit into a life in a way that sitting down with a physical book sometimes cannot. I think within the next five to ten years having an audiobook version of your work is going to be as standard as having an ebook.
Then there is AI. I have a lot of feelings about this one. I think AI is an incredibly powerful tool when it is used the right way. For me the line is this: using AI to assist a creator is very different from using AI to replace one. When it comes to art, writing, and storytelling the soul of the work has to come from somewhere real. The publishing industry is already facing serious questions about AI training on copyrighted material and what is actually protectable going forward. I think the ethical conversation around AI in publishing is one of the most important ones our industry needs to have and we are not having it loudly enough yet.
What I believe is that readers are going to start feeling the difference between something that was made and something that was survived. The writers who are creating from real human experience, from specific places and specific grief and specific histories, are going to matter more not less. That is what I am betting on anyway.
Pricing:
- Prompt To Grow $14.99
- Get Out Of The Swamp $14.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bayouboundbooks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bayou_bound_books?utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1D8VvjgP6z/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@bayouboundbooks?si=4Xo9ImxpRmwkv26D
