Kobo Writing Life Podcast

This episode features Mark Dawson, the bestselling UK author of the John Milton and Soho Noir series. Mark has become a go-to expert on Facebook ads and building your mailing list, so we dig into each of these topics and more. Listen as Mark and KWL Manager Christine Munroe discuss:  In 2001/2002, his first novel was published traditionally in the UK and Russia. Mark secured nice advances, but no...

Marie Force, New York Times , USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than 40 contemporary romance novels was recently in Toronto and spent an evening with Kobo, Harlequin and an intimate group of lucky fans to celebrate Marie. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed Marie in front of the group. In the conversation, Mark and Marie discuss: How Gansett Island...

Kelley Armstrong, New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong is interviewed by Kobo's Nora Parker about the hot serialized summer release CITY OF THE LOST . In the discussion, Nora and Kelley discuss:   How Kelley has always enjoyed the serialized format and how the project came about at the request of her Canadian publisher The changes required to the finished manuscript in order to optim...

Christine Munroe interviews #1 NYT bestselling author Barbara Freethy in this episode, which is filled with stories about Barbara's publishing journey and great advice for new authors: How Barbara came to publishing as a voracious lifelong reader, then decided to try writing in her late twenties. How she carved time out when working and raising small kids. She dedicated small chunks of very focuse...

While every author has heard the age old advice that it's important to have a professional looking and beautiful cover that appeals to the target audience, not as much attention has been paid to the blurb, description or "sales copy" that helps inspire the potential reader to click that all important BUY button. This interview with Bryan Cohen, author of the TED SAVES THE WORLD series, podcast hos...

Episode 39 features the one and only... Bella Andre! Bella is a self-publishing superstar, one of the original KWL beta testers when we started off in 2012, NYT and USA Today bestselling Romance and New Adult author, and all-around lovely and fun person to talk to. Christine Munroe hosts this episode and chats with Bella about her publishing journey, including ( listen up! ) her secrets for succes...

For this episode, we focus on small presses and the business side of publishing. US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Angela Bole, the Executive Director of IBPA (the Independent Book Publishers Association), about everything from distribution to metadata. As a bonus, we include excellent advice from Kobo's Canadian Merchandiser, Sarah Smith-Eivemark, who recently joined Kobo from a small press....

This week's podcast is essential listening for all authors: Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware is joining us to share her most important advice for how writers can avoid being scammed. Writer Beware was co-founded by Victoria and Ann Crispin in 1998, is sponsored by SFWA , and its mission is to "track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and...

KWL  Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Nancy L. Baumann about Bookarma , a platform that allows authors to leverage the community in their social media endeavors. In the interview Mark and Nancy discuss: How Bookarma, an international marketing platform, allows you to break beyond your own personal marketing network and allows you to reach further The user friendly manner of creating an account, a...

KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Carla King, a travel writer and self-publishing expert. Tune in to hear them discuss: What self-publishing was like when Carla started out in 1995. Self-Publishing Boot Camp, the program of books and workshops that Carla co-founded and continues to manage. Balancing writing travel books and how-to guides. Tips for effective social media presence. Highligh...

KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. They discuss: *National Novel Writing Month, the creative challenge in which authors write 50,000 words during the month of November, or 1,667 words per day. *The origins of NaNoWriMo, which began with 21 people in 1999 and has grown to support hundreds of thousands of writers each year. *Why November? If y...

This episode, recorded in collaboration with the Northern Colorado Writers Conference, opens in a conversation with Rich Keller, Assistant Director and Electronics Media Manager of Northern Colorado Writers, as well as an author, editor and the publisher of Wooden Pants Publishing. Rich talks about: the use of humor in his writing and publishing and how specific humor can be for different audience...

Director of Global Merchandising at Kobo, Nathan Maharaj interviews Dan Rubinstein, author of Born To Walk: The Transformative Power of A Pedestrian Act . Nathan and Dan discuss: ·          The fascinating manner by which we are pre-disposed to bipedalism ·          How, when he travels, Nathan prefers walking to get to his destination rather than figure out foreign transit systems ·          The...

Kobo Writing Life  Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Alex P. Berg , author of the " Daggers and Steel " sci-fi mystery series. In the interview Mark and Alex talk about: Meeting at the  Superstars Writing Seminars in Colorado Springs, CO. What Alex calls "The Superstars Effect" How, when Alex had finished his novel and started querying agents and publishers, he ended up getting nowhere fast. That...

Mark Lefebvre,  Kobo Writing Life Director, in conversation with Dean Wesley Smith, a USA Today Bestselling author of books in multiple genres including Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers and Westerns. Currently producing novels in four different series, Smith is also the co-publisher of WMG Publishing along with his partner Kristine Kathryn Rusch and runs a series of workshops designed to help w...

KWL  Director Mark Lefebvre interviews  Kristine Kathryn Rusch , an award-winning writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance, at Superstars Writing Seminars . Apart from her decades of writing and editing experience which includes being published in 14 different countries in 13 languages, Rusch co-runs a publishing business ( WMG Publishing ) with her partner Dean Wesley Smith and pro...

Kobo Writing Life  director Mark Lefebvre recently attended the 2015  Superstars Writing Seminars ( Teaching you the business of being a writer ) in Colorado Springs, CO. During the conference, he had a chance to interview several of the faculty and guest lecturers. Presented here is Mark's interview with Superstars Faculty member James A. Owen a comic book illustrator, publisher and writer who is...

In the fall of 2014, Louise Penny visited Kobo's home office in Toronto and was interviewed by Toronto editor and book enthusiast Jen Knoch for a special  Kobo in Conversation video. Introduced by Kobo's Director of Communications, Tracy Nesdoly, Knoch interviews Penny in front of a live audience about her writing, followed by a Q&A from the audience. In the discussion, Knoch and Penny discuss: Th...

Kobo  and  Kobo Writing Life have long been known for being open, social and collaborative. And this episode of the Kobo Writing Life podcast is no exception. In fact, to start 2015 off on the right foot, we thought it would be useful, in our ongoing communication with authors regarding the importance of making your work available on multiple platforms, and not just on Kindle, to help with that. T...

This podcast includes a roundtable discussion with Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life as well as three other Kobo employees (Bessie, Camille and Shayna) who participated in  NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2014. The round table discussion includes the following:   ·          Camille talks about the fact that during last year's attempt, she wrote about 25,000 words and that this...

This podcast includes the full and unabridged audio feed of the Kobo in Conversation interview with  Kathy Reichs conducted by  Bob Ramsay and hosted by Kobo's Senior Director of Communications Tracy Nesdoly. The interview covers the following: The "Big Bang Break" that happens in an investigation – that one moment when realization explodes and the search hurdles forward on the right trajectory. T...

Listen in as KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews nonfiction author Michael Rank, whose titles include HISTORY'S WORST DICTATORS and FROM MUHAMMED TO BURJ KHALIFA: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History. Mark and Michael discuss Michael's podcast,  History in Five Minutes , self-publishing from a nonfiction author's perspective, and the challenges and rewards of translating self-pub...

Rainbow Rowell  and  Faith Erin Hicks met in person for the first time at Kobo 's home office in Toronto in May 2014 and were interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre about their individual works as well as the forthcoming collaborative graphic novel they are creating together and which will be coming from  First Second books in 2016. The interview includes the following: ·         ...

In the latest episode of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, we welcome NYT and USA Today bestselling author Diane Capri. KWL Content Manager Christina Potter and US Manager Christine Munroe speak with Diane - who offered jokingly to change her name to Christine for the purposes of this episode - about her daily writing life, the benefits of collaboration and mentorship, strategies for selling well on...

In our latest podcast, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews bestselling author and self-publishing expert Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela has written the book on self-publishing,  WHAT KIND OF LOSER INDIE PUBLISHES, AND HOW CAN I BE ONE, TOO?  In the summer of 2013, she embarked on a 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, which she organized herself (with the help of her supportive family), so she ha...