SPA Girls Podcast

Wondering how to write a great paranormal romance? What’s the difference between paranormal and monster romance and what are readers looking for? And how to connect with readers on tiktok and other social media? This is a replay of a fun episode we recorded a few years ago with the awesome author, Lillian Lark. It’s well worth a listen no matter what genre you’re writing! About L...

Tired of chasing the “Amazon Algorithm”? We’re delighted to welcome Johnny B. Truant to the SPA. Johnny is here to discuss the alternatives to “rapid release / fast publishing” mindset to one of an artisanal author and publisher. We always try to emphasise there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to approach your self-publishing business and writing, and we think this conversation and approach is rea...

Keri Arthur is a NYT Bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Initially traditionally published, she is now fully self-published, and in this episode she talks to us about that transition and shares tips and processes from her writing journey. This is a classic replay, originally recorded in 2020. About Keri Arthur Keri Arthur , the author of the New York Times bestselling  Rile...

USA Today Bestseller, Erin Wright, is the Queen of Publishing Wide and shares with us fantastic advice on: direct sales, AI audio and human narration, AI translations, woo commerce v shopify, kickstarter and platform specific tips. About Erin Wright USA Today Bestselling author Erin Wright has worked every job under the sun, including library director, barista, teacher, website designer, and ranch...

BEST SELLING ROMANCE AUTHOR JAY HOGAN is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. This is a fantastic episode, well worth a replay, with Jay’s unique insights into writing MM romance, marketing, craft and the writing life. About Jay Heart, Humour, & Keepin’ It Real Jay is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her books&#16...

We’re delighted to welcome USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Sierra Simone, to the SPA today! Our topic is “Writing To Your Own Beat” and Sierra generously shares how she’s leaned into writing forbidden, atmospheric romance that has built a rabid fandom. Resources mentioned: Becca Syme Better-Faster Academy with Becca Syme Kennedy Ryan Home – Kennedy Ryan Jennifer Lynn Ba...

This episode with Alaskan author, Tamsin Ley, is one of our most popular and well worth a replay! We talk about Tamsin’s writing journey, marketing strategies, paranormal romance quirks and her fantastic advice for all self-publishers. You can find Tamsin here: https://www.tamsinley.com/ Tamsin Ley builds worlds full of sexy heroes who don’t know they need a mate – that is, until...

Molly and Stephanie are two writing besties who launched an incredibly successful pen name, Hailey Shore, writing romantic comedy. Romantic Comedy | Hailey Shore Author This episode we dig into how they intentionally set out to create this pen, their advertising and launch strategy, things they’ve learned along the way, and a few snafus too. These two amazing authors are incredibly down to ea...

USA Today Bestseller, Janie Crouch, shares amazing tips and advice on how she built her readership, launched her romantic suspense, and how she approaches the Business of Authoring and separates it from the creative side of writing. This is a classic replay of a fantastic episode we recorded originally in April 2021. Janie’s writing journey began in the academic world. With a B.A. in English...

Who doesn’t want to hand off their least-favorite tasks to a trusted assistant? So how do you go about finding the right person? And what’s the cost? Kevin Tumlinson is an award-winning and bestselling author, known as “the Voice of Publishing” for his work as a podcaster and speaker, helping thousands of authors to start, build, and grow their author careers. Kevin is the Chief Brand...

We’re celebrating 500 episodes of the SPA Girls – from our baby podcaster days back in 2015 to today, we share some BEHIND THE MICS stories. How we met, why we started and why we’ve last this long (almost ten years so far, publishing an episode weekly). Plus our vision for the future and selfpublishing 🙂 Thank you so much to all those who’ve listened, downloaded, watched, reviewed, ch...

This episode features an interview with the incredible Ana Huang, multi-million copy bestselling author of new adult and contemporary romance! Ana is a super-smart, hardworking author with a tonne of great advice that she generously shared with SPA Girls Podcast listeners in this information-packed episode.  We range in topics from marketing, to TikTok, to branding, to translations, and everything...

What happens when your books don’t sell? When is it time to end a series? Or Pivot to a new penname? Wendy, Cheryl and Shar are here to give their advice and (strong!) opinions on when it’s the right time to pivot and the steps writers should take to make that decision. We’ve collectively written and published almost 200 books over the past 15 years, so we’ve experienced and witnessed a LOT of aut...

One of our most popular writing craft episodes deserves a replay: Writing the Black Moment with USA Today Bestseller, Rachel Bailey. NB re audio quality, we apologise that this isn’t to our current standard (despite new editing), but we’re sure you’ll find the content worth listening to nevertheless! A fantastic tutorial on how you can take your writing to the next level! In romance fiction, the&#...

Jennifer Hilt is a USA Today Bestselling author urban fantasy and non-fiction creator of The Trope Thesaurus series. She joins us this episode to really dig into how to use tropes in your fiction (no matter the genre), practical ways of applying them, how to use them to amp up the emotion and characterisation, and your characters’ GMC (goal, motivation and conflict). Jennifer gives lots of t...

🎙  Welcome back to the SPA Girls Podcast!  Today, we’re diving into one of the most powerful tools in your writer’s toolkit—story structure! Whether you’re a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between, a strong story structure is the secret sauce that keeps readers turning the pages. In this episode, we’ll dive into chapter “rules”, beats,scenes and sequences, how to craft a compell...

What ten editing tips should all authors know? We share in this classic replay of our interview with Editorial Consultant, Mary-Theresa Hussey. Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, Mary-Theresa (known as Matrice) worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued tr...

The SPA Girls get down and personal with a Q1 2025 catchup! From surprising successes, unexpected writing tips, hybrid publishing adventures to mindset resets, we Keep It Real in this wild author life. Links mentioned: Wendy Vella  website  , CA Phipps  website , Trudi Jaye  website www.theauthorhelper.com Vinci Books  https://www.vinci-books.com/ Dragonblade Publishing&#1...

A Classic Replay of an episode we recorded with the fabulous NYT Bestseller,  Laurelin Page , a few years ago. Her advice is just as relevant today to invigorate sales on your backlist books. Laurelin defines a backlist as a book that’s more than 12 months old. Top tips she discussed in this podcast CRAMMED with amazing advice: 1. Keep a calendar for the upcoming year and write in your...

Today we welcome back Tara Cremin, Director of Kobo Writing Life (KWL) to chat about exciting new opportunities for authors on Kobo and her very best tips and tricks for selling more books and finding your readers! Bio:  Tara is the Director of Kobo Writing Life (KWL), Kobo’s premier self-publishing platform, where she combines her passion for books with over a decade of expertise in indie pu...

Lucy Score is an instant #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of our all time favorite podcast guests (we’ve interviewed her twice now). She is a fantastic example of great branding, great writing, great team work and immense talent for connecting with her readers. In this Classic Replay episode (2021), Lucy talked about her wonderful facebook group, connecting with readers and why r...

If you’ve ever wondered about  Kickstarter  – where to start, if it’s right for you, and tips for running successful Kickstarter campaigns, this episode is for you! We’re delighted to have Oriana Leckert from Kickstarter here today to explain All Things Kickstarter for authors! What is it, and why should authors be using it? Oriana answers best practices for running a successful ca...

This is a SPA Girls Classic Replay of an amazing interview we did a few years ago with Becca Syme. Becca Syme holds a master’s degree in transformational leadership and has been a success coach (primarily utilizing the Gallup Strengthsfinder®) for over fifteen years. She’s coached over 5,000 individual authors and creatives through her  Write Better-Faster  and  Strengths for Writer...

Holly Roberds, spicy romance author and Booktok fav is here to tell us all about Building Fandoms and reaching Critical Mass with her publishing strategy.  From facebook ads, pinterest boards, to her readers group, Holly gives actionable tips you can apply to your own author career, today! “People crave identity, specialness and a place to belong.” ~ Holly Roberds Resources mentioned: Ana Hua...

Bella is a true Indie Superstar with more than 10 million books sold (so far!). We interviewed her when she visited New Zealand for the  Romance Writers of NZ  conference a few years ago and this is well worth a re-listen. Bella is an inspiration and talks about her path to self-publishing, how she made it as an Indie, and her advice for people aiming to follow in her footsteps… Bella An...