SPA Girls Podcast

USA Today Bestseller, Sadie King has grown her publishing business from zero to six figures in less than four years, writing short instalove romances. Knowing her reader’s journey is vital to her success. In this episode we discuss Sadie’s: short romance publishing strategy rapid release strategy targeted wordcounts for Amazon Kindle’s 60m, 90m and 2 hour reads categories Techniques for writ...

This week we take an in-depth look at author brands – starting with what branding actually means, what your branding should look like as an author, and then how you can make sure your author brand is the best it can be. We talk about how newbie authors can set up a brand for the first time, and how more experienced authors can reassess your current brand and make any necessary changes. ...

A New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Alessandra Torre has written twenty-three novels, including multiple New York Times bestsellers. She is also the creator of Alessandra Torre Ink – an authors community and online school with over 20,000 members. She is also the founder of INKERS CON , an annual authors conference. A self-publishing advocate, Alessandra...

Today we’re joined by two dynamic guests – author Emilia Rose and Michael Evans, who, along with Emilia’s husband Sean Patnode, founded the REAM subscription service for authors. We cover a LOT in this episode – from “what is the Creator Economy” to making subscriptions work for authors, so settle in for a great episode! We first interview Emilia mid-2022 where she shared how she built...

We know there are still 5.5 months to go until the end of the year! But!! We think it’s important to start getting organized for the final push. Ads, blurbs, covers. In the SPA today we talk about the things you need to focus on! 💗  The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 t...

This week we go in-depth with New York Times, USA Today, international and #1 Amazon bestselling author of new adult and contemporary romance, Ana Huang. Aside from being very successful (check out her Twisted series!) Ana is a super smart and hardworking author with a tonne of great advice that she generously shared with us in this information-packed episode.  We range in topics from marketing, t...

In this episode, we’re looking at failure and putting a different slant on it. By changing the way you think of failing at a certain thing and thinking of it as simply a part of learning. You are future proofing the way you react to any result. Fail = First Attempt In Learning. Don’t measure yourself by how others are doing. They had their own journey and would have failed at something along the w...

Back in 1996, author Debra Dixon published Goal, Motivation and Conflict and ever since the letters GMC have been tattooed on our brains. This simple, yet powerful, concept is the driving force behind writing compelling fiction and building strong plots and character growth. This episode we cover the differing GMC’s found in different genres, including romance. Enjoy! Further reading: http:/...

Today we talk to the amazingly talented author Lynn Raye Harris about series. Everything from multiple connected to branding. This is a must listen podcast! Lynn is a Southern girl, military wife, wannabe cat lady, and horse lover. She’s also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the HOSTILE OPERATIONS TEAM Ⓡ SERIES of military romances, and 20 books about sexy billionaires...

It’s celebration time! We’ve reached another milestone here in the SPA – FOUR HUNDRED EPISODES!  And that’s 400 weekly episodes with no repeats, no “best of”s, and no stopping during the eight years we’ve been doing this. Phew! *wipes brow*  This episode we’re looking back on that time, trying to figure out why we’re still here, and w...

Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thrillers (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, Oakland, and she’s taught writing extension workshops at both UC Berkeley and Stanford. She is a proud member of the  NaNoWriMo Writer’s Bo...

How do you market a book that doesn’t quite fit a genre – or is a mash up of more than one genre? We talk on the SPA all the time about the importance of knowing what genre/sub genre you’re writing and what reader expectations for that genre are. But what happens if you’ve written a spectacular mashup of genres? Or you wanted to write a romance cross memoir? There’s no doubt it can be...

Author Rebecca Hefner is passionate about marketing audio books wide. After several years of struggling early on, her audiobook sales now surpass her ebook sales most months. As Rebecca says, “I had an excruciating learning curve with wide audio and want to save other authors from this torture!” She shares her best practices and tips for wide audiobook success in this must-listen episode. Download...

If you’ve been working on amping up your characters and writing a more compelling novel, this is the episode for you. We talk to Matt Bird – the Amazon bestselling author of  The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers and  The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love – about characters and other secrets involv...

Erin Marcus is a business and life coach who helps authors take charge and get the results they’ve always wanted in their careers.  Erin says she loves helping people take action they didn’t think possible, do things they didn’t think they could do, and succeed beyond what they dared to dream – and that’s what this episode is all about! Having made the successful leap from corpor...

This is a really important discussion for writer at all stages of their careers. Brenna has experienced publishing highs and has also dealt with the darker side of the writer’s journey. Her candour and courage discussing some difficult topics in this interview made it a very humbling experience for us, and we truly appreciate Brenna’s openness in wanting to help her fellow authors. From mindset an...

Today in the SPA we’re covering genre expectations for readers of romance and it’s subgenres and mystery. All are our opinion based on decades of reading and 20+ years writing romance and it’s various subgenres. It can be a bit messy and confusing and it’s subjective. But it’s also important to know the genre expectations for the “wrong” answers more so than the right. So let us help you define wh...

Skye MacKinnon is a USA Today and International Bestselling Author whose books are filled with strong heroines who don’t have to choose. She embraces her Scottishness with fantastical Scottish settings and a dash of mythology, no matter if she’s writing about aliens in kilts, Celtic gods, cat shifters, or the streets of Edinburgh. She’s also doing great with German translations a...

USA today bestselling author of Western Romance, Erin Wright, has worked every job under the sun, including library director, barista, teacher, website designer, and ranch hand, helping brand cattle, before settling into the career she’s always dreamed about: Author.  Despite starting out in KU in 2016, she went wide on all platforms in 2017 when she discovered she couldn’t get her books in l...

This episode is for everyone who struggles with paid advertising!   Today we’re joined by romance author Vanessa Vale . When her facebook ad account was shut down, Vanessa had to learn how to sell books WITHOUT paid ads and she shares how she came up with her solid marketing strategies in the episode. She not only writes amazing books, but also runs the Thrifty Tips For Authors group on...

In today’s podcast we talk all things small town romance with the wonderful Kait Nolan. Kait is a  USA Today  best selling, RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author of smart, sassy, small town Southern romance. She calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin’, and can wield a ‘Bless your heart’ like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements. She believes in love, l...

The number one thing you need to produce as an author is WRITTEN words, but sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do. So when words are hard to come by, when you’re avoiding the blank screen or finding yourself doing housework for hours instead of sitting your butt on the office chair (or couch) with your laptop, you need a cheerleader, an advocate, and champion… a human cattle prod, i...

Do it the easy way! Award-winning USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brighton Walsh spent a decade as a professional photographer before taking her storytelling in a different direction and reconnecting with her first love—writing.  After getting a publishing deal, Brighton went on to become a hybrid author and is now mainly indie. She started on TikTok in January 2022 and used m...

Ten proven productivity hacks for self-publishers, brought to you by the letter “P” 1. Planning – Make a plan and stick to it 2. Preparation – know what you’re going to do, and when you’re going to do it, and then stick to it. 3. Procrastination – look at whether it’s actually positive or negative procrastination, if it’s negative, look at what stories you’re telling...

Alpha, Beta, Tortured or Bad Boy? How do you like your heroes? This week Cheryl, Wendy and Shar discuss how to write a great hero (in their opinion) complete with controversial examples! In particular, we cover: Character Connection Creating Conflict from Character Main Characters Should Be Equals Characters Should Have Complementary Strengths  Hero should Show Vulnerability Different hero ty...