SPA Girls Podcast

Jacob McMillen is a professional copywriter, content strategist & freelancing coach and he's here to share how we can use the power of clever copywriting to connect with our readers and build sales. We often struggle with what to write in our newsletters and social media posts in a way that's authentic and reaches the right readers. And then there's the copywriting skill needed for our book blurbs...

Award-winning author Jayne Castel writes epic Historical and Fantasy Romance. Her vibrant characters, richly researched historical settings and action-packed adventure romance transport readers to forgotten times and imaginary worlds. Jayne is the author of a number of best-selling series. In love with all things Scottish, she writes romances set in both Dark Ages and Medieval Scotland. When she's...

If you've been considering taking the plunge into Amazon's new serials platform, Kindle Vella (and yes, Wendy asked if they'd named it after her), then this is the episode for you! We talked to Virginia Milner, the principal product manager for Kindle Direct Publishing, and leader of the Kindle Vella project, all about the new platform. She explained how Kindle Vella - which launched in July 2021...

We're delighted to welcome back Roseanne Cheng of Evergreen Authors to the SPA for this special two-part interview. In this episode we follow on from Roseanne's approach outlined in EP306 (go listen if you haven't already!) This is another power-packed show with tips that blew our minds! We cover: - Pinterest marketing secrets for authors - Why doing Less is better - How to create your own marketi...

Today we welcome Roseanne Cheng of Evergreen Authors to the SPA and we're going to talk about all about Book Marketing with Joy - especially for the reluctant or overwhelmed author. How do you decide what to do when people tell you to "Do All The Things"?! When the hustle is just too much, Roseanne has guidance for what works and what doesn't. Roseanne, and her business partner Josie, run Evergree...

This is our second podcast with Veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, who spent seventeen years of his almost 25-year law enforcement career as a detective. Today we talk to Adam about the police duty belt (gun belt), and what they carry on it. Adam goes into detail about each item and explains their use and when it would be needed. So strap in (see what I did there) for an amazingly informati...

Rachael Herron joins us in the SPA today from MIQ headquarters in New Zealand, where we helped her pass the time while she was confined to her room in quarantine... She talks to us about her writing journey, how she has created a career with multiple genres, how she deals with procrastination and blocks in her writing, and the main differences she sees between having books traditionally published...

Are you bored, or disheartened, with your writing?  Many of us hit the wall of blahhsss or burnout. When persevering and grinding through it just doesn't work, sometimes you really need to shake things up. From writing in a completely different genre, to rekindling your creative spark, we discuss how to cleanse your writing palate. Soon you'll move from the wahs to the wahoos!   ❤️ Learn to Self-p...

Cozy Mysteries are hugely popular with readers and authors alike, and Nancy J. Cohen is with us today to share her fantastic advice for writing the successful cozy. If you've wondered whether writing a cozy is for you, then this episode will answer that question! Alongside her fiction, Nancy has also written the acclaimed "how to" for cozies "Writing The Cozy Mystery", so we're thrilled she agreed...

Conventional wisdom says "bigger is better" for books, but is that really true? In this episode, we discuss what different word counts and book sizes mean for successful publishers today, how you can use different sizes to your advantage, and how to find your sweet spot. The Right Size isn't a black and white thing - in fact, there are 50 shades of writing (size) to embrace!   There is NO ONE RULE...

Join Shar, Wendy, Cher and Trudi for the 300th EPISODE of the SPA Girls Podcast! We talk about having pride in your work and being proud of everything you've achieved, and then how to persevere in the face of all the odds! This is a fun episode where we open up about some of the things we've been through over the last six years, and give our best advice for anyone looking to self publish!   

Marketing doesn't have to be Big Bucks spent on advertising, in fact some of the best marketing you can do is free or low cost. If you're just starting out there probably isn't much left in the budget for paid marketing. We've been there! In this episode, we've dug deep to find all the tools we used instead of heavy investments—and some we still do. One thing to note, you'll need to invest somethi...

We've got a very special treat for you this episode - the incredibly talented and savvy, Ms Lucy Lennox, is in the house! Lucy saw extraordinary success straight out the gate, from when she first published her MM romance, Borrowing Blue, in November 2016. In fact, by her second month of publishing, Lucy was earning five figures per month! Since then, Lucy's books have soared the bestseller charts...

Dive into this amazing episode with six-figure author Fallyn Briggs, where she discusses the hot top of writing to trend v writing to market! She has spent most of her life within the pages of a book and now she is thrilled to have the opportunity to invite people into the worlds she creates. When Fallyn is not writing sweet romances, she is traveling, eating too much cheesecake, and thinking abou...

In this episode of the SPA Girls Podcast we talk about emotional wounds, and why they're so important in developing your characters, and creating an awesome story! From possible wounds that you could give your characters, to how those wounds will develop the story, and how you can use them to amp up the tension, and create a story that your readers will love - we talk about it all!  

Celeste Barclay joins us to discuss finding your village and what doing so did for her. Celeste has published an incredible 27 books since 2017 primarily in historical romance. Her popular series includes the medieval The Clan Sinclair novels and The Highland Ladies series which has an impressive 15 individual books and counting.   Before becoming a full-time author, Celeste was a Social Studies a...

This episode we're back "on the couch" with the SPA Girls to discuss tools and resources we've used to cope with the ever changing climate of self-publishing, AND those big life events that we all face at times. As always, we share our own experiences and hard-won tips for rolling with the punches and utilizing change as a tool for growth and learning. 🌸 SpaGirlsPodcast.com ✔️ Subscribe to our fr...

Today we have a special guest who delves into abundance mindset for authors... USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR RENEE ROSE loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero! She's sold over a million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. Her books have been featured in USA Today's Happily Ever After and Popsugar. Named Eroticon USA's Next Top Erotic Author in 2013, she has also won Spunky and...

It's a heated debate that occurs regularly in the bars and cafes of self-publishing-land - should you go exclusive to Amazon and get the benefits of Kindle Unlimited, or should you go wide, and get the benefits of being able to upload your books on retailers like Kobo, Apple Books and Nook?  There are arguments both ways, and in this episode of the SPA Girls Podcast, we take you through all the pr...

We absolutely have more than 9 tools we could recommend becasue we don't all use the same ones. Listen to find out the ones we can't do without and who uses the others and why. Cheryl has a few homemade spreadsheets and tables – no surprises there – which she may be inclined to share. 😉 Resources mentioned: Plottr - https://plottr.com PromoRepublic - deal via AppSumo https://appsumo.com/ Cher's P...

Getting edits and critiques is part of every author's career, but sometimes it can feel worse than getting stung by a wasp on your eyeball. (Like directly in the middle of your eyeball. By a really big wasp. Where it would really, really hurt.)  So that's what we're talking about this week in the SPA - how our thoughts on critiques have changed over the years, how we deal with the pangs when someo...

Writing bestselling romance with incredible character chemistry is something that NYT Bestseller Annika Martin excels in, and today she joins us in the SPA to give ALL THE TIPS! Annika, who also publishes romantic suspense as Carolyn Crane, has seen incredible success writing two books a year (on average) and publishing wide. This episode, she reveals her plotting and writing process , getting the...

We have a terrible confession to make. We have no idea what we're doing when it comes to Instagram (well, Shar does, but the rest of us have no idea) and TikTok.  So we got in an expert. Someone who could tell us everything we ever wanted to know about how to post on social media to engage with readers and develop a deeper connection. (Because that's what it's about!)  Anne Malcom is an awesome Ki...

While Trudi is an outright plotter, Cheryl considers herself a hybrid and Wendy is a confirmed pantser. Shar isn't with us today but we know she's tried it all! But is this a hard and fast thing? You'll find out when and how we plot and the struggles involved with pantsing. The differences intrigue us and we think you'll agree there is a wide scope to fit in either camp or somewhere in between. If...

Resistance. Fear. Procrastination. Avoidance. You name it, most of us writers struggle with these at some point in their career (or day!). This episode we cover everything from the struggle to finish a manuscript through to fear of publishing, and everything in between.  Check out the the full show notes at:  🌸  SpaGirlsPodcast.com ✔️ Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resource...