The Greatest Podcast in the Mulitverse

Most authors sell one book at a time. Andy Peloquin built a machine where every book sells every other book. With around 45 titles across six interconnected series, he's turned his backlist into a self-sustaining author business — where a new reader who starts with Darkblade or Queen of Thieves has to read five of his six series to get the full picture of his world. In this episode we get into the...

Michael Michel spent over 20 years building a fantasy world before publishing his first novel. When he finally did, it wasn't ads or algorithms that moved the needle. It was people. In this conversation, Michael breaks down how authentic relationships got him invited on writing retreats with some of the biggest names in indie fantasy, landed him spots in anthologies alongside Robin Hobb and Christ...

He built a platform, formed a readership and booked 20+ podcast stops for his debut novel before it was even finished. Here's exactly how he did it. Michael Vadney built his entire author platform from scratch with no book, no audience, and no connections. By launch day, he had a full virtual book tour lined up and a community behind him. In this episode, we break down the strategy debut authors c...

38 flights last year. Zero day job. How Andrew Buckley built an author career by thinking outside the box — and like a business. If you're an author still grinding away, waiting for royalties to pay your bills, you need to hear what Andrew Buckley figured out. After a decade of writing as a side hustle while working 40+ hour weeks, Andrew quit his job in 2022 — and within TWO MONTHS , he had r...

Are you wondering how to build your author career from zero to full-time? Aaron Hall lost his job 3 weeks after buying his first home. Instead of panicking, he went all-in on his author career. 18 months later, he's a full-time indie author making a living from book sales, mostly paperbacks and audiobooks. In this episode, Aaron shares the exact social media strategy that took him from selling 100...

Most indie authors treat Amazon like the only bookstore that exists. But what if that one income stream disappeared tomorrow? Mark Leslie Lefebvre has been in the publishing industry for over 30 years — as a bookseller, a digital publishing advocate, the creator of Kobo Writing Life, and a representative for Draft2Digital. He literally wrote the book on going wide (Wide for the Win), and in this c...

25 novels. Barely making money. Frustrated with Amazon. Then she built a Shopify store, automated everything, and now has almost 50,000 orders — with 88% email open rates and a system that sells books while she's with her kids. Katie Cross has been selling direct since 2019 — before it was a trend. In this episode, she breaks down exactly how she built her direct sales system from scratch, the ema...

J. Penner wrote over 20 books in the dystopian genre, hit burnout, and was ready to walk away from writing entirely. Instead, she made a decision that changed the trajectory of her career — she switched genres, created a new pen name, and started building an audience from scratch in the cozy fantasy space. With zero existing readership under her new name, she figured out how to generate 900 pre-or...

You think you're ready for Kickstarter success? Here's what authors need to know. Oriana Leckert is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter — and she's seen thousands of author campaigns succeed, flop, and everything in between. In this episode, she's breaking down exactly what works, what doesn't, and what most authors get wrong before they even hit launch. We cover everything from how to set your...

Cindy Gunderson has seen massive success as an author in recent years and audiobooks have been one of the biggest drivers of that success. At one point, audio made up 60% of her annual income. The wildest part? All of her audiobooks are available for free on YouTube. And instead of hurting her sales, it's actually boosted them. In this conversation, Cindy breaks down exactly how she built her...

Learn how to grow your author career with hybrid publishing — the perfect blend of traditional and self‑publishing that gives writers more freedom, control, and opportunity. In this episode, host Herman Steuernagel sits down with Australian sci‑fi author Jeremy Szal , who sold his first book at just 23 to Gollancz (Hachette UK) and has since built an international career mixing both trad and indie...

What would you do if you got laid off tomorrow? Self-published author JP Rindfleisch turned that exact moment into a full-time writing career, powered by TikTok Shop. In this episode, JP breaks down how to market your book and exactly how he uses TikTok Shop to sell books direct to readers, builds real community, and posts content that actually moves copies. Whether you're just starting out or...

Authors are being told that Facebook ads don't work for books anymore. Josiah Rosell is proof they do. JDL Rosell is a full-time indie fantasy author with around 20 books across multiple series including Legend of Tal and Ranger of the Titan Wilds. He didn't get there by going viral or getting lucky. He built a sustainable career by mastering Facebook ads — and he's still running them...

26 books. $35K in debt. $100/month. Then one pivot set her on a path to becoming a six figure author. S. Usher Evans spent 10 years learning what doesn't work in self-publishing so she could finally figure out what does. In this episode, she breaks down the book marketing strategy, Amazon ads approach, and genre research that turned her writing career around — and what she looks for when an in...

Is earning a six-figure income as an author still attainable? Do you feel like you're never going to break through into a writing career? Heather K. Carson spent years writing YA dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. She had fifteen books published, understood the basics of Amazon ads, and was doing everything authors are told to do. But something wasn't clicking. Then she made a pivot t...

Nobody knows who you are. Why would they buy your book? That's the question Z.S. Diamanti asked himself before publishing his first novel. He had nothing in the bank, a maxed out credit card, four kids, and one year to make it work. He built his author career from nothing—and you can too, if you keep his advice in mind. In this conversation, Zac reveals: ✅ - The question he asked himself with...

"There's a hurdle between you and author success that you just can't seem to clear. Like there's a conversation happening that you're not part of. My name is Herman Steuernagel, I'm an author and I know the feeling. So I'm sitting down with authors who've built real careers and finding out exactly how they did it. Welcome to The Pint & Portal Author Podcast. I&...

In this episode of The Greatest Podcast in the Multiverse , I sit down with bestselling fantasy author Andrea Stewart , known for her incredible Drowning Empire trilogy that begins with The Bone Shard Daughter . Now, Andrea is back with her brand-new epic fantasy series starting with The Gods Below . We dive into her unique storytelling, how she builds intricate magic systems, and the journey that...

Sarah Beth Durst is the New York Times Bestselling Author of 28 fantasy books. From Middle Grade to Adult, Sarah has written a lot of words in the fantasy genre. Her latest smash hit, The Spellshop, is her entry into the Cozy Fantasy space, and as she discusses, came about because she wanted to write a story that was like a warm hug while drinking a cup of hot chocolate while curled under a blanke...

What does it take to write believable and relatable characters? Zamil Akhtar joins me for a second interview, where we take a deep dive on how he’s crafted his characters for Gunmetal Gods, crafting realistic motivations and ensuring readers stay invested in unlikable protagonists. We do a deep dive on character development. If you’ve ever wondered how you can make your characters deeper and more...

Summary Have you wondered if you should self-publish or seek the traditional route? Stephen Aryan offers a unique perspective after a decade in the traditional publishing arena having several works published with Orbit Books. For his latest book, New York Minute, Stephen decided to take a different approach and self-publish. Find out why in this conversation. Stephen also shares his extensive jour...

What if it’s not too late to write that book? My guest today is Adam Bassett. He first published an anthology in 2015, which received little attention. He set writing aside, thinking his dreams were done. Since then he started working for the writing software company, Campfire. Which reignited that passion. Now Adam is publishing his newest short story anthology, called Digital Extremities. A diff...

How do you build a decades-long writing career? For Liz Delton it’s meant working in a variety of fantasy subgenres over the 20 books she has under her belt. From cozy fantasy to her upcoming epic fantasy series, Liz often finds she’s got something for every fantasy lover. We cover the advice that she has for authors who want to write in a variety of genres, as well as why she has catered her mark...

Are you a plotter, a pantser, or something in between. Most writers think of themselves as an outliner of stories, or a discovery writer– figuring their stories out along the way. But what if there’s an easier way? Kimberly Grymes didn’t realize how much planning would help her writing, but then she discovered planning as a way forward. It has been so instrumental to her stories, that she’s crafte...

Does writing need to be a lonely journey? Today my guest is Joshua Walker. He’s an epic fantasy writer, but he’s one of the founding members of the Break-ins writing group. You’ve listened to interviews with some of my past guests who were also members. But now we get to hear how the group came to be.  Joshua has also been writing his entire life, and in his works he seeks to explore themes of bal...