The Indy Author Podcast

YA author Emma G. Rose talks about the event that led her to write about suicide in her YA novels, how her goals for her book changed over time, how she approached her family about the topic of the book and how she interacts with her readers, and how she uses guidelines from her journalism background to avoid glamorizing the topic. Emma G. Rose is a Maine author of contemporary fantasy, including...

Former FBI agent Jerri Williams talks about MISTAKES WRITERS MAKE ABOUT THE FBI AND HOW TO AVOID THEM. We discuss common myths and misconceptions about the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, including the portrayal of jurisdictional issues and roles and responsibilities. Jerri shares tips for the best way to approach subject matter experts for information to inform your own work. And we discu...

Thriller author Jason Kasper discusses what drove his move from indy publishing to a small traditional publisher, the control he's maintained over his two primary reader outreach mechanisms (email and a private Facebook group), and how he has maintained another indy author practice: rapid creation of content. Jason Kasper served in the US Army as a Ranger and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq befor...

Tiffany Yates Martin talks about X-RAYING YOUR PLOT, including the benefit of the x-ray—getting an overarching view of your story—how it differs from an outline, the importance of the "but / therefore" test, and some steps you can take if your x-ray reveals breaks in your story. Tiffany Yates Martin has spent nearly thirty years as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publisher...

Keith Wheeler talks about writing and publishing children's books, including the importance of writing for the parents as well as the child, how to find and work with an illustrator (including advice to never work with friends or family), and the production process and options for books with illustrations. Keith Wheeler is a multi-award-winning author. His first work was published while he was a f...

Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about going wide for the win—the importance of distributing to and understanding all the retail platforms, not just Amazon. He gets pretty impassioned as he talks about the dangers of a lemming mentality, and he reminds us that there are bookselling professionals behind those other platforms, and that our own professional reputation benefits from us keeping that in mind....

Jon McGoran discusses point of view, the pros and cons of first-, second-, and third-person point of view, and reader expectations based on considerations such as genre. He discusses the importance of narrative economy and triangulation--how one character's observations of another character can give the reader a lot of information about both the observed character and the observer. And he shares a...

Brian Rathbone discusses the opportunities offered by Google Play, including the ability to reach global markets that are underserved by other platforms, the ability to link content together—for example, linking an ebook box set with the component works and benefiting from earned metadata, or ratings and reviews, of the component works. He also discusses his premium pricing approach, and how that...

Editor Joshua Essoe discusses tips for drafting and editing your action sequences to ensure that the reader isn't pulled out of the story – tips that apply even if your scene doesn't involve battle plans or broadswords. He talks about the importance of strong, engaging characters, because if your reader doesn't care about the people involved, no amount of exciting action is going to draw them in....

Evan Gow discusses the role newsletter swaps can play in author promotions, the etiquette of swaps, and some gotchas authors should watch out for, as well as advice for authors with small or inactive email lists. Evan also talks about the many other services that StoryOrigin provides, and why the fact that he's both the development team and the support team for StoryOrigin means that its current b...

Lee Savino discusses AUTHOR NEWSLETTERS, the one area of an author's business about which Lee says "just do it," imagining your newsletter as a conversation with a specific person over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and a pep talk about how to get past the "I don't want to pester them" mindset and recognizing that your work is a gift that you're sharing with people who have opted in because t...

Joe Lallo discusses THE PROS AND CONS OF PRE-ORDERS, including the specific considerations of pre-orders on Amazon versus other platforms, whether or not pre-orders make sense for an author's first book or for standalone novels, and things to keep in mind to avoid annoying your most faithful fans. We also talk about pricing strategies, including how to price box sets. Joseph Lallo was educated at...

Joshua Essoe discusses CROWDFUNDING FOR AUTHORS. He shares what led him to choose crowdfunding—and specifically Kickstarter—as his approach for funding his book, ESSOE'S GUIDES TO WRITING ACTION SEQUENCES AND SEX SCENES, what went according to plan, and what was a surprise. He also describes what he gained from the experience, including confirmation that being a writer doesn't have to be the solo...

Michael La Ronn discusses the costs involved in independently publishing a book. Michael talks about the two most costly aspects—editing and cover design—and tips for how to accomplish these on a budget. We discuss potential pitfalls—for example, the fact that if your cover designer inappropriately uses copyrighted material, you as the author are the one who will get the cease-and-desist letter. A...

Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn, discusses FUTURIST TRENDS WE CAN PREPARE FOR NOW. She talks about the role persistence plays in making a career as an indy author, the opportunities offered by content curation—for both creators and consumers—and the importance of bringing a global / digital / mobile mindset to your business model, while also recognizing that we can't beat the machine, so we have to...

Editor Tiffany Yates Martin and I geek out about THE PRINCESS BRIDE and all the lessons it can teach writers about story structure, character development, and those little bits that make a story extra engaging. She shares tips for how authors can gain some distance from our own work in order to bring an editor's eye to it, and we talk about how Old Spice's The Man Your Man Can Smell Like played wi...

Nicholas Erik discusses the FIVE KEYS TO BUILDING A RESILIENT INDY BUSINESS. He talks about how organic newsletter subscribers serve as a valuable representation of the health of your business, how understanding your monthly expenses can actually be a stress-reliever, and how an hour spent with an accountant will pay you back many times over in the course of your author career. Nicholas Erik is th...

Former FBI special agent Jerri Williams discusses her podcast FBI RETIRED CASE FILES REVIEW and how she has used it as content marketing for her fiction and non-fiction books. She discusses how her goals for the podcast changed over time, the importance of aligning one's creative work behind a unifying theme, how to engage listeners in your community, and what she did when she found that her secon...

Ken Fritz talks about the difference between EMTs and paramedics; the problematic portrayal of CPR and defibrillation in books, movies, and TV; and how much of emergency medical service's work is really emergencies. Ken Fritz has been in emergency services for over 20 years. Starting as a volunteer firefighter, he has worked his way up through the ranks of EMT, Fire Department Captain, and Paramed...

James McCrone and I talk about our respective October book launches—Jamie's for his third Imogen Trager thriller, EMERGENCY POWERS, and me for my third Ann Kinnear Suspense Novel, THE FALCON AND THE OWL. We talk about the pros and cons of in-person versus virtual events, the need for indy authors to be willing to blow their own horn to get out word of their books (and ways to make this a more comf...

Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor, talks about building great protagonist and antagonist voices. He discusses how to build a villain voice that complements and contrasts to the hero's voice, how to use quirks to help define a character's voice, and how secondary characters can empower the change you want to make in the protagonist. Jeff Elkins is a novelist, ghostwriter, and editor with more than 1...

Bestselling author Robert Dugoni discusses when and how to use backstory and flashbacks to keep readers engaged--by ensuring that they portray a character in action--in both standalone novels and series. He discusses the dangers of equating ambiguity with tension, and the importance of listening to what your story has to tell you. Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Stre...

Jennifer Graeser Dornbush talks about how growing up around death as the daughter of a small-town medical examiner influenced her professional pursuits. She discusses the difference between coroners and medical examiners (and why a coroner might be a better character choice for mystery writers) and what is and isn't realistic in fictional depictions of these roles. She also speaks about the attitu...

J. Thorn discusses his new book 9 Things Career Authors Don't Do: Exercise, which addresses the importance of exercise, especially considering the potentially sedentary lifestyle of an indy author. We also talk about the strategic and tactical plans behind the 9 Things Career Authors Don't Do series, and the idea of testing the interest of one's audience in a particular topic through an MVP, or mi...

Dale L. Roberts of Self Publishing with Dale discusses the pros and cons of using an aggregator such as Draft2Digital or Findaway Voices versus going direct to platforms such as Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. He gives tips on how to assess which approach best meets your business goals, and, if those goals change, describes the considerations if you switch from one approach to the other....