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The Kobo Writing Life Podcast features exciting interviews with bestselling authors, tips on the craft and business of writing, and advice for a successfully self-publishing career. Millions of readers are waiting to discover your book – publish today at www.kobo.com/writinglife.
The podcast Kobo Writing Life Podcast is created by Kobo Writing Life. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
In this episode, we spoke to Jennifer L. Armentrout, best-selling author of over seventy books in multiple genres from fantasy to contemporary and suspense and back again – but all of her books contain strong elements of romance within their pages. Jennifer’s romantasy series, Blood and Ash, is a TikTok favourite and beloved book series all around! The latest from JLA is her expansion of the Blood and Ash world – the Flesh and Fire series. It was great to sit down with Jennifer and talk about all things romantic fantasy and her nearly fifteen-year-long publishing career. The final instalment in the Blood and Ash series, The Primal of Blood and Bone, is available for pre-order now.
We previously featured Jennifer on the podcast in 2021 – don’t miss that episode either! We are very excited to have Jennifer join us again to discuss all things romantic fantasy, indie publishing, her writing journey, her thoughts on the publishing industry, what’s next for her, and much more.
For more, visit Jennifer’s website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter
And, of course, find Jennifer’s books on Kobo!
In this episode, we are joined by Barbara Kellyn, winner of the Kobo Originals Holiday Rom-Com Writing Contest for her novella, Polar Opposites! Barbara is the author of five novels and two novellas, and has been dubbed by her readers as “the queen of banter.” This was Barbara’s first foray into writing contests – and she was delighted to have won!
There was so much excitement this episode for the release of Polar Opposites, which is out now – exclusively from Kobo Originals!
We spoke to Barbara about starting her writing career in her late thirties, her inspiration for entering the contest, and her writing process behind Polar Opposites We also hear about how she crafts her characters, and learn more about the polar bear capital of the world, the setting of Polar Opposites, and much more!
We also hear from Jessica Khadoo, whose recent live Q&A with us illuminated our audience to all things Kobo Originals! Jess is the manager of Kobo Originals, Kobo’s in-house publisher of original content. We had a great conversation with Jess about all things Originals, so if you’re interested in learning more (and perhaps working with the team), don’t miss out.
For more, check out Barbara’s website and follow Barbara on Instagram and Threads.
In this episode, we spoke to Holly Cassidy, also known as Hannah Mary McKinnon, author of holiday romance novels as Holly and thrillers as Hannah! Holly’s latest, The Christmas Countdown, is a “charming holiday rom com about a young, recently heartbroken woman who is tasked by her sister to complete Advent calendar challenges in the lead up to Christmas to reignite her belief in herself, the holidays, and love again.” The Christmas Countdown is Hannah’s second holiday novel writing as Holly Cassidy, the first being The Christmas Wager.
We discussed Hannah’s writing career (and, as she says, how it was borne of failure), writing ten novels, moving from rom-coms to thrillers and back again, writing in two very different genres, how she creates her characters, her pen name, details about The Christmas Countdown and how it relates to her own holiday traditions, and much more! Hannah has had such a wonderful career and it was great to hear from such a prolific author with unique perspectives on both romantic comedies and thrillers. Don’t miss this episode if you’re a write (or reader) of either… or both, just like Hannah!
To learn more, visit Hannah’s website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X/Twitter.
In this episode, we are joined by New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and prolific writer Michelle M. Pillow, author of dozens of novels across several series. Michelle writes in the genres of fantasy romance, paranormal romance, science fiction, cozy mysteries, and more. Michelle has sold over a million copies of her books and has written over 100 titles! Her prolific catalogue and years of experience mean she has a wealth of advice to author for indie authors, those both established and entirely new to the world of indie publishing.
Her latest release is Mostly Shattered, the second book in the urban fantasy romance series Merely Mortal. Be sure to check out the rest of the series.
We spoke to Michelle about her start as a writer, how she plots her books and what her writing process entails, her world-building process, her experiences in the early days of indie publishing, marketing her backlist and balancing new writing projects, writing (or not writing) to the changing reader market, and much more!
Learn more on Michelle’s website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X/Twitter, and TikTok.
In this episode, we spoke to Golden Angel, USA Today best-selling author of “heart-and bottom-warming romance,” whose series include Masters of Marquis, Desire and Discipline, the Bridal Discipline series, and more! Golden’s publishing journey began back in 2012 (but she’s been writing even longer), and she became a full-time indie author in 2020. As the author of dozens of books across several series, her successful career spans over a decade, and she has so much great advice and insights to offer!
Golden has also presented her marketing advice and shared her expertise at InkersCon, Romance Author Mastermind, and more. She hosts a marketing and publishing advice series on her TikTok – aptly titled “Just the Tip.” We had a great time discussing all things indie publishing, writing kinky romance, marketing tips and tricks, the importance of your newsletter and so much more.
Follow Golden on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X/Twitter and be sure to check out her website for more.
In this episode, we spoke to Vancouver-based author and former ghostwriter, Katrina Kwan! Her romance novel debut, the rom-com Knives, Seasoning, and a Dash of Love is “a spicy romance between the talented and hotheaded chef Alexander Chen and his new hire Eden Monroe. When her bubbly attitude collides with his sharp edges, can they handle the heat between them or will their love be a recipe for disaster?”
Katrina is also the author of two fantasy novels, The Last Dragon of the East, available October 7th 2024, and the forthcoming The Legend of the Nine-tailed Fox. We had a wonderful time talking about all things contemporary romance, writing inspirations, her transition from ghostwriting to writing under her own name, all about Knives, Seasoning, and a Dash of Love, what’s next for Katrina, and much more! We had a lovely time speaking with Katrina and learning all about her writing career and can't wait to read her upcoming releases.
Learn more on Katrina’s website and follow Katrina on Instagram.
In this episode, we spoke to award-winning women’s fiction and romance author Anna Gomez, whose publications (and accolades) are many! She has written numerous romance novels under the pen name Christine Brae, and is one half of the best-selling series co-authored with Kristoffer Poloha, From Kona with Love. This swoon-worthy series is in development for film and television and has been mentioned in People Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Home & Family, and Publishers Weekly.
We spoke to Anna about her new release with Kobo Originals, Somewhere Along the Way, her writing career, her experience working in finance as well as authoring her many books, how travelling inspires her writing, her personal connections to her main characters, writing under a pen name, and more! We had a wonderful time talking to Anna and can’t wait to share Somewhere Along the Way with long-time fans and new readers alike.
Learn more on Anna’s website, and follow Anna on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter.
In this episode of the KWL Podcast, we were joined by Hanna Wheeler, translator and copywriter who has worked on translating several Kobo Originals titles (check out Iris Visser’s books)! Hanna grew up in a bilingual family and is fluent in both English and Dutch, and has translated a variety of titles, from biographies to children’s pictures and more! Her work is expansive; some of her previous clients include MTV, Greenpeace, Sony Pictures, and more.
Hanna had a lot to tell us about her experience as a translator, her reading habits, her foray into freelancing, how she got started as a translator for Kobo Originals, freelancing advice, her thoughts on AI and translation, and much more! If you’re interested in learning more about the life of a translator, listen in!
Learn more on Hanna’s website, and be sure to follow Hanna on Instagram and LinkedIn.
In this episode, we spoke with science fiction, fantasy, and young adult fiction author Nicki Pau Preto! Nicki is a Sunday Times best-selling author of six books across these genres in both the middle grade and young adult fiction categories. Her latest YA fantasy release is Ghostsmith, the sequel to Bonesmith! These two books make up the House of the Dead duology, a “dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.”
We spoke to Nicki about her publishing journey, her writing inspirations, writing YA and middle grade titles, the House of the Dead duology, fantasy world-building, developing the history of a fantasy world, and much more! This interview was full of great advice and inspiration for fantasy writers of all genres and age groups – be sure to listen if you’re looking for an illuminating look into the mind and writing process of an amazing fantasy author.
To learn more, visit Nicki’s website and find her on Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by Renee Rose and Lee Savino, best-selling authors who have written over 20 titles together! The best-selling Bad Boy Alpha series is the result of their collaborative effort to write spicy wolf-shifter books. Their collaboration goes all the way back to 2015, when they first met at a writing conference and became fast friends. Lee and Renee had so much great advice regarding indie publishing, collaborative writing and thinking abundantly that we could have recorded for twice as long!
We also discussed Lee and Renee’s writing careers, how they got into indie publishing, their views on marketing books, advice for writing and rewriting, what makes a great co-writing relationship, how having an abundance and exponential growth mindset can help your writing career, trends in the indie publishing industry, and much more!
To learn more, visit Lee’s website and Renee’s website.
In this episode, we are joined by Clayton Noblit, senior book marketing manager at Written Word Media. Clayton has been a voracious reader his whole life and, after working in financial start-ups, moved to Written Word Media and has been there ever since. Clayton loves working with indie books and indie authors and has a lot of great advice to offer the community! As an expert in digital marketing, he had a lot to share with us.
We talked about Clayton’s start in the indie author community, learned more about Written Word Media’s services, discussed strategies around promo stacking, and got lots of great marketing advice for authors. If you’re curious about improving your promo strategies and skills, don’t miss this great episode.
Learn more about Written Word Media, check out Written Word Media on TikTok, and be sure to sign up for Written Word Media’s newsletter!
In this episode, we are joined by Nora Decter, writing instructor and author of How Far We Go and How Fast, her debut YA novel that won the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2019. Nora’s latest book, What’s Not Mine, is described as an "absorbing, darkly funny story of family, addiction, and survival."
We spoke to Nora about her writing career, writing YA before transitioning to writing adult fiction, what it was like winning the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, what books and authors inspired her, reading and writing "voice-y" novels, balancing humour with difficult subject matter, and more! Nora had many great insights into writing (and thinking about writing), especially when it comes to first drafts. Emerging writers, take note!
Learn more about Nora on her website.
Content note: This episode contains discussions of the impact of the fentanyl crisis in North America. Please listen with caution and care if you are sensitive to this subject matter.
In this episode, we spoke to indie author, writing craft expert, podcaster, and all-around talented rebel author Sacha Black! Sacha is the author of several writing craft books, host of The Rebel Author Podcast, and writer of adult sapphic fantasy fiction under the pen name Ruby Roe. Sacha is also a regular speaker at author conferences around the world, and offers writing craft courses with the goal of helping authors improve their descriptive writing, craft compelling villains, write amazing side characters, and more.
We had such a great time chatting with Sacha about her career as an author, what being a rebel means to her, writing non-fiction, YA series, and, most recently, a spicy sapphic romantasy series, her podcast, her pen name, how she balances two author brands and much, much more!
Be sure to listen to Sacha’s podcast, The Rebel Author Podcast, and learn more about her exciting new sapphic fantasy romance series, the Kingdom of Immortal Lovers Trilogy, written as Ruby Roe.
Find Sacha Black on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, and be sure to follow Ruby Roe on TikTok!
In this episode, we are joined by Malorie Cooper, author and co-founder of The Writing Wives, where Malorie and her wife Jill offer author coaching and author marketing services! Mal writes science fiction titles under M.D. Cooper and non-fiction titles under Mal Cooper, with a focus on Facebook advertising and helping indie authors market their books for the better.
Check out Malorie and Jill’s marketing book series, Help! I’m An Author for more.
We had a great chat with Malorie about everything from her writing career, writing a series that consists of over 120 books, co-writing with her wife Jill, developing the Writing Wives together with Jill, her best marketing advice, all about Facebook ads, and much more! If you’re interested in learning more about advertising and marketing, be sure to listen to this episode.
To learn more, visit The Writing Wives' website or check out Mal's expansive sci-fi series, Aeon 14!
In this episode, we are joined by author, conference organizer, and ghostwriter Jessie Kwak to discuss all things writing and publishing! Jessie is the author of over fifteen books, including series like The Nanshe Chronicles and The Bulari Saga, as well as standalone thrillers such as From Earth and Bone. Jessie’s expansive career has encompassed so many aspects of publishing and she had lots of amazing advice and insights to offer us.
We chatted with Jessie about ghostwriting, writing sci-fi and paranormal thrillers, time management as an author, and what inspired her to start an author conference, as well as learned more about her career as an author and her experience being involved in multiple aspects of the publishing world. This was a great conversation (and Rachel got so many sci-fi book recs to add to her TBR) – don’t miss this listen!
To learn more, visit Jessie's website and follow her on Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by Vancouver-based Bal Khabra, debut author of hockey romance novel Collide! Bal started out as an avid reader of romance and reviewer of romance titles, and after reading over 150 romance novels in one year, decided she was ready to write one! That novel, Collide, was picked up and published by Penguin Random House after starting out as a self-published work. We can’t wait to see what Bal writes next!
We talked about Bal’s writing journey, her beginnings on Wattpad, how she utilizes social media and what happened when her book went viral on TikTok, advice for using social media to market books, reader vs. author spaces, her interest in hockey (and found family, and friendship) and how these subjects fit into her novel, and much more!
Learn more on Bal’s website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter/X.
In this episode, we spoke with Patrick E. Horrigan, academic and author of American Scholar, published by Lethe Press. Since recording this episode, American Scholar was shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards in the Gay Fiction category. Congratulations, Patrick! Patrick is also the author of two other novels, plays, essays, and more. He and taught literature for twenty-five years at LIU Brooklyn, and was a previous winner of Long Island University’s David Newton Award for Excellence in Teaching, among many other accolades.
We had a great time talking to Patrick about his career as an author, his history in academia, his past experiences at Columbia and LIU Brooklyn that helped shape him, his latest novel, the inspiration behind it, and much, much more. This episode was informative, illuminating, and an all-around great interview! Don’t miss out on listening in.
And learn more via Patrick’s website or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by Jeff Adams and Michele Lucchini, online and digital accessibility experts who work at UsableNet, whose goal is to “make the digital world more accessible and usable.” Jeff and Michele recently wrote and published their first book together, an amazing guide to all things digital accessibility, Content for Everyone: A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content!
Jeff is the Accessibility Operations Direct at UsableNet, as well as a queer romance author and podcaster. Michele is Vice President of Delivery and Accessibility Operations at UsableNet, and has over twenty-three years of experience working with accessibility projects in digital spaces. Together, these two authors and accessibility experts offer so much info in this episode for anyone (and everyone) interested in broadening their knowledge of accessibility online. We at KWL learned a lot, too!
We discussed all things digital accessibility, their book “Content for Everyone,” how making small changes makes a big difference, how to think about accessibility, all about alternative text, headers, and images, and much, much more! This is a great episode for anyone wanting to learn more about accessibility online and in their own writing life.
To learn more, visit Jeff’s website.
In this episode, we are joined by author Alison Cochrun, writer of the best-selling romance novels The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once For Me. Her latest work, Here We Go Again, is a “new queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.” Here We Go Again is available now from Simon & Schuster Canada!
We had a great time hearing about Alison’s journey to becoming an author after being a full-time high school English teacher, the ups and downs of publishing, being inspired to write a story based on personal experience, how Alison incorporates humour into her books, how she writes queer characters with varying experiences of being queer, and so much more! Be sure to also check out Alison’s other titles, The Charm Offensive (one of Laura’s fave reads!) and Kiss Her Once For Me, both available from Simon & Schuster Canada.
Learn more on Alison’s website, and follow Alison on Instagram!
In this week’s episode, we spoke to Jodi Drake, a bestselling author who writes multiple series under the name J.L. Drake! Jodi’s series span over thirty books, and these include the Broken Trilogy, the Quiet Mafia series, and her latest, Havoc of Sins, which begins with Grim – available to read now! For more info on her series, check out her reading order guide here.
Jodi spoke to us about her writing career, writing dark romance, what drew her to dark romance, how she plots her novels, how she uses her “murder board” to keep track of all her characters and plotlines, and much, much more! Jodi gave us many great insights into what it’s like being a series author and an author (and reader) of dark romance. We had a great time chatting with Jodi, and if you’re a burgeoning dark romance author (or a romance author in general), you don’t want to miss this episode of the KWL podcast!
For more, check out J.L.’s website, and follow her on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
In this episode, we spoke to award-winning author Bethany Maines, whose romance-fuelled action-adventure novels include Eye Contact and Bulletproof Mascara, among many others. Bethany is a multi-genre author who has written in many genres and sub-genres, including action-adventure, mystery and suspense, science fiction and paranormal romance. She’s also a hybrid author who has experience working with traditional publishing houses as well as independently publishing her work!
And, further, she has also written short stories and screenplays, including a screenplay that was recently turned into a short film. Bethany had a lot of illuminating observations on the publishing industry, a lot of love for fellow indie romance authors, and a lot of great advice to offer.
Be sure to grab a copy of Eye Contact – Bethany’s latest release!
Follow Bethany on X, Facebook, and Instagram and learn more at her website.
In this episode, we are joined by Kiki Chatfield, CEO and founder of The Next Step PR. Kiki spoke with us about her PR company, why she founded it, her best marketing tips for authors, the conference she runs, Authors in the Bluegrass, and so much more! Kiki is always open to hearing from readers and authors alike and is enthusiastic about helping others as much as she can. She had so much great advice to offer during our conversation.
If you’re interested in scheduling a free 15-minute chat with Kiki to see what she and The Next Step PR can do for you, check out her booking calendar here!
Kiki recently celebrated her 10th year in the PR market and her 9th year of The Next Step PR, and these huge milestones are well-deserved! Kiki brought such great energy to this episode and we hope you learn a lot and take her advice to heart as you continue on your own author journey.
Follow The Next Step PR on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok for more, and be sure to follow Kiki on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and Bookbub too!
In this episode, we are joined by best-selling Canadian author Emily Austin, whose debut novel Everyone In This Room Will Some Day Be Dead was nominated for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, to discuss her latest release, Interesting Facts About Space! This title is available today and was one of our top reads of last year – we were so grateful to received ARCs of this must-read new release. Emily also has a poetry collection, Gay Girl Prayers, coming out next year, so be sure to add that one to your TBR list, too!
Interesting Facts About Space is available now from Simon & Schuster Canada and wherever you get your books, eBook and otherwise!
We spoke to Emily about her writing career, the intersections of mental health and queerness, writing LGBTQ+ narratives, writing inspirations and influences, her editing process, what it’s like working with an editor, writing both poetry and prose, and more!
Learn more about Emily on her website, and follow her on X and Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by best-selling author of the book series that became a TikTok sensation, Playing for Keeps! Playing for Keeps is a steamy, romantic hockey romance trilogy that have taken Booktok (the bookish side of TikTok) by storm. We were so excited to talk to Becka and hear all about her writing journey, the realities of both self-publishing and traditional publishing, and, of course, to get a sneak peek at what she’s working on next.
Not only that, but we talked about her publishing journey, her path to becoming a writer, hockey romance, writing hockey romance as a Canadian, discussions of our favourite hockey teams, and much more!
Be sure to get your own copy of Consider Me, the first book in the Playing for Keeps series, available now from Simon & Schuster Canada.
Learn more about Becka on her website, and follow her on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
In this episode, we are joined by Lisa Shaughnessy, founder of The Writing Retreat Sampler and creator of The Writing Retreat Directory. The Writing Retreat Sampler is a series of virtual events that help writers find writing retreats that best suit their writing and publishing goals, and The Writing Retreat Directory is a free directory that features more info on writing retreats across the globe! We have a great conversation with Lisa about all things to do with writing retreats, and how writing retreats can really be a boon to authors.
Lisa also tells us how she started her business, what inspired her to create a writing retreat directory, talks about what retreats can do for authors overall, how hosts can create great workshops, virtual vs. in-person retreats, and much more! We go on to discuss how to build community at a writing retreat, what feedback can do for you and how to respond to it, and much more. If one of your goals for the coming year is to participate in a writing retreat, this is the episode for you.
To learn more, check out Lisa’s blog, and follow The Writing Retreat Directory on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
In this episode, we sat down as a team to talk about everything do with Kobo Writing Life that took place over the last year! KWL Director Tara, Author Engagement Manager Laura, Promotions Specialist Rachel, Kobo Originals Lead and Content Coordinator Vanessa and Content Coordinator Terrence all shared highlights from their work in 2023, including insights into Kobo Plus, the Kobo Plus expansions, Kobo Originals, translations, conferences we attended, the Kobo Writing Life podcast, promotional offerings, and much, much more! We also chatted about what to expect from us next year, including some exciting hints as to what’s to come.
Plus, don’t miss out on the many great books we recommend to our listeners – be sure to take notes and stack your TBR piles for the coming year!
Lastly, happy 2024 from the Kobo Writing Life team. Here’s to another great year of publishing! We can’t wait to continue working with you in the new year.
Go to our site to learn more about Kobo Writing Life, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X.
In this episode, we are joined by New York Times and international bestselling author Elena Armas, author of The Spanish Love Deception and The American Roommate Experiment! Elena is a life-long romance fan who got started writing and publishing three years ago. We chat with her about her latest rom-com romp, The Long Game, which is a small-town, contemporary sports romance between a soccer exec and a former soccer star who band together over the summer to help coach a struggling children’s soccer team. Get ready for a lot of laughs and a lot of love in this one! The Long Game is available now from Simon & Schuster Canada and wherever books are sold.
Learn more about Elena on her website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook.
In this episode, we are joined by Bethany Lopez, a USA Today best-selling, multi-genre author who has written over thirty books! Bethany is a prolific author with multiple ongoing contemporary romance series to her name, as well as several paranormal romance series under the pen name DJ Bryce! Her latest release on Kobo is a box set of her popular series, The Jilted Wives Club, available now.
Bethany tells us about her career as an author, getting started in YA fiction before transitioning to new adult romance, the changes she has seen in the indie publishing landscape, how she uses her newsletter, how she markets her books, all about how she reaches her readers through different avenues, and much, much more!
Follow Bethany on Instagram, Facebook, and X, or visit her website to learn more.
In this episode, we are joined by New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Jenn Sterling, writing as J. Sterling, whose latest series, Fun for the Holidays, features holiday romances for every season. Check out her latest instalment, The Thanksgiving Hookup!
Jenn is also the author of dozens of books across several series, and is the author of sports romances, celebrity romances, new adult romances, and many more. We had a great conversation with Jenn about all things romance writing, marketing, advice from friend and fellow author Colleen Hoover, and how the independent publishing world has changed since she first published in 2011.
We spoke to Jenn about her writing career, how she has written and published books for almost twelve years, how much indie publishing has changed, how marketing for indie publishers has evolved, TikTok and its many uses (as well as how fun of an app it is), and, of course, lots of talk about sports! We had a fun, frank, and inspiring conversation with Jenn, and can’t wait for you to listen to this episode!
Learn more about Jenn on her website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
In this episode, we spoke to Brett Riley, author of fiction, screenplays, and creative non-fiction. Based in Las Vegas, he also teaches creative writing at the College of Southern Nevada. We had a great chat about his works, writing in the horror genre, his love of comic books, and his sci-fi and fantasy YA series with elements of the otherworldly and monstrous, Freaks. We also learned so much from Brett on the craft of writing, and had a great conversation about writing processes. We know you’ll learn a lot from Brett, so don’t miss out on listening to his great advice and insights!
We discussed the beginnings of Brett’s writing career, why he loves horror, fantasy, and writing YA, some insight into how his writing process plays out, how he writes action scenes in his books, and, of course, got some great writing advice! As always, there’s much, much more, so be sure to listen to this wonderful episode in full.
Learn more about Brett on his website, and follow him on X and Instagram.
In today’s episode, we are joined by Elizabeth Barone, author of over a dozen novels, with one of her latest releases published by Kobo Originals! Stagwood Falls: Love in Ink is a contemporary romance taking place in the fictional town of Stagwood Falls and the tattoo parlour – and the women who work there – at the heart of it. A Touch of Gold and the Love in Ink series are described as “Virgin River meets LA Ink” – and if you’re a fan of former-crushes-to-lovers, small town vibes, and tattoos, this is the series for you! Plus, look forward to the release of book two in the series, coming soon exclusively from Kobo.
Elizabeth spoke to us about what it was like working with Kobo Originals, living and writing with UCTD and PTSD, how her well-being and mental health are an important part of her writing process, getting inspired to write a contemporary romance series, how A Touch of Gold differs from her grittier romances, wellness and self-care, advice on avoiding burnout, and much more! We really enjoyed this insightful conversation with Elizabeth and we know you will, too.
Learn more about Elizabeth on her website, and follow her on Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by fantasy author, LGBTQ+ sensitivity reader, and international speaker and presenter October K. Santerelli! October’s latest book, City of Day, was published this past February and is the first in a planned trilogy. We were so excited to have October on the podcast after first hearing him present on neurodivergency and the creative process at Superstars Writing Seminar in Denver, CO earlier this year! KWL's director Tara was in attendance, and she had many great take-aways from that amazing presentation.
We chatted with October about his writing career, his presentations and speaking appearances at comic conventions, writing seminars, and more across the USA, neurodivergency and the creative process, his work as a sensitivity reader, and much more! We had a fun (and very informative) time chatting with October, and are excited to present this episode.
Learn more about October via his website, and follow him on Tiktok, Tumblr and Instagram.
In this episode, we are joined by author and book coach Mary Adkins, founder of The Book Incubator, a program for authors looking to write their best possible book. Mary spent six years writing and re-writing her first book before landing a book deal with HarperCollins, and as such, perfected her writing program! Now, she works to share this helpful information with other authors looking to reach their full potential. We had a great conversation with Mary and loved the many writing tips she had to offer. Be sure to check out what she can do for you over at The Book Incubator!
We learn how Mary operates her book coaching business, how she can be a “wedding planner,” cheerleader, and helpful industry guide to authors, and what her own writing career looks like. She also offers some great advice on how to give yourself permission to write that novel, as well as (gasp) writing by hand, and much more!
Learn more about Mary via her website.
In this episode, we spoke with John Gaspard, author of The Popcorn Principles: A Novelist’s Guide to Learning from the Movies, an indispensable guide to implementing tips and tricks learned from film directors and film in general into your fiction writing. John is also the author of several mystery novels across two series, as well as multiple standalone novels and non-fiction titles. He also hosts two podcasts and has directed six low-budget feature films!
We chatted with John about his new non-fiction title, his filmmaking experience, the times he spent interviewing well-known film directors, crafting a compelling mystery, what writers can learn from filmmakers, and so much more. Be sure to check out the "sequel" to The Popcorn Principles; John’s latest, More Popcorn Principles: Further Cinematic Storytelling Strategies for Novelists is out now!
Learn more about John by visiting his website.
In this episode, we spoke with Halima Khatun, PR consultant, former broadcast journalist, and author of the new non-fiction title Priceless Publicity, a book full of useful information for independent writers looking to improve their publicity and media coverage output! Halima is also the author of several highly praised rom-coms, including her award-winning debut novel, The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, Metro, Business Advice and StartupNation, and we can't wait to see what she writes next.
Halima shared some amazing advice regarding editing, book blurbs, writing (and lengthening) a series, writing a rom-com (and its sequels), and, of course, garnering publicity for your work! If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about publicity and PR for indie authors, this is the episode for you.
Learn more about Halima via her website, and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
In today’s episode, we are joined by renowned indie publishing business expert, educator and author, Mark Dawson – who also happens to be a fellow podcast producer and host! Mark Dawson is the author of over twenty books across multiple series, has sold millions of copies of his titles, and is also the founder of the Self Publishing Formula and host of the Self Publishing Show podcast. Mark hardly needs an introduction – his presence in the world of self-publishing goes above and beyond, and it was great to have him join us for this episode.
We spoke to Mark about his Facebook ad process, his advertising course, his newsletter and how he optimizes its reach, and what he has coming up next – including the a live conference! We had a really wonderful time and an interesting conversation with Mark – don’t forget to check out Self Publishing Formula for more resources and the associated Facebook group for a great community.
Be sure to also check out Self Publishing Show Live - digital tickets are available now!
You can learn more about Mark by visiting his website, listening to the SPF Podcast, or following him on Twitter and Facebook.
In this episode, we spoke to the writing team of Jasinda and Jack Wilder (who we had the chance to meet at NINC 2022), wife and husband and parents to six kids, who write their own books as well work collaboratively. Between the two of them, they have written dozens of books, many of them best-sellers, across a multitude of genres and sub-genres. Be sure to check out their latest releases, Dirty Beasts: Chance, the latest instalment in the Dirty Beasts series, Music & Lyric, a new adult contemporary romance, and Blood Heir, a vampire romance (hinted at in this very episode!).
We heard about how they balance parenthood with working as indie authors, how they utilize their newsletter to reach readers, how they use their pen name for multiple genres, and get into how the indie publishing industry has changed over the course of their ongoing career and more!
Follow Jasinda Wilder on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and learn more about Jasinda and Jack on their website.
In this episode, we are joined by Jessica Ward, also known as J. R. Ward. J. R. Ward is the author of the acclaimed series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Over 15 million copies of her novels are in print around the world and she has been published in over 25 countries globally! Her latest release as Jessica Ward is The St. Ambrose School for Girls, a coming-of-age novel described as Heathers meets The Secret History. We were so excited to read this book and to hear more from the phenomenal author behind this new title and dozens of others.
We have a great conversation about Jessica’s writing process, the evolution of her career, her new release, writing an unreliable narrator, having multiple pen names, the inspiration for The St. Ambrose School for Girls, and much, much more!
For more info, check out J. R. Ward’s website and follow her on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In this episode, we spoke with Catherine McKenzie, USA Today best-selling author of “riveting domestic suspense,” I’ll Never Tell, “one of 2022’s best and most-anticipated thrillers,” Please Join Us, and more! After publishing more than a dozen titles since 2010, Catherine’s latest, Have You Seen Her, is out today!
We asked Catherine about her journey to becoming a writer, her previous career in law, why she believes so many lawyers are also published authors, how she plots out her psychological thrillers, what drew her to the genre in the first place, and more! Catherine also gave some great advice for those interested in wrapping their heads around the twists and turns of thrillers.
Content note: this episode features brief discussions about real-world missing persons cases, murder, and suicide, and may be upsetting to some listeners. Please listen with awareness of this subject matter.
Visit Catherine’s website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
In this episode, we heard from Arizona Tape, author of dozens of books across multiple series, and collaborative writer on many more! We learned about Arizona’s journey to becoming a full-time writer, heard more about her solo and her collaborative writing processes, asked after her favourite manga and anime series, and got some great advice for emerging writers.
We also chatted about LGBTQ+ representation, readers seeing themselves represented in Arizona’s books, and why Arizona wanted to write books that her younger self was never able to find. We had a wonderful conversation with Arizona and can’t wait to see what she writes next!
Be sure to visit Arizona's website, sign up for her author newsletter, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
In this episode, we spoke to bestselling author Ruth Ware about her upcoming release, Zero Days, available on June 20th, 2023. Ruth’s novels have been translated into over 40 languages as well as optioned for film and TV, and she has garnered numerous bestsellers internationally. Zero Days is a tech-based, fast-paced thriller wherein the protagonist finds that there is nowhere to hide, and enemies are everywhere. We are very excited for everyone to read Ruth’s latest!
We discussed Ruth’s journey to becoming a full-time writer, how she develops the plots for her thrillers, what her writing process looks like, the difference between a “twist” and a “reveal” in storytelling, and much more.
Learn more about Ruth and her work on her website, and find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
In this week’s episode, we spoke with New York Times, USA Today and #1 internationally bestselling author, Christina Lauren – which is the pen name of two authors, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings! We are here to highlight their latest release – The True Love Experiment, available now – and to learn more about their amazing writing career.
Christina and Lauren tell us about how they got started writing together, how they collaborate for reach book, how their collaborative style developed, the importance of fandom, and more. We also got a great list of recommended romance reads, and received some great advice for those writers looking to collaborate with others!
You can learn more on Christina Lauren’s website, and be sure to follow Christina Lauren on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
In this episode, we are joined by award-winning true crime writer Kerrie Droban to discuss her latest release, Aurora, and to hear more about her amazing writing career! Kerrie’s experience as a criminal and family attorney has heavily influenced her career in writing true crime narratives, and she is an expert in criminal pathology and motorcycle gangs who has written many books on both subjects.
We heard about Kerrie’s journey from poetry to law to true crime writing, how reading (and even writing) true crime can aid in your fiction writing, how she ended up entering law school, how her creative interests aided her law career (and how her law career aided her writing), advice for aspiring true crime writers, and more.
To learn more, visit Kerrie’s website and be sure to follow her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Content note: Our discussion touches on real crimes and some of the disturbing content involved in said crimes. Please listen with awareness of this subject matter.
In this episode, we talk to author Maren Cooper, writer of literary and contemporary women’s fiction. We spoke to Maren about how she went from working in healthcare to having a writing career, her sources of inspiration, her story as a “second chapter” author, and her latest (and second) novel, Finding Grace, a coming-of-age story about a family struggling to come together again. Maren was very detailed and frank in her discussion of becoming an author, the importance of a writing community, and more; she had a lot of great advice to offer our listeners!
Her next novel will be out this November, so be sure to check out her website to stay updated on her releases.
You can also find Maren on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
In this episode, we sat down with Grace Callaway, USA Today and international best-selling author of historical romances (that are often on the steamier side, with lots of mystery and adventure)! Grace’s latest, Glory and the Master of Shadows, is the fourth in her series, Lady Charlotte's Society of Angels, which is, in Grace’s own words, “a Victorian-era Charlie's Angels”!
We were so excited to speak to Grace about Glory and the Master of Shadows (and its gorgeous cover), her other books, her journey to writing, advice on research for historical romances, and more!
Be sure to visit Grace's website to learn more about her and her books. You can also find her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
In this episode, we are joined by Citra Tenore, an author who wrote her first book at 11 and published it at 12! We chat about how and why she wrote her second, the start of a sci-fi epic, at 19. We heard about how Citra got into writing, her initial dislike of reading and love of film, how she wrote her first book, why she found that sci-fi was her genre of choice for her second book, and where she finds her inspiration. She also offered some great advice for young writers, as well as advice for any parents of young writers out there looking to nurture that interest. We had a great conversation with Citra overall and look forward to seeing what she writes next!
You can find out more about Citra on her website, and be sure to grab a copy of The Dead Planets’ Requiem vol. 1, the first in her sprawling sci-fi series.
In this episode, we spoke to Amy Stuart, author of A Death at the Party, out today – get your copy now! A Death at the Party is a thriller that takes place over the course of one day as one woman’s plans for a party go terribly wrong, and has been aptly described as “Mrs. Dalloway with a suspense engine of Lisa Jewell!” We were very excited with this title, and are sure you will be, too.
Amy discusses her new release, her path to writing, her experience being a teacher, getting an MFA, and working as a writing instructor, details the interesting framework of her murder mystery-thriller novel, gets into the cast of characters, and regales us with some amazing writing advice!
Learn more about Amy via her website, and be sure to follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
In this episode, we spoke to Maria Riegger, attorney, self-help writer, and author of fiction and non-fiction titles such as the best-selling Legal Issues Authors Must Consider, a book that provides information on starting your self-publishing business, legal liability considerations, advice on how to protect your copyrights, how to safely use copyrighted material, and more. We learned a lot from Maria and found this discussion of the legal aspects of being an indie author very interesting and informative!
Content note: Nothing discussed in this episode of the podcast should be use as legal advice. This episode is meant to be informative, educational, and entertaining – if you have questions related to copyright law and other legal issues surrounding your books, independent publishing, and publishing in general, please contact a legal representative in your area for more information.
Learn more about Maria on her website, and be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter!
In this episode, we spoke to Jackie Lau, author of The Unmatchmakers, The Stand-Up Groomsman, and many more titles, and we're celebrating the release of her second novel with Kobo Originals, Not Your Valentine!
We spoke to Jackie about her new release, her writing process, her favourite romance tropes, her experience working with Kobo Originals, using Toronto as a setting, what it’s like to be a hybrid author and the differences between traditional and indie publishing, and so much more! Our discussion was informative and interesting, and as Rachel can attest, you don’t want to miss out on Jackie’s gourmet donut recommendations. Take notes, Torontonians!
Visit Jackie’s website here, or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
In this episode, we chatted with Alexandra Shapiro, criminal defense lawyer and debut author as of 2021. We asked Alexandra about working with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, how her career as a lawyer helped her creative writing, why so many lawyers are also amazing authors, legal thriller and sci-fi crossovers, and much more. We had a great conversation with Alexandra – if you are interested in writing a legal thriller, learning more about how to write legal dramas effectively and accurately, or in need of some great writing advice and encouragement in general, don’t miss this episode.
Alexanda’s legal thriller, Presumed Guilty, is available now! For more information on Alexandra’s debut novel, visit her website or follow Alexandra on Instagram and Twitter.
Happy New Year, writers! In this episode, the Kobo Writing Life team gets together to discuss our indie publishing predictions, forecasts, hopes and dreams for 2023! Hear from Tara (director of KWL), Laura (author engagement manager), Rachel (promotions specialist), and Terrence (content coordinator for KWL) as they discuss everything from AI-narrated audiobooks and the Kobo Plus expansion to the influence of TikTok and trends in cover design!
Whether you agree with our predications or think we are wildly off-base, we hope you enjoy listening to what we thought of the trends we saw in 2022 and what we expect (and hope) to see in 2023.
And be sure follow Kobo Writing Life on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram for indie publishing tips, advice, and inspiration.
In this episode, we’re showcasing a live event that we held earlier this year on the KWL Facebook page and on our YouTube channel. Kobo Writing Life director Tara and author relations manager Joni got together to talk about everything you need to know to boost your backlist sales.
For more advice on boosting your backlist, check out these previous posts and podcast episode:
And be sure to follow Kobo Writing Life on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram for more!
In this episode, we spoke with Meg Smitherman, debut indie author of Destroyer, the first book in a new adult, dark fantasy romance duology. Meg chatted with us about her new novel, fanfiction, finding a writing community on TikTok, her experience getting an MFA in London, England, finally writing in the ideal genre for her, and much more. Meg also offers amazing writing advice and writing updates via her TikTok – follow her here!
Destroyer is available now on Kobo and wherever eBooks are sold. You can find out more about Meg on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, or her website.
In this week’s episode, we spoke to Daniel Paisner, ghostwriter of seventeen NYT bestselling books among many, many others. Daniel is also a podcaster and author of his own novels, the latest of which came out this year. His long-spanning career includes writing with and for Gilbert Gottfried, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Aoki, Anthony Quinn, Serena Williams, and more.
We dove into Daniel’s experience ghostwriting, what makes a good collaboration and collaborator, ghostwriting advice, why and when he decided to write his own works, and more. Our conversation was extremely interesting and informative, and we got to hear about his own podcast, As Told To, a show where each episode features a conversation between Daniel and another ghostwriter.
Daniel’s latest book, Balloon Dog, is available now on Kobo. You can find out more about Daniel and his work on his website, or by visiting him on TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.
In this episode, we talk to best-selling romance and erotica author, Jade West, about writing very spicy and often hardcore books, the elusive and surprising inner workings of the TikTok algorithm, and having your books go viral. We hope you enjoy this enlightening conversation on marketing erotica, authenticity in writing, self-publishing as a writer of spicy books, and how to write a good sex scene, and more!
Jade’s latest audiobook, Hello Stranger, is available on Kobo. The rest of her audiobooks can be found here! And be sure to follow Jade on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Find more information about our podcast here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we spoke to Lisa M. Lilly, author, lawyer, and fellow podcaster! Lisa M. Lilly hosts Buffy and the Art of Story, a podcast wherein Buffy the Vampire Slayer is discussed and analyzed for its storytelling techniques and how those techniques can help writers improve their craft. We talked to Lisa about her podcast, how she prepares for the show, her writing process, and her work regarding Writing As A Second Career, a site focused on advice for those pursuing writing careers and more.
Being huge fans of Buffy AND well-crafted stories here at KWL, we hope you enjoy this enthusiastic episode. We had so much fun talking to Lisa and hope this has inspired at least a few of you to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Follow Lisa on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and visit her online here.
Find more information about our podcast here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we spoke with Karen White, an award-winning audiobook narrator who recently began writing and publishing her own works under the pen name of Karen Grey. We chatted about Karen’s career as an audiobook narrator, her transition into publishing as an indie author, and much more.
We hope you enjoy this great conversation on the dos and don’ts of narrating audiobooks, tips on marketing, a look behind the scenes of audiobook recording, and much love for and enthusiasm about audiobooks overall! And be sure to follow Karen on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Find more information about our podcast here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we heard from award-winning author and professional speaker Carol Van Den Hende, whose second book, Orchid Blooming, was published this year. Orchid Blooming is the prequel to her acclaimed debut, Goodbye, Orchid, and a continuation of a trilogy.
We spoke to Carol about her path to writing, releasing a debut novel during the pandemic, crafting compelling characters, the importance of research, writing emotional narratives that affect her readers, tips on public speaking, and more. Follow Carol on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!
Find more information about our podcast here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, the KWL team celebrates 300 episodes of the Kobo Writing Life podcast! With 300 episodes and 9 years of podcasting under our belts, we wanted to release this special episode featuring members of the KWL teams and Kobo teams that make publishing your eBooks and audiobooks possible. We learn more about their roles, what they read, and how they help in the journey of your publications!
Find more information about our podcast here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Alex de Campi, author of prose novels, graphic novels, screenplays, and more, as well as director of music videos.
We chatted about Alex’s debut prose novel, The Scottish Boy, her writing style, got some great advice for writing fight scenes and sex scenes, and learned more about her researching and world-building process regarding her historical fiction writing – and heard, overall, a fantastic and frank recounting of her experiences in the traditional publishing industry.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Alison G. Bailey, award-winning author of contemporary romance and new adult novels that are full of emotional narratives with a focus on love, laughter, and romance. Alison’s latest novel, Forever Perfect, is the latest instalment in her Perfect Series, released earlier this year.
We chatted with Alison about her writing career, her life in Charleston, how she got started right at the beginning of the indie publishing boom over a decade ago, her success via word-of-mouth marketing, her background and experience writing for the stage, and much more.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Nana Malone, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of sexy, feel-good romance novels and creator of the #BrownNippleChallenge.
We learned more about Nana’s experience writing not one, but two novels for Kobo Originals, her writing process regarding dictation, modelling for her own covers, the importance of Black women and women of colour on the covers of romance novels, the #Brown Nipple Challenge, judging a literary contest, and more!
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode we’re showcasing a live event that we held earlier this year on the KWL Facebook and YouTube pages. KWL Director Tara Cremin chatted with the wonderful indie author titan, Penny Reid. The universe that Penny has created, the "Pennyverse," is hugely popular with readers but also with writers. After several authors expressed interest in writing in her worlds, Penny opened it up and created the collaborative universe Smartypants Romance.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 nationally bestselling author of Woman on the Edge. We discussed Samantha's next thriller, Watch Out for Her, her experiences finding a traditional publishing platform, following up a successful debut during a global pandemic, how curiosity can drive the creative process of writing a thriller, the importance of editing, of community, of her readers, and much more!
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode we’re showcasing a live event that we held earlier this year on the KWL Facebook and YouTube pages. KWL Director Tara and Author Relations Manager Joni, got together to talk about everything you need to know to become a Kobo bestseller.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Swedish author and entrepreneur, Marcus Tallberg. Tune in for a discussion on authentic representation of marginalized characters in fiction, why Marcus felt compelled to write from such a young age, and why it's so vital for everyone to have the opportunity to see their experiences represented.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by USA Today bestselling romance author and trauma therapist Adriana Herrera (author of Finding Joy, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, and more) who spoke to us about her writing journey, representation in genre fiction, and more.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by psychological fiction author and Ph.D. candidate Sara Foster (author of You Don't Know Me, The Hidden Hours, and more) who spoke to us about her recently released speculative fiction novel, The Hush.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
In this episode, we are joined by Canadian journalist, author, and filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz (creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie) who spoke to us about her recently released novel, Jameela Green Ruins Everything.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
Tune in to our conversation with Clayton Noblit and Grant Shepherd of Written Word Media. They gave us lots of insight into successful marketing as an indie author, and the various services they offer to help authors sell books, including the newer Reader Reach program. We also talked about the results of the 2021 indie author survey.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
Our guest this week is Renee Harleston, founder of Writing Diversely, which offers sensitivity reading services that provide authors, writers, and content creators the tools and support they need to tell diverse and inclusive stories.
Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife.
This week on the podcast, we're speaking with Lila Dubois and Jayne Rylon all about TikTok, and how they are using the platform to sell more books than ever before.
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/p/kwlpodcast
Happy International Woman's Day to our KWL community! We wanted to celebrate by releasing a bonus episode this week - we hope you enjoy it!
We spoke with author Anat Deracine about her novel, Driving by Starlight, her experience growing up in Saudi Arabia and why writing about female friendship is so important to her.
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/p/kwlpodcast
This week on the podcast, we're sitting down with Catherine Spader to chat about her career trajectory from ER nurse to journalist to fantasy writer. Catherine explains how her medical background brings realism to her writing, and talks about the tips and tricks she learned as a journalist that shape her fiction writing.
We are joined on the podcast by Rachel Krantz who spoke to us about her recent memoir, Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation, and Non-Monogamy. Rachel discussed the process of writing her memoir, why she felt she needed to tell this story, and she also shares tips on how to write about polyamorous relationships in fiction.
This week we're featuring author and podcaster, Matty Dalrymple, host of the The Indy Author Podcast. Matty shares insights she has learned from her podcasting career, how she has found success in publishing short fiction, and why she loves writing about the supernatural.
Journalism professor and romance author Sara Whitney joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her journey to publishing and why she recently took her catalogue wide. We discussed her experiences with NaNoWriMo, why she's so passionate about great romance, and her hottest TV takes as a former television critic.
This week we spoke to author Bruce McCandless III about his latest book, a a biography of his father, legendary astronaut Bruce McCandless II. Bruce spoke to us about growing up in Houston, the experience of having a parent in the space program, and the process of piecing together his own memories and the fragments of his dad's life in order to tell his story.
Bestselling author and writer of comics and video games Sam Maggs returns to the podcast this week to discuss writing across different mediums and to share her expertise on speaking at conventions. Sam tells us how her multi-faceted career has evolved, how she prepares for both appearing on and moderating panels at various conventions worldwide, and she tells us who she would want to appear on her dream panel.
Author, coach, and marketing assistant Mel Jolly joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and to tell us about her new book, Becoming Future You: Be the Hero of Your Own Life. Mel tells us about her writing process, how her coaching courses inspired her book, and she gives some great advice for breaking procrastination habits.
On a very special bonus episode of the podcast, Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn sits down with some of the book lovers at Kobo to talk about their favourite reads of 2021. With recommendations ranging from historical fiction to memoirs about grief to true crime, there is truly something for everyone!
Bestselling author Alexis Hall joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his Kobo Original, Murder Most Actual, and what it was like writing his first cozy mystery. Alexis talks to us about his career as a hybrid author, the inspirations behind Murder Most Actual, and how he tries to normalize queer relationships in his writing.
Award-winning SFF author Cadwell Turnbull joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his latest novel, No Gods, No Monsters. Cadwell talks to us about writing character-driven Sci-Fi Fantasy, incorporating real-life events and intersectionality into his work, and the challenges of writing novels from multiple perspectives.
Award-winning fantasy author L. Penelope joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her unique journey to becoming a hybrid author and how she manages to find time for herself while maintaining her busy publishing schedule. Leslye also chats with us about her writing process, the return of in-person events and conventions, and she tells us all about her own podcast, My Imaginary Friends.
Author Chloe Liese joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her new Kobo Original, The Mistletoe Motive. Chloe chats with us about her writing process, using social media for marketing, representation in romance and why her belief that everyone deserves a love story has been the driving force for her career.
Bestselling and award winning paranormal romance author Lisa Kessler joins us on the podcast today to discuss her writing process and how she uses tarot cards as a tool to help with writer’s block and character development. Lisa also talks to us about why she loves writing in the paranormal genre, her career as a hybrid author, and what changes she has seen in the publishing industry throughout her career.
Author Shane Neeley joins us on the podcast this week to talk about his experience using AI and machine learning to help him write his books. Shane also discusses his strategy of self-publishing, the future of writing, and whether robots are going to take over the world.
Bestselling author Marni Mann joins us on the podcast this week to talk about how she built her team of beta readers and why having this trusted team has been so important to her success as an author. Marni also talks to us about her writing journey and finding her audience as an author who writes across multiple genres.
Paranormal romance author and ICU nurse Cassandra Alexander joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her new memoir, Year of the Nurse. In her memoir, Cassandra recounts her time on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic working in the ICU. She talks to us about the writing process of Year of the Nurse, what it was like revisiting the events of the previous 18 months, and the lasting effect of the pandemic on her mental health and that of healthcare workers globally.
Content note: this episode discusses heavy topics including Covid-19, PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Please listen mindfully.
Internationally bestselling author K.A. Tucker joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her most recent release, A Fate of Wrath & Flame. After building a successful career as an author of romance and women's fiction, A Fate of Wrath & Flame is K.A.’s first fantasy novel. She speaks to us about switching genres, how she created her fantasy world, and what we can expect from her next.
Founder and developer of StoryOrigin Evan Gow joins us on the podcast this week. Evan tells us the how authors can utilize cross promotions such as newsletter swaps and group promotions, build their mailing list, distribute review copies, and even track their writing goals on StoryOrigin, and he gives us his predictions for the future of indie publishing and how he sees his site fitting into that future.
Bestselling author Eric Rickstad joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his newest dark, psychological thriller, I Am Not Who You Think I Am. Eric talks to us about his unique and organic writing process, how he plots the twists and turns of his thrillers, and why he is drawn to writing stories about the aftermath of violence.
Bestselling author Patricia McLinn is on the podcast this week to discuss the craft of writing and how to create a sustainable career as a writer. Patricia chats to us about her writing process, why discovering the writing process that works for you is so important as an author, and she gives us her best advice for creating and maintaining a long-standing successful career.
For this bonus episode of the KWL Podcast, we are honoured to share a conversation between Kobo’s Diversity and Inclusion committee, led by Alyssa Andino, and Kobo Emerging Writer Prize winner Michelle Good. During this conversation, Michelle speaks to us about the writing and research process behind her award winning novel Five Little Indians, a story about five survivors of residential schools in Canada, and the long lasting impact the residential school system has had on the Indigenous community. Michelle also speaks to us about finding joy and healing within her community and she shares resources for those who want to learn more and become a better ally to the Indigenous community. She also tells us what changes she has already seen that give her hope for the future.
Bestselling author Katee Robert joins us on the podcast to talk about her writing process and why she’s drawn to retellings of myths and fairytales. Katee tells us about the research that goes into her reimagined classics and how she keeps them fresh and original, and she talks to us about how her book going viral on TikTok has changed her marketing approach.
Learn more about this episode!
Author T.W. Piperbrook joins us on the podcast this week to discuss bringing his Sandstorm series wide for the first time. T.W. talks to us about his career as a full-time author, why he decided to take his series wide and how he went about setting his wide release up for success, and he explains how his time working in the indie music industry compares to indie publishing.
We are joined by David Bezmozgis on the podcast this week. David is an award winning author, the host of the writing podcast Love and Defiance, and the creative director of the Humber School for Writers, and he speaks to us about all avenues of his career. He tells us about the different writing opportunities he’s had, how he got involved in the Humber School for Writers and what the mentor-based program involves, and he tells us about his podcast and how he hopes it can inspire aspiring writers.
Book launch coach Sue Campbell joins us on the podcast this week to share her best advice for finding your niche as an author and reaching your ideal reader. Sue tells us about the proven framework she uses to build marketing plans, she explains why approaching marketing with a positive mindset can make a huge difference in your marketing success, and she tells us how to find and pitch your work to influencers.
We are joined by author Michael Polelle on the podcast this week. Michael is a former lawyer and emeritus law professor who started his writing career after he retired from practicing law. He talks to us about his two novels, The Mythros Conspiracy and American Conspiracy, what his research process was like for his books, and what his writing process (which includes morning chocolate!) is like.
Editor Janice Zawerbny sits down with us this week to discuss her career in publishing and to share her advice for authors who are new to the editorial process. Janice was the editor of three books on the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize shortlist, and she talks to us about what drew her to acquire those books and how the editorial process differed between each title. Janice also tells us about the writing prize she co-founded, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her experiences working with both large publishers and small indie presses. Jennifer’s most recent series, Blood and Ash, went viral on TikTok, and she talks to us about that experience and the power of word of mouth marketing.
Authors and co-founders of the The Author Conference club Jenn Falls and Fatima Fayez join us on the podcast this week to talk about all things Clubhouse. Jenn and Fatima tell us how they got their start in indie publishing, what drew them to Clubhouse in the first place, and how they use the audio-only app to connect with other writers and host an author conference.
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her long standing career as a romance author and why she recently decided to try her hand at writing thrillers. Nalini chats to us about her publishing journey, why she decided to give indie publishing a try and become a hybrid author, and she tells us what it was like to be included on Oprah’s list of Best Romances to Read in this Lifetime.
Author Eric Maikranz joins us on the podcast this week to talk to us about his book, The Reincarnationist Papers, and the unique approach he took in order to secure a film adaptation of his book. Eric also talks to us about the differences between his indie and traditional publishing experiences, what the research process was like for his book, and he tells us his favourite reincarnation story.
Author Sarah Selecky joins us on the podcast this week. Not only is Sarah a Giller nominated author, but she is also a business owner, writing coach, and mentor, and she talks to us about her writing process and how overcoming her own writer’s block inspired her to start a writing school. We also chat about the craft of writing, the author community, and her writing competition, The Little Bird Contest.
New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her journey to publishing, her career as a hybrid author, and how she manages her backlist of over 80 titles. Kristen also talks to us about her newest release After the Climb: Special Edition, which she wrote with the help of her readers, and she tells us about her reader community, Rock Chick Nation.
Bestselling author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs joins us on the podcast today to celebrate the release of The Bone Code, the latest release in her Temperance Brennan series (out today!). Kathy talks to us about her journey to publishing, her writing process, and how she has maintained such a compelling long-standing series. We also chatted about the process of adapting her series into the hugely successful TV show Bones and what it was like bringing her characters to life on screen.
Crime fiction author Aime Austin joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her Casey Cort Legal Thrillers series and how she develops compelling legal mysteries through multiple points of view. Aime recently rebranded her entire series and she tells us how and why she decided it was time to rebrand and what that process was like, and we also discuss her new podcast, A Time to Thrill, and how her real life experience as a lawyer influenced her writing career.
Ramesh Mantha, Kobo’s VP of product for devices, joins us on the podcast this week to tell us about Kobo’s newest eReader: the Kobo Elipsa. Ramesh walks us through the research and development behind the Elipsa, the challenges his team faced launching a new device during a pandemic, and he answers all of our questions about the technology behind eReaders.
Author and writing coach J. Thorn is on the podcast this week to talk about his book, Three Story Method, and to share some of his advice for new writers and established authors alike. J. has been an indie author for over a decade and he tells us how the indie publishing industry has changed throughout his career and why he believes this is the best time to be an indie author.
In our 250th episode, bestselling author Lisa Taddeo joins us on the podcast to discuss her writing career and her first novel, Animal. Lisa is also the author of the runaway nonfiction hit, Three Women, and she talks to us about the writing process for both of her books, her career as a journalist, and why she enjoys exploring the decisions people make in her writing.
Debut author Zakiya Dalila Harris joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her novel, The Other Black Girl. Before becoming an author, Zakiya worked as an editorial assistant at a publishing house and she tells us what real life experiences influenced her book and what it was like being on the other side of the author-editor relationship. She also talks to us about her experience getting an MFA, the television adaptation of The Other Black Girl, and what changes in the publishing industry she’s seeing now and hopes to see in the future.
Author and professional stylist Heather Newberger joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her first book, How to Date Your Wardrobe: And Other Ways to Revive, Revitalize, and Reinvigorate Your Style. We speak to Heather about her career path as a stylist, her road to publication and the bumps that were caused by the pandemic, what post-pandemic fashion will look like, and we talk about using fashion and visual cues to help build in-depth characters and layered storytelling.
Debut author Jessica Hamilton joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her recently released thriller, What You Never Knew. Jessica talks to us about her journey to publication, how she plots her thriller novels, and what it was like publishing her first book during a pandemic.
We are joined by Kobo’s Siobhan Padgett on the podcast this week. Siobhan is the Senior Vendor Manager for the US and Canada, working with hundreds of publishers across both territories, and she talks to us about her role at Kobo, what elements successful titles have in common, and what indie publishers and traditional publishers can learn from one another. Siobhan has worked in the publishing industry for over two decades and she shares what changes she has seen within the industry, where she hopes the industry will go in the future, and she shares some fun insider stories with us.
This week on the podcast we are joined by Lateefah Zawistowski to discuss all things OverDrive. As an account manager for OverDrive, Lateefah gives us the inside look at how OverDrive works, how authors can add and market their books on OverDrive, and how libraries utilize the service. She also shares some advice on pricing your books for libraries, what trends she’s currently seeing in library sales, and she discusses the impact of the pandemic on libraries.
This week on the podcast we sit down with Kobo’s Content Sales Lead for North America Deandra Lalonde to talk about the new Kobo Staff Picks page and the power of word of mouth marketing. Deandra tells us why she’s decided to bring back the Kobo Staff Picks page, what she’s learned about the Kobo customer during her time with Kobo, and we discuss what new releases Deandra is excited for and the power of word of mouth marketing, especially when it comes to backlist titles.
Productivity strategist and author Sagan Morrow joins us on the podcast this week. Sagan tells us how she got into productivity strategy and what habits authors can implement to better fit writing into their schedule. She also talks to us about her polyamorous romantic comedy series, Polyamorous Passions, and how she’s using the romantic comedy genre to break down common misconceptions about polyamory.
Nina Grinstead, the founder of Valentine PR, joins us on the podcast this week to share how she creates strategic marketing plans for her authors. Nina talks to us about influencer marketing, utilizing different social media platforms, and how she helps her authors reach their career goals.
New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren joins us on the podcast this week. Skye has been an indie author for almost a decade and she tells us how her writing process and marketing strategy has changed throughout her career. Skye is also the founder of the Romance Authors Mastermind and she tells us how RAM came to be and why it is so different from other author conferences.
Liv Albert, host of the popular podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby, joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her new book Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook. Liv talks to us about her podcast and how it came into fruition, she tells us what her research and production process is like, and she tells how her podcast led to a book deal and what it was like writing her first book.
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Check out our audiobook sale here. With so many audiobooks on sale for $9.99 or less, there's something for every kind of listener!
Ricardo Fayet, the head of marketing and one of the founders of Reedsy, joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his book How to Market a Book: Overperform in a Crowded Market. Ricardo uses his wealth of marketing experience to give advice and share some best practices for finding your target audience, discovering new readers on different retailers, and converting page views to book sales.
Debut author and certified clinical hypnosis practitioner Shauna Cummins joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her book Wishcraft. Shauna has been a hypnotherapist for almost a decade and she talks to us about finding creativity during difficult times, her creative process and the experience of writing her first book, and she shares a simple technique authors can start using today to retrain their mind to register productivity and progress over negativity.
Kobo Writing Life’s very own Shayna Krishnasamy joins us on the podcast this week to discuss all things promotions. Shayna is the Author Relations and Promotions Strategist for KWL, and she not only manages our promotions tab, but she also helped create it! Shayna tells us how the promo tab came to be, how authors can best utilize the promos we run, and what authors should do if they’re rejected from a promo.
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If you would like the promotion tab enabled on your KWL dashboard, email us at [email protected].
Author and writing teacher Sacha Black returns to the podcast this week to discuss her book The Anatomy of Prose and crafting fully-realized characters. Sacha talks to us about her experience as an editor and how that’s affected her reading habits, and she gives some great insight into creating effective character emotions, embodying your characters' personalities, and creating layered descriptions in your prose.
Bestselling paranormal author Steff Green (AKA Steffanie Holmes) joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her unique writing process of using Skeleton Drafts. Steff also talks to us about her writing community, Rage Against the Manuscript, revitalizing her blacklist, and what it’s like navigating the publishing world as a legally blind author.
We are joined by three editing professionals on the podcast this week: Kristina Stanley, the creator of Fictionary, JoEllen Nordstrom, the founder of First Editing, and Lisa Lepki, head of marketing for ProWritingAid. Kristina, JoEllen, and Lisa walk us through the editing process, from story editing to proofreading, and discuss everything an author needs to know to make their book the best it can be before publishing. They also give some great advice on how to find the right editor for your work, and they discuss the use of AI and technology in the editing process.
New York Times bestselling author Courtney Milan joins us on the podcast this week. Courtney’s book The Duke Who Didn’t was on New York Times’ most notable books of 2020, and she tells us about her writing career, why she loves writing historical romances, and how to build a strong, engaged readership. Courtney is also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in publishing, and she talks to us about activism within the romance community, Romancing the Runoff, and what she hopes the future of publishing will bring.
USA Today bestselling romance author Kelly Jamieson talks to us about her newest series with Penguin Random House, Bears Hockey. She also discusses why self care is vital for authors, and why celebrity heroes are so popular among readers!
Join the platform that’s fast, free and easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti is on the podcast this week to discuss her writing process and what her experience has been like as a hybrid author. Rebecca talks to us about her decision to try indie publishing and why she chose to self-publish her most recent series, The Anna Albertini Files, she discusses the challenges of juggling multiple publishing contracts as well as her indie publishing schedule, and she gives us some great insight into why so many successful writers have a history of practicing law.
Actress, artist, and writer Irene Tsu joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her debut memoir, A Water Color Dream: The Many Lives of Irene Tsu. Irene tells us about her life and career as an actor, from a child dreaming of becoming a ballerina to becoming one of the first working Asian-American actors in Hollywood, appearing in films alongside legends such as Elvis, Bette Midler, and Jeff Bridges. Irene also talks to us about her writing and publishing experience, the evolution of the film industry throughout her illustrious career, and what she’s working on next.
We are kicking off 2021 with a delightful conversation with Kobo’s Chief Content Officer Pieter Swinkels. Pieter has worked for Kobo for almost a decade and previously worked as a publisher in the Netherlands, giving him a wealth of experience in the publishing industry which he was kind of enough to share with us. Pieter discusses the differences in publishing in North America and Europe, the evolution of digital publishing and his predictions for the future of the industry, and why he believes Kobo remains so competitive and what he’s excited for Kobo to do next.
Author Tara L. Roí joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and how she combined her love of writing with her passion for fighting climate change. Tara writes “steamy romance in a heating world”, and she talks to us about her path from screenwriter to journalist to romance author, what her writing process looks like and how it has evolved, and how she became passionate about the fight against climate change and how it has influenced her writing.
Brad West, the co-creator Vellum, joins us on the podcast this week to answer our questions about his ePub creating software. Brad tells us how Vellum its start, how the software works, what users can expect from Vellum in the future, and he talks to us about what he’s learned during his time as a small business owner.
Author and winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction Zalika Reid-Benta joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her award winning debut title Frying Plantain. Zalika tells us about the book’s road to publication, from high school writing project to finished work, she tells us about her writing process and how it has evolved over time, and she gives some great advice for writing natural and organic sounding dialogue.
Librarian Jaclyn Derlatka sits down with Steph and Joni this week to discuss her role as the department head for children’s and adult fiction at Whitby Public Library, and how she curates the library’s collection. Jaclyn talks to us about using Overdrive and Hoopla to build the digital library, what publishing trends she’s noticed recently, and how the pandemic has affected libraries.
Author consultant Kate Tilton joins us on the podcast this week to discuss figuring out your goals as an indie author and what practices to implement in order to reach them. Kate started out in the publishing industry as an author’s assistant, and she talks to us about what prompted her to start her own business, why authenticity is key when it comes to social media, and why avoiding burnout as an indie author is so much easier than recovering from it.
Please enjoy this preview of Season 3 of Kobo in Conversation! Eden Robinson joined us to talk about how she outfoxed her inner editor to write the Trickster trilogy -- including Return of the Trickster, coming in 2021 -- and explained why it’s a bad idea to follow her on twitter if you enjoy popular TV shows. And we learned how many narrators she tried for the Trickster story before landing at last on Jared. You can subscribe to Kobo in Conversation anywhere you listen. https://www.kobo.com/blog/kobo-in-conversation
Bestselling author Talia Hibbert joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career, her writing process, and her newest Kobo Original, Wrapped Up in You. Talia writes sexy, diverse romance and she talks about how indie publishing is more accessible for diverse authors. We also discuss how she works from the initial story idea to the finished product and where she thinks indie publishing is going next.
Author and co-host of the Six Figure Authors podcast Lindsay Buroker joins us on the podcast this week. Lindsay has been an indie author for almost a decade and she talks to us about how the industry has changed over that time, where she thinks it’s going next, and she tells us about her Patreon and how she utilizes the platform to distribute ARCs and reward her fans.
New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and what makes a great crime novel. Karin tells us how she plots both her novels and her long-running series, what her research process is like, and the double standards imposed on female crime writers. Karin also tells us about her non-profit, Save the Libraries, and she gives some great advice for aspiring authors.
Debut author Vanessa Åsell Tsuruga joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her novel Förgätmigej för alltid (Forget-me-not Forever), and how she went about translating her book into English. Vanessa tells us how she found the right translator for her novel, what the translation workflow was like, and how she fits writing into her busy work and home life.
Bestselling author Gail Carriger joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her new non-fiction book, The Heroine’s Journey. Gail started out as a traditionally published author, but once she got a taste of indie publishing she absolutely loved it. Her newest book, The Heroine’s Journey, takes a look at the storytelling device by the same name and how it appears throughout the literary canon and pop culture. Gail also talks to us about her writing process, the fate of the publishing industry, and what happened when she stopped running ads for three months.
Bestselling mother-daughter author duo, PC Cast and Kristin Cast, join us on the podcast this week. PC and Kristin tell us how they got their start writing and what prompted them to start working together, what their co-writing process looks like and how their individual writing practices differ, and they discuss the evolution of YA as a genre and where they see publishing going next.
Award winning author Brooke Adams Law joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing method, embodied writing, which aims to explore emotions and experiences through the physical body. Brooke also talks to us about her MFA experience, and the journey from idea to publication for her award winning debut novel, Catchlight.
Bestselling author Susan Stoker joins us on the podcast this week to discuss how she creates her romance series from creating the initial layout on an Excel spreadsheet to deciding which marketing strategies to use when launching a new series or bringing a new audience to an older one. Susan also talks to us about translating her series for a non-English audience and how she’s managed to sustain such a successful writing career.
Novelist, poet, and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors Orna Ross joins us on the podcast this week to discuss taking a global approach to your indie publishing business. Orna talks about what business decisions authors should consider and how to get into the right mindset before going global, and she gives us some great advice for new and veteran authors alike.
Internationally bestselling author Laurelin Paige joins us on the podcast this week. Laurelin has a background in musical theatre and marketing, making her an expert in both writing stories and selling them, and she gives us some great advice on how to tackle creating a series, what marketing techniques she has found effective when launching a new series or rebranding an old one, and how to approach your writing career as a business.
Jeff and Jamie from Deyan Audio join us on the podcast this week to discuss all things audiobooks! Jeff and Jamie have a combined 23 years of experience at the award winning production company, and they share their expertise by giving us an insider look at the audiobook production process from casting to quality control and every step in between.
Bestselling author and creator of The Indie Author Mindset Adam Croft joins us on the podcast this week. Adam is a huge advocate for publishing wide, and he shares some excellent advice for authors who are considering making the jump from exclusive, and he also shares how indie publishing has changed throughout his career and where he thinks it’s going next.
Bestselling author Sam Maggs joins us on the podcast this week. Sam has written both fiction and nonfiction books, as well as comics, graphic novels, and video games, and talks to us about how she tackles writing across a variety of mediums, and the difference between writing original works and pitching to write for an already established IP. Sam also discusses what it’s like working as a woman in the traditionally male-dominated Nerd World, how gate-keeping and diversity in Geek Culture and publishing have changed over the past few years, and how she has utilized social media to build both her career and a community of her peers.
Author and founder of Izzard Ink Tim McConnehey joins us on the podcast this week. Tim has spent almost a decade working with indie authors and connecting them to publishing professionals, making him an expert in the collaborative nature of the publishing industry. Tim talks to us about why authors should hire professionals to help their work succeed and how authors can find the right publishing pro for their book.
Melissa Dalton Martinez, a veteran marketing and PR manager and the host of The Book Break, joins us on the podcast to discuss the ins and outs of book reviews and author branding. Melissa explains the process behind paid book reviews, when and how authors should use these reviews, and how to create a cohesive author brand.
Bestselling author Nick Thacker joins us on the podcast this week to discuss utilizing street team marketing to grow your readership. Nick explains how to use your mailing list to find beta readers, get honest feedback about your work, and learn more about your target audience and what they’re looking for in their next read.
Author Megan Angelo joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her debut novel Followers. Megan tells us what inspired the story of Followers, how she created the fictional not-too-distant future of 2051 and grounded it in reality, and how her previous work as a journalist helped her craft the social-media-obsessed world within her book.
Kobo Plus, our all-you-can-read subscription service, launched in Canada last week, so we asked the director of Kobo Plus and Publisher Relations, Erik Rigters, to join us on the podcast to help answer the big questions surrounding the launch. Using the data we’ve seen from Kobo Plus in the Netherlands, Erik explains how Kobo Plus can benefit authors, how it can help boost your backlist, and why you should consider enrolling your books!
Bestselling author and writing coach Allison Fallon is on the podcast this week. As the published author of thirteen books and the founder of the writing community Find Your Voice, Alison brings her depth of knowledge to our conversation as she shares some tips and best practices for navigating the publishing industry, writing honest nonfiction, and utilizing science to successfully make writing a part of your routine.
Veteran Publicist, social media pro, and brand manager Dana Kaye joins us on the podcast this week to discuss all things marketing, publicity, and branding. Dana gives us some great advice on striking a balance between PR and marketing, pitching yourself and your books to media outlets, and identifying and establishing your unique author brand.
Mystery novelist Paul Austin Ardoin joins us on the podcast this week. After spending eight years writing the first few chapters of his novel, Paul signed up for NaNoWriMo, finished writing his debut in a matter of weeks, and the rest is history! Paul talks to us about kick starting his writing career through NaNoWriMo, how his writing process has changed throughout his career, and why he decided to self-publish and go wide.
Bestselling author and publisher Kevin J. Anderson joins us on this podcast this week to discuss his illustrious thirty year writing career and how the world of publishing has evolved, and continues to evolve, throughout. Kevin publishes both traditionally and with his own indie press, WordFire Press, he is an instructor at Superstars Writing Seminar, and he teaches a Masters in Publishing course at Western Colorado University, giving him unique and diverse insight into the world of publishing.
Please enjoy this special bonus episode from Kobo in Conversation! We spoke with thriller writer (and former newspaper columnist and humourist) Linwood Barclay about the myth of writer’s block and the discipline required to rein in his comic gifts. Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Kobo’s CRM and Marketing Manager, Cristina Mendes, joins us for our 200th episode to give insight into the Kobo customer and how to effectively market your eBooks and audiobooks globally! Cristina covers a lot of ground in our conversation, including advice for selling on an international scale, the difference between Kobo’s eBook and audiobook customers, marketing tips for when you’re on a budget, and what makes Kobo (and our customers) unique!
Kobo’s Global Audiobook Merchandiser, Elyse Daniels, is on the podcast this week discussing all things audio. Elyse tells us the ins and outs of selling audiobooks on Kobo, including what genres do especially well as audiobooks, how she curates audiobook promotions and emails, what types of promotions are the most successful for audiobooks, and she gives some great tips for how to competitively price your audiobook for Kobo’s market.
Skye MacKinnon is an international bestselling author who writes across multiple genres, from science fiction to fantasy to paranormal romance and even children’s books. Skye joins us on the podcast this week to discuss writing in different genres and how she incorporates her love of Scottish folklore and mythology into her work no matter what she's writing. She also talks about her experience co-writing series with authors she admires and why she decided to go wide.
Author Nora Shalaway Carpenter is on the podcast this week to discuss her debut YA novel, The Edge of Anything, and how her own experience with mental health shaped the story she wanted to tell. Nora tells us about her writing journey, from childhood dreamer to published author, about why she likes writing Young Adult Fiction, and about the conversations she hopes her novel will spark.
Science fiction and fantasy author Anthony Dobranski is on the podcast this week to talk about the tarot deck he created as a tie-in to his book, The Demon is Business Class. Anthony takes us through the creative process behind the deck, from inception to production to marketing and sales, and he gives us a Business Class Tarot reading (which you can also watch on our Youtube channel)!
In collaboration with author Anthony Dobranski, Kobo Writing Life is giving away one Business Class Tarot Deck to one lucky follower! To be eligible for the giveaway you must:1. Follow us on Instagram at @kobo.writing.life or our YouTube channel Kobo Writing Life 2. Leave a comment of what your favourite tarot card is. Follow and comment on both for twice the entries!
Romance author and marketing executive Kilby Blades joins us on the podcast this week to talk about the new, ever evolving storytelling platforms authors can access to not only publish new work, but also expand their reader base. With a background in digital marketing, Kilby shares tips and tricks of the trade, from marketing steamy romance novels to the importance of creating a unique and flexible marketing plan.
Author Abbigail N. Rosewood joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her debut novel, If I Had Two Lives, and the real-life inspiration behind the story. Abbigail also discusses how she benefited from her MFA in creative writing beyond improving her craft, including gaining a built-in writing community and getting more comfortable with sharing her work.
Maggie Marr has been an entertainment attorney, a producer, an entertainment agent, and is a USA Today bestselling author. She joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her journey from the courtroom to the bestseller list, what it takes to make the jump from author to screenwriter, and she gives some excellent advice to anyone looking to adapt their work for the silver screen.
Writer, illustrator, and poet Jasmin Kaur joins us on the podcast this week. Jasmin’s work has been celebrated globally, and has been shared by celebrities and activists including Jennifer Lopez, Tessa Thompson, and Reese Witherspoon. She talks to us about her journey as a writer and what it’s like to know her work has had such a wide reach, how she ensures she maintains her original intentions when sharing her work, and why she feels it’s so important for her to share and protect her authentic voice.
Bestselling author, podcaster, and motivational speaker Joanna Penn joined us for a KWL Facebook Live event recently, where she discussed all things audio from recording her own podcast to narrating, marketing, and editing audiobooks. Joanna also talked about how and why audio content is evolving, and she gave us some great predictions about the future of audiobooks and publishing.
You can find Joanna's podcast, The Creative Penn, here!
Historical thriller author Glenn Dyer was in his sixties and freshly retired when he published his first novel, The Torch of Betrayal. Now planning the release of his third book, Glenn joins us on the podcast to discuss finding the motivation to realize his dreams of becoming a published author, how he weaves historical facts into his novels, and what he has learned about self publishing along the way.
Canadian musician and author Eamon McGrath joins us on the podcast this week to discuss the differences and similarities between being a musician and being an author. He talks about how his first book came about while he was touring Europe as a musician, how playing his own music in front of a crowd differs from reading his own words, and how learning to edit his books has influenced his approach to songwriting. Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear Eamon play us his song, In Like a Lion.
Debut author Andrew David MacDonald joins us on the podcast this week. Fresh off the release of his first novel, When We Were Vikings, Andrew talks to us about his writing journey, what he has learned about the publishing industry, and he gives us some wonderful advice on finding your character’s voice and how to finish that dreaded first draft.
Award winning poet Saeed Jones was in the Kobo office recently to discuss his new memoir, How We Fight For Our Lives. In conversation with maxine bailey, Saeed talked about growing up black and gay in the southern United States, the process of putting his life onto paper, his desire to save Meghan Markle, and how everyone is fighting for their lives. It’s a fun and wonderfully insightful conversation; we hope you enjoy!
Hear more from Kobo in Conversation.
Tawdra Kandle, a USA Today bestselling romance author, writes across multiple genres using just as many pen names. She tells us why she decided to utilize pen names, how these names came about, and how they’ve proven to be incredibly useful marketing tools.
Bestselling Science Fiction and Paranormal author TS Paul joins us to discuss how he went from a reluctant writer to an author who puts out over 20 books a year, his creative marketing techniques that helped him build a loyal fan base, and why he’s such a big advocate for publishing wide.
Our international KWL team members were in town earlier this month, so we all crowded into our small (and very warm) podcast room to discuss the future of publishing, where we think indie publishing is heading, and our current reality television obsessions.
USA Today bestselling author Darcy Burke sits down with Steph and Tara to discuss the importance of having a writing group, what writing retreats are really like, and how to keep your backlist fresh to attract new readers.
New York Times Bestselling romance author Jennifer Probst discusses her experience in publishing and how she found her success, why she loves writing romance, and the secret to writing a great sex scene.
Fan of the podcast? We would love to hear from you! If you have a couple minutes to spare, please fill out our survey below. We want to learn more about you and what you would like to hear on the podcast next! https://forms.gle/i2gkgvFBbHa19YvU7
USA Today bestselling author, Autumn Jones Lake explains to us the misconceptions associated with motorcycle romance, how she plots her Lost Kings MC series (16 books and counting!) and shares her tips for aspiring romance writers. Fan of the podcast? We would love to hear from you! If you have a couple minutes to spare, please fill out our survey below. We want to learn more about you and what you would like to hear on the podcast next! https://forms.gle/i2gkgvFBbHa19YvU7
Holly Mortimer, both an author and email marketing specialist, discusses easy strategies authors can implement to sell more books. Holly describes the common mistakes authors make when trying email marketing, best practices for writing excellent newsletters and the frequency authors should be sending emails. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Vanessa Vale, USA today best-selling author of sexy romance novels, discusses publishing in a niche genre and how she strives for brand recognition through her author name rather than a singular book. Vanessa talks about her strategy for going wide, why she releases a book every 6 weeks and the process of creating translations. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Sara Rosett, USA Today bestselling author, gives her tips for plotting mystery novels and advises authors on which aspects of a mystery they should spend the most time on. Sara discusses the psychology of why readers choose cozy mysteries as well as the difficulties of marketing a long-standing series.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Learn more about Fiction Vortex and StoryShop University with co-founder David Mark Brown. David talks to us about the idea behind Fiction Vortex and StoryVerses™ which allows authors to collaborate and make narrative content in shared worlds. David also discusses Pirate Publishing and the origins behind the Pirate Author Code. Interested in attending the StoryShop Summit? Use code S32020KWL to receive $250 off your ticket!
Crime fiction writer Robert Craven chats to us about how he writes strong female characters, his formula for writing and pitching a book and he provides insight into conferences available in the Ireland and the UK. He also discusses the common mistakes he sees in crime fiction novels.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Multi-media artist and author Victoria L. Szulc chats to us about using steampunk as a creative theme, how she is able to create her own book trailers and covers with only her iPhone and we learn more about her research process. Calling all holiday romance lovers! All audiobooks in this sale are $6.99 or less. Go to https://www.kobo.com/holiday-romance to save! Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free and easy! www.kobo.com/writinglife
With 30 books published for children and teens, New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, discusses the evolution of the young adult genre from when she published her first book in 2002. She talks about the inspiration behind her latest series The Folk of the Air and what she is working on next after finishing her trilogy. Want to read The Cruel Prince? Use promo code KWLHOLLY to 30% off your purchase today! (https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-cruel-prince)
With 7 years’ experience in the audiobook industry, Michelle Kaatz, the director of Kobo Originals, shares her insight and tips for creating audiobooks and original content. Michelle discusses how new technology will influence audiobooks, what customers and subscription models will look like in the future and what to expect next from Kobo Originals. Want to listen to Kobo’s latest Original? Check it out here: https://www.kobo.com/audiobook/little-women-and-other-christmas-stories
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free and easy! www.kobo.com/writinglife
Michael Anderle, best-selling indie author, gives us the scoop on the launch of his first "wide" series, Opus X. He tells us his author origin story, and talks about his focus on the business of writing and creating his own publishing company.
Start self-publishing today with KWL.
Join the platform that’s fast, free and easy!
www.kobo.com/writinglife
Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos, talks about his latest novel, The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border (https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-other-side-95). Juan Pablo shares the research process behind his non-fiction titles, the difficulties that arise interviewing younger subjects and how he makes his work accessible to younger readers. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Zoe York talks to us about how she began her career writing "the stories of her heart", and turned those stories into a commercial success. Zoe explains how she runs her business and handles her separate pen names, Zoe York and Ainsley Booth. She also explains how she maintains her backlist sales and uses her back catalogue to grow her readership.
Start self-publishing today with KWL.
Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Violet Howe talks to us about her writing career and how feeling strongly about her story and characters led her to indie publishing. Violet discusses how writing two different series in the same town allows her to explore two genres. Violet also talks to us about how her past work experiences have influenced her writing but also how they have helped with other aspects of her writing business. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Melissa Yi, an emergency room physician and author, chats to us about how she balances being a writer and part-time doctor. She discusses how her work experiences have made their way into her Hope Sze Medical Mystery Series and she shares some of her favourite emergency room stories. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Author Rachel Grant and her narrator Greg Tremblay shed some light on the process of creating an audiobook. Rachel discusses the working relationship she has with Greg and how his narration has influenced her future work. Greg shares his experience as a narrator, and the process for creating audiobooks. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Are you ready to start writing your novel but have no idea where to start? In this special bonus episode, superstar Joanna Penn shares her top 5 tips for writing a novel in a month (and actually reaching your goal!). Need more tips? We have an exclusive offer on Joanna’s titles The Writer’s Toolbox 2019 (https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-writer-s-toolbox-2019) and The Successful Author Mindset (https://www.kobo.com/audiobook/the-successful-author-mindset-1). Use promo code KWLPODPENN to receive 50% off of your choice of either eBook or audiobook.
New York Times bestselling author, Samantha Young talks to us about the life-changing success of her self-published novel On Dublin Street. Samantha examines the benefits of being a hybrid author, stepping out of her comfort zone with her forthcoming novel Outmatched and why relatable characters are the hallmark of all her novels. Stay tuned to the end of the episode for an exclusive offer on Samantha’s audiobook Into the Deep (https://www.kobo.com/audiobook/into-the-deep-18)!
Writing duo, Piper Rayne gives us insights on what it is like being a writing duo and they discuss the writing and revision process that works best for them. No two writing duos are alike! They discuss the prep work and strategy behind releasing a successful new persona and give their tips for new co-authors starting out. Make sure to stay tuned to the end of the episode for an exclusive offer on Piper Rayne’s title Lessons from a One-Night Stand (https://www.kobo.com/ebook/lessons-from-a-one-night-stand).
Waubgeshig Rice, an author and journalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation, talks about his latest novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, a take on a post-apocalypse story told from an indigenous perspective. He also describes his path to writing and offers advice for young aspiring writers.
Emma Chase, NYT bestselling author, discusses the importance of learning the habits of your readers and setting reader expectations before the release of a new book. She discusses how she built up her newsletter audience and gives us hints about what to expect next from her Royally series. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
New York Times best-selling author, Rachel Van Dyken discusses how having an authentic online presence offers something tangible to readers and allows authors to stay relevant in the ever-changing publishing world. She talks to us why she decided to be a hybrid author and discusses her upcoming novel Fashion Jungle which she co-wrote with model Kathy Ireland.
Joshua Lisec take us behind the scenes on what it is like being a Celebrity Ghostwriter. He discusses how he became a ghostwriter, what the ghostwriting process looks like and ways in which you can start your first non-fiction title. Joshua also discusses his unique business model that sets his projects up for success. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
With 20 years in the industry and over 100 novels under her belt, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis shares her tips for finding the right method of publication for you and how to sustain a lifelong publishing career. Jill shares her strategy for her social media and how she models her posts in the same tone as her novels. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Julie Evelyn Joyce talks to us about the inspiration for prize-winning novel Steeped in Love. Julie shares how writing Gilmore Girls fanfiction taught her about craft and how a chance meeting at RWA led her to entering and winning Kobo’s Emerging Writer Prize! Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
In this episode, Steph and Joni sat down with David Wind, author of The Indie Writer's Handbook. Wind has written 59 titles and started his author journey with a traditional publisher, before becoming a very early adopter of indie publishing in 2008. He talked to us about the lessons he's learned along the way, how he engages with readers across multiple genres, and offers advice for authors just starting out!
Join the platform that's fast, free and easy at www.kobo.com/writinglife!
Nora Decter, Kobo’s Emerging Writer Prize Winner for Literary Fiction, chats to us about her debut novel How Far We Go and How Fast. She talks about what pushed her to finish her first book, how she created an album to go with the novel and her experience winning the emerging writer prize. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Sarah gives listeners the rundown of her experience creating her own audiobook and how it has been one of the best things she has done for her business. She discusses how authors can target Australian readers and why she wanted to create her own indie publisher, Serenade Publishing. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Jackie Lau reflects on her first-year self-publishing and the steps she took to ensure success. She discusses the importance of diversity in romance and how she wanted to write characters with backgrounds underrepresented in the romance community. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Stefanie London, USA Today best-selling author, shares with listeners her tips for completing your first draft, how to sustain productivity while working from home and how to find the right editor for your project. She also discusses the importance of taking time off for your creativity. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Ricardo Fayet, co-founder of Reedsy, answers all our questions about the company from founding principles to their latest launch, Reedsy Discovery. He talks about SEO and steps authors can take to increase their searchability to ensure new readers find their books. He also discusses the manual process of acquiring freelance professionals to provide authors support for every step in their publishing career.
Michael Tamblyn, the CEO of Kobo, provides the most compelling argument to date about why indie authors need to go wide. Spoiler: You don’t want one algorithm to run your life. Michael discusses the origin story of Kobo and Kobo Writing Life and his own unique career path that led him to where he is today. He also talks about how indie authors have been excellent at exploiting opportunities as the eBook market shifts. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Indie publishing activist David Gaughran discusses the benefits of BookBub in targeting specific markets such as Kobo and how much money authors should spend on advertising. David discusses the importance of creating a marketing strategy and how to revive a title with decreasing sales. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Sacha Black joins us to discuss the archetypal villain and how writers can stop writing boring clichéd villains. Sacha gives tips on how to write a kickass protagonist that stands out and why copywriting is a skill all writers should continually work on. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Learn how to combat writer’s block or any type of creative block with Mythulu creation cards. Creator Laura Crenshaw talks about the creative process involved in creating these cards and how the first year running her business has influenced her writing. Laura also gives tips on starting your own business and where she sees Mythulu growing in the coming years. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Dale Mayer, USA Today bestselling author, gives advice to listeners on how to develop a long and successful career in indie publishing. She also explains how dictating her books helps her to be one of KWL’s most prolific authors. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
We dive deep into romantic comedies and the key components that make a great love story. Spoiler alert: it’s sexual tension! Sally and Mhairi tells us about their latest releases 99 Percent Mine and Don’t You Forget About Me and how they fell into writing. We also have a lightening round where they tell us their favourite rom-coms. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Book Smart Romance: How Penny Reid bypassed gatekeepers to create her own niche market. Penny discusses the ways in which writing romance is revolutionary, why creators today appear to be more accessible and why authors should always strive towards authenticity in their work. She also uses the magical power of math and science to provide detailed insight into the recent controversies of the romance community. Join the self-publishing platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
With 12 books releasing this year, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan, takes time out of her jam-packed schedule to talk to us about her writing technique, how the self-publishing landscape has changed since first starting out and why she wanted to branch out into a new genre. Carrie also gives listeners a sneak peek of her first YA novel, From Breath and Ruin. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Have you ever wondered if a book trailer would be right for your next novel? Adam Cushman, the founder of Film 14 (https://film-14.com/), breaks down the benefits of having a book trailer and discusses the process of creating a cinematic book trailer from conception to final product. Adam talks about pricing and the different ways an author can utilize a book trailer in their marketing. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Gritty crime fiction writer, Dharma Kelleher joins us to talk about her experience as a transgender author, and the recent controversy around the book deal for the fictional biography of transgender doctor, Dr. James Barry. We discuss the importance of sensitivity readers and how/when an author should employ them in their writing process. Dharma also sheds some light on marketing a title that was deemed “unmarketable.”
Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Retired police officer Brent Pilkey joins us to talk about his time as a beat cop for one of the roughest areas of Toronto, and how this experience influenced his writing. Brent discusses the genesis of his Rage series and how he decides which areas of being an officer should be excluded from his novels. Brent also discusses his writing process and what readers can expect from him next.
Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Please enjoy this preview of Kobo's new podcast Kobo in Conversation! Join our chief booklover, Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn, as he welcomes famous authors and other notable guests from around the literary world and learn about the inspirations and influences behind your favourite books. In this episode, Michael speaks with the author of Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, winner of CBC Canada Reads 2018, about empathy, loss, and how his family let light shine in after one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history.
Superstar New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Meredith Wild, talks about her unique experience as being both an indie author and independent publisher. Meredith talks about the early days of starting her own boutique publisher Waterhouse Press, and why she wanted to start her own “untraditional” publishing company. Meredith also discusses battling her doubts as being a relatively new writer in the romance realm and how Waterhouse Press approached marketing in their first few years.
Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Book cover designer Stuart Bache joins us on the podcast this week debunking our theory that authors should not design their own covers. Stuart talks to us about his journey into cover design and how he started his business Books Covered. He sheds some light into his process working with authors directly and the information he needs from an author to design their cover. Stuart also tells listeners tips they can utilize when designing their own cover.
Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Lauren Layne, New York Times bestselling author and branding superstar, shares her secrets on cultivating an author brand and mastering trickier social media platforms, specifically Instagram and Pinterest. Lauren demystifies author branding and explains how authors can find their own aesthetic. She also discusses why she chose to limit her social media presence to two platforms and how she has made these platforms work for her. We also discuss the evolution of her newsletter and how it has changed throughout the years.
Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.
Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Damon Suede, a chart-topping M/M romance author, will change the way you think about craft and characters. Damon gives listeners tips from his books Verbalize and Your A Game, such as thinking about characters in the term of budgeting a blockbuster film and why every character should be driven by a specific word. He also talks about sex, romance, and exploring different types of relationships. Warning: this episode contains explicit content!
Breakout star in Italy, France, and Germany, Brenna Aubrey gives listeners tips on translations. She advises on how to decide if translations are right for you, how much money an author should budget for translations, picking which market to target and selecting which backlist titles to translate. Brenna also discusses how she fell into her niche (writing “geek romance”) and why ultimately, she decided on self-publishing rather than traditional. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
How to be a career author: USA Today bestselling powerhouse Nana Malone shares the writing and marketing process you need to stay motivated and inspired for the next 10 years and more. Nana also talks about how the royal wedding between Meghan and Harry affected her Royals Undercover series and why she loves the romance genre. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
How a virtual assistant can transform your publishing business and create more time for what you love most: writing. Veteran VA to superstar authors and CMO of Book+Main, Melissa Saneholtz, tells listeners how she got her start as an author virtual assistant and what a VA can do for an author, and how to find one that's right for you. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
Empower more people to read your books. This behind-the-scenes at Kobo episode features Senior QA Analyst Wendy Reid, talking about the importance of EPUB accessibility, and specific features you can include in your eBooks to make them more accessible. Wendy also discusses her role in launching audiobooks for Kobo and how specifications for audiobooks do not exist (yet). Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
In this episode we bring you a Kobo in Conversation with author Ben Macintyre about his latest book, The Spy and the Traitor. Ben was interviewed by the Globe and Mail’s Doug Saunders where they discuss the spy Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.
In this episode, Cristina sits down with author and podcast producer Amanda Cupido to talk about her book Let’s Talk Podcasting: The Essential Guide to Doing it Right. Amanda talks about how she got into podcasts, the difference between podcasts and older media such as radio, and she discusses the underrepresented voices in the podcasting community. Amanda also shares her tips for starting your own podcast and the most common roadblock aspiring podcasters encounter.
In this episode, Rene sits down with the cast and crew of the recent film The House with a Clock in its Walls to learn about their experience working on the movie and their favourite books. Rene chats to director Eli Roth about his experience directing a fantasy/horror movie geared towards a family audience, actor Owen Vaccaro about working with successful actors Cate Blanchett and Jack Black and music composer Nathan Barr, about incorporating old school horror-flick sounds into the movie’s score. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife
In this episode, Chrissy chats to Ricci Wolman the founder and CEO of Written Word Media. Ricci talks about why she created Written Word Media, the services she offers authors and she tells listeners about her newest site, Reading Stacks. Ricci discusses the different types of information they are able to gather from their readers and how authors can use this information for promotional opportunities. Ricci also reflects on the marketing changes that have occurred in 2018.
In this episode, Steph and Laura chat to author Signe Pike about her novel The Lost Queen. Signe talks to us about her time as an acquisitions editor, her top tips for writers struggling to write their first draft and the challenges writing non-fiction versus fiction. Signe discusses her inspiration behind The Lost Queen, the research that went into the novel and the process of selling her television rights. Signe also gives listeners a hint about what to expect in the second book of her series.
In this episode, Steph and Mickie sit down with Damon and Nicola from pop gospel band, Bishop Blue. Bishop Blue, also known as Novel Songwriters, create original music for authors. They tell our listeners about the creative process behind bringing a story to life through music, how they got their start creating music for authors and why commissioning a song might be the right choice for you.
In this week’s episode, Rene sits down with Professor Dr. Lee Airton to talk about Airton’s new book, Gender: Your Guide: A Gender-Friendly Primer on What to Know, What to Say, and What to Do in the New Gender Culture. Dr. Airton talks about their wish to expand the conversation around the ways gender doesn’t work for people who are transgender, the difference between transgender and transgendered, and that it is okay to make mistakes as we learn to navigate and use new terminology around gender identity!
International bestseller Adam Croft explains the mindset shift that transformed his publishing from side hobby to full-time dream job. He gives specific advice for succeeding "wide," increasing your global reach, and his latest nonfiction book, The Indie Author Mindset.
In this episode, author Sarah Winman drops by Kobo’s headquarters in Toronto to talk to Chrissy about her latest release, Tin Man. Sarah talks to us about the inspiration behind her novel, why it took her ten years to write the book and she also discusses the significance of the title of the novel.
In this episode, Stephanie and Marina sit down with New York Times best-selling author Courtney Summers. We talk to Courtney about her new novel Sadie and her inspiration for including a podcast in her narrative. Courtney also discusses murder podcasts that inspired her and gives advice to new writers. We also discuss some of our favourite tv shows and movies of the summer. SPOILER WARNING! There are some Sadie spoilers in this episode.
In this episode, Stephanie sits down with New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Eve Langlais. Eve talks to us about being a hybrid author, why she loves writing romance novels and how she balances being creative while simultaneously working on the business side of publishing. Eve also chats about why she created the conference Romancing the Capital and gives tips for authors and readers nervous about attending their first conference.
In this episode, Stephanie and Laura sit down with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shayla Black. Shayla chats to us about celebrating 20 years in publishing, how she got her start in indie publishing and how she manages to balance the business side of writing. Shayla also talks about staying authentic online and why being true to yourself is the most important aspect of social media.
This episode was recorded live at our first-ever indie author library night at Kobo HQ. Chrissy Munroe interviewed Maria Cipriano and Beth Godlewski from Toronto Public Library to discuss how they curate the library catalogue and give advice on best practices for indie authors.
In this episode, Chrissy chats with Kobo’s VP of Product and Devices, Ramesh Mantha, to learn all about Kobo’s newest eReader Forma. Ramesh gives listeners a peek into the work that goes into creating new devices at Kobo. He talks about the features of Forma, specifically the focus on physical comfort, and the readings stats that influenced the design of Forma. Ramesh also talks about digital reading and how print and eBooks fit in the reading landscape today.
In this episode, we sit down with the European Manager of Kobo Writing Life, Camille Mofidi. Camille shares her thoughts on why authors should go global, the questions they need to ask themselves before going global and why they should consider translations. She also gives listeners tips on translations, metadata, pricing, countries they should consider publishing to and how authors can reach these potential new markets.
In this week’s episode, Chrissy sits down with Australian author Sasha Cottman. Sasha talks to us about her first-year being independently published, how she is able to balance paying her bills and having fun writing, and where she looks for inspiration and knowledge about indie publishing. She also talks to us about where she finds inspiration for her historical romance novels and where Australia fits in the indie publishing landscape.
In this week’s episode we bring you not one but two interviews! First, Rene d’Entremont, the director of PR here at Kobo, sits down with New York Times best-selling author Lauren Weisberger. Rene asks her about her new book When Life Gives You Lululemons and discusses her writing process. Secondly, Stephanie sits down with aspiring author Mackenzie Belcastro. Mackenzie tells listeners how she stays motivated as she learns her writing style, how she connects with other aspiring writers and how she manages to write full-time without having a 9 to 5 job.
In this episode Chrissy interviews award-winning and bestselling author, Kevin Tumlinson. Kevin talks to us about overcoming the stigma of self-publishing and how marketing sophistication and budgets have increased over the last ten years. He gives listeners his top tips for aspiring and established authors. Kevin also chats to us about his own podcast the Wordslinger Podcast and how he started working with Draft2Digital.
Join Steph and Joni as they sit down with Sean Pratt, an audiobook narrator who has recorded over 975 audiobooks. Sean chats to us about his experience being a narrator for 23 years and the physical and mental work that goes into producing an audiobook. Sean outlines how authors can create an audiobook themselves and the services he offers as a coach for authors wanting to narrate their own work. Sean also speculates on why audiobooks have exploded in popularity in the last couple years.
In this episode, Chrissy chats with authors Rachael Herron and J. Thorn from the Writer’s Well podcast (formerly The Petal to the Medal podcast). Rachael and J. discuss their writing and revision processes and how they got into self-publishing. J. talks to us about the conception for his Author on a Train event and why he loves to collaborate. Rachael and J. also give us tips on battling self-doubt and how to stay motivated when you are 30 revisions deep on a title.
In this episode, Chrissy chats to Scott Bintz, the founder of RealTruck.com, a 100-million-dollar e-commerce store from North Dakota. Recently, Scott became a rookie author publishing his first book Principles to Fortune: Crafting a Culture to Massively Grow a Business. He discusses his guiding principles in the workplace and how these fundamental values led to his success today. He also explains how these core values can be adapted by anyone, anywhere.
Join Chrissy as she sits down with EPUB experts Simon Collinson and Ben Dugas from Kobo. They teach us everything we need to know about eBook files. They explain the different types of EPUB files, the tools available to authors to make their own EPUBs and common errors to watch out when creating your own file. The also discuss the future of eBooks and accessibility.
In this episode, Chrissy and Stephanie chat with #1 New York Times best-selling author, Lauren Blakely. Lauren talks about her tips and tricks for marketing, her philosophy on writing and why it is important to be authentic on social media. She also examines a mistake she believes to have made with her publishing schedule last year. Lauren also gives listeners some great recommendations for readers curious about the romance genre.
In this episode, Chrissy and Steph sit down with Adam Sockel and Jill Grunenwald from Overdrive. They give us the low-down on all things Overdrive: what their roles are within the company, what is their favourite part about working at Overdrive, and share ways authors can reach librarians and library readers. They also talk about their own podcast, Professional Book Nerds, and gives us some great recommendations to add to your summer reading list.
Join Chrissy and Stephanie as they sit down with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, the masterminds behind Sterling & Stone. They discuss what goes on behind the scenes running Sterling & Stone, the top conversion elements every author should know, and why they decide to keep publishing wide. They also talk about their Smarter Artist Summit.
In this episode, Stephanie and Joni interview author Katja Meier about her memoir Across the Big Blue Sea. Katja discusses her inspiration for writing a memoir and why she ultimately decided to self-publish her book. She also talks about the power of social media and the problems she encountered using Instagram to promote her work.
Actress, producer, TV host, business owner and newly minted author Vivica Fox sits down with Rene at Kobo HQ in Toronto to talk about her new memoir, Every Day I'm Hustling
In this episode, Stephanie and Cristina sit down with Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Sarah is a writer, blogger and podcaster and chats to us about running her successful romance book blog and podcast. She delves into the workshops she runs on topics such as “Digital Promotion” and “How to Put a Review in Your Rearview Mirror” and, of course, we ask for her romance recommendations.
In this episode, Chrissy Munroe interviews award-winning author and creative writing instructor, Maxwell Alexander Drake. Drake, best known for his fantasy series, The Genesis of Oblivion Saga, chats to us about his writing career, the creation of DrakeU and how he generated a reputation for giving brutal writing advice to aspiring authors. He also discusses being in rebuild mode at this stage in his career and what he is working on next.
In this episode, Stephanie McGrath interviews popular YouTuber Ariel Bissett. Ariel gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into the life of a BookTuber and the community behind it. She offers advice on getting your book into the hands of YouTubers, tips for aspiring vloggers and podcasters, and also gives us the low-down on YouTube sponsorships.
Bestselling romance author Julia Kent came to Kobo HQ and chatted to Chrissy Munroe about her incredibly successful publishing and writing career.
Join Chrissy Munroe as she interviews best-selling science-fiction author, Kevin J. Anderson. KJA gives listeners a peek into his life as he juggles writing, editing, and running his own publishing company, Wordfire Press. All while working towards completing his Master’s degree.
In this episode, co-host Stephanie McGrath interviews USA Today Bestselling and RITA award winning author Sarina Bowen. We ask her about running a successful publishing business, collaborating with other authors and important lessons she’s learned about craft through the years. We are also joined by two Sarina fans, Laura Granger and Cristina Mendes, as we discuss Sarina’s post on the KWL blog, “Romance Writer’s Don’t Need Your Love-They’re Too Busy Making Bank”. We also learn more about her latest release, Brooklynaire.
Joni Di Placido interviews Charlotte Leonetti, a high school senior who wrote and self-published her YA novel Heartshire High. Her novel is a modern-day retelling of Alice In Wonderland and Charlotte describes it as a book for teens, by a teen. What's it like to publish a debut novel while a senior in high school?
For our 100th episode, we decided to give our listeners a behind the scenes look into Kobo Writing Life and the magic that goes into publishing a new title on Kobo. We follow Sarah Woodbury’s upcoming release The Favored Son, as it makes its way onto the Kobo store and into the libraries of our customers. We also introduce an exciting edition to the KWL podcast, Chrissy Munroe’s newest co-host, Stephanie McGrath!
Launched in 2012, BookBub has become the essential marketing platform for authors and publishers to promote their eBooks to millions of power readers around the world. We jumped at the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at BookBub, how they select eBooks for their daily emails, and what you can do as an author to make the most of this incredible marketing tool. You don't want to miss a minute of this conversation between Christine Munroe and BookBub's Carlyn Robertson.
Rachel Amphlett, bestselling crime and thriller writer from Brisbane, Australia, was at Kobo HQ earlier this fall as part of an international author tour. Rachel spoke to Mark Lefebvre about:
Mark Lefebvre interviews James Alan Gardner and Spider Robinson, co-editors of the Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela anthology. Compostela means “field of stars” and is most commonly known from the Santiago de Compostela, which, for more than 1,000 years, has attracted pilgrims to walk to the cathedral that holds St. James the apostle's relics. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time.
It’s day 8 of National Novel Writing Month - perfect timing to listen to some excellent inspiration from Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. He just published a nonfiction book, Pep Talks for Writers, and Christine Munroe chatted with him about how to stay dedicated to daily creativity, in November and beyond.
https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/pep-talks-for-writers
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews bestselling author M.L. Buchman (“Matt”) about his non-fiction title specifically targeted for writers and other creators, Estate Planning for Authors: Your Final Letter (and why you need to write it now), a step by step guide on how authors can make sure their legacy remains profitable for decades for their heirs after they are gone.
During the interview, Mark and Matt discuss:
After the interview, Mark reiterates the importance of thinking about the future and about the long term and reminds authors the importance of putting a plan in place to ensure that their heirs are equipped to properly manage their IP when they are no longer around. He then reminds writers of the forthcoming NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and encourages writers to take advantage of such “global” activities where writers can mutually support and cheer one another on to get that first draft of a novel written in a 30 day period.
Links of Interest
M.L. Buchman’s books on Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/search?query=M.L.%20Buchman&fcsearchfield=Author
M.L. Buchman’s website: http://www.mlbuchman.com/
M.L. Buchman on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mlbuchman
M.L. Buchman on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mlbuchman
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
Bestselling author M.L. Buchman started the first of over 50 novels and as many short stories while flying from South Korea to ride across the Australian Outback. All part of a solo around-the-world bicycle trip (a mid-life crisis on wheels) that ultimately launched his writing career. His true love in military romantic suspense, with contemporary romance, thrillers, and SF all vying for second place.
If you enjoy this podcast and would like to automatically download episodes as they go live – even before the show notes are posted to the Kobo Writing Life website – subscribe to the RSS feed via your favourite pod-capturing platform (such as iTunes) using this link: RSS feed for Kobo Writing Life Podcast.
Heather Tucker, author of The Clay Girl, had an entire career as a nurse, teacher, bereavement counselor, and professional writer, before she discovered that “playing with words is more fun than working with them.” What is it like to publish a debut novel at age 62?
www.heathertucker.ca
Episode 93 includes a series of short interviews that KWL Director, Mark Lefebvre conducted at the 2017 When Words Collide conference in Calgary, Alberta.
Mark speaks with authors Robert J. Sawyer and C.C. Humphreys as well as marketing consultant Mickey Mikkelson about digital publishing, global eBook pricing, author promotion strategies and successful author readings.
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert J. Sawyer — called "the dean of Canadian science fiction" by The Ottawa Citizen and "just about the best science-fiction writer out there these days" by The Denver Rocky Mountain News — is one of only eight writers in history (and the only Canadian) to win all three of the science-fiction field's top honors (the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and The John W. Campbell Memorial Award) for best novel of the year.
Rob talks about how he sold the North American rights for his twenty-third novel, Quantum Night, to Penguin Random House, but retained the rest of world rights and took advantage of Kobo Writing Life to publish the international eBook edition of the book. (Link to the book in UK used) He shares the wisdom of lower eBook prices, comparing his own global sales of the title at $4.99 USD version the $18.99 price point that Penguin Random House set.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH ROB
Mickey Mikkelson (Creative Edge Publicity)Creative Edge Publicity specializes in arranging events such as book signings, library or school presentations, or any event related to the arts in general. They represent many book events including When Words Collide and have a strong belief and advocate for the independent and traditional artist.
In his role at Creative Edge supporting authors with their marketing efforts, Mickey shares some of the things his company does helping both traditionally published and self-published authors. Mickey offers advice on what authors should consider before approaching a marketing team for support for their efforts and the fact that there is always a unique approach for each individual author.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY
C.C. HumphreysChris (C.C.) Humphreys has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London’s West End to Hollywood’s Twentieth Century Fox. He has written ten historical novels, including the most recent Plague and Fire. Tales of religious fundamentalist serial killers set against the wild events of 1665 to 1666, London, Plague won Canada’s Crime Writers’ Association Best Crime Novel Award, the Arthur Ellis in 2015. In the Summer of 2016, both novels spent five weeks in the Globe and Mail Top Ten Bestseller list.
Along with being a bestselling author, Chris is also a stage, film and television actor, who shares some tips for writers on doing public readings of their work. He suggests that an author’s goal in doing a reading should be to really engage with that audience and also to remember that the audience is there to “love” and cheer for the author’s success. He also suggests selecting a passage that is active and character driven as well as modulating the tone of their voice throughout the reading.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS
Mark then talks about the concept of authors taking full advantage of both traditional publishing and independent publishing opportunities, going into a full breakdown of the revenues earned from a single short story of less than 900 words. "Almost" the story in question, appeared in several self-published collections but also is contained in Bumps in the Night, One Hand Screaming and the Crimes, Capers & Rule-Breakers Bundle. but he also sold non-exclusive reprint rights to the story to McGraw-Hill Ryerson for their iLit program.
Based on the fact that the professional rate for a short fiction rates is typically somewhere in the $0.05 to $0.6 per word range for most writers, Mark calculates what the per word earnings for this story have been, landing somewhere between $0.40 and $1.15 per word depending on the various income streams for that story. Ultimately, a story whose original pro fiction rate sale would have been approximately $44.00 ended up earning more than $1000.
Of course, this is only a single short story, but as part of a larger strategy with plenty of other assets in play, consider how that might add up for authors who take full advantage of exploiting their rights and exploring all options available for earning money on their writing. (See the original blog details here)
Links of Interest:
Robert J. Sawyer's eBooks on Kobo
Robert J. Sawyer's audiobooks on Kobo (Listen for FREE with Kobo Audiobooks trial)
Robert J. Sawyer's website (SFWriter.com)
C.C. Humphrey's eBooks on Kobo
Creative Edge Publicity website
If you enjoy this podcast and would like to automatically download episodes as they go live – even before the show notes are posted to the Kobo Writing Life website – subscribe to the RSS feed via your favourite pod-capturing platform (such as iTunes) using this link: RSS feed for Kobo Writing Life Podcast.
In Episode 92, Mark Lefebvre interviews Charles de Lint, who is the author of more than seventy books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, Charles is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and has been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987.
In the interview, Mark and Charles talk about:
Mark then talks about the “true hybrid” approach that de Lint has taken on his writing and publishing journey – effectively and efficiently dividing up the rights of his works, as well as the optimism not only inherent in de Lint’s new novel, but in his overall approach to the opportunities available through digital publishing, and what writers can learn from embracing that spirit of hope and hard work.
Links of Interest
KWL Episode 90 is a special episode featuring the announcement of the launch of Kobo Audiobooks, narrated by Jim Dale.
Let me tell you a story. Do you remember when you first fell in love with reading? Well you weren't really reading, were you? No, your passion for books began quite another way. It was listening, wasn't it? To a story. Yes; your love of reading got started when you were being read to. Could there be any six words that have more anticipation behind them than: "Let me tell you a story."
Introducing Audiobooks for the Free Kobo App with a beautifully designed, easy to use player.
One home for all your ebooks and audiobooks.
It's your whole reading life - always with you!
Start your free trial today and embrace the art of listening.
For authors looking to get their audiobooks loaded to Kobo's catalog, there are currently three main ways to do that via distributors:
If you are using a third party distributor for audiobooks, be sure to check with them to make sure they are distributing your titles to Kobo.
The KWL development team is looking into how KWL authors might be able to load their audiobooks directly to Kobo's catalog, but there currently isn't a direct upload solution.
Episode 90 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast features an interview with Dennis Weichman, (AKA, Mr. W.), a retired math teacher who has brought his passion for teaching and tutoring into the digital realm with YouTube channel and study guides published to Kobo.
Mr W. is interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre. In the interview, they discuss:
You can watch the full video on YouTube here.
After the interview, Mark talks about writing specifically for a niche market, and uses both Mr W.'s example as well as a personal example to outline the process.
His talk includes how focusing on a niche market/niche audience usually involves identifying and resolving a problem or an issue for that target audience as well as the application of personal experience and knowledge as well as personal passion to creating and publishing that book.
Episode 89 of the KWL Podcast includes on location interviews with 7 different authors conducted by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Author Relations at Kobo during the 2017 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference.
Sharing the enjoyment she gets connecting with fellow writers at RWA, Barbara also shares info about a new romantic suspense series (a spin-off of her Storm trilogy) that she was releasing during the week of RWA, as well as a collaboration with 6 other authors called “Seven Brides for Seven Soldiers” that will be launching in the fall.
Chris discusses the strategy she used for her Faraday Country series (currently 8 books out with books 9 and 10 up for pre-order at the time of the interview), including stock-piling the first 4 books before beginning to release the series.
She also talks about how she used a permanently free Book One in the series to help propel sales of the rest of the books in this clean and wholesome romance series.
The combined effect of this stock-piling and a permanently free first book in the series has helped her triple her sales numbers.
Fresh on the heals of the recent releases of Inked Expressions and Hope Restored, Carrie Ann shares the “tree-trunk” manner by which she connects the various series books together in a cohesive whole and the multiple points of entry this creates for readers.
She also shares the combined multi-author launch of the Bad Boy Homecoming Romance connected novels as well as the slightly different branding that she uses when switching between paranormal romance and contemporary romance.
How M.L. (Matt), who writes in 11 different series (publishing 8 books a year and at least 13 short stories, including two that appear in Fiction River #4 and Fiction River #23), doesn’t engage in social media in any significant way, but uses his newsletter to create a great value for his fans. Matt provides a free short story for his newsletter fans every single month.
Matt also shares a bit about his important book Estate Planning for Authors: Your Final Letter (and Why You Need to Write it Now)
Ember and Renna talk about the collaborative contemporary royalty romance series that they’ve been writing for the past 3 years (3 6 part serials that are all connected) and the way they split the writing (Ember writes the guy parts, Renna writes the girl parts).
They also share the aggressive “every 2 week” release schedule that they developed and the success of creating a large reader funnel by making the first 2 books in the original series free.
Mark talks about some of the strategies that he has used for Facebook ads, particularly the ads placed for 8 book box sets targeting Kobo customers, particularly customers in Canada and Australia. Much of Mark's shared wisdom can be found on his website SelfPublishingFormula.com
He also talks about the importance of not getting details wrong, in particular the use of weapons (which one of his most popular characters, John Milton, uses) and shares the fact that, later that same day, he was heading off to a shooting range to try various weapons first hands as the ultimate research.
At the end of the podcast, Mark Lefebvre points out a recent article that was posted on both the Kobo Writing Life website and the Kobo Writing Life Community that outlines the 5 most common reasons why a book might be rejected in the publishing process.
He shares that these posts are created specifically to help authors with finding information about particular details related to publishing on Kobo and encourages authors to take advantage of that information.
Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn't the more typical interview, but rather, KWL's Director, Mark Lefebvre, outlining five strategies that successful authors use to build their sales, raise their author profile and get readers to sign up their author mailing lists with Free eBooks.
First, Mark talks about the updates to FREE tracking.
If you've been paying attention to the updates in the Notification header of the Kobo Writing Life dashboard (which link to this VERY HANDY - hint, hint, nudge, nudge - part of the KWL Community) throughout July, you may have noticed that the Web team and the KWL Team have been working at revisions to the broken free tracking that we've been dealing with for quite a while. Currently FREE TRACKING is being refreshed and updated. But in the meantime, there's something important you should know about the FREE DOWNLOADS numbers you're seeing. The most important has to do with PREVIEWS. First, please don't worry, we are NOT giving your non-free books away. At Kobo, readers have the opportunity to preview the first 5% of eBooks. Whenever an ePub file is loaded into Kobo's database, the catalog generates a unique new ePub file that is comprised of the first 5% of that full eBook, then it tacks on a final page with a "BUY Button" for the full book into the end of that ePub.
And whenever a customer clicks on the "Save Preview" button on a book's item page, it adds that preview ePub file to that customer's library. Since there isn't currently any filtering that distinguishes the preview ePub file from the full ePub file, it appears as if that eBook was given to a customer, and is tracked as a "free download" in the dashboard.
(The KWL, Web and UX Teams will be adjusting and fixing this, but having that information can be extremely valuable, because it allows you to see how many customers have PREVIEWED your book. IE, if you have a huge number of PREVIEWS but not a huge number of sales, that could tell you something important about the conversion from free preview to sales)
1) First Free eBook in Series (Perma-Free)
Although this isn't a new practice, it continues to be something that works quite nicely for authors looking to increase their sales and author profile at Kobo.
Authors can set any book on Kobo to free at any time for as long as they want with no restrictions and no requests for exclusivity.
The concept is creating a funnel to get a lot of people to grab the first book for free and hopefully converting them into buyers because the worlds, characters, settings and situations they are reading about in your series are so compelling that they HAVE to keep on reading.
Below are some stats that are typical of the conversion rate from FREE to SALES via studies done on multiple different first book in series promos.
2) Free Book/Novella/Novelette Kept Perma-Free that ISN'T the first in the Series
The same technique used above can be used for other books in the series (rather than the first book), or perhaps for interstitial stories in the series universe.
Remember that, with Kobo Writing Life, you can enter Series metadata using decimals. IE, imagine you have a novella that takes place between Books 1 and 2 in your series. Entering 1.5 into the Volume Number value in your Series metadata connects those book. (See this post on how that works at KWL)
3) Free related/connected Short Story hook into a novel or series
Mark shares a personal anecdote about using a short story to entice readers to want to learn more or explore more about characters that appear in a full novel.
His example is how the FREE short story, This Time Around, a 10,000 word short story, has been successful at helping new readers discover his main character Michael Andrews, who is a werewolf attempting to live a normal life in the midst of one of the world's largest metropolitan centers in the novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York.
4) A Free eBook that is a stand alone novel / NOT part of a series
For those of you who do NOT have series books, don't despair. There is still a correlation between the "funnel" of free eBooks and readers going on to buy more books by the same author (rather than books in the same series)
Mark shares how his friend Sean Costello, a thriller/horror writer he works closely with, uses free to build a readership, not based on the book being part of a series, but based on readers discovering the voice of a brilliant author who they feel compelled to read more books from.
Costello's SQUALL has garnered almost 3300 reviews on Kindle and more than 800 reviews on Kobo with a 4 star average.
Again, good news for authors who don't write series books. Free works for gaining new readers and selling more eBooks for you too. :)
5) Using FREE eBooks for Newsletter sign-ups
While it's great that retails can help authors sell more using algorithms and targeted emails to their customers making recommendations, it is important for authors to get readers to sign up to their author newsletter.
Folks like Nick Stephenson (Your first 10,000 Readers) and Mark Dawson (Self Publishing Formula) have been helping authors use techniques to help get readers signed up for their newsletter mailing lists which allow authors to better control their own success. (Being able to let your best fans know when you have a new release or have a promotional price available has a direct correlation with sales success)
The way this works (and you can get FAR BETTER details by clicking the links above), authors set up a newsletter sign up at the end of their eBooks or via targeted social media ads (Facebook, etc) and when a customer signs up, they can get a free eBook sent to them from the author. These are typically eBooks that are NOT free on the various retail websites. So these readers who become newsletter subscribers get something of value directly from the author which helps built brand trust and loyalty.
Other authors, such as M.L. Buchman don't ever make their eBooks free nor do they give free eBooks away. But, instead, they create unique, fresh and interesting new stories and content specifically FOR their best fans, via either an author newsletter or directly on their own websites. (They will sometimes release this material via regular retail channels at a later date) This ensures that their best fans get access to reading fresh and exiting new material before anybody else can read it.
That, in a nutshell, are just five different ways that authors are using FREE to help build their sales and their author brands.
We would love to share more strategies that work well, so if you have a strategy that works for you, please free free to share that in comments on this podcast's show notes on the KWL Podcast web page under Episode 88.
Related Links:
Free eBooks on Kobo - curated from KWL titles and updated weekly. You can apply to be featured via the PROMOTIONS tab, which is currently in beta release. If you don't have it, simply request it by emailing [email protected]
Episode 87 of the Kobo Writing Life podcast features a keynote address from When Words Collide’s 2016 Guest of Honour, Eve Silver. She is a national bestselling author of books for adults and teens, has won the Ontario Library Association’s “Forest of Reading White Pine Award” and has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines.
Eve is introduced by Randy McCharles, When Words Collide chair, and who happens to also be a successful author.
In her keynote talk from When Words Collide, Eve talks about:
Mark then shares a few thoughts on the concept of what can happen to the “little writer heart” with all the types of rejection (either from publishers or from lack of sales), as well as a reminder about the important theme in Eve’s message, that writers write, no matter what.
Links of Interest:
Episode 86 features an interview with international bestselling author Catherine Coulter, about one of her most recent titles, Insidious.
In the interview, Mark and Catherine talk about:
After the interview, Mark gives a bit of an update on Kobo Plus
Links of interest
Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi’s new book One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter.
Please note that this interview contains adult language which might not be appropriate for all listening audiences.
In the interview, Johanna and Scaachi talk about:
Scaachi Koul's Website: scaachi.com/odwabdanotwm
Scaachi Koul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Scaachi
Scaachi Koul at BuzzFeed - [email protected]
Other Links of Interest: The Appropriation Prize Controversy
Episode 84 contains the third and final installment of interviews that took place at RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers Convention in Atlanta this year. This time the interviews are from Sinead McElhinney, PR Coordinator for Kobo, who was interacting with dozens of authors and romance readers at the conference.
Featured interviews include chats with the two authors who write under the name Christina Lauren and with Ella Quinn.
Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the dynamic duo co-authors who make up the NYT and USA Today bestselling author Christina Lauren. In their chat, they discuss the process of co-authoring and how it has evolved in the past 8 years as well as the personal closeness/friendship that is the foundation for their authoring partnership.
Ella Quinn is a USA Today Bestselling author of smart and spicy regency romances. In her chat with Sinead, she shares a bit about the incredible amount of research on the customs, the manners and the buildings for the worlds she writes about in her historical novels. She explains how, while those elements are important in the realism, that the love story and the characters are what should be front and center in the reader’s mind.
Mark then talks with Sinead about what she does at Kobo (a bit of a behind the scenes look), and how her role in PR is related to engaging in social media and in person interactions with publishers, with authors and with readers.
This episode continues from where episode 82 left off with KWL’s recent live interviews with attendees from RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in early May 2017. RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed authors and industry folks about various topics. In Part 2, we share Mark’s chats with:
Meredith Wild
Stephanie Bond
Liliana Hart
Stephanie Phillips from SBR Media Literary Agency
Mark Coker from Smashwords
Diane and Dante from ListenUp Audiobooks
KWL was recently in Atlanta, Georgia attending RT Booklovers Convention. Considered the Book Lover Event of the year, RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, was on site interviewing authors and industry folks about various topics on writing, reading and promotions. The RT Booklovers interviews have been broken into more than one episode. In Part 1, we share Mark's chats with:
Helen Hardt
Jeff Adams & Will Knauss
Julia Kent
Chloe from Written Word Media
Dan from Draft2Digital
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre speaks with former college professor Gilian Baker about her new novel Blogging is Murder. In the discussion, the two explore:
After the interview, Mark discusses the age-old advice of “Write What You Know” that is not only often shared with writers, but also debated among writing circles. He points out a few examples of authors who have drawn from their personal experience and passions, including a few of his own personal examples, including using “things he knew” in both novels as well as non-fiction titles.
Mark then asks the listeners on their own thoughts on the “write what you know debate” that people can answer either in the comments below or on the Kobo Writing Life Community Forum
Gilian Baker is a former writing and literature professor who finally threw in the towel and decided to just show ‘em how it’s done. She has gone on to forge a life outside of academia by adding blogger & ghostwriter to her CV. She currently uses her geeky superpowers only for good to entertain cozy mystery readers the world over. When she’s not plotting murder, you can find her puttering in her vegetable garden, knitting in front of the fire, snuggled up with her husband watching British mysteries or discussing literary theory with her daughter.
In her next life, she fervently hopes to come back as a cat, though she understands that would be going down the karmic ladder. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her family and their three pampered felines.
Links of Interest
Gillian Baker’s Website: www.gilianbaker.com
Gillian Baker on Twitter: @gillianbaker
Gillian Baker on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GilianBakerAuthor/
Kobo was delighted to recently host Emily Schultz in a “Kobo in Conversation” chat in the Kobo Café a few weeks ago while she was coming through Toronto on a book tour. Kobo Merchandiser Nora Parker interviewed Emily. In the interview, Emily and Nora talk about:
Mark then highlights a few things from the interview with Emily that he wanted to call attention to. In particular, the research that she conducted for the Prohibition era time period the novel was set in as well as the manner by which she collaborated with local writers when traveling on a book tour.
There is a reminder of the Kobo Plus Subscription service available through Kobo in the Netherlands and Belgium with Kobo’s retail partner, BOL which is open to Kobo Writing Life authors via the “Rights and Distribution” tab.
Links:
Emily’s Website - http://www.emilyschultz.com/
Emily on Twitter: https://twitter.com/manualofstyle?lang=en
Joyland Magazine - www.joylandmagazine.com/
Julie Czerneda, an international bestselling science fiction and fantasy author from Canada, was one of the Author Guests of Honour at the 2016 When Words Collide conference which takes place in Calgary each year in late summer.
When Words Collide is an annual non-profit festival designed to bring readers and writers together in a celebration of the written word. Up to 10 tracks of programming, beginning at 1 PM on Friday and running through 5 PM Sunday, offer informational, educational, and social activities covering a wide spectrum of literature including Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Historical, Literary, Script-writing, Poetry, Comics, and Non-fiction. Roughly 650 readers, writers, editors, publishers, agents, and artists attend with over 200 presenters.
Kobo Writing Life has been a proud sponsor of When Words Collide for the past several years and are delighted to present one of the inspiring keynote talks from 2016 by Julie Czerneda addressing the “Dreamers” who were there attending the conference.
Julie’s keynote talk at When Words Collide addresses the world of dreamers and dream-weavers who are completely at home when at a book-related conference and how putting readers and writers together matters. That the things they revel in matters.
Julie Czerneda has written more than 20 books in multiple series, including The Trade Pact Universe, The Clan Chronicles, The Web Shifters Series, Night’s Edge, Stratification and The Reunification Series, with THE GATE TO FUTURE’S PAST (Book 2 in the series) being her most recent novel. (Look for Book 3, TO GUARD AGAINST THE DARK in the fall of 2017)
After the keynote talk by Julie, Mark talks to Julia Nethersole who oversees the Author Support Community at Kobo about some of the most common questions that authors write in to [email protected] as well as some insights about better self-service tools and an author community forum that has recently been created to help authors help themselves as well as another way to connect with others from the community.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews Young Adult Fantasy and Chicklit author, Katie Cross as she shares strategies about how she was able to keep writing, with even more productivity, in her transition from full time author to full time Mom. In the chat, Katie and Mark discuss:
After the interview, Mark reflects on the manner by which Katie has made writing a priority and how other writers who struggle with balancing multiple priorities might be inspired by her as well as a reflective writing quote that has been with him for more than 20 years.
From his role as a guest faculty member at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre interviewed professional photographer Lauren Lang who was on site to help attending authors get a professional author photo. In the interview Mark and Lauren discuss:
Mark then reflects on the author photo, a projected image, authenticity and how that might all role into a larger picture of author brand.
Links of interest:
Jacobin Photography on Facebook
On site at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Joshua Essoe, freelance editor. In their discussion Mark and Joshua discuss:
After the interview, Mark shares some thoughts on how an element such as a post-text authors note can serve an important part in helping a reader feel more connected with a writer.
Instead of the regular interview with an author or industry person, episode 75 of the podcast features Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre pausing to look at some of the most successful Kobo Writing Life authors on Kobo for 2016.
He compiles a list of the top 5 things that the most successful authors in terms of both unit sales and net sales all have in common, and tries to break them down into things that you as an author might consider in your own business plans for success.
The items are:
1) Genres / Genre Fiction - the top authors are all writing books in genre fiction, with Romance and Mystery/Thriller/Suspense being consistently in the top
2) Series - many of the top titles are either books written in a series, or, if not, involve an aggressive production schedule far quicker than traditional publishing schedules
3) Targeted and Appealing Visuals / Covers - the covers for the books aren't just professional and attractive, but they're attractive to the right audience, to a very targeted audience or demographic that drills down, even into the sub-genres within a category
4) Author Branding / Series Branding - directly in line with the visuals, the author brand on a book makes a particular promise to a particular type of reader based on the way it is presented.
5) Inclusive Publishing/Promoting / Going Wide - obviously, the authors who were most successful at Kobo published to Kobo. Seems obvious, but drilling down into some of the more subtle ways not just to "go wide" but to "be wide"
Lefebvre then wraps up by taking about, particularly to insiders at Kobo, the important different between Unit Sales and Net Sales and why booksellers like Kobo might have a preferential lean towards one over the other.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Kobo is the host for this episode, and introduces a memorable clip from Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna Penn talks compares walking the 100KM "Race to the Stones" with writing.
In her talk, Joanna goes into the details regarding 9 Lessons Learned About Writing from Walking 100K in a Weekend:
Mark then talks a bit about the beginning and end of the year as common goal-setting times for writers, and shares 5 of the bigger writing goals he had set for himself in 2016. He goes into detail, explaining the highs of meeting deadlines and goals, and the struggles with not achieving a goal (including his own 10 year struggle with getting his novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York published - he started working on it on a series from The Writing Show Podcast back in 2006) - something likely every writer faces.
Links of Interest from this episode
Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast with Roz Morris
Joanna Penn's books on Kobo (About Writing)
Joanna's J.F. Penn novels on Kobo
KWL Episode 32 - Interview with Dan Rubinstein
The "Getting Published with Mark Leslie" episodes of The Writing Show
Mark's A Canadian Werewolf in New York on Kobo
Colson Whitehead, is the author of Zone One; Sag Harbor; The Intuitionist, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award; John Henry Days, which won the Young Lions Fiction Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Apex Hides the Hurt, winner of the PEN Oakland Award.
Colson is interviewed by Kobo’s Nora Parker about his latest book, The Underground Railroad, which is an Oprah's Book Club pick.
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks about the concept of writers listening to music while working and then asks KWL listeners to share their own habits and practices when it comes to listening to (or not listening to) music or other ambient noises while writing.
Described as “One of the most harrowing, powerful, and imaginative books of the year” Affinity Konar’s MISCHLING is a novel about twin sisters fighting to survive the evils of World War II. As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain.
Affinity is interviewed by Kobo Merchandising Coordinator, Nora Parker during an intimate Kobo Café gathering at Kobo just a few weeks ago. During the interview, Nora and Affinity discuss:
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about two specific points from the interview that he wanted to draw attention to for writers. First, he draws attention to the mention of the use of humor in this text and then outlines some things to consider when implementing humor into an overall serious or dark and disturbing narrative.
Next, Lefebvre talks about the “ten years” that were behind the creation of this novel and reflects on the fact that there is no one way for authors to write. That some writers can write a book in an extremely short time period while others might take a significantly longer amount of time to write a book. He reflects on the writer ailment of “comparisonitis” (as described by Joanna Penn) that can happen and cautions writers not to feel bad if their own process or timelines are different than other writers. There’s no one answer, there’s no one solution, there’s no single path to one’s own personal goals or successes in a writing career, and different books might call for different approaches. They key is not to compare and despair, but to discover what works best for you to make it the best possible book that you can.
Affinity Konar’s Books on Kobo
Executive Vice President of Publisher Relations and Content at Kobo, Pieter Swinkels introduces a live on stage at Kobo “Kobo in Conversation” interview of Robert Harris about his latest book, Conclave. (As an interesting aside, Pieter was, at one time, Robert’s publisher in the Netherlands). Robert is interviewed by Toronto pop culture columnist, film journalist and television personality, Johanna Schneller.
In the interview Johanna and Robert discuss:
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about something Robert Harris mentioned in the interview – the concept of the deadline and how he saw that fear and adrenaline as important elements in the creative process for him as a writer. Lefebvre talks about his own experience writing to deadline on his own non-fiction works and then considers the concept of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and that 30 day deadline to write a prescribed number of words (50,000). He talks about the critical nature of that imposed “deadline” and how it can help a writer actually sit down and get words written.
LINKS OF INTEREST
In episode 70, Christine Munroe interviews bestselling romance author Melissa Foster. Over 7 years of self-publishing, Melissa has tons of insightful advice to offer, including why authors should stick to their passion instead of chasing trends, and why she will always manage her own social media and all public-facing marketing efforts. Tune in to hear them discuss:
Melissa Foster writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, new adult romance and women's fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Readers adore Melissa's fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens, Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summer, Harborside Nights, and the Wild Boys After Dark. Melissa's emotional journeys are lovingly erotic, perfect beach reads, and always family oriented.
In a slight twist to the normal format for the podcast, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who is interested in getting involved in podcasting interviews Mark Lefebvre, Joanna Penn and J, Daniel Sawyer about podcasting for authors.
Some of the questions that Kris asks in the discussion, are: --> How did you get started in podcasting?
-->What schedule(s) do the podcasts come out on? Monthly, Weekly, Daily.
--> Has podcasting interfered with writing or has it augmented it? In the course of the discussion, Kris, Mark, Joanna and Dan talk about: --> How podcasting allows them to network, learn, and connect with others --> How the podcast needs to become a "habit" for listeners. Joanna, for example, shares stats about how moving to a weekly format increased her listener engagement --> the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) value when you add a transcrpt of the show on your website --> How Joanna almost gave up podcasting a couple of years ago because of the time it took away from her writing and how having a monetization strategy helped with that --> Authors like Scott Sigler and Terry Fallis who used podcasting to build their audiences and kick-off their writing careers --> Time management challenges, tools used and how the use of "batching" (pre-recording a number of episodes in a single sitting) has benefited Joanna Penn and J. Daniel Sawyer --> The value of adding a personal side to a podcast, and the way that has benefited The Creative Penn podcast --> Bundlerabbit- a service that allows people to curate their own bundles --> The use of ad space swapping with other podcasts in order to expand one's audience --> Podcast distribution options --> The importance of listening to a podcast before pitching yourself to them as a potential guest In the wrap-up, Mark talks about the importance of constantly learning. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an industry veteran who teaches and mentors writers directly and on her amazing blog "The Business Rusch" But even after all those decades of experience, she still has an open mind and is willing to learn, because the publishing industry is constantly changing and evolving.
Links to other interviews with the same guests:
Episode 29 - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Episode 54 - The Uncollected Anthology (with Kris)
Other Links of Interest:
In Episode 68, we check in with Ethan Jones, a spy thriller author who decided to go wide with his novels and focus on growing his Kobo sales. His 2015 sales were up 260% over 2014, and every month has broken his sales record from the preceding month. Kobo is now Ethan's leading retailer, bringing him healthy four figures each month and rising. How did he accomplish this? What advice does he have for authors considering publishing to KWL, or just starting out? Tune in to find out!
LINKS OF INTEREST
www.ethanjonesbooks.wordpress.com
Author Ethan Jones on Facebook
AuthorEJones on Twitter
Ethan Jones is the author of the wildly popular Justin Hall spy thriller series, featuring Canadian Intelligence Service special agents operating mostly in the Middle East. This series has nine books so far. The first four books in this series have reached the Amazon’s Top 10 Best Sellers lists. Ethan has also started a new spy series: Carrie Chronicles, which features Justin Hall’s partner, Carrie O’Connor, in solo adventures. The first two novels in this series, Priority Target and Codename: Makarov have already come out and more are expected to be released in 2017.
He is also working on a romantic suspense series, featuring Jennifer Morgan, set in New York. The first book in this series, The Secret Affair, is already out and the second and the third will be published in fall and winter 2016. Ethan is a lawyer by trade, and he lives in Edmonton, Canada, with his wife and son.
What if some of the artists we feel as if we know – Meryl Streep, Neil Young, Bill Murray – turned up in the course of our daily lives?
That’s the basis of this collection of linked stories that follow Rose McEwan, an ordinary woman who keeps having extraordinary encounters with famous people.
Nora Parker, Merchandising Coordinator at Kobo, interviews Marni Jackson, author of Don’t I Know You? Published by Flatiron Books in New York.
In the interview, Nora and Marni discuss:
After the interview, Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life and Author Relations, shares some thoughts regarding Author Branding, outlining some ways in which an author can ensure that they are curating and presenting a consistent author persona or brand out into the world. He draws upon a couple of examples that, like in the Bill Murray reference Marni Jackson uses, are Canadian. He uses his own example of the use of the life-sized skeleton Barnaby Bones that he employs for his Mark Leslie horror/paranormal/ghost story author persona. He also explores Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer who uses the “Dean of Canadian Science Fiction” element throughout his persona, including the name of his website: SFWRITER.COM. As a final example, Mark looks at the fonts uses in the title for the Netflix original STRANGER THINGS and how that makes a promise to potential viewers.
Other links of interest:
Branding for Writers – from Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn
Recorded at Kobo's headquarters, this episode features Toronto-based literary agent Sarah Heller, from the Helen Heller Agency. Why did Sarah become an agent? What are some benefits to being an agent in Toronto? What are some key tips for authors planning to query an agent? Tune in as Sarah and US Manager Christine Munroe discuss all of this and more.
Sarah has a background is in fine arts, but her mother (Helen) started the agency in 1988 so she grew up with publishing in the background. Sarah joined the agency 11 years ago.
Growing up she always loved reading, was surrounded by books, and all of that fell into place when she started agenting.
Why Sarah loves working in Toronto; it offers the benefit of being easily accessible to other international publishing centres, New York, and London, but is separate enough that there’s a vibrant Toronto/Canadian writing and publishing community.
Why she loves being an agent. She can wear many hats – introduce people and projects to one another, dig into the creative process with edits, negotiate contracts.
“With the advent of being able to publish quickly online…it’s a very viable way of publishing your book and doing well with it financially and critically.”
She helps her authors make best use of all of their work. Many authors have projects stowed away that haven’t been published, or have gone out of print, so there’s great new potential in digital publication.
Their agency manages a KWL account and helps authors publish digitally to Kobo. “The landscape is so fluid that you can publish a book online…that can then retroactively be picked up by a publisher if that’s ultimately what an author wants… There are also cases of certain territories not having access to a book that now they do.”
They want to take advantage of all opportunities to help their authors advance their careers.
How to stand out when querying an agent:
Get the name of the person you’re addressing your query to. Never, “Dear Sir or Madam” (no “sirs” at their agency, for example!).
Research what kind of books the agency handles – and does not handle.
Brief and to the point query letter, synopsis and your background.
No gimmicks necessary.
Sarah Heller has developed an internationally and New York Times bestselling list. She specializes in establishing new authors with a focus on front list commercial YA and adult fiction. Sarah received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University, and is a graduate of the Advertising Design program of the Ontario College of Art and Design.
Reedsy's ambition extends beyond just being a place where authors can connect with publishing professionals; it's a place for collaborative tools and with an ultimate goal of assisting the publication process right from the first written word of an author's manuscript right through the typesetting, publishing and marketing of the final book.
Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviews Matthew Cobb, co-founder and lead designer of Reedsy regarding the platform and the amazing online Book Editor tool.
In the interview Mark and Matthew discuss:
Mark then talks about the importance of finding the right person for the right job (ie, an author looking for just the right editor) and relates that to both the story of Goldilocks (how she kept trying things until she found the one that was just right), as well as the concept of asking a more detailed question in order to get the most optimum answer for you.
Links of Interest:
In Episode 64 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Robyn Baldwin, author of Love Lost, Life Found: 8 Practical Steps to Heal a Broken Heart.
In the interview, Mark and Robyn discuss:
Other links of interest:
Robyn’s Website - http://robynbaldwin.com
The Book: Love Lost, Life Found
Episode 63 features NYT bestselling author Melody Anne, who began publishing in 2011 and has published forty (!) books and sold over 7 million copies since then. What strategies helped her get to where she is today, and what’s working best for her now? How has becoming a bestselling hybrid author changed her life? Tune in and get inspired by Melody Anne’s incredible journey, which she shares with US Manager Christine Munroe. At the end of the episode, Christine shares some reminders for planning your new releases as we head into fall.
RELATED LINKS
@melodyanneauthor Facebook
@authmelodyanne twitter
@melodyanneromance Instagram
NYT and USA Today bestselling author Melody Anne wrote for years, then published in 2011, finding her true calling, and a love of writing nonstop. Holding a Bachelor’s Degree in business, she loves to write about strong, powerful, businessmen and the corporate world. When Melody isn’t writing, she cultivates strong bonds with her family and enjoys time spent with them as well as her friends, and beloved pets. A country girl at heart, she loves the small town and strong community she lives in and is involved in many community projects. To date, Melody has over 7 million book sales and has earned a spot on multiple best seller lists, including being an Amazon top 100 bestselling author for 3 years in a row, as well as a Kobo and iBooks best seller. But beyond that, she just loves getting to do what makes her happiest – live in a fantasy world, 95% of the time.
In a KWL Podcast first, we checked in with an editor from a major publishing house, Tessa Woodward from HarperCollins. In her eleven years at Harper, specializing in editing romance, women’s fiction, and historical fiction, Tessa has seen the industry go through the parallel changes in the emergence of eBooks and self-publishing. Tune in to her Tessa and KWL US Manager Christine Munroe chat about:
Senior Editor Tessa Woodward edits a wide array of romance, women's fiction, and historical fiction. On the romance side, she edits authors across all genres, including the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers Tessa Dare, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Jennifer Bernard, and Maya Rodale. Her women’s fiction titles range from USA Today bestseller Shelley Noble’s beach-set novels, to Molly McAdams’ New York Times bestselling New Adult stories, to Lisa Turner’s psychological mysteries, and the darker, historical ORPHAN #8, a debut from Kim van Alkemade. She is the US editor for international bestseller Paullina Simons. On the nonfiction side, she is publishing THE WORLD OF MR. SELFRIDGE. She is looking for more women's fiction with strong characters, both historical and contemporary, as well as all genres of romance.
Episode 61 features an interview with Peter James, an international best-selling British writer of crime fiction, which took place at Kobo in June 2016 in front of a live audience. Peter is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre.
In the interview, Mark and Peter discuss:
Mark then talks about the great ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) that he received from Peter’s Canadian distributor (see blog post here) as a great example of author branding and grabbing a reader or reviewer’s attention as well as another important resource that authors can rely on for digital branding: PERSONALITY. He uses the example of Peter’s YouTube channel and how it helped add a new layer a new dimension to Peter’s author brand, and how watching several videos of the author helped Mark, as a reader, feel connected to the author. Mark discusses the importance of that connection which can be achieved through digital mediums.
In this week’s episode, we’re focusing on book blogging. Vilma Gonzalez, the all-star blogger who runs Vilma’s Book Blog, shared her journey with us, along with tips for how authors and bloggers can work together to help one another succeed. Tune in to learn:
Vilma Gonzalez is a marketing professional by day and book reviewer by night. She's been devouring books since she was very young and in early 2013, created Vilma's Book Blog, a website dedicated to reviewing books of all genres. In addition, she also writes for USA Today's HEA blog, penning a column entitled Love In Suspense, which focuses on thrillers and mystery novels. Vilma also blogs about fashion and style trends and is determined to own every Alex and Ani bracelet every made. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their two young sons.
Nathan Maharaj, Kobo’s Director of Merchandising, interviews Tom Vanderbilt, the best-selling author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, about his latest book You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice which is an interesting exploration of our personal tastes and what it says about us.
During the interview, Nathan and Tom discuss:
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre then speaks about the concept of reviews and refers to something Tom mentioned in the interview regarding how both five star and one star reviews are sometimes interpreted by consumers and the importance of having a wide spread of reviews to make the product reviews seem more “natural”
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST:
Episode 58 features an interview with Kobo Merchandisers Liz Hilborn (Manager of Merchandising) and Sarah Smith-Eivemark (Canadian Merchandiser).
In the interview, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre, Liz, and Sarah discuss:
Mark then talks a bit about the Alliance of Independent Authors “Indie Author Fringe” events and why they are important and then reflects on how the Kobo Writing Life team are internal ‘sales reps’ for KWL authors at Kobo, working collaboratively with the merchandising team and always looking for new opportunities to help authors find new customers at Kobo.
Christine Munroe interviews Helen Hardt, an author and editor, about her publishing journey in terms of both sides of her career. This month, Helen launched the Steel Brothers Saga series with Waterhouse, an "untraditional" publishing house headed up by indie author all-star, Meredith Wild. Christine and Helen discuss:
After the interview, Christine talks about the huge success of small independent publishing houses like Waterhouse in recent years. Another great example is Bookouture, based in the UK. They're bridging the gap between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and maximizing the best opportunities offered by both paths. We will likely see more and more of these presses emerge, and it will be very interesting to watch authors navigate these new opportunities.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews, author, podcaster, film-maker, photographer and audio-book producer, J. Daniel Sawyer. In the interview, Mark and Daniel discuss:
Links:
Twitter: @dsawyer
In this episode, Christine takes you behind the scenes at Kobo to hear from colleagues on five different Kobo teams who each play a different role in getting eBooks to customers and analyzing data post-publication. Tune in to hear from:
Chris, KWL Development
Sarah, Content Analytics
Ben, QA & Content Display
Patricia, Publisher Operations
Jared, Big Data
Do you have a question about what it takes to run a digital retail company that we didn't answer here? Leave a comment on our blog at www.kobowritinglife.com
Thanks for listening!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews 6 of the 7 writers who make up the core writers of the Uncollected Anthology project: Phaedra Weldon, Leslie Clare Walker, Annie Reed, Leah Cutter, Dayle A. Dermatis and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. (Absent from the interview, but a core member is Michele Lang)
The Uncollected Anthology of Urban Fantasy, is an ongoing project where, every three months, the authors pick a theme and write a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, they each sell their own stories. So you can buy any one of them, or all of them. No fuss, no muss. But the tales are packaged using templates that bring them together thematically, and the authors have found the anthology as helpful for new readers to discover these books.
In the interview, Mark and the writers discuss:
After the interview, Mark talks about the importance of what can happen when writers come together to share, to communicate and to network.
Links of Interest
Uncollected Anthology Main Website
Uncollected Anthology Books at Kobo
Click here to subscribe to the Uncollected Anthology Newsletter
Have you ever worked with a literary agent? What benefits can an agent offer to authors navigating their options: self-publish, sign a traditional deal, or take a hybrid approach? We delve into these questions and more in this interview, our first on the podcast focusing on literary agents. Amy Tannenbaum from the Jane Rotrosen Agency offers the agent's perspective, chatting with KWL Manager Christine Munroe about:
There has never been more opportunities for writers and storytellers than ever in the history of publishing, and Episode 52 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast demonstrates yet another amazing opportunity that exists for writers.
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Jean Leggett co-founder of One More Story Games, a company from Barrie, Ontario that has developed a storytelling platform with a team of gamers, geeks, storytellers and programmers that creates a community for collaborative story game opportunities.
In the interview, Mark and Jean discuss:
Links of Interest:
One More Story Games on Twitter
One More Story Games on Facebook
Known as the “Wizard of Storytelling,” David Farland (who also writes under the name David Wolverton) is the author and editor of more than fifty books, including his Philip K. Dick Award winning novel On My Way to Paradise and the well-known Runelords series. A long-time mentor to writers, David spend many years teaching writing at Bringham Young University and has also mentored such writers as Stephanie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint and James Dashner.
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre had the chance to sit down and chat with David about these things and much more at the 2016 annual Superstars Writing Seminars conference in Colorado Springs where David is one of the founding faculty members of a group of international bestselling authors who spend several information-packed days teaching newer writers the business of writing and publishing.
In their conversation, Mark and David discuss:
As part of his dedication to helping other writers, David writes the David Farland’s #WritingTips, an email bulletin for writers. Many authors rave about how it has helped them. Out of devotion, he provides his #WritingTips for free. You can subscribe to David’s #WritingTips here.
LINKS OF INTEREST
David’s Website: http://davidfarland.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/authordavidfarland
Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidfarland
David's Great Resources for writers, including a signup to his “Daily Kick in the Pants” emails: www.mystorydoctor.com
YouTube Video mentioned in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWEP3aBVpAw
For our 50th episode, we're featuring over a dozen all-star indie authors offering an amazing wealth of information about publishing and writing. Tune in to hear from HM Ward, Diane Capri, Melody Anne, and more! You'll learn:
The KWL team is always on the road attending writer's conferences and publishing events, so Christine lists off just a few that we have coming up in the next few months. We hope we'll have the chance to meet you in person soon!
Is your work managing the business side of your publishing taking away from your time writing your next book? Are you feeling overwhelmed? It might be time to hire an Author Assistant. In this episode of the KWL Podcast, US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Kate Tilton, founder of Kate Tilton Author Services, LLC. Christine and Kate talk about:
Kobo recently held a special event in downtown Toronto for some of its best customers, avid readers and fans of Michael Connelly. Special guests had a chance to meet one another for cocktails and snacks, mingle, get books signed, and listen to an on-stage interview with Michael Connelly, who was interviewed by by Johanna Schneller. Some of the fascinating things you'll find out in this entertaining interview with Michael Connelly include:
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about Michael's mention of one of his sources of inspiration by connecting with lawyers and police officers. He reflects on how a writer who is open to connecting with and listening to professionals not only has the resources to create better writing, but also brings a sense of community to the overall writing and overall proces
For the month of November, a brave team of Kobo staff joined forces to give NaNoWriMo a shot. We blogged about our efforts throughout the month, then several of us (Mark, Christine, Bessie, Sophie, and Wendy) sat down to chat about our experience. Listen to this week's episode to hear our roundtable discussion about how Team KoBoWriMo fared in 2015.
Our goals as writers, and with these projects specifically. We represent a broad range of perspectives. Wendy is keeping her work very private, especially in its current, raw state. Bessie is motivated by public/social media feedback.
Kobo Writing Life is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo. We love that it inspires writers of all levels to try to sit down and write, set word count goals, and prioritize making creativity a part of your everyday life.
As we reach the end of the year, we want to take the time to thank all of you so much for tuning in to the KWL podcast. It's given us the opportunity to interview amazing authors and service providers, and share their stories with you. We love hearing your feedback. If there is a topic you'd like us to cover or writer you'd like us to interview next year, let us know in the comments or email [email protected]
US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Ashleigh Gardner, Wattpad’s Head of Writer and Publisher Partnerships. Wattpad is a social media app with over 40 million monthly users around the world and growing. How can you take advantage of this community as a writer and reader? Listen in to learn about:
What is Wattpad all about? A social media app for telling stories, all user-generated content.
Currently attracts 40 million users per month, growing at a rate of over 1 new user per second.
It’s mostly readers – 90% of site users. Writers can use it to build reading communities.
The longer a user is onsite as a reader, the more likely they are to become a writer.
User demographics: 45% of users are 13-18. 40% are 18-30. Fastest-growing segment is women 25-35. A common misconception is that it’s just teenagers.
Wattpad is strong internationally. #2 country is the Philippines, where Wattpad is the #1 website and they have their own TV show 4 nights a week.
A lot of the content is unfinished when it’s first uploaded. The encouragement and acknowledgement from the Wattpad community inspires writers to keep going.
It offers a very supportive, encouraging environment and culture. Readers are used to a rawness – think of it as a “digital campfire” more than a digital book – so they aren’t critical in the same way as you see on other social media platforms.
Why should authors post free content? Learn your audience. Grow your audience. Post a portion, or the first book in a series, then encourage readers to buy the rest elsewhere.
What is a Wattpad success story? It’s different for everyone, as every author is writing for different reasons. The most traditionally successful author is Anna Todd, who has become an internationally bestselling author. Tons of other young writers are gaining confidence every day from having tens of thousands of followers encouraging them to pursue writing opportunities. Brands are sponsoring stories, for example SourPatch Kids and Ouija Boards.
How to succeed on Wattpad: follow other writers in your genre. See what they’re doing, how they talk to their fans. Find your network – share on other social media outlets that you’re posting on Wattpad.
What does Wattpad do to combat piracy problems? They don’t allow copy/pasting. Duplications are detected, reported, and removed quickly. Everything on Wattpad is date and time stamped, so it’s very easy to prove the origin date.
Ashleigh’s favourite kind of fan fiction: high-brow commentary on contemporary events. Finding that line between real life and fan fiction when the line starts to blur is really interesting.
At the end of the episode, we showcase a speech that Michael Tamblyn, Rakuten Kobo President, delivered at FutureBook 2015. FutureBook is an annual digital publishing conference that took place last week in London on December 4th. Tamblyn outlines what he sees as a "reader’s bill of rights." We should be able to read: 1. Easily 2. Shamelessly 3. Freely (not meaning no cost, but in terms of time - free time to read in the midst of the distracting world) 4. Publicly 5. Privately In addition to analyzing, trying to understand, marketing to, segmenting, collecting information about readers, publishing professionals (including authors!) need to step back and think about how readers want to read. “Earn the right to the reader’s attention… and we’ll get to keep doing what we love.”
Episode 45 features an interview with USA Today Bestselling author Julianne MacLean, author of THE COLOR OF HEAVEN series, THE HIGHLANDER series and THE PEMBROKE PALACE series. Julianne is interviewed by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life and they discuss:
Mark then talks a bit about some of the new features on the KWL Dashboard, specifically, Author Services and the two new types of Notifications added.
This episode features Mark Dawson, the bestselling UK author of the John Milton and Soho Noir series. Mark has become a go-to expert on Facebook ads and building your mailing list, so we dig into each of these topics and more. Listen as Mark and KWL Manager Christine Munroe discuss:
In 2001/2002, his first novel was published traditionally in the UK and Russia. Mark secured nice advances, but no marketing from sale date onwards. The whole experience soured him to writing – he stopped for 6 years.
Given what happened, would he do a traditional deal again? “All options are on the table.” But he can work out with relative accuracy what the books are worth, and it’s hard to imagine a traditional publisher delivering that amount upfront.
He is, however, interested in working with publishers in foreign markets. Mark is currently lining up translation deals with the help of an agent. Translations are expensive and time-consuming, and he's not confident in his knowledge of each foreign market to recoup the loss of time and money.
The benefits of BookBub. The day of this recording a BookBub ad landed Mark at #8 in his category in the Kobo store. He does them as often as they’ll take him.
His extensive knowledge of Facebook advertising. Spends $600 a day on Facebook ads, earns $750-$800 back per day, every single day. To find out more about his strategies in this workshop website, www.selfpublishingformula.com
Advice for facebook advertising: use it for two objectives 1) build your mailing list 2) sell books
Study carefully. Use Power Editor and figure out the intricacies of how it works - it's not an easy process. Dawson worked tirelessly at it for 6 weeks, losing money at first as he learned how to calibrate the ads. Starting at $5 a day, invest the profit, growing gradually and reinvesting as you go.
The strategy behind his recent cover redesign. His designer looked at trending designs for his comp titles, and created several options within that spectrum so his books will both fit in and stand out alongside authors like Lee Child.
When he writes about a city he hasn’t visited himself, he uses resources like Google street view to make it as accurate as possible – when his books say a building on a certain corner looks a certain way, that’s factually correct.
How he uses free today. It is a fundamental part of his sales strategy. First in each series is a free novella. That free novella also includes a call to action to join his mailing list.
Speaking of mailing lists...a mailing list is the most important marketing tool an author has today. You can get a free package from a service like Mail Chimp.
For those just starting, or hoping to grow your list: Broadcast a call to action as widely as possible. He advises giving away a free book—even if you only currently have one book ready—so you can build your platform and have a few hundred people on deck to buy your next book. A subscriber is worth more for your career than one sale. Competitions and giveaways are not a very good way to build a quality mailing list. You want your mailing list to be people interested in your books, not in a free eReader.
Dawson doesn’t message his mailing list very often. Only messages when he has a new book out, or if there’s a significant deal happening.
How his craft has developed. In the early days, he desperately wanted to win literary prizes, and was much more immature as a writer. Now his goal is creating page-turning books that readers can’t put down. The best validation he gets is notes from readers saying they love his books. ]
Last advice: you cannot just upload your book and leave it there. You have to put your business hat on. Build your platform, build your readership. If you’re diligent, the book will stand a much better chance of getting discovered by additional new readers. "It’s an amazing way to make a living."
Mark Dawson's books are available on kobo.com. For more information, visit www.markjdawson.com or www.selfpublishingformula.com.
Marie Force, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than 40 contemporary romance novels was recently in Toronto and spent an evening with Kobo, Harlequin and an intimate group of lucky fans to celebrate Marie.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed Marie in front of the group. In the conversation, Mark and Marie discuss:
Marie also answers questions from her fans about:
After the interview, Mark goes over a few tips for those about to embark upon NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), conjuring up a few tips derived from articles on the Kobo Writing Life blog by Kevin J. Anderson and Chris Mandeville.
Kelley Armstrong, New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong is interviewed by Kobo’s Nora Parker about the hot serialized summer release CITY OF THE LOST.
In the discussion, Nora and Kelley discuss:
The interview is followed by a commentary discussion between Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre who interviews Director of Merchandising, Nathan Maharaj regarding the huge success of CITY OF THE LOST. Nathan breaks down the various elements that made it such a hit and the two talk about:
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the hugely popular "City of the Lost" series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. You can find out more about her on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
Christine Munroe interviews #1 NYT bestselling author Barbara Freethy in this episode, which is filled with stories about Barbara's publishing journey and great advice for new authors:
How Barbara came to publishing as a voracious lifelong reader, then decided to try writing in her late twenties.
How she carved time out when working and raising small kids. She dedicated small chunks of very focused time every single day - if you just write a page a day, at the end of the year you’ll have a book.
Getting through the writing process is hard work, and unfortunately it never really gets easier. Leaning on other excuses can be a way of coping with fear of the blank page. You have to persevere and work through it.
She remains very involved in every aspect of the self-publishing process, because she knows her brand better than anyone.
Barbara's 80/20 rule: Spend 80% of your time writing, and 20% on everything else. Marketing takes up a huge amount of that 20% - so you shouldn’t be spending all of your time on every single social media outlet available.
“Once you have a stack of books to sell (5-6), you can do so many things. You can change your prices, do free giveaways.”
New writers: the best thing you can do is write 3 books. Don’t even waste time really marketing the first one, until you have the next books available.
Writing is not a get rich quick scheme. Building your brand and developing a following takes a lot of time.
The digital revolution has brought many people back to reading, and made it easier for them to enjoy great books.
Barbara’s unique print partnership with Ingram.
She usually publishes 4-5 new books per year. However, she advises, “Everyone should set their own expectations for their own process. It just doesn’t really matter what other people are doing.”
Participate in writers groups, attend writers conferences, try to connect with retailers. “Retailers are your partner. We’re all doing the same thing. We’re all trying to sell books, and that’s a great relationship to have.”
Her author mentors: Debbie Macomber and Susan Elizabeth Phillips both helped her early on in her career.
“I think writers are better served by going wide… really what you want to do is spend a lot of time and build your network and your relationships and reader base at every single retail site that you can.”
Plus: What you might not know about Barbara!
After the episode, Christine talks about Kobo's great program with indie bookstores that's happening right now: eReadLocal. US readers and authors, check out www.kobo.com/ereadlocal to sign up and get $5 credit when you affiliate your Kobo account with an independent bookstore. The bookstore also gets $5, and will be eligible for great prizes like free eReaders and a party featuring a bestselling author. From that point onward, the bookstore will get a percentage of every eBook you buy! The $5 credit offer ends November 29th, so sign up today.
Please help us spread the word on social media with #ereadlocal. Thank you!
While every author has heard the age old advice that it's important to have a professional looking and beautiful cover that appeals to the target audience, not as much attention has been paid to the blurb, description or "sales copy" that helps inspire the potential reader to click that all important BUY button. This interview with Bryan Cohen, author of the TED SAVES THE WORLD series, podcast host and man for all seasons includes an in-depth look at the importance of a strong and solid blurb. Also included are two different amazing prizes for writers.
Contest 1 -- Win one of three carefully crafted book description services valued at $149 USD. Giveaway ends Sept 31, 2015. ENTER HERE
Contest 2 -- $1000 Copywriting for Authors Giveaway. Giveaway Ends October 9, 2015 - ENTER HERE
Bryan is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre. During their chat Mark and Bryan discuss:
Mark then provides a quick summary of some of the advice and examples regarding a strong professional product as gleaned from the interview and then provides further details about the aforemention contests.
Other links:
Bryan's TED SAVES THE WORLD BOOKS on Kobo
Episode 39 features the one and only... Bella Andre! Bella is a self-publishing superstar, one of the original KWL beta testers when we started off in 2012, NYT and USA Today bestselling Romance and New Adult author, and all-around lovely and fun person to talk to. Christine Munroe hosts this episode and chats with Bella about her publishing journey, including (listen up!) her secrets for success. In this can't-miss episode, Christine and Bella discuss:
At the end of the episode, Christine catches up with KWL Director Mark Lefebvre. They discuss why it's so important for authors to network with retailers - from the very beginning, Bella impressed Mark and he wanted to help her succeed on Kobo. They also talk about KWL's recent third birthday and the most exciting new projects we have in the works for our authors.
Thanks for listening!
For this episode, we focus on small presses and the business side of publishing. US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Angela Bole, the Executive Director of IBPA (the Independent Book Publishers Association), about everything from distribution to metadata. As a bonus, we include excellent advice from Kobo's Canadian Merchandiser, Sarah Smith-Eivemark, who recently joined Kobo from a small press. She shares the most important advice she's learned from her unique perspective of this transition from small press to digital retailer. You don't want to miss it!
Tune in to hear about:
Find about more about IBPA at www.ibpa-online.org.
This week's podcast is essential listening for all authors: Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware is joining us to share her most important advice for how writers can avoid being scammed. Writer Beware was co-founded by Victoria and Ann Crispin in 1998, is sponsored by SFWA, and its mission is to "track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry." Listen in as Victoria speaks with US Manager Christine Munroe about:
Following this conversation, KWL Author Care Coordinator Vanessa Ghosh shares advice for taking advantage of our free preview function on Kobo. Customers can preview the first 5% of the beginning of your eBook, so many sure to give them a peek into your best work—and don't use a dummy file when you're setting up a pre-order, as previews for pre-orders are also visible to customers. If you have questions you'd like us to answer on the podcast, email [email protected]
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Nancy L. Baumann about Bookarma, a platform that allows authors to leverage the community in their social media endeavors. In the interview Mark and Nancy discuss:
Mark then talks about the value of authors helping one another and how, as a bookseller for the past 20+ years he has paid attention to this in his own desire to help authors. There is an ask for KWL listeners to email [email protected] with any questions they might have that we can answer in future episodes as well as suggestions for guests and topics for future episodes. Please note that submitting a helpful question just might land you additional promotional placement at Kobo.
KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Carla King, a travel writer and self-publishing expert. Tune in to hear them discuss:
After the show, KWL Author Care Coordinator Vanessa Ghosh offers tips for creating reflowable ePubs.
KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. They discuss:
*National Novel Writing Month, the creative challenge in which authors write 50,000 words during the month of November, or 1,667 words per day.
*The origins of NaNoWriMo, which began with 21 people in 1999 and has grown to support hundreds of thousands of writers each year.
*Why November? If you can write a novel in November, you can write one anytime. It's a busy time of year leading into the December holidays.
*NaNoWriMo's other initiatives, including Camp NaNoWriMo and the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.
*Even if you don't "win" by hitting the 50k word count, every participant is a winner for choosing to make creativity a priority.
KWL is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row. Stay tuned as we embark on this challenge in November with our annual KoBoWriMo team!
www.nanowrimo.org
This episode, recorded in collaboration with the Northern Colorado Writers Conference, opens in a conversation with Rich Keller, Assistant Director and Electronics Media Manager of Northern Colorado Writers, as well as an author, editor and the publisher of Wooden Pants Publishing. Rich talks about:
The second part of this podcast features a panel conversation between Kelly Baugh, Carrie Visintainer and Mark Leslie (aka KWL Director Mark Lefebvre, with his author hat on)
Kelly Baugh, author of the new novel Miss You Once Again (Hot Chocolate Press) mentions:
Carrie Visintainer, author of the upcoming book Wild Mama (Thought Catalog Books) discusses:
Mark Leslie talks about:
At the end of the conversations, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks about how a fantastic book meant for traditional publishing can be applied in the new world of DIY publishing and spotlights Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages. LINKS Northern Colorado Writers
NCW Podcast - Episode #7 (Featuring Mark Lefebvre from Kobo)
Director of Global Merchandising at Kobo, Nathan Maharaj interviews Dan Rubinstein, author of Born To Walk: The Transformative Power of A Pedestrian Act.
Nathan and Dan discuss:
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then speaks a bit about price points and global price-point strategy, outlining why it is important for authors to manually control all of the currencies they have edit access to rather than depending on the system to do the auto-conversion for them. He offers some advice based on the various differences in the dollar between US and other global currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars.
Mark also speaks about the fact that there isn’t a price cap of $9.99 to receive 70% via Kobo Writing Life. With no cap on the 70% royalty, authors can and should take advantage of creating more expensive digital box sets offering their customers a great value but earning the author a higher margin.
LINKS:
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Alex P. Berg, author of the “Daggers and Steel” sci-fi mystery series. In the interview Mark and Alex talk about:
After the interview, Mark discusses the concept of productivity that Alex spoke about and reads a short piece from Kevin J. Anderson's book Million Dollar Productivity and provides a coupon code allowing authors to get the book for $0.99 (rather than the $8.99 USD / $9.99 CDN price it is listed for). Use coupon code MILLION99 during checkout. (Please note that the coupon is only good until the end of May 2015)
Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, in conversation with Dean Wesley Smith, a USA Today Bestselling author of books in multiple genres including Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers and Westerns.
Currently producing novels in four different series, Smith is also the co-publisher of WMG Publishing along with his partner Kristine Kathryn Rusch and runs a series of workshops designed to help writers become smarter not only about the craft but also about the business of publishing.
During their conversation, Dean and Mark talk about:
The RULES
o 1 – You Must Write
o 2 – You Must Finish What You Start
o 3 – You Must Refrain From Rewriting Except to Editorial Order
o 4 – You Must Put It on The Market
o 5 – You Must Keep It on The Market Until Sold
Other Links
Dean Wesley Smith’s Books at Kobo
Fiction River Anthologies (website)
Fiction River Anthologies (Kobo)
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Kristine Kathryn Rusch, an award-winning writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance, at Superstars Writing Seminars.
Apart from her decades of writing and editing experience which includes being published in 14 different countries in 13 languages, Rusch co-runs a publishing business (WMG Publishing) with her partner Dean Wesley Smith and provides authors invaluable insights about writing and publishing through her popular blog series: The Business Rusch.
During the conversation, Mark and Kris talk about:
Mark then talks a bit more about the books for writers that Rusch has written and shares a personal experience about how reading the book Deal Breakers helped him in a very significant way when he was negotating a contract for one of his most recent books, Tomes of Terror.
LINKS
Rusch's book: Discoverability
Rusch's book: Deal Breakers: Contract Terms Writers Should Avoid
Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre recently attended the 2015 Superstars Writing Seminars (Teaching you the business of being a writer) in Colorado Springs, CO. During the conference, he had a chance to interview several of the faculty and guest lecturers.
Presented here is Mark's interview with Superstars Faculty member James A. Owen a comic book illustrator, publisher and writer who is best known for the comic book series Starchild and the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica novels.
Highlights from the discussion include:
Mark then discusses the importance of drawing attention to mental health issues such as depression, which can affect writers and other creative types, outlining the need to discuss these things openly in an understanding way, rather than trying to blame those who suffer from mental health issues. He mentions online resources that might help in Canada (Healthy Minds Canada), the US (Mental Health America) and the UK (Mental Health Foundation)
In the fall of 2014, Louise Penny visited Kobo's home office in Toronto and was interviewed by Toronto editor and book enthusiast Jen Knoch for a special Kobo in Conversation video.
Introduced by Kobo's Director of Communications, Tracy Nesdoly, Knoch interviews Penny in front of a live audience about her writing, followed by a Q&A from the audience. In the discussion, Knoch and Penny discuss:
After the interview, Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre comments on a few of the things Penny mentioned and then talks about a new feature on Kobo Writing Life which allows authors the ability to enter the Volume Number for a Series into the system for their books.
Lefebvre explains the critical importance that clean metadata plays in assisting readers with finding the right book and how Kobo intends on using this clean data to assist with the automatic curation of series books for customers who adore them.
Kobo and Kobo Writing Life have long been known for being open, social and collaborative. And this episode of the Kobo Writing Life podcast is no exception. In fact, to start 2015 off on the right foot, we thought it would be useful, in our ongoing communication with authors regarding the importance of making your work available on multiple platforms, and not just on Kindle, to help with that. This episode contains a collection of tips curated from the Author Marketing Podcast by Author Marketing Institute founder Jim Kukral covering tips and things you might not know about publishing a book to Kobo, Nook (Barnes & Noble), iBooks (Apple) and Google Play. Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre sets up the various clips from Jim's fantastic podcast. The tips that Jim shares are from the following original podcasts 7 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Google Play
1) The Play Store is popular 2) You can post your book for free 3) It has Permafree benefits 4) There's less competition 5) It takes patience 6) Keywords matter 7) For some authors it's #1 or #2
Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 6 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Apple iBooks 1) Apple is the #2 US eBook retailer 2) You need a MAC or a 3rd party to publish 3) More readers have iBooks access 4) Content is curated 5) You need to show your support 6) There are features you can't find on Amazon Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 6 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Nook Press 1) Nook is on the decline 2) Indie authors dominate the bestseller list 3) You need to pay attention to format 4) Support has a bad reputation 5) Connections with merchandisers are key 6) It's still #2 for many authors Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 5 Important Things To KNow About Publishing A Digital Book on Kobo 1) It has an international focus 2) Kobo took over for SONY 3) You can schedule promos ahead of time 4) There's a page for Free Book Promos 5) Success requires networking Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast
There's also discussion about the Author Marketing Live events as well as other great resources from AMI, including:
This podcast includes a roundtable discussion with Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life as well as three other Kobo employees (Bessie, Camille and Shayna) who participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2014.
The round table discussion includes the following:
Mark then discusses the concept of “winning” or “losing” NaNoWriMo, with a thought that, ANYTHING you wrote during NaNoWriMo, regardless of your final word count, means that you are a winner. Drawing from his own personal experience of having “not won” NaNoWriMo in 2006, yet managed to take the project he had started more than half a dozen years ago and work it into a novel that will be coming out in 2015, means the effort he put into it back then was part of the process of getting that novel done, and well worth it.
LINKS:
Shayna's KWL article entitled "Dear Writing: I Hate You!"
The KWL article Shayna wrote about the importance of daydeaming
Mark's appearance on The Writing Show podcast (in 2006) in which he did NOT win NaNoWroMo
This podcast includes the full and unabridged audio feed of the Kobo in Conversation interview with Kathy Reichs conducted by Bob Ramsay and hosted by Kobo's Senior Director of Communications Tracy Nesdoly.
The interview covers the following:
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks a bit about the concept of “write what you know” based on Kathy’s experience, the experience of author Melissa Yi and for writers who don't have first hand knowledge. The key, of course, is research. Mark references a great article by KWL’s Shayna Krishnasamy called “I’d Rather Not Be Talking to You but I’m Writing This Book: How a Shy Writer Tackles Research” in which she outlines research options for writers and Mark also draws from his own personal experience doing research for non-fiction (Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores & Libraries) as well as fiction.
LINKS:
Listen in as KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews nonfiction author Michael Rank, whose titles include HISTORY'S WORST DICTATORS and FROM MUHAMMED TO BURJ KHALIFA: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History. Mark and Michael discuss Michael's podcast, History in Five Minutes, self-publishing from a nonfiction author's perspective, and the challenges and rewards of translating self-published titles. Michael shares his thoughts about:
Following the podcast interview, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe shares an exciting update: for the second year in a row, KWL is sponsoring NaNoWriMo! Starting November 1, hundreds of thousands of writers will endeavour to write 50,000 words within one month. Several KWL and Kobo staff members are participating this year, carrying on our KoBoWriMo tradition. We'll keep the KWL blog updated with the trials and tribulations of our fearless WriMos, the great prizes we are offering this year, and more. Stay tuned!
Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks met in person for the first time at Kobo’s home office in Toronto in May 2014 and were interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre about their individual works as well as the forthcoming collaborative graphic novel they are creating together and which will be coming from First Second books in 2016.
The interview includes the following:
Mark then talks about what can happen when writers are open, social and collaborative in nature, reflecting on how Rainbow and Faith were mutual fans of one another, had connected in an online community. Mark shares his own experiences from a recent conference in which he connected with other writers, editors, publishers, librarians and booksellers, and explains the beautiful serendipity that can happen when writers take advantage of the connections and opportunities that can arise from engaging with the community.
LINKS
In the latest episode of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, we welcome NYT and USA Today bestselling author Diane Capri. KWL Content Manager Christina Potter and US Manager Christine Munroe speak with Diane - who offered jokingly to change her name to Christine for the purposes of this episode - about her daily writing life, the benefits of collaboration and mentorship, strategies for selling well on Kobo, and more. Tune in to hear about:
In our latest podcast, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews bestselling author and self-publishing expert Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela has written the book on self-publishing, WHAT KIND OF LOSER INDIE PUBLISHES, AND HOW CAN I BE ONE, TOO? In the summer of 2013, she embarked on a 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, which she organized herself (with the help of her supportive family), so she has plenty of insights and advice for working successfully with bookstores.
Listen in to Episode 020 as Pamela shares her thoughts on:
At a recent visit to Kobo's home office in Toronto, Hugh Howey was interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre in front of an audience of about 150 people (60 of which were local Kobo Writing Life authors) for a Kobo in Conversation video. Here are some highlights from the discussion.
As a postscript to the interview, Mark then calls out some of the key points that Hugh made during the conversation; in particular Hugh's take on marketing and how writing your next book or focusing on sharing information ABOUT writing it is far better than trying to push your book in front of everybody's face.
OTHER LINKS
Episode 013 of the KWL Podcast (with Hugh Howey)
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Moses Znaimer, co-founder and former head of CityTV, the first independent television station in Toronto, Canada, the current head of ZoomerMedia (Zoomer Magazine) and the author of The Zoomer Philosophy.
Mark and Moses discuss:
Mark then compares The Zoomer Philosophy to the fact that eBooks are also in their mid-forties and reflects on how we are still at the cusp of the eBook revolution. He applies these thoughts to the concept of writing and publishing being a long-term game.
Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviews Italian author Vieri Tommasi Candidi about his Who’s Jo Spatacchia? Series and the unique method by which he had released this in two languages with a regular and enhanced version for different audiences.
During the conversation, Camille and Vieri discuss:
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about the recently launched Opening Up To Indie Authors campaign and the book launch which took place at the Kobo Booth at London Book Fair 2014.
Links
Vieri’s Website:
The Who’s Jo Spatacchia? Series on Kobo
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/Search?Query=Vieri+Tommasi+Candidi&fcmedia=Book
Opening Up To Indie Authors (Kobo Writing Life)
http://kobowritinglife.com/2014/04/03/opening-up-to-indie-authors/
Kobo Listing for Opening up To Indie Authors eBook
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/opening-up-to-indie-authors
The Open Up to Indie Authors Campaign
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/open-up-to-indie-authors/
The Launch – From ALLi’s website
http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/alli-book-launch-opening-up-to-indie-authors/
The Speech Orna Ross gave at the launch at the Kobo Booth at LBF 2014
http://www.ornaross.com/2014/04/opening-up-to-indie-authors-book-launch/
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre and US Manager Christine Munroe were joined by NYT bestselling author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur Joanna Penn. Joanna is an invaluable resource for indie authors through her blog, The Creative Penn, and podcast of the same name. Listen in as Joanna shares insights about:
Joanna recently became a NYT and USA Today bestselling author with the boxed set DEADLY DOZEN, which features her novella ONE DAY IN BUDAPEST. Learn more about this amazing example of author collaboration on Joanna's blog post about this experience
Christine Munroe interviews Brooklyn-based author Nathaniel Kressen, who took a truly unique approach to self-publishing his debut novel Concrete Fever and won over local independent booksellers along the way. Tune in to hear about:
Kressen was featured on a recent KWL-sponsored ABA bookstore event – a panel discussion for self-published authors at Housing Works Bookstore Café – to which he added wonderful input from the indie author perspective.
Additional links:
http://www.nathanielkressen.com
Mark Lefebvre, KWL Director, interviews Melissa Yuan-Innes, author of the hot-selling Hope Sze Medical Mystery series about...
Mark Lefebvre then talks about the difference between trying to find time to write and making time to write, outlining a few strategies that authors who work day jobs sometimes employ when carving out time in their busy schedules to make time for writing.
Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame: Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.
This is the third in the series of three interviews and features international bestselling author Hugh Howey. In the interview, Camille and Hugh discuss:
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, discusses a point that Hugh makes in the interview regarding patience and the strategy of continuing to work on your next book (rather than focusing all your time and attention worrying about your already published title or titles) -- he also references a recent blog post by Dean Wesley Smith entitled "The New World of Publishing: Some Perspectives of 2013" in which Smith notes the importance of building a career over decades rather than giving up after a few books and very little sales (or, as the case used to be with publishing, quitting after 50 rejections)
Other Links:
The WOOL trilogy (WOOL, SHIFT & DUST)
Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame: Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.
This is the second of the series of three interviews and features bestselling New Adult paranormal romance author Kristie Cook.
Camille and Kristie discuss:
KWL Director Mark Lefebvre discusses one of the recently introduced Kobo Writing Life Dashboard tools, the Price Scheduling tool (for scheduling temporary/promotional or permanent price changes), why the KWL team developed this for KWL authors and publishers, and how price scheduling and being able to make your book free at other times without exclusivity requests are a hallmark of the Kobo and Kobo Writing Life spirit.
Other Links/Resources:
Kristie Cook's website and blog
The Soul Savers Box Set (a great value bundle of 3 novels plus a novella)
Kristie's KWL Blog Guest post on why authors should consider attending conferences and conventions
Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame: Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.
This is the first of the series of three interviews and features bestselling romance author Emily Bold.
Camille and Emily discuss Emily's continued growth and rise not just in Germany but around the globe, something which saw a significant increase when she embraced the opportunities available to independent publishers and authors through eBook publishing.
They also discuss working with agents regarding the sale of foreign rights as well as strategies for translating work into English and other languages as a way of broadening Emily's reach in the global market.
This episode also includes the audio of a presentation that Kobo's Chief Content Officer Michael Tamblyn gave at Futurebook Conference November 2013 regarding this past October's "Eroticagate"
Christine Munroe, US Manager for Kobo Writing Life, interviews Darcie Chan, author of the NYT and USA Today bestselling novel, The Mill River Recluse.
Christine and Darcie discuss:
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self Publishing & Author Relations, talks about the “KoboWriMo” team at Kobo participating in NaNoWriMo and offers up a couple of helpful tips. The following links on the Kobo Writing Life Blog are useful and NaNoWriMo related.
OTHER LINKS/REFERENCES:
Darcie's website
Follow @DarcieChan on Twitter
Buy The Mill River Recluse on Kobo.com
Stay tuned for Darcie's next book, forthcoming in 2014!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Terry Fallis, multi-award winning author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road and Up and Down. Mark and Terry talk about:
• How they met when Mark was a bookseller at McMaster University’s bookstore, and Terry, a former McMaster student self-published The Best Laid Plans in 2007. • Mark’s comparison of Terry’s writing to John Irving • How Terry applied his knowledge of politics and engineering to create the characters of Daniel and Angus (the main characters from The Best Laid Plans and The High Road) • Terry’s original nativity when venturing into the realm of self-publishing back in 2006/2007 • How Terry used podcasting to gain a worldwide audience for The Best Laid Plans and was the first Canadian to follow in the footsteps of such podcasting pioneers as Scott Sigler • Mark’s original reluctance as a bricks and mortar bookseller to carry The Best Laid Plans or even read this satirical novel of Canadian politics, but how, after a single page, Terry’s prose won him over • How, feeling “up” from the McMaster Bookstore launch event led to Fallis deciding to submit The Best Laid Plans to the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour (which Terry won and which led to his book deal with McClelland and Stewart) • How Terry is thrilled to have Beverly Slopen as his agent and Douglas Gibson as his editor & publisher • Winning November 2010’s CBC Canada Reads for the Essential Canadian Novel of the Decade • The importance of local community bookstores and the great relationships that Terry has forged with so many amazing Canadian bookstores (Canadian Booksellers Association honoured Terry with the CBC Libris Author of the Year Award in 2013 • CBC’s creation of The Best Laid Plans miniseries (and having lunch with the fictional Angus McClintock in Ottawa during filming) - (which will begin airing January 2014) • Terry’s use of humour and heartfelt moments in The Best Laid Plans and The High Road • Terry’s membership in the “Write What You Know” club – and how he takes advantage of that by writing about things he already knows a lot about (public relations, politics, etc) rather than spending more time doing research • How Terry’s latest novel Up & Down seemed to almost predict the incredible manner by which Commander Chris Hadfield captured the hearts and minds of people who again became interested in the space program. • A bit of insight into Terry’s forthcoming (spring 2014) novel No Relation – about a writer with the unfortunate name of Ernest Hemmingway (although spelled differently) who is trying to leave the family business to pursue a writing career • How Terry manages to write novels while working full-time • The importance of writing detailed outlines (each outline approximately 65 page long) and how, when you know that much about the story the efficiency of getting the manuscript completed in about 4 months • How, despite the detailed outlining, how at least half of the comedic moments and humour comes to Terry during the actual writing process • Terry’s creative/musical family and the dinnertime family tradition which included the goal of trying to tell a story that would make his stone-faced father laugh • The importance of being true to one’s own writing and one’s own personality • How there are likely some fine manuscripts sitting in publisher slush piles right now and the opportunities authors have to creating bold new opportunities For this episode’s side-bar note, Mark reflects back on Terry’s journey into publishing and how he and authors like Scott Sigler used podcasting as a way to help find an audience for his novel. Mark mentions the website Podiobooks.com and using programs such as GarageBand (MAC) or Audacity for creating the audio files. OTHER LINKS/RESOURCES - Terry’s books at Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/Search?Query=terry+fallis - Terry Fallis website - http://terryfallis.com/ - Terry’s page for Up and Down - http://terryfallis.com/up-and-down/ - Terry’s podcast page for The Best Laid Plans - http://terryfallis.com/the-best-laid-plans/tblp-podcast/ - Terry’s Video “An Unorthodox Journey to the published land” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_zmv0MICU - Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php) - Podiobooks (http://podiobooks.com/)
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Johnny B. Truant author of the Fat Vampire series, and co-author of The Beam and Unicorn Western. The two discuss:
For this episode’s side-bar note, Mark speaks about social media strategies, including how it’s not about “broadcasting” a message (such as “please buy my book”) but, rather, engaging with and participating and adding to a community (with a reference to Episode 004 with Mitch Joel)
OTHER LINKS/RESOURCES
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Jacqueline Garlick, author of Lumière: A Fantasy Steampunk Romance Adventure (http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lumiere-1).
Mark and Jackie discuss:
As part of this episode’s soliloquy, Mark speaks about the importance of networking for writers, why attending local writing groups, conferences and seminars can be invaluable for a writer.
OTHER LINKS/RESOURCES
Jacqueline Garlick’s website: http://jacquelinegarlick.com/
Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacqueline-Garlick/1395763840647691
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackie_garlick
Lumière on Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lumiere-1
Diego Marano, UK Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviews Chele Cooke, author of Dead & Buryd. Diego is joined by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre.
The trio discuss the following:
After the interview Mark talks about the importance of personal relationships and networking for a writer’s success. He calls out attending workshops, conferences and other in person events in order to make important connections. You never know when that connection you made might lead to a beautiful thing. Mark also talks about why looking for what you can do to help other writers is a great long term strategy for success.
LINKS/RESOURCES
Chele's Pinterest page for Dead & Buryd
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Douglas Smith, an award-winning Canadian author of fantasy, SF, horror and supernatural fiction with over 100 short story sales in 30 countries and two dozen languages.
Doug and Mark discuss the following:
• Doug’s start to writing in 1995 stemming from a “mid-life” crisis • How Doug’s new novel The Wolf at the End of the World ties back to the very first short story he wrote in 1995, Spirit Dance • Doug’s prestigious career as a short-fiction writer (how he turned the sale of 40 short stories sold into re-selling them to 170 markets globally), the importance of taking advantage of reprint rights • Doug’s outstanding foreign language rights sales of short fiction: 25 languages in 30 countries • Ralon.com – online free short fiction market listings • Doug’s strategy for hiring a cover artist, an ePub formatting conversion company to create a consistent professional look and feel to generate a catalog of eBook versions of his short story fiction collection. (And how he made his investment back within a year selling short stories in eBook version for 99 cents – where he keeps 35 cents on Amazon and 45 cents on Kobo per unit sold) • The adaptation of one of Doug’s short stories “By Her Hand She Draws You Down” into a short film of the same name. • Doug’s penchant for writing fiction that references Bruce Springsteen’s music • How Doug discovered he had written a vampire story only after reading customer reviews Mark also talks about discovering ingenious use of social media by authors and cites author Chele Cooke’s intriguing use of Pinterest for her forthcoming novel Dead & Buryd as an example. Here’s a link to Chele’s website and her forthcoming book on Kobo. OTHER LINKS/RESOURCES Daniele Serra – Italian Artist
Doug's website: www.smithwriter.com Twitter: @smithwritr Doug’s article on Selling Foreign Language Rights Doug’s Foreign Market List Doug’s Amazing Stories Blog Series
Short fiction recommendations to check out Doug’s writing:
If you like Horror check out By Her Hand She Draws You Down If you like Urban Fantasy check out Spirit Dance If you like post-apocalyptic science-fiction check out Memories of the Dead Man If you like revenge/science-fiction/time-travel stories check out State of Disorder
If you like martial arts/Japanese fantasy check out The Red Bird
If you like modern thriller/fantasy, check out The Wolf at the End of the World
Check out the books we're discussing here!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Mitch Joel, author of the books Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT DELETE: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on it.
The conversation between Mitch and Mark involve the following:
OTHER NOTES
Taking a note from Mitch’s book, Mark talks about the concept of treating indie publishing as a profession and a business as well as highlighting the importance of connecting with your audience as opposed to being “that pushy guy.” Mark also discusses the value of pitching your book to the right target audience rather than trying to broadcast to everyone and to people who aren’t in your target audience group.
Check out the books we're discussing here!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews authors Sean Platt and David Wright about their Collective Inkwell properties which include the highly successful serial thrillers Yesterday’s Gone, White Space and Available Darkness.
Mark chats with Sean and Dave about the following:
OTHER NOTES
Mark talks about Kobo’s “open, social and collaborative” nature and the concept of embracing all retailers and making your work available everywhere – how certain retailer’s exclusivity programs are akin to asking ALL your customers to only shop at a single bookstore. Not always a realistic option.
Q&A Answer to: Do I need an ISBN to publish on Kobo Writing Life? Answer: No, you don’t need an ISBN. You can certainly BYOI (bring your own ISBN) or, if you don’t we’ll assign a “dummy” ISBN – with a note on some of our retailer partners that don’t ingest dummy ISBNs
MISC LINKS
Self-Publishing Podcast (which Sean & David co-host with Johnny B. Truant) - AKA SPP
http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/
[SPP Episode 57 – With KWL’s Mark Lefebvre as guest: http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/57/]
Listen to the audio version of Yesterday’s Gone via the YG podcast
http://collectiveinkwell.com/category/podcast/
Check out the books we're discussing here!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews author Robert Levine, the author of Free Ride: How Digital Parasites are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back.
Mark and Robert discuss the following:
This episode also includes Q&A regarding the right price to set for your eBook as well as an overview of one author’s experiment with increasing the price of her eBook on the various eBook retail platforms.
Robert Levine's book Free Ride on Kobo (Please note there are two different links depending on which territory you're in):
CA, US, HK, SG, ID, JP, BR
www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780385533775
GB, AU, NZ, DE, FR, ES, NL, IT, HK, SG, AT, CH, ID, JP, PT, ZA, BR
www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9781448161331
Robert Levine’s Website
http://freeridethebook.wordpress.com/
Check out the books we're discussing here!
Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews author Steve Vernon, a writer and storyteller of both written and spoken words and they discuss the following:
· Aspects of writing a serialized story (Steve’s Flash Virus Series), elements of humour in a thriller/horror story and the perspective of being able to laugh at life.
· Steve’s first published story in the mid 1980’s in a magazine that featured “Busoms, beards and big bellied bikers.”
· Embracing both traditional publishing and self-publishing as a hybrid author and how that syncs beautifully with how Steve really “isn’t a writer, just a windbag who likes to spin yarns”
· The importance of being able to adapt and continue to learn as a writer
· A few of Steve’s titles: Sinking Deeper, Maritime Murder, Tatterdemon Omnibus
· Steve’s favourite advice for writers
· Some book recommendations from Steve (The Scorpion Races & The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater)
Also included in this episode are Mark’s “Three P’s of Self-Publishing Success” as well as a listener question regarding ensuring your Goodreads reviews appear on Kobo.
Steve’s Blog “Yours in Storytelling”
http://stevevernonstoryteller.wordpress.com/
Download Episode One of Steve’s Flash Virus series (FREE)
www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9780988097223
Steve’s Flash Virus Series
http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Flash+Virus&t=none&f=series&p=1&s=none&g=both
Steve Vernon’s Books on Kobo
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.