SPA Girls Podcast

Even the most experienced writers and self-publishers make mistakes. It’s not what you do wrong – it’s how you overcome the hiccups and potholes in the road. This episode sees the SPA Girls sharing their own Big Oops and how they recovered / learned from them. Inspiration plus for indies at all stages of their careers 🙂 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Visit www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info

In this episode we talk to the amazing Renee Rose about her new release Write To Riches! We love having Renee on the show; she’s an amazing guest, and we always finish feeling so much more motivated and inspired. We hope you feel the same way. 🙂 Renee is a 15-time USA Today bestselling romance author who loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero. In her career she’s sold over two million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. She’s also passionate about helping other authors find and maintain an abundance mindset to catapult their careers and create their best future. She wrote Write to Riches so she could teach more people about the power of the abundance mindset, manifesting your desires, and attracting wealth. Find her at: write2riches.comreneeroseromance.com ❤️ Make sure you’re signed up to our weekly self-publishing tips newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bGkz8L Come say hi on Facebook and Twitter @spagirlspodcast  

Ever wondered how authors create a reader base full of raving superfans… and how you could do it too?? Well, wonder no more! This week we have bestselling paranormal and contemporary romance author Steffanie Holmes on the show to talk about how to create superfans for your books.  Steff talks about the methods she’s used to create stronger connections with her readers, including having a strong author brand, newsletters, interconnected stories, and so much more!  We love having Steff in the SPA, and she’s super smart with her marketing, so this is an episode you don’t want to miss!  Show notes: Steffanie Holmes is a USA Today bestselling author of dark, gothic, and sinful romance books. Her books feature clever, witty heroines, secret societies, creepy old mansions, and alpha heroes who always get what they want. Steff received the 2017 Attitude Award for Artistic Achievement, and was a finalist for a 2018 Women of Influence award. Her books are enjoyed by thousands of readers all over the world. Steff is also the creator of Rage Against the Manuscript, an online community for writers to learn about self-publishing, finding their readers, and building a badass author brand. Steff’s passionate about helping authors from all walks of life find their voice and tell their story. Find her at: https://www.steffanieholmes.com/home Also find her at: https://www.rageagainstthemanuscript.com/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Visit www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info

A long-time friend of the SPA Girls Nalini Singh is here to talk about world-building, and if anyone knows how to do this–it’s Nalini! New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series of paranormal romances, Nalini also writes New Zealand-set thrillers, the most recently released of which is Quiet in Her Bones. Her contemporary romances include the Rock Kiss and Hard Play series, the latter of which revolves around a rugby-loving family in Auckland. 33 of Nalini’s solo titles have hit the New York Times Bestseller list (most recently Archangel’s Light, in November 2021). Her books have also hit the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller lists. She’s received the Australian Romance Readers Award several times and won two Sir Julius Vogel awards. The first book in the Psy-Changeling series, Slave to Sensation, was named as one of the New York Public Library’s 125 books from the last 125 years that inspire a lifelong love of reading. Born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand, Nalini was first published in 2003. Her books are both traditionally and indie published and have sold over eight million copies worldwide with translations in multiple languages. Phew! Makes your head spin, right? Every book you write is part of a world and you need to know as much as possible about the world before you start writing—but be prepared to pivot! So how does Nalini tackle world-building? Every book you write is part of a world and you need to know as much as possible about the world before you start writing—but be prepared to pivot! This could include the history of the world / characters / weather seasons / politics / religion / culture and customs.Keep track of your world in book bible or whatever makes sense to you.Different genres require more, or less worldbuilding depending on what they are.  E.g., Contemporary romance requires less than paranormal.  Nalini’s latest release is Storm Echo in the Psy-Changeling series, with Archangel’s Resurrection coming in October 2022. Find her at www.nalinisingh.com – don’t forget to check out her advice for writers there too    💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there!  www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Visit www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com for our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info

Looking for tips to make your marketing tasks more organized and less stressful? This is the episode for you! From marketing bibles to free online tools, your book marketing should become a whole lot less overwhelming. Plan your marketing early • Know your goals• Write out a simple plan• Be consistent• Take action on your plans• Complicated vs simple• Perfect is the enemy of done• Limit what you’re doing – don’t try to do it all• Brainstorm everything, then pick the most important to do first Lists • Write everything down.• Look at it every day – reminds you what you’re doing• Prioritize• Important vs urgent matrix Know your data • Don’t just guess or think you know.• Monthly scorecard• Be consistent and regular• Make decisions based on the data• Make changes based on the data Have everything prepared beforehand • A folder of information or a marketing bible.• Make it easier and faster for you to do the marketing you do on a regular basis Resources mentioned: Trello trello.comTick Tick ticktick.comHeartbreathings with author Sarra Cannon  Home · Heart BreathingsReaderlinks  Reach your independent author goals with The Author Helper Suite

This week we talk to the amazing Mia Brody all about how she makes a fulltime living writing instalove short romances. It’s an informative episode with plenty of wow moments, that you won’t want to miss! Mia writes steamy stories about alpha men who fall in love with big, beautiful women. She loves happy endings and every couple she writes will get one. When she’s not writing, Mia is searching for the perfect slice of cheesecake and watching way too many K-dramas. You can find her at miabrody.com Resources mentioned: Bookfunnel, Grit by Angela Duckworth, Writing Instalove Facebook Group Writing Instalove | Facebook The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast  Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

One size doesn’t fit all – we’ve all heard that saying, but how do you know what DOES work for you? In this episode, we discuss how to identify what best works for you in three areas: Your Writing ProcessYour Publishing StrategyYour Marketing Strategy …and share tips and resources that we’ve learned along the way. Resources mentioned: Book Decoding Greatness by Rod Friedmanhttps://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Greatness-Reverse-Engineer-Success/dp/1982135794 Becca Syme episode with the SPA Girls #146http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep146-interview-with-becca-syme-on-writing-better-faster/ Elana Johnson episode with the SPA Girls #228http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep228-interview-with-elana-johnson-part-two/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

It was our great pleasure to interview Michele Scott, a NYT, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling thriller and cozy mystery author of over forty novels and the CEO/owner of equestrian sports medicine company Professional’s Choice, Inc.  Michele has written in various genres including thrillers, mysteries, young adult mysteries, fantasy, and women’s fiction. Her thriller Daddy’s Home from her Holly Jennings’ Thriller series written under her pen name of AK Alexander has sold over one million copies and was the #1 bestselling book in the UK Amazon. Her thriller Mommy, May I? was number 2 on the Amazon list. Her Wine Lover’s Mysteries are currently optioned, and a movie version is projected to begin filming this year.  Like most of our guests, Michele’s success didn’t happen overnight and there were huge ups and downs. We think you’ll agree that it wasn’t perseverance alone that took Michele down the path to finding the right agent and having books optioned. Firstly, it was all about loving what she did, but she also did her research, made contacts and made sure she was on brand. She also consistently produced products good enough for someone to take notice when she got it in front of the right eyes. Michele also talks about having a good marketing plan, so she knows where to use her budget and that she wears a professional hat when making important decisions. She also believes it’s important to block off time to learn, refresh your well with reading or writing in a different genre, and take time out, but writing time is sacred. Michele’s website: michelescott.comFacebook: @akalexanderauthor Instagram: @michelescottauthor Resources mentioned: How To Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Frey https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003E4CY8U/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there!  www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Emilia Rose is an international bestselling author of steamy paranormal romance. With over 18 million story views online, Emilia loves creating the newest and sexiest paranormal romances for her fans. Emilia shares how she started by releasing her work for free on Wattpad and other serial platforms, and building a ravenous audience there. At that time she didn’t have the resources to invest and ads, covers or professional editing and thus her subscription-publishing concept was born: her fans on Wattpad could access one chapter extra per week through her Patreon and read it before anyone else. That snowballed quickly and Emilia was able to grow over six figures/year very quickly through this model. Then she was able to be able to afford professional covers, editing and advertising for  the books she would later publish wide. We were inspired by Emilia’s success and entrepreneurial approach to self-publishing in a slightly different way to the “usual”, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy this episode! Find Emilia at: https://www.emiliarosewriting.com/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

USA Today Bestselling author of more than 50 books, Morgana Best writes cozy mysteries featuring witches, psychics, ghosts, mermaids, and anything else that tickles her imagination. Her books have landed on the Top 10 spot on Amazon and are beloved by readers in over 70 countries. Today she is talking to us about selling direct from your own author store, something Morgana has been doing for many years successfully. It’s an info-packed packed episode you will not want to miss! Morgana’s book Stop Making Others Rich: How Authors Can Make Bank Selling Direct is available now from Morgana’s store directly at morganabest.com and all online retailers including Amazon and Kobo And she has a course beginning in September: https://best-business-for-authors.teachable.com/p/authors-selling-books-on-shopify 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

This week we talk about how to find new ideas, and how to use those ideas in new ways. How to find them in the everyday hustle and bustle of our lives, and how to turn them on their heads to create something intriguing and interesting to our readers.  We go through a series of story starters, of intriguing kernels that you can use to create an awesome story that your readers will love to read…  SHOW NOTES: Places to find ideas: 🌺 Invent something from irritation – create a list of everything that annoys you, and try to find a way to use it in your writing. 🌺 Change the weather – put in a storm, make it rain, put them in a heatwave. All things that will change how the characters will act. 🌺 Use writing prompts – for example Reedsy writing prompts – https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/ 🌺 Create something from a mash up – for example two tropes that don’t usually go together. An example could be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 🌺 It can be something small – one of the characters in Wendy’s book has a pet duck and her readers love it. 🌺 Find something funny about a particular situation. 🌺 Adjust the focus – write it from a different character’s viewpoint, or put the scene in a different setting, or take them out of their comfort zone, like a fish out of water scene. 🌺 Do the opposite – flip, reverse, and rotate. Make the familiar strange. 🌺 Turn up the heat – make things worse for your characters, add to their troubles. 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon.  Buy us a coffee from $3/month! If you join us on the $10 tier, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private Facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions.  www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast  All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com 

Samantha Price is a USA Today bestselling author of Amish romance books and cozy mysteries. Raised Brethren, she has a deep affinity for the Amish way of life, which she has explored extensively with over a decade of research. She is mother to two pampered rescue cats, and a very spoiled staffy with separation issues. Focused and organized, Samantha’s results speak for themselves, but it will amaze you to hear how prolific she is and how she built her career in a smaller niche than usual. Listen in to the episode for all the details of how understanding that niche inside and out made her such a popular and successful author. You can find her in all the places: [email protected] www.facebook.com/SamanthaPriceAuthor www.instagram.com/SamanthaPriceAuthor Twitter @AmishRomance www.pinterest.com/AmishRomance www.SamanthaPriceAuthor.com www.spagirlspodcast.com The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! 💜 💜Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

This week we discuss burnout, protecting our creativity, being productive and not buying in to the hustle culture. You could say we’re “anti hustle” but pro making careers out of our writing! Recommended listening : SPA Girls Podcast with megastar BELLA ANDRE SPA Girls Podcast with Helen Scheurer – Six Figures with One Book A Year 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons! ⭐ Join us at the $10 tier, and you’ll be invited to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing, marketing and writing PLUS answer all your questions. Come on in and join us, we’d love to see you there! www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast ✍️ Don’t forget, all our FREE self-publishing resources, podcast episodes and info are at: at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

SPA Girl Wendy Vella has been self-publishing successfully since 2013 in Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance. Her romances are loved by a huge global audience who appreciate her trademark wit, strong family depiction, unique settings, and swoon-worthy heroes. Today, Wendy is a USA Today Bestseller and consistent Amazon bestseller, with 50 books published, and close to 3 million copies sold worldwide. Wendy has seen it all, and tried it all, self-publishing wise! We grill her on how she launched her most recent book, Defending Danger, and what strategies and tactics she uses to build buzz around her launch, reach existing and new readers and stay sane in the process! Topics covered include running pre-orders, why publishing print books before ebooks makes sense, wrangling an ARC team, paid and free advertising and promotion and harnessing Bookbub and Goodreads exposure. Whether you’re launching your first or your thirty-first book, this episode has something for you! About Wendy Vella: Wendy Vella is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical romances that have sold more than two million copies worldwide. Known for compelling and uplifting stories laced with witty humor, sensuality and intrigue, Wendy has hit the bestseller ranks many times with reader favorites, the Langley Sister series, Sinclair & Raven series and The Deville Brothers series.​An incurable romantic, Wendy found writing romance a natural fit. When her children were small, she would find writing time in the early hours of the morning, sitting quietly with her grandfather’s old typewriter while the family slept. These works, however, she says, will never see the light of day! Wendy joined Romance Writers of New Zealand and started honing her craft, and after years of contests and conferences, she was finally ready to publish her first book in 2013. Born and raised in a rural area in the North Island of New Zealand, she shares her life with one adorable husband, two delightful adult children and their partners, four delicious grandchildren, and too many cantankerous farm animals. Wendy also writes small town contemporary romances under the name Lani Blake. Find her at: wendyvella.com and laniblake.com

Dave Chesson joins us in the SPA to chat about some of the awesome apps that he’s designed for authors on the Kindleprenuer website.  Dave is a smart guy, and he knows his stuff when it comes to self publishing, so the apps are all super useful and on-point. This includes the free apps, such as the Book Description Generator and the Hashtag Generator (if you’ve ever struggled with finding good hashtags on any of the socials, that’s the app for you!) and his two powerful paid apps, Publisher Rocket and newbie Atticus. Join us for Dave’s insider tips and tricks on how to get the best use out of the apps, and hear some of his best insights into marketing for indies. Publisher Rocket has been around for years, and we all use it regularly in the SPA. Atticus is the new kid on the block – a program that Dave describes by saying – “If Scrivener, Google Docs, and Vellum got together and had a baby, its name would be Atticus.”  Another information packed episode from the SPA!  SHOW NOTES: About Dave Chesson He started out as a commissioned officer in the US Navy, became a nuclear engineer, served on submarines, and was even a military diplomat. But these days, when he’s not sipping tea with princesses or light saber dueling with little Jedi, Dave Chesson is a book marketing nut. He’s worked with New York Times bestselling authors on their marketing, and has been a paid consultant to major publishing companies, helping with digital sales, advertisement methods and sales page optimizations. His work in both publishing and book marketing has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, ALLi, Huffington Post, and even Market Watch. Even Amazon has recognized his book marketing strategies by officially saying that authors “…should gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing your books…” Find Dave on Kindlepreneur here. All about Kindlepreneur’s appsFree AppsBook sales generatorWhere you input a books best seller rank (BSR) and discover how much that book is making. With this BSR to sales calculator, you can have a pretty good idea of what your competitors are bringing in each day. Book Description GeneratorHTML text generator for Amazon QR Code generatorGenerates custom QR Codes.Bar code generatorCustom bar codes for your ISBN. Hashtag generatorHelps you create a list of hashtags for Instagram, TikTok, Twitter etc. Formatting template generatorFormatting template for MS Word. Paid AppsPublisher RocketHelps you research the Amazon book market. Can check out your competitors, generate keywords, etc etc. https://publisherrocket.com/?affiliate=kpreneur AtticusAll-in-one writing and formatting tool for ebooks and print books. https://www.atticus.io/ Previous episodes that Dave has been on the show: EP266 – Nail your keywords Ep107 – Dave Chesson – King of keywords 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us in our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things marketing, mindset and publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

When you feel the frantic need to achieve and you don’t, it’s easy to get stuck or suffer burnout. If that’s happened to you, then Corinne has some ideas to get you through. The Calm Entrepreneur was born out of a series of aha moments over the past several years. After a long time writing-to-market and chasing the algorithms with rapid release, she found herself in deep burnout. Deciding to write a book about recovery from burnout, Corinne soon realized that it wasn’t just about recovery – it was also about the practical things needed to move through the slow process and claw her way out.  This was about getting back to basics on the admin side of her business and writing, and re-assessing and re-securing the foundational practices of her work. Focusing on the fundamental organizing and system principles of day-to-day life, and getting back in touch with all the things that were on auto-pilot (or had been ignored) was the thing that shifted everything. As she started sharing this with friends, other authors, and entrepreneurs, it became clear that almost everyone who ran their own business was feeling stressed and overwhelmed and craved some of what she was experiencing. “Before this burnout experience, I was not someone who operated from a place of stress. I loved my work and somehow got lost in the mire. Getting back to the place where I work in ease has been transformative for me, and it’s something I think I need to share with the world. I believe it’s possible to thrive in your business and live your full life without losing your mind in the process. Fundamental organizing principals are the key, and when you have those in place, you can build anything on top of them.” Organizing is not a personality trait; it’s a skill that anyone can learn. www.thecalmentrepreneur.com www.authorproductivity.com 

This week we broadcast our 350th episode and in complete contrast to how laid-back Kiwis generally approach milestones, we’re celebrating the heck out of it! What have we learned, what have we regretted and what’s next? 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us in our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things marketing, mindset and publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Building a deep connection between your characters and your readers is whatcreates raving fans, books that stick like glue to the sales charts and fuels word-of-mouth recommendations. So how do we do this? Today we’re talking about tools and resources we use to build reader connection with our characters. “When readers recognize the character’s emotional state as one they’ve experienced in the past, it creates a sense of shared experience. Readers will connect with the character, even on a subconscious level, because of this thing they have in common. This is a common way for empathy to begin.” ~ Bella Puglisi, Know your characters and what makes them tick show not tell make them sympathetic & relatable character interviews – Wendy does them quarter of the way through the book she’s writing Use character’s senses Make character have to choose between making a bad choice or a worse choice re-read your favorite books for inspiration Recommended resource:The Connection between Character Emotion and Reader Empathy(https://www.livewritethrive.com/2019/02/04/the-connection-between-character-emotion-and-reader-empathy/#:~:text=When%20readers%20recognize%20the%20character’s,way%20for%20empathy%20to%20begin.) Writing For Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias : https://www.karliglesias.com/ How To Make Readers Feel Emotion: https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/01/30/creating-emotion-in-the-reader/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

USA Today best-selling author Lee Savino is a bubble of energy, and this week’s podcast with her left us all feeling motivated and inspired. We know you’ll love this episode too!  Lee talked to us about how the mindset of an indie author is vitally important, more important than any other aspect of writing and publishing, including all the tactics and systems we hear about all the time. If you can get your mindset right, you can achieve anything.  We talk with Lee about all the mindset changes she had to make, and as well as her tips and tricks around mindset, all of which helped her to become a successful, million-dollars-a-year indie author.  Links mentioned in the show: www.leesavino.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind 💜 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. 💜 If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private Facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Are you struggling to get your words down each day? Why not give writing sprints a try? You can do them alone, however, you might find they work better with others like we did. How it works: Find a friend or a group and set aside a certain amount of time. Now break this into doable time slots. For example, if you had two hours, then the time could be 4 slots of 30 mins, or 2 times 1 hour each, or 8 times 15mins. Or any number that suits the majority. Sometimes it’s better to start small. It’s also a good idea to allocate time for a break at some stage. The SPA Girls will chat for a while, do a couple of sprints, then have a bathroom break. We have coffee or lunch if we’re together, otherwise it’s straight back into it. Listen to the podcast for more tips regarding: training yourself how to set up a sprint group the power of structure what length of sprint? top of the hour sprints tracking Resources mentioned: Ines Johnson with the SPA Girls – http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep242-interview-with-ines-johnson-part-one-pen-names-productivity/ https://writeordie.com https://www.mywriteclub.com 💜The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private Facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

* we apologize for the technical gremlins that appear occasionally in this recording. Stick with it because the info is gold! Today we’re joined by Julia Roberts, MSc, writer, creativity coach, and soon-to-be Ted Talker. Julia is going to talk us through procrastination and the tools we can use to manage it. Goodness knows we all need this help! Her expertise is the creative process – she focuses on writers and writer’s block. She has her Masters of Science in Creativity and uses proven tools and concepts to help writers shift out of block and onward! She helps thousands of writers every year. Her book WRITE WITHOUT THE FIGHT – MASTER YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS TO WRITE WITH EASE AND SATISFACTION will debut in June 2022. About Julia: Julia Roberts helps writers predict and prevent writer’s block. She helps writers really see their creativity and talents with precision, so they can know their strengths and struggles and adjust their approach to writing. She helps writers limit their frustration, fears and setbacks so they can write their best work. Julia is a certified coach, has her Masters in the Science of Creativity and has three books published, including Amazon bestseller: Sex, Lies & Creativity – Gender Differences in Creative Thinking. She has addressed worldwide audiences live, at teleseminars and webinars, has been a guest on hundreds of radio shows, and a dozen tv talk and news shows, including Chicago Tribune, Redbook, Child Magazine, New York Times and New York Public Radio/NPR. After 25 years working as a brainstormer and marketing strategist for companies like Warner Bros, HBO, Sesame Workshop, she founded decodingcreativity.com in 2008 – where she serves serious writers in all media. Find more at DecodingCreativity.com or join the Write Without the Fight FB group. Julia’s new book: https://www.amazon.com/Write-Without-Fight-Creative-Satisfaction-ebook/dp/B09Z9VMK6X/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Do you want to learn how to design a series that will hook and keep readers, AND set you up for long term success? Helen Scheuerer, YA fantasy author of the bestselling series, The Oremere Chronicles and the Curse of the Cyren Queen quartet, joins us today to discuss how we can write a successful series. Topics covered include: The REAL reasons you should write in a seriesHow to find and use your target market to satisfy hungry readersHow to use foreshadowing and cliffhangers to create binge-worthy instalmentsHow to protect your career with series exit and expansion strategies And lots more! About Helen How To Write a Successful Series will be available August 11th, 2022 so go ahead and pre-order now! https://helenscheuerer.com/ Helen Scheuerer is the YA fantasy author of the bestselling series, The Oremere Chronicles and the Curse of the Cyren Queen quartet. Her work has been highly praised for its strong, flawed female characters and its action-packed plots. Her books have often been likened to Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series, and the epic #girlpower film, Wonderwoman.Helen’s love of writing and books led her to pursue a Bachelor of Creative Writing, majoring at the University of Wollongong and a Masters of Publishing at the University of Sydney. Now a full-time author, Helen lives amidst the mountains in New Zealand and is constantly dreaming up new stories. 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

This week, in answer to a listener question, we talk about how we manage the process of writing a book. How many do we write at one time? Do we work on multiple projects at different stages, or just write and edit one book at a time? What do we do to ensure we stay on track and don’t procrastinate?  Listen to this week’s podcast and find out! 

Ignite your career with collaboration. Bestselling Author Asa Maria Bradley suggests collaboration as a way to get creative again. Asa grew up in Sweden surrounded by archaeology and Norse mythology, and uses her background to inspire her sexy and paranormal romance series. She also writes urban fantasy about empowered heroines who kick ass while saving the world. Her work has received a double nomination for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest, a Reviewers Choice Award nomination, a Holt Medallion win, and Bookseller’s Best Award win. The last couple of years were rough on Asa’s creativity, and almost by chance she joined a bunch of collaboration projects. With different strategies and aims, working with other writers gave her the creative spark needed to enjoy writing again. Besides providing accountability, the projects validated and inspired her work. Today she shares the challenges and rewards that she experienced from writing for and promoting several collaborations. Show Notes: The projects she worked on did extremely well. The 1001 Dark Nights Short Story Challenge 2020 Anthology which became an instant Amazon #1 bestseller in several categories in several countries and rose to #15 on the overall US Kindle list and #42 in the overall Apple store in the US. Also, the multi-author (20+) Grifter’s Song series, where she entered a novella out of her comfort zone and genre. Asa organised a holiday-themed multi-author (8) wolf shifter novella collection, Shifters and Mistletoe in 2021 which instantly became Amazon, B&N, and Apple bestsellers on release day.  The multi-author (20+) paranormal romance and urban fantasy novella collection, Midnight Magic releases in May this year intent on making the USA Today bestsellers list. You’ll find Asa at https://www.asamariabradley.com https://www.facebook.com/AsaMariaBradley.Author/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Ten Mistakes Authors Make With Their Editing & How To Fix Them Today we’re thrilled to welcome editor extraordinaire, Mary-Theresa Hussey, to the SPA. Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, Mary-Theresa (known as Matrice) worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued triple that. Many of the books she has edited went on to find places on both the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists. Matrice shares the top ten mistakes she sees authors making and how to fix them! This is an incredible episode, packed with great info for writers at all stages of their careers. Bonus – it’s a long and juicy episode filled with amazing expert advice to help you polish your writing. Guest Bio: Mary-Theresa Hussey—also known as Matrice—knew from the start she loved the stories found in books—and that she didn’t want to be a writer. So she became an editor, putting  her love of books to good use by helping authors write better stories. Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, she worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued triple that. Many of the books she has edited went on to find places on both the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists. Matrice is an award-winning editor, including the RWA Vivian Stephens Industry Professional award in 2015, the OCC Helping Hands Industry Award, Editor of the Year Award from the NYC RWA and multiple RITA and National Readers Choice Award nominees and winners among others). She loves a good story and wants to make sure it’s well told. Find her at http://www.goodstorieswelltold.com/ Resources mentioned: Tiktok – follow @iamthatenglishteacher for grammar and punctuation tips KM Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel (https://www.amazon.com/K-M-Weiland/e/B002RCXQ00/) Enneagram : https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions Myers Briggs: https://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-personality-test-new Purdue Writing resources: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/index.html

Today’s podcast comes from a listener question. Thanks to Rachel, who asks “- I’ve been wondering about all the visual stuff that ISN’T a cover. For instance, how do you get nice, branded, coordinated headers for your website, your emails, your Facebook profile? Is that something an illustrator does, or a cover designer, or someone else? And logos? For instance for a series? Or I’ve noticed some writers have logos for themselves. How do you prefer to use them if you have one? Is a logo something an illustrator does? We answer (hopefully!) all of the above questions and give tips and pointers about what we think is fine to DIY and what you should outsource, where to start and how not to get overwhelmed by all this! Resource links: canva.combookbrush.comcoolors.co (for color palettes)covervault.comcreativelive.compracticaltypography.com 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Hit the ground running with this episode all about how to successfully finish the first draft of your novel!  We talk about how we stay motivated, what you need to know before you can start, how we keep going when we get to the saggy middle, what we plan beforehand, and what we leave to figure out as we go. If you’ve been struggling to get started on your first draft, or you’re wallowing somewhere in the middle, this is the episode for you! 

Do you want to be a full-time author? Today we discuss how we transitioned to writing full time, including: how we approached the financial and business planning balancing the creative and business sides of the job mindset tips and corrections along the way our expectations versus reality courage and resourcefulness Show Notes: There are as many reasons to quit your day job, as there are to keep it. From being over your job, to making more than you ever could at it, or being able to do what you love (which are our reasons) and then there are your reasons. For most of us the decision could hinge on finances, but you’ll also have to understand how to treat this career as a business. A willingness to learn all aspects of the business is perhaps the biggest criteria after finance and it might take some time to get your head around everything so factoring that in will also impact the timing. Working from home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and many people will understand y=this than previously, but friends and family will need  to appreciate that you aren’t available at a moment’s notice. Make a plan, understand your process, know how much you need to earn and adopt the right mindset to ensure you’ll be ahead of the game.  Listen at www.spagirlspodcast.com and if you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

Struggling to write compelling characters and compelling but realistic conflict in your stories? Well, have we got a show for you! Darian Smith is a prize winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories. We cover plot development AND character development and you’ll come away (hopefully!) with some awesome tips to improve your story telling and create compelling characters that your readers will love – or love to hate! Along with his fiction, Darian has written The Psychology Workbook for Writers: Tools for Creating Realistic Characters and Conflict in Fiction https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143K2MNU/ You can find him at http://www.darian-smith.com/ About Darian Smith I’m a writer and reader of fiction and live in Auckland, New Zealand. While I have dabbled in non-fiction, my true love is crafting exciting stories that interest and move me – and hopefully my readers! I mainly write fantasy. I’m a member of SpecFicNZ, an organisation for writers of speculative fiction here in New Zealand, and also of RWNZ.  I’ve won the Koru award and the Sir Julius Vogel award.  My literary agent is Word|Link. In my day job, I’m a Fieldworker for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I’m also a counsellor/family therapist. I live with my beautiful partner, who is also a writer, and two naughty black cats named Apollo and Athena.  The cats don’t write. 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. Your support allows us to create the weekly show for self-publishers, as well as for us to take time away from our own writing to produce it. Thank you so much! If you’d like to join our supporters community, click here to be a patron of SPA Girls. All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

In the Spa this week we talk to Audiobook Narrator Naomi Barton. With more people listening to audiobooks now, there has never been a better time to learn about this side of our industry. Naomi has produced audio books for many authors including our very own Cheryl, under CA Phipps, her cozy mystery pen name. We talk about processes, cost, and the industry. You won’t want to miss this one! https://www.naomibartonvoice.com/ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: www.spagirlspodcast.com Make sure you’re signed up to our weekly self-publishing tips newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bGkz8L Come say hi on Facebook and Twitter @spagirlspodcast   If you would like to support us in continuing to produce informative and exciting content via the podcast come and join us there! Patreon

This week we talk to long-time PR coach and publicist Lilian Sue about how authors can successfully use PR to help with their author business. Her aim is to help authors fulfill their potential and become global industry leaders by focusing on how to build a healthy PR mindset above any strategy. We talk about authors can develop strong and healthy PR mindsets (by busting down fear and imposter syndrome) and how to use the right tools, knowledge, and resources to fulfill their goals. It’s another awesome episode!  Where to find Lilian Sue: Copywriter, Social Media Strategist, Publicistwww.inretrospectwritingservices.comhttps://in-retrospect-marketing-academy.thinkific.com/Twitter:@LSue23Instagram: liliansuecopywriterpr 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Your support allows us to create the weekly show for self-publishers, as well as for us to take time away from our own writing to produce it. Thank you so much! If you’d like to join our supporters community, click here to be a patron of SPA Girls. All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Today we welcome back for a record 3rd time, Zoe York, to talk about Romancing Your Goals. Zoe is a thirteen-time USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance, often with military heroes, and always with scorching heat between the pages. Between her two pen names (she also writes erotic romance as USA Today bestselling author Ainsley Booth), she has published more than seventy books since her debut in 2013 with What Once Was Perfect.  Like so many authors it was hard to read and write during 2020 which was the last time Zoe was with us. Yet, her latest book Romance Your Goals was written during the pandemic and highlights how to treat your business. It’s full of wonderful tips to build a marketable genre fiction series.  At the end and beginning of our business plans emotions come in strong. They must be honest to get what we want. Deceiving ourselves or being dishonest is when we don’t achieve. Show Notes: We need Goals to move forward.  Find a way to build a tool for yourself to help make the decision whether you make safe choices or step out of your comfort zone from time to time. Do you get a tingly feeling or is it the smart choice you must make right now? What is urgent and what is important and what is the difference? Zoe recommends a five-year goal then to break it down. In five years, what do you want to have written? Where does your book sit? Is it a standalone or part of a series? Where would it fit in a series. Product gets discovered via platform so what do you need to have on your platform to showcase your book. Focus on the thing you’re good at. Make yourself a vision board to show your goals and access your emotion which is what will drive you. If you don’t have it written down, it’s easy to lose sight of the goal. Chunk it down into bricks or boulders to make a ‘wall’ such as: Newsletters Pre orders Prequels Simultaneous audio release The next book You won’t get what you desire from the start and it may take some time so value the incremental success. Progressive cumulative results by trying, changing up and repeating make a difference long term. Do a deep dive into your metrics and track your numbers to see if what you’re doing is working. Adjust things to see what might make a difference.  Two things that made a big difference for Zoe: Introducing 3 lost leaders in 1 year which lifted her sales. Became serious about her Newsletter. Seriously, there is so much more so come listen! You can find Zoe at https://www.zoeyork.com And her book Romance Your Goals https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Your-Goals-Publishing-Book-ebook/dp/B0948F1HKS/ Eisenhower matrix https://miro.com/aq/ps/templates/eisenhower-matrix/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Your support allows us to create the weekly show for self-publishers, as well as for us to take time away from our own writing to produce it. Thank you so much!  If you’d like to join our supporters community, click here to be a patron of SPA Girls. All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

We’re thrilled to welcome fellow Kiwi author, Deb Potter, to the SPA today to give us the breakdown on how to create, optimize and manage Amazon ads.  Many of us have tried different methods to get AMS Ads to work: from creating hundred of ad variations to wrangling spreadsheets with thousands of keywords to try. And then there’s the whole bid price – how do we know what to bid? Can we trust auto ads?  As a statistician by trade, and also a self-published author, Deb is fantastic at clearing the confusion and giving you clear guidance on how to get your Amazon ads humming. CLICK HERE to download Deb’s handout for SPA Girls Podcast listeners! About Deb: Deb Potter is an Amazon ads enthusiast. Deb wrote Amazon Ads for Authors to give new authors easy steps into advertising and more experienced authrs advanced tools and tips that other courses  don’t cover. She updates Amazon Ads for Authors regularly – most recently January 2022. She says that keeps her on her toes Deb is a statistician by trade, she jokes she’s the most widely read author in New Zealand because she wrote a number of questions that come out every five years in the national Census. In her work with big data sets she’s written the specifications for algorithms many times – and that’s helped her think about how Amazon works. Deb comes from a theatrical family and started off writing plays. She started off publising interactive fiction on Amazon, after seeing that a Kindle meant stories could make good use of hyperlinks. Her You Say Which Way brand attracted more writers and before she knew it she was a publisher. Her advertising insights come from marketing multiple genres herself, and then coaching authors in many more genres.  She admins the Facebook page: Authors Optimizing Amazon and Facebook Ads with four other experts. Deb is based in New Zealand and has a background in data and analytics, and public policy.  She has a Masters in Creative Writing, a BA in Education and Social Policy and Certificates in Children’s Literature and Journalism.  She has a quarter acre with four chickens AND a vege garden and keeping them both alive might be the topic for her next non-fiction book. Resources mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Ads-Authors-Strategies-Books-ebook/dp/B07TVXQBMY/ Authors Optimizing Amazon and Facebook Ads – Support Group 20BooksTo50K® 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. Your support allows us to create the weekly show for self-publishers, as well as for us to take time away from our own writing to produce it. Thank you so much!  If you’d like to join our supporters community, click here to be a patron of SPA Girls. All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year. She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She’s travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor. Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel Jay’s Website Jay’s Narrator ❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! ➡️ Support us on patreon Patreon/SPAGirlsPodcast ➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes 🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” 📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet! You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes ✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls ✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

This week we talk to fantasy author AK Mulford about how she got started on TikTok! We cover TikTok for authors in depth: how to start, who to follow, how to get your follower count up, best length of videos, what to post, how to create the videos, hashtags, sounds, dealing with comments, batching, duets, stitching, etiquette plus differences from other social media platforms. And most importantly: does it sell books? If you’ve ever considered jumping on TikTok, this is the episode for you! Some suggested authors to check out on TikTok: AK Mulford, Anne Malcom, Amo Jones, Jami Albright, Katee Robert, Caroline Peckham, Wendy Vella, Trudi Jaye, Miss Excel. Sign up for our free weekly self-publishers newsletter full of SPA Girls tips, resources and author info Learn self-publishing free with the SPA Girls on YouTube

Feeling a bit blah about your writing? Struggling with getting good words down and your word count UP? Today we’re taking inspiration from Marie Kondo, and we’re sparking back the joy in our writing lives! Our SPA Girls tried-and-true steps are: 1. Re-commit to your Why 2. Re-evaluate your ideal writing life / writing day 3. Let gooooooooo 4. Start with Simple 5. Be Like Marie and ask Does It Spark Joy? As always, a brutally honest and real-time discussion how we’re all struggling a bit for different reasons. Wendy’s tired, but she can still invent words – see “unbogging” as an example! All Episodes and Resource Links at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com Sign up for our free weekly self-publishers newsletter full of SPA Girls tips, resources and author info Learn self-publishing free with the SPA Girls on YouTube

How do you get a cover that finds readers and converts to sales? Today we’re unpacking exactly how you can do that. What your cover needs to do What SHOULDN’T be on your cover What cover images risk getting your cover banned from advertising The Anatomy Of A Cover Why are fonts so important? How to find a good designer What to expect to pay for a good cover SPA Girls Podcasts mentioned: Nat Connors and Kindletrends – EP281 Rebecca Haskell – Cover Design – EP224 Chris Fox – Symbolism on Covers – EP206

Today we’re delighted to welcome Ella Barnard to the SPA. Ella is an author, a podcast host on Author Like A Boss podcast, and an author coach. She’s here today to talk about how she found success publishing short romances as Liz Fox, going from zero to $3k per month in just three months. You can find her at: http://authorlikeaboss.com/ Going from zero to $3k per month in just a few months is a dream for many of us and today’s guest achieved just that. Ella Barnard is here to talk how she did it, how she meets reader expectations, and most importantly, how we can still enjoy the process! All Episodes and Resource Links at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com Sign up for our free weekly self-publishers newsletter full of SPA Girls tips, resources and author info Learn self-publishing free with the SPA Girls on YouTube

Confused about preorders? Wondering if you should start using them? Wondering if you should stop using them? This is the episode for you! We talk about what preorders are and how they work, how we use them successfully, and when we think you shouldn’t use preorders. Show notes: Why Dave Chesson doesn’t recommend preorders. Jane Friedman Blog post by Penny Sansevieri on preorders SpaGirlsPodcast.com Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/join/ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

Today we share our SPA Girls patented 😉 foolproof steps to create an awesome fictional setting for your book or series. Working through these steps will help solidify that setting in your mind, give your characters a realistic and compelling “stage” and help you build a complete world (whether contemporary, historical or futuristic) that resonates with readers. Location – where on the map is your setting located? What’s the geography, flora and fauna of the setting? Time – what time is it in your setting (present day, Regency etc), what are the seasons like, what is the climate? Connection to the outside world – what main centres are nearby your fictional setting? How do your characters travel (is there a local airport? / roads / highways) outside of your setting. Do outsiders travel to or through your setting, how and why? Population – what is the demographic and psychographic makeup of your setting, what languages are spoken? Characters – what side characters (that may well reappear in a series of books) occur in your setting, how do they interact with your main characters? Are they human or animal? Governance and Law Enforcement – how is your fictional town/city/country/world “run” ? Who enforces the rules? History – what events shaped your setting? Natural disasters? Feuds? When was it founded and by whom? 8.Customs and Culture – what unique customs and events occur in your setting? what’s the culture / vibe / mood of the setting? Further resources: How to Build Atmosphere: https://www.ignitedinkwriting.com/ignite-your-ink-blog-for-writers/how-to-build-atmosphere-in-creative-writing/2019 Create a Fictional Culture: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/creating-a-fictional-culture#how-to-create-a-fictional-culture

What’s the real reason you’re a writer? We’ve talked about finding your why before on the podcast, and today we’re delving deeper. Inspired by Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why, and Find Your Why, Trudi has us “on the couch” again, which Wendy, in particular, absolutely loves (not)! Sinek’s book is based on the idea that we’re a sum total of the experiences we’ve had growing up, the lessons we’ve learned and the teachers we’ve had and the things we’ve done. The process is all about looking for stories from your childhood that resonate with you, or seem important (good or bad) and then looking for themes in your stories, and then using those themes to come up with a why that resonates with you and helps you understand exactly why you’re a writer (or whatever you are). This process is great for us as writers for two reasons – 1.            It’s about mining our past for stories, and I kind of think that’s something we do automatically when we’re writing anyway. 2.            And 2. Once you’ve figured out your why, you can then use it to filter through all your decisions about your business. It takes away some of the indecision, because once you know and understand what’s driving you, you can use it to make decisions faster, and to keep you on track when you waver. Knowing why you’re in business, or why you chose writing as a career is a powerful way to keep you motivated and stay on track. Why statement is written like this: To ___________ so that ___________. First part is your contribution, and the second part is the impact your contribution has. Simon Sinek’s why: To inspire people to do the things that inspire them, so that, together, we can change our world. We uncover our Whys – have you analysed yours? Further resources: We interview LISA CRON Start with Why by Simon Sinekhttps://www.amazon.com/Start-Why-Leaders-Inspire-Everyone/dp/1591846447 Find Your Why by Simon Sinek https://www.amazon.com/Find-Your-Why-Practical-Discovering/dp/0143111728/ Simon Sinek Ted Talk: TEDxMaastricht – Simon Sinek – “First why and then trust” 💗 Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! * Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes * Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” * Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors on our website * Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @SPAGirlsPodcast * Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

We’re delighted to welcome back the lovely Tara Cremin, Director of Kobo Writing Life. In this episode Tara brings us up to speed on Kobo’s new audiobook platform, other updates from Kobo including Kobo Plus, and top tips for marketing your books and audio. Enjoy! About Tara Cremin: Tara has an MA in American Literature and Film from University College Cork, Ireland and has worked for KWL since inception. Responsible for the overall author experience on Kobo Writing Life, from optimizing current features to looking for new avenues of growth, Tara’s aim is to make KWL the greatest and most user-friendly self-publishing platform available. Find out more at: https://kobowritinglife.com/ Kobo Writing Life podcast: https://kobowritinglife.com/category/kwl-podcast/

Happy New Year people! It’s a crazy time of year, and this episode is all about why you need to take time out, recharge your batteries and come back in the new year ten times more productive and energised!!! 

Despite 2021’s best efforts we’ve managed to do some great work this year and had some good times. From launching as planned when health or life got in the way, to self-improvement on many levels, we’ve hit the markers. Maybe not on time or in an effortless ballet-like movement, but we’re taking the wins and so should you! Listen in for: Our favourite moments of the year. Apologies as Wendy tells us dad jokes! Christmas recipes we love! Show Notes: Cheryl’s proudest moment: Launched 3 books after health issues put a spanner in the works several times. Favourite moments: Being able to see and hold grandchildren and children. Wendy’s proudest moment: Topped her pre-orders with a 1600 total on 1 book as well as a number 1 in her category and 3 best seller tags! Favourite moment: Retiring her husband and employing her daughter and daughter-in-law as well as moving to the beach. Trudi’s proudest moment: Doing some in depth analysis of her work with an expert and implementing changes to make it better. Favourite moment: Learning to declutter. Shar’s proudest moment: Changed from a Laptop to a large screen – no working in front of TV. Life-changer! Favourite moment: Conference. Being together at last! SPAGirls’ favourite moment: We spent 8 hours together on a train trip to conference where we ran a workshop, plus Wendy and Cheryl hosted a panel. Being with friends and other fellow writers was a tonic that needs to be bottled! Listen in for: ❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! ➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes 🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” 📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet! You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes ✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls ✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast SPA Girls Podcast – www.spagirlspodcast.com

Uncommon Advice for Authors We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom for fiction writers – but is it actually appropriate for self-publishing today?  We break down five pieces of uncommon advice that have stood us in good stead and why we think they’ll work for you too: Don’t Write What You Know In Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like An Artist, he notes the advice to “write what you know” leads to terrible stories in which nothing happens. And we agree! The best advice is to write the kind of story you like best – write the story you want to read Don’t Throw Any Of Yourself Away If you have more than one passion, don’t feel like you have to pick and choose between them. Don’t worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work, Kleon says. What unifies your work is the fact that you made it and one day you’ll appreciate that it all makes sense. Social Media doesn’t have to rule your life You don’t have to write every day Creativity Is Subtraction “ In this age of information abundance and overload, those who get ahead will be the folks who figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s really important to them. Nothing is more paralyzing than the idea of limitless possibilities …”  Austin Kleon, Steal Like An Artist The decisions you have to make as a selfpublisher can be overwhelming at times, we get it! To round out this episode we discuss how we filter them out and come out at the most important place – where we have fun, write great books and have a satisfying writing career.

In the SPA today, we talk about the evolution of our writing process. We delve into the changes that have taken place in our writing journeys over the last few years. Wendy discusses her collaboration with her son, and how merging two styles makes life interesting! Are you someone who has storyboards? Do you write linear, or do you start at chapter one and then skip to chapter five? Some authors need to see the cover of their book before they write it, others, pictures of the main characters. Everyone is different and trying to fit into a mould that doesn’t suit you can often stifle creativity. The point is, there is no right or wrong way to do things! This is your journey. Podcasts: https://www.patriciamclinn.com/blogpodcast/ https://www.thecreativepenn.com/podcasts/ ❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! ➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes 🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” 📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet! You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes ✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls ✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

If you’re considering changing genres, starting a new series, trying new tropes, or are even just so confused about this writing malarky that you’re not even sure you’ll write anything next… this is the episode for you. It’s a difficult decision to move to a new genre, or to move on from a series that’s not doing as well as you’d like, or even from a series that you love, but just can’t write any more, but it’s a decision we’ve all made here in the SPA. We talk about what we do when trying to decide what to write next, how we’ve made the decisions to switch something up or change course, and how you can successfully do the same thing. We talk about what it took to make the decision, the things we took into account, and why we decided to make the changes. If you’re at the point where you’re asking yourself that dreaded writer question – What Do I Write Next? – then we hope this episode will help give you the answers you need. Links mentioned: Fallyn Briggs – Writing to Market vs Writing To Trendhttp://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep297-fallyn-briggs-writing-to-trend-v-writing-to-market/ Patricia McLinn – http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep189-pantsing-with-patricia-mclinn/ Access your inner wisdom – interview with psychotherapist, Linda Pucci : http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep314-interview-with-linda-pucci/

It’s no secret that we use Written Word Media for ads and while we don’t have affiliate links, we can’t think of a reason not to try Freebooksy and Bargainbooksy. But what would you say to them running Facebook ads for you? Today in the SPA we have Clayton Noblit, Senior Marketing Manager, along with Grant Shepherd, Ad Fulfilment Manager at Written Word Media, and they’re here to talk to us about Reader Reach. Reader Reach is a data-driven all-in-one ad solution that allows authors to reach thousands of readers on Facebook as efficiently as possible. Learning how to build ad images, audience research, or writing ad copy, the setting up and running ads can be time-consuming, costly, and stressful. Reader Reach does all the heavy lifting for you. The Reader Reach team handles everything, from ad creative and copy to audience targeting and bidding. Their goal is to help you find the right audience for your book, and let you focus on what matters most: writing your next book! Show Notes: How does it work? Reader Reach Ads are easy to book. Simply go through the checkout process, enter your book information, plus your desired run dates, and the team handles everything else. Schedule your ad campaign in 5 minutes. The Reader Reach Ads team designs the ad images, writes the copy, set budgets, picks the best audiences, and schedules your ads. Your Reader Reach Ads run for 5 days. During your campaign, the Reader Reach Ads team monitors your ads and optimizes the campaign to get the best results possible. The cost is currently $150 for 1 book. Usually they will do 2 ad sets, monitor them and move funds around if 1 ad is doing better than the others. If the ad does well you can repeat the process by having them copy it. All ads are done through Written Word Media Facebook pages. There is no price restriction for books, but$4.99 or less show the best results. You can find Reader Reach here: https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/reader-reach 💗 Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! * Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes * Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” * Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors on our website * Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @SPAGirlsPodcast * Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt Today we’re inspired by this quote from Franklin Roosevelt’s triumphant 1910 speech, dubbed “the man in the arena”. In particular, it’s use in Brene Brown’s work (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-JXOnFOXQk) on facing your critics and dealing with self doubt. Courage Over Comfort How can we, as authors and self-publishers, deal with the internal (and external!) voices of criticism, meet our expectations and forge ahead with our publishing plans when we don’t feel at all confident we’re on the right path? How do you know when it’s time to move on from your book or books you loved writing, but no one else seems interested in buying? We hope you find this relatable – and uplifting!  Resources mentioned: Brene Brown: https://brenebrown.com/ Sunk Cost Fallacy further reading: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/the-sunk-cost-fallacy/ 💗 Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls! * Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes * Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast” * Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors on our website * Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @SPAGirlsPodcast * Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

Evan Gow is the indie developer of StoryOrigin, a marketing tool and community of authors that work together to find reviewers, build mailing lists, increase sales, and stay on top of deadlines Evan studied the strategies that authors use to build their mailing lists, find reviewers, increase sales, or manage deadlines for nearly 4 years, while building features to make using all of those strategies easier. Cross-promotionGroup Promos (multiple authors promoting a landing page where you all list your books)Newsletter Swaps (another author will promote your book directly in their newsletter – and vice verse – you promote theirs in your newsletter)GoalsFinding reviewers (vetting reviewers, follow-up, pre- / post-publication, …)Increasing sales (universal book links, newsletter swaps, …)Building your mailing list (reader magnets, group promos, …)Managing deadlines (word count tracking, newsletter planning, …) Recently added – finding beta readers and collecting feedback. https://storyoriginapp.com/ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: www.spagirlspodcast.com Make sure you’re signed up to our weekly self-publishing tips newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bGkz8L Come say hi on Facebook and Twitter @spagirlspodcast