Podcast Interviews

Weekly interviews with authors, self publishers and others...

SPRT #138 – Reviving a book series after ten years with Libby Hellmann

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Some of us take awhile to write the next book in the series but for crime novelist Libby Hellmann it was ten year between book four and five in her Ellie Foreman Mystery series. It’s not as simple as just writing the next book in the series, there are lots of things Libby needed to consider from if she should to how to bring Ellie to present day.

Libby joined us this week to talk about both the benefits and the challenges of reviving a series after a ten year hiatus and what impact would that time have on the character.

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SPRT #137 – Pulp Speed: How to write it, maintain it and achieve warp 10 with Jim Johnson and Ivy Sinclair

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Pulp Speed isn’t a new concept but the name might well be. It was coined by Dean Wesley Smith and essentially means: sitting down and writing lots of words and stories. Also known as putting your arse in the chair and writing. Dean went a little bit further with his definition and created pulp speeds — similar to Star Trek’s warp speeds — so people can say they’re at pulp speed one or whatever.

This is a popular yet controversial topic but considering all of the hype around 21 day / monthly challenges (Chris Fox, etc) that are currently circulating we thought we should dedicate a podcast episode to it. So we invited two authors Jim Johnson who runs a Google+ Group called Pulp Speeders and is currently completing a 3 Novels in 3 Months Challenge; and Ivy Sinclair who wrote: How I wrote 28,000 words in two days. Two authors who are definitely writing at pulp speeds and we asked them what pulp speed is, how to achieved it and how to get to the next speed…

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SPRT #136 – Downsizing your life to write and travel and providing writer services with Kevin Tumlinson

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Kevin Tumlinson is at a point in his life where he doesn’t need a house. Instead he and his wife are downsizing everything to live the life of gypsies–travelling around in an RV while Kevin writes his books. Not only is Kevin a self-publisher and a podcaster, he’s also the founder of a company that provides author services. Happy Pants Books provides authors with: copywriting and design services, web development, ghostwriting, translation, transcription, and marketing strategy!

This week we asked Kevin what the little voices in his head actually said to get him to pack up his life and move into an RV? As well as the services his company provides to authors and about his fiction writing.

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SPRT #134 – Earn a living with a long term plan + running multi-author cross promos with Patty Jansen

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In a perfect world every author would have at least one best-seller… This week we talked with Patty Jansen, a sci fi and fantasy author who knows this isn’t a perfect world and has planned accordingly. We discussed the three year long-term plan she has put in place in order to earn a decent living off her writing. As well as that we also found out about one of the weapons Patty has in her marketing arsenal–multi-author cross promos–and how to use them.

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SPRT #133 – A successful Kindle Scout campaign and what happens next with Donna White Glaser

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Heard of Kindle Scout? It’s some mystical American Idol-type way of getting your ebook published by Kindle Press. Many people are vying for votes and have been since it was set up earlier last year. One author who braved the Kindle Idol judges and came out the other side with a contract and her book in eprint is Donna White Glaser. She joined us to discuss what exactly Kindle Scout is, what Kindle Press has done for her and her ebook and what she plans to do next.

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SPRT #132 – Report on Romance Author Hawaii Conference Retreat with author Trish McCallan

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Romance author and former SPRT host Trish McCallen returned to the show! Trish reported on the happenings, juicy details and innovations she learned while at the Romance Author Hawaii Conference Retreat held earlier this month. And remember romance authors are usually at the forefront of change in the publishing industry so this was quite interesting! We’ll also learned what Trish has been up to since leaving SPRT and her future plans.

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SPRT #131 – Deciding to Succeed w/ USA Bestselling Author C. Gockel

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This week we were lucky to be joined by speculative fiction author Carolynn Gockel, author of the I Bring The Fire series and The Archangel Project series. When Carolynn decided (that’s right, decided!) to hit the Best Seller’s List, she left nothing to chance, doing the research and applying the techniques needed to reach her goal. We discussed what all went into her plan of cracking the elusive Best Seller List, and all the nitty gritty that went with it.

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SPRT #130 – The Authors of the Podcast-alypse with Hank Garner, Stephen Campbell and Patrick Stemp

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Ever wondered why your favourite podcasters (who also happen to be authors) decided to start a podcast? Want to know how they spend their time and if they regularly rub virtual shoulders with the writing elite? Then watch this special uber-podcast and find out!

This week’s special guests:
– Hank Garner (Author Stories Podcast)
– Stephen Campbell (The Author Biz, CrimeFiction.FM and The Taylor Stevens Show)
– Patrick Stemp (To Be Read Podcast)

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SPRT #129- Abundant Writing with Honoree Corder

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This week we were joined by Honoree Corder. She specializes in changing the mindset of the struggling artist. Her daily practices and routines put writers on the right track to produce on a continuous basis. Her book Prosperity for Writers and the companion Prosperity for Writers Productivity Journal will push you towards abundance for your writing career.

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SPRT #128 – Going full-time and writing to market with Chris Fox

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Fiction and non fiction author Chris Fox returned to talk to us about giving up his six figure evil day job for the unknown as a full-time author. We asked him what plans he has to keep himself from procrastinating his day away (like Erica), how he intends to meet his publishing schedule and releasing 12 books this year!

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SPRT #127 – Penny Dreadfuls & Motley Crue w/ Horror Author J. Thorn

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Hey folks, this week we were lucky to be joined by returning guest to the podcast, horror author J. (James) Thorn. Ee discussed James’ ever changing journey along the winding road that is self-publishing and uncovered everything from his Youtube channel/podcast, Dark Arts Theater, to his collaboration with Joanna Penn on their novel, Risen Gods as well as their nonfiction book for authors titled Co-writing a Book: Collaboration and Co-creation for Authors.

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SPRT #126 – Editing with Jason Whited

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Editor and author Jason Whited joined us to discuss editing for indie author. Former SPRT host David W. Wright also popped in as a special guest co-host and added extra insight into Jason’s process and also asked some interesting questions.

Topics discussed included: what to look for when selecting an editor, differences between editing non fiction and fiction, beta readers, pantsing vs outlining, writer’s block, what trends Jason has spotted in self-publishing.

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SPRT #123 – The very definition of a Virtual Author’s Assistant with Meredith

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“What’s a virtual assistant?” I hear you ask. Well that’s what we’re going to find out this Thursday at the usual time. Join us as we interview Meredith, who is more specifically a virtual author’s assistant. We’ll be asking her to remove the mystery that shrouds these enigmatic service providers—because they provide many services to authors/writers—and how you can find one.

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SPRT #122 – Write Faster, Write Smarter with Chris Fox

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Chris is the author of the below books in the Writer Faster, Write Smarter series, which we’ll be talking about on the show. In addition to this, Chris will tell us how he has approached the marketing ahead of the launch of the latest book–Hero Born–in his Paranormal Science Fiction series, which will be released a few days after this podcast airs.

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SPRT #121 – Indie Editing

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We were supposed to interview Jason Whited but unfortunately due to technical difficulties (really bad audio) we had to abort. Fear not listeners / viewers, we will be rescheduling and Jason will be back in the new year.

We apologise and hope you’ll be appeased by the half hour of helpful indie info on editing.

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