Mark interviews author Todd Fahnestock about his latest book for writers:Falling to Fly: The Book To Read Before Giving Up On Your Writing Dreams.

This episode is sponsored by the Patrons and Coffee Buddies of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

Buy Mark a Coffee

In the interview Mark and Todd talk about:

• Who Todd is and the edge of the seat epic fantasy he writes
• A little bit about Todd's memoir of hiking the Colorado Trail with his 15-year-old son
• The pitch for Summer of the Fetch, one of his one-off books
• Todd's latest book FALLING TO FLY: The Book to Read Before Giving Up on Your Writing Dreams
• How the book includes several completely frank episodes where Todd fell flat on his face and failed, and yet picked himself up one more time
• The idea of failure being the classroom and success being the diploma
• Being bored with a story where there's no challenge, or struggle, or flaws in the main character
• How fantasy books saved Todd's life when he was young and the fact he wanted to do the same thing for someone else
• The "writer dream" interviews that Todd is doing on social media
• The chapter called "The Little Rebel" and what that particular voice does for Todd
• The nightmare that inspired the idea for the title FALLING TO FLY
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on how great a storyteller Todd is, how much he enjoyed Todd's latest book, and the value when someone paints an authentic picture of the actual stark realities of the writing life.

Links of Interest:

• Todd Fahnestock's Website
• EP 340 - Personality, Passion, Presentation, and Persistence with Todd Fahnestock
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• DropCap Marketplace
  • Use coupon STARK20 to get 20% off
• Cruising Writers
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. Threadweavers and The Whisper Prince Trilogy are two of his bestselling epic fantasy series. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world mega-epic fantasy series—three-time winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence, and two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy (2021) and Khyven the Unkillable (2022).

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews Greta Boris and Megan Haskell of The Author Wheel.

Prior to the interview Mark shares a brief personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode’s sponsor.

This episode is sponsored byScribeCount (affiliate link). Spend less time logging in to multiple platforms and crunching numbers, and more time writing and marketing your books thanks to ScribeCount’s handy all-in-one interface.

In the interview Mark, Greta, and Megan talk about:

• How Megan started writing as a creative outlet when she was working for a major accounting firm
• The writing done on the train on the way in to work in Los Angeles and the blogs she had written
• Continuing writing after having her daughter in 2012 and then publishing her first book before her second child was born
• Greta's magazine background (her father was an editor and publisher of some major magazines back in the day)
• The writing she did for a number of magazines over the years and the various genres and topics she took on
• Being inspired by interviewing a bunch of fiction authors, including Joanna Penn
• How Greta got her first publisher doing a Twitter pitch
• Twitter pitches being really good for writing log lines
• Megan and Greta's "meet cute" at the Southern California Writer's Conference in 2014
• Pitching a course to that conference at a later date so they could attend it again without having to pay which got turned into a book (Publish: Take Charge of Your Author Career)
• How they started The Author Wheel courses, podcast, and other resources
• The metaphors for The Author Wheel
• The way they try to break topics down into the smallest bits possible to simplify people
• Why it's helpful to recognize that authors are all at different places and there are so many different paths and choices an author can make
• Their course Trope Stacking and Other Genre Magic which is a companion to a quick-guide Understanding Your Genre
• Greta's pioneering with writing a book she felt was a "Cozy Horror" novel
• Strategies for mixing and layering in genres that are complimentary to one another while creating something unique
• How writing to an outline made Megan feel like her creativity was being stifled
• The way that Megan and Greta collaborate in their writing, the podcast, the social media, and the courses
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of the "Twitter pitch" and the benefit of having to craft writing that has tight restrictions as well as the importance of understanding that there's no one-size-fits-all solution, and that there's no single right way for authors to do things.

Links of Interest:

• The Author Wheel
  • Podcast
  • Courses:
    • 7 Days To Clarity
    • Self Publish or Get an Agent
    • Finish Your Novel Faster
    • Layering Your Story World
    • Trope Stacking and Other Genre Magic
• Megan Haskell's Website
• Greta Boris's Website
• Mark's Interview on The Author Wheel Podcast: Overcoming Self-Doubt and Mastering Book Marketing with Mark Leslie Lefebvre
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• DropCap Marketplace
  • Use coupon STARK20 to get 20% off
• Cruising Writers
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Greta Boris is a USA Today Bestselling mystery and thriller author. Megan Haskell is an award-winning fantasy adventure author. Together, they founded The Author Wheel, publishers of books, courses, and a podcast to help writers overcome roadblocks and keep their stories rolling.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews Roseanne Cheng, an award-winning author, ghostwriter, and book marketer who is passionate about educating authors and publishers about the power and opportunity of having their books elevated to the international market.

They talk about her writing life, her author mentoring life, and about how DropCap Marketplace is a great bridge between indie authors and the licensing foreign language rights through traditional agencies and book scouts.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Learn more about this self-publishing/WIDE-publishing focused cruise.

In their interview Mark and Roseanne talk about:

• Roseanne's background and passion for helping writers
• The first book Roseanne published (The Take Back of Lincoln Junior High) back in 2013 when she was teaching full-time and how it will always have a special place in her heart
• Working with Wise Ink Creative Publishing and the great respect that Roseanne has for the women who run that business
• The various lessons learned with writing and publishing a book and how you can turn the things that you learned (via various mistakes you've made) into positives by helping others on their own journeys
• Taking on the role of Marketing Director at Wise Ink by leveraging her own experiences to help shepherd other writers through the process of releasing a new book
• Working with authors to create their own custom marketing plans based on their goals
• Meeting and connecting with a dear friend, Josie, and teaching one another things they were each good at
• Creating an online school with Josie called Evergreen Authors in about 2019
• How the pandemic ended up helping these courses and various other online teaching and Roseanne's ghostwriting business to really take off
• The genesis of her first book, The Take Back of Lincoln Junior High
• Reading the novel after taking a long break (focusing on the endless work and much sleeplessness of raising small children) and recognizing that it was really good
• How Roseanne's role as a teacher helped prepare her for the work she does in helping authors
• The co-authored book BUZZ: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BOOK MARKETING
• Roseanne's books THE EVERYGREEN AUTHOR: MASTER THE ART OF BOOK MARKETING and PORTABLE MAGIC
• The importance of asking your readers: "Where do you buy books?"
• The WIDE FOR THE WIN message of being in as many places as possibly and opening as many doors as possible and how it really resonated with Roseanne
• Getting involved in the "Rights" side of publishing and the entire distribution network that she had not yet been tapped into
• A story about the first time Roseanne received an email from a foreign publisher who reached out because they were interested in the foreign language rights to her work
• The creation of DropCap Marketplace as a match-making service between indie authors/small publishers and agents and book scouts
• The various other marketing resources available for authors on the DropCap site
• How DropCap marries technology with relationship resources within the industry
• The special coupon code for Stark Reflections listeners. STARK20 - to get 20% off the listing at DropCap marketplace
• And more . . .

After the interview, Mark reflections on Roseanne's passion for helping writers and the importance for indie authors of recognizing where they can DIY and where they might be better off leveraging experts in a particular area of publishing.

Links of Interest:

• Roseanne Cheng's Website
  • Roseanne's Books
• Evergreen Authors Website
• DropCap Marketplace
  • Use coupon STARK20 to get 20% off
• Cruising Writers
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Roseanne Cheng is an award-winning author, ghostwriter, book marketer, and Director of Business Development DropCap Rights Agency. A lifelong reader and writer, she began her work in book publishing as a Marketing Director for an indie publishing house based in Minneapolis and eventually co-founded Evergreen Authors, an online school teaching authors the business of writing and marketing their creative work. In her current role with DropCap, she has the unique pleasure of matching global rights buyers with titles that have the potential to positively impact their communities. She is passionate about educating authors and publishers about the power and opportunity of having their books elevated to the international market.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews author, songwriter, musician, and podcaster Aaron Palmer.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Learn more about this self-publishing/WIDE-publishing focused cruise.

In their interview Mark and Aaron talk about:

• Aaron being tested at an early age and it being determined that he had perfect pitch
• Picking up a guitar for the first time around 6th grade
• The first big concert he saw when he was in 5th grade was Van Halen - and he was convinced he wanted to do that
• A time in life when ambitions outweighed abilities
• How playing the guitar came pretty naturally to Aaron
• Being a pretty avid reader when he was growing up, consuming almost anything he could get his hands on
• The writing of Michael Crichton and the very cinematic way he had of writing prose
• Being in college and having a professor suggest he change his major to English
• Beginning to write short fiction shortly after that
• Aaron's podcast Native Tongues and the theme for the show
• Dealing with ADHD and also regularly multi-tasking
• How Aaron works through writing down log lines and concepts that are streaming through his mind to return to later to flesh out
• Finding out that Dave Grohl does something similar
• The initial concept of the podcast first coming out about five years ago, then beginning to develop the ideas for it in about August of 203 for a January 2024 launch
• Starting off with a concept or idea and then later fleshing out the characters and character development
• The idea of spending more time developing characters once you fully understand the world that they're in
• Reaching to the darker, more speculative or fantastical elements in storytelling out of a relatively mundane, safe, and normal existence
• Not taking himself very seriously as a writer or creative person
• Gravitating toward 12-year-old Bacoo rum
• Loving live music in multiple venues and forms
• How Aaron's podcast is helping to tie multiple creative aspects together
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on capturing the endless flow of ideas that can come to a creative person and the value of putting a creative work out into the world instead of just holding onto it.

Links of Interest:

• Native Tongues Podcast
  • Apple
  • Podbean
  • Spotify
• Native Tongues Instagram
• EP 358 - The Way of the Parable Writer with Donn King
• EP 353 - Tao Wong on the Toronto Indie Author Conference
• EP 349 - Edward Willett of Shadowpaw Press
• Cruising Writers
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Aaron Palmer has been described as this generation's Ernest Hemingway. Not because he can write majestic prose, but because he equally loves to drink lots of rum. Aaron enjoys writing screenplays in the horror and thriller genres in which he has an encyclopedic knowledge of. He hosts the podcast Native Tongues, where he talks to writers and musicians about where they came from and how that influenced their voice. He also plays guitar, is into fitness, travel and loves to read. Oh, and he's got a wife and kids he likes.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews professor, pastor, speaker, and author Donn King about writing, his podcast, and his books THE WAY OF THE THREE-YEAR-OLD WHY and MEDIUM WELL.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Learn more about this self-publishing/WIDE-publishing focused cruise.

In their interview Mark and Donn talk about:

• Donn's gradual evolution into becoming a writer with starting work at a newspaper when he was 14 years old
• An experience in sixth grade discovering science fiction novels in the library and realizing reading could be fun when you weren't being forced to do it
• The first sci-fi novel Donn remembers reading: Robert A. Heinlein's HAVE SPACESUIT WILL TRAVEL
• Donn's first foray into writing short fiction in a 3-ring binder with a pencil
• Learning about his non-fiction writing from Bob Burg, co-author of THE GO-GIVER a bestselling business parable book
• How elements from writing good fiction apply when writing a parable
• Drawing upon autobiographical elements even when fictionalizing a parable
• The difference between Writer's Block and The Well Going Dry
• Donn's podcast, The Alignment Show
• The Great Realignment and pausing to step back and consider what really brings value to you
• Donn's book MEDIUM WELL: The Journey From Believing to Believing In
• The beautifully inquisitive nature of 3-Year-Olds in Donn's THE WAY OF THE THREE-YEAR-OLD WHY
• Principal Five - Without emotion, there is no motion
• The challenges of booking live speaking events when caring for family members who require that additional compassion and care
• The reality that none of us have any certainty - we merely live with the illusion of certainty
• The concept of connection before content
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on a few of the topics that came up in their conversation.

Links of Interest:

• Donn King's Website
• Donn King's Books
• The Confidence Cultivators Podcast
  • Mark's Guest Spot on Episode 54
  • YouTube Video of Episode 54
• EP 357 - 50 Years of Short Stories with Kevin J. Anderson
  • Kevin's Short Story Kickstarter
• EP 356 - The Midlist Indie Author Mindset with T. Thorn Coyle
  • Thorn's Patreon Site
• Writers of the Future - Blog Post Announcing Mark as a Judge
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Donn King is "The Confidence Cultivator," a professor, pastor, speaker, and author who lives in the mountains of East Tennessee. He also hosts "The Alignment Show," a podcast to support listeners in living their values so they can value their life. His book, "The Way of the Three-Year-Old Why," the first in the Sparklight Chronicles, came out in 2023, with "Medium Well," the second in the series, came out in early 2024

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

In this episode, Mark interviews Kevin J. Anderson about his writing and the new approach he is taking to incorporate Kickstarter into the launch strategies for some of his indie-published titles.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Learn more about this self-publishing/WIDE-publishing focused cruise.

In their interview Mark and Kevin talk about:

• How Kickstarter has completely upended (in a good way), Kevin's book release strategies
• Kevin's first novel coming out in 1988 and all the various publishers he has worked with over the years
• The "Perfect Storm" that was brewing in the book industry when indie publishing became a realistic and viable option
• Starting to publish his own books (mostly backlist titles he got the rights back to) in 2009 after founding WordFire Press with his wife Rebecca Moesta
• Kevin's belief that this is the best time to be a writer
• How Kevin does a little bit of everything. He has a New York literary agent, he works with several major publishers, he indie publishes, and he continues to explore new opportunities that digital publishing offer
• The way that Kickstarter didn't just open a new door, it completely blew it down, along with a few walls too
• Dean Wesley Smith's perspective that helped to change Kevin's mind about what Kickstarter was all about
• Kevin's "Adams Family meets The Naked Gun" series of Dan Shamble Zombie PI novels, and the history of how it started off as a series with a major publisher, flopped, then Kevin got the rights back and did something truly stunning with it once he applied Kickstarter
• Kevin's first Dan Shamble Kickstarter which brought in 23 times the intial amount he was asking for, and that it paid him more than 6 times the advance he'd rec'd from a major publisher for the last Dan Shamble book he'd done with them
• The Dragon Business (The Princess Bride meets Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) Kickstarter that brought in 20 times what he'd been asking for
• The Persephone Kickstarter that Kevin did with Writer/Director Jeffrey Morris
• Kevin's latest Kickstarter which is a 7 Volume Set of over 130 of his published short stories published over 50 years
• Writing his first short story when he was 8 years old
• Publishing his very first short story when he was 14
• The personal introductions that he wrote for every one of the stories in this 7 book collection
• The various levels and Kickstarter rewards he is planning for this Kickstarter
• The remarkable fact that, despite having published 180 novels with 58 of them being international bestsellers, no publisher would ever even consider publishing a 7 volume hardcover set of Kevin's complete short stories. That he can do this via Kickstarter is a significant paradigm shift
• How Kickstarter can replace the old "advance" model from traditional publishing
• The special thing Kevin is doing for all the backers of this latest Kickstarter
• The Kickstarter will be going live on April 30th for 3 weeks and 2 days
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on Kevin's use of short, effective and very clear log lines to describe two of his series.

Links of Interest:

• Kevin J. Anderson's Website
  
  • Kevin's Short Story Kickstarter
• EP 130 - Grace Under Pressure with Kevin J. Anderson
  • Mentions of Kevin in other podcast episodes
• EP 356 - The Midlist Indie Author Mindset with T. Thorn Coyle
  • Thorn's Patreon Site
• EP 355 - Scribbling Pen Publishing with Melanie Gilbert and Heather Karn
• Writers of the Future - Blog Post Announcing Mark as a Judge
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Kevin J. Anderson has published more than 180 books, 58 of which have been national or international bestsellers. He has written numerous novels in the Star Wars, X-Files, and Dune universes, as well as the unique Clockwork Angels steampunk trilogy with legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series, the Wake the Dragon and Terra Incognita fantasy trilogies, and humorous Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series and The Dragon Business series.

He has edited numerous anthologies, written comics and games, and the lyrics to two rock CDs. Anderson is the director of the graduate program in Publishing at Western Colorado University, and he and his wife Rebecca Moesta are the publishers or WordFire Press.

He worked on the recent films Dune Part One and Part Two from Legendary Entertainment, as well as the forthcoming Dune TV series from MAX, and other films in development, including Persephone and Karousel.

He has 24 million copies in print in 34 languages. His most recent novels are Bats in the Belfry, Skeleton in the Closet, Persephone, and Princess of Dune (with Brian Herbert).

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews T Thorn Coyle about writing, community, and their new book The Midlist Indie Author Mindset.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Cruising Writers - 7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise - Feb 22 to Mar 1, 2025

Featured Guest Speakers: Erin Wright and Mark Leslie Lefebvre

More details at: Cruising Writers

In the interview, Mark and Thorn talk about:

• Getting into writing when they were 5 years old - and the variety of types of writing they did
• Thorn jokingly torturing fiction and deciding to write non-fiction until a few characters showed up and knocked on their door
• Writing mostly fantasy-tinged fiction
• How most of Thorn's non-fiction guides have been about spiritual practice, but that this latest one is their first non-fiction business of writing book
• Thorn's author tagline: "Magic is real. And justice is worth fighting for."
• The way that Portland is such a fascinating city and how Thorn can find magic anywhere
• An appreciation of Charles de Lint
• Thorn's forthcoming book: The Midlist Author Mindset
• The massive mindset shift that comes from being curious about business the way one is curious about writing
• Value that came with learning what worked for Thorn, as opposed to things that work for other writers
• The numerous streams of income that Thorn has been developing over the years
• Looking at long-term sustainability by thinking of it like cultivating a garden instead of seeking out short-term dramatic spikes
• Some of the roadblocks that Thorn encountered on the way to establishing the Midlist Author Mindset
• Understanding that for Thorn marketing was about connection with readers
• How asking "Does social media sell books?" is the wrong question to ask
• The Kickstarter for the book and related materials and exclusive content that runs April 16, 2024 to May 7, 2024
• A little bit about Thorn's fiction series books
• Thoughts and current approach to audiobooks
• Thorn's final words of advice that they would want to leave with writers
• And more . . .

After the interview, Mark reflects on the concepts of sustainable, long-term, and burn-out as well as the important question of what is practical for you and your life and goals.

Links of Interest:

• T. Thorn Coyle's Website
  
  • Kickstarter for The Midlist Indie Author Mindset
  • Fiction Titles
  • Non-Fiction Titles
• Thorn's Patreon Site
• Writers of the Future - Blog Post Announcing Mark as a Judge
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

T. Thorn Coyle worked in many strange and diverse occupations before settling in to write full time. Buy them a cup of tea and perhaps they’ll tell you about it.

Author of The Witches of Portland, the Seashell Cove Paranormal Cozy Mysteries, the Pride Street Paranormal Cozy Mysteries, The Steel Clan Saga, and The Panther Chronicles, Thorn’s multiple non-fiction books include Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Crafting a Daily Practice, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn's work also appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.

An interloper to the Pacific Northwest U.S., they pay proper tribute to all the neighborhood cats, and talk to crows, squirrels, and trees.

You can find them at thorncoyle.com.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews Melanie Gilbert and Heather Karn about their work writing and publishing together under the Scribbling Pen Publishing brand.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments from recent episodes, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

Cruising Writers - 7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise - Feb 22 to Mar 1, 2025

Featured Guest Speakers: Erin Wright and Mark Leslie Lefebvre

More details at: Cruising Writers

In the interview, Mark, Melanie, and Heather talk about:

• How Heather got started in writing before Melanie, who started a year later
• Writing independently for a while before they got into mutual support and collaboration
• The two books they've published by doing round-robin style writing a couple of paragraphs at a time
• The plotting VS pantsing struggle that they would sometimes find themselves in
• The thrill of writing a book without knowing who the bad guy was the entire time until the idea of who it was struck both of them at the same time
• The process they use when writing, editing, and re-writing
• How the two of them think of the reader experience when the writer (as related to the Disney Customer Experience training)
• Leveraging the cats that they made to draw people in which is a great ice-breaker getting them to the books
• Thinking about the "writing companions" for the books
• Leveraging crafted book bags in the same way to generate interest - ie "Where did you get that cool book bag?"
• Determing what scented candle or wax melt varieties would go well with the different books
• Something special they did to celebrate the "12 Days of Christmas" that they could provide to all of their fans - cover reveals, sample chapters, recipes, music, other books, etc
• The benefit of personal touches in the newsletter including the fun that started with Griffin the furry manager
• How their cats and dogs are the ones explaining what's going on in their writer newsletters and their website store
• How their main goal isn't to sell books but to ensure that the people who visit their table are having a good time
• And more . . .

After the interview, Mark reflects on the way the sisters leverage conversational items to draw people to their in person table, their focus on creating a genuinely memorable and entertaining experience (rather than focusing on selling books), and providing intriguing entertainment in their newsletter leveraging their pets' perspectives.

Links of Interest:

• Scribbling Pen Publishing
  • Scribbling Pen Publishing - Instagram
• Cruising Writers Feb/Mar 2025 Cruise - Focus on Self Publishing
• The Uncollected Anthology Website
  • Uncollected Anthology Live Author Chat (April 10, 2024 - YouTube)
  • There Ain't No Cure For The Winter Wolf Blues
• 2024 The Write Stuff StoryBundle (Limited Time Offer)
• WMG Anthology Workshop August 2024
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Melanie Gilbert and Heather Karn in their own words:

We grew up in the lovely state of Michigan. We lived in a small town in the country, one of those towns where everyone knows everyone. When we graduated from high school, we went to the same college along with our triplet sister. Our younger sister joined us a couple years later. We’re all really close and that has influenced how we write characters who are siblings.

Somehow, we both ended up in Wisconsin a few miles from each other (and even our triplet sister). We now live together and it’s a blast! Wisconsin isn’t too different from where we grew up, so it hasn’t been a big change to live here instead of in Michigan. The only down side to being here is the large lake between us and our family (and Melanie’s in-laws). Going around the lake makes traveling longer, but at least we’re not states away from family. Family is really important to us.

Scribbling Pen Publishing was originally Melanie’s idea. Like Melanie’s other idea about writing a co-written book, it took Heather some time to warm up to the idea. Heather is more of a “think it over” personality while Melanie is a “sounds good, let’s do it” personality. Together, we balance each other out.

Working together has been amazing. We each have strengths where the other has a weakness. Together we accomplish more than we did apart. Our brands are so similar, it only made sense to combine the work to share our love of books with the world.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews Lydia and David Sherrer about their company Chenoweth Press and the books and games they produce and publish collaboratively.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the awesome supporters of this podcast who provide their supprt via Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee.

With special thanks to Nikki Guerlain for the recent huge BUY ME A COFFEE donation.

In the interview, Mark talks to Lydia and David about:

• How Lydia's role as a writing is part of a biological imperitive
• Growing up reading everything in sight and also being into Lord of the Rings by the time she was five years old
• Always telling herself stories and writing some of them down over the years
• Finding out that what she studied in college wasn't a good career fit and then following her father's example of being an entrepreneur
• Publishing her first two books around 2012/2013
• Lydia and David setting a ten-year plan that by then David would be able to quit his full-time job
• David enjoying playing Magic The Gathering card game when he was young
• Getting invited to a gaming store that was in his town and becoming enamored with it
• Opening up his own gaming store when he graduated from highschool
• The technical engineering background that David had and how he applied those skills to ads and marketing
• Getting frustrated with his job at about the time that Lydia was starting to earn good money from her writing
• Deciding that he wanted to turn his gaming hobby into a career by starting with a spreadsheet
• How playing cards are one of the easiest and most flexible mediums to make a game in
• The game Cat Magic taking roughly twenty minutes of calculations and figuring to get the first draft of the game started
• The catch-phrase for Love, Lies, and Magic
• Book 8 in that series releasing March 1, 2024
• How Cat Magic the novel was the best of Lydia's books that had an existing audience for creating the first game of David's game design career
• David's role in being an alpha reader and providing Lydia with early feedback on her writing
• The Kickstarter campaign they ran to get the Cat Magic game off the ground
• The important Give 90% of the time, ask 10% of the time rule with communities you are engaged in
• The years of behind the scenes hard work and constantly giving and sharing with the community that built up the success seen in recent Kickstarters
• 80% of their sales coming from direct sales versus sales from retailers
• Storing 15,000 copies of Lydia's books in their basement
• Hiring a college student to help with some of the menial tasks like packaging up books for direct sale orders
• The various logistics of their shipping operation
• Hiring a nanny to keep their kids close and at home, but allowing them the freedom to get their work done during the day
• Their five-year-old discovering capitalism, entrepreneurship, and wanting to become a part of their business
• Advice that David and Lydia would offer to other couples interested in running a business like this
• And more . . .

After the interview, Mark reflects on the concept of building the kind of life that you want as well as the community-giving focus as an authentic way to connect and offer something of value.

Links of Interest:

• Lydia Sherrer's Website
• Chenoweth Press
• Lydia Sherrer's Store
• EP 312 - The Dialogue Doctor Will See You Now
• EP 266 - "Let's Talk Dialogue with Jeff Elkins," He Said Reflectively
• EP 157 - A Conversation with Jeff Elkins The Dialogue Doctor
• The Uncollected Anthology Website
  • Uncollected Anthology Live Author Chat (April 10, 2024 - YouTube)
  • There Ain't No Cure For The Winter Wolf Blues
• 2024 The Write Stuff StoryBundle (Limited Time Offer)
• WMG Anthology Workshop August 2024
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Lydia Sherrer is an award-winning and USA Today-bestselling author of snark-filled adventures creating stories you love to love, and hate to leave. She is the author of the bestselling urban fantasy Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus universe of books featuring several series, which have sold over half a million copies world-wide. Most recently she has released the TransDimensional Hunter series with NYT bestselling author John Ringo.
Lydia subsists on liberal amounts of dark chocolate and tea, and hates sleep because it keeps her from writing (though she needs it because she has kids to wrangle). Due to the tireless efforts of her game-designer husband and her fuzzy overlords—i.e. cats—she remains sane and even occasionally remembers to leave the house.

David Sherrer is a born storyteller and has been an obsessive gamer ever since he was seduced by Magic the Gathering at the tender age of fourteen. He has alternately owned a gaming store, street performed for a living, and survived eleven years in the soul crushing world of telecommunications. He lucked out by marrying a force of nature who was determined to making living off writing, and has since escaped his 9-5 to become the Marketing Director and Lead Game Designer of Chenoweth Press.

His most fond achievements include being Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006—there’s a story there, just ask him—and that time he made his entire DnD party cry at the end of a campaign. In addition to his work, he wrangles his growing family and a herd of feline supervisors, while secretly plotting how to add to the mountain of board games that he swears to his wife he actually plays.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0

Mark interviews Tao Wong about his writing, LitRPG, entrepreneurship, and the Toronto Indie Author Conference that is coming in May 2024.

Prior to the interview, Mark forgoes the usual brief personal update, or comments, and skips right to this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the Toronto Indie Author Conference.

The Toronto Indie Author Conference is a two-day event tailored exclusively for Canadian independent authors. Do you dream of transforming your passion for writing into a thriving author business? Don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Canadian indie publishing’s first author business conference.

www.torontoindieauthorcon.com

In their interview, Mark and Tao talk about:

• How Tao has always been writing and telling stories, and how luck played a bit part in it
• Starting off writing LitRPG when he was living in the Yukon when it was night/dark all the time
• Writing a few novels and stories for fun, but then discovering Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog about the business of publishing and how authors were beginning to leverage digital publishing to do it themselves
• Learning about indie publishing industry, but not being in a place where he thought he would pursue traditional publishing
• Beginning to put his LitRPG titles up on Amazon in 2017 at a time when it was just starting to become hot (He caught the 2nd wave of Western LitRPG authors)
• Not having to do any marketing in those early days because he was still working a full-time job running a business, but still bringing in a hearty income from his self-published books
• Tao's experience doing marketing in selling board games online
• Flipping between the two hats he wears. 1) The writer hat of getting the book done and 2) the marketer hat of having to sell the things that are written
• Realizing he was a "scenic route" author, according to Becca Syme's author structure talks and courses
• Getting to a point where he started to hire staff to help him with some of the tasks
• Being burnt out from the constant churn in hiring and training staff and them leaving within about two years
• Joking that being an indy author is the "easy mode" of being an entrepreneur because the cost and minimum setup is a lot less than what he had to do for his business before
• Laughing at the cost of a $200 cover design bill because not that long ago, he had a single bill from Canada Post that was over $100,000
• Working with about 5 active co-authors but realizing that he didn't want to be a publisher
• Starting the Toronto Indie Author Conference initially out of spite and to bring something useful to Canadian authors who might not be able to afford to travel so far to several US based conferences
• The importance of not having only 6-figure authors doing the presentations at the Toronto Indie Author Conference
• Some of the speakers who will be at the Toronto Indie Author Confernce and the various topics they'll be covering
• The significant amount of time and energy Tao had to invest into this conference
• The Kobo sponsorship of an accessibility fund for the conference where they'll be giving out 10 to 15 pre-paid seats
• A discount code STARK10 that members can use to get $10 off their ticket registration for the conference
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the importance of those people who see gaps and step up to make a difference. It's a common theme from the past several interview episodes. He also reflects on just how easy it can be for authors as entrepreneurs when you factor in just how little an author has to invest when it comes to money, to get started, particularly in a world that has so many great free resources.

Links of Interest:

• Tao Wong's Author Website
• Tao Wong's Publisher Website
• Toronto Indie Author Conference
• Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins Agency
• StoryGarden Summit (Virtual) - March 2024
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Tao Wong is a full-time author in the scifi and fantasy genres, writing predominantly in the LitRPG and xianxia sub-genres. A multiple times international Amazon bestseller, he is best known for the System Apocalypse and A Thousand Li universes, with over 40 full-length novels and numerous shorter works published. Tao was a finalist for the Kindle Storyteller UK Award in 2021.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.comand is Licensed under Creative Commons: ByAttribution 3.0