SPA Girls Podcast Self Publishing For Authors

Congratulations! You’ve finished your first book (or series) and are ready to hit the publish button! So what can you do to get your book noticed in the sea of other new books, and how can you find the right readers for you? In this episode, we’re getting down and dirty with practical suggestions for you to create your own successful launch plan, e…

Most authors know what BookFunnel is these days (just in case: it’s a platform that helps you deliver reader magnets, ARC copies, audio files, and so much more to your readers) but do we all know how to use it the best we can? I’m pretty sure the answer is no! That’s why we spent this episode with Damon Courtney, creator and CEO of BookFunnel, goin…

Bumps on the publishing path are unwelcome yet inevitable and they can affect us in a variety of ways. So how can we reset ourselves when the wobbles and disappointment set in? Today we’ve got a SPA Girls 6 – Step Guide to turning those setbacks into success: Embrace The Rain Reheat The Pasta Rapunzel It Be Like A Dog Jump Off The Cliff Be An Antel…

Side characters – how do you make them memorable, but not over-take the spotlight? And what purpose do they serve in the story? This episode, the awesome author and educator, Sacha Black, gives us the scoop on developing incredible side characters that will take your story from blah to bleepin’ amazing. She takes us through three different types of…

This week we talk to Carrie Elks about amping up your book marketing. It’s a fantastic and informative interview packed with great tips and advice that you won’t want to miss! Carrie writes contemporary romance with a sizzling edge. Her first book, Fix You, has been translated into eight languages and made a surprise appearance on Big Brother in Br…

This week we talk about the forward planning we all do for our author careers. Because we’re all so different here in the SPA, we all plan differently, and have different goals. But that means there will be nuggets of gold for everyone in this episode! We go through what it means to forward plan in your author business, why it’s important, what we …

Self-publishing since 2010, Amazon top 100 best-selling Amazon author with 1 million books sold, Sarra writes magical contemporary fantasy novels with both teen and college aged characters (and lots of twists you’ll never see coming). Do you feel like a hamster on a wheel? Sarra talks to us about her solution to planning without all the heartache a…

We’re thrilled to welcome UF/PNR author Sarah Piper to the show today. Sarah has seen great success publishing across a number of genres, and we discuss her strategy moving from Amazon-exclusive to publishing wide, selling her audiobooks direct and working with your spouse! This episode is packed with incredible information and actionable advice fr…

Amazon has moved the furniture again! This episode, Alex Newton, founder of K-Lytics, explains Amazon’s category changes, what they mean for authors, and how best to categorize your books now. We also discuss other recent Amazon changes dating back to September ’22, the impact on authors’ rankings and specific romance category changes and general t…

This week we chatted with Angela Ackerman, one of the authors of the classic writing book, The Emotion Thesaurus. If you’ve never picked up one of the amazing thesauruses by Angela Ackerman and her co-writer, Becca Puglisi, you’re missing out! Created especially for writers, the ten different thesauruses will help you add emotion, be more creative,…

There are many ways we get stuck as authors. Some ways you can get stuck is in the writing, editing, time management and making decisions areas. Getting unstuck is much harder and yet easier than we think. Letting go of perceptions of our writing or our characters helped Trudi a great deal when she put off writing the last book in a series – for ye…

We’re thrilled to welcome back Kathryn Le Veque to the SPA! Kathryn is a Publishing Powerhouse, with years of experience as a bestselling author, and CEO of Dragonblade Publishing. After first interviewing her back in 2018, we wanted to discuss what industry changes she’s seen in those five plus years, and what she predicts for the future in the wi…

Today’s topic was prompted by a commenter on youtube who asked us about reverse engineering bestsellers. What makes a book, be it your second one published or your tenth, sell more than others. We believe there are many variables to that. Timing, tropes, the first 10% of how a book starts. The cover, blurb, and other popular tv or books that may ha…

This week we talk to fiction and non-fiction author Katlyn Duncan, who wrote the non-fiction books The Successful Hybrid Author (all about being a hybrid author) and Take Back Your Book (all about how to get your rights back after being traditionally published). She shares her path to becoming a hybrid author, but also what you need to know about b…

Author Jenna Moreci is a YouTube sensation! With almost 300k subscribers on her YouTube channel “Writing with Jenna Moreci“, ten years of making videos, and over 28 MILLION views, she’s produced an incredible body of work and large community. So how has this impacted her writing and publishing, especially as her audience is both writers AND readers…

Marketing but not achieving results? Maybe you need to do a bit of a deep dive into why. Steady is good and not doing things at warp speed, but I think consistency is the real key. We tend to think if we try something and don’t get instant results, they don’t work. But that’s not always the case. Often what didn’t work first up may the second time …

USA Today Bestseller, Sadie King has grown her publishing business from zero to six figures in less than four years, writing short instalove romances. Knowing her reader’s journey is vital to her success. In this episode we discuss Sadie’s: short romance publishing strategy rapid release strategy targeted wordcounts for Amazon Kindle’s 60m, 90m and…

This week we take an in-depth look at author brands – starting with what branding actually means, what your branding should look like as an author, and then how you can make sure your author brand is the best it can be. We talk about how newbie authors can set up a brand for the first time, and how more experienced authors can reassess your current…

A New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Alessandra Torre has written twenty-three novels, including multiple New York Times bestsellers. She is also the creator of Alessandra Torre Ink – an authors community and online school with over 20,000 members. She is also the founder of INKERS CON, an annual authors conferen…

Today we’re joined by two dynamic guests – author Emilia Rose and Michael Evans, who, along with Emilia’s husband Sean Patnode, founded the REAM subscription service for authors. We cover a LOT in this episode – from “what is the Creator Economy” to making subscriptions work for authors, so settle in for a great episode! We first interview Emilia m…

We know there are still 5.5 months to go until the end of the year! But!! We think it’s important to start getting organized for the final push. Ads, blurbs, covers. In the SPA today we talk about the things you need to focus on! 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners an…

This week we go in-depth with New York Times, USA Today, international and #1 Amazon bestselling author of new adult and contemporary romance, Ana Huang. Aside from being very successful (check out her Twisted series!) Ana is a super smart and hardworking author with a tonne of great advice that she generously shared with us in this information-pac…

In this episode, we’re looking at failure and putting a different slant on it. By changing the way you think of failing at a certain thing and thinking of it as simply a part of learning. You are future proofing the way you react to any result. Fail = First Attempt In Learning. Don’t measure yourself by how others are doing. They had their own jour…

Back in 1996, author Debra Dixon published Goal, Motivation and Conflict and ever since the letters GMC have been tattooed on our brains. This simple, yet powerful, concept is the driving force behind writing compelling fiction and building strong plots and character growth. This episode we cover the differing GMC’s found in different genres, inclu…

Today we talk to the amazingly talented author Lynn Raye Harris about series. Everything from multiple connected to branding. This is a must listen podcast! Lynn is a Southern girl, military wife, wannabe cat lady, and horse lover. She’s also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the HOSTILE OPERATIONS TEAM Ⓡ SERIES of military rom…

It’s celebration time! We’ve reached another milestone here in the SPA – FOUR HUNDRED EPISODES! And that’s 400 weekly episodes with no repeats, no “best of”s, and no stopping during the eight years we’ve been doing this. Phew! *wipes brow* This episode we’re looking back on that time, trying to figure out why we’re still here, and what we’ve learne…

Rachael Herron is the internationally bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including thrillers (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, Oakland, and she’s taught writing extension workshops at both UC Berkeley and Stanford. She is…

How do you market a book that doesn’t quite fit a genre – or is a mash up of more than one genre? We talk on the SPA all the time about the importance of knowing what genre/sub genre you’re writing and what reader expectations for that genre are. But what happens if you’ve written a spectacular mashup of genres? Or you wanted to write a romance cro…

Author Rebecca Hefner is passionate about marketing audio books wide. After several years of struggling early on, her audiobook sales now surpass her ebook sales most months. As Rebecca says, “I had an excruciating learning curve with wide audio and want to save other authors from this torture!” She shares her best practices and tips for wide audio…

If you’ve been working on amping up your characters and writing a more compelling novel, this is the episode for you. We talk to Matt Bird – the Amazon bestselling author of The Secrets of Story: Innovative Tools for Perfecting Your Fiction and Captivating Readers and The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love – about characters and …

Erin Marcus is a business and life coach who helps authors take charge and get the results they’ve always wanted in their careers. Erin says she loves helping people take action they didn’t think possible, do things they didn’t think they could do, and succeed beyond what they dared to dream – and that’s what this episode is all about! Having made …

This is a really important discussion for writer at all stages of their careers. Brenna has experienced publishing highs and has also dealt with the darker side of the writer’s journey. Her candour and courage discussing some difficult topics in this interview made it a very humbling experience for us, and we truly appreciate Brenna’s openness in w…

Today in the SPA we’re covering genre expectations for readers of romance and it’s subgenres and mystery. All are our opinion based on decades of reading and 20+ years writing romance and it’s various subgenres. It can be a bit messy and confusing and it’s subjective. But it’s also important to know the genre expectations for the “wrong” answers mo…

Skye MacKinnon is a USA Today and International Bestselling Author whose books are filled with strong heroines who don’t have to choose. She embraces her Scottishness with fantastical Scottish settings and a dash of mythology, no matter if she’s writing about aliens in kilts, Celtic gods, cat shifters, or the streets of Edinburgh. She’s also doing …

USA today bestselling author of Western Romance, Erin Wright, has worked every job under the sun, including library director, barista, teacher, website designer, and ranch hand, helping brand cattle, before settling into the career she’s always dreamed about: Author. Despite starting out in KU in 2016, she went wide on all platforms in 2017 when sh…

This episode is for everyone who struggles with paid advertising! Today we’re joined by romance author Vanessa Vale. When her facebook ad account was shut down, Vanessa had to learn how to sell books WITHOUT paid ads and she shares how she came up with her solid marketing strategies in the episode. She not only writes amazing books, but also runs t…

In today’s podcast we talk all things small town romance with the wonderful Kait Nolan. Kait is a USA Today best selling, RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author of smart, sassy, small town Southern romance. She calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin’, and can wield a ‘Bless your heart’ like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements. She belie…

The number one thing you need to produce as an author is WRITTEN words, but sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do. So when words are hard to come by, when you’re avoiding the blank screen or finding yourself doing housework for hours instead of sitting your butt on the office chair (or couch) with your laptop, you need a cheerleader, an advocate…

Do it the easy way! Award-winning USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brighton Walsh spent a decade as a professional photographer before taking her storytelling in a different direction and reconnecting with her first love—writing. After getting a publishing deal, Brighton went on to become a hybrid author and is now mainly indie.…

Ten proven productivity hacks for self-publishers, brought to you by the letter “P” 1. Planning – Make a plan and stick to it 2. Preparation – know what you’re going to do, and when you’re going to do it, and then stick to it. 3. Procrastination – look at whether it’s actually positive or negative procrastination, if it’s negative, look at what sto…

Alpha, Beta, Tortured or Bad Boy? How do you like your heroes? This week Cheryl, Wendy and Shar discuss how to write a great hero (in their opinion) complete with controversial examples! In particular, we cover: Character Connection Creating Conflict from Character Main Characters Should Be Equals Characters Should Have Complementary Strengths Hero…

Wanting to speed up your plotting and writing time? Today we’re talking about a writers tool that promises to do just that. Plottr is visual book planning software for writers that helps us outline faster, organize smarter, and turbocharge our productivity. Today we’re joined by Cameron Sutter and Troy Lambert of Plottr. Cameron is an independently…

Love your Writing Self this Valentine’s Day Who says Valentine’s Day has to be about couples? We think it should be about all kinds of love and this year we’re promoting a little self-love. Go on, you deserve it! Treat yourself to a craft course or something else you would enjoy – find a course and do it! Do something awesome for your body – manicu…

This week Trudi and Shar go rogue … and discuss courses along with our writing friend and writing tutor Tania Hutley / Talia Hunter. We discuss the courses we’ve done over the years on craft, marketing, self-publishing and mindset and what we’ve learned from them. Disclaimer – we only discuss our personal experiences, and we are not affiliates for …

So many times we’ve heard authors say that they don’t like this or that when it comes to promoting themselves. Like email marketing. Social media. Advertising Book signings Sure there are many who feel as you do, but not everyone does! So how can we work with our biases and not fight against them? 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone wh…

If there’s one person in the self publishing world who’s considered a bit of an expert at advertising… it’s Mark Dawson. This week Mark joins us in the SPA to talk about Facebook ads – how to set them up, what to do if they’re not working, and some of his best tips and advice to get them running well for you. He’s a genuine guy, and he still does a…

Kathleen Sweeney is Bookbrush’s Customer Service Manager & Marketing Lead. She brings over 17 years of client service experience, business assurance, strategy and problem solving to Book Brush. Kathleen loves creating images and is happy to share her knowledge. We’re talking trailers for Tik Tok, instagram, and other social media, as well as QR cod…

Tammi Labrecque is an indie author, a mailing list whiz-kid, and the author of the best-selling non-fiction books for authors – Newsletter Ninja, and Newsletter Ninja 2. Tammi lives in Central Maine with three spoiled cats, two neurotic dogs, and dozens of fictional characters that keep her awake nights. When she’s not penning awesome books on how …

Happy New Year from the SPA Girls ! In this episode we talk about what goals and plans we have for 2023, Rom Com style using Billy Mernit’s book, Writing The Romantic Comedy. We work through his story beats. Set Up. Catalyst. Turning Point. Midpoint. Second Turning Point. Crisis Climax. Resolution. The SPA Girls open a vein and talk about what we w…

This is an awesome episode just for you! We went through all of our episodes from 2022, and picked out the best pieces of advice, the most actionable tips, and the things we definitely think you should be doing for your writing career in 2023 and gave them to you here in one easy episode. You’re welcome. 🙂…