Kobo Writing Life Podcast (Kobo Writing Life)

Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi’s new book One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter.

Please note that this interview contains adult language which might not be appropriate for all listening audiences.

In the interview, Johanna and Scaachi talk about:

• The story behind Scacchi’s Twitter profile picture
• How Scacchi inherited her sense of humor from her father and the role humor has played in her life
• How men always get to be “complicated” while women are “difficult”
• The sixth grade writing assignment that might have been the spark to Scacchi’s writing career
• How “sitting in a room pouring out bitterness” might be the only possible job she could have based on her skill set
• How most of the content of the book is taboo to her family
• The topic of “shaking up complacent white media” and a discussion about the fiery debate in the Canadian literary community over race, representation and free speech after a short column titled “Winning the Appropriation Prize” was published in early May
• The right amount of time required before writing something; the concept of comedy being just tragedy after time.
• Scacchi’s concern over having just the right balance of humor for this book and the interesting back and forths between writer and editor
• The use of “being arranged” as a verb when referring to arranged marriages
• How The Walrus was a magazine that changed Scaachi’s life and made her want to be a writer, and how, with recent events, all that has changed in a significant way
• The writers who mattered to Scaachi
• How Scaachi went into writing because she thought it might help other people feel less lonely

Scaachi Koul's Website: scaachi.com/odwabdanotwm

Scaachi Koul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Scaachi

Scaachi Koul at BuzzFeed - scaachi.koul@buzzfeed.com

Other Links of Interest:  The Appropriation Prize Controversy

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Kobo is the host for this episode, and introduces a memorable clip from Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna Penn talks compares walking the 100KM "Race to the Stones" with writing.

In her talk, Joanna goes into the details regarding 9 Lessons Learned About Writing from Walking 100K in a Weekend:

• Deadlines and specific goals help you achieve more
• It’s good to have a goal, but training (and the journey) is the point
• Stamina builds up over time with practice
• You need a support team, but nobody can do the steps for you
• There are fun parts, but some of it will be hell
• Don’t compare yourself to others. The race is only with yourself
• Follow the path others have set before you
• It’s worth spending money to get the right gear
• A lot of people give up along the way – persistence is the key to success

Mark then talks a bit about the beginning and end of the year as common goal-setting times for writers, and shares 5 of the bigger writing goals he had set for himself in 2016. He goes into detail, explaining the highs of meeting deadlines and goals, and the struggles with not achieving a goal (including his own 10 year struggle with getting his novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York published - he started working on it on a series from The Writing Show Podcast back in 2006) - something likely every writer faces.

Links of Interest from this episode

The Creative Penn Podcast

Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast with Roz Morris

Joanna Penn's books on Kobo (About Writing)

Joanna's J.F. Penn novels on Kobo

KWL Episode 32 - Interview with Dan Rubinstein

The "Getting Published with Mark Leslie" episodes of The Writing Show

Mark's A Canadian Werewolf in New York on Kobo

In this episode, we are joined by Bethany Lopez, a USA Today best-selling, multi-genre author who has written over thirty books! Bethany is a prolific author with multiple ongoing contemporary romance series to her name, as well as several paranormal romance series under the pen name DJ Bryce! Her latest release on Kobo is a box set of her popular series, The Jilted Wives Club, available now.

Bethany tells us about her career as an author, getting started in YA fiction before transitioning to new adult romance, the changes she has seen in the indie publishing landscape, how she uses her newsletter, how she markets her books, all about how she reaches her readers through different avenues, and much, much more!

Follow Bethany on Instagram, Facebook, and X, or visit her website to learn more.

Author Eric Maikranz joins us on the podcast this week to talk to us about his book, The Reincarnationist Papers, and the unique approach he took in order to secure a film adaptation of his book. Eric also talks to us about the differences between his indie and traditional publishing experiences, what the research process was like for his book, and he tells us his favourite reincarnation story.

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New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her long standing career as a romance author and why she recently decided to try her hand at writing thrillers. Nalini chats to us about her publishing journey, why she decided to give indie publishing a try and become a hybrid author, and she tells us what it was like to be included on Oprah’s list of Best Romances to Read in this Lifetime.

Learn more about this episode!

In this episode, we are joined by fantasy author, LGBTQ+ sensitivity reader, and international speaker and presenter October K. Santerelli! October’s latest book, City of Day, was published this past February and is the first in a planned trilogy. We were so excited to have October on the podcast after first hearing him present on neurodivergency and the creative process at Superstars Writing Seminar in Denver, CO earlier this year! KWL's director Tara was in attendance, and she had many great take-aways from that amazing presentation.

We chatted with October about his writing career, his presentations and speaking appearances at comic conventions, writing seminars, and more across the USA, neurodivergency and the creative process, his work as a sensitivity reader, and much more! We had a fun (and very informative) time chatting with October, and are excited to present this episode.

Learn more about October via his website, and follow him on Tiktok, Tumblr and Instagram.

Author T.W. Piperbrook joins us on the podcast this week to discuss bringing his Sandstorm series wide for the first time. T.W. talks to us about his career as a full-time author, why he decided to take his series wide and how he went about setting his wide release up for success, and he explains how his time working in the indie music industry compares to indie publishing. 

Learn more about this episode!

In the fall of 2014, Louise Penny visited Kobo's home office in Toronto and was interviewed by Toronto editor and book enthusiast Jen Knoch for a special Kobo in Conversation video.

Introduced by Kobo's Director of Communications, Tracy Nesdoly, Knoch interviews Penny in front of a live audience about her writing, followed by a Q&A from the audience. In the discussion, Knoch and Penny discuss:

• The difference between murder in a large city and murder in a the country in an idyllic small town setting like Three Pines
• How Louise had written the original Three Pines novel thinking of it as a stand-alone novel that she wanted to write mostly for herself
• How, when the book was originally written as an exploration of the world being dark (it was written post-9/11) and then modified to encompass a more warm and pleasant setting where the depth of friendship and the connections between people was more prominent – where the cast of characters would be people she would like to have as friends
• How the inspiration for the first Three Pines novels was inspired from a few specific lines from the poet WH Auden
• How it takes a whole lot more courage to be kind than it does to be cruel to others; and how the majority of characters of Three Pines are filled with so much compassion
• Good people who might have done bad things and bad people who are also capable of doing good things
• How Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is a balanced and complex character with flaws and strengths and yet is an incredible human being
• How Penny tries to hint at and provide information in order to let the reader imagine, creating a rich reading experience
• How Penny’s first draft can be akin to a “huge pile of merde” – and the cutting and tweaking and polishing that happen in the next drafts and how she does 5 or 6 drafts before anyone else (ie, her editor) sees the manuscript
• Penny’s belief that there isn’t a single “right way” to approach writing – how different writers will find different approaches that work for them
  The dial-up connections in Three Pines are very much based on where Penny lives (where she only has a dial-up connection), and Penny’s expression that it sounds, when you are connecting, that the internet is in pain.
• How the more high tech we become, the more we yearn for intimacy, and how that ties into the fictional setting of Three Pines quite wonderfully
• The interesting news Penny rec’d from her agent when, upon selling the first book to a publisher, she had also sold the second and third books
• How she was inspired to show the “critic” who had been writing the follow-up books the door and to let the Creative Spirit inside her write the first draft; and how important that was to free her up (and how that second book ended up winning the Agatha Award in 2013
• The importance of giving yourself permission to make mistakes in that first draft
• How Penny writes “Fair Play” mysteries in which the reader realizes, at the end, that all the clues were there for them to solve it.
• How she knows, before she begins writing, who did it, how the person died as well as the overall theme of the book

After the interview, Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre comments on a few of the things Penny mentioned and then talks about a new feature on Kobo Writing Life which allows authors the ability to enter the Volume Number for a Series into the system for their books.

Lefebvre explains the critical importance that clean metadata plays in assisting readers with finding the right book and how Kobo intends on using this clean data to assist with the automatic curation of series books for customers who adore them.

Joni Di Placido interviews Charlotte Leonetti, a high school senior who wrote and self-published her YA novel Heartshire High. Her novel is a modern-day retelling of Alice In Wonderland and Charlotte describes it as a book for teens, by a teen. What's it like to publish a debut novel while a senior in high school?

For the month of November, a brave team of Kobo staff joined forces to give NaNoWriMo a shot. We blogged about our efforts throughout the month, then several of us (Mark, Christine, Bessie, Sophie, and Wendy) sat down to chat about our experience. Listen to this week's episode to hear our roundtable discussion about how Team KoBoWriMo fared in 2015.

• How many of us “won” by writing 50k words in 30 days?
• What are we writing about? Everything from epic fantasy, to a horror novel about an abandoned hippie commune, a thriller about a bitter author, race car driving, and an animal migration.
• Why did we take on this crazy challenge?
• What worked for us, and what didn’t? Wendy did all of her writing within GoogleDocs, so she could write on any device throughout her day, especially during her commute. Mark gave dictation a try, so he could write as he drove (!) to work.
• Dealing with avoiding cross-contamination when a book with a similar subject or approach is published while you’re still writing yours. Sophie’s book has parallels with Andre Alexis’s FIFTEEN DOGS.
• Would we do it again?

• Our goals as writers, and with these projects specifically. We represent a broad range of perspectives. Wendy is keeping her work very private, especially in its current, raw state. Bessie is motivated by public/social media feedback.

Kobo Writing Life is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo. We love that it inspires writers of all levels to try to sit down and write, set word count goals, and prioritize making creativity a part of your everyday life.

As we reach the end of the year, we want to take the time to thank all of you so much for tuning in to the KWL podcast. It's given us the opportunity to interview amazing authors and service providers, and share their stories with you. We love hearing your feedback. If there is a topic you'd like us to cover or writer you'd like us to interview next year, let us know in the comments or email writinglife@kobo.com

Author Rachel Grant and her narrator Greg Tremblay shed some light on the process of creating an audiobook. Rachel discusses the working relationship she has with Greg and how his narration has influenced her future work. Greg shares his experience as a narrator, and the process for creating audiobooks. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

In this episode, we are joined by author and book coach Mary Adkins, founder of The Book Incubator, a program for authors looking to write their best possible book. Mary spent six years writing and re-writing her first book before landing a book deal with HarperCollins, and as such, perfected her writing program! Now, she works to share this helpful information with other authors looking to reach their full potential. We had a great conversation with Mary and loved the many writing tips she had to offer. Be sure to check out what she can do for you over at The Book Incubator!

We learn how Mary operates her book coaching business, how she can be a “wedding planner,” cheerleader, and helpful industry guide to authors, and what her own writing career looks like. She also offers some great advice on how to give yourself permission to write that novel, as well as (gasp) writing by hand, and much more!

Learn more about Mary via her website.

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews, author, podcaster, film-maker, photographer and audio-book producer, J. Daniel Sawyer. In the interview, Mark and Daniel discuss:

• Dan’s publishing production schedule which include 5 books currently in the queue, 8 mysteries in a single series (The Clarke Lantham Mysteries) 6 science fiction books spread across two different series (The Antithesis Progression & Suave Rob’s Awesome Adventures) and stand-alones, a couple of short story collections and two long form writer’s guides (Making Tracks: A Writer’s Guide to Audiobooks and How to Produce Them and Throwing Lead: A Writer’s Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them)
• How four of the books in Sawyer’s Clarke Lantham series started off as short stories, but then “escaped” into full sized novels
• Dan’s book Idea’s Inc. that was inspired by science fiction legend Harlan Ellison’s snarky response to where he gets his ideas from.
• His goal to write 3000 words each and every day
• Dan’s Nanowrimo Daily Podcast project Nanowrimo Every Month
• The three pillars of writing: Craft, Business, Law
• Examples of incorrect weapon use in stories, which Sawyer addresses in his book: Throwing Lead: A Writer’s Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them
• How poorly researched use of something like weapons can kick a knowing reader out of the story
• The differences in weapon terminology use, such as a clip and a magazine, an automatic and a semi-automatic
• The Weaver stance, originally created in the 1950’s and how it remains one of a number of popular shooting stances in handgun training today because it taught police officers how to shoot quickly, accurately and without accidents
• Why the “clicking” of a gun when it is out of ammunition is an inaccurate Hollywood convention when it comes to most modern firearms
• Why Doc Brown would NOT have survived the AK-47 attack in the movie Back to the Future, even with a Kevlar vest on
• Why being shot typically won’t send someone flying backwards or even stop them while rushing forward
• Dan’s life-long passion for theatre-radio and audio-books
• How Scott Sigler inspired Dan into podcasting his fiction.
• A look at the minimum standard equipment an author would need in order to produce their own quality audio book
• How Dan has created full-cast / multi-voice audio productions
• The rough number of hours it takes to produce each hour of finished audio product and the differences between single narrator recordings and full-cast productions
• The importance of learning from one’s own blunders while finding your way through the business aspect of writing

Links:

Daniel Sawyer’s Website

Twitter:  @dsawyer       

Internationally bestselling author K.A. Tucker joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her most recent release, A Fate of Wrath & Flame. After building a successful career as an author of romance and women's fiction, A Fate of Wrath & Flame is K.A.’s first fantasy novel. She speaks to us about switching genres, how she created her fantasy world, and what we can expect from her next. 

Learn more about this episode!

We are joined by three editing professionals on the podcast this week: Kristina Stanley, the creator of Fictionary, JoEllen Nordstrom, the founder of First Editing, and Lisa Lepki, head of marketing for ProWritingAid. Kristina, JoEllen, and Lisa walk us through the editing process, from story editing to proofreading, and discuss everything an author needs to know to make their book the best it can be before publishing. They also give some great advice on how to find the right editor for your work, and they discuss the use of AI and technology in the editing process.

Learn more about this episode!

Bestselling author Alexis Hall joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his Kobo Original, Murder Most Actual, and what it was like writing his first cozy mystery. Alexis talks to us about his career as a hybrid author, the inspirations behind Murder Most Actual, and how he tries to normalize queer relationships in his writing.  

Learn more about this episode!

Listen in as KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews nonfiction author Michael Rank, whose titles include HISTORY'S WORST DICTATORS and FROM MUHAMMED TO BURJ KHALIFA: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History. Mark and Michael discuss Michael's podcast, History in Five Minutes, self-publishing from a nonfiction author's perspective, and the challenges and rewards of translating self-published titles. Michael shares his thoughts about:

• His History in Five Minutes podcast, where Michael works to share stories about things that challenge our assumptions about the past, and the people who "shouldn't be there" in a moment of history, according to our idea of that era of history.
• Utilizing the podcast to develop a readership, connect with fans, and promote his books.
• "Think global, act local." There are many opportunities for independent authors to go broad and deep: broad, by reaching a global audience through online sales and translations; and deep, by cultivating relationships with niche and local readers.
• Michael recommends trying Babelcube for their translation services.
• Through Babelcube, translators earn a share of royalties, so they are invested in your success. Michael has worked with translators to get help with foreign marketing, for example, through translating reviews, Facebook posts, or tweets.
• It is important to educate yourself about writing and self-publishing, but mistakes and failures are inevitable as you work through the process of publishing. Accept and learn from these failures, and find the opportunities that work best for you. The podcast worked well for Michael, but he tried many other things along the way that did not.
• Similarly, find a writing schedule that works for your life and goals. As a PhD candidate, Michael knows that he can realistically only write for one to two hours per day.

Following the podcast interview, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe shares an exciting update: for the second year in a row, KWL is sponsoring NaNoWriMo! Starting November 1, hundreds of thousands of writers will endeavour to write 50,000 words within one month. Several KWL and Kobo staff members are participating this year, carrying on our KoBoWriMo tradition. We'll keep the KWL blog updated with the trials and tribulations of our fearless WriMos, the great prizes we are offering this year, and more. Stay tuned!

Welcome to the Kobo ReWriting Life Podcast! Alongside your regularly scheduled Kobo Writing Life podcast episode releases, we will also be featuring some highlights from our backlist. For the fourth episode of this series, we're happy to share this episode featuring Robert Harris from November 2016.

Originally hosted at Kobo's former headquarters in Toronto (don't worry, we're still in Toronto; we've just moved!), this interview features author Robert Harris in conversation with journalist Johanna Schneller, as well as Pieter Swinkels, former Chief Content Officer at Kobo. This interview offers some insights into Robert's research process and writing routine, and we also get to hear all about his inspiration for Conclave, amongst much more!

Find out more on Robert's website, follow Johanna Schneller on X/Twitter, and check out Robert's books on Kobo.

Crime fiction author Aime Austin joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her Casey Cort Legal Thrillers series and how she develops compelling legal mysteries through multiple points of view. Aime recently rebranded her entire series and she tells us how and why she decided it was time to rebrand and what that process was like, and we also discuss her new podcast, A Time to Thrill, and how her real life experience as a lawyer influenced her writing career.

Learn more about this episode!

Bestselling Science Fiction and Paranormal author TS Paul joins us to discuss how he went from a reluctant writer to an author who puts out over 20 books a year, his creative marketing techniques that helped him build a loyal fan base, and why he’s such a big advocate for publishing wide.

Reedsy's ambition extends beyond just being a place where authors can connect with publishing professionals; it's a place for collaborative tools and with an ultimate goal of assisting the publication process right from the first written word of an author's manuscript right through the typesetting, publishing and marketing of the final book.

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviews Matthew Cobb, co-founder and lead designer of Reedsy regarding the platform and the amazing online Book Editor tool.

In the interview Mark and Matthew discuss:

• What Reedsy is (a marketplace for authors and editors, designers, etc to meet and collaborate as well as an online tool that allows authors to both collaborate in the creation process, but also produce production ready ePub and print on demand files)
• How the filters allow an author to find the right professional to provide the right editorial services to them, and the quote request process where you can request a free quote from up to 5 different matching professionals
• The curatorial process by which editors and other professionals apply to be within this ecosystem and are vetted and approved by the team at Reedsy
• How Reedsy doesn’t only handle the introduction to the publishing professional but also the transaction (ie, payment to the editor), but also the file transfer, as well as customer support and assistance
• Details about the online book editor and how it was born out of the frustration inherent when one of the founders wanted to publish a book
• The issues inherent with trying to use WORD to typeset and prepare a book for print-readiness along with how an author can simply copy and paste their WORD file document into the editor and it’ll preserve all the formatting, including headings, alignment, etc
• The ability for editors and authors to work together collaboratively online using the Reedsy Book Editor
• The use of templates that authors select, when they’re ready to export their print ready or ePub format file
• Whether or not this free editor is good for other formats such as children’s books, cookbooks, or other fixed layout types of book formats
• A bit about the four co-founders of Reedsy and the internal Reedsy family of employees
• Matthew’s favourite advice for a beginning writer to get on the right track for success

Mark then talks about the importance of finding the right person for the right job (ie, an author looking for just the right editor) and relates that to both the story of Goldilocks (how she kept trying things until she found the one that was just right), as well as the concept of asking a more detailed question in order to get the most optimum answer for you.

Links of Interest:

Reedsy

Reedsy Book Editor

The Reedsy Blog

Reedsy on Twitter

Editor Janice Zawerbny sits down with us this week to discuss her career in publishing and to share her advice for authors who are new to the editorial process. Janice was the editor of three books on the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize shortlist, and she talks to us about what drew her to acquire those books and how the editorial process differed between each title. Janice also tells us about the writing prize she co-founded, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.

Learn more about this episode!

Author and co-host of the Six Figure Authors podcast Lindsay Buroker joins us on the podcast this week. Lindsay has been an indie author for almost a decade and she talks to us about how the industry has changed over that time, where she thinks it’s going next, and she tells us about her Patreon and how she utilizes the platform to distribute ARCs and reward her fans. 

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In this episode, we spoke with Meg Smitherman, debut indie author of Destroyer, the first book in a new adult, dark fantasy romance duology. Meg chatted with us about her new novel, fanfiction, finding a writing community on TikTok, her experience getting an MFA in London, England, finally writing in the ideal genre for her, and much more. Meg also offers amazing writing advice and writing updates via her TikTok – follow her here!

Destroyer is available now on Kobo and wherever eBooks are sold. You can find out more about Meg on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Kobo’s CRM and Marketing Manager, Cristina Mendes, joins us for our 200th episode to give insight into the Kobo customer and how to effectively market your eBooks and audiobooks globally! Cristina covers a lot of ground in our conversation, including advice for selling on an international scale, the difference between Kobo’s eBook and audiobook customers, marketing tips for when you’re on a budget, and what makes Kobo (and our customers) unique!

KWL Episode 90 is a special episode featuring the announcement of the launch of Kobo Audiobooks, narrated by Jim Dale.

Let me tell you a story. Do you remember when you first fell in love with reading? Well you weren't really reading, were you? No, your passion for books began quite another way. It was listening, wasn't it? To a story. Yes; your love of reading got started when you were being read to. Could there be any six words that have more anticipation behind them than: "Let me tell you a story."

Introducing Audiobooks for the Free Kobo App with a beautifully designed, easy to use player.

One home for all your ebooks and audiobooks.

It's your whole reading life - always with you!

Start your free trial today and embrace the art of listening.

For authors looking to get their audiobooks loaded to Kobo's catalog, there are currently three main ways to do that via distributors:

• ListenUp Audiobooks (click here for more info)
• Findaway Voices
• Authors Republic

If you are using a third party distributor for audiobooks, be sure to check with them to make sure they are distributing your titles to Kobo.

The KWL development team is looking into how KWL authors might be able to load their audiobooks directly to Kobo's catalog, but there currently isn't a direct upload solution.

KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. They discuss:

*National Novel Writing Month, the creative challenge in which authors write 50,000 words during the month of November, or 1,667 words per day.

*The origins of NaNoWriMo, which began with 21 people in 1999 and has grown to support hundreds of thousands of writers each year.

*Why November? If you can write a novel in November, you can write one anytime. It's a busy time of year leading into the December holidays.

*NaNoWriMo's other initiatives, including Camp NaNoWriMo and the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.

*Even if you don't "win" by hitting the 50k word count, every participant is a winner for choosing to make creativity a priority.

KWL is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row. Stay tuned as we embark on this challenge in November with our annual KoBoWriMo team!

www.nanowrimo.org

Superstar New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Meredith Wild, talks about her unique experience as being both an indie author and independent publisher. Meredith talks about the early days of starting her own boutique publisher Waterhouse Press, and why she wanted to start her own “untraditional” publishing company. Meredith also discusses battling her doubts as being a relatively new writer in the romance realm and how Waterhouse Press approached marketing in their first few years.

Never miss an episode: subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that's fast, free, easy. We put authors first. www.kobo.com/writinglife

Holly Mortimer, both an author and email marketing specialist, discusses easy strategies authors can implement to sell more books. Holly describes the common mistakes authors make when trying email marketing, best practices for writing excellent newsletters and the frequency authors should be sending emails. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

This episode, recorded in collaboration with the Northern Colorado Writers Conference, opens in a conversation with Rich Keller, Assistant Director and Electronics Media Manager of Northern Colorado Writers, as well as an author, editor and the publisher of Wooden Pants Publishing.

Rich talks about:

• the use of humor in his writing and publishing and how specific humor can be for different audiences
• the "Wooden Pants Readings" programming being used to help build this up
• how Rich has learned more in the past three months than he did the entire other year
• the difference between IngramSpark and CreateSpace and how Rich has been using each for print books
• use of Embedded Fonts and TrueType Fonts in a print/POD file
• the five year plan that Rich has set up to be doing writing and publishing full time and the importance of time and patience

The second part of this podcast features a panel conversation between Kelly Baugh, Carrie Visintainer and Mark Leslie (aka KWL Director Mark Lefebvre, with his author hat on)

Kelly Baugh, author of the new novel Miss You Once Again (Hot Chocolate Press) mentions:

• The inspiration for Kelly's book that came through her grandmother
• How Kelly had joined a write's group, spend a lot of time listening, and then attended the NCWC and started pitching the book idea
• How Hot Chocolate Press picked up the book unexpectedly after Kelly had given up on it
• The cookbook that this book inspired; particularly the manner by which Kelly's publisher kick-started the idea
• How Kelly could have written a whole cookbook on desserts alone as part of this project

Carrie Visintainer, author of the upcoming book Wild Mama (Thought Catalog Books) discusses:

• How her writer's group helped Carrie decided to combine her travel essays into a book about traveling with children
• How, when the book was finished, instead of feeling excited, she felt like she wanted to puke due to the next steps involved
• How the business plan or book proposal was as important as the manuscript itself
• The manner by which her agent made the manuscript into a much better book
• How closing one door can often open several other doors

Mark Leslie talks about:

• How embracing both traditional publishing and self-publishing has, essentially doubled his writing income
• Remembering that publishing is a business and that some books don't make economic sense for a publisher to produce; but that doesn't mean it won't make economic sense to self-publish
• How publishers and agents are constantly scanning the bestseller lists for self-published titles in the same way that they read from the slush pile

At the end of the conversations, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks about how a fantastic book meant for traditional publishing can be applied in the new world of DIY publishing and spotlights Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages.

LINKS

Northern Colorado Writers

NCW Podcast - Episode #7 (Featuring Mark Lefebvre from Kobo)

NCW Podcast - Episode #9 (Authors Panel)

Wooden Pants Publishing

Hot Chocolate Press

Ingram Spark

Old Firehouse Books (local Fort Collins bookstore)

In this week’s episode, we spoke to Jodi Drake, a bestselling author who writes multiple series under the name J.L. Drake! Jodi’s series span over thirty books, and these include the Broken Trilogy, the Quiet Mafia series, and her latest, Havoc of Sins, which begins with Grim – available to read now! For more info on her series, check out her reading order guide here.

Jodi spoke to us about her writing career, writing dark romance, what drew her to dark romance, how she plots her novels, how she uses her “murder board” to keep track of all her characters and plotlines, and much, much more! Jodi gave us many great insights into what it’s like being a series author and an author (and reader) of dark romance. We had a great time chatting with Jodi, and if you’re a burgeoning dark romance author (or a romance author in general), you don’t want to miss this episode of the KWL podcast!

For more, check out J.L.’s website, and follow her on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

How a virtual assistant can transform your publishing business and create more time for what you love most: writing. Veteran VA to superstar authors and CMO of Book+Main, Melissa Saneholtz, tells listeners how she got her start as an author virtual assistant and what a VA can do for an author, and how to find one that's right for you. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

On a very special bonus episode of the podcast, Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn sits down with some of the book lovers at Kobo to talk about their favourite reads of 2021. With recommendations ranging from historical fiction to memoirs about grief to true crime, there is truly something for everyone! 

Kobo was delighted to recently host Emily Schultz in a “Kobo in Conversation” chat in the Kobo Café a few weeks ago while she was coming through Toronto on a book tour. Kobo Merchandiser Nora Parker interviewed Emily. In the interview, Emily and Nora talk about:

• The fact that Emily had started working on this novel before her previously released novel The Blondes
• The rum-runner history in Emily’s family and the different manner by which they traversed the water to conduct their rum running in the winter and summer
• How the story of a relative who was lost during one of these winter-time runs crashing through the ice helped to inspire Emily’s desire to explore this narrative
• The explosions of culture, literature, music and sexuality in the 1920s.
• The contrast and clash of society being both “open” and “closed” during the Prohibition Era
• Various methods of research, including old photographs, documentaries, silent films and novels written from that time period
• The concept of justice in the novel and the line “you never get caught for what you think you’re going to” that encapsulates that
• Elements of “the person who is not who they appear to be” in particular relation to religion
• The balance of mixing the “true” with the “fictional” in this historical novel
• The additional balance of being an author of fiction being a founder and senior editor of Joyland (http://www.joylandmagazine.com/) magazine
• Pairing oneself with other writers in particular locales to help ensure a slightly larger crowd at an author event
• The fun of onomatope words that came from the jazz scene of the time

Mark then highlights a few things from the interview with Emily that he wanted to call attention to. In particular, the research that she conducted for the Prohibition era time period the novel was set in as well as the manner by which she collaborated with local writers when traveling on a book tour.

There is a reminder of the Kobo Plus Subscription service available through Kobo in the Netherlands and Belgium with Kobo’s retail partner, BOL which is open to Kobo Writing Life authors via the “Rights and Distribution” tab.

Links:

Emily’s Website - http://www.emilyschultz.com/

Emily on Twitter: https://twitter.com/manualofstyle?lang=en

Joyland Magazine - www.joylandmagazine.com/

In this episode, we spoke to Golden Angel, USA Today best-selling author of “heart-and bottom-warming romance,” whose series include Masters of Marquis, Desire and Discipline, the Bridal Discipline series, and more! Golden’s publishing journey began back in 2012 (but she’s been writing even longer), and she became a full-time indie author in 2020. As the author of dozens of books across several series, her successful career spans over a decade, and she has so much great advice and insights to offer!

Golden has also presented her marketing advice and shared her expertise at InkersCon, Romance Author Mastermind, and more. She hosts a marketing and publishing advice series on her TikTok – aptly titled “Just the Tip.” We had a great time discussing all things indie publishing, writing kinky romance, marketing tips and tricks, the importance of your newsletter and so much more.

Follow Golden on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X/Twitter and be sure to check out her website for more.

For this episode, we focus on small presses and the business side of publishing. US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Angela Bole, the Executive Director of IBPA (the Independent Book Publishers Association), about everything from distribution to metadata. As a bonus, we include excellent advice from Kobo's Canadian Merchandiser, Sarah Smith-Eivemark, who recently joined Kobo from a small press. She shares the most important advice she's learned from her unique perspective of this transition from small press to digital retailer. You don't want to miss it!

Tune in to hear about:

• IBPA's history and mission. It was founded in 1983 – one of the oldest trade associations for publishing in America.
• Most of its members have come in as self-publishers, even as early as 1983. Many of them learned the trade, then took on the work of others.
• IBPA is a publishers’ association, not an authors’ association. They serve the publishing side of the business. IBPA won’t take a point of view on authorship, editorial, craft. Instead, it focuses on marketing, publishing standards, covers, etc.
• Who should join? Those working independently – that is, outside of the Big 5. Small presses, university presses, even aspiring authors considering self-publishing. Anyone wanting to learn more about the market and business of self publishing.
• It's $129/year to become a member. Benefits: receiving a monthly magazine and email newsletters, and IBPA acts as a bullhorn sharing good news and success stories of its members. Additionally, it’s a connection to the community going through the same process, helping each other succeed by sharing best practices, sharing warnings.
• Publishing University is their annual conference, which has been happening for 27 years. In line with IBPA's mission, it focuses on publishing and marketing books. 30 expert speakers come, 300 attendees. 2016 will be in Salt Lake City for the first time.
• Publishing University also offers an opportunity for feedback and workshopping on your content, cover, and more, adding an experiential element.
• Best practices for getting a distributor: transition from pitching a book, to pitching your business. Publishers need a 6-month plan for your business and book, editorial calendar with more books in the pipeline, and marketing plan.
• Why Angela keeps talking about metadata and its importance.

Find about more about IBPA at www.ibpa-online.org.

In this episode, Steph and Joni sat down with David Wind, author of The Indie Writer's Handbook. Wind has written 59 titles and started his author journey with a traditional publisher, before becoming a very early adopter of indie publishing in 2008. He talked to us about the lessons he's learned along the way, how he engages with readers across multiple genres, and offers advice for authors just starting out!

Join the platform that's fast, free and easy at www.kobo.com/writinglife!

Director of Global Merchandising at Kobo, Nathan Maharaj interviews Dan Rubinstein, author of Born To Walk: The Transformative Power of A Pedestrian Act.

Nathan and Dan discuss:

• ·         The fascinating manner by which we are pre-disposed to bipedalism
• ·         How, when he travels, Nathan prefers walking to get to his destination rather than figure out foreign transit systems
• ·         The physical, psychological and social implications of having pushed the walking activity out of our lives and how “sitting is the new smoking”
• ·         Treadmill desks and how the experiment with that didn’t work so well for Dan. It was in the basement, thus dank and dark and without a window. Physically, it was okay, but Dan learned he was far more productive at his desk and would rather get the work done more efficiently to leave more room for walking.
• ·         How it’s not just about walking, but also about the environment and the mind paying “effortless” attention to the surroundings, the serenity and the benefits
• ·         The recent research on the relationship between walking and creativity and how they both evolved at the same time
• ·         The manner by which we get together in groups and walk together; for protests, for celebrations and parades, for grieving, and more
• ·         How people perceive neighbourhoods and locations differently when driving through in a car rather than walking by the exact same scene
• ·         The phrase and sentiment of “walk more anywhere”
• ·         The masked character Peatónito – the defender and protector of pedestrians in Mexico
• ·         How the design of urban centers and our reliance on instant gratification seem to have channeled our focus onto the reliance of the car and less on walking

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then speaks a bit about price points and global price-point strategy, outlining why it is important for authors to manually control all of the currencies they have edit access to rather than depending on the system to do the auto-conversion for them. He offers some advice based on the various differences in the dollar between US and other global currencies such as the Canadian and Australian dollars.

Mark also speaks about the fact that there isn’t a price cap of $9.99 to receive 70% via Kobo Writing Life. With no cap on the 70% royalty, authors can and should take advantage of creating more expensive digital box sets offering their customers a great value but earning the author a higher margin.

LINKS:

Born to Walk on Kobo

Born to walk website

ECW page for Born to Walk

Bestselling author Talia Hibbert joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career, her writing process, and her newest Kobo Original, Wrapped Up in You. Talia writes sexy, diverse romance and she talks about how indie publishing is more accessible for diverse authors. We also discuss how she works from the initial story idea to the finished product and where she thinks indie publishing is going next.

Learn more about this episode!

Melissa Yi, an emergency room physician and author, chats to us about how she balances being a writer and part-time doctor. She discusses how her work experiences have made their way into her Hope Sze Medical Mystery Series and she shares some of her favourite emergency room stories. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

This week's podcast is essential listening for all authors: Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware is joining us to share her most important advice for how writers can avoid being scammed. Writer Beware was co-founded by Victoria and Ann Crispin in 1998, is sponsored by SFWA, and its mission is to "track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry." Listen in as Victoria speaks with US Manager Christine Munroe about:

•  The origins of Writer Beware in 1998. SFWA put a call-out for someone to monitor scams aimed at authors, and Victoria and Ann Crispin joined forces.
• At that time, literary agent scams were prevalent. Victoria says she rarely sees them nowadays - self-publishing has shown many authors that they don't need an agent to publish. Unfortunately, self-publishing has also created a new frontier in writing scams, from digital publishers charging exorbitant fees for their services to would-be experts offering services they're not capable of providing.
• The craziest scheme she has heard of to date (you'll have to listen to find out!).
• How she and a team of volunteers find the time to maintain the website and blog. Also, why their investigations need to be so detailed: Writer Beware is often the target of lawsuits by the scammers they work to expose.
• How writers can avoid being scammed: DO YOUR RESEARCH and educate yourself. There's no such thing as a free lunch - if it sounds too good to be true, and you have a gut feeling that something is amiss, don't ignore those instincts.
• The best way to get started as a new author. Start broadly by reading books about the industry at large and the various options available to you. What's important is that you set goals for your writing and find the path that best serves those goals. Then you can dive into the internet as a resource for learning more about each aspect of the process, and checking that each company you're considering working with is reputable.
• Additional resources for researching scams include Preditors & Editors and Absolute Write.
• Victoria's publishing plans for the next year, which includes traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing paths. Victoria believes (and we agree!) that authors don't need to choose just one path for publishing, and stick to that path forever. Often a combination of options is ideal.

Following this conversation, KWL Author Care Coordinator Vanessa Ghosh shares advice for taking advantage of our free preview function on Kobo. Customers can preview the first 5% of the beginning of your eBook, so many sure to give them a peek into your best work—and don't use a dummy file when you're setting up a pre-order, as previews for pre-orders are also visible to customers. If you have questions you'd like us to answer on the podcast, email writinglife@kobo.com

Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn't the more typical interview, but rather, KWL's Director, Mark Lefebvre, outlining five strategies that successful authors use to build their sales, raise their author profile and get readers to sign up their author mailing lists with Free eBooks.

First, Mark talks about the updates to FREE tracking.

If you've been paying attention to the updates in the Notification header of the Kobo Writing Life dashboard (which link to this VERY HANDY - hint, hint, nudge, nudge - part of the KWL Community) throughout July, you may have noticed that the Web team and the KWL Team have been working at revisions to the broken free tracking that we've been dealing with for quite a while.

Currently FREE TRACKING is being refreshed and updated. But in the meantime, there's something important you should know about the FREE DOWNLOADS numbers you're seeing.

The most important has to do with PREVIEWS.  First, please don't worry, we are NOT giving your non-free books away.

At Kobo, readers have the opportunity to preview the first 5% of eBooks. Whenever an ePub file is loaded into Kobo's database, the catalog generates a unique new ePub file that is comprised of the first 5% of that full eBook, then it tacks on a final page with a "BUY Button" for the full book into the end of that ePub.

And whenever a customer clicks on the "Save Preview" button on a book's item page, it adds that preview ePub file to that customer's library. Since there isn't currently any filtering that distinguishes the preview ePub file from the full ePub file, it appears as if that eBook was given to a customer, and is tracked as a "free download" in the dashboard. 

(The KWL, Web and UX Teams will be adjusting and fixing this, but having that information can be extremely valuable, because it allows you to see how many customers have PREVIEWED your book. IE, if you have a huge number of PREVIEWS but not a huge number of sales, that could tell you something important about the conversion from free preview to sales)

1) First Free eBook in Series (Perma-Free)

Although this isn't a new practice, it continues to be something that works quite nicely for authors looking to increase their sales and author profile at Kobo.

Authors can set any book on Kobo to free at any time for as long as they want with no restrictions and no requests for exclusivity.

The concept is creating a funnel to get a lot of people to grab the first book for free and hopefully converting them into buyers because the worlds, characters, settings and situations they are reading about in your series are so compelling that they HAVE to keep on reading.

Below are some stats that are typical of the conversion rate from FREE to SALES via studies done on multiple different first book in series promos.

2) Free Book/Novella/Novelette Kept Perma-Free that ISN'T the first in the Series

The same technique used above can be used for other books in the series (rather than the first book), or perhaps for interstitial stories in the series universe.

Remember that, with Kobo Writing Life, you can enter Series metadata using decimals. IE, imagine you have a novella that takes place between Books 1 and 2 in your series. Entering 1.5 into the Volume Number value in your Series metadata connects those book. (See this post on how that works at KWL)

3) Free related/connected Short Story hook into a novel or series

Mark shares a personal anecdote about using a short story to entice readers to want to learn more or explore more about characters that appear in a full novel.

His example is how the FREE short story, This Time Around, a 10,000 word short story, has been successful at helping new readers discover his main character Michael Andrews, who is a werewolf attempting to live a normal life in the midst of one of the world's largest metropolitan centers in the novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York.

4) A Free eBook that is a stand alone novel / NOT part of a series

For those of you who do NOT have series books, don't despair. There is still a correlation between the "funnel" of free eBooks and readers going on to buy more books by the same author (rather than books in the same series)

Mark shares how his friend Sean Costello, a thriller/horror writer he works closely with, uses free to build a readership, not based on the book being part of a series, but based on readers discovering the voice of a brilliant author who they feel compelled to read more books from.

Costello's SQUALL has garnered almost 3300 reviews on Kindle and more than 800 reviews on Kobo with a 4 star average.

Again, good news for authors who don't write series books. Free works for gaining new readers and selling more eBooks for you too.  :)

5) Using FREE eBooks for Newsletter sign-ups

While it's great that retails can help authors sell more using algorithms and targeted emails to their customers making recommendations, it is important for authors to get readers to sign up to their author newsletter.

Folks like Nick Stephenson (Your first 10,000 Readers) and Mark Dawson (Self Publishing Formula) have been helping authors use techniques to help get readers signed up for their newsletter mailing lists which allow authors to better control their own success. (Being able to let your best fans know when you have a new release or have a promotional price available has a direct correlation with sales success)

The way this works (and you can get FAR BETTER details by clicking the links above), authors set up a newsletter sign up at the end of their eBooks or via targeted social media ads (Facebook, etc) and when a customer signs up, they can get a free eBook sent to them from the author. These are typically eBooks that are NOT free on the various retail websites. So these readers who become newsletter subscribers get something of value directly from the author which helps built brand trust and loyalty.

Other authors, such as M.L. Buchman don't ever make their eBooks free nor do they give free eBooks away. But, instead, they create unique, fresh and interesting new stories and content specifically FOR their best fans, via either an author newsletter or directly on their own websites. (They will sometimes release this material via regular retail channels at a later date) This ensures that their best fans get access to reading fresh and exiting new material before anybody else can read it.

That, in a nutshell, are just five different ways that authors are using FREE to help build their sales and their author brands.

We would love to share more strategies that work well, so if you have a strategy that works for you, please free free to share that in comments on this podcast's show notes on the KWL Podcast web page under Episode 88.

Related Links:

Free eBooks on Kobo - curated from KWL titles and updated weekly. You can apply to be featured via the PROMOTIONS tab, which is currently in beta release. If you don't have it, simply request it by emailing writinglife@kobo.com

USA Today bestselling romance author Kelly Jamieson talks to us about her newest series with Penguin Random House, Bears Hockey. She also discusses why self care is vital for authors, and why celebrity heroes are so popular among readers!

Join the platform that’s fast, free and easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

In this episode, we spoke to Maria Riegger, attorney, self-help writer, and author of fiction and non-fiction titles such as the best-selling Legal Issues Authors Must Consider, a book that provides information on starting your self-publishing business, legal liability considerations, advice on how to protect your copyrights, how to safely use copyrighted material, and more. We learned a lot from Maria and found this discussion of the legal aspects of being an indie author very interesting and informative!

Content note: Nothing discussed in this episode of the podcast should be use as legal advice. This episode is meant to be informative, educational, and entertaining – if you have questions related to copyright law and other legal issues surrounding your books, independent publishing, and publishing in general, please contact a legal representative in your area for more information.

Learn more about Maria on her website, and be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter!

Nora Decter, Kobo’s Emerging Writer Prize Winner for Literary Fiction, chats to us about her debut novel How Far We Go and How Fast. She talks about what pushed her to finish her first book, how she created an album to go with the novel and her experience winning the emerging writer prize. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

With 30 books published for children and teens, New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, discusses the evolution of the young adult genre from when she published her first book in 2002. She talks about the inspiration behind her latest series The Folk of the Air and what she is working on next after finishing her trilogy. Want to read The Cruel Prince? Use promo code KWLHOLLY to 30% off your purchase today! (https://www.kobo.com/ebook/the-cruel-prince)

Internationally bestselling author Laurelin Paige joins us on the podcast this week. Laurelin has a background in musical theatre and marketing, making her an expert in both writing stories and selling them, and she gives us some great advice on how to tackle creating a series, what marketing techniques she has found effective when launching a new series or rebranding an old one, and how to approach your writing career as a business. 

Learn more about this episode!

Bestselling author Marni Mann joins us on the podcast this week to talk about how she built her team of beta readers and why having this trusted team has been so important to her success as an author. Marni also talks to us about her writing journey and finding her audience as an author who writes across multiple genres. 

Learn more about this episode!

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre and US Manager Christine Munroe were joined by NYT bestselling author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur Joanna Penn. Joanna is an invaluable resource for indie authors through her blog, The Creative Penn, and podcast of the same name. Listen in as Joanna shares insights about:

• How Joanna began her journey as a fiction writer through NaNoWriMo in 2009.
• Why she defines herself and fellow indie authors as entrepreneurs: "I define an entrepreneur as someone who creates something of value from their own head… these days, if you're writing fiction and you're self-publishing, and you are being a businessperson, then you are being an entrepreneur."
• Other methods of earning income as an author: audio, print, and translation – and specifically how Joanna produced PENTECOST as an audiobook through ACX.
• How publishing her eBooks in English through kobo.com helped her reach readers in 30 countries and counting.
• Joanna's collaborative "give first" approach: if you give first, others will come back and give to you (which she calls "social karma"). Similarly, if you read others' books and review them, they will come back and review your books ("reading karma").
• Why Pentecost is now permanently free – it is an easy way to draw readers into a funnel. This works best when you have many other books available. Joanna has seen an increase in sales of her other titles and sign-ups to her email list by using this strategy.
• The breakdown of Joanna's eBook price strategy for her latest novel, DESECRATION: week one following the release, $2.99. One week later, increased to $4.99. In general, at the moment she prices eBooks at $2.99 for novellas, $4.99 for novels, $0.99 for short stories, and $5.99 for nonfiction.
• How writing A THOUSAND FIENDISH ANGELS for Kobo (inspired by Dan Brown's INFERNO) enabled her write darker material and stop self-censoring, which helped her push her boundaries while writing DESECRATION.
• The distinction between her two brands, J.F. Penn for fiction and Joanna Penn for nonfiction – including her amazing title that every author should read, HOW TO MARKET A BOOK. She only recommends establishing two author brands if it's necessary, which is true in her case so that she can target to these two distinct audiences.
• Why she's a self-described "taphophile" - aka a "cemetery enthusiast."
• How reading five books a week, and traveling to the places where her books are set, inspire Joanna's writing.
• The best thing Joanna has learned as a writer: "It's all about the Compound Effect. Little things repeated every day over time are what makes the difference."

Joanna recently became a NYT and USA Today bestselling author with the boxed set DEADLY DOZEN, which features her novella ONE DAY IN BUDAPEST. Learn more about this amazing example of author collaboration on Joanna's blog post about this experience

Happy New Year, writers! In this episode, the Kobo Writing Life team gets together to discuss our indie publishing predictions, forecasts, hopes and dreams for 2023! Hear from Tara (director of KWL), Laura (author engagement manager), Rachel (promotions specialist), and Terrence (content coordinator for KWL) as they discuss everything from AI-narrated audiobooks and the Kobo Plus expansion to the influence of TikTok and trends in cover design!

Whether you agree with our predications or think we are wildly off-base, we hope you enjoy listening to what we thought of the trends we saw in 2022 and what we expect (and hope) to see in 2023. 

And be sure follow Kobo Writing Life on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram for indie publishing tips, advice, and inspiration.

In this episode, Chrissy chats to Ricci Wolman the founder and CEO of Written Word Media. Ricci talks about why she created Written Word Media, the services she offers authors and she tells listeners about her newest site, Reading Stacks. Ricci discusses the different types of information they are able to gather from their readers and how authors can use this information for promotional opportunities. Ricci also reflects on the marketing changes that have occurred in 2018. 

In this episode, Stephanie McGrath interviews popular YouTuber Ariel Bissett. Ariel gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into the life of a BookTuber and the community behind it. She offers advice on getting your book into the hands of YouTubers, tips for aspiring vloggers and podcasters, and also gives us the low-down on YouTube sponsorships.

Join Chrissy Munroe as she interviews best-selling science-fiction author, Kevin J. Anderson. KJA gives listeners a peek into his life as he juggles writing, editing, and running his own publishing company, Wordfire Press. All while working towards completing his Master’s degree.

Joshua Lisec take us behind the scenes on what it is like being a Celebrity Ghostwriter. He discusses how he became a ghostwriter, what the ghostwriting process looks like and ways in which you can start your first non-fiction title. Joshua also discusses his unique business model that sets his projects up for success. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

In this episode, we spoke to the writing team of Jasinda and Jack Wilder (who we had the chance to meet at NINC 2022), wife and husband and parents to six kids, who write their own books as well work collaboratively. Between the two of them, they have written dozens of books, many of them best-sellers, across a multitude of genres and sub-genres. Be sure to check out their latest releases, Dirty Beasts: Chance, the latest instalment in the Dirty Beasts series, Music & Lyric, a new adult contemporary romance, and Blood Heir, a vampire romance (hinted at in this very episode!).

We heard about how they balance parenthood with working as indie authors, how they utilize their newsletter to reach readers, how they use their pen name for multiple genres, and get into how the indie publishing industry has changed over the course of their ongoing career and more!

Follow Jasinda Wilder on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and learn more about Jasinda and Jack on their website.

Kobo Writing Life’s very own Shayna Krishnasamy joins us on the podcast this week to discuss all things promotions. Shayna is the Author Relations and Promotions Strategist for KWL, and she not only manages our promotions tab, but she also helped create it! Shayna tells us how the promo tab came to be, how authors can best utilize the promos we run, and what authors should do if they’re rejected from a promo.

Learn more about this episode!

If you would like the promotion tab enabled on your KWL dashboard, email us at writinglife@kobo.com.

In this episode, we spoke to bestselling author Ruth Ware about her upcoming release, Zero Days, available on June 20th, 2023. Ruth’s novels have been translated into over 40 languages as well as optioned for film and TV, and she has garnered numerous bestsellers internationally. Zero Days is a tech-based, fast-paced thriller wherein the protagonist finds that there is nowhere to hide, and enemies are everywhere. We are very excited for everyone to read Ruth’s latest!

We discussed Ruth’s journey to becoming a full-time writer, how she develops the plots for her thrillers, what her writing process looks like, the difference between a “twist” and a “reveal” in storytelling, and much more. 

Learn more about Ruth and her work on her website, and find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

In this episode, we spoke to Amy Stuart, author of A Death at the Party, out today – get your copy now! A Death at the Party is a thriller that takes place over the course of one day as one woman’s plans for a party go terribly wrong, and has been aptly described as “Mrs. Dalloway with a suspense engine of Lisa Jewell!” We were very excited with this title, and are sure you will be, too.

Amy discusses her new release, her path to writing, her experience being a teacher, getting an MFA, and working as a writing instructor, details the interesting framework of her murder mystery-thriller novel, gets into the cast of characters, and regales us with some amazing writing advice! 

Learn more about Amy via her website, and be sure to follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Debut author and certified clinical hypnosis practitioner Shauna Cummins joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her book Wishcraft. Shauna has been a hypnotherapist for almost a decade and she talks to us about finding creativity during difficult times, her creative process and the experience of writing her first book, and she shares a simple technique authors can start using today to retrain their mind to register productivity and progress over negativity. 

Learn more about this episode!

Christine Munroe interviews Helen Hardt, an author and editor, about her publishing journey in terms of both sides of her career. This month, Helen launched the Steel Brothers Saga series with Waterhouse, an "untraditional" publishing house headed up by indie author all-star, Meredith Wild. Christine and Helen discuss:

• Helen’s publishing path, starting with small presses, and most recently with Waterhouse Press.
• She became an editor before she became a published author.
• Her work editing Meredith Wild, starting with Hardwired.
• “In this industry, it’s all about making contacts” – Meredith later started Waterhouse Press, and hired Helen as Managing Editor and took her on as an author.
• Waterhouse describes itself as an “untraditional press.” From Helen’s point of view, they focus on building the author and brand, more so than on each individual book, which she appreciates. They have a virtual office, with a small staff and authors spread out across the US.
• The Waterhouse team is very accessible to their authors, and open to author feedback on all aspects of the publishing process.
• Helen’s advice: write the best book possible. Learn, learn, learn about the art and craft of writing. Then hire a professional editor.
• She wishes she could have known that there’s more to writing fiction than just knowing your grammar. It would have saved her a lot of heartache in the form of rejections and bad critiques from contest entries.
• Is it harder for Helen, as an editor herself, to find an editor for her work that she can trust?
• “You can’t have an ego in this business” – there is always so much you don’t know about.
• The Steel Brothers Saga, which just launched starting with CRAVING and is heating up the bestseller lists. The next book, OBSESSION, comes out July 19th. This is Helen’s first series in which she’ll stretch the story of her characters across multiple books.
• “All of my heroes are a little bit tortured – this one more tortured than most!”

After the interview, Christine talks about the huge success of small independent publishing houses like Waterhouse in recent years. Another great example is Bookouture, based in the UK. They're bridging the gap between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and maximizing the best opportunities offered by both paths. We will likely see more and more of these presses emerge, and it will be very interesting to watch authors navigate these new opportunities.

We are kicking off 2021 with a delightful conversation with Kobo’s Chief Content Officer Pieter Swinkels. Pieter has worked for Kobo for almost a decade and previously worked as a publisher in the Netherlands, giving him a wealth of experience in the publishing industry which he was kind of enough to share with us. Pieter discusses the differences in publishing in North America and Europe, the evolution of digital publishing and his predictions for the future of the industry, and why he believes Kobo remains so competitive and what he’s excited for Kobo to do next. 

Learn more about this episode!

Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her experiences working with both large publishers and small indie presses. Jennifer’s most recent series, Blood and Ash, went viral on TikTok, and she talks to us about that experience and the power of word of mouth marketing.

Learn more about this episode!

In this episode, we are joined by Nana Malone, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of sexy, feel-good romance novels and creator of the #BrownNippleChallenge.

We learned more about Nana’s experience writing not one, but two novels for Kobo Originals, her writing process regarding dictation, modelling for her own covers, the importance of Black women and women of colour on the covers of romance novels, the #Brown Nipple Challenge, judging a literary contest, and more!

Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife. 

Bestselling author and publisher Kevin J. Anderson joins us on this podcast this week to discuss his illustrious thirty year writing career and how the world of publishing has evolved, and continues to evolve, throughout. Kevin publishes both traditionally and with his own indie press, WordFire Press, he is an instructor at Superstars Writing Seminar, and he teaches a Masters in Publishing course at Western Colorado University, giving him unique and diverse insight into the world of publishing. 

In this episode, we spoke to award-winning women’s fiction and romance author Anna Gomez, whose publications (and accolades) are many! She has written numerous romance novels under the pen name Christine Brae, and is one half of the best-selling series co-authored with Kristoffer Poloha, From Kona with Love. This swoon-worthy series is in development for film and television and has been mentioned in People Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Home & Family, and Publishers Weekly.

We spoke to Anna about her new release with Kobo Originals, Somewhere Along the Way, her writing career, her experience working in finance as well as authoring her many books, how travelling inspires her writing, her personal connections to her main characters, writing under a pen name, and more! We had a wonderful time talking to Anna and can’t wait to share Somewhere Along the Way with long-time fans and new readers alike.

Learn more on Anna’s website, and follow Anna on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter.

In this episode, we are joined by Barbara Kellyn, winner of the Kobo Originals Holiday Rom-Com Writing Contest for her novella, Polar Opposites! Barbara is the author of five novels and two novellas, and has been dubbed by her readers as “the queen of banter.” This was Barbara’s first foray into writing contests – and she was delighted to have won!

There was so much excitement this episode for the release of Polar Opposites, which is out now – exclusively from Kobo Originals!

We spoke to Barbara about starting her writing career in her late thirties, her inspiration for entering the contest, and her writing process behind Polar Opposites We also hear about how she crafts her characters, and learn more about the polar bear capital of the world, the setting of Polar Opposites, and much more!

We also hear from Jessica Khadoo, whose recent live Q&A with us illuminated our audience to all things Kobo Originals! Jess is the manager of Kobo Originals, Kobo’s in-house publisher of original content. We had a great conversation with Jess about all things Originals, so if you’re interested in learning more (and perhaps working with the team), don’t miss out.

For more, check out Barbara’s website and follow Barbara on Instagram and Threads.

Award-winning fantasy author L. Penelope joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her unique journey to becoming a hybrid author and how she manages to find time for herself while maintaining her busy publishing schedule. Leslye also chats with us about her writing process, the return of in-person events and conventions, and she tells us all about her own podcast, My Imaginary Friends.

Learn more about this episode!

This episode was recorded live at our first-ever indie author library night at Kobo HQ. Chrissy Munroe interviewed Maria Cipriano and Beth Godlewski from Toronto Public Library to discuss how they curate the library catalogue and give advice on best practices for indie authors. 

Dale Mayer, USA Today bestselling author, gives advice to listeners on how to develop a long and successful career in indie publishing. She also explains how dictating her books helps her to be one of KWL’s most prolific authors. Start self-publishing today with KWL. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

In this episode, we spoke to romantic fantasy author Imani Erriu, author of the recently released Heavenly Bodies, the first book in her beloved series of the same name. Imani is a lover of the fantasy genre (both as a reader and a writer), and her writing rose to virality on TikTok after she shared a single scene from her unfinished manuscript! Imani’s next book, Fallen Stars, is the second in this five-book series. Heavenly Bodies is available in Canada and the US via Penguin Random House.

Imani told us all about her writing journey, moving from indie publishing to traditional publishing, using astrology as writing inspiration, creating her own mythology for her world, advice on world-building, and much, much more! We had a great time chatting with Imani and sharing our own interest in astrology and love of the fantasy genre. Tune in to this invigorating interview – especially if you’re a fantasy fan!

Learn more on Imani’s website and follow Imani on TikTok and Instagram.

Please enjoy this preview of Season 3 of Kobo in Conversation! Eden Robinson joined us to talk about how she outfoxed her inner editor to write the Trickster trilogy -- including Return of the Trickster, coming in 2021 -- and explained why it’s a bad idea to follow her on twitter if you enjoy popular TV shows. And we learned how many narrators she tried for the Trickster story before landing at last on Jared. You can subscribe to Kobo in Conversation anywhere you listen. https://www.kobo.com/blog/kobo-in-conversation

Actress, producer, TV host, business owner and newly minted author Vivica Fox sits down with Rene at Kobo HQ in Toronto to talk about her new memoir, Every Day I'm Hustling

In this episode, author Sarah Winman drops by Kobo’s headquarters in Toronto to talk to Chrissy about her latest release, Tin Man. Sarah talks to us about the inspiration behind her novel, why it took her ten years to write the book and she also discusses the significance of the title of the novel.

Author Tara L. Roí joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and how she combined her love of writing with her passion for fighting climate change. Tara writes “steamy romance in a heating world”, and she talks to us about her path from screenwriter to journalist to romance author, what her writing process looks like and how it has evolved, and how she became passionate about the fight against climate change and how it has influenced her writing. 

Learn more about this episode!

We are joined by author Michael Polelle on the podcast this week. Michael is a former lawyer and emeritus law professor who started his writing career after he retired from practicing law. He talks to us about his two novels, The Mythros Conspiracy and American Conspiracy, what his research process was like for his books, and what his writing process (which includes morning chocolate!) is like. 

Learn more about this episode!

In this episode, we are joined by Vancouver-based Bal Khabra, debut author of hockey romance novel Collide! Bal started out as an avid reader of romance and reviewer of romance titles, and after reading over 150 romance novels in one year, decided she was ready to write one! That novel, Collide, was picked up and published by Penguin Random House after starting out as a self-published work. We can’t wait to see what Bal writes next!

We talked about Bal’s writing journey, her beginnings on Wattpad, how she utilizes social media and what happened when her book went viral on TikTok, advice for using social media to market books, reader vs. author spaces, her interest in hockey (and found family, and friendship) and how these subjects fit into her novel, and much more!

Learn more on Bal’s website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter/X.

With 20 years in the industry and over 100 novels under her belt, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis shares her tips for finding the right method of publication for you and how to sustain a lifelong publishing career. Jill shares her strategy for her social media and how she models her posts in the same tone as her novels. Join the platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

USA Today bestselling author, Autumn Jones Lake explains to us the misconceptions associated with motorcycle romance, how she plots her Lost Kings MC series (16 books and counting!) and shares her tips for aspiring romance writers. Fan of the podcast? We would love to hear from you! If you have a couple minutes to spare, please fill out our survey below. We want to learn more about you and what you would like to hear on the podcast next! https://forms.gle/i2gkgvFBbHa19YvU7 

Julie Czerneda, an international bestselling science fiction and fantasy author from Canada, was one of the Author Guests of Honour at the 2016 When Words Collide conference which takes place in Calgary each year in late summer.  

When Words Collide is an annual non-profit festival designed to bring readers and writers together in a celebration of the written word. Up to 10 tracks of programming, beginning at 1 PM on Friday and running through 5 PM Sunday, offer informational, educational, and social activities covering a wide spectrum of literature including Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Historical, Literary, Script-writing, Poetry, Comics, and Non-fiction. Roughly 650 readers, writers, editors, publishers, agents, and artists attend with over 200 presenters.

Kobo Writing Life has been a proud sponsor of When Words Collide for the past several years and are delighted to present one of the inspiring keynote talks from 2016 by Julie Czerneda addressing the “Dreamers” who were there attending the conference.

Julie’s keynote talk at When Words Collide addresses the world of dreamers and dream-weavers who are completely at home when at a book-related conference and how putting readers and writers together matters. That the things they revel in matters.

Julie Czerneda has written more than 20 books in multiple series, including The Trade Pact Universe, The Clan Chronicles, The Web Shifters Series,  Night’s Edge,  Stratification and The Reunification Series, with THE GATE TO FUTURE’S PAST (Book 2 in the series) being her most recent novel. (Look for Book 3, TO GUARD AGAINST THE DARK in the fall of 2017)

After the keynote talk by Julie, Mark talks to Julia Nethersole who oversees the Author Support Community at Kobo about some of the most common questions that authors write in to writinglife@kobo.com as well as some insights about better self-service tools and an author community forum that has recently been created to help authors help themselves as well as another way to connect with others from the community.

In Episode 64 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Robyn Baldwin, author of Love Lost, Life Found: 8 Practical Steps to Heal a Broken Heart.

In the interview, Mark and Robyn discuss:

• Robyn’s past work as a Senior Integrated Marketing Manager
• How the book itself has been three years in the making – first and foremost as a journaling experience; and then, later, in response to others, who, in reading her journal, thanked her for sharing it as it helped them
• The specific identification of the target audience for this book: someone who has called off a wedding, gone through a divorce or left a toxic relationship
• The additional target for this book might be younger women for whom this book might help them to identify what a difficult relationship looks like so they never have to put themselves in that situation
• How the book might also be targeted at a “13 year old Robyn” as something that she wished she could have had
• The underlying message of the book that there is a life to be found after all the “broken bits”
• The role of social media in both her demise as well as in her healing: Such as the “false picture” that she was actively portraying even while in the midst of the dark depths of the toxic relationship and then how
• The role of Pinterest in the time leading up to the wedding, and then, later, the more important role of how she used Pinterest to find motivational quotes
• The significance of the release date for this book, August 25th, and how a comment from her mother led her to wanting to change, or take control of that date as a positive thing
• Robyn’s identification as an Alpha Female and the inspiring Alpha Female Podcast that she hosts
• Her definition of an Alpha Female: An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony
• How Robyn’s background in marketing helped her with the aspect of planning out the book and the book launch path
• The timeline, schedule and check-lists that Robyn managed within Asana for the both the self-publishing steps as well as the marketing efforts leading up to the launch of the book
• Robyn’s advice for other first-time authors for where and how they should consider starting
• How a lot of the promotional efforts Robyn is participating in aren’t about promoting the book, but about sharing valuable pieces from the book with various online sources: such as the “calling off a wedding check-list”
• An interesting revelation of how, when Robyn reached out to literary agents regarding the book, she was told her platform reach (which was in the realm of 20,000 people), wasn’t large enough and that she should consider self-publishing it
• The authentic and organic way that the book itself was woven into Robyn’s personal and social media presence
• Robyn’s use of Gary Vaynerchuk’s concept of “Jab Jab Jab Right Hook” - from his book of the same name

Other links of interest:

Robyn’s Website - http://robynbaldwin.com

The Book: Love Lost, Life Found

Robyn on Facebook

Robyn on Pinterest

Robyn on Twitter

Robyn's Instagram - http://instagram.com/RobynBaldwin

Robyn on YouTube

Bestselling author Patricia McLinn is on the podcast this week to discuss the craft of writing and how to create a sustainable career as a writer. Patricia chats to us about her writing process, why discovering the writing process that works for you is so important as an author, and she gives us her best advice for creating and maintaining a long-standing successful career.

Learn more about this episode!

In the latest episode of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, we welcome NYT and USA Today bestselling author Diane Capri. KWL Content Manager Christina Potter and US Manager Christine Munroe speak with Diane - who offered jokingly to change her name to Christine for the purposes of this episode - about her daily writing life, the benefits of collaboration and mentorship, strategies for selling well on Kobo, and more. Tune in to hear about:

• The value of being part of writing organizations. Diane has been a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, and others, for many years. Diane talks about how she joined many groups when she began writing and how these groups of allowed her to receive feedback on writing and  upcoming projects. They are also a great place to connect with new writers and share information.
• How to find a writing schedule that works for you. Diane's advice? Try everything- it is the best way to refine your process.
• The importance of working closely with retailers and taking advantage of different programs that they offer. She specifically discusses Kobo's First Free in Series page as a strategy to find new readers. She also highlights that making her titles available through all retailers has been key to her success, and that exclusive programs have not worked for her. By their nature they exclude potential readers who find eBooks through other platforms.
• Diane talks about collaboration and her author collective, The Twelve. This group worked together and released the incredibly successful DEADLY DOZEN boxed set. She discusses the process of putting the boxed set together, highlighting  pricing strategy and PR efforts to ensure the book was accessible to as many readers as possible. The ultimate goal of the group: do things that haven't been done before. Read Joanna Penn's blog post about DEADLY DOZEN's success here!
• There has never been a better time to be a reader and writer. One of things Diane enjoys the most is that readers who may not have been able to find her books in print can easily purchase them around the world as an eBook.
• Diane's relationship with her fans. Connecting with them is one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of being an author.
• A sneak peek of what Diane is working on next.

Author and professional stylist Heather Newberger joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her first book, How to Date Your Wardrobe: And Other Ways to Revive, Revitalize, and Reinvigorate Your Style. We speak to Heather about her career path as a stylist, her road to publication and the bumps that were caused by the pandemic, what post-pandemic fashion will look like, and we talk about using fashion and visual cues to help build in-depth characters and layered storytelling.

Welcome to the Kobo ReWriting Life Podcast! Alongside your regularly scheduled Kobo Writing Life podcast episode releases, we will also be featuring some highlights from our backlist. For the fifth episode of this series, we're happy to share this interview featuring Canadian thriller author Samantha M. Bailey from 2022.

Watch Out for Her is a contender for Canada Reads 2025. Don't miss the debates, which take place March 17th-20th, 2025.

In this episode, we are joined by Samantha M. Bailey, USA Today and #1 nationally bestselling author of Woman on the Edge. Today, Samantha discusses her second book, the recently released domestic suspense novel/psychological thriller, Watch Out for Her.

We discussed Samantha's experiences finding a traditional publishing platform, following up a successful debut during a global pandemic, how curiosity can drive the creative process of writing a thriller, the importance of editing, of community, of her readers, and much more!

Find out more on Samantha M. Bailey's website and follow Samantha on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Founder and developer of StoryOrigin Evan Gow joins us on the podcast this week. Evan tells us the how authors can utilize cross promotions such as newsletter swaps and group promotions, build their mailing list, distribute review copies, and even track their writing goals on StoryOrigin, and he gives us his predictions for the future of indie publishing and how he sees his site fitting into that future.

Learn more about this episode!

While every author has heard the age old advice that it's important to have a professional looking and beautiful cover that appeals to the target audience, not as much attention has been paid to the blurb, description or "sales copy" that helps inspire the potential reader to click that all important BUY button.

This interview with Bryan Cohen, author of the TED SAVES THE WORLD series, podcast host and man for all seasons includes an in-depth look at the importance of a strong and solid blurb. Also included are two different amazing prizes for writers.

Contest 1 -- Win one of three carefully crafted book description services valued at $149 USD. Giveaway ends Sept 31, 2015. ENTER HERE

Contest 2 -- $1000 Copywriting for Authors Giveaway. Giveaway Ends October 9, 2015 - ENTER HERE

Bryan is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre. During their chat Mark and Bryan discuss:

• The great work that Bryan and Jim Kukral do putting together the SELL MORE BOOKS SHOW podcast and how that keeps Bryan on top of things for his own writing
• The non-fiction works that Bryan has written to help prompt writers to get started, which include the first one that Bryan wrote in 2010 (1000 Creative Writing Prompts), and how these books are still often among his best-selling titles
• How, if Bryan himself is ever stuck doing his own fiction writing, he can often turn to his own prompts
• Bryan's site Build-creative-writing-ideas.com which has about 700 articles and sees significant traffic on a daily basis
• How writing something timeless will ensure its long term viability and sales
• Bryan's YA podcast co-hosted with Robert Scanlon about reading and writing called The Split
• The work that Bryan does writing "sales copy" blurbs for writers (BEST PAGE FORWARD) -- and how the demand for those services has recently exploded
• How a solid writing blurb can work as effectively as a good cover at helping convert those looking at your book's landing page into buyers
• THE CONTEST BY WHICH a KWL LISTENER CAN RECEIVE A FREE BOOK BLURB FROM BRYAN
• How Bryan is looking into also helping writers with drafting email campaigns for auto-responders, helping with Facebook ad copy, author bios and similar communications
• The importance of priorities when it comes to maintaining a balanced life while producing as much content as Bryan produces
• Knowing your own strengths and weakeness for performing different types of tasks at certain times of the day and what makes Bryan a fantastic husband (he may love his readers, but he loves his wife more)
• How TED SAVES THE WORLD came from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and asking the question: "What if Giles and Buffy were the same person? (ie, combining the intelligence & wisdom with the power and ability)"
• When Bryan, who used to do improv comedy, changed himself from a "panster" to a "plotter" while developing TED SAVES THE WORLD from a novella into a full novel and series. And the seeming contradiction in how Bryan often feels like he is "pantsing" in the discovery process of plotting out a novel.
• The replacement of the original terrible cover and the local photo shoot with actor friends that helped Bryan to produce a well-branded and consistent series. http://robotbraindesign.com/
• Bryan also shares his favourite advice for beginning writers

Mark then provides a quick summary of some of the advice and examples regarding a strong professional product as gleaned from the interview and then provides further details about the aforemention contests.

Other links:

Bryan's website

Bryan on Twitter

Bryan's TED SAVES THE WORLD BOOKS on Kobo

Bryan's non-fiction writing on Kobo

Sell More Books Show Podcast

Book Smart Romance: How Penny Reid bypassed gatekeepers to create her own niche market. Penny discusses the ways in which writing romance is revolutionary, why creators today appear to be more accessible and why authors should always strive towards authenticity in their work. She also uses the magical power of math and science to provide detailed insight into the recent controversies of the romance community. Join the self-publishing platform that’s fast, free, easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

In this episode, we are joined by Jeff Adams and Michele Lucchini, online and digital accessibility experts who work at UsableNet, whose goal is to “make the digital world more accessible and usable.” Jeff and Michele recently wrote and published their first book together, an amazing guide to all things digital accessibility, Content for Everyone: A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content!

Jeff is the Accessibility Operations Direct at UsableNet, as well as a queer romance author and podcaster. Michele is Vice President of Delivery and Accessibility Operations at UsableNet, and has over twenty-three years of experience working with accessibility projects in digital spaces. Together, these two authors and accessibility experts offer so much info in this episode for anyone (and everyone) interested in broadening their knowledge of accessibility online. We at KWL learned a lot, too!

We discussed all things digital accessibility, their book “Content for Everyone,” how making small changes makes a big difference, how to think about accessibility, all about alternative text, headers, and images, and much, much more! This is a great episode for anyone wanting to learn more about accessibility online and in their own writing life.

To learn more, visit Jeff’s website.

Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame:  Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.

This is the second of the series of three interviews and features bestselling New Adult paranormal romance author Kristie Cook.

Camille and Kristie discuss:

• Kristie's bestselling series Soul Saver
• An exploration of Kristie's path to writing which began at the age of 8 years when she embraced a school writing assignment
• Kristie's experience in business and marketing writing and how that background helped provide her with a solid understanding of good marketing strategies for her books
• The importance of taking a business perspective and a professional midset
• Kristie's POV regarding flying across the ocean from the US to Germany and the UK for attend both Frankfurt Book Fair and London Book Fair in 2013
• How meeting with Kobo representatives in person at the London Book Fair was the highlight of Kristi's visit to LBF back in April 2013
• The importance of making contacts and the long term view of a writing a publishing career
• Kristie's thoughts on being a KWL Star on the Frankfurt Author Walk of Fame
• The inspiration for Kristie's novel The Space Between (which is in her The Book of Phoenix series)
• How self publishing authors help and support each other out and don't see one another as competitors, but rather as colleagues
  

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre discusses one of the recently introduced Kobo Writing Life Dashboard tools, the Price Scheduling tool (for scheduling temporary/promotional or permanent price changes), why the KWL team developed this for KWL authors and publishers, and how price scheduling and being able to make your book free at other times without exclusivity requests are a hallmark of the Kobo and Kobo Writing Life spirit. 

Other Links/Resources:

Kristie Cook's website and blog

Kristie's books on Kobo

The Soul Savers Box Set (a great value bundle of 3 novels plus a novella)

Kristie's KWL Blog Guest post on why authors should consider attending conferences and conventions

In this episode, we are joined by Malorie Cooper, author and co-founder of The Writing Wives, where Malorie and her wife Jill offer author coaching and author marketing services! Mal writes science fiction titles under M.D. Cooper and non-fiction titles under Mal Cooper, with a focus on Facebook advertising and helping indie authors market their books for the better.

Check out Malorie and Jill’s marketing book series, Help! I’m An Author for more.

We had a great chat with Malorie about everything from her writing career, writing a series that consists of over 120 books, co-writing with her wife Jill, developing the Writing Wives together with Jill, her best marketing advice, all about Facebook ads, and much more! If you’re interested in learning more about advertising and marketing, be sure to listen to this episode.

To learn more, visit The Writing Wives' website or check out Mal's expansive sci-fi series, Aeon 14!

Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame:  Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey.

This is the third in the series of three interviews and features international bestselling author Hugh Howey.  In the interview, Camille and Hugh discuss:

• Hugh’s start into writing, the multi-faceted journey his life took, including being a ship’s captain
• How Hugh was working as a bookseller when he started on the path of writing a book, publishing it, and then moving on to the next project writing the next book
• Hugh’s perspective on the importance of joining a writing group; in particular the group he joined (the High Country Writers)
  
• The critical role that revisions of that first draft play for a writer, whether you are self-publishing or want to send it to an agent or publisher
• The role being a bookseller played in helping to inform Hugh about the realities of the publishing industry
• Hugh’s belief that we should celebrate the fact that there are so many people out there able and willing to express themselves through literature like they do all other art forms
• How Europe, often seen to be lagging behind the North American trends is, in Hugh’s opinion, actually progressing quite a bit more quickly than the U.S. in terms of accepting self-publishing
• The meetups that Hugh participates in when he is traveling, as a way to connect directly with readers
• How Hugh uses social media to make himself available and to interact with his readers and friends
• How Kobo Writing Life has been a major avenue to international readers for Hugh’s eBooks
• How Hugh sees the KWL interface as the cleanest and most user-friendly platform, presenting data in an interesting format, and how he tells the other platforms they should be copying what Kobo is doing
• Hugh’s 7 week tour through Europe promoting the book, and his embrace of a hybrid approach (Hugh sold the print only rights to WOOL to Simon & Schuster)
  
• The incredible innovation that several of Hugh’s publishers have demonstrated in promoting WOOL
  

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, discusses a point that Hugh makes in the interview regarding patience and the strategy of continuing to work on your next book (rather than focusing all your time and attention worrying about your already published title or titles) -- he also references a recent blog post by Dean Wesley Smith entitled "The New World of Publishing: Some Perspectives of 2013" in which Smith notes the importance of building a career over decades rather than giving up after a few books and very little sales (or, as the case used to be with publishing, quitting after 50 rejections)

Other Links:

Hugh's website

Hugh's books at Kobo

The WOOL trilogy (WOOL, SHIFT & DUST)

Nina Grinstead, the founder of Valentine PR, joins us on the podcast this week to share how she creates strategic marketing plans for her authors. Nina talks to us about influencer marketing, utilizing different social media platforms, and how she helps her authors reach their career goals.

Learn more about this episode!

In this episode, we are joined by Swedish author and entrepreneur, Marcus Tallberg. Tune in for a discussion on authentic representation of marginalized characters in fiction, why Marcus felt compelled to write from such a young age, and why it's so vital for everyone to have the opportunity to see their experiences represented.

Find more information about our podcast, including links to our guests' books here. If you're ready to start your publishing journey, visit kobo.com/writinglife. 

Novelist, poet, and director of the Alliance of Independent Authors Orna Ross joins us on the podcast this week to discuss taking a global approach to your indie publishing business. Orna talks about what business decisions authors should consider and how to get into the right mindset before going global, and she gives us some great advice for new and veteran authors alike.

Learn more about this episode!

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Nancy L. Baumann about Bookarma, a platform that allows authors to leverage the community in their social media endeavors. In the interview Mark and Nancy discuss:

• How Bookarma, an international marketing platform, allows you to break beyond your own personal marketing network and allows you to reach further
• The user friendly manner of creating an account, adding social media and importing books simply by entering the ISBN
• How Bookarma came out of Nancy's business as a non-fiction book coach as a way to help authors once their books were out in the market
• The multiplier effect of authors supporting other authors by sharing one another's efforts in reaching people through social media
• How the author queue works in terms of authors finding appropriate content to share with their followers
• The importance of book covers and how a bad cover doesn't help a good book
• The weekly webcasts that help authors with tips and suggestions on the best way to leverage Bookarma
• The ability to filter your queue by genre as an author
• The measurability that is built into the campaigns on Bookarma, such as the number of impressions and the number of clicks that another author made in the queue and then how many times the book was shared and the number of clickbacks that link received
• How both traditionally published and self-published authors can use this tool

Mark then talks about the value of authors helping one another and how, as a bookseller for the past 20+ years he has paid attention to this in his own desire to help authors.

There is an ask for KWL listeners to email writinglife@kobo.com with any questions they might have that we can answer in future episodes as well as suggestions for guests and topics for future episodes. Please note that submitting a helpful question just might land you additional promotional placement at Kobo.

In this episode, we are joined by Kobo’s own CEO, Michael Tamblyn! MT has been in the book business for much of his career, and he was directly involved with the founding of Kobo and its launch in 2010. MT is our “content guy” and is passionate about books and bookselling – including indie publishing. In this illuminating interview, we get to hear all about MT’s career, his thoughts on reading and publishing, insights into bookselling, and so much more.

We talked to MT about his start in the book business, his part in the creation of Kobo Writing Life, where he thinks the book business and publishing industry is going, the twenty-five year digital reading revolution, climbing mountains of death, the importance of indie authors and publishers, and, of course, a mention of MT’s boxing match with Rachel. For those looking for more insight into Kobo and Kobo Writing Life, don’t miss this episode.

Visit Kobo, Kobo Writing Life and the Kobo blog for more! And don't miss out on listening to MT and Nathan host Kobo in Conversation.

In this episode, Chrissy chats with Kobo’s VP of Product and Devices, Ramesh Mantha, to learn all about Kobo’s newest eReader Forma. Ramesh gives listeners a peek into the work that goes into creating new devices at Kobo. He talks about the features of Forma, specifically the focus on physical comfort, and the readings stats that influenced the design of Forma. Ramesh also talks about digital reading and how print and eBooks fit in the reading landscape today. 

Known as the “Wizard of Storytelling,” David Farland (who also writes under the name David Wolverton) is the author and editor of more than fifty books, including his Philip K. Dick Award winning novel On My Way to Paradise and the well-known Runelords series. A long-time mentor to writers, David spend many years teaching writing at Bringham Young University and has also mentored such writers as Stephanie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint and James Dashner.

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre had the chance to sit down and chat with David about these things and much more at the 2016 annual Superstars Writing Seminars conference in Colorado Springs where David is one of the founding faculty members of a group of international bestselling authors who spend several information-packed days teaching newer writers the business of writing and publishing.

In their conversation, Mark and David discuss:

• David’s love of writing, which started when he was nine years old and had his first writing published in a local newspaper
• The fact that David had planned on becoming a doctor and was taken aside by a very astute teacher when he was seventeen who told him, “Dave, you’re a writer. You don’t it yet, but you’re a writer and you can’t get away from that. It’s going to come out some day.”
• When he was studying pre-med and spent three days working on a poem that just wouldn’t leave his mind.
• Winning third place in a college writing contest for a short story and how that inspired him to write more and submit them to other contests, where he won first place in all of them, including first prize in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest
• How winning that contest led to a three novel contract with Bantam right there at the Writers of the Future ceremony
• David’s current role in helping to kick-start new writers careers as the lead editor for the Writers of the Future annual contest
• Tips on what David is looking for when reading submissions to this contest
• David’s role as a writer coach and how, as an advisor to Scholastic Books in the United States, David had suggested they take a serious look at a then-unknown author of the Harry Potter series
• The secret to how David can intuit a writer’s chances of success without even having to have read any of their work
• How his real name of David Wolverton became associated with his science fiction novels (starting with his first award winning novel, and how he landed on the pseudonym of David Farland by standing in a bookstore and looking at the placement of books on the shelves and determining the best “eye-level” last name to employ
• David’s natural storyteller ability as a Dungeon Master taking care of twenty to thirty people at once for role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, and how that led to his interest and participation in game development
• David’s work doing screenplays and movie production, and the difference and similarities between writing novels, writing video games and writing screenplays
• David’s work writing in the Star Wars universe, including The Courtship of Princess Leia as well as the YA and middle grade books for Scholastic
• The collaborative spirit and mentality required when working on licensed properties, video games, etc
• The differences between “Hollywood” and “New York Publishing” for a writer
• David’s advice for writers and on being a professional writer: Deciding what you want to be and then beginning to live and BE that part

As part of his dedication to helping other writers, David writes the David Farland’s #WritingTips, an email bulletin for writers. Many authors rave about how it has helped them. Out of devotion, he provides his #WritingTips for free. You can subscribe to David’s #WritingTips here.

LINKS OF INTEREST

David’s Website: http://davidfarland.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/authordavidfarland

Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidfarland

David's Great Resources for writers, including a signup to his “Daily Kick in the Pants” emails: www.mystorydoctor.com

YouTube Video mentioned in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWEP3aBVpAw

Debut author Zakiya Dalila Harris joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her novel, The Other Black Girl. Before becoming an author, Zakiya worked as an editorial assistant at a publishing house and she tells us what real life experiences influenced her book and what it was like being on the other side of the author-editor relationship. She also talks to us about her experience getting an MFA, the television adaptation of The Other Black Girl, and what changes in the publishing industry she’s seeing now and hopes to see in the future.

Learn more about this episode!

In our latest podcast, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews bestselling author and self-publishing expert Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela has written the book on self-publishing, WHAT KIND OF LOSER INDIE PUBLISHES, AND HOW CAN I BE ONE, TOO? In the summer of 2013, she embarked on a 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, which she organized herself (with the help of her supportive family), so she has plenty of insights and advice for working successfully with bookstores.

Listen in to Episode 020 as Pamela shares her thoughts on:

• Her mission to serve as an exemplary self-published author, in particular when working with bookstores, so they will open the door to fellow writers.
• Stories from the road during her 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, including the day when a book club showed up to her Boston reading… despite tornado warnings!
• Keeping it in the family - her husband, the five children between them, and her mom all joined her on the road to help support her work.
• Looking at self-promotion with a long-term perspective. "I'm hoping for a 10-year return," she says. Pamela recommends focusing on how to build your email list of people who welcome hearing what is next. Also, don't abuse that list - send a maximum of 2-3 updates per year.
• Promotion is 1/3 of the game in terms of your success. The other elements? Writing, of course, and giving back to the author community.
• Pamela's free strategy: giving away books is an amazing way to get those crucial reviews. Pricing the first book in your series for free is a great way to get started. Read her blog post on this topic here.
• What she wishes she would have known when she started, including thoughts on exclusive programs, and why moving books in and out of various platforms hurt her more than the benefits of exclusive helped her.
• Pseudonyms. Pamela believes, “I don’t want to make it hard for someone who discovers me, to discover other things about my writing that they might like.” However, that might not apply for writers who work in vastly different and contradictory genres, like erotica vs children’s picture books.
• Hints about what's to come in Pamela's forthcoming novels.