Structuring a Novel to Meet Reader Expectations: The Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast Featuring Matty Dalrymple

This week on the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Campaigns Manager Matty Dalrymple talks with USA Today bestselling mystery thriller author Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela shares strategies for structuring novels to meet reader expectations, including the importance of a strong midpoint to maintain engagement. She discusses how indie authors can leverage flexibility to adjust content based on reader feedback, connect directly with fans, and plan future books in a series while balancing continuity and adaptability.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our self-publishing advice center. And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

Sponsors

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Bookvault. Sell high-quality, print-on-demand books directly to readers worldwide and earn maximum royalties selling directly. Automate fulfillment and create stunning special editions with BookvaultBespoke. Visit Bookvault.app today for an instant quote.

This podcast is also sponsored by Gatekeeper Press, the all-inclusive Gold Standard in Publishing, offering authors 100% rights, royalties, satisfaction and worldwide distribution. Gatekeeper Press, Where Authors are Family.

About the Host

Matty Dalrymple podcasts, writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage as The Indy Author. She has written books on the business of short fiction and podcasting for authors, and her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest magazine. She serves as the campaigns manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors. Matty is also the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with Rock Paper Scissors; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with The Sense of Death; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts, including Close These Eyes. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.

About the Guest

Pamela Fagan Hutchins is a USA Today bestselling and Amazon All Star mystery / thriller / suspense author with books in ten languages, who believes in soulmates, loves to laugh, and lives out the adventures in her books at a rustic lake camp at Maine’s Mooselook Lake and in an off-the-grid lodge on the face of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains with her husband, sled dogs, and draft horses, when they’re not traveling the world. You can find her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.