Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 286 - Investment, Compromise, and Evolution with Juliette N. Banks

Jan 12, 2023

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Mark interviews Juliette N. Banks, a bestselling, wide author who writes steamy contemporary and paranormal page-turning romances.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares recent comments, welcomes new patron Dharma Kelleher, and shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Juliette talk about:

Juliette always believing that some day she would be a published author, but it was something she never chased
Juliette's marketing background at a book she wrote in 2012 that was published by Random House in 2013
The significant and tight Covid related lock-downs in New Zealand
Juliette's adaptation to reading a lot of eBooks during the pandemic
The incredibly expensive cost of print books in New Zealand
Writing an archangel series and a vampire series
Launching her books and reader magnet in Jan and March of 2021
Working a full time job squeezed into 4 work days per week while writing all these novels
The roughly 200 people Juliette was sharing her works with for free before she even published her first book (and how they've maintained their loyalty as readers to this day)
Launching a new contemporary billionaire romance series at the beginning of 2022
The parallel between the vampire characters and the billionaire characters
Training herself to think very American in terms of her largest readership base
Calculating the value of going to book signings, particular in the cost of flying from New Zealand to somewhere in the US
The process Juliette works on with editing and publishing
Having had five BookBubs in 2022
The steady stream of releases and the stress that comes from that, particularly when illness like Covid occurs to throw a monkey wrench into it
Where Juliette has been focusing in her initial goal to get to the 5 figures she needed in order to quit her corporate job
Spending time on learning what she has to do to make her books "BookBub Worthy"
Why she doesn't separate "indie" and "traditional" - you're competing in a store with suppliers of all sizes
The pricing strategy that Juliette uses
How only 10 of her books are creating income right now. The other 10 are things like reader magnets
The way Juliette plans and maps out her writing business
The importance of knowing what your skills and abilities and weaknesses are
The value of professional coaches and taking some action upon those meetings/sessions
And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on the investment Juliette made by engaging for a long period and in detail with a group of 200 readers.

Links of Interest:

Juliette N. Banks is a bestselling, wide author who writes steamy contemporary and paranormal page-turning romances with alpha heroes who fall for sassy heroines and a healthy dose of action and suspense.

Juliette has a vast background in consumer marketing and previously published with Random House. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with Tilly, her Maine Coon kitty, and is now a full-time author.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0