SPA Girls Podcast

This week we broadcast our 350th episode and in complete contrast to how laid-back Kiwis generally approach milestones, we’re celebrating the heck out of it! What have we learned, what have we regretted and what’s next? 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us in our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group for authors, where we discuss all things marketing, mindset and publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Building a deep connection between your characters and your readers is whatcreates raving fans, books that stick like glue to the sales charts and fuels word-of-mouth recommendations. So how do we do this? Today we’re talking about tools and resources we use to build reader connection with our characters. “When readers recognize the character’s emotional state as one they’ve experienced in the past, it creates a sense of shared experience. Readers will connect with the character, even on a subconscious level, because of this thing they have in common. This is a common way for empathy to begin.” ~ Bella Puglisi, Know your characters and what makes them tick show not tell make them sympathetic & relatable character interviews – Wendy does them quarter of the way through the book she’s writing Use character’s senses Make character have to choose between making a bad choice or a worse choice re-read your favorite books for inspiration Recommended resource:The Connection between Character Emotion and Reader Empathy(https://www.livewritethrive.com/2019/02/04/the-connection-between-character-emotion-and-reader-empathy/#:~:text=When%20readers%20recognize%20the%20character’s,way%20for%20empathy%20to%20begin.) Writing For Emotional Impact by Karl Iglesias : https://www.karliglesias.com/ How To Make Readers Feel Emotion: https://theeditorsblog.net/2011/01/30/creating-emotion-in-the-reader/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

USA Today best-selling author Lee Savino is a bubble of energy, and this week’s podcast with her left us all feeling motivated and inspired. We know you’ll love this episode too!  Lee talked to us about how the mindset of an indie author is vitally important, more important than any other aspect of writing and publishing, including all the tactics and systems we hear about all the time. If you can get your mindset right, you can achieve anything.  We talk with Lee about all the mindset changes she had to make, and as well as her tips and tricks around mindset, all of which helped her to become a successful, million-dollars-a-year indie author.  Links mentioned in the show: www.leesavino.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/millionaireauthormastermind 💜 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. 💜 If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private Facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Are you struggling to get your words down each day? Why not give writing sprints a try? You can do them alone, however, you might find they work better with others like we did. How it works: Find a friend or a group and set aside a certain amount of time. Now break this into doable time slots. For example, if you had two hours, then the time could be 4 slots of 30 mins, or 2 times 1 hour each, or 8 times 15mins. Or any number that suits the majority. Sometimes it’s better to start small. It’s also a good idea to allocate time for a break at some stage. The SPA Girls will chat for a while, do a couple of sprints, then have a bathroom break. We have coffee or lunch if we’re together, otherwise it’s straight back into it. Listen to the podcast for more tips regarding: training yourself how to set up a sprint group the power of structure what length of sprint? top of the hour sprints tracking Resources mentioned: Ines Johnson with the SPA Girls – http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep242-interview-with-ines-johnson-part-one-pen-names-productivity/ https://writeordie.com https://www.mywriteclub.com 💜The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private Facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

* we apologize for the technical gremlins that appear occasionally in this recording. Stick with it because the info is gold! Today we’re joined by Julia Roberts, MSc, writer, creativity coach, and soon-to-be Ted Talker. Julia is going to talk us through procrastination and the tools we can use to manage it. Goodness knows we all need this help! Her expertise is the creative process – she focuses on writers and writer’s block. She has her Masters of Science in Creativity and uses proven tools and concepts to help writers shift out of block and onward! She helps thousands of writers every year. Her book WRITE WITHOUT THE FIGHT – MASTER YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS TO WRITE WITH EASE AND SATISFACTION will debut in June 2022. About Julia: Julia Roberts helps writers predict and prevent writer’s block. She helps writers really see their creativity and talents with precision, so they can know their strengths and struggles and adjust their approach to writing. She helps writers limit their frustration, fears and setbacks so they can write their best work. Julia is a certified coach, has her Masters in the Science of Creativity and has three books published, including Amazon bestseller: Sex, Lies & Creativity – Gender Differences in Creative Thinking. She has addressed worldwide audiences live, at teleseminars and webinars, has been a guest on hundreds of radio shows, and a dozen tv talk and news shows, including Chicago Tribune, Redbook, Child Magazine, New York Times and New York Public Radio/NPR. After 25 years working as a brainstormer and marketing strategist for companies like Warner Bros, HBO, Sesame Workshop, she founded decodingcreativity.com in 2008 – where she serves serious writers in all media. Find more at DecodingCreativity.com or join the Write Without the Fight FB group. Julia’s new book: https://www.amazon.com/Write-Without-Fight-Creative-Satisfaction-ebook/dp/B09Z9VMK6X/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Do you want to learn how to design a series that will hook and keep readers, AND set you up for long term success? Helen Scheuerer, YA fantasy author of the bestselling series, The Oremere Chronicles and the Curse of the Cyren Queen quartet, joins us today to discuss how we can write a successful series. Topics covered include: The REAL reasons you should write in a seriesHow to find and use your target market to satisfy hungry readersHow to use foreshadowing and cliffhangers to create binge-worthy instalmentsHow to protect your career with series exit and expansion strategies And lots more! About Helen How To Write a Successful Series will be available August 11th, 2022 so go ahead and pre-order now! https://helenscheuerer.com/ Helen Scheuerer is the YA fantasy author of the bestselling series, The Oremere Chronicles and the Curse of the Cyren Queen quartet. Her work has been highly praised for its strong, flawed female characters and its action-packed plots. Her books have often been likened to Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series, and the epic #girlpower film, Wonderwoman.Helen’s love of writing and books led her to pursue a Bachelor of Creative Writing, majoring at the University of Wollongong and a Masters of Publishing at the University of Sydney. Now a full-time author, Helen lives amidst the mountains in New Zealand and is constantly dreaming up new stories. 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

This week, in answer to a listener question, we talk about how we manage the process of writing a book. How many do we write at one time? Do we work on multiple projects at different stages, or just write and edit one book at a time? What do we do to ensure we stay on track and don’t procrastinate?  Listen to this week’s podcast and find out! 

Ignite your career with collaboration. Bestselling Author Asa Maria Bradley suggests collaboration as a way to get creative again. Asa grew up in Sweden surrounded by archaeology and Norse mythology, and uses her background to inspire her sexy and paranormal romance series. She also writes urban fantasy about empowered heroines who kick ass while saving the world. Her work has received a double nomination for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA contest, a Reviewers Choice Award nomination, a Holt Medallion win, and Bookseller’s Best Award win. The last couple of years were rough on Asa’s creativity, and almost by chance she joined a bunch of collaboration projects. With different strategies and aims, working with other writers gave her the creative spark needed to enjoy writing again. Besides providing accountability, the projects validated and inspired her work. Today she shares the challenges and rewards that she experienced from writing for and promoting several collaborations. Show Notes: The projects she worked on did extremely well. The 1001 Dark Nights Short Story Challenge 2020 Anthology which became an instant Amazon #1 bestseller in several categories in several countries and rose to #15 on the overall US Kindle list and #42 in the overall Apple store in the US. Also, the multi-author (20+) Grifter’s Song series, where she entered a novella out of her comfort zone and genre.  Asa organised a holiday-themed multi-author (8) wolf shifter novella collection, Shifters and Mistletoe in 2021 which instantly became Amazon, B&N, and Apple bestsellers on release day.  The multi-author (20+) paranormal romance and urban fantasy novella collection, Midnight Magic releases in May this year intent on making the USA Today bestsellers list. You’ll find Asa at https://www.asamariabradley.com https://www.facebook.com/AsaMariaBradley.Author/ 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

Ten Mistakes Authors Make With Their Editing & How To Fix Them Today we’re thrilled to welcome editor extraordinaire, Mary-Theresa Hussey, to the SPA. Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, Mary-Theresa (known as Matrice) worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued triple that. Many of the books she has edited went on to find places on both the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists. Matrice shares the top ten mistakes she sees authors making and how to fix them! This is an incredible episode, packed with great info for writers at all stages of their careers. Bonus – it’s a long and juicy episode filled with amazing expert advice to help you polish your writing. Guest Bio: Mary-Theresa Hussey—also known as Matrice—knew from the start she loved the stories found in books—and that she didn’t want to be a writer. So she became an editor, putting  her love of books to good use by helping authors write better stories. Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, she worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued triple that. Many of the books she has edited went on to find places on both the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists. Matrice is an award-winning editor, including the RWA Vivian Stephens Industry Professional award in 2015, the OCC Helping Hands Industry Award, Editor of the Year Award from the NYC RWA and multiple RITA and National Readers Choice Award nominees and winners among others). She loves a good story and wants to make sure it’s well told. Find her at http://www.goodstorieswelltold.com/ Resources mentioned: Tiktok – follow @iamthatenglishteacher for grammar and punctuation tips KM Weiland’s Structuring Your Novel (https://www.amazon.com/K-M-Weiland/e/B002RCXQ00/) Enneagram : https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions Myers Briggs: https://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-personality-test-new Purdue Writing resources: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/index.html

Today’s podcast comes from a listener question. Thanks to Rachel, who asks “- I’ve been wondering about all the visual stuff that ISN’T a cover. For instance, how do you get nice, branded, coordinated headers for your website, your emails, your Facebook profile? Is that something an illustrator does, or a cover designer, or someone else? And logos? For instance for a series? Or I’ve noticed some writers have logos for themselves. How do you prefer to use them if you have one? Is a logo something an illustrator does? We answer (hopefully!) all of the above questions and give tips and pointers about what we think is fine to DIY and what you should outsource, where to start and how not to get overwhelmed by all this! Resource links: canva.combookbrush.comcoolors.co (for color palettes)covervault.comcreativelive.compracticaltypography.com 💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us Patreon. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you’ll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast All SPA Girls Podcast Episodes, Resource Links and free Self-Publishing Info at www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com