The Indy Author Podcast

Lee Savino discusses AUTHOR NEWSLETTERS, the one area of an author's business about which Lee says "just do it," imagining your newsletter as a conversation with a specific person over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, and a pep talk about how to get past the "I don't want to pester them" mindset and recognizing that your work is a gift that you're sharing with people who have opted in because they're interested. Lee Savino is a USA Today bestselling author, mom, and chocoholic. She loves connecting with other authors and writers. She moderates a Facebook group, Millionaire Author Mastermind, for authors serious about making money from their books and is the instructor, along with Nicholas Erik, of the Six Figure Author Marketing Challenge.

Joe Lallo discusses THE PROS AND CONS OF PRE-ORDERS, including the specific considerations of pre-orders on Amazon versus other platforms, whether or not pre-orders make sense for an author's first book or for standalone novels, and things to keep in mind to avoid annoying your most faithful fans. We also talk about pricing strategies, including how to price box sets. Joseph Lallo was educated at NJIT, where he earned a master's degree in Computer Engineering. In September 2014 he was given the opportunity to take a promotion that would eliminate his writing time or become a full-time author. He chose the books. Since then he has written dozens of novels and novellas in genres across the science fiction and fantasy spectrum, including the international bestselling Book of Deacon series and the critically acclaimed Free-Wrench series. In addition to writing, he helps run the Six Figure Authors podcast with Lindsay Buroker and Andrea Pearson. Past ventures have included the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing podcast and BrainLazy.com. In his spare time he builds pointless doodads in his ridiculously over-equipped basement workshop.

Joshua Essoe discusses CROWDFUNDING FOR AUTHORS. He shares what led him to choose crowdfunding—and specifically Kickstarter—as his approach for funding his book, ESSOE'S GUIDES TO WRITING ACTION SEQUENCES AND SEX SCENES, what went according to plan, and what was a surprise. He also describes what he gained from the experience, including confirmation that being a writer doesn't have to be the solo sport it sometimes feels like. Joshua Essoe is a full-time freelance editor who has edited for New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, and many top-notch independents and award-winners. He was lead editor at URBAN FANTASY MAGAZINE from 2014-2015. From 2012-2015 he recorded the weekly writing podcast HIDE AND CREATE. You can find Joshua teaching about editing, pitches, and back-cover copy every year at the Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado. Joshua is a writer himself and was a 2014 finalist in the Writers of the Future contest. He just completed his Kickstarter release for the first in a five-book series, each covering two subjects of the most-common issues he sees in fiction writing.

Michael La Ronn discusses the costs involved in independently publishing a book. Michael talks about the two most costly aspects—editing and cover design—and tips for how to accomplish these on a budget. We discuss potential pitfalls—for example, the fact that if your cover designer inappropriately uses copyrighted material, you as the author are the one who will get the cease-and-desist letter. And we discuss how to ensure the professionals you are considering doing business with are reputable, and how to ensure your interaction is successful for both parties. Michael La Ronn is the author of over 40 science fiction & fantasy books including the ANDROID X series, the MODERN NECROMANCY series, and the GALAXY MAVERICKS series. He writes from the great plains of Iowa and has perfected the art of balancing writing with a full-time job and family, law school, writing 5-7 books per year.

Joanna Penn, The Creative Penn, discusses FUTURIST TRENDS WE CAN PREPARE FOR NOW. She talks about the role persistence plays in making a career as an indy author, the opportunities offered by content curation—for both creators and consumers—and the importance of bringing a global / digital / mobile mindset to your business model, while also recognizing that we can't beat the machine, so we have to double down on being human. Joanna Penn is an award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers as J.F. Penn. As an award-winning creative entrepreneur, she also writes non-fiction for authors and hosts The Creative Penn Podcast. Her site TheCreativePenn.com has been voted in the Top 100 sites for writers by Writer's Digest.

Editor Tiffany Yates Martin and I geek out about THE PRINCESS BRIDE and all the lessons it can teach writers about story structure, character development, and those little bits that make a story extra engaging. She shares tips for how authors can gain some distance from our own work in order to bring an editor's eye to it, and we talk about how Old Spice's The Man Your Man Can Smell Like played with traditional knight in shining armor tropes. Tiffany Yates Martin has spent nearly thirty years as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling, award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. She is the author of the Amazon bestseller INTUITIVE EDITING: A CREATIVE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO REVISING YOUR WRITING. She's led workshops and seminars for conferences and writers' groups across the country and is a frequent contributor to writers' sites and publications. Under the pen name Phoebe Fox, she's the author of the Breakup Doctor series and her most recent release, A LITTLE BIT OF GRACE.

Nicholas Erik discusses the FIVE KEYS TO BUILDING A RESILIENT INDY BUSINESS. He talks about how organic newsletter subscribers serve as a valuable representation of the health of your business, how understanding your monthly expenses can actually be a stress-reliever, and how an hour spent with an accountant will pay you back many times over in the course of your author career. Nicholas Erik is the author of science fiction and urban fantasy, with over 20 books, including THE FINAL COLONY series and THE REMNANTS trilogy. He also writes comprehensive guides for his fellow indy authors on how to sell more books, build your fanbase, and be more productive. He runs 1-on-1 ads workshops and provides ads management for select clients.

Former FBI special agent Jerri Williams discusses her podcast FBI RETIRED CASE FILES REVIEW and how she has used it as content marketing for her fiction and non-fiction books. She discusses how her goals for the podcast changed over time, the importance of aligning one's creative work behind a unifying theme, how to engage listeners in your community, and what she did when she found that her second love, podcasting, was stealing time from her first love, writing. Jerri Williams served for 26 years as a special agent in the FBI, working major economic fraud investigations. She uses her prior professional experiences with scams and schemers to write crime fiction about greed. Her novels PAY TO PLAY and GREEDY GIVERS – both inspired by actual FBI cases – feature a female FBI agent assigned to a Public Corruption and Fraud Squad in Philadelphia. She is also the author of the non-fiction book FBI MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS, and the producer and host of the true crime podcast FBI RETIRED CASE FILES REVIEW, where she interviews retired FBI agents about their high-profile cases and careers.

Ken Fritz talks about the difference between EMTs and paramedics; the problematic portrayal of CPR and defibrillation in books, movies, and TV; and how much of emergency medical service's work is really emergencies. Ken Fritz has been in emergency services for over 20 years. Starting as a volunteer firefighter, he has worked his way up through the ranks of EMT, Fire Department Captain, and Paramedic. Ken currently serves as a volunteer firefighter / paramedic in his local community and has worked as a career firefighter / paramedic for numerous departments over his career. He's married with two kids and two dogs, and lives in rural southeastern Pennsylvania.

James McCrone and I talk about our respective October book launches—Jamie's for his third Imogen Trager thriller, EMERGENCY POWERS, and me for my third Ann Kinnear Suspense Novel, THE FALCON AND THE OWL. We talk about the pros and cons of in-person versus virtual events, the need for indy authors to be willing to blow their own horn to get out word of their books (and ways to make this a more comfortable experience for introverted authors), the role industry reviews from sources such as Kirkus Reviews plays, and the differences between an emphasis on print versus on ebook editions. James McCrone is the author of the Imogen Trager novels FAITHLESS ELECTOR, DARK NETWORK, and the recently released EMERGENCY POWERS. His work also recently appeared in the short-story anthology LOW DOWN DIRTY VOTE. He's a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, International Association of Crime Writers, International Thriller Writers, and Philadelphia Dramatists Center and has an MFA from the University of Washington. He lives in South Philadelphia with his wife and three children. He's the former Business Manager for the South 9th Street / Italian Market in Philadelphia, and is now writing full time.