Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark chats with Dana Pharant and Barb Stuhlemmer about elements of running their own businesses that also apply to writers. Mark, Dana and Barb are 3 of 5 members of a recent business mastermind that took place where 5 business owners from different industries and areas of expertise all work together to hold one another accountable for business plans, visions, goals and next steps for growth. Mark shares his perspective on this first business mastermind group he has been a part of and then talks about his own specific takeaways, including the publication of a book he is 20,000 words into called INDIE PUBLISHING INSIDER SECRETS: What Running Kobo Writing Life, a Print-on-Demand Business and 25 Years of Bookselling Taught Me About Success for Authors, Publishers & Self-Publishing Services. He shares how the group is holding him accountable for a proposed publishing and delivery schedule for this book that he has already dropped onto the back burner. In their chat, Mark, Dana and Barb discuss: Strategies on how to find and define your core audience, with an example that Dana shares about not doing it right the first time and how it lost her about 6 months of traction * The challenges of taking money from the people who aren't part of the ideal target audience and the related "Steak and Burger" analogy Barb's experiences of knowing what company needs a service, but the challenge of finding the specific person within that company to speak to and to sell to, which can relate to sub-genres and other more specific niche targeting for authors Targeting the right people, but with the wrong product How Dana and Barb, who have been friends for about eight years, originally met How in relationships, if you are GIVING, in the right aspect and for the right reasons, you get back a huge amount The people and the relationships and the circles that can be cultivated among your peers who are willing to rise How knowing who you can count on (not just for support, but for honesty) in your inner circle can really make a difference Authenticity in engagement with one's audience, mailing list, and core followers or fans How you can't impress people with things that you're not; you can only impress people with what you have The concept of creating the "ideal reader" as a character sketch the same way one might sketch out a character in their book Advice on success in turning passion into profit After the chat, Mark shares his reflections on the importance of taking insights, wisdom and learning from people and industries outside one's own area of expertise and perspective and how, listening to the business intelligence and strategies of 4 women from different business pursuits helped Mark to grow his own knowledge and strategy in writing and publishing.   Links of Interest: Dana Pharant Dana's Podcast: Inner Dominatrix Barb Stuhlemmer  Barb's Book: Entrepreneur Awakening  

This episode features an interview with Canadian author Terry Fallis. who is a two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, the winner of CBC Canada Reads for "the essential novel of the decade" the winner of the CBA Libris Author of the Year Award for 2013, and someone who has had a 6-part mini-series based on his first novel appear on CBC Television.   Prior to his personal update, Mark delivers this episode's Tongue Twister, which is something Stephen King fans might be familiar with: the mantra that Bill practices when working on his stutter. "Amidst the mists and fiercest frosts, With barest wrists, and stoutest boasts, He thrusts his fists against the posts, And still insists he sees the ghosts" The Tongue Twister segment is sponsored by Findaway Voices. Learn more about how they can help authors control their audiobook production and distribution at www.starkreflections.com/findaway   For his personal update Mark shares how he has been overwhelmed with tasks and a growing list of unfinished projects, and talks through 3 things that have helped him deal with the feeling of being overwhelmed 1) Unplugging and Recharging 2) Listing the Things Making You Feel Overwhelmed 3) Listing the Small Surprise Accomplishments Already Achiveved   In their chat, Mark and Terry discuss: The process of writing a novel and then sending query packages and sample chapters to agents and editors, followed by the “radio silence” from the industry that Terry experienced (not even generating an automated rejection letter) What led to his deciding to try both self-publishing the novel as well as releasing it as a free podcast novel in 2007 How some of the little things along the way (a suggestion from his wife, a single response from one agent, a bookseller who wanted to host a book launch party, comments from the podcast audience, a single box of ten copies of the self-published books sitting in a box by his desk), could lead to a dramatically defining moment in Terry’s career as an author The “you’ve written a satirical novel of Canadian politics – what were you thinking?” line that keeps coming up How listening to Terry’s podcast was all it took for Mark to become hooked on Terry’s first novel THE BEST LAID PLANS The New York Times article about Scott Sigler and his podcast novels that had inspired Terry to begin podcasting his first novel Why Terry is convinced that more physical books have been sold via the process of giving away the audio/podcast version for free The chills Terry gets when thinking about doing his very first book signing The factors that led to Terry deciding to enter his first self-published novel into the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour (which included that the award didn’t have a clause that said self-published novels couldn’t be entered) Details about being nominated for and then winning the Leacock Medal for Humour Terry’s email to the only agent who had bothered to reply to his original query (who is still his agent to this day, ten years later) The Canada Reads win and how that likely created the climate for the book to be optioned for film and television, where it was made into a 6 part television movie as well as a staged musical What it was like being in full control versus having to hand complete creative control over to the film production folks How impressed Terry was by the script writers for the series, Susan Coyne and Jason Sherman Why Terry believes that the New York Times called him to comment about a recent disagreement between Trudeau and Trump The effective use of humor in addressing serious issues, content and situations – in particular, the important elements of feminism and women’s rights in Terry’s novel POLES APART How Terry used his own experience as an identical twin when writing the novel ONE BROTHER SHY A bit of a teaser about Terry’s work in progress, IF AT FIRST YOU SUCCEED The fact that Terry’s publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, has, for his first six novels, allowed him to begin to release his weekly serialized podcast for his novels in the month prior to each novel’s release How doing the reading/recording for the podcast has helped with Terry preparing sections for public readings of his novels; as well as being a great editing/proofreading tool The value that Terry places in booksellers, in particular the independent booksellers who have supported his career from the very beginning Terry’s favorite advice for authors about writing with authenticity and passion. “It’s hard to write your best work when you’re not writing about something that you care about.”   Links of Interest: Terry's Website Terry's Twitter Account: @TerryFallis Terry's Author Facebook Page Findaway Voices Mark's Stark Publishing Survey    

Solo Episode After providing a personal update on a few of the "Free" experiments he has been running, Mark reflects on inspiration drawn from reading the book THE POWER OF MOMENTS by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The Tongue Twister segment of the show is sponsored by Findaway Voices. Mark also talks about (and yes, it was certainly inspired from reading the aforementioned book), a survey that he has launched to get more detailed feedback from listeners on this podcast. If you wish to fill it out, you can do so at the following site: www.markleslie.ca/starksurvey Links of Interest Chip Heath & Dan Heath - The Power of Moments Mark's Free Kobo Tracking Details Mark's Free Friday Frights Video View Tracking

The feature interview in this episode is a chat with Jamie Ferguson about her writing, the thing that made the difference in terms of kick-starting her writing productivity, and the various collaborations and curation she has done by leveraging BundleRabbit as a collaborative tool. Mark then shares a quick personal update, about the fact that there's nothing like screwing up to get views on a video. The Tongue Twister segment, sponsored by Findaway Voices includes Mark reading the following: I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much. In the interview, Mark and Jamie talk about: How Jamie had wanted to be a writer from when she was a child and had started and stopped various projects, but that it wasn’t until she joined a workshop started by Edward Bryant about fifteen years ago that prompted her to actually complete the projects How finishing something can actually be scary (“OMG, somebody could read it!”) The recent YA contemporary fantasy story by Jamie that appears in the new WISHES anthology from WMG Publishing The collaborative publishing project bundles & collections that Jamie has created using BundleRabbit that include: Fantasy in the City The Witches’ Brew Haunted The Faerie Summer Bundle and more (see all the bundles here) The basic differences between curating bundles and creating anthologies (called collaborations) using BundleRabbit and the process that a curator goes through How BundleRabbit assists the curator by allowing the tools that make the curation, collaboration and payment distribution easier (and the time that has saved Jamie, who likely wouldn’t have been able to budget the time for the aforementioned projects How the Faerie Summer Bundle has been the most successful, which has led to Jamie adapting it into an ongoing series Factors in bundles/collaborations Jamie has created that contributed to their success How an author’s web and social media presence can make a positive difference in terms of curating their work into a bundle or collaboration The unexpected additional time required related to editing and formatting in the anthology collaboration projects Jamie’s plan for a forthcoming non-fiction book sharing what she has learned Some of Jamie’s favorite writing advice The forthcoming Amazing Monster Tales project Jamie is working on with DeAnna Knippling   Links of Interest Jamie's Website Jamie's Social Media Facebook Author Page Twitter Pinterest Goodreads Instagram BlackBird Publishing Website Facebook Twitter Blackbird Publishing Collections Jamie's Article on the differences between bundles and collaborations Findaway Voices Stark Reflections Patreon Page   Jamie Ferguson focuses on getting into the minds and hearts of her characters, whether she’s writing about a saloon girl in the Old West, a man who discovers the barista he's in love with is a naiad, or a ghost who haunts the house she was killed in – even though that house no longer exists. She’s curated 8 short story bundles and anthologies to date, and is working on several more, including a monster-themed anthology series she’s co-editing with DeAnna Knippling. Jamie lives in Colorado, and spends her free time in a futile quest to wear out her two border collies, since she hasn’t given in and gotten them their own herd of sheep...yet...  

In episode 26, Mark chats with author Armand Rosamilia who is originally from New Jersey and currently lives in sunny Florida with his wife. Armand is not only a hybrid author with more than 150 stories, and numerous books published both via traditional publishers and via indie-publishing methods, but he is also a podcaster and the co-owner of the Project Entertainment Network. This episode's tongue twister, sponsored by Findaway Voices comes from Edward, who sent the short quick tongue twister "Eddie edited it" which Mark is to say 5 times really fast in a cartoonish character voice. Mark then thanks Patreon patrons who support the show and reminds users they can support the show via Patreon or by simply sharing the show with a friend or leaving a review. In their chat, Mark and Armand talk about: How Armand prioritizes his time with all of the various tasks on his plate, and the important support from his wife who helps keep him on track The opportunities that allowed him to leave his job 7 years ago to begin writing full time The fear that continues to drive his writing to this day The difference between creative writing on his own (as an admitted pantser) and adapting a screenplay into a novelization The “what if” that drives most of Armand’s writing, including looking at a group of people on the beach and imagining what if zombies started to appear coming out of the surf How Armand was able to adapt his “pantser” habit when collaborating with another writer who was a “plotter” The combination of working with traditional publishers and self=publishing that allows Armand to embrace the best of both worlds How the desire to write a single zombie novel just to “get it out of his system” turned into “The Dying Days” series of nine books that are among his top-selling books The radio DJ work that Armand used to do which led to a couple of podcasts that he is host/co-host of The “Mando Method” of writing that Armand practices (named after him), in which he writes for the first 15 minutes of every hour, and then has the remaining 45 minutes of that hour to play, check emails, do whatever. Doing this 3 or 4 times a day gets him 2,000 or 3,000 words written per day Project Entertainment Network, which Armand and his wife owns (see links below for the great podcast lineup from this Network) The amazingly supportive community that surrounds the “Scares that Care” convention held in Williamsburg, Virginia in August The Beers N Fears Brewery Tour that Armand started and how it has worked as it has grown over the past three years The “Any Book for $10 or 3 books for $20” model they use for simplicity on the Beers N Fears tour; with a reminder that it’s not about how much profit they can make off each book sale, bur rather more about reaching new readers The “Belford Stories” series set in the town that he grew up in that Armand has written about and how the series has been popular with the local community How Armand uses his Patreon page to connect with and provide unique, early and exclusive content for his reader community Common advice that Armand offers to authors regarding a common “how much do you need to earn to consider writing full time” question Links of interest Armand's website The Mando Method Podcast Arm Cast Podcast Project Entertainment Network Three Guys With Beards The Horror Show with Brian Keene Lunch Ladies Book Club Beers N Fears Book Tour Links Tim Meyer Blog Chuck Buda Blog Findaway Voices Mark's Nocturnal Screams Series (First in Series FREE Promo Test) Kindle Kobo

In this solo episode, Mark shares 10 Ways of Thinking Outside the Ad: Book Marketing ideas that appeal to your target audience. Prior to the main content, Mark gives a bit of an update on how his Kobo Writing Life FREE first book in series is going two weeks out. Then he does the Tongue Twister, suggested by his friend Pete, and sponsored by Findaway Voices. In brief summary, here are the 10 Ways of Thinking Outside the AD that Mark shares: 1) FOOD & DRINK & BOOKS Mark shares a few thoughts about Julie Strauss with her "Chef in Love" romance books - in particular the amazing Prosecco Heart novel and how that could so brilliantly be tied in to delightful pairings. Food and drink and reading.   This would be the ideal book to give to a wine lover and romance reader. Or maybe package a CD, a book and a bottle of wine with it - it wouldn't have to be a Prosecco although that does nicely tie-in with the title, placed on an author table as a suggestion for how it could be part of an excellent creative gift package. 2) ATTENTION MARKETING PROMO INFO & SWAG Mark talks about a few examples from The Jewels of Historical Romance - and how they sent the chocolates to the retailers. Puts them above and beyond. Chris Mandeville - and her book Seeds - brilliant idea Deborah Cooke's Book Charms Glynnis Campbell's Bookish Swag - Lords with Swords letter opener 3) ATTENTION MARKETING PACKAGING Based on a few packages mailed to Mark when he was at Kobo from Publishers Group Canada, Mark shares how the inventive packaging for the following books created a memorable and sharable entity: Peter James LOVE YOU DEAD Anne Cleaves COLD EARTH 4) UNIQUE & BOOK-SPECIFIC SWAG How Madison Avery created an enscribed penny based on the "Penny for your thoughts" story from her erotic romance collection CAPTURING THE MUSE (all the stories involve female writers and erotic entanglements with her muse, who often takes the form of a sexy man) Mark's own idea for using t-shirts to advertise local bookstores and libraries where he had scheduled book events that included an "I love to haunt [LOCATION] motif advertising the bookstore 5) PROPS Mark talks about his his of the full life skeleton Barnaby as a prop that he uses as a way to draw in the ideal target readers for his books (as well as to keep away those who are not interested in the macabre), as well as the way that a visual prop specifically related to the book content, can be an easily identifiable differentiator 6) HIGHWAY BILLBOARDS Though it's not an easy or common thing to do, Mark has witnessed how effective a series of highway billboard ads can be. He shares the huge success that author Brian Horeck saw with his books Minnow Trap and Frozen Beneath. This is a demonstration of strategic marketing to a target audience (Northern Ontario readers) and aggressive and intelligent salesmanship to ensure the book was available at various non-traditional stores on that northern highway. 7) VEHICLE ADVERTISEMENTS Similar to highway signs is the concept of advertising using your own vehicle. Mark was inspired by T S Paul and his car wrap concept. Mark invested in a much more cost-effective car magnet purchase for his own vehicle. Since Mark's skeleton Barnaby is already sitting in the car all the time, why not put something on the side of the car that explains why the skeleton is there?   8) COMIC CONS Mark took advantage of a specific target audience to start buying tables to sell print books (which still represent 70 to 80% of the book industry overall market) to the core group of fans most likely to enjoy his books. He also talks a bit about Armand Rosamilia and the Beers N Fears Tour and how this unique merger of local interest with craft beer worked extremely well. 9) LOCATION BASED APPS & SHARING Mark talks about sharing content and quotes from his books on Foursquare (Swarm) as well as using apps like Squirl to introduce locations from where books are set.   Mark also shares the Spirits Untapped Google map that he and Liz created and as well as the Macabre Montreal map as a no cost (except for time) way of increasing SEO for content based on locations from books. 10) LIVE VIDEOS & SMALL FISH Mark shares his experiences experimenting with live videos via his  #FreeFridayFrights. He shares a bit about the explosion that happened with a video he recorded just this past Friday while up in my home town of Levack Ontario His "Facebook Live" video about a ghost on Level 2650 of Levack Mine reached well over 3500 views and continues to get re-shared. Compared with the standard dozen to two dozen views most of his videos have received, this is a blockbuster. It speaks to something Mark learned from his friend Robert J. Sawyer years ago - and that is the importance of defining yourself as a big fish in a small pool. Mark shares how that "big fish in small pool" has elevated sales of one particular book.

Mark interviews Laura and Daniel Martone, former residents of New Orleans who now travel the country in their mobile writing studio, a cozy RV dubbed Serenity. Together they write urban fantasy, post-apocalyptic, time travel, epic fantasy, and space opera novels. Prior to the interview, Mark shares an update on the recent FREE promotion that he paid for via the Kobo Writing Life PROMOTIONS tab. We also talks about the importance for authors to listen, learn and then to adapt what they are seeing, hearing and learning into strategies and tactics that work best for them and their own unique goals and publishing plans. Then he launches the Tongue Twister segment, which is sponsored by Findaway Voices. You can learn more about Findaway Voices at www.starkreflections.ca/findaway. In the interview, Mark talks with Daniel and Laura about: The way they met via the world of films and film festivals The experience of having a horror screenplay altered to the tune of a director’s completely different interpretation of their script The storytelling aspect of creating virtual audio ghost tours The incredible patience involved in working on building a product line and listening and learning for more than a year before launching their first collaboratively published book series The planned-out release schedule that they struggle with sticking to for their Space Opera series and their Zombie series How they work together to split the work required in creating and writing their books What Dan calls a “Skeleton Draft” which is a hybrid between a screenplay and story beats of about 17,000 words Laura’s next step of taking that draft and fleshing it out into a “well nourished” format The next step where Dan then trims and cuts the 60,000 or 70,000 word draft back down by 5,000 or so words The 9 arc structure that each book they write fulfills Intertwining their different series in a multiverse that they have created How their background in film and screenwriting has woven itself into their writing process Playing off each others skills, preferences, passions and work habits for the ultimate complimentary benefit Being fans of the Supernatural TV show and Joss Whedon’s Firefly and the impact that has had on their personal and creative lives Serenity, their mobile home The nature of learning and then adapting the things they have absorbed and learned into their own unique strategies How Laura was inspired by Lindsay Buroker, in particular her expressions of: “Be genuine, be generous” The lack of confidence that can result from not hitting that publish button (which can be a crippling thing for a writer – ie, just STARTING is sometimes the key, otherwise, one might never start) and the concept of learning from doing The collaboration that Laura and Daniel are doing with a larger group of authors (currently 43 writers) for a forthcoming massive project that will be releasing later this year – (Mark gets them to promise to return to the podcast to share an update on that project) The favorite bit of writing advice that resonates with each of them Where The Martones will be traveling (in Serenity) for the remainder of this year (including 20Booksto50K Vegas)   After the interview, Mark reflects on a couple of things that his conversation with Laura and Daniel made him think about. One of those items was about that moment where a writer hesitates with their finger over the “publish” button and the wonder of whether or not they should go back to one more re-write, one more edit, one more re-polish before either publishing the manuscript or perhaps submitting it to an agent or editor.   Links of Interest: The Martones Smarter Artist Summit Bundlerabbit Findaway Voices  

In this episode, Mark interviews Danièle Cybulskie about how she translated her passion for The Middle Ages into featured articles at Medievalists.net that have reached more than half a million readers, has had her work as a subject matter specialist adopted for nine Ontario colleges, had created fun and informative books such as The Five-Minute Medievalist, Six Steps to Better Historical Fiction and many other great titles, not to mention fascinating speaking gigs, including a TedX talk, and as an author coach. Before the interview, Mark welcomes new Patreon Supporter Jamie Davis, thanks Patrons for their support and introduces this episode's tongue twister, sponsored by Findaway Voices, which is in honor of Book Expo America taking place in New York. The tongue twister is: "You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York" Mark also shares a few personal updates, including a recently released BookNet Canada suvey result about 2017 Publishing Trends as well as an experiment he is doing related to a FREE book promotion he is running at Kobo. In the feature interview, Mark and Danièle talk about: How she has been writing for Medievalists.net for a number of years and has more than 150 articles published there Her passion for coaching authors in authenticity and accuracy for the smallest details about the Middle Ages Her favourite century, (the 14th Century) because it contained the Black Death and The Hundred Years War The most common elements that writers get wrong (it often involves food and clothing) The risks of getting one’s historical elements only from fiction and movies Whether or not Holy Hand Grenade (as seen in the Arthurian Legend spoof film Monty Python and the Holy Grail) might have actually existed. (There WAS gun powder in Europe in that era) How the use of guns and canons changed the use of armour and the way castles were built Because Mark couldn’t resist bringing up the coconuts in the aforementioned Monty Python movie, the historic scholar who has studied medieval coconuts The inaccurate food that is served at a particular “Medieval” style family dinner theatre show that contains foods that never existed in Europe at the time, such as potatoes Danièle book The Five Minute Medievalist and The Five Minute Medievalist’s Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Her forthcoming release (recently signed with a UK publisher), Medieval Europe in Fact and Fiction How sitting at home with her first baby was her introduction towards sharing what she had studied through writing The challenge she has been enjoying writing the different survival guides each month, including the way that she used Twitter to help decide the latest title What she likes reading for pleasure (dystopian futures) and what her favorite medieval movie is (A Knight’s Tale) How learning about the differences and the similarities of people in different historical periods can give us a better and more well-rounded ability to understand and have compassion for different cultures and people in our world today After the interview, Mark reflects on how he uses history for his own non-fiction writing. Links of Interest: Danièle Cybulski's website Danièle's Books Danièle's TedX Talk Danièle's YouTube Channel Findaway Voices BookNet Canada Mark's Nocturnal Screams Series Nocturnal Screams Books at Kobo

This episode includes clips of interviews that Mark conducted on a tour through the Findaway offices in Cleveland, Ohio that took place on Tuesday May 22nd. Mark chats with folks from the Findaway Voices team (Will, Wes and Eric) as well as Findaway CEO Mitch Kroll. In the introduction, Mark shares a few updates, including an update of the latest video for Patreon supporters and then explains the three levels of support that include ($1 - Plot Outline (Bronze), $3 - First Draft (Silver) and $5 - Completed Manuscript (Gold). He thanks new and existing Patreon supporters. Mark also shares some details about the percentage share of his eBook retail sales for 2017, revealing that 77% of his eBook earnings came from Kindle with Kobo coming in second at 17%. He also noted that Google started to make a return in terms of his eBook sales in 2017 and has already well surpassed his iBooks sales in 2018. Mark shares his own experiences with publishing exclusively to Kindle via KDP Select to try to leverage the Kindle Unlimited reading income opportunities) and why, strategically, he has been a part of the program since it first launched, even when he was in charge of Kobo’s self-publishing platform. He also discusses a short story series “Nocturnal Screams” that he originally rolled out in KDP Select a year ago, but is now releasing wide. For this episode’s tongue twisters, Mark turns the tables on Will Dages from Findaway Voices (sponsor of the Tongue Twister segment) and gets HIM to read the tongue twister. In the episode’s central interview with Mitch Kroll, Findaway Co-Founder and CEO, Mark and Mitch talk about: The interesting origin of the name Findaway and how the term “Findawayer” and a misplaced thumb late one night led to the spark of inspiration The atmosphere and spirit of the entire Findaway company’s culture How, independent of audio or the product set in general, it was all about building a place where a bunch of dynamic people (with Findawayer DNA) who could do great work The little quotes and core value slogans that appear in small font text on walls throughout the Findaway offices How the entire company was originally built on the Playaway devices, which introduced disruption and innovation to the industry The manner by which a talk by Steve Jobs is something Mitch and his co-founders derived inspiration from when building the first Playaway devices How, after selling more than 6 Million Playaway devices, the simple yet effective innovation remains a growth business The balance that Findaway plays in serving the needs of content producers (publishers and authors), curators of audio (retailers and libraries) and consumers/readers The origin of the name “Findaway Voices” and how it relates to the voice and the freedom that it gives back to independent authors Mark then speaks with Will Dages about One of his favourite elements of working at Findaway Voices and Findaway (the amazing people) The Nebula Awards and Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America conference Will recently returned from where he shared information about the “pay for circulation” library purchasing model that raised a number of eyebrows Mark chats with Wes from the audio quality team at Findaway Voices about: One of the most common issue that he regularly has to deal with, related to specification issues The education and resources that Wes regularly shares with audio producers and authors in his daily work The importance of fixing things at the source (ie, when the audio is being recorded) Mark then speaks with Eric from the Business Development team at Findaway Voices about: The role that Eric plays in helping the Voices publishing arm in the creation of audiobooks through partnerships The importance of strategic partnerships for the creation of high quality audiobook solutions A side-conversation carry-over from lunch about Marvel superheroes and how this connects Venom with Captain America After the interviews, Mark reflects on the day spent at Findaway, how Findaway Voices was a remarkable turning point for indie authors and the things he learned from looking at his Findaway Voices sales reports, and a few new strategies he intends on implementing based on this experience.   Links of Interest Findaway Findaway Voices Global Audiobook Opportunities for Authors (Episode 5) - Interview with Kelly Lytle from Findaway Voices Mark's Amazon Author Page Mark's Kobo Page Bumps in the Night Nocturnal Screams (Short story collection series) Night Cries Ode to Classics Dark Shadows Literary Haunts Unexpected Strangers Z is for Zombie Something Wicked

This episode features an interview with J Thorn and Zach Bohannon. They talk not only about the collaboration that the two of them do, but also a few of their more adventurous collaborations with other authors including the original train journey with Joanna Penn and Lindsay Buroker and how that unique writing experience evolved into an ongoing AUTHORS ON A TRAIN voyage from Chicago to New Orleans as well as an awesome 50th Anniversary of George A Romero's classic film NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD and how that relates to J and Zach’s NIGHT OF THE WRITING DEAD event. Mark provides a personal update on the video views for his #FreeFridayFrights experiment and then shares the evil reaction he had to creating two “silly” versions of the Laurel VS Yanny audio debate. (He created a RickRoll version, reminding writers to get back to writing, as well as a JumpScare one, because, well, he thought it was funny). He notes that the short and silly videos are trending much higher than the more serious reading ones he has done. The Terrible Tongue Twister, sponsored by Findaway Voices, was provided by Laura and Daniel Martone, who will be featured guests in a forthcoming podcast. They asked for another Monty Python inspired accent to read it in, and the Australian accent from the troop’s Bruce Sketch came up. After a terrible attempt at singing the Bruce’s Philosopher’s Song, Mark twists his tongue and likely offends multiple groups of people, from Python fans, to Australians, to beer drinkers and philosophers. Mark thanks the users who have sent feedback and comments as well as the listeners who have become Patreon supporters of the podcast. In the interview, Mark, J and Zach talk about: How Zach and J started collaborating when Zach first became a fan of and then reached out to J The system for how their writing collaborations work and the way they leverage their unique strengths What StoryGrid is and how it shouldn’t frighten the math averse The five basic components to story structure J and Zach’s The Career Author Podcast, why they collaborated on it and how the process of putting the show together works The analytics of story that they two of them share on what makes a scene work and what makes a story work The original of the AUTHORS ON A TRAIN retreat with the original train trip from Chicago to New Orleans, and how it evolved into something that a slightly larger group of authors can get involved with Details about the forthcoming NIGHT OF THE WRITING DEAD that they are planning for later this year The difficult to measure yet critical value of in person connections After the conversation, Mark shares his own experience having just written a zombie story set at the Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh (where the Romero film was shot and where NIGHT OF THE WRITING DEAD event will be taking place). He then reflects on something important that J and Zach speak about. Even though it was the revolution of digital publishing that has allowed authors to make a full time living off of their writing, a unique time in the history of writing, there’s still something critical and important about real-world direct connections.   Links of Interest All About the Fictional Worlds of J Thorn & Zach Bohannon: www.moltenuniverse.com J Thorn’s Website J Thorn’s Amazon Author Page Zach Bohannon’s Website Zach Bohannon’s Amazon Author Page The Career Author Podcast Authors on a Train Night of the Writing Dead The Sell More Books Show Summit Findaway Voices Patreon Page for Stark Reflections Mark’s Z is for Zombie digital collection of short stories Marks Books at Dundurn The Rush themed 2113 Anthology edited by Kevin J. Anderson   Zach Bohannon writes horror, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic science fiction. He is the author of the bestselling post-apocalyptic horror series, Empty Bodies. J. Thorn is a Top 100 Most Popular Author in Horror, Science Fiction, Action & Adventure and Fantasy (Amazon Author Rank). He has published over one million words and has sold more than 170,000 books worldwide.