Episode 61 features an interview with Peter James, an international best-selling British writer of crime fiction, which took place at Kobo in June 2016 in front of a live audience. Peter is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre. In the interview, Mark and Peter discuss: Peter’s work on the Canadian television program POLKA DOT DOOR in Toronto in the 1970s where he worked as a "gofer" and was asked by a producer, when a regular staff writer called in sick, to write an episode. After that he ended up writing for the show for a year. The original “Agatha Christie” style crime fiction that Peter was weaned on which had very strict rules and conventions: A dead body in chapter one; preferably in a country house; a bit of culture; a bit of sex; a little bit of violence and the hilariously fitting opening line that he has come up with which inserts all those elements How Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock (one of two of the best crime novels ever written, in Peter’s eyes – the other one is Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs) is a book that changed Peter’s life, because it threw all of those rules out the window. How Brighton Rock taught Peter 3 important things about novels: A great opening line. Where the central character is a villain that you can care about. How some of the most enduring characters in all of literature have been villains. How the villain in LOVE YOU DEAD was inspired by a woman Peter met on a prison visit How having his house burgled let to Peter finding great friends from the police force who have invited him to learn directly from them for the past thirty years, inserting the authenticity that he so carves in his crime fiction The dedicated police officer who, upon first meeting Peter, pointed to a mountainous stack of crates of manila folders and introduced them as his “dead friends” and how he eventually became the inspiration for Roy Grace Two traits that really good detectives have: They are incredibly anal and capable of incredible out of the box thinking Peter’s belief in the inseparable trinity of character, research and plot in creating writing The great extremes that Peter has gone to in the name of research for his books, including being locked in a coffin for half an hour, held a live scorpion in his hand, been submerged in an overturned van The book DEATH COMES KNOCKING: Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton that Peter is co-authoring based on long-running respect for the real police and the many years of research he has done with them The haunted house that Peter lived in which partially inspired his novel THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL The real character (Hayden Kelly) from Peter’s last three books who is a real guy and came up with forensic podiatry, the measurement of the unique gaits of different people Mark then talks about the great ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) that he received from Peter’s Canadian distributor (see blog post here) as a great example of author branding and grabbing a reader or reviewer’s attention as well as another important resource that authors can rely on for digital branding:  PERSONALITY.  He uses the example of Peter’s YouTube channel and how it helped add a new layer a new dimension to Peter’s author brand, and how watching several videos of the author helped Mark, as a reader, feel connected to the author. Mark discusses the importance of that connection which can be achieved through digital mediums.  

In this week’s episode, we’re focusing on book blogging. Vilma Gonzalez, the all-star blogger who runs Vilma’s Book Blog, shared her journey with us, along with tips for how authors and bloggers can work together to help one another succeed. Tune in to learn: How Vilma developed the aesthetic and brand of her blog. She is a marketing expert by day, so she knows the importance of a website that is easy to use, clean, and represents her The growth of the blog over three years, growing her audience from 100 followers to over 33,000 today How did she make that happen? Hard work, dedication, time. She applied the rules of business, being professional and staying focused on what readers want to see, and who she wants to be as a blogger Vilma targets various social media outlets differently based on the typical users for each – for example, Snapchat and Instagram skew younger than Facebook – so she tailors posts appropriately Her typical day: she essentially works two full-time jobs. She’s worked in marketing and technology for 20 years, and still does that full-time. Then she comes home, takes care of her kids, and works late nights on the blog, reading books, scheduling social media posts for the next day, often until 1am How to monetize a blog. Affiliate links and ads are the primary ways to build steady income, but the affiliate side especially recently has been unstable On average, Vilma reads 3 books a week plus an audio book. She keeps things on a very organized schedule – one book Monday-Wednesday, one book Wednesday-Friday, and one on the weekend. What is the value to authors for building relationships with bloggers? You’re getting access through a trusted source to a dedicated audience. Bloggers have built a level of trust with their followers, so that recommendation is a powerful tool. Authors can also use the opportunity to learn about how readers are reading and connecting with bloggers #1 advice for authors approaching bloggers: pay attention to what they’re looking for. Understand who they are and what they like. #2: don’t approach too aggressively and come in with big expectations. For example, Vilma’s review schedule is booked 4-6 months in advance, so there’s not much she can do for an author hoping for support for a launch with short notice How she balances her friendships with authors, and what she’s trying to accomplish on the blog, for example if she reads a book by a friend that isn’t a good fit for her Why she has a policy to only post positive reviews (3-3.5 stars or more) on the blog. She wants to remain focused on sharing books that she loves The parallels between bloggers and authors, including struggling with breaking through the clutter of volume and staying focused on a strong brand and solid marketing The benefits to bloggers of attending conferences and connecting with authors and industry professionals in person Advice for bloggers wanting to start today: figure out who you want to be, and keep everything centered on that primary value or identity Vilma Gonzalez is a marketing professional by day and book reviewer by night. She's been devouring books since she was very young and in early 2013, created Vilma's Book Blog, a website dedicated to reviewing books of all genres. In addition, she also writes for USA Today's HEA blog, penning a column entitled Love In Suspense, which focuses on thrillers and mystery novels. Vilma also blogs about fashion and style trends and is determined to own every Alex and Ani bracelet every made. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and their two young sons. 

Nathan Maharaj, Kobo’s Director of Merchandising, interviews Tom Vanderbilt, the best-selling author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do, about his latest book You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice which is an interesting exploration of our personal tastes and what it says about us. During the interview, Nathan and Tom discuss: The role that red pants came to play in Tom’s book when he was living in Madrid and how that relates to the “mere exposure” effect The role of context in how we experience things The language element involved in a dining experience (and a callout to Dan Jurafsy’s book The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu The effect by which the guided “headphone” tour through an art museum can alter the user’s experience within a gallery, including the cognitive tunneling that can occur A unique book that was created with a built in camera and facial recognition software entitled The Cover That Judges You that was designed to only open if the person looking at the cover displayed a completely neutral face. The effect on social liking and music, musical tastes, how the long tail got longer and how popularity has gotten more hierarchical rather than less so The phenomenon of “guilty pleasures” and the difference between guilt and shame How taste can be a more taboo subject than sex or money The idea of not trusting the “easy like” The interesting juxtaposition between “freedom of choice” and “freedom from choice” KWL Director Mark Lefebvre then speaks about the concept of reviews and refers to something Tom mentioned in the interview regarding how both five star and one star reviews are sometimes interpreted by consumers and the importance of having a wide spread of reviews to make the product reviews seem more “natural”   OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST: Tom Vanderbilt's website Tom Vanderbilt on Twitter    

Episode 58 features an interview with Kobo Merchandisers Liz Hilborn (Manager of Merchandising) and Sarah Smith-Eivemark (Canadian Merchandiser). In the interview, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre, Liz, and Sarah discuss: What a merchandiser is and what they do at Kobo How merchandisers work with publisher sales reps to determine which books get featured in different lists such as “New and Hot” A look at the daily, weekly, monthly schedule and routine that merchandisers follow How merchandisers in different territories connect, collaborate, and share best practices How the merchandisers work with the Vendor Managers in various countries The benefit the merchandising interns have in of hearing about global publishing trends and activities during the daily merchandising team meetings The preferred timelines that merchandisers need in order to plan out a promotion or feature and how that might be different in various global territories based on how much progress that country has already made in terms of digital publishing The average number of books that a merchandiser might look at on any given day Solid book cover design advice from a merchandiser’s perspective The important role that a proper price (and a flexible price) plays from a merchandiser’s perspective The pricing promotion sweet spot (anywhere between 99 cents and $4.99) How not rounding your pricing up to .99 in a local territory means you’re leaving money on the table Recent publishing trends that Liz and Sarah have recognized and are excited about The WRONG things to do (AKA Merchandiser pet peeves or, the right thing to do if you never want to get a book featured on Kobo) Mark then talks a bit about the Alliance of Independent Authors “Indie Author Fringe” events and why they are important and then reflects on how the Kobo Writing Life team are internal ‘sales reps’ for KWL authors at Kobo, working collaboratively with the merchandising team and always looking for new opportunities to help authors find new customers at Kobo.

Christine Munroe interviews Helen Hardt, an author and editor, about her publishing journey in terms of both sides of her career. This month, Helen launched the Steel Brothers Saga series with Waterhouse, an "untraditional" publishing house headed up by indie author all-star, Meredith Wild. Christine and Helen discuss: Helen’s publishing path, starting with small presses, and most recently with Waterhouse Press. She became an editor before she became a published author. Her work editing Meredith Wild, starting with Hardwired. “In this industry, it’s all about making contacts” – Meredith later started Waterhouse Press, and hired Helen as Managing Editor and took her on as an author. Waterhouse describes itself as an “untraditional press.” From Helen’s point of view, they focus on building the author and brand, more so than on each individual book, which she appreciates. They have a virtual office, with a small staff and authors spread out across the US. The Waterhouse team is very accessible to their authors, and open to author feedback on all aspects of the publishing process. Helen’s advice: write the best book possible. Learn, learn, learn about the art and craft of writing. Then hire a professional editor. She wishes she could have known that there’s more to writing fiction than just knowing your grammar. It would have saved her a lot of heartache in the form of rejections and bad critiques from contest entries. Is it harder for Helen, as an editor herself, to find an editor for her work that she can trust? “You can’t have an ego in this business” – there is always so much you don’t know about. The Steel Brothers Saga, which just launched starting with CRAVING and is heating up the bestseller lists. The next book, OBSESSION, comes out July 19th. This is Helen’s first series in which she’ll stretch the story of her characters across multiple books. “All of my heroes are a little bit tortured – this one more tortured than most!” After the interview, Christine talks about the huge success of small independent publishing houses like Waterhouse in recent years. Another great example is Bookouture, based in the UK. They're bridging the gap between self-publishing and traditional publishing, and maximizing the best opportunities offered by both paths. We will likely see more and more of these presses emerge, and it will be very interesting to watch authors navigate these new opportunities.

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews, author, podcaster, film-maker, photographer and audio-book producer, J. Daniel Sawyer. In the interview, Mark and Daniel discuss: Dan’s publishing production schedule which include 5 books currently in the queue, 8 mysteries in a single series (The Clarke Lantham Mysteries) 6 science fiction books spread across two different series (The Antithesis Progression & Suave Rob’s Awesome Adventures) and stand-alones, a couple of short story collections and two long form writer’s guides (Making Tracks: A Writer’s Guide to Audiobooks and How to Produce Them and Throwing Lead: A Writer’s Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them) How four of the books in Sawyer’s Clarke Lantham series started off as short stories, but then “escaped” into full sized novels Dan’s book Idea’s Inc. that was inspired by science fiction legend Harlan Ellison’s snarky response to where he gets his ideas from. His goal to write 3000 words each and every day Dan’s Nanowrimo Daily Podcast project Nanowrimo Every Month The three pillars of writing: Craft, Business, Law Examples of incorrect weapon use in stories, which Sawyer addresses in his book: Throwing Lead: A Writer’s Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them How poorly researched use of something like weapons can kick a knowing reader out of the story The differences in weapon terminology use, such as a clip and a magazine, an automatic and a semi-automatic The Weaver stance, originally created in the 1950’s and how it remains one of a number of popular shooting stances in handgun training today because it taught police officers how to shoot quickly, accurately and without accidents Why the “clicking” of a gun when it is out of ammunition is an inaccurate Hollywood convention when it comes to most modern firearms Why Doc Brown would NOT have survived the AK-47 attack in the movie Back to the Future, even with a Kevlar vest on Why being shot typically won’t send someone flying backwards or even stop them while rushing forward Dan’s life-long passion for theatre-radio and audio-books How Scott Sigler inspired Dan into podcasting his fiction. A look at the minimum standard equipment an author would need in order to produce their own quality audio book How Dan has created full-cast / multi-voice audio productions The rough number of hours it takes to produce each hour of finished audio product and the differences between single narrator recordings and full-cast productions The importance of learning from one’s own blunders while finding your way through the business aspect of writing Links: Daniel Sawyer’s Website Twitter:  @dsawyer       

In this episode, Christine takes you behind the scenes at Kobo to hear from colleagues on five different Kobo teams who each play a different role in getting eBooks to customers and analyzing data post-publication. Tune in to hear from: Chris, KWL Development “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for our users to publish their content, and then after that do as much as possible to drive the success of those published titles.” How does the dev team manage to wrangle KWL’s seemingly never-ending list of features and ideas we want to implement? He has to balance new projects with maintaining and testing the current platform, and evaluating the necessity and value of each new idea. With each new to-do item, he needs to collaborate with the rest of the broad Kobo team to make sure we can support these changes from a data and software perspective. Sarah, Content Analytics Why and how you should measure the halo effect of promotions and price changes. Learning what prices sell well in different countries - certain geos are more price-sensitive than others, and you can adjust your territory pricing accordingly. For example, US and UK shoppers are used to paying less for eBooks, while readers in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are more willing to pay more. Ben, QA & Content Display Ben's main responsibility involves seeing content coming in and deciding whether or not it's ready to go for sale to customers. When the answer is no, his team works to problem solve, find bugs, and support fixes. Common errors found during the QA process: all content lumped in chapter 1; mismatched file uploaded for the title (ex Book 2 in a series instead of Book 1); missing or out of order chapters; low image quality. Ben's favourite QA lingo. Aren't you dying to know what an obfuscated font is? Patricia, Publisher Operations The detective work of PubOps, who are always working to answer a question from a publisher, another internal team, or retail partner. Why hasn't a price changed? Why isn't a book for sale? Why has this eBook failed QA testing? Why Patricia likes projects that involve launching in a new territory - a large cross-functional team basically gets to recreate Kobo, and rebuild the catalogue, in a short period of time. Jared, Big Data Reading data that Kobo collects and analyzes. How we're currently using it for our readers - to show them patterns in how they read, when they read, and help them set reading goals. How we hope to share it with authors and publishers to help improve content and sales.   Do you have a question about what it takes to run a digital retail company that we didn't answer here? Leave a comment on our blog at www.kobowritinglife.com Thanks for listening!

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews 6 of the 7 writers who make up the core writers of the Uncollected Anthology project:  Phaedra Weldon, Leslie Clare Walker, Annie Reed, Leah Cutter, Dayle A. Dermatis and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. (Absent from the interview, but a core member is Michele Lang) The Uncollected Anthology of Urban Fantasy, is an ongoing project where, every three months, the authors pick a theme and write a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, they each sell their own stories. So you can buy any one of them, or all of them. No fuss, no muss. But the tales are packaged using templates that bring them together thematically, and the authors have found the anthology as helpful for new readers to discover these books. In the interview, Mark and the writers discuss: How they get together annually for a meeting and have planned the themes out until May 2018 How the idea was born out of the Fiction River anthology workshops that Kris runs with her husband Dean. Dayle looked around the room at the talented authors and knew there were enough who wrote urban fantasy to put something like this together The process which includes deadlines for when the stories, the blurbs, the covers are all due each quarter The cross-promotional aspect of marketing each “issue” or theme of this ongoing series that includes the website and links embedded within each author’s books How, even though they are calling them “short stories” some of the stories go as long as 20,000 words or novella length The way Allyson Longueira of WMG Publishing designed the cover template for the group for them to have a consistent brand, look and feel (such as the consistent color that each of the themes employ) The inherent trust each writer has to have, above the existing contract which includes terms such as the fact that each author owns all the copyright on each of their respective stories The common request from readers about how they might be able to get all the stories together How every Feb the theme is urban fantasy romance How Leah doesn’t enjoy writing romance and yet, facing the challenge of that theme wrote a story that she loves the most – “The Midnight Gardener” How the themes help the writers explore different concepts and stories they never knew they had in them The brilliantly organic meeting that was the genesis of this collective, and the importance of community and an in person presence at writer events. How Kris is sometimes known by the nickname “Tom Hanks” derived from the movie “Big” because of the storm of ideas that she has Emails, yearly meeting and a closed yahoo group they use to communicate and share files A discussion of some of the challenges that have faced the group Some of the guest authors which include Dean Wesley Smith, Anthea Sharp, Rebecca Senese, Ron Cillins May's “out of the woods” theme . . . . The Fiction River workshops, how they originated based upon what used to be called the Dennis Little workshops at conventions The Importance of being with other writers, the support they offer one another, the pep-talks, the understanding . . . . After the interview, Mark talks about the importance of what can happen when writers come together to share, to communicate and to network.   Links of Interest Uncollected Anthology Main Website Uncollected Anthology Books at Kobo Click here to subscribe to the Uncollected Anthology Newsletter

Have you ever worked with a literary agent? What benefits can an agent offer to authors navigating their options: self-publish, sign a traditional deal, or take a hybrid approach? We delve into these questions and more in this interview, our first on the podcast focusing on literary agents. Amy Tannenbaum from the Jane Rotrosen Agency offers the agent's perspective, chatting with KWL Manager Christine Munroe about: Amy's background as an editor at Simon & Schuster for many years. She had begun to acquire self-published authors, but they always asked her if they should work with an agent. When she replied yes, they always asked for a recommendation. Eventually, she decided that she wanted to fill that role. As part of a bigger full-service literary agency, Amy is able to offer her clients support in pursuing opportunities in foreign, audio, and film and TV rights. The majority of new clients she takes on are self-published authors looking for a traditional deal. That's how she started out building a client list as an agent, and she takes on most of her new authors through recommendations from her existing clients. That being said, the industry changes constantly so the picture may look different a year from now! Does she approach working with authors different based on their publishing path? No - it's all about career management, and what the right option is for each book. "Most readers don't care about whether a book is self-published or traditionally published. They just want to read a great story." A few years ago, publishers were hungrily acquiring self-published titles, and you could more easily sell a book based on sales track record. Now, publishers are more selective, and the emphasis has shifted back more to the quality of the voice and writing. Sales numbers and social media presence certainly help, but they're not enough. That being said, if your ultimate goal is to be traditionally published and you're having difficulty getting the attention of an agent or publisher directly, then trying to build your own successful sales track through self-publishing will definitely help build your case to make it happen. With every author looking to switch from indie to traditional, Amy extensively discusses the pros and cons of that decision. Authors won't be able to use their cover designer, choose their editor, set their prices, set a release schedule, etc. On the plus side, though, they're gaining a support team taking the business side (and the pre-publication costs) off their plate. The major thing traditional publishers still offer is print distribution - this is the typical tipping point for indie authors wanting a publishing contract. In the reverse direction, traditional authors often go indie when they have a book that their traditional publisher isn't interested in publishing. Christine's experience working as an agent before self-publishing became a viable option for writers, when a publisher saying "no" was potentially the end of a writing career. We're in an exciting time now, when authors have many options. When Amy is looking at a potential new client, she looks primarily at the writing. Then, she looks at social media - and not necessarily just reach, but engagement level with fans. Most common error to avoid: submitting to an agent who doesn't represent the genre you write in. Most successful way to get an agent: get a recommendation from one of their current clients. So make friends with other authors, engage with them, check the acknowledgements of similar books where authors will thank their agents.  

There has never been more opportunities for writers and storytellers than ever in the history of publishing, and Episode 52 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast demonstrates yet another amazing opportunity that exists for writers. KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Jean Leggett co-founder of One More Story Games, a company from Barrie, Ontario that has developed a storytelling platform with a team of gamers, geeks, storytellers and programmers that creates a community for collaborative story game opportunities. In the interview, Mark and Jean discuss: Jean’s background as a recovering Haiku addict and recovering stand-up comedian How Jean’s love of storytelling combined with her husband’s similar love and a computer science background and background working in the games industry led to the formation of One More Story Games The underlying concept of bringing more reading into the game space How the experience of these games is similar to the “Choose Your Own Adventure” branching narrative experiences StoryStylus – the story creation platform that helps creators break down the elements of story (such as people, places, things, relationships, conversation and dialogue, etc) that publishes to an interactive games marketplace The fact that you don’t need to be a programmer to be part of creating an interactive story game and how virtually any writer could participate in this process. (With a reminder that “Beta” means “patient, early adopters”) A writer, photographer and graphic designer in Tillsonburg, Ontario (Dan Wilkins) who is writing an 8 part series for One More Story Games and involving real people, such as the town’s mayor as characters in the story    The manner by which a platform like this seems ideal for mystery stories, but the manner by which science fiction and adventure stories have already been built for it The exciting announcement that One More Story Games will be working with New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sookie_Stackhouse - novels which have been adapted into the True Blue television series) to adapt her novel Shakespeare’s Landlord How the Charlaine Harris project will include a “behind the scenes” look at breaking the book itself into various plot points and how it was developed into the interactive storytelling experience (https://onemorestorygames.com/2016/02/16/lily-bard-online/) The idea of making smarter more casual games available to the growing demographic of women consumers in their mid 30’s who are interested in and playing these types of games The concept of how a game like this demonstrates the progression of writer to narrative designer for a storyteller Recommendations on how authors who are interested in exploring these opportunities might get started     Links of Interest: One More Story Games One More Story Games on Twitter One More Story Games on Facebook Story Stylus FAQ Charlaine Harris Website   YouTube Tutorial Videos from One More Story Games

Known as the “Wizard of Storytelling,” David Farland (who also writes under the name David Wolverton) is the author and editor of more than fifty books, including his Philip K. Dick Award winning novel On My Way to Paradise and the well-known Runelords series. A long-time mentor to writers, David spend many years teaching writing at Bringham Young University and has also mentored such writers as Stephanie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint and James Dashner. KWL Director Mark Lefebvre had the chance to sit down and chat with David about these things and much more at the 2016 annual Superstars Writing Seminars conference in Colorado Springs where David is one of the founding faculty members of a group of international bestselling authors who spend several information-packed days teaching newer writers the business of writing and publishing. In their conversation, Mark and David discuss: David’s love of writing, which started when he was nine years old and had his first writing published in a local newspaper The fact that David had planned on becoming a doctor and was taken aside by a very astute teacher when he was seventeen who told him, “Dave, you’re a writer. You don’t it yet, but you’re a writer and you can’t get away from that. It’s going to come out some day.” When he was studying pre-med and spent three days working on a poem that just wouldn’t leave his mind. Winning third place in a college writing contest for a short story and how that inspired him to write more and submit them to other contests, where he won first place in all of them, including first prize in the L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future contest How winning that contest led to a three novel contract with Bantam right there at the Writers of the Future ceremony David’s current role in helping to kick-start new writers careers as the lead editor for the Writers of the Future annual contest Tips on what David is looking for when reading submissions to this contest David’s role as a writer coach and how, as an advisor to Scholastic Books in the United States, David had suggested they take a serious look at a then-unknown author of the Harry Potter series The secret to how David can intuit a writer’s chances of success without even having to have read any of their work How his real name of David Wolverton became associated with his science fiction novels (starting with his first award winning novel, and how he landed on the pseudonym of David Farland by standing in a bookstore and looking at the placement of books on the shelves and determining the best “eye-level” last name to employ David’s natural storyteller ability as a Dungeon Master taking care of twenty to thirty people at once for role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, and how that led to his interest and participation in game development David’s work doing screenplays and movie production, and the difference and similarities between writing novels, writing video games and writing screenplays David’s work writing in the Star Wars universe, including The Courtship of Princess Leia as well as the YA and middle grade books for Scholastic The collaborative spirit and mentality required when working on licensed properties, video games, etc The differences between “Hollywood” and “New York Publishing” for a writer David’s advice for writers and on being a professional writer: Deciding what you want to be and then beginning to live and BE that part   As part of his dedication to helping other writers, David writes the David Farland’s #WritingTips, an email bulletin for writers. Many authors rave about how it has helped them. Out of devotion, he provides his #WritingTips for free. You can subscribe to David’s #WritingTips here. LINKS OF INTEREST David’s Website: http://davidfarland.com/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/authordavidfarland Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidfarland David's Great Resources for writers, including a signup to his “Daily Kick in the Pants” emails: www.mystorydoctor.com YouTube Video mentioned in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWEP3aBVpAw

For our 50th episode, we're featuring over a dozen all-star indie authors offering an amazing wealth of information about publishing and writing. Tune in to hear from HM Ward, Diane Capri, Melody Anne, and more! You'll learn: How this multi-author signing event came together What Diane Capri has learned while serving on the board of the International Thriller Writers Ruth Cardello's tips for becoming a successful author How Melody Anne got started as an author, and why she loves this job. "If somebody ticks me off I get to kill them in my series! So my life is awesome." Raine Miller's tips for translating your novels Why Michelle A. Valentine works with a literary agent How HM Ward manages to write over books per month. “I always have multiple books in the pipeline at a time. So I’ll come up with an idea and I’ll start a book, and then when I’m not really feeling it anymore I put it down and then I pick up something else.” Why CC MacKenzie joined the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) Steena Holmes describing what ALLi has taught her about marketing to a UK audience Chris Keniston's "pantser" writing method What Fabio Bueno has learned while writing from both male and female perspectives in his SINGULARITY series How Lee Strauss found her German translator Rebecca Donovan's thoughts on working with a traditional publisher, Grand Central. She's also heavily involved in the production process turning her BREATHING series into a movie The KWL team is always on the road attending writer's conferences and publishing events, so Christine lists off just a few that we have coming up in the next few months. We hope we'll have the chance to meet you in person soon!

Is your work managing the business side of your publishing taking away from your time writing your next book? Are you feeling overwhelmed? It might be time to hire an Author Assistant. In this episode of the KWL Podcast, US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Kate Tilton, founder of Kate Tilton Author Services, LLC. Christine and Kate talk about: What do author assistants do, exactly? Kate says, “I give authors more time to write and spend with their family, by doing tasks that they may be able to do themselves, but they don’t have time for.” Kate started as an author assistant in December 2010 – it was her first job, while she was still a high school student. A typical day for Kate might include these tasks: organize email inboxes, send review copies, run to the post office to mail out prizes, scheduling their blog posts and social media, beta reading, matching audiobooks to the written text. It’s a diverse job; every day is different. Why should an author hire an author assistant? Every one could use help in some capacity. If you feel overwhelmed and work is piling up. Willing to delegate. Have the finances to afford the help. What projects can be outsourced? Anything, really, that is taking up time that you wish you could be using to write. You can also consider hiring a personal assistant instead, who will help with non-publishing daily chores (picking up dry cleaning, grocery shopping) to make your life more manageable. The job is really flexible – you make your own schedule and choose your author clients. It’s great to work with multiple clients, because authors are not in competition with one another. Kate can bring them together for joint efforts like prize giveaways, and each is helping the other find new readers. How much should authors expect to pay for an assistant? Rates vary greatly, depending on the assistant’s experience. For example, you can get a college-level intern and pay very little, but you’ll need to take the time to teach them how to do what you need. With an experienced assistant, you’ll pay around $40/hour, but it may be more efficient because they’ll draw on their expertise to get the job done quickly. It’s a decision to make based on your budget, time, and needs. For someone hoping to become an author assistant, check out Kate’s resources on her website: http://katetilton.com/author-assistants/ For an author looking for an assistant, start with word of mouth – ask your author friends who they work with. There are many resources online, for example http://www.authorsatlas.com/ Kate recently contributed two sections to The Self-Publisher's Ultimate Resource Guide, edited by Joel Friedlander and Betty Sargent, which is available for pre-order on Kobo. Her biggest advice for tackling social media and marketing: figure out who the #1 die-hard fan of your book is going to be, and market to that kind of person. This thought process will help you really appeal to your ideal market. Kate also teaches by doing; she works on her own social media and branding to exemplify what she thinks authors should do. Her brand: Books. Cats. Tea. Nerdy stuff. Food. One great resource for learning more about marketing is CopyBlogger. You need to build a group of people who “know, like, and trust you,” because those are the people who are going to help you grow (and buy your books). #K8Chat is Kate’s weekly Twitter chat, with the goal of connecting authors and readers. Every Thursday 9-10PM EST.

Kobo recently held a special event in downtown Toronto for some of its best customers, avid readers and fans of Michael Connelly. Special guests had a chance to meet one another for cocktails and snacks, mingle, get books signed, and listen to an on-stage interview with Michael Connelly, who was interviewed by by Johanna Schneller. Some of the fascinating things you'll find out in this entertaining interview with Michael Connelly include: How Michael's mother gave him his first book to read, how, as a child he was introverted and loved to read and earned the nickname "the book addict" The perspective that a writer's job is often being "the observer" Michael's role as a journalism and crime reporter, including the months he spent interviewing survivors of the Delta 191 Crash (131 people died and 29 people survived) and the quote from one of the survivors that still sticks with Michael today The first two books that Michael wrote, which he considered part of the learning process before crafting his third novel, which was the one he knew was good enough and was sent off to be published (and which ended up winning the Edgar Award for best first novel The advice from Michael's agent and editor to keep his head down and write his next novel, which allowed him to have his second novel already turned in by the time the first novel (The Black Echo) came out How Michael waited until several novels had been published before quitting his day job Michael's thoughts on the 150 newspapers that ran stories on then president Bill Clinton walking out of a bookstore carrying his novel The Concrete Blonde Having an iconic actor like Clint Eastwood involved in the creation of the movie Blood Work, based on one of Michael's novels The "fourth wall" mention in The Crossing of the movie version of The Lincoln Lawyer Reflections on being one of the guest authors (along with Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, and Dennis Lehane) who makes semi-regular appearances on the ABC television series Castle as one of Richard Castle's poker buddies The mosaic by which Michael's most popular character, Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch is, in many ways, similar to the complex and multi-compositional paintings by the famous painter of the same name Michael's approach towards writing every single day, particularly when he is going through the process of a first draft The casting of Titus Welliver in the lead role as Harry Bosch in the Bosch series, Michael's role in suggesting him, and the manner by which Welliver may not "look" like the outer Harry Bosch Connelly has written about, but how he definitely looks like the "inner" Harry Bosch and how he very effectively displays the angst and internal turmoil that makes Bosch who he is Collaborative writing and Michael's reflections on having done that in the past (both in text writing as well as in working on the Bosch series) Where Michael writes most often and the answer to the question of whether he prefers a typewriter or a computer when writing a novel How Michael knows the beginning and has a really good sense of the end when he sits down to write the first draft of a novel, and the intriguing discovery process that the writing becomes for him The fact that Michael is a major re-writer, who usually writes three drafts of a novel How he knows whether a novel will be a "Haller" or a "Bosch" novel The aural inspirational process that Michael uses to write. How Michael has aged Harry in real time, leading to natural progressions, such as his recent retirement The reason why Harry Bosch continues to remain alone and single, despite many highs and lows of relationships over the years Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about Michael's mention of one of his sources of inspiration by connecting with lawyers and police officers. He reflects on how a writer who is open to connecting with and listening to professionals not only has the resources to create better writing, but also brings a sense of community to the overall writing and overall proces Link to Michael Connelly's books on Kobo Michael Connelly's Website

For the month of November, a brave team of Kobo staff joined forces to give NaNoWriMo a shot. We blogged about our efforts throughout the month, then several of us (Mark, Christine, Bessie, Sophie, and Wendy) sat down to chat about our experience. Listen to this week's episode to hear our roundtable discussion about how Team KoBoWriMo fared in 2015. How many of us “won” by writing 50k words in 30 days? What are we writing about? Everything from epic fantasy, to a horror novel about an abandoned hippie commune, a thriller about a bitter author, race car driving, and an animal migration. Why did we take on this crazy challenge? What worked for us, and what didn’t? Wendy did all of her writing within GoogleDocs, so she could write on any device throughout her day, especially during her commute. Mark gave dictation a try, so he could write as he drove (!) to work. Dealing with avoiding cross-contamination when a book with a similar subject or approach is published while you’re still writing yours. Sophie’s book has parallels with Andre Alexis’s FIFTEEN DOGS. Would we do it again? Our goals as writers, and with these projects specifically. We represent a broad range of perspectives. Wendy is keeping her work very private, especially in its current, raw state. Bessie is motivated by public/social media feedback. Kobo Writing Life is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo. We love that it inspires writers of all levels to try to sit down and write, set word count goals, and prioritize making creativity a part of your everyday life. As we reach the end of the year, we want to take the time to thank all of you so much for tuning in to the KWL podcast. It's given us the opportunity to interview amazing authors and service providers, and share their stories with you. We love hearing your feedback. If there is a topic you'd like us to cover or writer you'd like us to interview next year, let us know in the comments or email [email protected]

US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Ashleigh Gardner, Wattpad’s Head of Writer and Publisher Partnerships. Wattpad is a social media app with over 40 million monthly users around the world and growing. How can you take advantage of this community as a writer and reader? Listen in to learn about: What is Wattpad all about? A social media app for telling stories, all user-generated content. Currently attracts 40 million users per month, growing at a rate of over 1 new user per second. It’s mostly readers – 90% of site users. Writers can use it to build reading communities. The longer a user is onsite as a reader, the more likely they are to become a writer. User demographics: 45% of users are 13-18. 40% are 18-30. Fastest-growing segment is women 25-35. A common misconception is that it’s just teenagers. Wattpad is strong internationally. #2 country is the Philippines, where Wattpad is the #1 website and they have their own TV show 4 nights a week. A lot of the content is unfinished when it’s first uploaded. The encouragement and acknowledgement from the Wattpad community inspires writers to keep going. It offers a very supportive, encouraging environment and culture. Readers are used to a rawness – think of it as a “digital campfire” more than a digital book – so they aren’t critical in the same way as you see on other social media platforms. Why should authors post free content? Learn your audience. Grow your audience. Post a portion, or the first book in a series, then encourage readers to buy the rest elsewhere.   What is a Wattpad success story? It’s different for everyone, as every author is writing for different reasons. The most traditionally successful author is Anna Todd, who has become an internationally bestselling author. Tons of other young writers are gaining confidence every day from having tens of thousands of followers encouraging them to pursue writing opportunities. Brands are sponsoring stories, for example SourPatch Kids and Ouija Boards. How to succeed on Wattpad: follow other writers in your genre. See what they’re doing, how they talk to their fans. Find your network – share on other social media outlets that you’re posting on Wattpad. What does Wattpad do to combat piracy problems? They don’t allow copy/pasting. Duplications are detected, reported, and removed quickly. Everything on Wattpad is date and time stamped, so it’s very easy to prove the origin date. Ashleigh’s favourite kind of fan fiction: high-brow commentary on contemporary events. Finding that line between real life and fan fiction when the line starts to blur is really interesting. At the end of the episode, we showcase a speech that Michael Tamblyn, Rakuten Kobo President, delivered at FutureBook 2015. FutureBook is an annual digital publishing conference that took place last week in London on December 4th. Tamblyn outlines what he sees as a "reader’s bill of rights." We should be able to read: 1. Easily 2. Shamelessly 3. Freely (not meaning no cost, but in terms of time - free time to read in the midst of the distracting world) 4. Publicly 5. Privately   In addition to analyzing, trying to understand, marketing to, segmenting, collecting information about readers, publishing professionals (including authors!) need to step back and think about how readers want to read. “Earn the right to the reader’s attention… and we’ll get to keep doing what we love.”

Episode 45 features an interview with USA Today Bestselling author Julianne MacLean, author of THE COLOR OF HEAVEN series, THE HIGHLANDER series and THE PEMBROKE PALACE series. Julianne is interviewed by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life and they discuss: Julianne's first visit to Kobo HQ in Toronto, Ontario How Mark fell into Julianne's first contemporary novel, THE COLOR OF HEAVEN during a flight, and could not put the book down The manner by which Julianne adapted what she learned from James Patterson in structuring THE COLOR OF HEAVEN and her desire to create a book that was suspenseful on an emotional level, producing what she likes to think of as: "Women's Fiction for Thriller fans" The fact that THE COLOR OF HEAVEN was released in 2011 and how Book 9 in the series (THE COLOR OF TIME) was coming out in September 2015 How, immediately after the success of THE COLOR OF HEAVEN Julianne couldn't immediately return to writing in that universe in order to fulfill a traditional publishing contract How Julianne is breaking things up in 2015 and writing both historical romance and contemporary fiction The fact that THE COLOR OF HEAVEN was originally written with the intention of being sold to a traditional publisher, that it was meant to be a stand-alone, and how readers often assumed that the novel was based on a true story The very "meta" manner by which the rest of the novels in THE COLOR OF HEAVEN series are about fictional characters reading the book THE COLOR OF HEAVEN How a traditionally published series Julianne had written was cut-off by the publisher before the end of the series (The Pembroke Palace Series), and how, to please fans, she continued the series. That's how the first three books were released by the publisher and books four and five are controlled by Julianne. How, on release day of Book Five for The Pembroke Palace Series, Julianne made Book 4 FREE, which not only boosted sales of the new release: Book Five, but how the publisher also sold a signifiant amount of Books 1 through 3, backlist titles that hadn't been expected to see such a dramatic increase in sales. Julianne's perspective on how her "New York Published" titles can help lend credibility to an author's platform The adoration Julianne has for her agent, who she has been with since 1999 (Paige Wheeler) Interesting facts about Julianne including the fact she was a dance club DJ in the 1980's (and the only female dance club DJ in Halifax at the time), how she has to dance when she hears the song called "Cheerleader" and what she is listening to when she wears headphones while writing Julianne's thoughts about the cadence and rhythm of the sentences while she is writing The fact that Julianne still enjoys writing the first draft of novels in long hand, how, when starting a novel she always has to write the first sentence long hand in pencil and the way she uses different forms/methods of writing to help "unstick her wheels" when in the process of writing How she will sometimes set a book up for pre-order before a book is even started in order to keep her on track What she might do differently if she were starting again but without any regrets Mark then talks a bit about some of the new features on the KWL Dashboard, specifically, Author Services and the two new types of Notifications added.

This episode features Mark Dawson, the bestselling UK author of the John Milton and Soho Noir series. Mark has become a go-to expert on Facebook ads and building your mailing list, so we dig into each of these topics and more. Listen as Mark and KWL Manager Christine Munroe discuss:  In 2001/2002, his first novel was published traditionally in the UK and Russia. Mark secured nice advances, but no marketing from sale date onwards. The whole experience soured him to writing – he stopped for 6 years. Given what happened, would he do a traditional deal again? “All options are on the table.” But he can work out with relative accuracy what the books are worth, and it’s hard to imagine a traditional publisher delivering that amount upfront. He is, however, interested in working with publishers in foreign markets. Mark is currently lining up translation deals with the help of an agent. Translations are expensive and time-consuming, and he's not confident in his knowledge of each foreign market to recoup the loss of time and money. The benefits of BookBub. The day of this recording a BookBub ad landed Mark at #8 in his category in the Kobo store. He does them as often as they’ll take him. His extensive knowledge of Facebook advertising. Spends $600 a day on Facebook ads, earns $750-$800 back per day, every single day. To find out more about his strategies in this workshop website, www.selfpublishingformula.com Advice for facebook advertising: use it for two objectives 1) build your mailing list 2) sell books Study carefully. Use Power Editor and figure out the intricacies of how it works - it's not an easy process. Dawson worked tirelessly at it for 6 weeks, losing money at first as he learned how to calibrate the ads. Starting at $5 a day, invest the profit, growing gradually and reinvesting as you go. The strategy behind his recent cover redesign. His designer looked at trending designs for his comp titles, and created several options within that spectrum so his books will both fit in and stand out alongside authors like Lee Child. When he writes about a city he hasn’t visited himself, he uses resources like Google street view to make it as accurate as possible – when his books say a building on a certain corner looks a certain way, that’s factually correct. How he uses free today. It is a fundamental part of his sales strategy. First in each series is a free novella. That free novella also includes a call to action to join his mailing list. Speaking of mailing lists...a mailing list is the most important marketing tool an author has today. You can get a free package from a service like Mail Chimp.  For those just starting, or hoping to grow your list: Broadcast a call to action as widely as possible. He advises giving away a free book—even if you only currently have one book ready—so you can build your platform and have a few hundred people on deck to buy your next book. A subscriber is worth more for your career than one sale. Competitions and giveaways are not a very good way to build a quality mailing list. You want your mailing list to be people interested in your books, not in a free eReader. Dawson doesn’t message his mailing list very often. Only messages when he has a new book out, or if there’s a significant deal happening. How his craft has developed. In the early days, he desperately wanted to win literary prizes, and was much more immature as a writer. Now his goal is creating page-turning books that readers can’t put down. The best validation he gets is notes from readers saying they love his books. ] Last advice: you cannot just upload your book and leave it there. You have to put your business hat on. Build your platform, build your readership. If you’re diligent, the book will stand a much better chance of getting discovered by additional new readers. "It’s an amazing way to make a living."   Mark Dawson's books are available on kobo.com. For more information, visit www.markjdawson.com or www.selfpublishingformula.com.

Marie Force, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than 40 contemporary romance novels was recently in Toronto and spent an evening with Kobo, Harlequin and an intimate group of lucky fans to celebrate Marie. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed Marie in front of the group. In the conversation, Mark and Marie discuss: How Gansett Island, a fictional island is based on Marie’s favourite real island, Block Island, is a spot that Marie goes to regularly The next Gansett Island book (Celebration After Dark - coming December 1st) which will feature Big Mack and Linda The READER WEEKEND summer retreat that Marie runs for her fans, (limited to 300 people) which is co-ordinated and plann by Julie, Marie's Executive Assistant How Marie has been with a Harlequin imprint (Carina Press) since 2010 when Fatal Affair was launched and the recent deal for books 10 through 13 which is, so far, the biggest deal of her career A reveal that Sam is not going to get pregnant any time soon in the Fatal series (because of how significantly that might change everything in the series) How new ideas are constantly flowing through Marie’s mind and the amount of time she ends up spending thinking about fictional people in her life The six people that Marie employs full time The fact that Gansett Island is Marie’s favourite series and how Sam from the Fatal series is her favourite character to write. The manner by which Marie embraces both traditional publishing and self-publishing and how she enjoys the collaboration of working with publishers How self-publishing allows her to do things such as bring out three books in three weeks (something that is a rare feat when it comes to traditional publishing) The reality of the punishing writing schedule (writing 8 or 9 books in a year) that Marie keeps in order to meet the demands of the publishing that she does How the first books from the Fatal series sat on the shelf for a full year before Carina Press came along, wanting to do something different about the way that romance was presented to readers   Marie also answers questions from her fans about: If Skip might ever recover from his paralysis Whether or not she will write until Scotty becomes an adult Her most memorable fan interaction Whether or not fans will see more of Shelby and Avery The hardest part of writing romance The best ways to keep informed about Marie’s new works and the new Marie Force app that is available to keep fans informed and connected Whether or not she plots out books ahead of time Where she writes most often and whether or not she writes longhand or via a computer If Doctor Harry Flynn might ever have a love interest Her influences for writing   After the interview, Mark goes over a few tips for those about to embark upon NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), conjuring up a few tips derived from articles on the Kobo Writing Life blog by Kevin J. Anderson and Chris Mandeville.  

Kelley Armstrong, New York Times Bestselling author Kelley Armstrong is interviewed by Kobo’s Nora Parker about the hot serialized summer release CITY OF THE LOST. In the discussion, Nora and Kelley discuss:   How Kelley has always enjoyed the serialized format and how the project came about at the request of her Canadian publisher The changes required to the finished manuscript in order to optimize it for the serialized format (including the fun “previously on” snippets that Kelley has always enjoyed that are like the one minute clips you get on a serialized television program) How Kelley credits her agent for the underlying idea behind CITY OF THE LOST with the comment “enough people in the US go missing each y ear to populate a small town” Kelley’s preference for setting and how if she CAN logistically set something in Canada, she will. (ie, in the setting of this novel in the Yukon rather than Alaska) Building a character like Casey Duncan who is both sympathetic and complex by using such an intriguing opening line “I killed a man.” The emphasis on the different forms of female relationships in this novel rather than just a simple BFF type friendship and how that made the book more interesting to read How CITY OF THE LOST began as a NaNoWriMo project about 3 years earlier and the various re-writes Kelley engaged in to get the novel to its final state How Kelley LOVES writing and has become accustomed to write every single day, even when she is on vacation The “Secrets” YA project and Kelley’s continued experimentation with form, including novels, short stories, novellas, graphic novels The manner by which characters and their background come to Kelley as she is building characters and their back-story How writing characters who are not similar to Kelley has become easier over the years (and, for example, how Elena, the hero of her first novel, was similar to Kelley in many ways) and the original fears of whether or not she could get the POV correct How Kelley uses the writing of short stories between novels as a pallet cleanser for getting into a different character’s perspective Her love of research and how it can be something Kelley gets willingly lost within The interview is followed by a commentary discussion between Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre who interviews Director of Merchandising, Nathan Maharaj regarding the huge success of CITY OF THE LOST. Nathan breaks down the various elements that made it such a hit and the two talk about: What Nathan does at Kobo and the responsibility of the global merchandising team How Penguin Random House Canada approached Kobo with the idea for promoting a new serialized Kelley Armstrong novel and why the pitch was appealing to the merchandising team (Six parts published in six consecutive weeks from a key name Canadian author) The permanent low price of Volume 1 at 99 cents as “on ramp pricing” and a way to get as many people into the series funnel and the remainder of the volumes (5 through 6 at $2.99) How the cover design’s strong visual coherence established an extremely strong branding The importance of metadata in setting up a series, including the “series drawer” on Kobo’s item page and the automated guidance that allows Kobo to help readers move along to the next book in a series How, prior to the launch of this series, the entire series was produced to completion and ready to go and set up for pre-order, so once it was launched all of the calls to action to keep readers going through the series were all in place Stephen King’s unfinished serialized “The Plant” which he released in 2000 via six blog installments How, if you consider CITY OF THE LOST as a single volume in terms of sales, it sits among one of the most bestselling titles on Kobo in Canada this year How the branding on this project down-played the “brand” of Kelley Armstrong and played up the branding of the series itself, so as not to confuse Kelley’s existing fans and to entice completely new and unique fans Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the hugely popular "City of the Lost" series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. You can find out more about her on her website, Facebook and Twitter.  

Christine Munroe interviews #1 NYT bestselling author Barbara Freethy in this episode, which is filled with stories about Barbara's publishing journey and great advice for new authors: How Barbara came to publishing as a voracious lifelong reader, then decided to try writing in her late twenties. How she carved time out when working and raising small kids. She dedicated small chunks of very focused time every single day - if you just write a page a day, at the end of the year you’ll have a book. Getting through the writing process is hard work, and unfortunately it never really gets easier. Leaning on other excuses can be a way of coping with fear of the blank page. You have to persevere and work through it. She remains very involved in every aspect of the self-publishing process, because she knows her brand better than anyone. Barbara's 80/20 rule: Spend 80% of your time writing, and 20% on everything else. Marketing takes up a huge amount of that 20% - so you shouldn’t be spending all of your time on every single social media outlet available. “Once you have a stack of books to sell (5-6), you can do so many things. You can change your prices, do free giveaways.”   New writers: the best thing you can do is write 3 books. Don’t even waste time really marketing the first one, until you have the next books available. Writing is not a get rich quick scheme. Building your brand and developing a following takes a lot of time. The digital revolution has brought many people back to reading, and made it easier for them to enjoy great books. Barbara’s unique print partnership with Ingram. She usually publishes 4-5 new books per year. However, she advises, “Everyone should set their own expectations for their own process. It just doesn’t really matter what other people are doing.” “You can’t sell something that isn’t good.” Worry about the craft, don’t forget about your writer self – then think about discoverability. Take a breath, slow down, think about the long term. This is a viable publishing path that will be around for many many years to come. Participate in writers groups, attend writers conferences, try to connect with retailers. “Retailers are your partner. We’re all doing the same thing. We’re all trying to sell books, and that’s a great relationship to have.” Her author mentors: Debbie Macomber and Susan Elizabeth Phillips both helped her early on in her career. “I think writers are better served by going wide… really what you want to do is spend a lot of time and build your network and your relationships and reader base at every single retail site that you can.” Plus: What you might not know about Barbara!   After the episode, Christine talks about Kobo's great program with indie bookstores that's happening right now: eReadLocal. US readers and authors, check out www.kobo.com/ereadlocal to sign up and get $5 credit when you affiliate your Kobo account with an independent bookstore. The bookstore also gets $5, and will be eligible for great prizes like free eReaders and a party featuring a bestselling author. From that point onward, the bookstore will get a percentage of every eBook you buy! The $5 credit offer ends November 29th, so sign up today. Please help us spread the word on social media with #ereadlocal. Thank you!

While every author has heard the age old advice that it's important to have a professional looking and beautiful cover that appeals to the target audience, not as much attention has been paid to the blurb, description or "sales copy" that helps inspire the potential reader to click that all important BUY button. This interview with Bryan Cohen, author of the TED SAVES THE WORLD series, podcast host and man for all seasons includes an in-depth look at the importance of a strong and solid blurb. Also included are two different amazing prizes for writers. Contest 1 -- Win one of three carefully crafted book description services valued at $149 USD. Giveaway ends Sept 31, 2015. ENTER HERE Contest 2 -- $1000 Copywriting for Authors Giveaway. Giveaway Ends October 9, 2015 - ENTER HERE   Bryan is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre. During their chat Mark and Bryan discuss: The great work that Bryan and Jim Kukral do putting together the SELL MORE BOOKS SHOW podcast and how that keeps Bryan on top of things for his own writing The non-fiction works that Bryan has written to help prompt writers to get started, which include the first one that Bryan wrote in 2010 (1000 Creative Writing Prompts), and how these books are still often among his best-selling titles How, if Bryan himself is ever stuck doing his own fiction writing, he can often turn to his own prompts Bryan's site Build-creative-writing-ideas.com which has about 700 articles and sees significant traffic on a daily basis How writing something timeless will ensure its long term viability and sales Bryan's YA podcast co-hosted with Robert Scanlon about reading and writing called The Split The work that Bryan does writing "sales copy" blurbs for writers (BEST PAGE FORWARD) -- and how the demand for those services has recently exploded How a solid writing blurb can work as effectively as a good cover at helping convert those looking at your book's landing page into buyers THE CONTEST BY WHICH a KWL LISTENER CAN RECEIVE A FREE BOOK BLURB FROM BRYAN How Bryan is looking into also helping writers with drafting email campaigns for auto-responders, helping with Facebook ad copy, author bios and similar communications The importance of priorities when it comes to maintaining a balanced life while producing as much content as Bryan produces Knowing your own strengths and weakeness for performing different types of tasks at certain times of the day and what makes Bryan a fantastic husband (he may love his readers, but he loves his wife more) How TED SAVES THE WORLD came from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and asking the question: "What if Giles and Buffy were the same person? (ie, combining the intelligence & wisdom with the power and ability)" When Bryan, who used to do improv comedy, changed himself from a "panster" to a "plotter" while developing TED SAVES THE WORLD from a novella into a full novel and series. And the seeming contradiction in how Bryan often feels like he is "pantsing" in the discovery process of plotting out a novel. The replacement of the original terrible cover and the local photo shoot with actor friends that helped Bryan to produce a well-branded and consistent series. http://robotbraindesign.com/ Bryan also shares his favourite advice for beginning writers   Mark then provides a quick summary of some of the advice and examples regarding a strong professional product as gleaned from the interview and then provides further details about the aforemention contests.   Other links: Bryan's website Bryan on Twitter Bryan's TED SAVES THE WORLD BOOKS on Kobo Bryan's non-fiction writing on Kobo Sell More Books Show Podcast

Episode 39 features the one and only... Bella Andre! Bella is a self-publishing superstar, one of the original KWL beta testers when we started off in 2012, NYT and USA Today bestselling Romance and New Adult author, and all-around lovely and fun person to talk to. Christine Munroe hosts this episode and chats with Bella about her publishing journey, including (listen up!) her secrets for success. In this can't-miss episode, Christine and Bella discuss: The turning point in Bella's career in April 2010, when she put eBooks up for sale and several days later checked and realized she had sold several hundred copies. Her work creating the visual brand of Bella Andre. She recommends that authors treat themselves like the bestseller they want to be. In her case, that started with making her name prominent on her covers. Bella's learn-by-doing approach, including creating her own covers, which she does to this day. There is a great virtue in putting in blood, sweat, and tears and understanding how to do everything yourself before passing it off and outsourcing part of the publishing process. The origins of the pen names Bella Andre and Lucy Kevin. Her promise: she will never disappoint her readers. Bella's unique 7-figure, print-only deal with Harlequin MIRA. Her translation partnership with KWL, creating French editions of five Lucy Kevin titles. The opportunities Bella says no to - including a reality TV show. Why Bella enjoys collaborating with other authors (including Melissa Foster and Jennifer Skully), and her best advice for making a collaborative relationship work: "always be nice." Will she ever run out of Sullivans? (Thankfully, no!) At the end of the episode, Christine catches up with KWL Director Mark Lefebvre. They discuss why it's so important for authors to network with retailers - from the very beginning, Bella impressed Mark and he wanted to help her succeed on Kobo. They also talk about KWL's recent third birthday and the most exciting new projects we have in the works for our authors. Thanks for listening!

For this episode, we focus on small presses and the business side of publishing. US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Angela Bole, the Executive Director of IBPA (the Independent Book Publishers Association), about everything from distribution to metadata. As a bonus, we include excellent advice from Kobo's Canadian Merchandiser, Sarah Smith-Eivemark, who recently joined Kobo from a small press. She shares the most important advice she's learned from her unique perspective of this transition from small press to digital retailer. You don't want to miss it! Tune in to hear about: IBPA's history and mission. It was founded in 1983 – one of the oldest trade associations for publishing in America. Most of its members have come in as self-publishers, even as early as 1983. Many of them learned the trade, then took on the work of others. IBPA is a publishers’ association, not an authors’ association. They serve the publishing side of the business. IBPA won’t take a point of view on authorship, editorial, craft. Instead, it focuses on marketing, publishing standards, covers, etc. Who should join? Those working independently – that is, outside of the Big 5. Small presses, university presses, even aspiring authors considering self-publishing. Anyone wanting to learn more about the market and business of self publishing. It's $129/year to become a member. Benefits: receiving a monthly magazine and email newsletters, and IBPA acts as a bullhorn sharing good news and success stories of its members. Additionally, it’s a connection to the community going through the same process, helping each other succeed by sharing best practices, sharing warnings. Publishing University is their annual conference, which has been happening for 27 years. In line with IBPA's mission, it focuses on publishing and marketing books. 30 expert speakers come, 300 attendees. 2016 will be in Salt Lake City for the first time. Publishing University also offers an opportunity for feedback and workshopping on your content, cover, and more, adding an experiential element. Best practices for getting a distributor: transition from pitching a book, to pitching your business. Publishers need a 6-month plan for your business and book, editorial calendar with more books in the pipeline, and marketing plan. Why Angela keeps talking about metadata and its importance. Find about more about IBPA at www.ibpa-online.org.

This week's podcast is essential listening for all authors: Victoria Strauss from Writer Beware is joining us to share her most important advice for how writers can avoid being scammed. Writer Beware was co-founded by Victoria and Ann Crispin in 1998, is sponsored by SFWA, and its mission is to "track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry." Listen in as Victoria speaks with US Manager Christine Munroe about:  The origins of Writer Beware in 1998. SFWA put a call-out for someone to monitor scams aimed at authors, and Victoria and Ann Crispin joined forces. At that time, literary agent scams were prevalent. Victoria says she rarely sees them nowadays - self-publishing has shown many authors that they don't need an agent to publish. Unfortunately, self-publishing has also created a new frontier in writing scams, from digital publishers charging exorbitant fees for their services to would-be experts offering services they're not capable of providing. The craziest scheme she has heard of to date (you'll have to listen to find out!). How she and a team of volunteers find the time to maintain the website and blog. Also, why their investigations need to be so detailed: Writer Beware is often the target of lawsuits by the scammers they work to expose. How writers can avoid being scammed: DO YOUR RESEARCH and educate yourself. There's no such thing as a free lunch - if it sounds too good to be true, and you have a gut feeling that something is amiss, don't ignore those instincts. The best way to get started as a new author. Start broadly by reading books about the industry at large and the various options available to you. What's important is that you set goals for your writing and find the path that best serves those goals. Then you can dive into the internet as a resource for learning more about each aspect of the process, and checking that each company you're considering working with is reputable. Additional resources for researching scams include Preditors & Editors and Absolute Write. Victoria's publishing plans for the next year, which includes traditional, hybrid, and self-publishing paths. Victoria believes (and we agree!) that authors don't need to choose just one path for publishing, and stick to that path forever. Often a combination of options is ideal. Following this conversation, KWL Author Care Coordinator Vanessa Ghosh shares advice for taking advantage of our free preview function on Kobo. Customers can preview the first 5% of the beginning of your eBook, so many sure to give them a peek into your best work—and don't use a dummy file when you're setting up a pre-order, as previews for pre-orders are also visible to customers. If you have questions you'd like us to answer on the podcast, email [email protected]

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Nancy L. Baumann about Bookarma, a platform that allows authors to leverage the community in their social media endeavors. In the interview Mark and Nancy discuss: How Bookarma, an international marketing platform, allows you to break beyond your own personal marketing network and allows you to reach further The user friendly manner of creating an account, adding social media and importing books simply by entering the ISBN How Bookarma came out of Nancy's business as a non-fiction book coach as a way to help authors once their books were out in the market The multiplier effect of authors supporting other authors by sharing one another's efforts in reaching people through social media How the author queue works in terms of authors finding appropriate content to share with their followers The importance of book covers and how a bad cover doesn't help a good book The weekly webcasts that help authors with tips and suggestions on the best way to leverage Bookarma The ability to filter your queue by genre as an author The measurability that is built into the campaigns on Bookarma, such as the number of impressions and the number of clicks that another author made in the queue and then how many times the book was shared and the number of clickbacks that link received How both traditionally published and self-published authors can use this tool Mark then talks about the value of authors helping one another and how, as a bookseller for the past 20+ years he has paid attention to this in his own desire to help authors. There is an ask for KWL listeners to email [email protected] with any questions they might have that we can answer in future episodes as well as suggestions for guests and topics for future episodes. Please note that submitting a helpful question just might land you additional promotional placement at Kobo.

KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Carla King, a travel writer and self-publishing expert. Tune in to hear them discuss: What self-publishing was like when Carla started out in 1995. Self-Publishing Boot Camp, the program of books and workshops that Carla co-founded and continues to manage. Balancing writing travel books and how-to guides. Tips for effective social media presence. Highlights from Carla's latest book, The Self-Publishing Boot Camp Guide for Authors. After the show, KWL Author Care Coordinator Vanessa Ghosh offers tips for creating reflowable ePubs.

KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. They discuss: *National Novel Writing Month, the creative challenge in which authors write 50,000 words during the month of November, or 1,667 words per day. *The origins of NaNoWriMo, which began with 21 people in 1999 and has grown to support hundreds of thousands of writers each year. *Why November? If you can write a novel in November, you can write one anytime. It's a busy time of year leading into the December holidays. *NaNoWriMo's other initiatives, including Camp NaNoWriMo and the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. *Even if you don't "win" by hitting the 50k word count, every participant is a winner for choosing to make creativity a priority. KWL is a proud sponsor of NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row. Stay tuned as we embark on this challenge in November with our annual KoBoWriMo team! www.nanowrimo.org

This episode, recorded in collaboration with the Northern Colorado Writers Conference, opens in a conversation with Rich Keller, Assistant Director and Electronics Media Manager of Northern Colorado Writers, as well as an author, editor and the publisher of Wooden Pants Publishing. Rich talks about: the use of humor in his writing and publishing and how specific humor can be for different audiences the "Wooden Pants Readings" programming being used to help build this up how Rich has learned more in the past three months than he did the entire other year the difference between IngramSpark and CreateSpace and how Rich has been using each for print books use of Embedded Fonts and TrueType Fonts in a print/POD file the five year plan that Rich has set up to be doing writing and publishing full time and the importance of time and patience The second part of this podcast features a panel conversation between Kelly Baugh, Carrie Visintainer and Mark Leslie (aka KWL Director Mark Lefebvre, with his author hat on) Kelly Baugh, author of the new novel Miss You Once Again (Hot Chocolate Press) mentions: The inspiration for Kelly's book that came through her grandmother How Kelly had joined a write's group, spend a lot of time listening, and then attended the NCWC and started pitching the book idea How Hot Chocolate Press picked up the book unexpectedly after Kelly had given up on it The cookbook that this book inspired; particularly the manner by which Kelly's publisher kick-started the idea How Kelly could have written a whole cookbook on desserts alone as part of this project Carrie Visintainer, author of the upcoming book Wild Mama (Thought Catalog Books) discusses: How her writer's group helped Carrie decided to combine her travel essays into a book about traveling with children How, when the book was finished, instead of feeling excited, she felt like she wanted to puke due to the next steps involved How the business plan or book proposal was as important as the manuscript itself The manner by which her agent made the manuscript into a much better book How closing one door can often open several other doors Mark Leslie talks about: How embracing both traditional publishing and self-publishing has, essentially doubled his writing income Remembering that publishing is a business and that some books don't make economic sense for a publisher to produce; but that doesn't mean it won't make economic sense to self-publish How publishers and agents are constantly scanning the bestseller lists for self-published titles in the same way that they read from the slush pile At the end of the conversations, KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks about how a fantastic book meant for traditional publishing can be applied in the new world of DIY publishing and spotlights Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages. LINKS Northern Colorado Writers NCW Podcast - Episode #7 (Featuring Mark Lefebvre from Kobo) NCW Podcast - Episode #9 (Authors Panel) Wooden Pants Publishing Hot Chocolate Press Ingram Spark Old Firehouse Books (local Fort Collins bookstore)

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Alex P. Berg, author of the “Daggers and Steel” sci-fi mystery series. In the interview Mark and Alex talk about: Meeting at the Superstars Writing Seminars in Colorado Springs, CO. What Alex calls “The Superstars Effect” How, when Alex had finished his novel and started querying agents and publishers, he ended up getting nowhere fast. That was when his wife gave him a proverbial kick in the pants, telling him that if he was serious about this writing thing, he better figure out a way to get it done. The effect of seeing how hard the pro writers presenting at the Superstars Writing Seminars worked to achieve their success combined with their passion for it and how that inspire Alex to keep at it. Starting out as a fan of science fiction and fantasy, then watching Brandon Sanderson’s online workshops, and following David Farland’s online and daily email writing tips as a way to get started The commitment to finding and making the time to write while balancing a full time job and a family. How giving up other activities that weren’t progressing Alex down the writing path he had wanted helped in this regard. The realization that anyone who says the cover doesn’t matter is a whole lot of B.S. and how Alex found experts to assist with the professional touches in his books.  Alex used  South African based cover designer: Damonza, and for an editor, he relied on a personal recommendation from an author friend at Superstars Writing Seminars. The business plan approach that Alex took in which he worked at putting some money aside in order to afford some of the professional services for his books; with a highlight that he knew this would be a long term plan rather than just looking for some sort of short-term payback for his work.  (IE, the income stream is going to last for a long time) If you’re looking at trying to earn your $2000 back, for example, right away, you’re likely to be disappointed. How, even though the success for his first few books came a lot sooner than he had planned or expected, his long term goals and plans haven’t been altered or changed. The fact that it is absolutely true what they say about your second book. The importance of accurate and specific metadata in helping the right readers discover your books The music Alex listens to while he is writing, including something called “melodic death metal” which is not a lot like regular death metal. The band Alestorm and their brand of “True Scottish Pirate Metal” which Alex is listening to while working on a forthcoming project. One thing Alex wished he had learned a bit earlier and it was that there are great options out there for writers and that self-publishing can be a very viable option.   After the interview, Mark discusses the concept of productivity that Alex spoke about and reads a short piece from Kevin J. Anderson's book Million Dollar Productivity and provides a coupon code allowing authors to get the book for $0.99 (rather than the $8.99 USD / $9.99 CDN price it is listed for).  Use coupon code MILLION99 during checkout.  (Please note that the coupon is only good until the end of May 2015)

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, in conversation with Dean Wesley Smith, a USA Today Bestselling author of books in multiple genres including Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers and Westerns. Currently producing novels in four different series, Smith is also the co-publisher of WMG Publishing along with his partner Kristine Kathryn Rusch and runs a series of workshops designed to help writers become smarter not only about the craft but also about the business of publishing. During their conversation, Dean and Mark talk about: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} ·         The fact that Dean wasn’t born into writing, actually loathed it when he was in college (He has a Masters in Architecture) ·         The various careers and roles that Smith played during his life, including his past as a Pro Golfer and hot dog skier ·         How his goal of being a Golf Course Architect led to writing via an English course that he had to take. ·         The English Professor who told Smith that his writing was too commercial ·         The writing class that forced Smith to submit a poem to a college poetry market (at which he won second place and $300) – at the time, he had to go see the professor to ask about it because he had no idea what it meant ·         After this experience, Smith tried his hand at fiction, wrote a 1000 word short story and mailed it off to a market right away. Then he wrote a second story and mailed that off right away. Both stories sold immediately. ·         How, after these first three successes, Smith started listening to people’s advice (AKA myths) about writing, and re-wrote his stories to dead, and for the next 7 years never sold a single thing ·         It wasn’t until 1982 that Smith ran across Robert Heinlein’s Business Rules of Writing, followed the advice, started selling again and has never looked back  (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/heinleins-business-rules/)  The RULES  o   1 – You Must Write  o   2 – You Must Finish What You Start  o   3 – You Must Refrain From Rewriting Except to Editorial Order  o   4 – You Must Put It on The Market  o   5 – You Must Keep It on The Market Until Sold ·         Dean’s books:  Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing and Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. ·         The magazine that Dean and Kristine Kathryn Rusch ran for 9 years, called Pulphouse. ·         The Starfleet Corps of Engineers Series that Dean kicked off in the Star Trek Universe – a series about the people who follow up after Captain Kirk, cleaning up his messes (which was originally meant to be an eBook back in 2000 and knocked John Grisham off the eBook bestseller list when it was released) ·         The challenge of writing within an existing restrictive universe, such as Star Trek, such as the reader having to hear Shatner’s voice when writing the character Captain Kirk. ·         Smith’s lesson for writers creating character voice by paying really close attention to the differences in voice you can easily see created for the Star Trek characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy ·         Regency Romance as one of the only genres that Smith really can’t write in ·         How Westerns, (the old West) and Science-Fiction are two of Smith’s go-two genres for writing. ·         The FICTION RIVER anthology series that Smith edits with Kristine Kathryn Rusch and how this river of fiction brings in new talent along with some major names from the genre.  (For example, the latest FICTION RIVER property, Pulse Pounders, edited by Kevin J. Anderson, included a previously unpublished sci-fi story by Frank Herbert) ·         The Oregon Coast workshops where the FICTION RIVER anthologies are derived that include a board of 6 Editors critiquing the stories live on stage and how that helps inform writers that what one editor rejects another editor might have bought ·         How the workshops that Dean and Kris started originated as the “Denise Little” short story workshops; because of the similarity to the way that editor/agent Denise Little liked to teach these principles ·         A bit about Smith’s Monthly Magazine, which has both a paper and an eBook edition ·         How Smith sees the approximate 80,000 words that he writes each month as still “not enough” ·         Smith’s ongoing Blog in which he shares daily insights: Writing in Public ·         How the teaching that Smith does is part of his desire to try to give back or pay forward to the industry in the way that the industry and writers before Smith have given so much to him ·         One of the biggest myths from indie publishing, regarding indie writers not being able to get their indie published books into bookstores and the “fairy dust” that has long been spread regarding that ·         How Smith isn’t anti-traditional but is 100% pro smart-writer   Other Links Dean Wesley Smith’s Books at Kobo WMG Publishing Workshops WMG Publishing Lectures Fiction River Anthologies (website) Fiction River Anthologies (Kobo)        

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Kristine Kathryn Rusch, an award-winning writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and romance, at Superstars Writing Seminars. Apart from her decades of writing and editing experience which includes being published in 14 different countries in 13 languages, Rusch co-runs a publishing business (WMG Publishing) with her partner Dean Wesley Smith and provides authors invaluable insights about writing and publishing through her popular blog series: The Business Rusch. During the conversation, Mark and Kris talk about: ·         Her recent book, Discoverability and how it was derived from about 6 months’ worth of blog posts outlining a bit about the history of publishing and how it relates to where we are today ·         A disclaimer that, unless you’ve already published about 10 books, you aren’t likely to be able to use the advice from this book ·         The Business Rusch, the blog in which Rusch provides valuable insights that many smart writers ensure they read every week ·         Rusch has been a professional writer since she was sixteen years old and wrote an article for the local newspaper (insert appropriate and in-appropriate age jokes and laughing here) ·         How Rusch and author Kevin J. Anderson met while in college as like-minded writers with similar goals and how that social group expanded into relationships they’ve both had with writer friends ever since ·         How much Rusch gives back to the writing community and why she feels it’s important to pay it forward to other writers the way that she was provided help, insights and support from writers who took the time to help her ·         The selfish reason why Rusch gives back – because she’s an avid reader and wants more great books to read ·         The biggest pitfall that writers fall into – that they don’t know enough about the business of writing ·         The reason why Rusch stopped editing full-time – how living in that critical space can affect your writing style and writing brain ·         The concept of “reader cookies” – a term that Rusch learned from editor Gardner Dozois – as well as “anti-cookies” and how that can affect an editor ·         Rusch’s love of “secret identity” stories ·         The various different pseudonyms that Rusch has written under in various styles and genres, including Kristine Grayson, Kris Nelscott, and Kristine Dexter. ·         How Rusch puts up a free short story on her blog every Monday that people can check out with no strings attached. ·         Rusch’s statement of advice to beginning writers        Mark then talks a bit more about the books for writers that Rusch has written and shares a personal experience about how reading the book Deal Breakers helped him in a very significant way when he was negotating a contract for one of his most recent books, Tomes of Terror.   LINKS Rusch's book: Discoverability Rusch's book: Deal Breakers: Contract Terms Writers Should Avoid The Business Rusch    

Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre recently attended the 2015 Superstars Writing Seminars (Teaching you the business of being a writer) in Colorado Springs, CO. During the conference, he had a chance to interview several of the faculty and guest lecturers. Presented here is Mark's interview with Superstars Faculty member James A. Owen a comic book illustrator, publisher and writer who is best known for the comic book series Starchild and the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica novels. Highlights from the discussion include: How Owen got to know Kevin J. Anderson and was first invited to be a guest instructor of Superstars Writing Seminars and that led to a permanent Faculty position The collaboration that Owen is working on with with Kevin The regular Standing Ovation that Owen's "Drawing out the Dragons" talk receives The speaking that Owen has done in Middle Grade schools, Art Schools and for Corporations Mark pauses to express the wonder he feels whenever Owen gives a talk, harking on how James is an example of one of the ultimate types of oral storyteller The mixture of storyteller and artist and how Owen self-identifies as a "Comic Guy" The manner by which the story beautifully derives from the words and pictures coming together How Owen puts the needs of others, of those he meets, those he works with, those who look to him for advice first Owen's perspective on how all of us are born into this world without prejudice, without hate, without anger; but how some can become conditioned to that. The shewing of things into a positive light is a choice James makes as a way to perceive a life in an attempt to return to the more natural state Owen's roll at Superstars in terms of a question he asks, which is "How can I serve you?" The philosophy of deciding to make things happen or allowing things to happen to you and the manner by which Owen embraces that at all turns Being in the depths of despair, and how Owen had posted publicly regarding where he had been and the demons he had been struggling with the previous year, his public posting of it and how, in the middle of it, he still had to do the "Drawing Out the Dragons" presentation on an empty gas tank Owen's belief in the attendees of the Superstars Writing Seminars and how he knew that they all had his back and would not let him down The difficulty most people have in not surfacing those personal struggles in believing that we won't be listened to and that we will be judged for our struggle.  Which is why Owen is so open about that An intriguing depression-help line discussion that Owen was involved in when he'd been struggling with his own demons A moment when a story Owen shares is so emotional that interviewer Lefebvre is overcome with emotion and is rendered speechless Advice for writers: How no writer ever wrote a great book without first having finished it. Finish it and then it can be made better Owen's next projects:  The Fool's Hollow novels (the novel versions of the stories told in Starchild) and The Hundred. Mark then discusses the importance of drawing attention to mental health issues such as depression, which can affect writers and other creative types, outlining the need to discuss these things openly in an understanding way, rather than trying to blame those who suffer from mental health issues.  He mentions online resources that might help in Canada (Healthy Minds Canada), the US (Mental Health America) and the UK (Mental Health Foundation)  

In the fall of 2014, Louise Penny visited Kobo's home office in Toronto and was interviewed by Toronto editor and book enthusiast Jen Knoch for a special Kobo in Conversation video. Introduced by Kobo's Director of Communications, Tracy Nesdoly, Knoch interviews Penny in front of a live audience about her writing, followed by a Q&A from the audience. In the discussion, Knoch and Penny discuss: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The difference between murder in a large city and murder in a the country in an idyllic small town setting like Three Pines How Louise had written the original Three Pines novel thinking of it as a stand-alone novel that she wanted to write mostly for herself How, when the book was originally written as an exploration of the world being dark (it was written post-9/11) and then modified to encompass a more warm and pleasant setting where the depth of friendship and the connections between people was more prominent – where the cast of characters would be people she would like to have as friends How the inspiration for the first Three Pines novels was inspired from a few specific lines from the poet WH Auden How it takes a whole lot more courage to be kind than it does to be cruel to others; and how the majority of characters of Three Pines are filled with so much compassion Good people who might have done bad things and bad people who are also capable of doing good things How Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is a balanced and complex character with flaws and strengths and yet is an incredible human being How Penny tries to hint at and provide information in order to let the reader imagine, creating a rich reading experience How Penny’s first draft can be akin to a “huge pile of merde” – and the cutting and tweaking and polishing that happen in the next drafts and how she does 5 or 6 drafts before anyone else (ie, her editor) sees the manuscript Penny’s belief that there isn’t a single “right way” to approach writing – how different writers will find different approaches that work for them The dial-up connections in Three Pines are very much based on where Penny lives (where she only has a dial-up connection), and Penny’s expression that it sounds, when you are connecting, that the internet is in pain. How the more high tech we become, the more we yearn for intimacy, and how that ties into the fictional setting of Three Pines quite wonderfully The interesting news Penny rec’d from her agent when, upon selling the first book to a publisher, she had also sold the second and third books How she was inspired to show the “critic” who had been writing the follow-up books the door and to let the Creative Spirit inside her write the first draft; and how important that was to free her up (and how that second book ended up winning the Agatha Award in 2013 The importance of giving yourself permission to make mistakes in that first draft How Penny writes “Fair Play” mysteries in which the reader realizes, at the end, that all the clues were there for them to solve it. How she knows, before she begins writing, who did it, how the person died as well as the overall theme of the book After the interview, Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre comments on a few of the things Penny mentioned and then talks about a new feature on Kobo Writing Life which allows authors the ability to enter the Volume Number for a Series into the system for their books. Lefebvre explains the critical importance that clean metadata plays in assisting readers with finding the right book and how Kobo intends on using this clean data to assist with the automatic curation of series books for customers who adore them.  

Kobo and Kobo Writing Life have long been known for being open, social and collaborative. And this episode of the Kobo Writing Life podcast is no exception. In fact, to start 2015 off on the right foot, we thought it would be useful, in our ongoing communication with authors regarding the importance of making your work available on multiple platforms, and not just on Kindle, to help with that. This episode contains a collection of tips curated from the Author Marketing Podcast by Author Marketing Institute founder Jim Kukral covering tips and things you might not know about publishing a book to Kobo, Nook (Barnes & Noble), iBooks (Apple) and Google Play. Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre sets up the various clips from Jim's fantastic podcast. The tips that Jim shares are from the following original podcasts 7 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Google Play 1) The Play Store is popular 2) You can post your book for free 3) It has Permafree benefits 4) There's less competition 5) It takes patience 6) Keywords matter 7) For some authors it's #1 or #2 Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 6 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Apple iBooks 1) Apple is the #2 US eBook retailer 2) You need a MAC or a 3rd party to publish 3) More readers have iBooks access 4) Content is curated 5) You need to show your support 6) There are features you can't find on Amazon Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 6 Things You Didn't Know About Publishing A Book on Nook Press 1) Nook is on the decline 2) Indie authors dominate the bestseller list 3) You need to pay attention to format 4) Support has a bad reputation 5) Connections with merchandisers are key 6) It's still #2 for many authors Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast 5 Important Things To KNow About Publishing A Digital Book on Kobo 1) It has an international focus 2) Kobo took over for SONY 3) You can schedule promos ahead of time 4) There's a page for Free Book Promos 5) Success requires networking Read the full blog post with details or listen to the Author Marketing Podcast   There's also discussion about the Author Marketing Live events as well as other great resources from AMI, including: Author Marketing Academy Author Marketing Club    

This podcast includes a roundtable discussion with Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life as well as three other Kobo employees (Bessie, Camille and Shayna) who participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2014. The round table discussion includes the following:   ·         Camille talks about the fact that during last year’s attempt, she wrote about 25,000 words and that this year she wrote the entire 50,000 words. This year she took on a completely new project (rather than attempting the same one she attempted in 2013. Camille says she felt she got trapped in the wrong direction with last year’s project, and that might have been what prevented her from completing the novel. This year, she prepared a synopsis in advance, and that is what she felt helped her. ·         This was Shayna’s first attempt at NaNoWriMo – though she has written novels before – and she wasn’t sure, going in, how she would do with the 30 day deadline involved.  Though she completed the 50,000 word limit, she is still, in no way finished the book she is working on.  (She estimates the book’s length will be in the realm of 100,000 words) ·         Bessie, a self-confessed math nerd, admits this is the first time she has attempted writing of this nature. The whole experience was new to her and when it first started she was quite excited and wrote quite a bit, but then the “fun” aspect fell away, and so, too, did the writing. Her feeling was that the pressure of the deadline pushed her in the opposite direction – now that November and the NaNoWriMo deadline is out of the way, the writing has become fun for her again. ·         Mark got to 50,000 words at the “11th hour” cranking out close to 18,000 words in the final two days, so did complete the goal, but is still several thousand words away from the conclusion of his novel. ·         Shayna found that the deadline worked for her, despite her initial thoughts that it wouldn’t be a good experience for her. ·         The group discussed the question about pre-planning and reveal who was a “pantser” and who was a “plotter” – who went just from notes and who created a chapter by chapter outline ·         How the roadmap of the chapter by chapter outline helped Camille, even though she didn’t follow it precisely the entire time. ·         The fun that can happen when your characters make their own decisions and take you to places or situations that you hadn’t originally intended or planned. ·         How Shayna doesn’t always have her characters completely fleshed out in advance and how they discover their own voice as the story rolls out. ·         There is a discussion regarding whether or not they approached writing their novels in a linear fashion (ie, from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel in the manner it would be read), or if they skipped around and wrote a number of scenes to be pieced into order for the final draft later. ·         Conventions of inserting notes into the manuscript in order to keep writing, such as Mark’s use of inserting square brackets [with a note like this] inside the text for spots in which he might need to do research later on and fill in gaps, or Shayna’s use of the letters TK as inserted into the text to denote spots that required filling in later (based on the principle that this is a very uncommon letter combination – thus, searching the document text later for ‘TK’ returns those spots you need to find and fill later. ·         The importance of avoiding the research rabbit-hole that can happen to a writer, but with an example of how one of those rabbit holes actually helped inspire Mark with an entire scene (based just on looking at a particular area of Toronto using Google Maps) ·         A discussion of what’s next for these particular book projects now that NaNoWriMo is over. ·         Is it harder to write serious literary fiction as opposed to some of the other more “fun” genres ·         The answer to the question: What was one thing that you learned from NaNoWriMo that you’re going to take forward in your writing?   Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}   Mark then discusses the concept of “winning” or “losing” NaNoWriMo, with a thought that, ANYTHING you wrote during NaNoWriMo, regardless of your final word count, means that you are a winner. Drawing from his own personal experience of having “not won” NaNoWriMo in 2006, yet managed to take the project he had started more than half a dozen years ago and work it into a novel that will be coming out in 2015, means the effort he put into it back then was part of the process of getting that novel done, and well worth it.   LINKS: NaNoWriMo Shayna's KWL article entitled "Dear Writing: I Hate You!" The KWL article Shayna wrote about the importance of daydeaming Mark's appearance on The Writing Show podcast (in 2006) in which he did NOT win NaNoWroMo

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} This podcast includes the full and unabridged audio feed of the Kobo in Conversation interview with Kathy Reichs conducted by Bob Ramsay and hosted by Kobo's Senior Director of Communications Tracy Nesdoly. The interview covers the following: The “Big Bang Break” that happens in an investigation – that one moment when realization explodes and the search hurdles forward on the right trajectory. The new YA writing she is doing in collaboration with her son How, even though she has sold millions of copies of her novels around the world, has a television series based on her popular recurring character Temperance Brennan, she is still on tour and treats every new book with the same enthusiasm as her first book Kathy’s perspective on the book publishing business and the promotion and sale of books in the next five years, with respect to the fact that recent UK stats of Kathy’s books show print sales up 30% and the electronic sales are up 68% The importance of a presence on social media and the fact that Kathy does all her own Twitter The difference between the book “Tempe” and the TV “Tempe” – and how on the TV show Teperance Brennan is a writer who writes a series about a fictional anthropologist named Kathy Reichs (a little tongue-in-cheek inside joke for her readers) The electronic-only “Viral” series of stories that feature the Tempe’s great niece (Tory Brennan) and is about kids using science to solve cold cases. How Bones Never Lie is Kathy’s second book about a female serial killer. Behind the scenes on the inspiration for Kathy’s novel Monday Mourning, based on Kathy’s real-life experience involving the eerie discovery of bones in a cellar. The terrible occupational hazard that comes with cases in which the victims are truly innocent. The forensic work that Kathy has done in places such as Iraq, the World Trade Centre and an interesting trip in which Kathy and a group of other authors took a Black Hawk helicopter to thank front-line troups in Afghanistan. What Kathy’s next book is going to be about and how it is drawn from intrigue and mystery from the Carolina Mountains. How and when storytelling came into this scientist’s life, including “The Mystery in the Old House” a hand-written “novel” Kathy had written when she was 9 years old. How a forensic examiner has to learn how to be objective and separate themselves from the personal in order to properly investigate and properly represent the victim. Thoughts about the “Holy Grail” of forensic mysteries. How Kathy writes “good old fashioned” murder mysteries, but where the key element in solving the mystery is science.   KWL Director Mark Lefebvre talks a bit about the concept of “write what you know” based on Kathy’s experience, the experience of author Melissa Yi and for writers who don't have first hand knowledge.  The key, of course, is research.  Mark references a great article by KWL’s Shayna Krishnasamy called “I’d Rather Not Be Talking to You but I’m Writing This Book: How a Shy Writer Tackles Research” in which she outlines research options for writers and Mark also draws from his own personal experience doing research for non-fiction (Tomes of Terror: Haunted Bookstores & Libraries) as well as fiction.   LINKS: Kathy Reichs website Bob Ramsay website Kathy's books at Kobo          

Listen in as KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews nonfiction author Michael Rank, whose titles include HISTORY'S WORST DICTATORS and FROM MUHAMMED TO BURJ KHALIFA: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History. Mark and Michael discuss Michael's podcast, History in Five Minutes, self-publishing from a nonfiction author's perspective, and the challenges and rewards of translating self-published titles. Michael shares his thoughts about: His History in Five Minutes podcast, where Michael works to share stories about things that challenge our assumptions about the past, and the people who "shouldn't be there" in a moment of history, according to our idea of that era of history. Utilizing the podcast to develop a readership, connect with fans, and promote his books. "Think global, act local." There are many opportunities for independent authors to go broad and deep: broad, by reaching a global audience through online sales and translations; and deep, by cultivating relationships with niche and local readers. Michael recommends trying Babelcube for their translation services. Through Babelcube, translators earn a share of royalties, so they are invested in your success. Michael has worked with translators to get help with foreign marketing, for example, through translating reviews, Facebook posts, or tweets. It is important to educate yourself about writing and self-publishing, but mistakes and failures are inevitable as you work through the process of publishing. Accept and learn from these failures, and find the opportunities that work best for you. The podcast worked well for Michael, but he tried many other things along the way that did not. Similarly, find a writing schedule that works for your life and goals. As a PhD candidate, Michael knows that he can realistically only write for one to two hours per day. Following the podcast interview, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe shares an exciting update: for the second year in a row, KWL is sponsoring NaNoWriMo! Starting November 1, hundreds of thousands of writers will endeavour to write 50,000 words within one month. Several KWL and Kobo staff members are participating this year, carrying on our KoBoWriMo tradition. We'll keep the KWL blog updated with the trials and tribulations of our fearless WriMos, the great prizes we are offering this year, and more. Stay tuned!

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks met in person for the first time at Kobo’s home office in Toronto in May 2014 and were interviewed by Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre about their individual works as well as the forthcoming collaborative graphic novel they are creating together and which will be coming from First Second books in 2016. The interview includes the following: ·         How these two “Twitter bro’s” just met a few minutes before the interview (at Kobo’s home office in Toronto in May 2014) ·         How Landline was a return to writing adult novels for Rainbow ·         The manner by which some of the travel, airport scenes and long distance phone calls to a family while traveling were somewhat predictive in Rainbow’s journey as a touring author (and what she called “having a ‘Landline’ moment.” ·         The speculative fiction element of Landline and Rainbow’s love of reading science-fiction and the “geeky time travel” elements of the novel which features a “magic phone.” ·         How Rainbow wrote the novel Fangirl during NaNoWriMo and how both that novel and Landline were the fastest books that Rainbow wrote ·         Faith Erin Hicks sharing the fact that she is a giant library nerd ·         The ARC of Fangirl that Faith rec’d from a colleague who knew that she would like it (and that it was the first book of Rainbow’s that Faith had read) ·         The cross-over in writing between the two women and Faith Erin Hicks’ The Adventures of Superhero Girl comic ·         Faith’s use of Canada in this 2014 Will Eisner Award winning comic – (professing to a lack of supervillains in Canada) ·         The “geekiness” factor in The Adventures of Superhero Girl and the fact that Faith wrote it with a reader like her in mind (to fill a gap that she saw in the industry) ·         The cameo appearance of Faith’s local neighbourhood comic book store (Strange Adventures) ·         Faith’s Mom recognizing Faith as Superhero Girl and her real life “golden brother” ·         Faith’s hilarious copyright notice for her work posted online and her belief that she wouldn’t have a career if it wasn’t for making her work available online for free ·         The way that Rainbow and Faith first connected via Twitter ·         The Twitter connection to First Second Books and how Rainbow and Faith’s collaborative book project came together (in a very “When Harry Met Sally” way) ·         How collaboration between two creators can be like a weird marriage ·         The “Sherlock” tangent that Rainbow and Faith can often follow ·         The importance of giving yourself permission to do something new and, importantly, the permission to try something and fail ·         The fact that there will definitely be kissing in their collaborative book (because Rainbow likes to write “kissing” and Faith wants to draw “kissing”) ·         The great fan art that exists for Rainbow’s previous novels from artists such as Simini Blocker  ·         The mutual admiration the two have for The X-Men (particularly the “blue” characters for Rainbow) ·         Faith’s adoration of the character of Marrow from The X-Men (the least popular character of all time, according to polls) ·         The addictive nature and magic that happens when collaborations work really well ·         How someone at Groundwood Books tweeted (well before this project was conceived) that Rainbow and Faith we work well together ·         How KWL will continue to follow the progress of their collaboration (due to come out in 2016) Mark then talks about what can happen when writers are open, social and collaborative in nature, reflecting on how Rainbow and Faith were mutual fans of one another, had connected in an online community. Mark shares his own experiences from a recent conference in which he connected with other writers, editors, publishers, librarians and booksellers, and explains the beautiful serendipity that can happen when writers take advantage of the connections and opportunities that can arise from engaging with the community. LINKS Rainbow's Website Rainbow on Twitter Rainbow on Tumbler Rainbow's Books at Kobo   Faith's Website Faith on Twitter Faith on Tumblr Faith's Books at Kobo

In the latest episode of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast, we welcome NYT and USA Today bestselling author Diane Capri. KWL Content Manager Christina Potter and US Manager Christine Munroe speak with Diane - who offered jokingly to change her name to Christine for the purposes of this episode - about her daily writing life, the benefits of collaboration and mentorship, strategies for selling well on Kobo, and more. Tune in to hear about: The value of being part of writing organizations. Diane has been a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, and others, for many years. Diane talks about how she joined many groups when she began writing and how these groups of allowed her to receive feedback on writing and  upcoming projects. They are also a great place to connect with new writers and share information. How to find a writing schedule that works for you. Diane's advice? Try everything- it is the best way to refine your process. The importance of working closely with retailers and taking advantage of different programs that they offer. She specifically discusses Kobo's First Free in Series page as a strategy to find new readers. She also highlights that making her titles available through all retailers has been key to her success, and that exclusive programs have not worked for her. By their nature they exclude potential readers who find eBooks through other platforms. Diane talks about collaboration and her author collective, The Twelve. This group worked together and released the incredibly successful DEADLY DOZEN boxed set. She discusses the process of putting the boxed set together, highlighting  pricing strategy and PR efforts to ensure the book was accessible to as many readers as possible. The ultimate goal of the group: do things that haven't been done before. Read Joanna Penn's blog post about DEADLY DOZEN's success here! There has never been a better time to be a reader and writer. One of things Diane enjoys the most is that readers who may not have been able to find her books in print can easily purchase them around the world as an eBook. Diane's relationship with her fans. Connecting with them is one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of being an author. A sneak peek of what Diane is working on next.

In our latest podcast, KWL US Manager Christine Munroe interviews bestselling author and self-publishing expert Pamela Fagan Hutchins. Pamela has written the book on self-publishing, WHAT KIND OF LOSER INDIE PUBLISHES, AND HOW CAN I BE ONE, TOO? In the summer of 2013, she embarked on a 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, which she organized herself (with the help of her supportive family), so she has plenty of insights and advice for working successfully with bookstores. Listen in to Episode 020 as Pamela shares her thoughts on: Her mission to serve as an exemplary self-published author, in particular when working with bookstores, so they will open the door to fellow writers. Stories from the road during her 60-cities-in-60-days book tour, including the day when a book club showed up to her Boston reading… despite tornado warnings! Keeping it in the family - her husband, the five children between them, and her mom all joined her on the road to help support her work. Looking at self-promotion with a long-term perspective. "I'm hoping for a 10-year return," she says. Pamela recommends focusing on how to build your email list of people who welcome hearing what is next. Also, don't abuse that list - send a maximum of 2-3 updates per year. Promotion is 1/3 of the game in terms of your success. The other elements? Writing, of course, and giving back to the author community. Pamela's free strategy: giving away books is an amazing way to get those crucial reviews. Pricing the first book in your series for free is a great way to get started. Read her blog post on this topic here. What she wishes she would have known when she started, including thoughts on exclusive programs, and why moving books in and out of various platforms hurt her more than the benefits of exclusive helped her. Pseudonyms. Pamela believes, “I don’t want to make it hard for someone who discovers me, to discover other things about my writing that they might like.” However, that might not apply for writers who work in vastly different and contradictory genres, like erotica vs children’s picture books. Hints about what's to come in Pamela's forthcoming novels.

At a recent visit to Kobo's home office in Toronto, Hugh Howey was interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre in front of an audience of about 150 people (60 of which were local Kobo Writing Life authors) for a Kobo in Conversation video.  Here are some highlights from the discussion.   Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}           Introduction of Hugh Howey and Mark Lefebvre by Tracy Nesdoly, Senior Director of Communications at Kobo           Hugh talks about how interesting it is that history re-writes itself to fit the model of what people think happened – his first book was actually signed to a small press before he made the decision to try the self-publishing route           Hugh also reflects on how, in 2009, he was only concentrating on print books and traditional contracts for the first book, but then noticed his eBook sales were overtaking his print book sales           How Hugh was pressured by friends and family to get his book out to publishers so they could see it in bookstores           How Hugh’s Mom had been a great critic, early reader and editor for his work (and Hugh’s joke about how his wife and his mother have spent years telling him about all the mistakes that he makes, which ensures they are perfectly suited for this type of role in his writing)           The twenty years it took Hugh to complete the first novel (and how it wasn’t the same novel)           Hugh’s first manuscript, started at age 12, which was, essentially an homage to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy           How Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue, the first novel he completed, was written in a week           How Hugh acquired “sequelitis” after finishing that first novel, and how, when you keep writing sequels you’re left always promoting your first book           How Hugh met his wife when he was living the boating life (and how she pulled him ashore and inland)           The constant daydreaming and stories kept in his head while he worked at various other jobs           How he used to get in trouble in grammar school for that “writing daydreaming”           Where the darkness that surrounds the novel WOOL comes from (particularly from a writer whose persona is friendly, outgoing and positive)           How Hugh felt sick to his stomach when he was out at a fancy restaurant to celebrate signing the contract for his first book because it was something he had worked so hard on and he was now signing it away (despite the fact it was a positive experience because someone was paying him for something he had written – ie, it was “the dream”)           Even though he still has a physical reaction thinking about that moment, it wasn’t a reflection on the publisher – he still loves them and has a great relationship with them, but he quickly saw how he had too much energy for them and was driving them crazy with all of the things he wanted to do           Hugh reminds people that, despite it looked like he knew what he was doing all along, he was terrified, clueless and making it up as he went along           A look at www.authorearnings.com and Hugh’s motivation for always putting the reader and the writer first           How, bookstores come third on Hugh’s list of priorities – writers first (because without them you couldn’t have readers), then readers second           Hugh asks the question of why we’re not focusing on the right things, like how to make people love books more – such as these things shaped like books that we give to students in classrooms and inadvertently team them to hate.  (If it’s shaped like a book, it better be fun)           How writers are always looking for excuses not to write, and how Hugh has to channel his fear of what might happen if he stops writing into looking towards working on projects that his readers and editors want           Hugh’s favourite novel I, Zombie, his most non-commercial work which represents his attempt to write about 911, and his favourite writing, which is the book Peace in Amber (a book he still gets emotional about when he speaks of it)           The manner by which Hugh took the opposite tack of anything that might seem logical, such as not telling people he was a writer and had a book available           Hugh’s discomfort at promoting his own work and how he would rather just work on writing the next book           Social media as being a great place to connect with your existing fans rather than trying to use it to find new ones           The important role that agents have played in Hugh’s career, particularly since initially, it wasn’t something that he thought he needed. Hugh shares his respect for his agent Kristen Nelson Literary Agency and the amazing agents and partners who have guided his success and earned every penny along the way           Hugh’s desire to see editors, cover artists, beta readers and all those unsung heroes whose efforts make books better, known and loved and celebrated (Example is an interview Hugh recently did with one of his cover artists, Jason Smith – [link to his blog post])           How Agencies might, in the future, look like law firms. Imagine Freethy, Andre and Howey.           The importance to not run from labels, like “self-published author” – Hugh is proud to call himself a self-published author How H.M. Ward continues to turn down multiple 7 figure offers from publishers because their marketing plans aren’t offering anything she hasn’t already built for herself The role that NaNoWriMo has played in Hugh’s writing (and his thoughts on how an author who writes one novel a year might just be writing that novel in a single month) As a postscript to the interview, Mark then calls out some of the key points that Hugh made during the conversation; in particular Hugh's take on marketing and how writing your next book or focusing on sharing information ABOUT writing it is far better than trying to push your book in front of everybody's face. OTHER LINKS Episode 013 of the KWL Podcast (with Hugh Howey)

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Moses Znaimer, co-founder and former head of CityTV, the first independent television station in Toronto, Canada, the current head of ZoomerMedia (Zoomer Magazine) and the author of The Zoomer Philosophy. Mark and Moses discuss: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}          How Moses rarely stops to look back because he is always on to looking at the next thing that he is working on           The Zoomer Philosophy (his book) and the definition of what a Zoomer is           How the Zoomer Philosophy fits in with the idea of living longer and better lives           How the words old, senior, elder and mature provide discomfort and make people squirm           Znaimer’s examination, through his essays at how Boomers, who sang songs like The Who’s “My Generation” with lyrics like “I hope I die before I get old” have suddenly found themselves at the age they originally mistrusted           How the first group of people who coined the phrase “don’t trust anybody over 30” are now 60 years old           How The Zoomer Philosophy was inspired by Hugh Hefner’s The Playboy Philosophy           The serialization of The Zoomer Philosophy in the print magazine and in eBook format and how Moses is likely to continue writing the serialized essays until he dies           Demolishing that old “women of a certain age” stereotype           The appeal that long-standing celebrities who are “of a certain age” in their mastery of the professions they hold and the confidence they exude           The concept that what was important about the Boomers is NOT that they were young but that they were the largest generation ever made           The stat that 1000 Canadians turn 65 every day and will continue to do so for the next 20 years (that number is 10 times as large in the US)           The way that the print articles from the magazine endure and how digital helps bring them back into focus for some readers (by collecting them together in a single, easy to consume delivery system)           The challenge of trying to find a type of media that Moses hasn’t already been involved in           How Moses draws inspiration daily from the environment around him           Advice to writers on how it’s not the mechanics of the medium that makes the difference           How you don’t learn broadcasting from going to broadcasting school, and the importance of living a life the best you can so that you end up with the type of life that gives you something to say           The importance of accumulating a wide variety of life experience (reading or traveling – preferably both) Mark then compares The Zoomer Philosophy to the fact that eBooks are also in their mid-forties and reflects on how we are still at the cusp of the eBook revolution. He applies these thoughts to the concept of writing and publishing being a long-term game.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviews Italian author Vieri Tommasi Candidi about his Who’s Jo Spatacchia? Series and the unique method by which he had released this in two languages with a regular and enhanced version for different audiences.  During the conversation, Camille and Vieri discuss:   Developing projects along with talented artists            The concept of Who Joe Spatacchia is and the inspiration and thoughts behind the creation of this character           How Vieri has mixed the story with drawings and music in this interactive eBook as well as how he chose the music and the drawings to accompany the story           How music and images could give a choreography and elevated atmosphere to the story allowing people to enjoy it on many levels           The 7 episodes as well as the scheduled release plans of either 1 episode per month or even, perhaps 2 per month           The fact that there are two versions per episode – one with music and the other without music (for those devices and eReaders that don’t have a way to play audio)           The price point of those separate versions are 99 EUR for the version without music and 1.49 EUR for the version with music           Vieri’s smart move of releasing the eBook in both Italian and English and the international stradegy           The challenge of getting people to find your work as being something that supersedes the difficulty of actually writing and publishing your book           A perspective of publishing in Italy being on the pioneering edge           The managing of the rights for all of the markets this series of books are available in within both languages           How Vieri has managed the promotion for this series in both Italian and English           A wonderful compliment that Vieri received regarding his activities that have been moving the face of digital publishing forward   KWL Director Mark Lefebvre then talks about the recently launched Opening Up To Indie Authors campaign and the book launch which took place at the Kobo Booth at London Book Fair 2014.       Links   Vieri’s Website:   http://www.jospatacchia.it/     The Who’s Jo Spatacchia? Series on Kobo   http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/Search?Query=Vieri+Tommasi+Candidi&fcmedia=Book     Opening Up To Indie Authors (Kobo Writing Life)   http://kobowritinglife.com/2014/04/03/opening-up-to-indie-authors/     Kobo Listing for Opening up To Indie Authors eBook   http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/opening-up-to-indie-authors     The Open Up to Indie Authors Campaign   http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/open-up-to-indie-authors/     The Launch – From ALLi’s website   http://www.selfpublishingadvice.org/alli-book-launch-opening-up-to-indie-authors/     The Speech Orna Ross gave at the launch at the Kobo Booth at LBF 2014 http://www.ornaross.com/2014/04/opening-up-to-indie-authors-book-launch/  

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre and US Manager Christine Munroe were joined by NYT bestselling author, professional speaker, and entrepreneur Joanna Penn. Joanna is an invaluable resource for indie authors through her blog, The Creative Penn, and podcast of the same name. Listen in as Joanna shares insights about: How Joanna began her journey as a fiction writer through NaNoWriMo in 2009. Why she defines herself and fellow indie authors as entrepreneurs: "I define an entrepreneur as someone who creates something of value from their own head… these days, if you're writing fiction and you're self-publishing, and you are being a businessperson, then you are being an entrepreneur." Other methods of earning income as an author: audio, print, and translation – and specifically how Joanna produced PENTECOST as an audiobook through ACX. How publishing her eBooks in English through kobo.com helped her reach readers in 30 countries and counting. Joanna's collaborative "give first" approach: if you give first, others will come back and give to you (which she calls "social karma"). Similarly, if you read others' books and review them, they will come back and review your books ("reading karma"). Why Pentecost is now permanently free – it is an easy way to draw readers into a funnel. This works best when you have many other books available. Joanna has seen an increase in sales of her other titles and sign-ups to her email list by using this strategy. The breakdown of Joanna's eBook price strategy for her latest novel, DESECRATION: week one following the release, $2.99. One week later, increased to $4.99. In general, at the moment she prices eBooks at $2.99 for novellas, $4.99 for novels, $0.99 for short stories, and $5.99 for nonfiction. How writing A THOUSAND FIENDISH ANGELS for Kobo (inspired by Dan Brown's INFERNO) enabled her write darker material and stop self-censoring, which helped her push her boundaries while writing DESECRATION. The distinction between her two brands, J.F. Penn for fiction and Joanna Penn for nonfiction – including her amazing title that every author should read, HOW TO MARKET A BOOK. She only recommends establishing two author brands if it's necessary, which is true in her case so that she can target to these two distinct audiences. Why she's a self-described "taphophile" - aka a "cemetery enthusiast." How reading five books a week, and traveling to the places where her books are set, inspire Joanna's writing. The best thing Joanna has learned as a writer: "It's all about the Compound Effect. Little things repeated every day over time are what makes the difference." Joanna recently became a NYT and USA Today bestselling author with the boxed set DEADLY DOZEN, which features her novella ONE DAY IN BUDAPEST. Learn more about this amazing example of author collaboration on Joanna's blog post about this experience

Christine Munroe interviews Brooklyn-based author Nathaniel Kressen, who took a truly unique approach to self-publishing his debut novel Concrete Fever and won over local independent booksellers along the way. Tune in to hear about:   Why Kressen decided to hand-craft hard copies of his novel, and the misadventures he encountered as he mastered the bookbinding process What he learned by meeting Jenn Northington from WORD Bookstore, which helped him to become a favorite amongst local indie bookstores The essential components of a one-sheet to give bookstores along with hard copies of your book: your contact information, ISBN, retail price, suggested discount (60%), number of copies in the box, number of copies in store that have not yet been sold, payment information, whether you are a local and available for events, image of the cover. Not helpful: a press packet trying to convince stores how great the novel is Advice for getting your self-published book into bookstores: create a great product, and be respectful and professional of booksellers' time and needs The scalability problem of binding your own book (and hand-painting each cover, in the case of Concrete Fever) when you also have a 9-to–5 job. Kressen eventually decided to outsource the printing to The Sheridan Press Why eBooks haven't yet played a major role in Kressen's self-publishing journey — he has been focusing on making the book a "physical art object," then hand-selling it to independent bookstores His writing group, the Greenpoint Writers Group  How you can support your local bookstore by buying eBooks, through Kobo, and how Kressen is building upon his relationship with bookstores through this partnership   Kressen was featured on a recent KWL-sponsored ABA bookstore event – a panel discussion for self-published authors at Housing Works Bookstore Café – to which he added wonderful input from the indie author perspective.    Additional links:   http://www.nathanielkressen.com    http://secondskinbooks.com   http://electricliterature.com/blog/2013/10/28/why-self-publishing-was-the-best-thing-i-could-have-done-for-my-novel/ http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/concrete-fever-1

Mark Lefebvre, KWL Director, interviews Melissa Yuan-Innes, author of the hot-selling Hope Sze Medical Mystery series about...     Melissa’s role as an emergency physician and the role this plays in helping develop her fiction and the character of Hope Sze Melissa’s latest book, TERMINALLY ILL which is coming out February 1, 2014 (and is available for pre-order) How the beloved yet frustrating city of Montreal is a prominent feature in her fiction How Melissa manages to find time to write on top of her demanding day job (10 to 14 hour shifts) and her family life. Melissa’s “secret weapon” otherwise known as her husband The many pseudonyms Melissa uses for the different style of fiction that she writes (sci-fi/fantasy and non-fiction medical humour fiction) under Melissa Yuan-Innes, medical thrillers and mysteries written under Melissa Yi, medical romance written under Melissa Yin, children’s books under Melissa Yuan and the reasons behind that (and how it has changed since Melissa first started) The unpredictability and wonderful escape factor as something that drew Melissa to science fiction Melissa won second place in the Writers of the Future when she was in medical school The importance and value of professional workshops, including the long term friendships that were forged at Writers of the Future, and the reason why Melissa has returned to Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s professional workshops for over a decade Some early mistakes that Melissa made when she first started writing and sending submissions to editors (and great tips she learned from Kristine at the pro workshops) Some of the similarities and differences in the electronic age of writing and submitting and writing and publishing Melissa’s amazing experience winning Kobo Writing Life’s Win your Cover contest (featuring the talented and dedicated cover designer Scarlett Rugers Melissa’s traditionally published short story “Burning Beauty” which appears in the anthology Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound, and how writing short fiction can be a refreshing change from writing novel length works, and still be a way of getting a lot of your material in front of a diverse and broad reading audience The CBC commissioned story written under Melissa Yi - No Air Melissa’s yoga mystery story being published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and how Dean Wesley Smith calls being published in a market like that being one of the best advertising tools for a writer Melissa’s dark humour December 2013 release:  The Italian School for Assassins and the role that humour and dark humour plays in her life and in her writing. Melissa’s advice to writers regarding persistence and humour   Mark Lefebvre then talks about the difference between trying to find time to write and making time to write, outlining a few strategies that authors who work day jobs sometimes employ when carving out time in their busy schedules to make time for writing.