SPA Girls Podcast

This is a fantastic episode for writers at all stages of their careers. Cathy covers writing in your unique voice, writing your truth and how to ROCK YOUR PLOT.

We live in a world where we can see what everyone else is doing online. Successes and failures. We are the ‘instant gratification' generation, and have a need for success, so we compare ours with others! So sit back with your favorite beverage and let's dive in, and see if we can work through a few things that may help.

Get ready to be inspired this week by our guest interviewee, romance author Juliette N. Banks. Juliette is a bestselling romance author who has taken the genre by storm with her popular series The Moretti Blood Brothers, The Dark Kings of NYC, and The Dufort Dynasty. She has written more than 50 contemporary and paranormal romances (on the same pen name). Juliette has a vast background in consumer marketing and brings her business savvy to her business planning, release strategies, reader relationships and mindset.

This episode we discuss Book Signings and Book Fairs - in person events where authors get out of the writing cave and actually (gasp!) interact with readers and fellow authors. These can be great fun - and a little intimidating.

Rebecca Hefner is a USA Today bestselling author who is a passionate advocate for authors to reach more readers through publishing their books across a wide number of retailers, as well as on their own store. This episode she shares how she juggles her writing over three pen names, creating a monthly schedule for easy marketing and social media wrangling, and lots more marketing advice for connecting with readers.

Lana talks to us about how she has achieved success in short romance in less than two years using a mix of mindset, research and plain old stubbornness (her words, not ours...). We talk about what she did to level up, including the research she did and the tough decisions she made. It's a fascinating interview we know you'll love! 

Sweet Romance Author, Anne-Marie Meyer is an Amazon and Apple Top 100 best seller and a 3x USA Today Bestselling author. With absolute intention Anee-Marie challenges herself to improve on how she sells. From Tik Tok to Direct sales she has hit heady heights, paticularly in the last 12 months. After her Amazon account was shut down for 48 hrs in 2022 for false reasons, she's decided that it would be best to bring her stories directly to her readers hands and it has worked! Listen up for all her tips. You won't be disappointed.

Your book cover is the "shop window" of your hard work, and it has to do the heavy lifting to attract potential readers to go on and read your blurb. So how do you figure out which cover is the best for you?

Theodora Taylor is back! And she's here to tell us how to craft our blurbs that hook readers and skyrocket sales through adding LOTS of Butter!

When she decided to write a palate cleanser novel in a completely different genre - with a brand new pen name - Alexa Rivers had no idea she would have a hit on her hands. In this interview she talks about why she wrote the book, how she picked the new pen name, the marketing she did, and how a book she wasn't expecting to do much at all... kinda did awesome. :) She also talks about the ups and downs of her journey with TikTok, and gives some great pieces of advice for everyone to use!

Attending conferences helps us network with professionals in the author world and gain insights and ideas to make our jobs easier or to upskill. What can you hope to get out of conference?

Welcome back to another SPA Girls minisode. This one is a bit of a controversial take on mistakes writers make that make their work B O R I N G.  How do we know these? Because we've all made them! 

Should you “be Amazon exclusive, “go direct”, “publish wide” and/or use an aggregator? And what do those terms even mean?

If you've been scratching your head over how to get some more reviews on your newly published book, this is the episode for you! We break down how we have each built up and managed our ARC teams, and how we've gone from no reviews to hundreds of reviews. Loads of practical tips in this episode!

Why is it some books sell well right out of the gate, and others wither on the retailer vine? Do you know why YOUR book isn't selling? It can be for a number of reasons and this episode we run through the most common (and fixable!) options that'll put you back on the right track.

The decision to self publish her first historical women's fiction novel - after a career writing romance - turned out to be a lucrative one for today's guest, Kindle #1 bestselling historical women's fiction author, Soraya Lane. The same year she self-published the novel - one that her agent told Soraya she couldn't sell - she picked up a publishing deal (for the same book) with Amazon. The rest, as they say, is history. This week we talk about her journey into writing, what she's learned about writing historical fiction and how translations have transformed her career.

Nat Connors of Kindletrends returns to the SPA with a new analysis tool for indie authors - an interactive infographic to help us make sense of the book categories on the Kindle Store. Knowing where your book (or story idea before you've written it) fits into the market, and how it stacks up against the packaging (cover, pricing, categories etc), for the current top sellers in your specific genre is really important. It allows you to directly target the right readers and sell more books.

Listen to this SPA Girls Minisode all about how long it will take you to make your first $1,000 dollars in self publishing! Full of great tips, sage advice and some vulnerable moments from our own self publishing careers.

First published in 2014, romance author Clare Connelly hit success from her very first self-published book. Now with over 120 books published, she talks to us this episode about the pros and cons of hybrid publishing, balancing writing life with a young family, how to be focussed and productive plus the mindset new writers and self publishers MUST have!

Wondering how long it's gonna be until you'll make enough to quit the day job? Listen to this SPA Girls Minisode all about how long it will take you to make your first $1,000 dollars in self publishing! Full of great tips, sage advice and some vulnerable moments from our own self publishing careers. This is an awesome, must-listen minisode, just for you. :)

We don't see "overnight" success very often, but Clare Connelly comes close! Clare is the bestselling author of more than 120 angsty, passionate romance novels. Having self-published her first book in 2014, by the end of that year, she was an Amazon All-Star in the US and UK and has since sold millions of copies of her books. Here's how she did it ...

Writing great books with emotional impact is key to building your readership. Today we discuss craft tips that will help you attract new readers, build your fanbase and sell more books!

Writing great books with emotional impact is key to building your readership. Today we discuss craft tips that will help you attract new readers, build your fanbase and sell more books!

Want to make the leap to full time author? How do you know when it's the right time to make that leap?

Want to make the leap to full time author? How do you know when it's the right time to make that leap?

Got your final manuscript all ready to go, and wondering how to format it for publication? This is the SPA Girls episode for you! Welcome back to another 20 min SPA Girls mini-tips session, where we break down the basics of self publishing, just for you!

Got your final manuscript all ready to go, and wondering how to format it for publication? This is the SPA Girls episode for you! Welcome back to another 20 min SPA Girls mini-tips session, where we break down the basics of self publishing, just for you!

If you've ever wondered how to deal with contracts and other business issues, this is the podcast for you! Maggie Marr the founder of Maggie Marr Legal PC and a USA Today Best Selling author of over 20 books. A former ICM motion picture literary and subsidiary rights (books to film/tv) agent, Maggie is the co-founder and legal advisor to the not-for-profit Women's Fiction Writers Association and a member of Women In Film. The firm has negotiated deals with Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Universal, Warner Bros, Disney. The firm provides services such as entertainment and publishing representation, trademark & copyright, packaging and sales, business legal affairs and corporate, production and distribution legal.

If you've ever wondered how to deal with contracts and other business issues, this is the podcast for you! Maggie Marr the founder of Maggie Marr Legal PC and a USA Today Best Selling author of over 20 books. A former ICM motion picture literary and subsidiary rights (books to film/tv) agent, Maggie is the co-founder and legal advisor to the not-for-profit Women's Fiction Writers Association and a member of Women In Film. The firm has negotiated deals with Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Universal, Warner Bros, Disney. The firm provides services such as entertainment and publishing representation, trademark & copyright, packaging and sales, business legal affairs and corporate, production and distribution legal.

USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melanie Harlow talks branding, publishing strategy and building a strong readership!

USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melanie Harlow talks branding, publishing strategy and building a strong readership!

Feeling a bit blah about your writing and / or author career? Welcome back to another 15 min SPA Girls mini-tips session. Today's topic is 7 easy ways to boost your positivity that you can put into action TODAY!

Feeling a bit blah about your writing and / or author career? Welcome back to another 15 min SPA Girls mini-tips session. Today's topic is 7 easy ways to boost your positivity that you can put into action TODAY!

This week we talk to regency romance and young adult author Maggie Dallen, who tells us how she changed her mindset and her author business model, with huge success! Maggie is a prolific author who was writing up to twenty books a year, but she was reaching a point where she wanted to slow down and diversify her writing skills by learning script writing. She realised she needed to find a system that would take advantage of her extensive backlist, and allow her more time for her other writing interests. In this fascinating interview, Maggie talks us through how she did it, what the major challenges were, and how you can do the same thing!  Maggie was a delight to interview, and gave us so much useful advice - you're going to love this one! 

This week we talk to regency romance and young adult author Maggie Dallen, who tells us how she changed her mindset and her author business model, with huge success! Maggie is a prolific author who was writing up to twenty books a year, but she was reaching a point where she wanted to slow down and diversify her writing skills by learning script writing. She realised she needed to find a system that would take advantage of her extensive backlist, and allow her more time for her other writing interests. In this fascinating interview, Maggie talks us through how she did it, what the major challenges were, and how you can do the same thing!  Maggie was a delight to interview, and gave us so much useful advice - you're going to love this one! 

Doubts are the biggest creativity and success blocker. But it takes a strong person not to have them. No one said this was going to be easy, or everyone would be doing it. If you ask those that succeed in this business they will all tell you they've had knock backs. It's about perseverance. It's about holding on to your self belief and forging ahead.

Doubts are the biggest creativity and success blocker. But it takes a strong person not to have them. No one said this was going to be easy, or everyone would be doing it. If you ask those that succeed in this business they will all tell you they've had knock backs. It's about perseverance. It's about holding on to your self belief and forging ahead.

How do you build superfans and a sustainable income through patreon*, kickstarter, subscriptions and serial works? Bestselling author Tao Wong joins us this episode to reveal all the secrets of keeping readers begging for more (cliff-hangers anyone ?!), building a thriving community of superfans and, most importantly, diversifying your income streams.

How do you build superfans and a sustainable income through patreon*, kickstarter, subscriptions and serial works? Bestselling author Tao Wong joins us this episode to reveal all the secrets of keeping readers begging for more (cliff-hangers anyone ?!), building a thriving community of superfans and, most importantly, diversifying your income streams.

How the heck do you build a reader newsletter list when you're first starting out? We're back with another SPA Girls minisode, to get your author career rocking. Listen up for how we built our own reader newsletters and what tools and services we recommend.

How the heck do you build a reader newsletter list when you're first starting out? We're back with another SPA Girls minisode, to get your author career rocking. Listen up for how we built our own reader newsletters and what tools and services we recommend.

Being a resilient author means being able to bounce back after experiencing a knock - and we all know that being a self-published author can knock you around sometimes! This week we talk with Patricia McLinn, an author who's been writing for more than 35 years, and who knows a thing or two about how to keep going when the going gets tough. Pat gives us her top five pieces of advice so you can stay focused and keep the positivity flowing when it seems like everything is falling apart around you.

Being a resilient author means being able to bounce back after experiencing a knock - and we all know that being a self-published author can knock you around sometimes! This week we talk with Patricia McLinn, an author who's been writing for more than 35 years, and who knows a thing or two about how to keep going when the going gets tough. Pat gives us her top five pieces of advice so you can stay focused and keep the positivity flowing when it seems like everything is falling apart around you.

Kate Hall is a paranormal romance and non-fiction author who has taken her marketing expertise and used it to kick butt on TikTok. She started Alyne Digital Solutions in an effort to help authors make a sustainable income from their books, and since starting has scaled two of her businesses and several others' to six figure incomes. As well as discussing facts and figures for TikTok, we're also delving into marketing for authors, and why you're probably using the wrong hooks in your social media. A wonderful open and informative discussion that could unlock answers to questions we're all asking right now! Find Kate at: https://www.alynedigital.com

Kate Hall is a paranormal romance and non-fiction author who has taken her marketing expertise and used it to kick butt on TikTok. She started Alyne Digital Solutions in an effort to help authors make a sustainable income from their books, and since starting has scaled two of her businesses and several others' to six figure incomes. As well as discussing facts and figures for TikTok, we're also delving into marketing for authors, and why you're probably using the wrong hooks in your social media. A wonderful open and informative discussion that could unlock answers to questions we're all asking right now!

This week we're covering two burning topics: what are the worst mistakes newbies are making, and how to write chapter endings that keep readers reading!

This week we're covering two burning topics: what are the worst mistakes newbies are making, and how to write chapter endings that keep readers reading!

In this podcast we talk to KimBoo York about her latest book Secrets of Discovery Writing. We dive into how you can successfully use discovery writing when crafting your novel. It's an awesome podcast and one the pantsers among us will really enjoy.

In this podcast we talk to KimBoo York about her latest book Secrets of Discovery Writing. We dive into how you can successfully use discovery writing when crafting your novel. It's an awesome podcast and one the pantsers among us will really enjoy.

Our guest today, Kiwi author Melissa Pearl, has five pen names across multiple genres and has been learning about self publishing since she published her first book in 2011. Since then she's published more than 80 books, and shares with us some real and raw insights into the career of an indie author, including all the highs and the lows. When she launched her latest pen name last year, she made sure she used everything she'd learned over that time to ensure her new pen name was successful right from the start. Melissa generously tells us exactly what she did to create her latest pen name, and every step she took along the way to make it successful. Don't miss this information packed episode! 

Our guest today, Kiwi author Melissa Pearl, has five pen names across multiple genres and has been learning about self publishing since she published her first book in 2011. Since then she's published more than 80 books, and shares with us some real and raw insights into the career of an indie author, including all the highs and the lows. When she launched her latest pen name last year, she made sure she used everything she'd learned over that time to ensure her new pen name was successful right from the start. Melissa generously tells us exactly what she did to create her latest pen name, and every step she took along the way to make it successful. Don't miss this information packed episode!