Writer On The Road

Introducing a new direction for Writer on the Road Productions, including our Publishing and Podcast activities. Although we've always been about bringing to our listeners the latest and best Indie publishing advice - as exemplified by our Business of Writing Podcast Series, Author Success Stories Series and magazine, plus our courses and workshops - we're now doubling down on the talent in our own part of the world. Australasia has a plethora of talent in the Indie publishing space and it's our aim to form community where we encourage each other, share our knowledges and work towards supporting ourselves financially through our writing. And, one day, we even hope to have our own conference. But, first steps are small steps. You can join us in our new adventure by signing up to our newsletter here: http://writerontheroad.com/writer-on-the-road/ (http://writerontheroad.com/writer-on-the-road/)

Podcasts are the new blogs. And, as an author, the best way to reach your audience to promote your novels and stories is through audio. If you’re not guesting on podcasts, it’s time to start. Audio is king, is the key message we bring away from our Podcast Movement Conference in Orlando, Florida, as we wind up our America trip and get ready to head back to Oz. And audio is only going to get bigger. Think Google podcasts, Google searches, and anything else Google you want to throw in this sentence. And Smart Speakers. One in five Americans already use one. And a fun fact to finish, for the first time in history, nearly 40 percent of podcasters are women. Yay to us. You can support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/writerontheroad (here.)   Read Full Transcript [00:00:48] Hello and welcome to the final episode of our very special mini series about our trip through the United States of America. We're finishing off the mini series with an episode about Podcast Movement, the podcasting Conference where we are currently visiting in Orlando Florida. You can support our efforts over at Patreon.com/writerontheroad. [00:00:48][0.0] [00:00:51] Sam: It's been really interesting everyone. We've got lots of statistics that I can write up for you when we get home. But one of the things that has really struck us is how very popular podcasting is and how that's going to increase definitely. [00:01:09][17.9] [00:01:09] Mel: That's been the key message here and we've been talking about how even though we've got a sizeable chunk of listening people listening to podcasts there are still it's still an untapped space. There are only eight hundred thousand active podcasts globally so it's still a space even though it's really popular with listeners. It's not so popular created yet so lots of room to get in on the action. [00:01:28][18.3] [00:01:28] Sam: Writer on the Road is still in the top 10 percent of podcasts which is exciting times in terms of our downloads. But there was a real divide between I think professional broadcasters and individual podcasters which was interesting. And then again another divide between non-fiction podcasters and the very exciting growth area of audio fiction which we'll talk about later in the show. It's one of my key interests, definitely. [00:01:56][27.5] [00:02:10] Mel: I'm going to start with a session we had our own James Cridland from downtown Brisbane. I listened to a talk with James today on Google Podcasts and how that is really going to take off. [00:02:23][12.9] [00:02:27] Mel: We went to a session the other day that shows that even though Apple Podcasts have a slow percentage growth rate they had so many to begin with that their raw growth numbers are still more than anyone else combined. But as we saw with James today Google podcasts is trying to creep into that space. [00:02:41][14.4] [00:02:42] Sam: The exciting thing is that, as James explained it to us, is that Google is a service or Google podcast is a service that gets podcasts on to smart speakers, Google assistant in Australia. Google Smart Speakers have a sixty eight percent mark to market share in America one in five Americans have a smart speaker . [00:03:06][24.0] [00:03:11] Mel: What's really exciting for us is Google Search. Google searches are going to bring our podcasts up so much more easily. Google is actively doing all the work for us. So the examples I gave I was talking to Sam about how this is really good for audio is it. I've Natasha Lister so anyone who is looking for an anything about Natasha Lester our podcast is going to come up right at the top of the pile. [00:03:41][29.7] [00:03:41] Mel: So the thing that I wanted to talk about today everyone is get yourself on to podcasts to make sure your name is out there. I guess in the audio waves because Google is going to be prioritizing that as as podcasts become more popular and audio becomes more popular....

It’s time to write. And research. Join us as we enter the research and writing phase of our NYC journey. Let’s call it a writing retreat where we meet people who give generously of their time and knowledge with no expectation of return. If you love history and the gilded age, then this one’s for you. Think tall ships, maritime history, old mansions and sticky buns. Meet Pamela Grimm, author of Destiny’s Gold and Destiny’s Freedom. Pamela is an amazing historian and a person I had the privilege to meet whilst in NYC. Enjoy ten minutes with Pamela this episode with a full interview to come when we return to Oz. Making friends is all part of life’s journey and how lucky are we to stumble across experts in all facets of maritime history; from bookshop owners to local historians to people who just want to help us on our journey, including our amazing Airbnb hosts in Rondout, in Down-town Kingston, New York. Listen out for our interview with Joe and MaryAnn  next episode. In the meantime, enjoy ten minutes with us as we reflect on our month in NYC and what it means to travel with purpose. You can support us through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/writerontheroad (here.) You can find out more about the amazing Pamela Grimm and her novels http://www.pamelagrimmauthor.com/ (here.) You can listen to our interviews on Travel Writers Radio https://soundcloud.com/travelwritersradio (here.) As always, thank you for your support and interest. Mel, Sam & Liss

International travel, book buying, theatre attendance and writerly adventures all need budgetary considerations if one wants to survive for an extended period in the greatest city in the world. Having comfortable shoes is also a good idea. In this episode we chat about the importance of keeping an eye on the budget on a daily basis, discussing plans ahead of time and knowing when it’s time to slow down and enjoy the free stuff. We also chat with our Airbnb Superhost, Michelle, who gives us some tips on how to choose the perfect holiday accommodation to meet your needs, and be legal. You can find out more about our journey and the behind the scenes writing of our book, Living Like Locals in NYC, https://www.patreon.com/writerontheroad (here.)

The writing life can be tough sometimes and this week was no exception as we busied ourselves attending two theatre pieces; Antigone in Ferguson and Mojada. You don’t need to know your Greek myths but it helps if you want to fully appreciate the political statement each piece makes. The intention of original Greek theatre is to allow an audience to purge their emotions, and in both cases, Sam & I blamed the emotion of the theatre experience as we cried. After such intense emotional connection it’s always good to have somewhere to go to debrief. In our case, we think we’ve found the perfect oasis in the Library Hotel on Madison Avenue – there are four hotels in the NYC Library Hotel collection, but for book lovers, it’s got to be Madison Avenue. Listen to my conversation with Rob Rawlins, General Manager of the Library Hotel, at the end of this episode to find out why.   You can link to our Patreon account https://www.patreon.com/writerontheroad (here) for tidbits and essays about our adventures, and maybe even receive your free digital copy of Mel & Sam in NYC, available 1st October, 2019 You can find out more about The Library Hotel Collection https://libraryhotelcollection.com/en/ (here.)

Writing the road less travelled is turning out to be the path of our NYC ’10 Minutes With Mel & Sam’ journey. Exploring the greatest city in the world on foot, by bike, train and ferry is opening up adventures we never deemed possible all that time ago when we were planning our adventure. But, as luck halos our heads, we’re following in the tradition of great writers we can only dream of emulating, as we cross literary paths with the greats: Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouak, F. Scott Fitzgerald and who knows who else. Fun facts: NYC is not as flat as you think Biking around Central Park is easy, sometimes The Hudson river is where the trendsetters hang out Squirrels in Central Park are sad on Mondays You don’t need a helmet to ride a pushbike in NYC We talk about none of these things in this episode, but we meant to…  

Join us in NYC to celebrate the creative freedom of being able to work from anywhere, starting with the greatest city in the world. We explore the opportunities in the world of theatre, books and writing, combined with travel, good food and the occasional drop of Long Island wine. In this episode we set the scene for what’s to come, discuss what makes a good bookshop, and chat with the writers of the off-Broadway musical, Assistants, about how to succeed at the hardest of creative endeavours, producing theatre.

If at first you don’t succeed at this thing called writing…keep writing, and learning, and writing some more. Cassie Hamer, author of  After the Party, has put in the hard yards, earning her Masters in Creative Writing, and then unlearning most of what she’d been studying for years as she searched to find voice. And lucky for us, she found it with her debut novel. Cassie opens up about the fears, doubts and joys of success as a published author. We even get a sneak preview of the joys of lunching with her editor. In this episode, we cover a range of topics which can be summed – sort of – as follows: Publishers want to publish your book literary versus popular fiction the value of Higher degree Creative Writing courses what it’s like to meet your editor for lunch a writing place of your own finding and trusting your writing voice rejection is part of the writing life celebrate your wins what is your next book? writing is a personal journey   You can find out more about Cassie and her writing https://cassiehamer.com/ (here.) You can find out more about Author Success Stories Magazine and TIPS For Writers https://writerontheroad.com/author-success-stories-magazine/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel Today have with me the beautiful Cassie Hamer. Hi Casey. Cassie Hi Mel. I love your podcast. You have such great warmth and enthusiasm and it really is lovely to be speaking with you. Mel I'm really excited everyone to introduce a new writer and the book, 'After The Party. Now I had no idea what to expect but when I read it, it was thirty two young children at a birthday party. Cassie I have three young children myself and they're 6, 8 and 10 and I have hosted quite a few parties here at my home on their behalf. I always find that kids parties are constantly teetering on the edge of total disaster because you have so many children they're so hyped up there are games of competition. There's far too much sugar causing total chaos. So I thought what what it a scenario into which to put an inciting incident. So as you say the party is a complete disaster the laser WAKES UP LIKE NOTHING'S READY TO GO. SHE'S ABOUT TO HAVE 33 children land on her doorstep which they do. And it continues to be disastrous. And she makes it through though she struggles through until the end and reads It's a relief that there will be kids and picked up and taken home. Well, all except one little girl who she discovers hiding in a dog kennel. And at first Lisa thinks well the mom's just running late. No problem. This is true and she gets a note and the note is from Ellie's mother and the note explains that in fact she's not coming back to pick up the child at all and that she's asking Lisa to take care of this child and then laces put into these massive conundrum what do I do. And the story takes off from there. Mel It's really interesting because when I set out to to research for this interview Cassie I wasn't quite sure where this novel was going to fit. And one of the reviews that I read is this reviewer thought it was going to be a romance and I thought oh we must have another book here but it's not it's far. I think it's far deeper than that. It's got a lot of elements in it. We can all relate to it. We all cringe away from from some of the things that happen in it. But basically this book has a lot more depth and resonance than then just a quick story doesn't it? Cassie I think I think it did. Well thank you very much for saying that but. I love books that have lice and chives and I think. Women in particular we are complex creatures. We are interested in a range of different things. One minute we can be talking about the dash in the next minute we're talking about the state of the planet and politics and we are not we cannot be pigeonholed. And my reading interests are pretty eclectic. They like to read across a range of genres. But I have to say my...

Welcome to the world of pirates, love, blackmail, ill-gotten gains, treason and trickery. And that's on a good day. Elizabeth Ellen Carter is an award-winning historical romance author who pens richly detailed historical romantic adventures. Carter is known for her meticulous research. My husband jokes that it’s five minutes of writing and twenty five minutes worth of research per half hour…it could be half an hour on looking at what the liquor licensing laws were in t66he early eighteen hundreds or or checking the etymology of vagrancy to make sure that it's accurate. In this episode we learn about the difference between a privateer and a buccaneer. The answer? A privateer has a letter of remit from the government. They behave exactly in the same ways as a pirate in the way they were used to supplement the Royal Navy. More importantly, we learn what it takes to write a historical romance that has readers begging for more. You can find out more about Elizabeth and her novels http://eecarter.com/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel Today I've got with me the beautiful Elizabeth Ellen Carter. Good morning Elizabeth. Elizabeth Good morning Mel. Thank you very much for having me on the show. Mel It's an absolute delight everybody I'm really excited. Elizabeth is an award winning an award winning historical romance author and I called her novels with permission of Elizabeth. What is it Alina. This is the kind of novel that I grew up on Elizabeth I'm so excited to be talking to you about it today. Elizabeth Thank you very much. How you got into that because I got a novel when I was 17 from a girlfriend of mine in high school and it was the classic 1980s bodice rippers but the that the history in it it was set during the war of the Roses. I can remember the name it was Rose of rapture by. Brandywine Rebecca Brandywine and. It was a complete revelation. And I thought one day I'm gonna write a novel and if if it makes people feel it good. Go as as I felt reading this. So being swept away by the by the passion by it by the history by. By the really excellent universe creation then. Then I'd be very satisfied indeed. Mel I have to read this out because I just went yes these are my kind of novels love blackmail ill gotten gains treason and trickery. Elizabeth Oh yes yes. And that's on a good day. Mel I'm going to go through all this at the moment because it's just so cool. Your newest book and I don't know whether it's part of your heart of the course's Sea resort stands on its own. It's called The Wolf of Wolf Street the pirates of Britannica. I just love it. Elizabeth Thank you. I have been with them with the encouragement of my publisher Katharine Levesque. She has invited me to participate in this fabulous universe. So I have invented and ancestor from from the heartache of family. Gabriel hada. And he and his brothers are from other heroes of this particular adventure. Mel That's so you everybody. Elizabeth The heart of the course series the hero I guess is a privateer Captain Kit Hardaker and they're set from 1810 to 1816 on the Barbary Coast. Mel Now I'm particularly interested in that a year on I'm having a pirate obsession myself at the moment. If they turned out to be really really popular for you they they have. Elizabeth And again the encouragement from Luke from Catherine to pursue that. I was absolutely delighted with one review where I wrote the reviewer said this has to be turned into a series. And and and again it goes back to what we were talking about Earl. On the edge. So they they feel that they're at the center of the action then. Then that's just brilliant. So plug. So that has also been a great discipline. As an author as well because prior to. We're working on a series of standalone. So to commit to a series. And what's also interesting about the half the course says is the third book is a prequel to the first two. So at the end of Book 3 shadow of the...

You’ve written your novel and now it’s time to narrate it. Renee Conoulty is the author of novels and flash fiction that contain elements of dance, romance, and/or military life in a variety of genre – chick lit, women’s fiction, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, children’s books. She also has a book on how to narrate your own novels and stories, Narrated by the Author. In this episode, not only do we have the pleasure of listening to Renee read her work, we chat the following: ⬩ The pros and cons of self-narrating ⬩ Affordable equipment options ⬩ Narration tips ⬩ How to edit and master with free software ⬩ Audiobook distribution options ⬩ All the dumb things she did so you can learn from her mistakes ⬩ And much, much more! Did I mention there’s a workbook? It’s called Character Voices: a Workbook For Audio Narration. And a course that takes you through the whole process, step by step? Check it out https://heysaidrenee.thinkific.com/courses/narrated-by-the-author (here.) You can find out more about Renee, her stories and how to narrate your own stories http://heysaidrenee.blogspot.com/p/hey-im-renee.html (here.) Last, if you want to lift your mood, how can you resist taking a peek at Swinging Through Life and Renee’s other stories, or better still, listen to her narrate them. https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-dance-of-life-–-one-step-forward-one-step-back..png () Read Full Transcript Mel: And today I'd like to welcome Renee Conoulty. Rene is a swing dancer and writes stories of dance romance and the military life. And I used to love the old musicals where Fred Astaire danced around the light pole so I'm hoping you've got something like that in store for us today, Renee. Renee: I've got lots of things in store. Mel: I want to talk about your book on how we as authors can narrate our own audio books. You have a workbook and a course as well over at http://heysaidrenee.blogspot.com/ and we're going to talk through the process of narrating our own work which I know a lot of us are interested in but before we do that I'd like you to read some of your flash fiction. Renee, thank you very much for reading to us today and then talking this through the process of narrating it. Renee: No worries. The story I was going to read today is from my latest book which is called Swinging Through Life which is a collection of twelve flash fiction stories. So flash fiction is around the 500 word mark. All these stories are pretty much bang on 500 words but I've got another flash fiction collection that sort of varies a bit up to a thousand. The story I'm going to read today is called Sing Sing Sing. I like titling my books and stories after swing dance songs. So that's the song some people might have heard. And the main character in this story is codename Jane. And she also features in my first novel don't mean a thing. But she's not. She's not the main character in that one. Okay. Sing sing sing. Music pulled through cost. Okay. And that's when you pause it when you're actually narrating And then you go back and you start again. Music poured through the car stereo big band swing and jump blues. 19 favorite playlist. Her brother teased her about her taste in music but she didn't care. She preferred music from before she was born. Music from before her parents was born were even better. And that's where I would also oppose it and go back and fix all my typos and spelling mistakes and things but I'll just keep going. Music from before her parents were born. Is even better. She belted out the lyrics tapping the jazz rhythm rhythm on the steering wheel. The only thing that put her in a better mood than singing was dancing. But that was a little difficult in the car. She just needed to keep it together until she got there. Then she'd be fine. She'd never lose control in front of a crowd. That trek ended and the next song began. The words

Are you ready to ditch your keyboard? Scott Baker is an expert in all things Dragon Dictation. If you want to learn to train your Dragon, Scott’s your man. Scott’s official bio: Scott Baker has written dozens of books under various pen names and spent most of the last decade working as a freelance writer for numerous publications in the UK. He first began dabbling with Dragon voice recognition software in the late 1990s when it was, quite frankly, terrible. Things have improved dramatically since then and Scott now uses dictation on a daily basis, taking advantage of the tricks and techniques used by professionals within the speech recognition industry to write thousands of words per hour. More importantly, he’s developed books and courses to help you master Dragon Dictation and incorporate it into your writing lifestyle. What you need to know: Learning Dragon Dictation will cost you money, time and practice. In this episode, we chat about the following: boosting your workflow 2-10k words transcription what equipment you will need to invest in workflow training your dragon Alexa, Google Home & Siri accuracy ditching your keyboard and much more   You can find out more about Scott, and Training Your Dragon books and courses https://scottbakerbooks.com/books/ (here.) You can listen to my first podcast chat with Scott https://writerontheroad.com/?s=scott+baker (here.) You can download Issue 3 of Author Success Magazine https://writerontheroad.com/author-success-stories-magazine/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel Scott Baker is an expert in all things Dragon Dictation. If you want to learn to train your Dragon, he's your man. In this interview, we're getting into the nitty gritty of how we can use the dictation tool to improve our writing. Scott, tell us about the course you're running. Scott It basically takes you through everything you need to get started with Dragon and make the software part of your writing workflow. It's available for both Mac and PC, and explores not just Dragon specifically but dictation itself – the act of using dictation, as opposed to just perfecting your use of the software. I made the course because, although I've written a book on this subject (‘How to Train Your Dragon'), there's only so much you can put in a book. The amount of questions I get every single day… Most of my day is just answering emails, and I eventually thought it'd be easier if I could just show everyone – if I could just put it in a course. So that's what I did. It's hours and hours and hours long, but that's okay because literally every single step is covered, from setting up to making it as accurate as it can be over time. It's a course about using dictation as part of a business; about integrating it and viewing it as a long-term thing. The goal is to use dictation instead of a keyboard, really. Forget the keyboard – that's for editing, later. The course is about getting your first draft done with Dragon. Mel Let's start at the beginning. What's the first thing we need to know? Scott I get a lot of people asking me that same question – how do I start? Unfortunately you're going to have to accept that this is going to cost money. Whichever way you look at it, the software is expensive. But it's an investment – an investment in your writing career. Dictation leads to an enormous boost to your workflow. Part of the reason I got started with it is I can't type very fast. I've had back problems for most of my adult life, so I decided I needed something to level the playing field for me, especially when I was working as a freelancer and had deadlines that had to be met. Dragon was the answer. It was the key. The first thing to do is to get used to dictation software. Use some form of dictation whenever you can – on your phone, or through Alexa or Google Home or whatever. Ask it things throughout the day and just get used to talking to a machine.

Lee Powell is a writer and expert in technology. He works with Angela Ackerman and her co-creator Becca Puglisi at One Stop for Writers. He also created the Windows version of renowned writing program Scrivener. When the team collaborated, they came up with the Character Building Tool, which combines Powell’s software design skills with Ackerman and Puglisi’s thesaurus writing skills. In this episode, we chat about the following: the importance of collaboration Scrivener for Windows One Stop For Writers the Character Building Tool following your passion what happens when creativity and coding meet integrating technology into the writing process lifelong learning the importance of deep thinking   You can find out more about Powell, One Stop For Writers and the Character Building tool https://onestopforwriters.com/ (here) and buy Passion Driven https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Driven-Have-Found-Your/dp/0975177001 (here.) You can download your FREE Issue 3 of Author Success Stories Magazine https://writerontheroad.com/author-success-stories-magazine/ (here) for your chance to win one of two six-month subscriptions to One Stop For Writers. Entries close 31st March, 2019.   Read Full Transcript Mel Lee Powell is an expert in technology, who works with featured author Angela Ackerman and her co-creator Becca Puglisi on their site One Stop for Writers. He also created the Windows version of renowned writing program Scrivener. Lee I can't take credit for the inception of Scrivener itself. Keith Blount created the program for the Mac – I actually had to buy a Mac to use it as I was studying in the UK. I wrote to him in 2008 and said, “This is an amazing tool. You have a total paradigm shift. It's non-linear. It allows me to make a mess and write in any way I want. Have you thought about doing a Windows or Linux version?” He hadn't. He was busy enough trying to rewrite the base version of Scrivener – the first write of that code had been a disaster. He's not a programmer by trade. He was a teacher and working towards a PhD in medieval history, or something like that. When there was so much interest in Scrivener, he had to go back and write it properly. He's a really interesting guy. We formed a reasonably good friendship over the years, and eventually he acquiesced to my petitioning and we started collaborating in 2008 or 2009. Mel What kind of process was involved in creating the program? Lee It took me about three years to even get to version one of Scrivener for Windows and Linux. We were so far behind the Mac – he had a seven-year start on me. As a software engineer by trade, I thought it would be reasonably easy. I'd been building banking, finance, and trading systems during my career. Unfortunately I was totally depressed. I used to write a lot when I was a kid (terrible novels that thankfully never saw the light of day). I used to write poetry and songs as well. I'm a terrible musician, but I'm quite good with the lyrics side of things. Scrivener saved me. I was in my late thirties and had all the things I thought I wanted in life – kids, family, my wife. We've been married for 28 years now. It's had its ups and downs, and fundamentally we're happy. But I was totally depressed. I thought, ‘I've got to get out of this corporate thing,' but of course you get used to the money. It was a Catch-22. I just wanted to align myself with my core values. I've always loved writing, and the whole creative aspect of coding. The Windows version of Scrivener is completely rewritten from the ground up. We had to start from scratch, which was a wonderful experience. We had many years of seven-day weeks, until there was a little bit of money coming in and we could step back. It was a huge risk, stepping away from the corporate work. But it's like anything in life, anything to do with writing. You have to start on the side. The reality is probably only 100 authors...

Adam Croft is an Indie author and a counterpoint to anyone who says you can't make a living through Indie publishing. He's sold more than 1.5 million books and once bumped J.K. Rowling off the USA Today bestseller list. His ‘Knight and Culverhouse' thrillers have sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide, and his Kempston Hardwick mysteries have been adapted as audio dramas starring some of the biggest names in British TV. He's also published several books in his Indie Author Mindset series, a great tool for Indie authors. https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Indie-Author-1.jpg ()https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Indie-Author-2.jpg ()                       In this episode we discuss the following: Professionalism as an Indie Business & Creative hats Kindle v’s Wide Bookbub, FB & Amazon Ads Vellum & formatting Pre-orders, discounting and other stategies Thinking longterm Never giving up Levelling up & aiming higher Launch Strategies Branding & Marketing Keywords, tags an keeping your website up to date and more…   You can find out more about Croft and his books https://www.adamcroft.net/ (here.) And don’t forget, if you haven’t subscribed to Author Success Magazine, you can check it out here. Read Full Transcript Mel Adam Croft is an Indie author and a counterpoint to anyone who says you can't make a living through Indie publishing. He's sold more than 1.5 million books and once bumped J.K. Rowling off the USA Today bestseller list. His ‘Knight and Culverhouse' thrillers have sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide, and his Kempston Hardwick mysteries have been adapted as audio dramas starring some of the biggest names in British TV. He's also published several books in his Indie Author Mindset series, a great tool for Indie authors. Adam, tell us about your success. Adam I think you covered it pretty succinctly there! I've been doing this for ten years now. It's interesting that, as you say, people think you can't make a living Indie publishing, when all the data points to the fact that, on the whole, Indie publishers sell more books and earn more money than traditionally published authors. Research last year showed that the average traditionally published author makes about A$16,000 a year. That's remarkably low, and that's for an author with a long sought-after publishing contract from one of the big houses! The misconception that Indie publishing is a fallback option is completely false. I turn down up to half a dozen publishing contracts a year – just by looking at them, I can see that they're not going to earn me nearly as much as I can do myself. There's nowhere else I'd rather be! I have had a traditional publishing contract, and tried to get out of it as quickly as I possibly could. Mel I wanted to talk to you about taking control of your own career and owning the rights to your intellectual property. Adam It's vital, especially these days when things move so quickly. Handing over the rights to something for even a couple of years, let alone for life, is just barmy. There's just no reason to do it, because things change so quickly and you need to be agile. That's one of the problems with big publishers at the moment. They're not agile. They're still doing things the way they've been doing them for years. That's why I write a lot about mindset for Indie authors, because that's what stays relevant. Mindset is the bones of the matter. It's also something people skip over when they get too much into the detail of whether Facebook ads or BookBub ads are better, or whether it's this new thing. There's always new stuff coming out in this industry. Yes, you need to be able to be agile and respond to those things when they happen – but it's not all about the details. Getting the basics in place first is...

Karen Viggers is the award winning, internationally bestselling author of four novels, including her new release, The Orchardist’s Daughter. She writes contemporary realist fiction set in Australian landscapes, and her work explores connection with the bush, grief and loss, healing in nature, death, family, marriage and friendship. During our conversation, we discuss the following: the intersection of nature and humanity our connection to nature the big philosophical questions the importance of solitude and thinking deeply hope, intimacy, humour setting, character & narrative writing the landscape novel the music and rhythm of words what is literary fiction and more You can find out more about Viggers and her novels https://www.karenviggers.com/ (here.) Read Full Transcript

I’ve always trusted myself. I’ve always written what I want to write and gone in the direction I want to. I’ve never actually had much input from the publishers that way. So that really hasn’t changed. I’m still using the same beta writer that I always have. I’m still with my same crit. group so you know none of that has changed. The way I work really hasn’t changed from traditional to self publishing. Keri is a best selling paranormal and fantasy author. She has won several Romantic Times reviewers Choice Awards and a career achievement award. Most recently, she won the Australian Romance Readers Association best Fantasy Novel for 2018. During our chat we talk about the following: the importance of your author brand the advantages of going Indie being in control of your career marketing writing the best book is still the best marketing tool Demon’s Dance the importance of writing series overwhelm covers and more… You can find out more about Keri and her books https://www.keriarthur.com/ (here.)   Read Full Transcript Mel: Today I have with me Keri Arthur. Keri is a best selling paranormal and fantasy author. She has won several Romantic Times reviewers Choice Awards and a career achievement award. Keri: I had my first book published in 2000 with a small press in America. I've been writing for 18 years now, with twelve years as a full time writer which is pretty amazing. Mel: And you've got to be up to close on 40 books. Keri: I think I'm 43 now. Keri: I did write for 10 years before that with no success. Mel: And you're now full time Indie Keri: I am. I had no choice in it but I am. Mel: I think that's a bit of a story in itself because clearly now when I think I looked on your fan page or the fan page you were right up there with Sherrilyn Kenyon. You've got about 30000 fans on your fan page. Yet traditional publishers have decided that paranormal fantasy isn't selling anymore. And so you've had to go into that. That in itself is a great story isn't it. Keri: It is and it was a combination of my publisher and the New American Library who did the dark fantasy and the urban fantasy for Penguin Random House. They merged with Random House and Random House decided to close it down. I was then shoved across to Berkeley to do mainly romance and who didn't really know how to handle fantasy or urban fantasy. So arcs didn't go out and know I wasn't the star at Berkeley that. I didn't have that support at Berkeley as much. It's just sales figures. So of course if you're not getting the sales then they don't want you. So they dropped my contracts two years ago. They finished the books I'd handed in late. They decided to release those but the series themselves were dropped and I was forced to go full time. Mel: The thing that attracted me as usual were your covers. You've got the Lizzie Grace series that's happening for you at the moment and you've got Demons Dance which I absolutely love. These Books are really taking off for you. Keri: They are. I guess I was actually surprised how how well, particularly the Lizzie Grey series is doing well. But that again is the genre most known for it. You know when vampires and werewolves in which it is a magic star. That is basically what I'm well known for the fantasy series isn't quite doing as well but it's doing OK. Mel: I'm guessing that this is the start of something really amazing for you. Are you excited to be I guess treading the indie path. Now I know there's lots of marketing which we'll talk about in a minute and branding and all the rest of it but does this liberate you in any way. Keri: I find it it's just so amazing having that control. I love the control of being indie. I can I can choose my own covers. I do my own blurbs. It's Just it's just amazing having that control. I can put out books when I want to, not when the publisher wants. I'm...

“With small businesses, their greatest assets are all the other people in their network, and leveraging that can lead to big gains.” Kate Toon is an award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant with over two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital and writing. She is the founder of http://www.copywritingschool.com.au/ (The Clever Copywriting School) and http://therecipeforseosuccess.com/ (The Recipe for SEO Success eCourse), the co-host on the http://hotcopypodcast.com/ (Hot Copy Podcast) and the host of https://therecipeforseosuccess.com/category/podcast/ (The Recipe for SEO Success podcast). She recently published her popular business book, https://www.katetoon.com/confessions-misfit-entrepreneur-podcast/ (The Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur) – which also has its own podcast. Google optimisation is something we have to do as part of our business marketing, along with keyword searches and increasing traffic to our websites. But, often, none of these things are at the top of our To Do lists – well, not on the top of mine, anyway, until now. Because something has changed, and it’s called Voice Optimisation, and I’m all for it. As of now, words like who, what, when, why and how are driving searches. Yep, talking to our devices and asking questions is all the rage. As writers, we need people like Kate to cut through the constant noise of what we should be doing to maximise our visibility and find readers for our tomes. In this episode we chat about the following: on page optimisation SEO essentials the importance of links title tags optimising images the changes to SEO in 2019 position zero algorithm updates networking Google Search Console and more…   You can find out more about Kate https://www.katetoon.com/ (here.) And don’t forget to download your checklist and check out her SEO Nibbles Course, 10-Day SEO Challenge, and all the freebies she has on offer.   Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome, Kate. Kate: Hello. It's lovely to be here. Mel: Kate is an award-winning copywriter ACA consultant with over 20 years of experience in this stuff. She's the founder of Clever Copywriting School, A Recipe for Success and there's lots little freebies on her website. Kate: One of the reasons I started my own podcast - I've got three shows - is that I get to talk to some of the smartest people in the world and learn amazing stuff direct from the horse's mouth and to be able to ask my questions, not read other people's questions and answers but ask my questions direct to the expert. Mel: You have a book out called called 'Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur'. Now we know everyone entrepreneur is a real crazy word at the moment but you're the first misfit that I'm that I've met. So can you tell us all about it. Kate: I totally agree with you entrepreneurs become a bit of a cliché really it's kind of you see pictures of people lying on a porch counting their money and talking about how they only work for five minutes a week. And I didn't know really what to call myself anymore because I started off as a copywriter. I built up quite a successful copywriting business and then I moved into selling courses and then resources memberships. Kate: And now I have a conference every year that I run which is a content marketing and copywriting conference. So what do I call myself? I'm a business owner. I'm an entrepreneur. But I never really felt I fit the mold so hence misfit entrepreneur. Kate: And the book is really a permission book because the subtitle is How to Succeed in Business Despite Yourself. I've bumbled and stumbled and wandered through having my own business I've made a lot of mistakes and I've worried about a lot of things and having a lot of fears but I've overcome them. And so I wrote it's kind of help other people go look I may not look like your traditional entrepreneur and I may not...

This week’s podcast showcases up and coming Indie author, Michael Evans, and coincides with the launch of the Indie Issue of Author Success Stories Magazine. Find out more https://writerontheroad.com/author-success-stories-magazine/ (here.) Michael Evans is a young adult author and futurist. He’s an up and coming Indie author, following in the footsteps of the likes of Adam Croft, with a business savvy to match. Evans has published  three novels and four novellas, under his brand, Boundless Press, and at the age of 16 he’s learnt a lot from his journey. He is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Young Eager Writers Conference and will be running a Masterclass on Finding Your Voice. He shows us how to build an author career from the ground up. In this episode, we discuss the following: building an author brand mistakes to avoid when publishing your novel time management how to use social media the right way structuring your life around your passion tips for new writers starting out (and for the rest of us) the importance of chasing your dreams how to overcome financial mistakes; the writing process being an Indie artist how to run a cost-efficient business building an author career from the ground up finding your writing voice You can find out more about Michael and his books https://mevansinked.com/about-me/ (here.) I also recommend you follow him on Instagram, Twitter and Youtube.   Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome to Episode 146 of writer on the road. And what a special episode it is. I'm so very excited to bring you an up and coming Indie author, Michael Evans. Our chat today coincides with the launch of Author Success Stories Magazine and it's our special Indie issue. I'm really privileged to chat with a young man who is only just starting out on his indie author career. He shows us how to do it properly. Already at the age of 16 he's learnt a lot from his journey and he shares those mistakes with us. But more importantly he shows us how to build an author career from the ground up. But what also excites me is his his branding and its boundless. He talks about how we can all grow together and our energies are boundless. And after chatting with him this morning I've got to tell you that I'm really keen to get back into my own writing. I hope he has the same impact on you. So for all our Indi and hybrid authors out there go grab yourself a pen and paper. Michael's got some great advice for all of us including how to work social media to all our advantages. It's really great stuff. He's got some great tidbits for us and he's an amazing speaker. And if you haven't already, pop over to Writer on the Road and subscribe to our Author Success Stories Magazine. This month is a special Indie addition and it's got some more great advice for those of us who are trying to do it alone but discover that we need a whole world of help to go along with this. Mel: Michael a young adult author and futurist. This young man has blown me away. I've been talking about him about the professionalism with which he is approaching his career. He's building an author brand from the ground up and doing an amazing job of it. I've been following him around social media following his marketing efforts. And for someone so young I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more about him. I liken him to a young Adam Croft which is pretty amazing stuff. Michael first of all I'd like you to start and tell us a little bit about the books that you write. Michael: As of right now I have three books and four novellas out in the Control Freak series and the Control Freak series is a young adult post apocalyptic thriller series that follows Natalie and her two best friends on their journey to get their life and family back that was stolen from the government after the Great Crash. Trillions of dollars were lost. And then after protocols years years enacted a secret government program....

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker and co-author of six best-selling books with the latest one the updated Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. Angela is an international speaker and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also enjoys dreaming up new tools and resources for https://onestopforwriters.com/ (One Stop For Writers), a library built to help writers elevate their storytelling. She’s also one half of the team over at Writers Helping Writers, alongside Becca Puglisi. You can find out more https://writershelpingwriters.net/about-writers-helping-writers/ (here.) In this episode we chat about the following: getting inside our characters’ heads creating strong experiences for our readers the relationship between setting and character the mistakes new writers make internal and external balance show and tell how to include backstory sensor detail – making details earn their keep emotional wounds authenticity and the human experience emotional layers and much more In fact, our podcast this week is more of a free writing workshop delivered by one of the best in the writing business. Thanks, Angela. You can find out more about Angela and The Emotion Thesaurus https://writershelpingwriters.net/author/angela/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome to another episode of road around the road. It's not very often that we get to travel to Canada in the middle of winter so I'm pretty excited about that as we sweat through an Australian summer. I'd like to welcome Angela Akerman. Good morning Angela. Angela: Good morning and thank you. Mel: Angela a writing coach, international speaker and co-author of six best-selling books with the latest one the updated Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer's Guide to Character Expression. Angela: That was our very first book that we wrote, The Emotion Thesaurus, and it's kind of spread like wildfire. I think because it really tackled a topic that a lot of writers struggle with and there's not a lot written about there's not a lot of help in the emotion space. And I think the way we approached our book making it a really practical brainstorming tool that you can use as your writing or as you're revising it just really appealed to a lot of writers but being our very first book you know we were kind of feeling our way around it was we published it in 2012 when self publishing was really getting going and we were kind of nervous. You know will people like this or not. And so we've always wanted to go back over the years and kind of update it simply because we've learned so much in that space in that time we've grown as writers and as writing coaches and there's so many more aspects of writing that writing an emotion that we wanted to cover and there's so many other motions that we could cover in the emotional thesaurus so seeing that all of our books are a lot bigger. We've kind of gotten more verbose as we go along. We have as many motions as we can or as many settings as we can or whatever our topic is. So we have room to develop this book and so we finally decided that we were going to do it and we were going to go back and add fifty five new emotions to it. Mel: There were about 75 emotions to start with weren't they? Angela: Yes. Seventy five to start with and now this one has one hundred and thirty. Mel: It's an online resource as well as a beautiful physical book it's coming out? Angela: I think emotion can be kind of a taboo topic if you've got male characters you know in the sense that. Some people some males are not comfortable thinking about the deeper emotions that we have as people. But the reality is is we all have these emotions whether or not we show them or not and what we're trying to do through our fiction is connect to readers connect with them in a very realistic way which means you know. Pulling on...

Born in Zimbabwe, T.M. Clark completed her primary school years at boarding school in Bulawayo, but on weekends and holidays she explored their family ranch in Nyamandhlovu, normally on the back of her horse. Her teenage years were totally different to her idyllic childhood. After her father died, the family of five women moved to Kokstad, a rural town at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, and the boarding school hostel became her home. In the tradition of Tony Park and Wilbur Smith, Australian author, TM Clark, writes what she knows and tells the stories that need to be told. The settings for her novels, The Nature of the Lion, Child of Africa, Tears of the Cheetah and Shooting Butterflies, are all sparked by her imagination but based on her childhood homeland. In this episode, we chat about the following: the nature of storytelling research different cultures and wild places getting the facts right; local words, customs, culture, politics border wars & the bushmen of Africa setting as character the importance of plot to drive a story forward procrastination, and how to overcome it writers block raw emotion You can find out more about Clark and her books https://www.tmclark.com.au/ (here.)  

Ever wondered whether you’re better to strike out on your own  with your writing career, pitch directly to publishers or hire an agent? Haylee Nash, of The Nash Agency, outlines the pros and cons of each option, demystifying the publishing cycle in the process. But be warned, after listening to Nash, you’ll be hard pressed to justify not running with an expert. Think of an agent as an industry expert that has you as their primary focus in a publishing world that throws up more options every day.  Besides, everyone needs a cheerleader and therapist, says Nash. In this episode we cover the following, and so much more: the benefits of editorial feedback how to pitch to publishers framing your work to sell the importance of a good bio the craft and business side of writing marketing opportunities what’s trending in 2019 managing your career Most importantly, Nash has a Writers Retreat happening at Mt Tamborine in Southeast Queensland in February, with guest tutors, Rachael Johns and Josephine Moon. You can find out more about Haylee and The Nash Agency https://www.thenashagency.com.au/ (here) and the Writers Retreat https://www.thenashagency.com.au/2018-writers-retreat (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel: Today, I have with me Haylee Nash. Welcome Hayley. Now I heard all about hayday from the beautiful Amy Seton. So of course I had to track down and bring her on to the podcast. What I hadn't realized Hayley is that you used to work at Pan Macmillan and Harlequin. You represent some of our best Australian authors, Josephine Moon, Lily Malone, Annie Seaton and Lisa Ireland to name a few. Haylee: Yes it is. I currently have 18 signed. Mel: We have our very own agent here in front of us representing both indie authors and traditionally published authors with some depth of experience. How long have you been an agent? Haylee: I'vee been an agent for two years. It's been an incredibly interesting journey but really fulfilling and very nice for my ego because it was terrifying. Haylee: Starting out on my own particularly as I have a child and a husband and we know there's bills to pay. But it's been so rewarding absolutely rewarding. Mel: I'm sitting here looking everyone at this amazingly healthy glowing woman who just got back from the gym. If there's any reason that you need an entrepreneurial life it's so that you can do what you want when you want and work until midnight every night. Haylee: That's exactly right. It's like I can so I can surf if I wanted to in the morning and be up at 6 to play Barbies with my three year old daughter, the life of a working mother. Mel: You talk about appraising manuscripts. You've got all these amazing authors on your books at the moment. Being represented by an agent has actually changed over the years hasn't it? Haylee: Yes. I think there's a lot of people now who are represented who have been published. I don't have the exact percentages on me but because publishers have to be smarter than me I'm more connected than ever just because of the wide range of things that are selling and the way that trends and genres change. They're more connected to writers so agents. Haylee: Some people find it on their own which is brilliant. Haylee: I'm always careful to tell people what I do what their money or their percentage. And also to let them know if they really need me or not because a lot of authors have found a publisher. The Publishers direct to them because they have a huge amount of followers or whether they have a hugely successful blog or YouTube channel. And often if they're speaking. It's a very business savvy and they're speaking directly to their audience and that's what the show is. Sometimes they don't need an agent. Haylee: However at the very very least it's useful to have one because you know the contracts and know where there's meeting room. What we get to be back off basically and we get to make...

One of the joys of being a writer is sinking into the research abyss: events, characters, society, music, language and culture, reading books of the period, interior design, cookbooks, and the list goes on. Belinda Alexandra writes historical and historical/contemporary fiction novels set in exotic locations with the latest being The Invitation, a gilded age Domestic Noir, full of passions, secrets, history and intrigue. A born storyteller, Alexandra takes us through the Narnia wardrobe to a world of excess and opulence, where deceit, betrayal and moral corruption in New York at the turn of the twentieth century rule. The trick, says Alexandra, is to show your research sparingly. Start with a visual depiction of your setting, and choose your details wisely. Alexandra’s books have been published around the world including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Brazil, Poland and Norway, as well as Australia. You can find out more about Alexandra and her books here.

Darry Fraser is the bestselling author of Daughter of the Murray, Where the Murray River Runs, and The Widow of Ballarat. We first met Darry on the podcast, https://writerontheroad.com/research-writing-journey-daughter-murray-darry-fraser/ (here,) where we talked about the research and writing of The Daughter of the Murray, and https://writerontheroad.com/99-summer-reading-writing-series-darry-fraser/ (here,) last Christmas, as part of our Summer Reading Series. This week we talk about the discipline of being a writer, about learning to be present while you’re writing and how finding your own style is critical to building a successful author career. You can learn more about Darry and her books https://www.darryfraser.com/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome to a very special Christmas episode of Writer on the Road. I have with me today one of my favorite writers who's been with me since the beginning. I'd like to welcome Darry Fraser. Darry: Thanks for having me once again. Mel: We first met with Darry's first novel, Daughter of the Murray. Then there's Where the Murray River Runs and now we're celebrating the Widow of Ballarat. Darry: Thank you. It was a wonderful experience to be writing this particular book so I'm hoping that it will do. Mel: Dhari has a reputation of one of being very shy and retiring but the fact is your book are doing not only really really well and are some of the best sellers here in Australia at the moment. Darry: It's wonderful news. I actually don't have a sense of how they're doing out there. I'm very grateful that people are happy for me and reading my books and contacting me about them. And as long as I'm doing what I love to do and somebody else is loving to raise them I'm more than happy. Mel: There's another lady we have on the podcast, the beautiful Tea Cooper. She's doing very well as well. Darry: Yes, we have very very different styles of course and very different interests in our history in the sense that she seems to focus on a happiness at a time where we might have dual timelines. She a very easy style. It's quite interesting to look at another historical fiction set in this time. Mel: I don't think I'm giving any secrets out here that you live on the beautiful Kangaroo Island but your books are set on the Murray River. You're in a great part of the world for Australian history aren't you. Darry: That's correct. People have asked why I don't focus on my own area a little bit more. I'll leave that to other people. There are a lot of events to draw upon here but the things that interest me about that time are relationships between people and clearly the things that affected people are the same as now, relationships between people and how events affect them such as in the bigger pilot Ballarat and the director so have been them have been the sort of thing that drives my story so I guess that's not unlike other wars is that you tend to stick yourself in the moment. Mel: Clare Wright wrote the women of the goldfields story and she's moved on to the suffragettes in Your Daughters of Freedom, But to have these stories come alive for the rest of us and give us very strong heroines are with real problems too are must be must. Darry: I've been glad to be able to do what does but with fiction. I think we both have books out about that particular era, in Ballarat and women on the goldfields. I think we tend to let it all slip by us that women put up with all this stuff because they had to not because they wanted to. A lot of them didn't know any difference. And so it was just par for the course it has been the way it's been for centuries and centuries but suddenly in the 1950s especially at Ballarat Goldfields women realised they could do a lot more. And that was very interesting to me. Mel: I just completed a talk at the town's storytelling tour here of Brisbane everyone where the beautiful Natalie Cowling role brings alive local...

Lisa Messenger writes her books in real time – almost like a journal. Sometimes the results aren’t pretty, but they’re real. Messenger is an Australian entrepreneur, author, and the founder and CEO of Collective Hub, an international multimedia business and lifestyle platform. She is also an international speaker, best-selling author, and an authority on disruption. She writes books in real time, her latest being Risk & Resilience, the story of the tough lessons she’s learned during the last eighteen months of her entrepreneurial journey. Her story isn’t pretty, but it’s heartfelt and we learn about the cost and responsibility of a successful career where people rely on you to lead the way. It’s a story about how to survive, thrive and prosper through pivotal times, and how taking time out to re-charge is paramount. Today, we chat about what it takes to write out loud, to share the details of the hard times as well as the good, and what we can all learn from Lisa’s journey. And why, sometimes, bigger isn’t necessarily better. You can find out more about Lisa, her books, courses and Collective Hub https://collectivehub.com/about-lisa-messenger/ (here) and http://www.lisamessenger.com/ (here.)   Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome to another episode of writer on the road. Today's guest doesn't need an introduction because we all know and love her. Welcome, Lisa messenger. Lisa: That is a beautiful introduction. Mel: Lisa is an international speaker, best-selling author and an authority on disruption in both the Corporate sector and the startup scene. Lisa: I love that word disruption. It's funny to say I'm an authority on disruption. I think when I was at school they may have worded it slightly differently. How it was that disruptive notion back then that saw me sitting in the hallways outside the classroom for the majority of my school life. Lisa: But I'm still that same little punk rebel. Asking how to buck the status quo and always try to find a different better way of doing things. Lisa: It's just that. Strangely enough that's kind of celebrated now hopefully a slightly more for nest and I get a girl a little bit spiritually and emotionally since the school days. But anyway it's an interesting space. Mel: I'm the English teacher teaching the drop out student and the student's famous and I'm still there in the classroom. Mel: This is a bit of a personal story for me but I do have the woman who has influenced my journey over the last I guess well over five years. The current book you have out there is Risk & Resilience and we're going to talk at length about that one today. But the book that started mine was Money & Mindfulness. It's been out a few years hasn't it? Lisa: Yes, beautiful it gives me shivers when I hear that because I think there's so many people in this world that we all of us don't connect with or you know just silently doing something that is helping other people and then suddenly you have this connection and you hear about the impacts and that's very beautiful and I look forward to hearing your story. Mel: Let's talk about money and mindfulness. We think we know all about it until we haven't got any. I found myself in a situation where I didn't have any I had two young children we were travelling in our caravan and everybody through Coffs Harbour and I went into the news agency and I found this amazing little what I thought was a paperback book in a news agency. I didn't have any money and I splurged out I think it was 30 bucks of my last hundred and bought this thing because it had pictures of the ocean. Lisa, that was such a practical book but full of joy and life because of the images, because of the topography and you've carried that through to your current books. It's more than just a How-To book isn't it? Lisa: That is a beautiful thing. It's a big thing in being unafraid and...

Aiki Flinthart is the author of the YA 80AD Series (where the downloads went nuts), the Ruadhan Sidhe Series, Shadows Wake, Shadows Bane and Shadows Fate, and now, newly released, Iron, the first of the Kalima Chronicles. She has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards & Writers of the Future Contest, appeared on the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers Assn of America YouTube channel – and she writes kick-ass women characters. In a Zombie apocalypse, you need to be able to shoot without sticking your head out. Read a Flinthart novel, and you’re immediately transported to a world of  Terracotta Armies, Chinese inventions or Eastern Philosophy. You learn about pyramids, tombs and hieroglyphics. Think Martial Arts, knife throwing, horse-bows and archery, add a few swords and daggers, mixed with a few myths and legends, and you start to get a faint understanding of what you’re in for. Did I mention shape-shifters, vampires, aliens, elves and quests? Yes, I’m way out of my depth, but it doesn’t matter. Flinthart is an expert in all things fantasy. In this episode Flinthart talks us through the psychological and physiological differences between men and women in fights, in between talking all things writing. You can find out more about Flinthart and her novels https://www.aikiflinthart.com/ (here.) COMPETITION:  If you’d like to win a copy of Iron, send a pic of you wielding an iron (at your ironing board:)) to melinda@tropicalwriting.com.au Read Full Transcript Mel: Welcome to another episode of writer on the road today. We're staying here in my beautiful town of Brisbane. Welcome Aiki Flintheart. Aiki: Hey, thanks, Mel. Appreciate it. Glad to be here. Mel: We have the beautiful Deb Kelly to thank for this one. And we are going to Fantasyland. Aiki has nine or 10 books published, middle grade and adult fantasy novels. Aiki: I have been training in martial arts for about 18 years or so. It's good for writing it gives you lots of good fight scenes. Mel: I had a look at some of the covers on your books and there is this woman and she's holding a knife. I love her expression. She's a kickass female. I like her. And we're going to talk about that today about how to write fight scenes because that's what Aiki specializes in. Aiki: I've actually been writing my whole life but early on they were really dreadful romances that will never see the light of day. And then my son is dyslexic and he was really struggling with the big fat books like the Harry Potter and things you wanted to read something actually but he just couldn't get through them. So I wrote a series of five books for middle graders portal fantasy as kids get sucked back into a computer game set in 1880 and my sneaky goal was to to hide some real history in there so the kids have to go through five levels in five different countries all said in 88. And while they learn things about India and China and Egypt along the way and it's the fight scenes. But you know after I publish those they were really quite successful. There's been about 400000 downloads but. I then realized I really didn't know what I was doing. I went away and learnt a lot of things and wrote some more books and now the ones that are coming out you know are stronger read better written but the older ones keep selling really well so there's something about them. Mel: 400000 downloads of middle grade novels is amazing. We're talking digital. Aiki Is an indie publisher. And when I went on your website other than Amazon and your own website where else can we buy your books. Aiki: They're on all the major retailers so I books and Kobo and Barnes and Noble and a couple of others here are all the major retailers and you can actually print on demand as well if you walk into a bookshop and say I want this book they'll order it for you here. Mel: On your website there are bonus materials and background research and I was off to...

Brian K Wright is the host of Success Profiles Radio and publisher of Success Profiles Magazine. Over the last 6 years, Brian has interviewed world-class achievers such as Darren Hardy, Jack Canfield, Loral Langemeier, Kevin Harrington, Sharon Lechter, and many more. A lot of people, when they think about writing a book, they think of selling millions of copies and it’s a really nice idea but unless you’re really famous or well known that may or may not happen. It’s what you can do with the book once it’s done that’s the goal, whether it’s speaking on stage, having a coaching program, staging a live event, or being invited to do shows. It will present opportunities to sell your book and make a lot of money at your bookstore signings. There are a lot of opportunities to go beyond the book but the book is the springboard by which you can do everything. Brian’s radio show was the springboard that created a lot of opportunities and then the book spun from that and the magazine spun from that. Start somewhere, master or something I know I’m going and then figure out how to spend it. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to start a bunch of things at once and end up not doing any of them very well. A book is a credibility piece. If there are let’s just say hypothetically 10 people in your industry and somebody is trying to decide who to work with. If you’ve got a book on the other nine don’t guess who automatically has the the first opportunity the person with the book because you you must be the expert. People will make that assumption and so they’ll check out your book. They like to do their research and figure out who people are. If they see your book it can be a nuclear business card. You can find out more about Brian, his books and Success Profiles https://briankwright.com/ (here.)   Read Full Transcript Melinda: Welcome to another episode of Writer on the Road. Today we're travelling to Arizona which is a little bit far away from where we are here in Oz. I'd like to welcome Brian Wright. Brian is a guest that I have been recommended to by Brian Burkard. Hi Brian. This one's for you. I have been encouraging my friend Brian from the Marketers Mindset to write a book for a long time and I believe part of your expertise is in book writing. Brian: It is. I've done three of my own books and I go through my books for other people and I also host a meetup group here in Arizona for offers and side started that a couple of months ago I had my third meeting earlier this week with my group and it's been a lot of fun it's been a great journey. Melinda: I always go straight to the top when I need my experts. Brian, I've got to tell you that with my research that I've been carrying out tonight you are the expert of all experts. You have a wonderful book out and it's a new book released this month and it's called Success Profiles, Conversations With High Achievers. You can have a podcast success profiles radio. You also publish the Success Profiles Magazine. Brian: Yes. It's a spinoff of my radio brand. When I started my radio show back in 2012 I realized after a while I had so much content that I could repurpose. I think this is really important. If you are creating content repurposing in as many ways as possible. Some people will listen to you do a radio show or podcast. Some people read but some people will read your magazine. Some people will meet you in person but they won't find you everywhere unless they're a super fan. But you have to reach people where they are. Some people prefer to read. Some people prefer to listen and so repurposed content to appeal to as many of the senses as possible so that people have a greater opportunity to find you. Melinda: Brian is an expert at this everybody. I'll confess it's four o'clock in the morning here and I started researching Brian's work at midnight and I have kept...

In the last 13 years, Geoff McDonald has read 550 books and written sixty plus Book Rapper ebooks, as well as over 1000 blog posts. And now he’s launching two books on the same day, Done and Project Done. McDonald has always been prolific, great with ideas and creativity, but not so strong at execution. It wasn’t until he bought a new laptop computer that he realised the untapped potential of all that creativity, and the problems he had with not finishing his various projects. Whilst copying over files he found 25 unfinished books. I was like, “Oh, my God, how much of my time?” You know what’s going on, that if I’d finished even half of them life would have been different. I’d had a whole bunch of products I’d know I’d be known for, a whole bunch of my ideas, and in that moment, I realized my life had been about building this body of work. And I haven’t actually finished half my body of work. Heaven forbid, had a lightning bolt come down and zapped me on the head in a moment I would have had nothing to show. I would have had a whole bunch of unfinished stuff to show for my life. In this episode, we discuss the following: why we’re where we are with our creative projects how to improve our motivation the importance of adjusting our goals redesigning our environment for maximum productivity how to triage our priorities developing our inner drive making change stick and much more… You can find out more about McDonald and getting things done https://geoffmcdonald.com/ (here.) Read Full Transcript Mel: We're going to spend the next half hour or so talking books and publishing. I'd like to welcome Geoff McDonald. Hi Jeff. Geoff: Hi, Mel. Great to be on your show. Mel: Geoff has written a book called Done: Why You Fail To Finish Your Projects and What To Do About It. Everyone who knows me knows exactly why I've got Geoff on. He's read 550 books in the last 30 years, written 60 plus books under the guise of book report which we'll talk about shortly. He's got 1000 posts and over100 podcast episodes. And that's just in his spare time because he's also a Public Ppeaker. He's an ideas architect and the list goes on. Mel: Let's start with your current project, Project Done. Help us out, Geoff. We're writers and some of us are perhaps bits of procrastinators. It's what attracted me to your book in the first place because I believe you had that problem yourself, even though your list doesn't show it. Geoff: I can point to that list of all these things well done but I'm probably closer to you than you think, and I think it's an interesting one that there's probably a little tipping point there. Basically, I did my strength profile a while back and I realised I had almost no strength around the execution stuff. And pretty much that summed up what I'd been doing. Not finishing. A few years ago, I bought a new laptop computer. I previously had a desktop that had this really big hard drive on it. When I got the laptop, it had a really small hard drive on it, so I couldn't just press the button to copy all the files. I had to manually sort through them. I found an old book file. I had spent a lot of time on that one, but I never finished it, and this went on and on. It turned out there were 25 unfinished books and they weren't just headline blind folder. There were l50 to 100, 150 pages on each of these books. I was like “oh, my God, how much of my time?” You know what's going on, that if I'd finished even half of them life would have been different. I'd had a whole bunch of products I'd know I'd be known for, a whole bunch of my ideas, and in that moment, I realized my life had been about building this body of work. And I haven't actually finished half my body of work. Heaven forbid, had a lightning bolt come down and zapped me on the head in a moment I would have had nothing to show. I would have had a whole bunch of unfinished stuff

Sometimes, it’s best to let a novel speak for itself. DM Cameron’s Beneath The Mother Tree is lyrical from the first page and deliciously unputdownable. It could be Cameron’s Irish ancestry, or her background as an award-winning scriptwriter, or never-give-up attitude, but her debut novel hooks us from the first page and keeps us enthralled. Or it could be that I love landscape novels and Cameron’s intertwining of Irish and Indigenous cultures as they meet on an island that’s at once familiar and sinister is riveting stuff. And the real treat is listening to her read her story aloud – did I mention that Cameron is also a voice artist? This podcast is about a writer’s love of storytelling in all its forms. Enjoy. A masterly evocation of place…Read it as an allegorical tale or just enjoy a rattling good yarn of young love, small community dynamics, obsession and mystery.'  The Weekend Australian. You can find out more about Cameron and her work http://www.dmcameron.com/beneath-the-mother-tree/ (here.)

ABIA award-winning and bestselling author, Rachael Johns, is one half of the duo who has been organising the upcoming Australia’s West Coast Fiction Festival, an event eighteen months in the making. The other half is Tess Woods. It’s shaping up to be one of the biggest events of the year as sixty top Australian and New Zealand authors converge on Perth on the 3rd of November, 2018, for book signings, a cocktail party and live band. Johns is currently Australia’s leading writer of contemporary relationship stories around womens issues and her newest release, Lost Without You, is hitting the shelves as we speak. Our conversation is a free-wheeling chat around what it means to build a community around your books and our conversation includes: why your readers matter libraries, bookshops & festivals writers retreats the benefits of bookclubs (Johns’ club, with friend Anthea Hodgson, has over 1000 members) authors promoting each other’s books Di Morrissey and Judy Nunn (Nunn will be at the festival) online communities, word of mouth meeting with your fans You can meet your favourite authors, including Johns, Judy Nunn, Amy Andrews, Fiona McArthur, Pamela Cook, Helene Young and more at the West Coast Festival. You can find the full list of the sixty attending authors http://www.wcfictionfestival.com.au/ (here.) You can find out more about Rachael and her books http://www.rachaeljohns.com/ (here.)

There’s something about character driven novels that has you turning the pages, feeling you know the characters already but want to know more. But what about writing them, with one eye on giving your reader a satisfactory ending whilst at the same time putting your characters through their paces and herding them all in the same direction towards that ending? Juggling five characters' points-of-view and delving deeply into what motivates each of them is the latest challenge for bestselling and award winning Aussie author, Tricia Stringer, as she tackles her tenth novel and first Women's Fiction. Stringer is already a bestselling and award winning author, with historicals set in Australia’s Flinders Ranges and rural romances. Now, she’s taking to the high seas with her first women’s fiction. Writing bigger, more complex stories suits Stringer and Table for Eight is, hopefully, the first of many. I started reading her book for research but was hooked from the beginning. Advice from Stringer for writers is write the story you love to read, do your research – in Stringer’s case she had the onerous task of going for cruises – using photos for inspirations, and writing regularly, preferably daily. We also chat about doing the rounds of libraries and bookshops, as well as marketing online via blogs, reviews and bookclubs. You can find out more about Stringer, her books and current marketing tour https://www.triciastringer.com.au/ (here.)

Told in seven first-person voices, The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy, is a new direction for Australian author, Ber Carroll, author of eight contemporary fiction novels. Tightly constructed and difficult to edit, it’s Carroll’s most ambitious novel yet, and if the early reviews are anything to go by, a highly successful novel at that. Carroll is not a planner and goes where the novel takes her, and Missing Pieces has taken her in a whole new direction. It’s why this is her first novel published under B M Carroll instead of her usual Ber Carroll. This novel came to Carroll cohesively and she used a coloured spreadsheet to keep track of all her characters. She writes real events with real people pushed to extremes, with strong female characters. You can find out more about Carroll and her novels https://bercarroll.com/ (here.)

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a career author? Jacquie Underdown has put in the hours and she’s starting to reap the rewards after ten years of hard work. It’s not an uncommon story. Underdown set about learning her craft through a A Masters in Writing, Editing & Publishing. Her first contract was an ebook with Harper Collins five years ago, when ebooks were an emerging market with Traditional Publishers (back then, texting was also new). With over a million words published in novels, novellas and short stories, Underdown has learnt a few things, including the fact that writing is a longterm game, nothing comes easy, and getting a book out takes time, practice, determination and support. In this episode we discuss the following: learning the craft blogging flow the longterm game diverse heroines the importance of good grammar reading as a writer post-novel blues writing schedules how life and writing intertwine You can find out more about Underdown and her books, including her new Christmas novella, https://www.jacquieunderdown.com/ (here.)

There’s no such thing as an overnight success in the writing game – well, maybe occasionally – but there’s a fast establishing pathway to give yourself the best chance of a long and profitable writing career. First, it takes time and writing more than a few good books, preferably in series, followed by perfecting your marketing and branding, building a loyal following who sign up to your email list, and coming to grips with the vagaries of the available sales platforms. And that perennial question, should we go Kindle Unlimited or wide with our books? Someone who has come to grips with all of the above, and more, is Joanne Dannon, bestselling Indie author, and expert in all things Indie Publishing. Fresh home from conferences in both New Zealand and Australia, Dannon is current on what it takes to succeed in the writing game in 2018 and beyond. But it wasn’t always that way. Joanne, a oft-returning guest on Writer on the Road, has learned the hard way, by doing the work, making a few mistakes along the way, and continually working at her craft and business skills. In this episode, Dannon shares her tips for aspiring authors (and for those of us who need to brush up on the business side of our writing): Kindle Unlimited or wide the importance of writing in series and boxed sets consistency of  book covers Goal, Motivation & Conflict – the keys to writing a great novel making mistakes marketing – D2D and other options it’s not a competition, silly the liberation of going Indie more, lots more This is my best chat yet with Dannon, who has shared her journey with us from the beginning. She now has fourteen books published and is currently celebrating her most recent boxed set, Kiss Me. You can find out more about Dannon and her books https://joannedannon.com/ (here.)  

With over 70 million books sold, Sherrilyn Kenyon is worth listening to when it comes to all things writing. She’s experienced all the trials that we’re familiar with and celebrated all the successes the rest of us dream about. Stygian, a Dark Hunter Novel, has been named the Best SF and Fantasy novel for August, 2018 by Unbound Worlds. The Dark Hunter series, at twenty-nine and counting, is a #1 International Bestselling series, along with Kenyon’s Deadman’s Cross, Hellchasers and Nevermore Series, to name a few. You won’t run out of books to read anytime soon, and there’s more on the way. Our conversation ranges across a lot of topics – Kenyon is a delightfully generous guest – as we learn about ancient languages, medieval myths and origin stories. Kenyon’s father was a biblical scholar, her grandfathers, one a Sharman and one an evangelist, and Kenyon herself a scholar of ancient languages, as well as part Celtic and part Cherokee. Ever heard the expression ‘old as snot’? It’s accurate, as is everything Kenyon writes. In fact, she’s a stickler for accurate dialogue and it’s one of the things that make her books a delight to read (yep, I entered the realm of fantasy and found that I love it:)) And the best news? She’ll be visiting Oz early in 2019. There’s series, spinoffs, manga and comics, with Kenyon’s books soon to hit the big screen. You can find out more about Kenyon and her books https://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/ (here.)    

Are you a scaling entrepreneur who wants to gain influence by defining who you are and why you matter? Checking your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things a potential connection will do before they reach out to you, and you need make a good impression. Social Media Strategist and LinkedIn expert, Adam Houlahan, has written a book about it. The LinkedIn Playbook will walk you through the process of optimising your LinkedIn profile and creating a highly professional presence online. Or, if you prefer, join his 12-week Influencer Program https://www.adamhoulahan.com/courses/ (here.) I did. There’s also a free 4-week course. What can you do for your ideal client? An easy enough question, but damned hard to answer in a couple of catchy sentences. During our chat, Adam not only tells you how but also why. Then there’s your pitch, headline and summary. So much to do…here’s a few things we touch on in this episode: How to personalise your message Making sure you follow-up Using a professional profile pic Why your personal life is irrelevant Why LinkedIn is not like other social media The importance of keywords & tags Are you ready for when the next big opportunity knocks? You can find out more about Adam, and his books and courses https://www.adamhoulahan.com/ (here.)  

Are you a grey area drinker? If your writing routine is anything like mine you go about the business of writing all day and knock off in time to do a little editing whilst watching the sunset and enjoying a glass of wine or two…or three. Imagine my chagrin reading psychologist and author, Cassandra Gaisford’s latest book, Mind Your Drink: The Surprising Joy of Sobriety; Control Alcohol, discovering freedom, find happiness and change your life. Alcohol is a neurotoxin, a flammable liquid and a poison. So much for romance. In this episode we chat about the following (among other things): alcohol and our writing productivity happiness without alcohol experiencing joy and physical wellbeing our changing relationship with alcohol drinking habits (and how they impact on our writing habits) why giving up alcohol is hard creative expression and joy rethinking drinking a good night’s sleep stressing less/loving more There’s also a sobriety journal and a Mind Your Drink workbook. You can find out more about Cassandra and her books, courses, and other writing http://www.cassandragaisford.com/ (here.) Disclaimer: as I write this I’m sitting on my verandah, watching the sunset and my drink of choice is lime and soda in  a chilled glass with ice and a swizzle stick          

The world needs your book, says Self-Publishing coach, Alexandra Amor. In the ever-changing world of publishing it’s easy to become overwhelmed and that’s where Amor steps in as she guides your through the publishing maze. Amor has been an independent author for over ten years. She’s written eleven novels and hosts a mystery podcast (you can find out more her novels and podcast https://alexandraamor.com/ (here).) She VA’s for Mark Dawson and Joanna Penn. If there are any better testimonials than these pillars of the Self-Publishing world I’m yet to find them. She offers support and accountability throughout your publishing journey, and has been trained by Life Coach, Martha Beck. Investing in our businesses is the best thing we can do and it makes sense to save money by investing in a good coach. With Amor, you’re in safe hands. In this episode Amor shares her knowledge on the following: multiple streams of income series writing freedom and money dictation side hustles change the long game She also has a great book, ‘The Red Hot Truth About Self-Publishing Your Book’, that’s available for free at the moment. You can find out more http://myselfpublishingcoach.com/ (here.)

Writers need readers and one way to find readers is through book reviews. With over 800 romance book reviews under her belt Helen Sibbritt knows a thing or two about what makes a good book and it would be pertinent for the writers amongst us to listen to what she has to say. She's what's known as an Influencer and she always has a review list she's working her way through. How do we get onto Sibbritt's list? Blurbs matter, as do professional covers, and testimonials. Sibbritt often turns to Goodreads and recommendations to find her next good book to read. She enjoys long lunches with fellow readers – Romance Reader Lunches – and they share recommendations. Word of mouth is king, or should I say queen? The Australian Romance Readers Association has state chapters and the groups are influential amongst readers. You can find Helen on Facebook or Twitter sharing her recommendations (I did), or enjoying a long lunch somewhere…you never know, it might be your book she’s recommending next.

Australian romance authors are taking on the world with their novels. Hot on the heels of Natasha Lester’s success with The Paris Seamstress, Alli Sinclair’s latest novel, Burning Fields, will be available worldwide in November. Burning Fields is an historical novel set in my part of the world, Far North Queensland, and is touted as an Australian historical with an Italian influence. During our conversation we chat about the following: women’s experiences during WW2 and beyond the role of women in history researching historical fiction in Australia what a romance novel is and what it isn’t exploring the Australian landscape and the potential for stories the benefits of writing communities, festivals and friendships women’s perspectives on life and writing Alli’s next book Writers Retreats, especially those at sea the German book market and international translations Sinclair’s fourth novel was released in Oz and New Zealand in June and the author is busy on the launch trail here in Queensland as I write this. Even more exciting is her Writers At Sea Retreat to New Caledonia with TM Clark, from 30 August to 7 September, 2018. You can find out more about Alli Sinclair, her books and her retreat https://allisinclairauthor.wordpress.com/ (here.)  

We talk a lot here at Writer on the Road about what it takes to be a successful author. Today, we’re celebrating the success of one of our favourite authors, Annie Seaton. Our conversation is short and it’s powerful as Seaton shares with us her journey over the last seven years. Here’s what it takes, Annie Seaton style: seven years high energy never giving up always pushing forward seeing results celebrating the small wins Congratulations, Annie Seaton, from everyone here at Writer on the Road. We look forward to the next seven years of watching you shine. You can find out more about Seaton and her books http://www.annieseaton.net/ (here.)  

It’s a question that bugs us all – when do we get to call ourselves a real writer? Christian White, Aussie author of thriller The Nowhere Child shares with us what it feels like to become an overnight success in the literary world. The Nowhere Child is White’s fifth novel but the first to see light of day. He shares with us his journey from winner of the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript to signing on with Australian publisher, Affirm Press, to having his novel picked up by publishers around the world. He says his characters will be better travelled than him as they jet off to farflung countries with him hot on their heels. We all want to be Christian White, and he makes it seem possible for us all to have what he’s got. His overnight success took fifteen years and a firm belief in himself as a writer. Well, maybe not so firm a belief at times, but he stuck to it, and look at him now. During our conversation, Christian shares with us the following: the importance of believing in yourself as a writer the best day jobs (think driving golf carts and selling t-shirts) the benefits of entering competitions surrounding yourself with people who believe in you there is such a thing as an overnight success being a writer is fun what it’s like to write book number two the pure joy of watching yourself be a successful writer for a day You can find out more about Christian, his journey, and his novel https://www.christian-white.com/ (here.)  

Have you ever wondered how to become a bestselling Indie author? Well, here’s the secret: write and write a lot. This is from a woman who has just celebrated selling over 7 million books. Her other secret is to work really hard for a very long time. Bella Andre is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of “The Sullivans”, “The Morrisons” and “The Maverick Billionaires” series. In this episode we chat about the following: what it was like starting out when Indie publishing was the ‘wild west’ the importance of good writing habits writing fast why ignoring the white noise of social media is important a love of reading prioritising your writing the importance of writing buddies Conferences and networking building a community There’s a lot more to this interview than mere details. It’s the generosity of spirit that Andre exudes. She makes it not only possible but probable that we can do what she’s done. And that’s exciting. Better still, she’s heading our way, with her first stop in Sydney, then over the paddock to New Zealand and the Romance Writers of New Zealand Conference. You can find out more about Bella and her books http://bellaandre.com/ (here.)

What do you get when you combine the talents of four of Australia’s top romance authors – Kelly Hunter, Victoria Purman, Cathryn Hein and Fiona McArthur? A bestselling romance series, for a start. And an altogether fun podcast, notwithstanding the challenges of keeping track of the number of awards, novels, and accolades these ladies have notched up between them over the years. In the crowded and competitive field of romance, these ladies stand out – as does their latest venture, a rural romance series smattered with runaway brides, historic homesteads, and quaint country towns full of characters we all recognise.   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/IMG_3304.jpg ()   The secret behind the success of the multi-series, The Outback Brides: Maggie’s Run, Bella’s Secret, Elsa’s Stand and Holly’s Heart, is the chemistry between its authors. Mark Dawson, author and podcaster, says ‘collaborating on a writing project can be both enjoyable and profitable if done properly…it can challenge you and make you a better writer.’ These four women were already at the top of the romance pack before they joined forces. Combining their strengths, story telling, technical expertise was always going to be a win-win for both the writers and their readers. In this episode we get down to the nitty-gritty: communication project planning time management accountability You can find out more about the authors here: Kelly Hunter https://kellyhunter.net/ (here,) Victoria Purman http://www.victoriapurman.com/ (here,) Cathryn Hein http://www.cathrynhein.com/ (here,) and Fiona McArthur https://www.fionamcarthurauthor.com/ (here.)  

Travel fiction has a long tradition. Think Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathon Swift, On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, and more recently, The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall-Smith. The list is endless. Janice Horton’s, The Backpacking Housewife, is in fine company, and although Horton is experiencing something like an overnight success with her new novel, it’s actually her thirteenth. Like most overnight successes, there’s a lot of hard work and learning her craft that has led her to this point. And a lot of travel. Being in the right spot at the right time has brought this travel adventurer a bit of luck – or so it seems at first glance – when she ran into a Harper Impulse executive who invited her to write a novel for Harper line, which Horton immediately set about doing in a three hundred year old French castle surrounded by vineyards for inspiration. It’s only on hearing Horton’s whole story that we learn her success has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with honing her craft over twelve novels and four years of writing fiction. Francine Prose writes about The Art of Travel Inspired Novel Writing in Travel & Leisure magazine, stating, “Creating great travel-inspired novels means channeling the voices, thoughts, and perspectives of an imaginary foreigner.” You can read the full article https://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-art-of-travel-inspired-novel-writing (here. ) You can find out more about Janice, her books and her inspiring lifestyle https://thebackpackinghousewife.com/ (here.) And if you’re looking for a great travel fiction read to inspire your next trip, try scrolling through the 1,000 blog posts on TripFiction.com https://www.tripfiction.com/ (here) – or you can just use the search tool but who knows what adventure you might miss You can find a list of popular travel fiction on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/travel-fiction (here.)    

Success comes in all shapes and sizes and it seems successful people share similar habits. A strong success mindset requires vision, strategy, focus, grit, consistency, and positive positive habits. Kim Argentsinger is a creative entrepreneur, coach and writer. It’s her job to help us get out of our own way and create a plan to take us to the next level, to find our own version of success. What are our core business values? What lights us up? Kim shares her tips on morning routines, positive intentions and keeping things real. Build relationships, not social media likes. Ask questions. Know what you want and double down to get it. Did I mention branding? Brand clarity is a must. Last, there’s that pesky accountability question; what happens if we don’t follow through? The artist’s brain is full of insecurities and fears. Kim suggests we take show ourselves a little compassion, that we take a holistic view of what success means to us as individuals, businesswomen and creatives. She helps us seek clarity about our dreams and how best to achieve them. You can find out more about Kim and her coaching services http://kimargetsinger.com/ (here. )

false

Are you ready to invest in yourself to achieve your goals? Do you know what your ideal workday looks like? Do you need a step by step process to help you get where you want to go with your life? Anna Runyan, founder of Classy Career Girl, has a Corporate Rescue Plan just for you. In fact, she’s just launched Corporate Rescue Plan 2.0. Stuck? Anna runs a bootcamp to get you unstuck. She also has a free list of 75 tools to help you launch your new career plan (I saw it on Instagram). Her keys to success include growing your audience, picking your platform and being consistent. The word ‘focus’ pops up a lot. There’s a 90 day planner (the trick is to focus on the top three things on your list each week), batching time and to focus on revenue producing activities (yep, that word again). Validate your ideas, build a community and create excitement around what you’re doing. The trick is to serve your market, work to your strengths and consistently produce valuable content. Named as one of Forbes thirty-five most influential career sites, and read by millions of women every week, the Classy Career Girl website has earned its stripes. Anna knows more than most about how to achieve your greatest dreams. A former career coach, Anna runs one of the top career podcasts for women, has been named Woman of the Year, and is a speaker at the Global Leadership forum. So when she speaks it’s not a bad idea to listen – and she shares her knowledges with us here at Writer on the Road for nearly an hour. You can find out more about Anna, her Corporate Rescue Plan and more http://www.classycareergirl.com/ (here.)  

Curious about how an author goes about building a world to create a series? Alison Stuart, Australian author of historical fiction set around the time of the Civil War, is embarking on a new project, the Harriet Gordon Mysteries, the first of which, Singapore Sapphire, is set in 1910 Singapore and will be released early in 2019. You can find out more https://www.harrietgordonmysteries.com/ (here). https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-17-at-3.48.44-pm.png () Alison spent three years living in Singapore as an ex-pat wife and used the time to hone her writing skills. She is a lawyer and past president of the Romance Writers of Australia. Our conversation ranges from how to write a crime novel to the intricacies of Scrivener as a word management system and the importance of writing groups. You can find out more about Alison and her writing https://www.alisonstuart.com/about-alison.html (here.)   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pauls-Course-pic-e1523509076847.jpg ()   This week's sponsor is Paul Brodie's The Book Publishing For Authors Implementation Program. You can find out more http://www.brodieedu.com/services (here.)  

‘Self publishing hasn’t just arrived, it’s taken over,’ says a man who knows. David Gaughran, champion of Indie authors, and author of several versions of Let’s Get Digital and Let’s Get Visible, has released a new bible for us, Strangers To Superfans, A Marketers Guide To The Readers’ Journey.  Think discoverability, visibility, consideration, purchase and advocacy, and you’ve got most things covered. The trouble is, most of us don’t think enough about these things, or at least, we haven’t until now. David talks us through failure points, optimising each stage of the reader’s journey to increase conversions, boosting sales, and best of all, passionate readers. ‘Writers need less convincing to self publish and more tools to do it effectively,’ says David, and being the man he is, he set about giving the rest of us the very tools we need. And just in case you’re interested, my favourite fiction novel of David’s is Mercenary, about Lee Christmas, a hard-headed drifter who changes the fate of a nation. How can you resist? You can find out more about superfans, getting visible and digital, and David’s fiction https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/ (here.) You might also like to check out his blog. It’s got everything you need to know about Indie publishing, along with a great free guide, Amazon Decoded. Be prepared to stay awhile once you visit.   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pauls-Course-pic-e1523509076847.jpg ()     This week's sponsor is Paul Brodie's The Book Publishing For Authors Implementation Program. You can find out more http://www.brodieedu.com/services (here.)

Working with millennials is rewarding because young entrepreneurs think differently. New ways of thinking, getting rid of the past and working with new technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, is the way forward. Any of these things sound familiar? Robyn Wilson, educator and lifestyle designer, is at the forefront of a revolution, or if you like, a changing of the guard, and she’s right in there making a difference where it counts. Think Ken Robinson. Think the Khan Academy. Even the way we learn nowadays is different. Deny the obvious at your peril. Pushing boundaries, removing fears and valuing creativity are what Building Intelligence Leadership is all about, B/L for short. Fit For Purpose brings together fifteen high performing leaders to share their views on the future directions of business leadership. Robyn has her viewpoint and people are listening. With a background in education and coaching, Robyn has made sure she has stayed abreast of the changes in business leadership and she is passing on what she knows to the next generation. Can we afford not to listen to her message? I think not. You can find out more about Robyn and her ideas on business leadership https://www.facebook.com/robynwilsontraining/ (here.)   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pauls-Course-pic-e1523509076847.jpg ()     This week's sponsor is Paul Brodie's The Book Publishing For Authors Implementation Program. You can find out more http://www.brodieedu.com/services (here.)

There’s nothing better than kicking back around the campfire in outback Australia and listening to a bush poetry slam. Humour, larrikanism and more than a little heartbreak often make up mood of most bush poetry, all of it heartfelt, and most of it inspired by the poet’s personal experiences. Enter Tim Borthwick, quiet and unassuming, but also your quintessential, outback Aussie bloke. Waltzing Australia is a collection of his poems, with the added bonus of a yarn accompanying each poem. The collection is recited by another Aussie icon, Jack Thompson, but today, Tim also recites one of his poems for us. You have to listen to the end for that one. Tim Borthwick is a Bronze Swagman Award-winning writer of original bush poetry. From a young age he loved to read the poems of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, captivated by their ability to tell a story through rhyme and rhythm. Born on a sheep and cattle station in western Queensland, Tim has spent most of his life on the land, and has a great love for the people and stories of the Australian outback. Tim lives in Toowoomba, Queensland, and gets out to the bush whenever he can. You can find out more about Tim and his poetry http://timbuktours.com.au/poetry/ (here.)

The life of an Indie writer is a busy one – what with writing, taking care of business, family life, eating, exercising and down time – so is it any wonder we need a little help occasionally to re-align our priorities, and get our lives back into balance.   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Joanna.jpg ()     Today’s guest, Joanna Penn, teamed up with Dr Evan Lawson to write The Healthy Writer, and in it she shares her personal journey to achieving balanced, healthy writing lifestyle. Walking, yoga, sleep, community and a healthy workspace are a few of the things we touch on, but Joanna also shares the importance of comparing ourselves only to where we’ve come from and not to others, learning to stop and take a break, and framing our challenges in a positive way. Joanna is an award-nominated New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author of Thrillers and she also writes non-fiction. Starting her writing journey in 2010 here in Oz with The Year of the Novel, she’s gone on to publish nine non-fiction books and seventeen fiction stories. She talks about the importance of scheduling, of finishing what you start and building a body of work. You can learn more about Joanna and her non-fiction books https://www.thecreativepenn.com/ (here) and her thrillers, written as JF Penn, https://jfpenn.com/ (here.)   https://writerontheroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pauls-Course-pic-e1523509076847.jpg ()   This week’s sponsor is Paul Brodie’s The Book Publishing For Authors Implementation Program. You can find out more http://www.brodieedu.com/services (here.)