Podcast appearances and mentions of Johnny B Truant

How do you juggle multiple book projects, a university teaching role, Kickstarter campaigns, and rock albums—all without burning out? What does it take to build a writing career that spans decades, through industry upheavals and personal setbacks? Kevin J. Anderson shares hard-won lessons from his 40+ year career writing over 190 books. In the intro, Draft2Digital partners with Bookshop.org for ebooks; Spotify announces PageMatch and print partnership with Bookshop.org; Eleven Audiobooks; Indie author non-fiction books Kickstarter; Bones of the Deep – J.F. Penn This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Kevin J. Anderson is the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author of over 190 books across different genres, with over 24 million copies in print across 34 languages. He's also the director of publishing at Western Colorado University, as well as a publisher at WordFire Press, an editor and rock album lyricist, and he's co-written Dune books and worked on the recent Dune movies and TV show. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights, and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Managing multiple projects at different stages to maximise productivity without burning out Building financial buffers and multiple income streams for a sustainable long-term career Adapting when life disrupts your creative process, from illness to injury Lessons learned from transitioning between traditional publishing, indie, and Kickstarter Why realistic expectations and continuously reinventing yourself are essential for longevity The hands-on publishing master's program at Western Colorado University You can find Kevin at WordFire.com and buy his books direct at WordFireShop.com. Transcript of Interview with Kevin J. Anderson Jo: Kevin J. Anderson is the multi award-winning and internationally bestselling author of over 190 books across different genres, with over 24 million copies in print across 34 languages. He's also the Director of Publishing at Western Colorado University, as well as a publisher at WordFire Press, an editor, a rock album lyricist, and he's co-written Dune books and worked on the recent Dune movies and TV show. Welcome back to the show, Kevin. Kevin: Well, thanks, Joanna. I always love being on the show. Jo: And we're probably on like 200 books and like 50 million copies in print. I mean, how hard is it to keep up with all that? Kevin: Well, it was one of those where we actually did have to do a list because my wife was like, we really should know the exact number. And I said, well, who can keep track because that one went out of print and that's an omnibus. So does it count as something else? Well, she counted them. But that was a while ago and I didn't keep track, so… Jo: Right. Kevin: I'm busy and I like to write. That's how I've had a long-term career. It's because I don't hate what I'm doing. I've got the best job in the world. I love it. Jo: So that is where I wanted to start. You've been on the show multiple times. People can go back and have a listen to some of the other things we've talked about. I did want to talk to you today about managing multiple priorities. You are a director of publishing at Western Colorado University. I am currently doing a full-time master's degree as well as writing a novel, doing this podcast, my Patreon, all the admin of running a business, and I feel like I'm busy. Then I look at what you do and I'm like, this is crazy. People listening are also busy. We're all busy, right. But I feel like it can't just be writing and one job—you do so much. So how do you manage your time, juggle priorities, your calendar, and all that? Kevin: I do it brilliantly. Is that the answer you want? I do it brilliantly. It is all different things. If I were just working on one project at a time, like, okay, I'm going to start a new novel today and I've got nothing else on my plate. Well, that would take me however long to do the research and the plot. I'm a full-on plotter outliner, so it would take me all the while to do—say it's a medieval fantasy set during the Crusades. Well, then I'd have to spend months reading about the Crusades and researching them and maybe doing some travel. Then get to the point where I know the characters enough that I can outline the book and then I start writing the book, and then I start editing the book, which is a part that I hate. I love doing the writing, I hate doing the editing. Then you edit a whole bunch. To me, there are parts of that that are like going to the dentist—I don't like it—and other parts of it are fun. So by having numerous different projects at different stages, all of which require different skill sets or different levels of intensity— I can be constantly switching from one thing to another and basically be working at a hundred percent capacity on everything all the time. And I love doing this. So I'll be maybe writing a presentation, which is what I was doing before we got on this call this morning, because I'm giving a new keynote presentation at Superstars, which is in a couple of weeks. That's another thing that was on our list—I helped run Superstars. I founded that 15 years ago and it's been going on. So I'll be giving that talk. Then we just started classes for my publishing grad students last week. So I'm running those classes, which meant I had to write all of the classes before they started, and I did that. I've got a Kickstarter that will launch in about a month. I'm getting the cover art for that new book and I've got to write up the Kickstarter campaign. And I have to write the book. I like to have the book at least drafted before I run a Kickstarter for it. So I'm working on that. A Kickstarter pre-launch page should be up a month before the Kickstarter launches, and the Kickstarter has to launch in early March, so that means early February I have to get the pre-launch page up. So there's all these dominoes. One thing has to go before the next thing can go. During the semester break between fall semester—we had about a month off—I had a book for Blackstone Publishing and Weird Tales Presents that I had to write, and I had plotted it and I thought if I don't get this written during the break, I'm going to get distracted and I won't finish it. So I just buckled down and I wrote the 80,000-word book during the month of break. This is like Little House on the Prairie with dinosaurs. It's an Amish community that wants to go to simpler times. So they go back to the Pleistocene era where they're setting up farms and the brontosaurus gets into the cornfield all the time. Jo: That sounds like a lot of fun. Kevin: That's fun. So with the grad students that I have every week, we do all kinds of lectures. Just to reassure people, I am not at all an academic. I could not stand my English classes where you had to write papers analysing this and that. My grad program is all hands-on, pragmatic. You actually learn how to be a publisher when you go through it. You learn how to design covers, you learn how to lay things out, you learn how to edit, you learn how to do fonts. One of the things that I do among the lectures every week or every other week, I just give them something that I call the real world updates. Like, okay, this is the stuff that I, Kevin, am working on in my real world career because the academic career isn't like the real world. So I just go listing about, oh, I designed these covers this week, and I wrote the draft of this dinosaur homestead book, and then I did two comic scripts, and then I had to edit two comic scripts. We just released my third rock album that's based on my fantasy trilogy. And I have to write a keynote speech for Superstars. And I was on Joanna Penn's podcast. And here's what I'm doing. Sometimes it's a little scary because I read it and I go, holy crap, I did a lot of stuff this week. Jo: So I manage everything on Google Calendar. Do you have systems for managing all this? Because you also have external publishers, you have actual dates when things actually have to happen. Do you manage that yourself or does Rebecca, your wife and business partner, do that? How do you manage your calendar? Kevin: Well, Rebecca does most of the business stuff, like right now we have to do a bunch of taxes stuff because it's the new year and things. She does that and I do the social interaction and the creating and the writing and stuff. My assistant Marie Whittaker, she's a big project management person and she's got all these apps on how to do project managing and all these sorts of things. She tried to teach me how to use these apps, but it takes so much time and organisation to fill the damn things out. So it's all in my head. I just sort of know what I have to do. I just put it together and work on it and just sort of know this thing happens next and this thing happens next. I guess one of the ways is when I was in college, I put myself through the university by being a waiter and a bartender. As a waiter and a bartender, you have to juggle a million different things at once. This guy wants a beer and that lady wants a martini, and that person needs to pay, and this person's dinner is up on the hot shelf so you've got to deliver it before it gets cold. It's like I learned how to do millions of things and keep them all organised, and that's the way it worked. And I've kept that as a skill all the way through and it has done me good, I think. Jo: I think that there is a difference between people's brains, right? So I'm pretty chaotic in terms of my creative process. I'm not a plotter like you. I'm pretty chaotic, basically. But I come across— Kevin: I've met you. Yes. Jo: I know. But I'm also extremely organised and I plan everything. That's part of, I think, being an introvert and part of dealing with the anxiety of the world is having a plan or a schedule. So I think the first thing to say to people listening is they don't have to be like you, and they don't have to be like me. It's kind of a personal thing. I guess one thing that goes beyond both of us is, earlier you said you basically work at a hundred percent capacity. So let's say there's somebody listening and they're like, well, I'm at a hundred percent capacity too, and it might be kids, it might be a day job, as well as writing and all that. And then something happens, right? You mentioned the real world. I seem to remember that you broke your leg or something. Kevin: Yes. Jo: And the world comes crashing down through all your plans, whether they're written or in your head. So how do you deal with a buffer of something happening, or you're sick, or Rebecca's sick, or the cat needs to go to the vet? Real life—how do you deal with that? Kevin: Well, that really does cause problems. We had, in fact, just recently—so I'm always working at, well, let's be realistic, like 95% of Kevin capacity. Well, my wife, who does some of the stuff here around the house and she does the business things, she just went through 15 days of the worst crippling migraine string that she's had in 30 years. So she was curled up in a foetal position on the bed for 15 days and she couldn't do any of her normal things. I mean, even unloading the dishwasher and stuff like that. So if I'm at 95% capacity and suddenly I have to pick up an extra 50%, that causes real problems. So I drink lots of coffee, and I get less sleep, and you try to bring in some help. I mean, we have Rebecca's assistant and the assistant has a 20-year-old daughter who came in to help us do some of the dishes and laundry and housework stuff. You mentioned before, it was a year ago. I always go out hiking and mountain climbing and that's where I write. I dictate. I have a digital recorder that I go off of, and that's how I'm so productive. I go out, I walk in the forest and I come home with 5,000 words done in a couple of hours, and I always do that. That's how I write. Well, I was out on a mountain and I fell off the mountain and I broke my ankle and had to limp a mile back to my car. So that sort of put a damper on me hiking. I had a book that I had to write and I couldn't go walking while I was dictating it. It has been a very long time since I had to sit at a keyboard and create chapters that way. Jo: Mm-hmm. Kevin: And my brain doesn't really work like that. It works in an audio—I speak this stuff instead. So I ended up training myself because I had a big boot on my foot. I would sit on the back porch and I would look out at the mountains here in Colorado and I would put my foot up on another chair and I'd sit in the lawn chair and I'd kind of close my eyes and I would dictate my chapters that way. It was not as effective, but it was plan B. So that's how I got it done. I did want to mention something. When I'm telling the students this every week—this is what I did and here's the million different things—one of the students just yesterday made a comment that she summarised what I'm doing and it kind of crystallised things for me. She said that to get so much done requires, and I'm quoting now, “a balance of planning, sprinting, and being flexible, while also making incremental forward progress to keep everything moving together.” So there's short-term projects like fires and emergencies that have to be done. You've got to keep moving forward on the novel, which is a long-term project, but that short story is due in a week. So I've got to spend some time doing that one. Like I said, this Kickstarter's coming up, so I have to put in the order for the cover art, because the cover art needs to be done so I can put it on the pre-launch page for the Kickstarter. It is a balance of the long-term projects and the short-term projects. And I'm a workaholic, I guess, and you are too. Jo: Yes. Kevin: You totally are. Yes. Jo: I get that you're a workaholic, but as you said before, you enjoy it too. So you enjoy doing all these things. It's just sometimes life just gets in the way, as you said. One of the other things that I think is interesting—so sometimes physical stuff gets in the way, but in your many decades now of the successful author business, there's also the business side. You've had massive success with some of your books, and I'm sure that some of them have just kind of shrivelled into nothing. There have been good years and bad years. So how do we, as people who want a long-term career, think about making sure we have a buffer in the business for bad years and then making the most of good years? Kevin: Well, that's one thing—to realise that if you're having a great year, you might not always have a great year. That's kind of like the rockstar mentality—I've got a big hit now, so I'm always going to have a big hit. So I buy mansions and jets, and then of course the next album flops. So when you do have a good year, you plan for the long term. You set money aside. You build up plan B and you do other things. I have long been a big advocate for making sure that you have multiple income streams. You don't just write romantic epic fantasies and that's all you do. That might be what makes your money now, but the reading taste could change next year. They might want something entirely different. So while one thing is really riding high, make sure that you're planting a bunch of other stuff, because that might be the thing that goes really, really well the next year. I made my big stuff back in the early nineties—that was when I started writing for Star Wars and X-Files, and that's when I had my New York Times bestselling run. I had 11 New York Times bestsellers in one year, and I was selling like millions of copies. Now, to be honest, when you have a Star Wars bestseller, George Lucas keeps almost all of that. You don't keep that much of it. But little bits add up when you're selling millions of copies. So it opened a lot of doors for me. So I kept writing my own books and I built up my own fans who liked the Star Wars books and they read some of my other things. If you were a bestselling trad author, you could keep writing the same kind of book and they would keep throwing big advances at you. It was great. And then that whole world changed and they stopped paying those big advances, and paperback, mass market paperback books just kind of went away. A lot of people probably remember that there was a time for almost every movie that came out, every big movie that came out, you could go into the store and buy a paperback book of it—whether it was an Avengers movie or a Star Trek movie or whatever, there was a paperback book. I did a bunch of those and that was really good work. They would pay me like $15,000 to take the script and turn it into a book, and it was done in three weeks. They don't do that anymore. I remember I was on a panel at some point, like, what would you tell your younger self? What advice would you give your younger self? I remember when I was in the nineties, I was turning down all kinds of stuff because I had too many book projects and I was never going to quit writing. I was a bestselling author, so I had it made. Well, never, ever assume you have it made because the world changes under you. They might not like what you're doing or publishing goes in a completely different direction. So I always try to keep my radar up and look at new things coming up. I still write some novels for trad publishers. This dinosaur homestead one is for Blackstone and Weird Tales. They're a trad publisher. I still publish all kinds of stuff as an indie for WordFire Press. I'm reissuing a bunch of my trad books that I got the rights back and now they're getting brand new life as I run Kickstarters. One of my favourite series is “Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.” It's like the Addams Family meets The Naked Gun. It's very funny. It's a private detective who solves crimes with monsters and mummies and werewolves and things. I sold the first one to a trad publisher, and actually, they bought three. I said, okay, these are fast, they're fun, they're like 65,000 words. You laugh all the way through it, and you want the next one right away. So let's get these out like every six months, which is like lightning speed for trad publishing. They just didn't think that was a good idea. They brought them out a year and a half apart. It was impossible to build up momentum that way. They wanted to drop the series after the third book, and I just begged them—please give it one more chance. So they bought one more book for half as much money and they brought it out again a year and a half later. And also, it was a trad paperback at $15. And the ebook was—Joanna, can you guess what their ebook was priced at? Jo: $15. Kevin: $15. And they said, gee, your ebook sales are disappointing. I said, well, no, duh. I mean, I am jumping around—I'm going like, but you should have brought these out six months apart. You should have had the ebook, like the first one at $4. Jo: But you're still working with traditional publishers, Kevin? Kevin: I'm still working with them on some, and I'm a hybrid. There are some projects that I feel are better served as trad books, like the big Dune books and stuff. I want those all over the place and they can cash in on the movie momentum and stuff. But I got the rights back to the Dan Shamble stuff. The fans kept wanting me to do more, and so I published a couple of story collections and they did fine. But I was making way more money writing Dune books and things. Then they wanted a new novel. So I went, oh, okay. I did a new novel, which I just published at WordFire. But again, it did okay, but it wasn't great. I thought, well, I better just focus on writing these big ticket things. But I really liked writing Dan Shamble. Somebody suggested, well, if the fans want it so much, why don't you run a Kickstarter? I had never run a Kickstarter before, and I kind of had this wrong attitude. I thought Kickstarters were for, “I'm a starving author, please give me money.” And that's not it at all. It's like, hey, if you're a fan, why don't you join the VIP club and you get the books faster than anybody else? So I ran a Kickstarter for my first Dan Shamble book, and it made three times what the trad publisher was paying me. And I went, oh, I kind of like this model. So I have since done like four other Dan Shamble novels through Kickstarters, made way more money that way. And we just sold—we can't give any details yet—but we have just sold it. It will be a TV show. There's a European studio that is developing it as a TV show, and I'm writing the pilot and I will be the executive producer. Jo: Fantastic. Kevin: So I kept that zombie detective alive because I loved it so much. Jo: And it's going to be all over the place years later, I guess. Just in terms of—given I've been in this now, I guess 2008 really was when I got into indie—and over the time I've been doing this, I've seen people rise and then disappear. A lot of people have disappeared. There are reasons, burnout or maybe they were just done. Kevin: Yes. Jo: But in terms of the people that you've seen, the characteristics, I guess, of people who don't make it versus people who do make it for years. And we are not saying that everyone should be a writer for decades at all. Some people do just have maybe one or two books. What do you think are the characteristics of those people who do make it long-term? Kevin: Well, I think it's realistic expectations. Like, again, this was trad, but my first book I sold for $4,000, and I thought, well, that's just $4,000, but we're going to sell book club rights, and we're goingn to sell foreign rights, and it's going to be optioned for movies. And the $4,000 will be like, that's just the start. I was planning out all this extra money coming from it, and it didn't even earn its $4,000 advance back and nothing else happened with it. Well, it has since, because I've since reissued it myself, pushed it and I made more money that way. But it's a slow burn. You build your career. You start building your fan base and then your next one will sell maybe better than the first one did. Then you keep writing it, and then you make connections, and then you get more readers and you learn how to expand your stuff better. You've got to prepare for the long haul. I would suggest that if you publish your very first book on KU, don't quit your day job the next day. Not everybody can or should be a full-time writer. We here in America need to have something that pays our health insurance. That is one of the big reasons why I am running this graduate program at Western Colorado University—because as a university professor, I get wonderful healthcare. I'm teaching something that I love, and I'm frankly doing a very good job at it because our graduates—something like 60% of them are now working as writers or publishers or working in the publishing world. So that's another thing. I guess what I do when I'm working on it is I kind of always say yes to the stuff that's coming in. If an opportunity comes—hey, would you like a graphic novel on this?—and I go, yes, I'd love to do that. Could you write a short story for this anthology? Sure, I'd love to do that. I always say yes, and I get overloaded sometimes. But I learned my lesson. It was quite a few years ago where I was really busy. I had all kinds of book deadlines and I was turning down books that they were offering me. Again, this was trad—book contracts that had big advances on them. And anthology editors were asking me. I was really busy and everybody was nagging me—Kevin, you work too hard. And my wife Rebecca was saying, Kevin, you work too hard. So I thought, I had it made. I had all these bestsellers, everything was going on. So I thought, alright, I've got a lot of books under contract. I'll just take a sabbatical. I'll say no for a year. I'll just catch up. I'll finish all these things that I've got. I'll just take a breather and finish things. So for that year, anybody who asked me—hey, do you want to do this book project?—well, I'd love to, but I'm just saying no. And would you do this short story for an anthology? Well, I'd love to, but not right now. Thanks. And I just kind of put them off. So I had a year where I could catch up and catch my breath and finish the stuff. And after that, I went, okay, I am back in the game again. Let's start taking these book offers. And nothing. Just crickets. And I went, well, okay. Well, you were always asking before—where are all these book deals that you kept offering me? Oh, we gave them to somebody else. Jo: This is really difficult though, because on the one hand—well, first of all, it's difficult because I wanted to take a bit of a break. So I'm doing this full-time master's and you are also teaching people in a master's program, right. So I have had to say no to a lot of things in order to do this course. And I imagine the people on your course would have to do the same thing. There's a lot of rewards, but they're different rewards and it kind of represents almost a midlife pivot for many of us. So how do we balance that then—the stepping away with what might lead us into something new? I mean, obviously this is a big deal. I presume most of the people on your course, they're older like me. People have to give stuff up to do this kind of thing. So how do we manage saying yes and saying no? Kevin: Well, I hate to say this, but you just have to drink more coffee and work harder for that time. Yes, you can say no to some things. My thing was I kind of shut the door and I just said, I'm just going to take a break and I'm going to relax. I could have pushed my capacity and taken some things so that I wasn't completely off the game board. One of the things I talk about is to avoid burnout. If you want a long-term career, and if you're working at 120% of your capacity, then you're going to burn out. I actually want to mention something. Johnny B. Truant just has a new book out called The Artisan Author. I think you've had him on the show, have you? Jo: Yes, absolutely. Kevin: He says a whole bunch of the stuff in there that I've been saying for a long time. He's analysing these rapid release authors that are a book every three weeks. And they're writing every three weeks, every four weeks, and that's their business model. I'm just like, you can't do that for any length of time. I mean, I'm a prolific writer. I can't write that fast. That's a recipe for burnout, I think. I love everything that I'm doing, and even with this graduate program that I'm teaching, I love teaching it. I mean, I'm talking about subjects that I love, because I love publishing. I love writing. I love cover design. I love marketing. I love setting up your newsletters. I mean, this isn't like taking an engineering course for me. This is something that I really, really love doing. And quite honestly, it comes across with the students. They're all fired up too because they see how much I love doing it and they love doing it. One of the projects that they do—we get a grant from Draft2Digital every year for $5,000 so that we do an anthology, an original anthology that we pay professional rates for. So they put out their call for submissions. This year it was Into the Deep Dark Woods. And we commissioned a couple stories for it, but otherwise it was open to submissions. And because we're paying professional rates, they get a lot of submissions. I have 12 students in the program right now. They got 998 stories in that they had to read. Jo: Wow. Kevin: They were broken up into teams so they could go through it, but that's just overwhelming. They had to read, whatever that turns out to be, 50 stories a week that come in. Then they write the rejections, and then they argue over which ones they're going to accept, and then they send the contracts, and then they edit them. And they really love it. I guess that's the most important thing about a career—you've got to have an attitude that you love what you're doing. If you don't love this, please find a more stable career, because this is not something you would recommend for the faint of heart. Jo: Yes, indeed. I guess one of the other considerations, even if we love it, the industry can shift. Obviously you mentioned the nineties there—things were very different in the nineties in many, many ways. Especially, let's say, pre-internet times, and when trad pub was really the only way forward. But you mentioned the rapid release, the sort of book every month. Let's say we are now entering a time where AI is bringing positives and negatives in the same way that the internet brought positives and negatives. We're not going to talk about using it, but what is definitely happening is a change. Industry-wise—for example, people can do a book a day if they want to generate books. That is now possible. There are translations, you know. Our KDP dashboard in America, you have a button now to translate everything into Spanish if you want. You can do another button that makes it an audiobook. So we are definitely entering a time of challenge, but if you look back over your career, there have been many times of challenge. So is this time different? Or do you face the same challenges every time things shift? Kevin: It's always different. I've always had to take a breath and step back and then reinvent myself and come back as something else. One of the things with a long-term career is you can't have a long-term career being the hot new thing. You can start out that way—like, this is the brand new author and he gets a big boost as the best first novel or something like that—but that doesn't work for 20 years. I mean, you've got to do something else. If you're the sexy young actress, well, you don't have a 50-year career as the sexy young actress. One of the ones I'm loving right now is Linda Hamilton, who was the sexy young actress in Terminator, and then a little more mature in the TV show Beauty and the Beast, where she was this huge star. Then she's just come back now. I think she's in her mid-fifties. She's in Stranger Things and she was in Resident Alien and she's now this tough military lady who's getting parts all over the place. She's reinvented herself. So I like to say that for my career, I've crashed and burned and resurrected myself. You might as well call me the Doctor because I've just come back in so many different ways. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, but— If you want to stay around, no matter how old of a dog you are, you've got to learn new tricks. And you've got to keep learning, and you've got to keep trying new things. I started doing indie publishing probably around the time you did—2009, something like that. I was in one of these great positions where I was a trad author and I had a dozen books that I wrote that were all out of print. I got the rights back to them because back then they let books go out of print and they gave the rights back without a fight. So I suddenly found myself with like 12 titles that I could just put up. I went, oh, okay, let's try this. I was kind of blown away that that first novel that they paid me $4,000 for that never even earned it back—well, I just put it up on Kindle and within one year I made more than $4,000. I went, I like this, I've got to figure this out. That's how I launched WordFire Press. Then I learned how to do everything. I mean, back in those days, you could do a pretty clunky job and people would still buy it. Then I learned how to do it better. Jo: That time is gone. Kevin: Yes. I learned how to do it better, and then I learned how to market it. Then I learned how to do print on demand books. Then I learned how to do box sets and different kinds of marketing. I dove headfirst into my newsletter to build my fan base because I had all the Star Wars stuff and X-Files stuff and later it was the Dune stuff. I had this huge fan base, but I wanted that fan base to read the Kevin Anderson books, the Dan Shamble books and everything. The only way to get that is if you give them a personal touch to say, hey buddy, if you liked that one, try this one. And the way to do that is you have to have access to them. So I started doing social media stuff before most people were doing social media stuff. I killed it on MySpace. I can tell you that. I had a newsletter that we literally printed on paper and we stuck mailing labels on. It went out to 1,200 people that we put in the mailbox. Jo: Now you're doing that again with Kickstarter, I guess. But I guess for people listening, what are you learning now? How are you reinventing yourself now in this new phase we are entering? Kevin: Well, I guess the new thing that I'm doing now is expanding my Kickstarters into more. So last year, the biggest Kickstarter that I've ever had, I ran last year. It was this epic fantasy trilogy that I had trad published and I got the rights back. They had only published it in trade paperback. So, yes, I reissued the books in nice new hardcovers, but I also upped the game to do these fancy bespoke editions with leather embossed covers and end papers and tipped in ribbons and slip cases and all kinds of stuff and building that. I did three rock albums as companions to it, and just building that kind of fan base that will support that. Then I started a Patreon last year, which isn't as big as yours. I wish my Patreon would get bigger, but I'm pushing it and I'm still working on that. So it's trying new things. Because if I had really devoted myself and continued to keep my MySpace page up to date, I would be wasting my time. You have to figure out new things. Part of me is disappointed because I really liked in the nineties where they just kept throwing book contracts at me with big advances. And I wrote the book and sent it in and they did all the work. But that went away and I didn't want to go away. So I had to learn how to do it different. After a good extended career, one of the things you do is you pay it forward. I mentor a lot of writers and that evolved into me creating this master's program in publishing. I can gush about it because to my knowledge, it is the only master's degree that really focuses on indie publishing and new model publishing instead of just teaching you how to get a job as an assistant editor in Manhattan for one of the Big Five publishers. Jo: It's certainly a lot more practical than my master's in death. Kevin: Well, that's an acquired taste, I think. When they hired me to do this—and as I said earlier, I'm not an academic—and I said if I'm going to teach this, it's a one year program. They get done with it in one year. It's all online except for one week in person in the summer. They're going to learn how to do things. They're not going to get esoteric, analysing this poem for something. When they graduate from this program, they walk out with this anthology that they edited, that their name is on. The other project that they do is they reissue a really fancy, fine edition of some classic work, whether it's H.G. Wells or Jules Verne or something. They choose a book that they want to bring back and they do it all from start to finish. They come out of it—rather than just theoretical learning—they know how to do things. Surprise, I've been around in the business a long time, so I know everybody who works in the business. So the heads of publishing houses and the head of Draft2Digital or Audible—and we've got Blackstone Audio coming on in a couple weeks. We've got the head of Kickstarter coming on as guest speakers. I have all kinds of guest speakers. Joanna, I think you're coming on— Jo: I'm coming on as well, I think. Kevin: You're coming on as a guest speaker. It's just like they really get plugged in. I'm in my seventh cohort now and I just love doing it. The students love it and we've got a pretty high success rate. So there's your plug. We are open for applications now. It starts in July. And my own website is WordFire.com, and there's a section on there on the graduate program if anybody wants to take a look at it. Again, not everybody needs to have a master's degree to be an indie publisher, but there is something to be said for having all of this stuff put into an organised fashion so that you learn how to do all the things. It also gives you a resource and a support system so that they come out of it knowing a whole lot of people. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time, Kevin. That was great. Kevin: Thanks. It's a great show. The post Managing Multiple Projects And The Art of the Long-Term Author Career with Kevin J. Anderson first appeared on The Creative Penn.

In this episode, we are joined by Johnny B. Truant, author of the acclaimed Fat Vampire series (which was adapted as Reginald the Vampire for the SyFy channel), the indie writer's guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and more. Johnny shares invaluable advice as we discuss his latest non-fiction title, The Artisan Author, his career, and much more. Johnny first featured on the KWL podcast back in both 2013 and 2018, which speaks to how long he has been active in the indie publishing industry! We were excited to have Johnny join us for a third time to discuss his experience in self-publishing, his advice for aspiring indie authors, and his tips for making smart business decisions. Once you're done this episode, don't forget to check out our other episodes with Johnny: Publishing Wide with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant Mark Lefebvre in conversation with Johnny B. Truant And be sure to check out Johnny's website and browse his books on Kobo as well!

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Jena Brown, Kevin Tumlinson, JP Rindfleisch, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about YouTube, Amazon, and a big threat to books. Then, stick around for a chat with Johnny B. Truant!Johnny B. Truant: I'm the author of Fat Vampire (which became SyFy's Reginald the Vampire), plus 100+ books across most genres. My books are layered, intelligent, and often funny. I love what I do, never cut corners, and would rather earn 10 true fans than sell 10,000 copies.

Johnny B. Truant is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners. Johnny joins us to talk about his upcoming project, The Artisan Author, and how authors can thrive and become bulletproof in the age of over-production and AI.//Draft2Digital is where you start your Indie Author Career//  Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We'll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way—and we won't charge you a dime.  We take a small percentage of the royalties for each sale you make through us, so we only make money when you make money. That's the best kind of business plan.  • Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog  • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com  Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Matty Dalrymple talks with Johnny B. Truant about THE ARTISAN AUTHOR, including the importance of creating genuine, one-on-one connections with readers rather than succumbing to the rapid release model and algorithm-driven strategies dominating the publishing world. Johnny highlights the importance of authentic interactions, pricing books appropriately, and understanding the unique value each author brings. The conversation also delves into the growing support for niche and artisanal creators among readers. Johnny talks about his book THE ARTISAN AUTHOR and his upcoming Kickstarter campaign.   Interview video at https://bit.ly/TIAPYTPlaylist Show notes at https://www.theindyauthor.com/show-notes   If you find the information in this video useful, please consider supporting The Indy Author! https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple   Johnny B. Truant is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners. On the fiction side, Johnny is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by The SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. His other books include Pretty Killer, Gore Point, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, Unicorn Western, and over 100 other titles across many genres. Originally from Ohio, Johnny and his family now live in Austin, Texas where he's finally surrounded by creative types as weird as he is.   Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Matty also writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage, and shares what she's learned on THE INDY AUTHOR PODCAST. She has written books on the business of short fiction and podcasting for authors; her articles have appeared in "Writer's Digest" magazine. She serves as the Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Johnny B Truant to talk about his new work The Artisan Author. They discuss how he understands himself as an author, how his understanding is shaping his craft, and how he hopes to bring joy back to the indie author world.  To learn more about Johnny's work, check out https://johnnybtruant.com/ To see Johnny's Kickstarter, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnnybtruant/the-artisan-author-your-way-out-of-the-self-pub-rat-race

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to constantly release new books and battle algorithms? Do you wonder if there's a more sustainable, low-stress path to a successful author career? Is it possible to focus on art, build a loyal fanbase, and escape the publishing rat race? In this episode, Johnny B. Truant discusses the […] The post The Artisan Author With Johnny B Truant first appeared on The Creative Penn.

In this episode Mark speaks to author Johnny B. Truant about THE ARTISAN AUTHOR. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode's sponsor: This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report. In the interview, Mark and Johnny talk about: Johnny's return to this podcast (with neither of them being able to remember how many episodes he'd been on previously). Technically, this is his fourth time. Two previous episodes were interviews, and the other was Johnny's brief guest reflection spot in Episode 300 Why Johnny's new book THE ARTISAN AUTHOR is a much-anticipated and needed book in the industry A definition of what it means to be an artisan author, which is kind of the opposite of being a "rapid release, Kindle-only eBook" author The importance of taking away that stress-cycle of having to pump out so many books as a single prescription "how to do it" answer Remembering an important thing that, just like there is no single "the way" neither is being an artisan author The paradigm shift and mindset change that is required as a fundamental starting point How readers outside of the eBook/Kindle-only marketplace aren't as focused on lower price points and are okay with higher prices The reality of the publishing landscape in terms of the books being sold and money being earned The misinterpretation of the book Johnny and Sean Platt released years ago called WRITE, PUBLISH, REPEAT How there are two kinds of writers. The type who approach the business as trying to solve a puzzle and the type who approach it as a way of telling a story that they really want to share How a call of "go slow and make art" is not nearly as sexy as a "solution" The experience of driving off to meet a couple of long-term fans to sign and sell directly to them Connections and humanity being a key element of the artisan author experience The value of authentic connection, regardless of whether or not it's in person or online That powerful experience Johnny had doing one of his first major live book signing events as an author at Author Nation in Vegas and how that led to doing a lot more in person events The ability to adapt to a customer based on their reactions in person Look at it as connections, and then if sales happen . . . great! Being really generous with your time and attention Some of the logistics of doing an in person book signing A couple of unexpected and amusing anecdotes from selling books in person The Kickstarter that Johnny is doing for this book, which runs July 15 through Aug 14 (johnnybtruant.com/artisan) The additional "continuum of education" that Johnny is including in this Kickstarter (Artisan University) The importance of authors entering into things with conscious decisions rather than just blindly following the generic advice they've found And more . . .   After the interview Mark reflects on a few specific points from the discussion.   Links of Interest: Johnny B. Truant's Website The Artisan Author EP 424 - Passion From Between and Beyond the Pages with Jessica Rampersad EP 322 - The Art of Noticing with Johnny B. Truant EP 302 - Fat Vampires, Storytelling, and Empathy with Johnny B. Truant EP 300 - Celebrating 300 Episodes with Guest Reflections Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Mark's YouTube channel Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City Only Monsters in the Building The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation   Johnny B. Truant is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners. On the fiction side, Johnny is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by The SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. His other books include Pretty Killer, Gore Point, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, Unicorn Western, and over 100 other titles across many genres. Originally from Ohio, Johnny and his family now live in Austin, Texas where he's finally surrounded by creative types as weird as he is.   The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Matty Dalrymple talks with Johnny B. Truant about THE NEW NORMAL OF AN AUTHOR CAREER, including the evolving landscape of self-publishing, the dilemma of comparisonitis, the need to accept slow growth in one's author career as the new norm, the value of patience, and the warning signs when patience turns into a rut.    Interview video at https://bit.ly/TIAPYTPlaylist  Show notes at https://www.theindyauthor.com/podcast.html    If you find the information in this video useful, please consider supporting The Indy Author! https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple   Johnny B. Truant is the bestselling author of FAT VAMPIRE, adapted by The SyFy Network as REGINALD THE VAMPIRE. His other books include PRETTY KILLER, GORE POINT, INVASION, THE BEAM, DEAD CITY, UNICORN WESTERN, and over 100 other titles across many genres. Johnny is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self-Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide WRITE. PUBLISH. REPEAT., and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners.   Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Matty also writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage, and shares what she's learned on THE INDY AUTHOR PODCAST. She has written books on the business of short fiction and podcasting for authors; her articles have appeared in "Writer's Digest" magazine. She serves as the Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors.  

Johnny B. Truant shares his journey from aspiring writer to artisan author. Through his story, he reveals how creative discovery, authentic connections, and his definition of success shape his life. You'll take away his insights on compromise, true fans, and building a fulfilling creative career.Making It! explores the lives and stories of entrepreneurs as they share their unique perspectives on their success and the path to making it.“Evenings and weekends are for family now. Maybe I've seen too many movies about people missing opportunities with their kids until it's too late.”— Johnny B. TruantGuest Bio:Johnny B. Truant is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self-Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners.On the fiction side, Johnny is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by The SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. His other books include Pretty Killer, Gore Point, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, Unicorn Western, and more than 100 other titles across many genres.Originally from Ohio, Johnny and his family now live in Austin where he's finally surrounded by creative types as weird as he is.Resources or websites mentioned in this episode:MiraseeJohnny's website: JohnnyBTruant.comCredits:Producer: Michi LantzEditor: Michi LantzAudio Editor: Marvin del RosarioExecutive Producer: Danny InyMusic Soundscape: Chad Michael SnavelyMaking our hosts sound great: Home Brew AudioMusic credits:Track Title: The Sunniest KidsArtist Name: Rhythm ScottWriter Name: Scott RoushPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Sweet Loving WaltzArtist Name: Sounds Like SanderWriter Name: S.L.J. KalmeijerPublisher Name: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTIONTrack Title: Elven ForestArtist Name: HartzmannLicense code: MLYEF5IN9BJ4AE9FPublisher Name: UppbeatTrack Title: Brave New WorldArtist Name: Simon FolwarLicense code: UWKSFWJ6ZJZUXWITPublisher Name: UppbeatTrack Title: Wild DaisyArtist Name: AVBELicense code: YT3FYWBTSD4YH7D2Publisher Name: UppbeatSpecial effects credits:24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.To catch the great episodes coming up on Making It, please follow us on Mirasee FM's YouTube channelor your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It's the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.Episode transcript: How This Solopreneur Found Success by Ditching the Rules (Johnny B. Truant)  coming soon.

Reginald Andres finally got his life together – when he was turned into a vampire. While he doesn't fit into the stereotypical expectations of what a vampire looks like – he's not chiseled or classically handsome – Reginald has found his place amongst an unlikely cohort that includes the cool vampire who sired him, the former vampire chieftain turned unexpected ally (or is she?), and his co-worker/former girlfriend. A show with a lot of heart and just enough blood, “Reginald the Vampire” proves the undead life is just as complicated as life itself.Jacob Batalon made his debut as executive producer and lead star as the titular character Reginald Baskin in Syfy's REGINALD THE VAMPIRE, a dramedy based on Johnny B. Truant's FAT VAMPIRE book series. The story is set in a world populated by beautiful, fit, and vain vampires with Batalon's Reginald being the unlikely hero who will have to navigate every kind of obstacle – the girl he loves but cannot be with, a bully manager at work and the vampire chieftain who wants him dead.Batalon has established himself as a leading star in the industry with his ability to resonate with his characters and captivate global audiences. Following the success of his scene-stealing role as Peter Parker's charming best friend ‘Ned Leeds' in the MCU Spider-Man films with Tom Holland, Batalon continues to dominate film and television both on and off the screen.Following the immediate break out success of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING in 2017, Batalon went on to reprise his role in SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and AVENGERS: END GAME. He also starred in Netflix's LIFT and LET IT SNOW, EVERY DAY for MGM, Randall Park's debut film SHORTCOMINGS; and the independent films THE TRUE DON QUIXOTE; BLOOD FEST; DISH and BANANA SPLIT. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Jacob Batalon made his debut as executive producer and lead star as the titular character Reginald Baskin in REGINALD THE VAMPIRE, a dramedy based on Johnny B. Truant's FAT VAMPIRE book series. The story is set in a world populated by beautiful, fit, and vain vampires with Batalon's Reginald being the unlikely hero who will have to navigate every kind of obstacle, including getting the girl of his dreams. Reginald Andres finally got his life together – when he was turned into a vampire. Tune in each Wednesdays 10pm (Eastern) 9pm (Central) on the SyFy Channel to this fun dramedy.

Reginald Andres finally got his life together – when he was turned into a vampire. While he doesn't fit into the stereotypical expectations of what a vampire looks like – he's not chiseled or classically handsome – Reginald has found his place amongst an unlikely cohort that includes the cool vampire who sired him, the former vampire chieftain turned unexpected ally (or is she?), and his co-worker/former girlfriend. A show with a lot of heart and just enough blood, “Reginald the Vampire” proves the undead life is just as complicated as life itself.Jacob Batalon made his debut as executive producer and lead star as the titular character Reginald Baskin in Syfy's REGINALD THE VAMPIRE, a dramedy based on Johnny B. Truant's FAT VAMPIRE book series. The story is set in a world populated by beautiful, fit, and vain vampires with Batalon's Reginald being the unlikely hero who will have to navigate every kind of obstacle – the girl he loves but cannot be with, a bully manager at work and the vampire chieftain who wants him dead.Batalon has established himself as a leading star in the industry with his ability to resonate with his characters and captivate global audiences. Following the success of his scene-stealing role as Peter Parker's charming best friend ‘Ned Leeds' in the MCU Spider-Man films with Tom Holland, Batalon continues to dominate film and television both on and off the screen.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Matty Dalrymple talks with Johnny B. Truant about MOVING THE NEEDLE TO A DIFFERENT TRACK, including the impetus for him starting his podcast, "The Art of Noticing" and what drove his creative pivot; the importance of not missing the magic that's happening around you; supporting the artisan writer; the age of the iconoclast writer; the power of being authentically you; the necessity to segregate your audiences; and the power of stepping back.   Interview video at https://youtu.be/RnHu13f18p8   Show notes (including summary and transcript) at https://www.theindyauthor.com/239---moving-the-needle-to-a-different-track.html   If you find the information in this video useful, please consider supporting The Indy Author! https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple   Johnny B. Truant is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by SyFy as "Reginald the Vampire" starring Spider-Man's Jacob Batalon. His other books include PRETTY KILLER, PATTERN BLACK, INVASION, THE BEAM, DEAD CITY, and over 100 other titles across many genres. Originally from Ohio, Johnny and his family now live in Austin, Texas, where he's finally surrounded by creative types as weird as he is.   Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Matty also writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage, and shares what she's learned on THE INDY AUTHOR PODCAST. She has written books on the business of short fiction and podcasting for authors; her articles have appeared in "Writer's Digest" magazine. She serves as the Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Johnny B. Truant has written over 100 books, one of which (Fat Vampire) became a SyFy Network TV show. He also writes and podcasts about creative inspiration at JohnnyBTruant.com. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. You can manufacture your own success dollar by dollar. 2. The statement, "The best reason to write is for free." means imagining a situation where nobody gets your art, or have nothing good to say, and still creating your art. 3. We think that children are too naive to know how jaded the world is. But we can do that too by dropping a lot of the artificial stuff we have placed on top of ourselves. Check out Johnny's Website - Johnny B Truant Website Sponsors HubSpot: Starting your year off strong and accomplishing goals like increasing revenue and faster growth starts with the right selling tools. And for that, there's the all new Sales Hub from HubSpot! Head to HubSpot.com/sales to try it for free! Ziprecruiter: Let ZipRecruiter help you conquer the biggest hiring challenge: finding qualified candidates. Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter for free! ZipRecruiter.com/fire. NetSuite: Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist absolutely free - designed to give you consistently excellent performance - at NetSuite.com/fire!

Johnny B. Truant has written over 100 books, one of which (Fat Vampire) became a SyFy Network TV show. He also writes and podcasts about creative inspiration at JohnnyBTruant.com. Top 3 Value Bombs 1. You can manufacture your own success dollar by dollar. 2. The statement, "The best reason to write is for free." means imagining a situation where nobody gets your art, or have nothing good to say, and still creating your art. 3. We think that children are too naive to know how jaded the world is. But we can do that too by dropping a lot of the artificial stuff we have placed on top of ourselves. Check out Johnny's Website - Johnny B Truant Website Sponsors HubSpot: Starting your year off strong and accomplishing goals like increasing revenue and faster growth starts with the right selling tools. And for that, there's the all new Sales Hub from HubSpot! Head to HubSpot.com/sales to try it for free! Ziprecruiter: Let ZipRecruiter help you conquer the biggest hiring challenge: finding qualified candidates. Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter for free! ZipRecruiter.com/fire. NetSuite: Download NetSuite's popular KPI Checklist absolutely free - designed to give you consistently excellent performance - at NetSuite.com/fire!

Mark interviews Johnny B. Truant about his new THE ART OF NOTICING podcast. Prior to the main content, Mark leverages his digital AI voice from Eleven Labs to offer a brief introduction as well as a word about this episode's sponsor, the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.   Links of Interest: Johnny B. Truant's Website Mark's YouTube Channel Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard   Johnny B. Truant is a bestselling full-time author with over a hundred books to his name. His best-known book is probably Fat Vampire, which was adapted by the SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. Some of his other big hits are Pretty Killer, The Beam, Pattern Black, Gore Point, Dead City, Invasion, and Unicorn Western.       The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Johnny B. Truant is a bestselling, full-time author with over 100 books to his name. Today we'll discuss what it's like having one of your books (in Johnny's case, Fat Vampire) adapted for TV (Reginald the Vampire) by the SyFy Network. We'll also discuss the work Johnny's done -- such as his popular book, Write. Publish. Repeat. -- to help newer writers become more successful authors and publishers. //Draft2Digital is where you start your Indie Author Career//  Looking for your path to self-publishing success? Draft2Digital is the leading ebook publisher and distributor worldwide. We'll convert your manuscript, distribute it online, and support you the whole way—and we won't charge you a dime.  We take a small percentage of the royalties for each sale you make through us, so we only make money when you make money. That's the best kind of business plan.  • Get started now: https://draft2digital.com/• Learn the ins, the outs, and the all-arounds of indie publishing from the industry experts on the D2D Blog: https://Draft2Digital.com/blog  • Promote your books with our Universal Book Links from Books2Read: https://books2read.com  Make sure you bookmark https://D2DLive.com for links to live events, and to catch back episodes of the Self Publishing Insiders Podcast.

Mark interviews Johnny B. Truant, the author of the Fat Vampire novels adapted by SyFy as "Reginald the Vampire" starring Spider-Man's Jacob Batalon. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a word about this episode's sponsor. You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway. During the interview Mark and Johnny talk about: How Mark and Johnny have known one another for more than 10 years Young Johnny who had always wanted to be a writer and convinced his high school newspaper to allow him to write a column for them Orbiting the same circles as Sean Platt and how the two met via working via places like Copyblogger and the Blog World Conference How The Self Publishing Podcast came from Johnny wanting to interview (and talk and learn from) Sean Platt and David Wright about the co-authoring and self-publishing they were doing Where the spark for the idea of "Fat Vampire" came from (the old "after-show" podcast they did called "Better Off Undead" for horror fans Johnny wanting to explore the "sameness taken to the extreme" in Reginald, the fat vampire How not being exclusive to Amazon actually led to Johnny selling the option and license for FAT VAMPIRE to become the TV show "Reginald the Vampire" The expression "enthusiasm is free" What it was like watching the TV show "Reginald the Vampire" based on Johnny's novels Prepping for releasing a companion podcast to the TV series Spending three days on the set of the recording of the television program Johnny's views on the power of story and how they can help break through those psychological walls and the blocks that someone might put up to a different perspective by introducing readers to a "maybe they're just like me" train of thought And more... After the interview Mark reflects on the importance of storytelling in creating connections between people and empathy, sharing a few quotes from an articile in Discovery magazine, as well as the reality of when an author's work is adapated for media. Links of Interest:   Johnny B. Truant's Website Fat Vampire to Reginald the Vampire: The Journey so Far Sterling and Stone Website Discover Magazine Article: How Reading Fiction Increases Empathy... Findaway Voices Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles   Johnny B. Truant is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by SyFy as "Reginald the Vampire" starring Spider-Man's Jacob Batalon. His other books include Pretty Killer, Pattern Black, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, and over 100 other titles across many genres.   The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 

This week we're reading Fat Vampire 5: Fatpocalypse by Johnny B. Truant. At long last, we return to the Fat Vampire universe to catch up with Reginald and the gang. Since we last met, the FVU had been adapted into a show for the SyFy network and in this episode we argue that we deserve a cut. Cut us a check, NBCUniversal! book link --- We're on the NET at letsstopthere.com Email us at letsstopthere@gmail.com Follow us on twitter @letsstopthere Give us a call at 567-309-0357 Subscribe to our patreon for MORE thanks to Morris Reese for our jump music background music powered by Epidemic Sound

Le cru 2022 a été plutôt bon pour les vampires. Ces êtres buveurs de sang sont parfois tournés en dérision ou alors montrés sous un jour démoniaque. Ces trois titres vous proposent trois genres de séries bien différents les uns des autres. Let the Right One In bientôt sur Paramount+ Créée par Andrew Hinderaker et inspirée du roman de l'écrivain suédois John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In est un exemple modèle de la série d'horreur vampirique avec ce petit twist nordique. Eleanor a éternellement 12 ans et vit recluse avec son père dans leur appartement. Et pour cause, après s'être transformée en vampire (il y a tout de même 10 ans) elle ne peut sortir que la nuit. Son père (interprété par Demián Bichir) lui fournit le sang dont elle a besoin pour rester en vie. Mais des meurtres en ville se déroulent et l'enquêtrice en charge découvre l'existence de ce virus qui semble toucher aléatoirement les gens. Les destins des personnages vont être mêlés pour trouver peut-être un antidote ou alors assister à l'évolution de l'humanité. Le casting inclut Grace Gummer, Anika Noni Rose et Madison Taylor Baez. Un film suédois du même titre était sorti en 2008 avec une approche plus fidèle au livre. https://youtu.be/cQBVE08gb1g Vampire Academy sur Prime Video Dans l'univers de Vampire Academy adapté des romans de Richelle Mead il y a trois types de vampires : les Morois, des sangs purs et qui sont des aristos et prêts à gouverner leur monde ; les Dhampirs qui sont moitié Moroi et moitié humains qui passent leurs vies à protéger les Morois leurs maîtres ; et enfin les Strigoi qui ont perdu leur humanité et qui sont des vampires assoiffés de sang considérés comme des monstres. Maintenant on retrouve Lissa Dragomir dont le frère est successeur au trône, et sa meilleure amie future gardienne Rose qui sont inséparables depuis leur tendre enfance à l'Académie. Tout bascule quand la famille Dragomir meurt dans un accident… Le monde très hiérarchisé de Vampire Academy donne lieu à une intrigue qui se suit agréablement. Le fait est que la série permet d'explorer ce monde plus en profondeur par rapport au film sorti en 2014. Comme toute bonne série pour ados, les hormones bougent beaucoup et la romance est bien présente. La mythologie qui se construit s'enrichit au fur et à mesure. https://youtu.be/Gw_xrllOGu0 Reginald the Vampire sur Universal+ Dès le 2 janvier sur Universal+ retrouvez la comédie Reginald the Vampire sous les traits de Jacob Batalon (oui, le meilleur ami de Peter Parker). Ce troisième titre est également une adaptation d'un roman, Fat Vampire de Johnny B. Truant. Dans un monde pop et coloré peuplé de gens beaux, très en forme et plutôt superficiels, Reginald y tombe comme un héros improbable. Quels seront ses atouts pour se démarquer ? L'inspiration What We Do in the Shadows avec son ton décalé est bien présente, mais la différence au lieu de s'intégrer au monde actuel, Reginald doit s'intégrer à une communauté de vampires tout en continuant sa vie quotidienne. Les dialogues sont drôles et les personnages aussi, même si parfois les résolutions semblent un peu trop simples et les clichés s'accumulent. Ce traitement du vampire est assez original et s'ancre dans la modernité. https://youtu.be/v4HyoWogn-8 Vous avez donc du choix pour votre genre de vampire qui pourrait vous tenter.

Le cru 2022 a été plutôt bon pour les vampires. Ces êtres buveurs de sang sont parfois tournés en dérision ou alors montrés sous un jour démoniaque. Ces trois titres vous proposent trois genres de séries bien différents les uns des autres. Let the Right One In bientôt sur Paramount+ Créée par Andrew Hinderaker et inspirée du roman de l'écrivain suédois John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In est un exemple modèle de la série d'horreur vampirique avec ce petit twist nordique. Eleanor a éternellement 12 ans et vit recluse avec son père dans leur appartement. Et pour cause, après s'être transformée en vampire (il y a tout de même 10 ans) elle ne peut sortir que la nuit. Son père (interprété par Demián Bichir) lui fournit le sang dont elle a besoin pour rester en vie. Mais des meurtres en ville se déroulent et l'enquêtrice en charge découvre l'existence de ce virus qui semble toucher aléatoirement les gens. Les destins des personnages vont être mêlés pour trouver peut-être un antidote ou alors assister à l'évolution de l'humanité. Le casting inclut Grace Gummer, Anika Noni Rose et Madison Taylor Baez. Un film suédois du même titre était sorti en 2008 avec une approche plus fidèle au livre. https://youtu.be/cQBVE08gb1g Vampire Academy sur Prime Video Dans l'univers de Vampire Academy adapté des romans de Richelle Mead il y a trois types de vampires : les Morois, des sangs purs et qui sont des aristos et prêts à gouverner leur monde ; les Dhampirs qui sont moitié Moroi et moitié humains qui passent leurs vies à protéger les Morois leurs maîtres ; et enfin les Strigoi qui ont perdu leur humanité et qui sont des vampires assoiffés de sang considérés comme des monstres. Maintenant on retrouve Lissa Dragomir dont le frère est successeur au trône, et sa meilleure amie future gardienne Rose qui sont inséparables depuis leur tendre enfance à l'Académie. Tout bascule quand la famille Dragomir meurt dans un accident… Le monde très hiérarchisé de Vampire Academy donne lieu à une intrigue qui se suit agréablement. Le fait est que la série permet d'explorer ce monde plus en profondeur par rapport au film sorti en 2014. Comme toute bonne série pour ados, les hormones bougent beaucoup et la romance est bien présente. La mythologie qui se construit s'enrichit au fur et à mesure. https://youtu.be/Gw_xrllOGu0 Reginald the Vampire sur Universal+ Dès le 2 janvier sur Universal+ retrouvez la comédie Reginald the Vampire sous les traits de Jacob Batalon (oui, le meilleur ami de Peter Parker). Ce troisième titre est également une adaptation d'un roman, Fat Vampire de Johnny B. Truant. Dans un monde pop et coloré peuplé de gens beaux, très en forme et plutôt superficiels, Reginald y tombe comme un héros improbable. Quels seront ses atouts pour se démarquer ? L'inspiration What We Do in the Shadows avec son ton décalé est bien présente, mais la différence au lieu de s'intégrer au monde actuel, Reginald doit s'intégrer à une communauté de vampires tout en continuant sa vie quotidienne. Les dialogues sont drôles et les personnages aussi, même si parfois les résolutions semblent un peu trop simples et les clichés s'accumulent. Ce traitement du vampire est assez original et s'ancre dans la modernité. https://youtu.be/v4HyoWogn-8 Vous avez donc du choix pour votre genre de vampire qui pourrait vous tenter.

Johnny B. Truant discusses Sterling & Stone, writing over 100 books, and his upcoming TV adaptation.

The creative journey is often a winding path to success, but our experiences along the way can enrich our writing and help us develop a unique author voice. Johnny B Truant talks about his journey from scientist to non-fiction/self-help, to over 100 books and a TV show based on his novels. In the intro, What […] The post Pivoting On The Creative Journey With Johnny B Truant first appeared on The Creative Penn.

You don't have to be a writer or “creative” type to channel authenticity and spontaneity in your life and work. A fascinating conversation with book & television writer Johnny B. Truant. Our prior show on changing your life story: https://zdoggmd.com/the-story-solution Get Johnny's book The Story Solution here: https://amzn.to/3Ln669t Check out Johnny's multimedia story studio here: https://sterlingandstone.net/ Video and links here: https://zdoggmd.com/creativity Your support keeps us independent and mild-to-moderately awesome: https://zdoggmd.com/supporters Show, podcast, music, support, shop, social media, and email: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd Topics & Timecodes 00:00 Intro, how story is excavated vs created 04:19 Working with a partner, why planning too much sucks, mistakes evolve the storyline, why I don't edit videos 12:34 The role of faith in the creative process, working with Tom Hinueber, why spontaneity shouldn't be labeled as lazy 18:03 Left brain vs right brain, creating structure without over-planning, opening a hole in the universe 20:15 Channeling creative flow, pulling past experience into current endeavors, silencing the noise to tap into a deeper flow 25:50 Meditation & improv, medicine & feeling into the patient story, articulating the ineffable 33:27 Factors contributing to writer's block, achieving a state of alert presence, mental illness, substance use & reality 38:09 False memories, The Mandela Effect, objective reality, Alt-Middle & holding strong views loosely, January 6th 49:13 Inhabiting different perspectives, flexibility in belief, role of social media in creating silos, corpus callosum analogy & synthesis between sides 54:58 The arbitrary nature of reality, forming identity around belief & questioning these beliefs, limitations of science, theories of reality 1:07:15 Awakening after trauma, grieving the loss of identity, reality as a simulation, meta-storytelling 1:18:38 Glimpses into unfiltered reality & the unpredictable nature of mini-awakenings 1:25:00 Psychedelics as a double-edged sword, meditation as a more predictable method, repackaging experience as a story 1:28:15 What parameters define "real"? Emotion, sensation & how we label perceptual filters, surrendering to unpleasant sensations 1:34:35 My trip to the dentist, surrendering without judgement, suffering is optional, Return On Luck (ROL) 1:41:14 The stories we tell ourselves, the delusion of separation, my retreat experience 1:46:08 Stories as a trojan horse, disarming people with humor, why resonating with story matters 1:50:27 Using stories to reach others, empathy vs. compassion, identity development in teens & pre-teens 1:59:00 Final thoughts

Storywriting expert and author of over 100 books Johnny B. Truant teaches us how we can use story to completely reinvent our lives. Watch the video here: zdoggmd.com/the-story-solution Get his book The Story Solution here: https://amzn.to/3Ln669t Check out his multimedia story studio here: https://sterlingandstone.net/ Your support keeps us independent and mild-to-moderately awesome: https://zdoggmd.com/supporters Show, podcast, music, support, shop, social media, and email: https://lnk.bio/zdoggmd

Johnny B. Truant is co-founder and storyteller of nearly 100 novels, mainly fiction, in the Sterling & Stone Story Studio. The rights to his horror-satire series “Big Vampire” have recently been sold for production as a television show to NBC Universal.  Johnny is highly interested in marijuana and would like to speed the hell up by repealing the federal ban.  In this episode, he shares his thoughts on why he kept away from cannabis in his early life and how weed improved his writing. For Johnny, it's not about trying it out early; it's the great benefits he discovered lately. Don't miss out on this cool episode! I feel like it opened me up for want of a better term, like I'm just more introspective, and I noticed things a little bit more since I've been smoking. – Johnny B. Truant Download The Episode Companion For This Episode ​Some Topics We Discussed Include 1:49 – Sterling and Stone, changing the world with stories3:08 – Smoking in TV shows and movies6:53 – Professional joint roller10:19 – Cannabis at forty18:51 – Ganja food31:52 – Weed and writing35:55 – Smoke for the first time38:07 – Where to find them People Mentioned / Resources HarperCollins Simon and Schuster Matthew McConaughey Unicorn Western Alien Invasion Connect with Johnny B Truant Sterling and Stone Connect with  Chip Baker Cultivate Colorado Cultivate OKC Growers Soil Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tumblr Email Transcript Chip Baker: Hey, this is Chip of The Real Dirt. In today's dirt, I've got my good buddy Johnny B. Truant. Say, hey, Johnny. Johnny Truant: Hey, what's up Chip? Chip Baker: Well, I don't have too many non-cannabis industry people or guests on my show and you'll hear quite a few more of this next year. But a Johnny is a writer, which in my mind is synonymous with lots of weed. Is that right Johnny? Johnny Truant: You know, it didn't. It wasn't for the longest time, but then Sean corrupted me, that's my partner and co-author and eventually, I got into weed and I really enjoy it now but at the beginning it was all stoned sober. Chip Baker: I remember Johnny, I remember Sean was like, Oh, Johnny didn't smoke so much weed. I'm the real puffer. Oh, Johnny's just starting to smoke weed. Oh, Johnny likes sweet. Johnny's become a weed head.  Johnny Truant: Well, Johnny became interested in weed. I feel– I still think that Sean goes through way more than I do. But I'm, like, interested in the science of it and all the detail and nuance and Sean's like, is it green? Okay, I'll smoke it. Yeah. Chip Baker: He didn't ask him. It's green.  Johnny Truant: No. Is it black? Chip Baker: Yeah, right. How much more do you got? right. So, hey, Johnny, and my buddy Sean. They were founders of Sterling and Stone, which is a publishing company, and you guys publish primarily ebooks, right? Sterling and Stone, Changing the World with Stories Johnny Truant: Primarily ebooks right now for sure. And almost exclusively fiction. Chip Baker: And almost exclusively with fiction. They have produced and published hundreds and hundreds of books. Johnny has pinned nearly 100 books under this publication. And these guys are changing the world with a story. I love that tagline, man.  Johnny Truant: That's the idea anyway, change the world with story.  Chip Baker: Yeah. Tell me, I gave you the briefer but tell everybody what you guys actually do? Johnny Truant: In terms of changing the world with a story? or the– alright. Yeah, okay so well I mean we're a publisher, but we're not a traditional publisher, we're not like HarperCollins or Simon and Schuster or something where we work with outside authors who come in and submit stuff to us. It's more like we're a little family. We call ourselves a story studio. And, and so when we say we're changing the world with a story tha...

Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant co-founded Sterling & Stone and the authors of a touchstone non-fiction book Write. Publish. Repeat. They've just released the follow up to that book The Fiction Formula and are co-hosts of the Story Studio podcast.In this interview, Johnny and Sean explain: Why they stopped creating courses and hosting in-person events for authors How they're going to publish 150 books in 2020 (yes, 150!) What it takes to generate thousands of dollars a month in revenue each month on Amazon Where new indie authors should start if they want to self-publish quickly How the Flywheel Effect (a concept from the business world) informs their creative processAnd lots more.I start by asking the pair why they decided to write a follow up to Write. Publish. Repeat.Resources The Fiction FormulaWrite. Publish. Repeat. The No Luck Required Guide to Self-Publishing SuccessThe Flywheel Effect by Jim CollinsAttention writersGrammarly is one of my favourite proofreading tools. Now, claim a 20% discount with this Grammarly coupon--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/becomeawritertoday/messageSupport the show (https://becomeawritertoday.com/join)

This week we're reading "Fat Vampire 4: Harder, Better, Fatter, Stronger" by Johnny B. Truant. It's time to revisit our old friend Reggie, the fattest damn vampire on Earth. It's our fourth dip into Truant's sprawling vampiric universe and Big Reg is still climbing the social ladder while making time to binge on junk food. Something, frankly, we should all aspire to.

This week we're reading "Fat Vampire 3" by Johnny B. Truant. Fat Vampire is back and things are getting downright apocalyptic! It's Vampire vs. Human and our boy Reggie is caught in the middle. Plus, the triumphant return of Charles Barkley! --- We're on the NET at bookclubpodcast.com Email us at amznbookclub@gmail.com Follow us on twitter @amznbookclub Give us a call at 567-309-0357 --- Book Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AVLLAHU/ Music credits: synopsis: vodovoz - Under the Neon 1st page: Jacqueline Ann Finch - Lemon Twist 25%: Blue Moon - Cassette Tape 50%: Vodovoz - The Road 75%: Vodovoz - Sacred Agent last page: Vodovoz - Monaquor Exbat

There is no question that the best investment you can make in yourself is reading books. There is nothing that compares with the ROI of reading and taking action on what that book provides. You’ve heard me talk about how wealthy people read books. It's not just me saying this, I wanted to bring on a few people to share results they have achieved by reading. If you stay until the end I will share the book that has helped me make over a million dollars. Gee Nontreah. [4:31] In the summer of 2017 I picked up a book called The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. The author talks about taking little steps and actions. I did not have an emergency fund at that time, but by using tips in this book, within 4-5 months my emergency fund held $1,000. The tips in the book also allowed me to pay70% of my credit card debt. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1iiWwey0mEF9X77M5qylPg Eric Rosenberg. [7:19] My favorite book that has changed how I make money is The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. I used to have a typical 8-6 job, this book taught me that you don’t have to run your career the way other people expect. Following points in this book, I rebuilt my career, side hustled hard and then took my side hustle full time. I am now making up to 10,000 every month. That is not my biggest month, by far. Joseph Hogue [9:08] In 2014 I had just started my own websites. I wasn’t making as much money as I had hoped. I was frustrated and would have given up if it weren’t for the book Write. Publish. Repeat. By Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. This book helped me see how to fit self-publishing into my blog. This created a new income stream through self-publishing. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbKdotYtcY9SxoU8CYAXdvg Roger Whitney [10:53] The book that led to significant growth in my business is Linchpin by Seth Godin. I was really challenged to ‘take it to the next level.’ I started a Podcast, grew my business over 50%, wrote a book, and made friends all over the world. https://www.youtube.com/user/retirementanswerman Nick True [13:24] The book I have chosen in Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. I implemented the system I learned from this book 5 months ago and have an additional $8,000 in my personal account and $2,000 in a business profit account. Building a profitable business is a slow process, this book has changed the game for me. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfRqvJFJ6LLQ62lKmOUXATw Chris Mamula [16:19] The book that gave me the biggest return was The Simple Part to Wealth by J. L. Collins. Prior to finding that book, I was intimidated by investing and was getting horrible advice from others. Within a year or reading I saved $8,000 in investment fees and $8,000 in taxes. That is 1,000 times return in just one year. Bob Lotich [17:44] I am forever indebted to Tim Ferris and The 4 Hour Workweek. I didn’t apply everything from the book, but if you take one thing and apply that you can make a huge difference. I took this to heart and took a year off last year! It started with small steps like a week off, then a month off. https://www.youtube.com/user/ChristianPFdotcom Jordan Harbinger [18:48] One book that I really liked was Friend of a Friend by David Burkus. David talks about opportunistic network maintenance. He recommends using social channels to connect with friends when they have important life events like a new child, etc. When we see their posts, reach out to them through text, call, or in-person. This has created a ton of opportunities. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGLcx_fFZ3GlLXO5anHSm9w David Pere [20:06] For me Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss was life changing. This has changed the way I handle negotiations. Immediately after reading this book I saved over $3,000 negotiating the repair on an apartment complex I was buying. I hope you enjoyed learning about these books and the amazing results these people have seen. My book is Crush it by Gary Vaynerchuk. I read this book when I had just started my blog and social media. Watching Gary and reading this book has helped me use available tools to get my message out there. It pushed me to take it to the next level. I know that I am not the only one and neither are the people you’ve seen on this video. What was the one book you read that inspired you to take action? 

This week we're reading "Fat Vampire 2" by Johnny B. Truant. What better time of year to catch up with our old sad-sack friend the FAT VAMPIRE than Halloween? Our hero is still fat and still a vampire, only this time he's mired in red tape, trying to navigate the confusing bureaucracy of the Vampire underworld. Spooky stuff!

This week we're reading "Fat Vampire" by Johnny B. Truant. That's right, FAT VAMPIRE. If you've had your fill of svelte, sexy vampires with their glistening skin and their charming bad boy attitudes, just wait until you meet Reggie. Not only is he a portly klutz, he's got the power to grow a full goatee in a matter of seconds. This one is an instant classic!

Join Chrissy and Stephanie as they sit down with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, the masterminds behind Sterling & Stone. They discuss what goes on behind the scenes running Sterling & Stone, the top conversion elements every author should know, and why they decide to keep publishing wide. They also talk about their Smarter Artist Summit. 

Volvemos a hablar de storytelling. Oh yeah. Con libro delicatessen relacionado y todo... No me enrollo más que tengo que ir a buscar a los niños al cole... :-) Libro: The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage de Ryan Holiday. Libro: Ego is the enemy de Ryan Holiday. Libro: Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts de Ryan Holiday. Episodio: ZT 93 Storytelling (II) o cómo hemos castrado nuestras mentes al decir que las historias son un simple recurso Libro: Cómo orquestar una comedia de John Vorhouse (versión original: The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You're Not). Episodio: 67 Comentando el libro “Cómo orquestar una comedia” de John Vorhaus - Humor en público. Libro: El héroe de las mil caras: Psicoanálisis del mito de Joseph Campbell (versión original: The Hero with a Thousand Faces). Web: YoTrail - Del asfalto a la montaña. Episodio: ZT 87 Enfoque rítmico y locus de control interno Episodio: EB 11 Confesiones sobre superación personal de una corredora de maratones (extra ball) Podcast: Vamos hablando con Alicia y Leticia. Libro: El guión de Robert McKee (versión original: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting). Libro: Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) de Sean Platt y Johnny B. Truant. Web: The Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn Episodio: EB 36 “Depredador contra la escritura” con Jackberry (extra ball) Episodio: EB 30 Autónomos felices: Pat Educadora Canina (extra ball) Podcast: This American Life Podcast: Serial Delicatessen: "Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio" de Jessica Abel Libro Delicatessen: "Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio" de Jessica Abel Episodio: EP 26 Dinamizar cursos online con Patricia Guerrero - Presentástico Episodio: Episodio 5 – Vivir de la formación online con Abel Aubone - Learning Legendario. Os recordamos nuestros grupos de Telegram:

Dale Roberts teaches people how to grow their own profitable self-publishing businesses.He is a Certified Personal Trainer, bestselling author, and self-published author of well over 40 books. Dale provides a wide range of educational videos on self-publishing which you can find on his YouTube channel.   Quotes To Remember: “Ten percent of the process is writing the book. Ninety percent is marketing it and promoting it.” “One of the worst things that you can do is being the weird guy.” “At the end of the day, one of the things that's going to build a longer term sustainable business is going to be out there building actual real relationships.” “Identify who your audience is and how do they communicate.” “Book covers make a world of difference.”   What You’ll Learn: How to Market the Book You Published Optimizing Your Books in Amazon 4 Valuable Areas when Optimizing Your Books Avoiding the ‘Someday’ Policy   Key Links From The Show: Dale’s Site Dale’s YouTube Channel Guitar World Magazine Kindle CreateSpace Meetup   Recommended Books: The 90-Day Home Workout Plan by Dale Roberts Write. Publish. Repeat by Sean Platt and‎ Johnny B. Truant Secrets of the Six-Figure by Tom Corson-Knowles Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by Mick Foley, Mankind, and WWF Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon Please consider supporting Breakthrough Success on Patreon. I publish five episodes per week which I carefully prepare for, and I choose to not run ads in my podcast to enhance the listener experience. I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success. You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

This week Trudi Jaye talks to Indie publishing personalities Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt from the Story Studio Podcast (previously the Self Publishing Podcast) about their experiences in self publishing in the last few years, from the early days when they didn't know as much about writing or marketing their books to their experiences with non fiction and creating the Smarter Artist community of authors.   They also talk about why we should call ourselves simply publishers instead of self publishers (ie our aim should be to be indistinguishable from traditionally published books), how to find people to help you achieve your publishing dreams (instead of trying to do it all yourself), and why readers are the most important part of an author's career (of course!). It's a fun episode with loads of takeaways that you'll be able to use in your own writing journey. 

This week we read "Invasion" by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. Ah, the loose, meandering prose of Platt and Truant - not to be confused with Truant and Platt, a Fresno based lawfirm that specializes in Asbestos cases.

Volvemos a la carga con un tema relacionado con la productividad: priorizar y ejecutar tareas. Hoy también hemos hecho todas las secciones del programa. El libro Delicatessen que recomendamos es “Internet del dinero“ de Andreas Antonopoulos. Libro: The Beam: Season Two de Sean Platt y‎ Johnny B. Truant. Netflix: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Netflix: "My next guest needs no introduction" con David Letterman Podcast: Jocko Podcast | Leadership and Discipline. YouTube: Recopilación de diálogos: El Sargento De Hierro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1v67eNvDfY Artículo: ¿Qué son los objetivos SMART? ¿Cómo redactar un objetivo SMART? Episodio: ZT 76 Multipotenciales Somos zetatesters Episodio: EB 33 Autónomos felices: Daniel Julià (extra ball) Episodio: Te pagamos por aprender con Miguel Caballero - BeSuricata, el podcast. Web: Tutellus.io | Reinventando la educación con Blockchain Episodio: EP 18 Aspectos clave de la voz hablada con Rosa Martínez Fernández | Presentástico Artículo - How I Built a #1-Ranked Podcast With 60M+ Downloads - Tim Ferriss Patreon de Mossegalapoma | Podcast de tecnología y ciencia en catalán Patreon de Andreas Antonopoulos | Evangelista de Bitcoin y Open Blockchains Episodio (en catalán): Mosseguem la poma amb Tomàs Manzanares - BeSuricata, el podcast. Web: YoTrail - Dani Amo Estos son nuestros grupos de Telegram: Somos zetatesters (grupo general). ZetaKids (padres y madres preocupados por la educación de sus hij@s) ZetaMoney (finanzas personales) ZetaRunners (yonkis del running). Delicatessen: Internet del dinero de Andreas Antonopoulos L

Libro: The Beam: Season One de Sean Platt y Johnny B. Truant. Episodio: ZT 44 Escribir y “Write. Publish. Repeat” de Johnny B. Truant y Sean Platt Episodio: ZT 53 Sesgo de negatividad (Errores de Lógica V) (Donde hay el comentario del libro "Write. Publish. Repeat"). Libro: Unicorn Western: Full Saga de Sean Platt y Johnny B. Truant. Libro: Leonardo da Vinci de Walter Isaacson. Libro: Steve Jobs de Walter Isaacson. Libro: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life de Walter Isaacson. Libro: Einstein de Walter Isaacson. Libro: Homo Deus: Breve historia del mañana de Yuval Noah Harari. Episodio: ZT 61 Transhumanismo y “Homo Deus” de Yuval Noah Harari Libro: Platform Revolution de Geoffrey G Parker Libro: ALGORITMOS PARA LA VIDA COTIDIANA: La ciencia de la informática aplicada a las decisiones humanas de Brian Christian (Autor),‎ Tom Griffiths (Autor),‎ Isabel Moros (Traductor),‎ Cristina Alcoya (Traductor) Libro: Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy de Cathy O'Neil. Película: Nerve. Un juego sin reglas. Web: tweet DELETE TED: Daniel Kahneman - El enigma de la experiencia frente a la memoria. Libro: Superinteligencia: Caminos, peligros, estrategias de Nick Bostrom (Autor),‎ Marcos Alonso (Traductor)

Episodio: #09 "Do it yourself"con Marc Alier - BeSuricata. Artículo: Dinámicas participativas (II): Indefensión aprendida - Presentástico. YouTube: Indefensión aprendida (subtitulado)  Web: Sam Harris Libro: Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong de Erik Barker. Libro: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life de Mark Manson.   Libro: The Beam: Season One de Sean Platt y Johnny B. Truant. [Libro] “Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success)” de Johnny B. Truant y Sean Platt. [Libro] “Fiction Unboxed: Publishing and Writing a Novel in 30 Days, From Scratch, In Front of the World” de Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt y David Wright. [Podcast] The Self Publishing Podcast Libro: Iterate And Optimize: Optimize Your Creative Business for Profit de Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant y David Wright. Libro: La conjura de los necios de John Kennedy Toole.

Hoy nos ha visitado Javier Belmar, un oyente del podcast que nos ha traído chocolate de Ecuador de mucha calidad. Javier descubrió nuestro podcast y en dos meses ha escuchado los 55 episodios que teníamos publicados. De nuevo hemos repetido el formato de comentar las ideas de un libro, en este caso "So Good They Can't Ignore You". Libros que ha leído Tomàs esta semana: Puerto escondido de María Oruña. Libros que ha leído Marc Alier esta semana: Yesterday's Gone: Season Three de Sean Platt y David Wright Libros que ha leído Carles esta semana: So good they can't ignore you de Cal Newport. [Libro] “Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success)” de Johnny B. Truant y Sean Platt. [Podcast] The Self Publishing Podcast [Libro] El Marciano – Andy Weir [Web] EscritoresFantasma.es [Libro] “Fiction Unboxed: Publishing and Writing a Novel in 30 Days, From Scratch, In Front of the World” de Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt y David Wright. [Web] Lynda.com [Libro] ¿De qué color es tu paracaídas? Un manual práctico para personas que buscan empleo o un cambio de profesión de Richard N. Bolles. [Vídeo] Benjamin Zander 2008 Música y Pasión. Con los ojos brillantes - TED Talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71w-oasL6iQ [Episodio] ZT 01: Actitud tester, Life Hacking y “La semana laboral de 4 horas” de Tim Ferriss [Episodio] ZT 03: Small wins y “El poder de los hábitos” de Charles Duhigg ¡El podcast de Presentástico ya está en iTunes! [Libro] “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” de Cal New Port. [Artículo] Errores de lógica (III): el Efecto encuadre y la Prueba social [Web] Museu de la xocolata. [Libro] Exprime tus neuronas: 12 reglas básicas para ejercitar la mente de John Medina. [Web] Jamie Oliver [Vídeo] Canal Viajar Jamie Oliver le quita las ganas de nuggets a los niños https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBgL3qOGyXI [Artículo] ¿Qué es el ad

Escribir como terapia. Escribir para reflexionar y ordenar pensamientos. Escribir para tener conversaciones con uno mismo. Escribir para compartir ideas, aprendizajes y proyectos. Escribir para publicar libros... Son algunos de los temas que hemos tocado en este episodio sobre... (adivinad) ¡ESCRIBIR! De hecho, hemos tenido que hacer un podcast interruptus porque teníamos que irnos. Continuaremos la semana que viene con la segunda parte sobre "Escribir". Podéis hacernos llegar más preguntas, recursos, críticas o lo que queráis a somos (a_r_r_o_b_a) zetatesters.com, en Twitter (@zetatesters) o en nuestro Canal de Telegram: Somos zetatesters. También podéis dejar un comentario en la entrada de este episodio. Recordad que si compráis a través de nuestro enlace de afiliados de Amazon España, no os cuesta más y nos llevamos una pequeña comisión. Usad el siguiente enlace para hacer cualquier compra (desde navegador, no desde app). Ahora que es la semana del Black Friday, aprovechad ;-) Comprad en Amazon.es con el enlace de afiliados de zetatesters Por cierto, Carles ha publicado por fin la segunda edición del libro Chromecasteando. Estará de oferta durante una semana en Amazon por sólo 0'99 €. [Episodio] ¿Cómo tributan fiscalmente los ingresos de proyectos personales? (Extra Ball 15) [Vídeo] "Los amigos de mis amigas" de Objetivo Birmania. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U4F7XKh7HI [Hoja de cálculo] Dani Amo propone hacer públicos vuestros proyectos personales en Retos Zetatesters. [Artículo] 10 razones por las que deberías escribir más a menudo. [Libro] "Memorias" de Isaac Asimov. [Libro] “Bla, bla, bla. Qué hacer cuando las palabras no funcionan” de Dan Roam. [Episodi] Humor en presentaciones con David Nihill (Extra ball 09) [Libro] "5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter: Write Faster, Write Smarter" de Chris Fox. [Libro] "La cocina de la escritura" de Daniel Cassany. [Libro] “A guide to the good life. The ancient art of stoic joy” de William B. Irvine [Libro] “Encuentra tu elemento: El camino para descubrir tu pasión y transformar tu vida” de Ken Robinson con Lou Aronica.

Foto de marco monetti. En este episodio 42 hablamos sobre resiliencia, qué entendemos sobre ella y cómo utilizarla para superar escollos en los proyectos de nuestra vida personal y profesional. Y lo hacemos comentando el libro Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life de Eric Greitens. En este episodio hemos mezclado el tema con el Delicatessen y no hemos tenido tiempo de hacer las secciones "Somos zetatesters" ni "Turno de acciones". [Libro] "Write Rubbish Repeat" de Jack Offonew y otros. [Libro] "Write. Publish. Repeat" de de Sean Platt y Johnny B. Truant. ATENCIÓN: Marc Alier ha conseguido contactar con un experto en fiscalidad para hacerle un extraball. Enviadnos preguntas al respecto a somos@181.224.135.109 Por cierto, en el grupo “Somos zetatesters” de Telegram yo somos 136 suricatas. Instala la app Telegram (iOS y Android) en tu dispositivo móvil y clica en el siguiente enlace para entrar en él. Ah, no olvides silenciar el grupo cuando entres. [Libro] "Guía Del Autoestopista Galáctico" de Douglas Adams. [Episodio] Una conversación sobre educar a contracorriente, programación y videojuegos con Fran Gallego (Extra Ball 14) [Episodio] (en catalán) mossegalapoma programa 168 – Carles Caño – Formar en tecnologia [Libro Delicatessen] “Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life” de Eric Greitens [Wikipedia] Trastorno por estrés postraumático. [Web] Dan Carlin. [Libro] "Fluir (Flow): Una psicología de la felicidad" de Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. [Libro] "The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage" de Ryan Holiday. [Episodio] Extra Ball ZT 04: entrevista con Raimón Samsó [Documental] Tony Robbins: No soy tu gurú – Original de Netflix [Libro] "Poder sin límites: La nueva ciencia del desarrollo personal" de Anthony Robbins. [Libro] "Gente tóxica" de Bernardo Stamateas. [Libro]

You as a health care consumer have to know what you are taking, the possible side effects and interactions with the foods you eat and other medications you have know that the good stuff does not necessarily come cheap or is high priced. There are resources you can use to help you make an informed decision.     Resources Mentioned: Johnny B. Truant's The Universe Doesn't Give A Flying Fuck About You University of Chicago Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research page on Kava  Harvard Health Publications Women's Health Watch page on Kava and Inositol Carrie Ramsdell's Kava Information Graphic NCCIH page on Kava National Institute of Health Office of Dietary Supplements -  What you need to know before your buy FDA warning about Kava if you have a liver condition Dietary Supplement Label Database you type in your herb or mineral of choice; it will show you various vendor products and you can drill down to what you want or need in a supplement   Disclaimer: Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder. This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment

In today’s episode, Jason Van Orden joins me and shares what he’s learned about influence and helping others become top influencers in their field. Given that we often teach what we most need to learn, we also discuss what his work has revealed for him and the surprising tensions that have come up for him on his thought leadership journey. Ready? Let’s do this!   Key Takeaways: [00:48] Charlie introduces Jason, summarizing his vast experience teaching and studying the psychology and strategies used by successful internet influencers. [02:12] Charlie opens up the discussion with Jason about what influence actually is, and how it differs from manipulation. [06:57] Because of hyper connectivity and information overload, people need to step up and become influencers in order to facilitate the organisation of knowledge in meaningful ways. [12:06] How the increase in individual generated content on the internet (“noise”) forces people to find their own unique voice, and fosters creativity. [18:12] What are some of the first steps to take when people want to come out as an influencer? [22:00] The difference between analytically understanding someone and understanding them emotionally. [27:30] Oftentimes, we teach about the things we really need to learn — Charlie asks Jason how teaching about influencing is helping him. [31:03] The more experience you gain, the more challenges you take on and the more you end up dealing with the imposter syndrome — you need to cut yourself some slack and move through it. [40:45] Jason shares how he was recently reminded of the importance of being engaged and continuing to innovate, even if change is intimidating. [48:15] There is little talk about sufficiency in business — where your business meets your needs and doesn’t need to continuously grow and scale. [50:20] What is the most surprising or unanticipated challenge Jason is currently facing? [53:40] Remember that you need to be okay with the fact that there will not be a one size fits all answer and that you need a strategy that fits you.   Mentioned in This Episode: Sanebox.com/Giant Creative Giant Campfire Facebook Group Episode 14: Write, Publish, Repeat With Johnny B. Truant Episode 5: Making Changes With Jonathan Fields The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell Kant's Categorical Imperative To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink Louder than words by Todd Henry The Fascination Advantage by Sally Hogshead Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Bossypants by Tina Fey

Alyssa & Leslie share their experiences and takeaways from attending the 2016 Smarter Artist Summit. Panelists included: Mark LeFebvre, Joanna Penn, Nick Stephenson, Julia Kent, J.A. Huss, Andre Chaperon, and James Tonn in addition to Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant, and David Wright.

Aired Monday, 19 October 2015, 4:00 PM ETJoin Simone Milasas, author of Joy of Business, business mentor international speaker, as she speaks with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, the professionals in the Self Publishing Industry, leading a movement of Traditional-Publishing-Worthy Self Publishers.Do you have a book inside of you waiting to be created and actualized? Have you ever wondered how to enter the magical realm of published authors? Or maybe you have self-published but now it just doesn’t seem credible? Meet Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, the professionals in the Self Publishing Industry, leading a movement of Traditional-Publishing-Worthy Self-Publishers. Listen in to find out everything you ever need to know about self-publishing (and how to have fun while doing it too)!About the Guests Sean Platt and Johnny B. TruantJohnny B. Truant is a co-host of the top-rated Self Publishing Podcast, co-author of the #1 Marketing bestseller Write. Publish. Repeat: The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success, and the author of well over 3 million words of popular fiction.Sean Platt is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, speaker, founder of the Sterling Stone Story Studio, and co-author (with Johnny B. Truant and David Wright) of Write. Publish. Repeat., the well-loved self-publishing industry guide.Johnny and Sean along with David Wright (#1 horror author of the Yesterday’s Gone series) also launched Fiction Unboxed in 2014 — a record-setting Kickstarter project in which Johnny and Sean wrote a full-length novel in 30 days, starting without any ideas or genre, in front of a live audience, sharing every detail of the process including story meetings, emails, and raw story drafts.The novel birthed through Fiction Unboxed (The Dream Engine, first in the Blunderbuss/Alterra series) went on to spawn what the Sterling Stone team calls “open-source fiction”: an open story world in which any author may write and publish without requiring permission and without paying royalties to the world’s creators.Johnny’s fiction works (mostly co-authored with Sean Platt) include the Invasion series, the political sci-fi serial The Beam, the fantasy/western mash-up Unicorn Western books, the satirical Fat Vampire series, the literary mindbender Axis of Aaron, and too many others to count.Johnny, Sean, and David host their trendsetting, boundary-pushing podcasts every week on YouTube, iTunes, and their independent author website at: http://sterlingandstone.net/

Johnny is a full-time Author-Entrepreneur and is one of the writers of the Best-selling Write. Publish. Repeat: The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self Publishing Success (on the nonfiction side), and The Beam, Fat Vampire, Unicorn Western, and dozens of others on the fiction side. He is also one of three Hosts of the popular Self Publishing Podcast.

Christopher Kramer (or Christopher of Detroit) publishes unusual works of literature and visual art. From his Amazon page: His work blends the genres of autobiography, fable, spirituality, erotica, and pulp serial. Inside his fantasy worlds, Christopher examines philosophical dualities, transitions of the psyche, alternate realities, and spiritual revelations. We talk about art and literature, self-publishing, living and thinking as an artist, being from Detroit (where we lived on the same block), being an ex-pat (he currently lives in South Korea) and many other interesting topics. Links mentioned Christopher of Detroit's Amazon page Sublimation Pressworks The Odeon Review Joel Friedlander Scrivener Babelcube - I kept saying "Babelfish" Simon Whistler Write Better Faster by Monica Leonelle (my interview with Monica) Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant (my interview with Sean, Johnny and David Platt) The War of Art by Steven Pressfield ——————————————— Support WET: Patreon | Amazon Affiliates (click before shopping at Amazon and we’ll get a kickback on what you buy!) Subscribe to the WET Podcast in iTunes | Main page for The WET Podcast You can follow me at @emarsh. Music: “Double the Daily Dose” by Revolution Void (http://www.revolutionvoid.com)

Johnny B. Truant, co host of the highly irreverent Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He reveals the strategies that have helped him recently write and publish a complete book, The Dark Horror Farce, Fat Vampire  in less than a month.

Johnny B. Truant is the co-founder of a publishing company called Sterling and Stone. He has written many fiction books like Unicorn Western, The Beam, Fat Vampire, and more. Johnny and Charlie go way back and have known each other for quite some time. On today's show, Johnny talks about his dreams in wanting to become a fiction writer, self-publishing, and gives great insight on how to make partnerships work.     Key Takeaways: 1:40: - Charlie introduces Johnny.  4:30 – Johnny writes four hours a day and can produce between 6,000 to 8,000 words.  7:30 – Johnny talks a little bit about how he started writing.  11:15 – It took 12 years for Johnny to write his first novel and then he gave up on trying to write fiction.  16:00 – Don't be afraid to call yourself an expert!  20:45 – New technology made it easier for everyone to do their own self-publishing.  25:15 – People think that because they're doing creative work, they can not develop a reliable plan or path, but Charlie says this is not true.  28:00 – Try not to compare yourself to Johnny. Work at your own pace and always try to do a little bit more than you did yesterday.  31:00 – How does Johnny make it work with two other partners? He explains in this segment.  39:20 – You need to respect the other partner involved, communicate, and treat your business relationship almost like a marriage.  43:10 – If you are able to manage your expectations well, you won't end up being disappointed and you can move the business forward with your partners.  46:00 – What's the one key takeaway? There's no substitute for hard work.    Mentioned In This Episode: http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-B.-Truant/e/B007984T5S http://sterlingandstone.net http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/ http://750words.com/

Sean Platt is a bestselling author with over 60 titles to his name on Amazon. Primarily a fiction writer, Sean’s world of words has a very entrepreneurial arm. As the founder of multiple imprints and publishing projects including Collective Inkwell, Realm of Sands, and his newest Sterling and Stone, he works with business partners Johnny B. Truant and David Wright to create and put out multiple series of stories in a plethora of genres, from children’s books, through to fantasy and full out dark horror. The voice behind the popular Sterling and Stone Podcast that used to be called The Self Publishing Podcast and website, he offers advice and insights to folks interested in self-publishing to help them set up their own entrepreneurial adventures. He has also penned the go-to guide for self-publishing success, Write. Publish. Repeat. In 2013, which continues to shine with over 400 five-star reviews on Amazon.   In 2014  with Johnny B. Truant, he completed and published an entire fiction book in just 30 days with their Fiction Unboxed Kickstarter project. And went for it again in November for NaNoWriMo with their Fiction Unboxed 1.5.

For WET004, I interviewed the three guys behind Sterling and Stone and the Self Publishing Podcast , Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant and David Wright. This is my first interview with more than one person, and it went off quite well. These guys are full of information, insight, anecdotes and lots of jokes. Links Mentioned: Sterling and Stone WTF with Marc Maron Cory Doctorow Comixology Jim Kukral's Go Direct! --- Subcsribe to the WET Podcast in iTunes | Main page for The WET Podcast You can follow me at @emarsh. Music: “Double the Daily Dose” by Revolution Void (http://www.revolutionvoid.com)

Sean did something amazing with his recent book. He open sourced it and is allowing people to write inside the book's world. But that's not the best part. Sean is giving away the copyright and allowing people to own the copyright and royalties to anything they create within his world. It pretty amazing! Hear Sean explain everything in today's episode below. In this Episode We Discuss: Why you need to author a book series to be successful Why Sean decided to open source his “Dream Engine” book world and allow anyone to write books in the world and own both the copyright and royalties What is serialized fiction, how does it work, and is it still popular like it was in 2012 Resources mentioned in this episode: Fiction Unboxed Project The Dream Engine - the Steampunk novel that was written during the Fiction Unboxed Project Sean's two published Amazon Serials, Monstrous & Z 2134 Write, Publish Repeat - a how-to book on writing SterlingandStone website Joanna Penn's website, the Creative Penn About Sean Sean has written more than a dozen books with the help of David Wright and Johnny B. Truant. Some of these books include his most popular series: Yesterdays Gone, The Beam, and Unicorn Western. Recently Sean wrote, The Dream Engine, with the help of Johnny B. Truant during a project they called Fiction Unboxed. Besides writing, Sean enjoys spending time with Sean his wife, daughter, and son. Connect with Sean: You can visit Sean's website: SterlingandStone.net Follow Sean on Twitter Connect With The Podcast: Sign up for the email list and I'll send you my free eBook, 5 Ways You Can Make Money as a Millennial Follow on Instagram: @moneymaker.xyz Follow on Twitter: @moneymakerxyz Enjoy the episode? Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes and leave a 5 star review! The Podcast is also now available to subscribe to on Stitcher Radio.

Sean shares his strategies and systems for writing novels. He shares how he co-wrote more than 1.5 million words last year with his business partner, Johnny B. Truant, by writing out an outline that fleshes out his ideas on paper. Hear the systems he uses in today's episode below. In this Episode We Discuss: What got Sean interested in writing fiction Sean’s gift of telling stories through copywriting Sean’s system for writing online articles fast How and why Sean started a blog How Sean’s refined systems helped him produce more than 1.5 million words last year with his business partner Sean’s outlining system of writing out character descriptions, location scouting, and more How Sean writes out what he calls 300 word “Beats” which are description and background of each chapter in the novel Sean shares how he and his business partner wrote a complete story, from no idea to finished novel, in just 30 days Resources mentioned in this episode: Fiction Unboxed Project The Dream Engine - the Steampunk novel that was written during the Fiction Unboxed Project About Sean Sean has written more than a dozen books with the help of David Wright and Johnny B. Truant. Some of these books include his most popular series: Yesterdays Gone, The Beam, and Unicorn Western. Recently Sean wrote, The Dream Engine, with the help of Johnny B. Truant during a project they called Fiction Unboxed. Besides writing, Sean enjoys spending time with Sean his wife, daughter, and son. Connect with Sean: You can visit Sean's website: SterlingandStone.net Follow Sean on Twitter Connect With The Podcast: Sign up for the email list and I'll send you my free eBook, 5 Ways You Can Make Money as a Millennial Follow on Instagram: @moneymaker.xyz Follow on Twitter: @moneymakerxyz Enjoy the episode? Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes and leave a 5 star review! The Podcast is also now available to subscribe to on Stitcher Radio. Can't wait for Thursday? Listen to Sean explain why he decided to open source his book, The Dream Engine, below.  

Johnny is one of the hosts of the top-rated Self Publishing Podcast and co-author of the bestseller Write. Publish. Repeat: The No-Luck Required Guide to Self Publishing Success. Johnny is a full-time fiction author whose extensive credits include The Beam, Fat Vampire, and Unicorn Western.

  About Johnny B. Truant Johnny B. Truant is one of the hosts of the popular Self Publishing Podcast and an author of the bestselling self-publishing guide Write. Publish. Repeat. Johnny published over 1.5 million words' worth of books in 2013, then wrote a book live in front of an audience in June 2014 to show his audience how. You can see that whole process at FictionUnboxed.com. Johnny's Amazon Author Page Johnny's website Realm and Sands - Fiction website Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success) Fiction Unboxed - see how a novel really gets written The Self-Publishing podcast Please also consider to Get 2 Free books for writers come and join us at the Write 2B Read podcast's closed Facebook group

Johnny is a full-time Author-Entrepreneur and is one of the writers of the Best-selling Write. Publish. Repeat: The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self Publishing Success (on the nonfiction side), and The Beam, Fat Vampire, Unicorn Western, and dozens of others on the fiction side. He is also one of three Hosts of the popular Self Publishing Podcast.

This week: Amtrak Writers in Residence program, Twitter Fiction Festival, 'Write. Publish. Repeat.' by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant,  Problogger tickets went on sale, Stephen King's reading list for writers on Aerogramme Studio. Interview with Graeme Simsion, author of 'The Rosie Project'. How would you describe Morgan Freeman's voice? Pink Fibro Book Club, Australian Writers' Centre Facebook page, 'Food Writing in Vietnam tour' on the cover of Qantas magazine, and much more. Read the show notes.  Connect with Valerie, Allison and listeners in the podcast community on Facebook Visit WritersCentre.com.au | AllisonTait.com | ValerieKhoo.com

"Most people think that they need to be tapped on the shoulder by the Epic Fairy if they ever hope to be epic, or if they're ever going to have the audacity to do something truly epic. But it's not true. Want to be epic? Just do epic s**t. There's nothing else to it." Johnny Truant An episode about ideas to help you make a habit of doing epic things. Show Notes: The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying F-k About You by Johnny B. Truant  Getting Things Done by David Allen  Why Making My Tasks Emotional Increased My Productivity by Robyn Scott  Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters. by Michael Bungay Stanier  Augusto Pinaud  GTD Virtual Study Group Podcast

Sean Platt is the co-author of several engrossing fiction series including Yesterday's Gone, The Beam, and Z 2134. More than just a fiction writer, however, Sean is a savvy publishing professional who has figured out a lot about how Amazon works, the art and science of serialized books, and what it takes to sell bundles of books. With co-author Johnny B. Truant, Sean shares all his publishing advice in Write. Publish. Repeat., the backdrop of our in-depth conversation about writing good books that sell again and again.

Johnny B. Truant shares his story of how he now makes a full-time living writing and self-publishing fiction. The story of Johnny B. Truant: Of authorship he’s been pursuant. From bagel to Beam, He worked toward his dream, And now at long last he is fluent. Quotes: “They had the belief that I wanted to […]

Author Johnny B. Truant talks about his books like the Fat Vampire series and his writing schedule. 

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Johnny B. Truant author of the Fat Vampire series, and co-author of The Beam and Unicorn Western.  The two discuss: How Johnny is continuing and concluding the Fat Vampire saga, which began as a joke during a discussion on the Self-Publishing Podcast, but became a series featuring a loveable, sympathetic and genuine hero (Reginald) rather than just a simple series of fat jokes. Johnny's evolution as a writer – specifically, how Johnny's first novel, The Bialy Pimps, described as “Clerks” in a bagel shop, took him twelve years to publish it; compared to the incredible weekly word count he is currently producing (ie, 270,000 words for the Fat Vampire series in a single year)  Giving oneself permission to simply write fast  Johnny's first collaborative novel project (along with Sean Platt) entitled Unicorn Western, and the hilarious origin story of how the series stemmed from a research argument on the Self-Publishing Podcast that led Dave to crack a joke about unicorns appearing in a western. The Beam, an intellectual science-fiction series that Johnny is co-writing with Sean Platt How outlining, or creating “beats” for a story helped Johnny to write fast Johnny's continuing experiments with his writing, including the layout and placement of the tools, such as keyboard, monitor, etc Eminem as Johnny's “go-to” musical artist to listen to while he is writing  Johnny's evolving philosophy on pricing strategies and funnels for writers, including making the first book in various series free The call to action including choice of links to the other books and bundles in a book published as part of a series. How the product image for The Beam books one through six is a three dimensional image conveys something one might normally only see when holding or looking at a physical boo How there is no instant fix or easy solution, but that being successful requires thinking long term, being patient and involves a lot of hard work The satisfaction of helping other writers that Johnny receives from producing the Self-Publishing Podcast For this episode's side-bar note, Mark speaks about social media strategies, including how it's not about “broadcasting” a message (such as “please buy my book”) but, rather, engaging with and participating and adding to a community (with a reference to Episode 004 with Mitch Joel) OTHER LINKS/RESOURCES Johnny's books on Kobo The Self Publishing Podcast Episode 003 of KWL Podcast (with Johnny's podcast pals Sean Platt and David Wright)  

Check out the books we're discussing here!  Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews authors Sean Platt and David Wright about their Collective Inkwell properties which include the highly successful serial thrillers Yesterday's Gone, White Space and Available Darkness. Mark chats with Sean and Dave about the following: Collaboration between writers – tools used, the logistics of how they do it and the importance of honesty with each other (ie, not pulling punches when something “sucks”) Writing a serialized story and Dave's behind-the-scenes inspiration from the old TV series “Cliffhangers” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhangers_%28TV_series%29) Communication with readers, reader feedback & responding to fan email Budgeting writing time, email time and the Sanelater email filter (Sanebox - http://www.sanebox.com/) Sean's 5 sentence email rule The importance of the duality of Mr. Sunshine and Mr. Cynical A mention of Unicorn Western (co-written by Sean and Johnny B. Truant) – Free First Book and Full Saga (Books 1 to 9) Writing an evil character like Bericio Wolfe (favourite “bad guy” from Yesterday's Gone) First Episode – Free, Full First Season (Episodes 1 to 6), Full Second Season (Episodes 7 to 12), Full Third Season (Episodes 13 to 18) Keeping track of timelines and Dave's favourite tool – Scapple (a brainstorming tool from the makers of Scrivener. Advice to writers just beginning on their path: which includes the importance of patience, trusting your instincts and the rabbit-hole of distractions that can steal an author's time Teaser talk about the sci-fi series The Beam (co-written by Sean and Johnny B. Truant) – Free First Episode or Full Season (6 Episodes) eBook The thrill of hearing from new fans who are Kobo readers.  (And Dave's love of Canada and Canadians) Being real, being human and being honest Sean's perspective on the importance of speed, genre hopping and how he's like a monkey How sharing so much via their weekly podcast (Self-Publishing Podcast) keeps them honest The importance of giving yourself permission to suck in your first draft and keeping at writing, ideally every day OTHER NOTES Mark talks about Kobo's “open, social and collaborative” nature and the concept of embracing all retailers and making your work available everywhere – how certain retailer's exclusivity programs are akin to asking ALL your customers to only shop at a single bookstore.  Not always a realistic option. Q&A Answer to:  Do I need an ISBN to publish on Kobo Writing Life?  Answer: No, you don't need an ISBN.  You can certainly BYOI (bring your own ISBN) or, if you don't we'll assign a “dummy” ISBN – with a note on some of our retailer partners that don't ingest dummy ISBNs   MISC LINKS Self-Publishing Podcast (which Sean & David co-host with Johnny B. Truant)  - AKA SPP http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/ [SPP Episode 57 – With KWL's Mark Lefebvre as guest:  http://selfpublishingpodcast.com/57/]   Listen to the audio version of Yesterday's Gone via the YG podcast http://collectiveinkwell.com/category/podcast/      

Johnny B. Truant is the co-host of the highly irreverent Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. In this interview, he reveals the strategies that have recently helped him write and publish a complete book, The Dark Horror Farce, Fat Vampire  in less than a month.

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Jerry and Jackie had the awesome privilege of being able to riff with Johnny B Truant about making stuff go, The Badass Project and his new book The Bialy Pimps. 

  I'm excited to have Johnny B. Truant as a guest -- he's a friend and we've worked together in the past. Johnny says... "in nine months, I went from literally having never made a cent online to making five figures a month." And he's a kickass writer, consultant and dude.

The Fit Marriage Show welcomes the one and only Johnny B. Truant. Johnny is well-known in online business and blogging circles, but you may not know that he is a fitness fanatic and a truly badass source of motivation.