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Mark Lefebvre, author of the book "Healing A Village: A Practical Guide for Building Recovery Ready Communities" joins us to talk about the message of his book and what a recovery-ready community looks like.
How can you be successful at connecting with readers and selling books at live, in-person events? What are some practical tips as well as mindset shifts that can help you make the most of the opportunities? Mark Leslie Lefebvre shares his experience. In the intro, Beventi for author events, Reader survey results [Written Word Media]; […] The post Selling Books In Person At Live Events With Mark Lefebvre first appeared on The Creative Penn.
Did you know the Smashwords store pays indie authors the industry's highest royalties? Did you the Smashwords store is about to celebrate its 7th consecutive year of sales growth? And did you know the 7th Annual Smashwords End of Year Sale was another record breaking Smashwords Sale? Join us as Mark Coker and Mark Lefebvre explain how YOU can use Smashwords sales to reach new readers and sell more books. //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.
Discover the numerous advantages of Kobo Writing Life over KDP and why it's the ideal choice for many indie authors. We'll explore the features that set Kobo Writing Life apart, including insights from Mark Lefebvre, and discuss why it's a great option for self-publishing. If you're weighing KDP vs. indie alternatives, then tune in for some valuable insights. Kobo Writing Life - https://kobowritinglife.com/ Kobo Writing Life: Tap Into New Markets Now! | Tara Cremin - https://youtu.be/0aVWdlIAjD0 The Self-Publishing Hub - https://theselfpublishinghub.com Join Channel Memberships - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl9CjdZQtzufqgYx0CidSbA/join Join my community at Discord - http://dalelinks.com/discord Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts
My dear friend Mark Lefebvre is back this week to teach me all about Canadian Literature, eh? Host: Julie Strauss Website/Instagram Guest: Mark Lefebvre Website/Instagram Editor: Emily Zumchak Website/Email Join the Best Book Ever Newsletter HERE! Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you'll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list. Become a Founder for $100 and you'll receive the weekly newsletter, the monthly curated book list, AND a personal thank you on the podcast, AND a Best Book Ever T-Shirt in your favorite color and style. Discussed in this episode: Bob and Doug McKenzie The Handmaids Tale and Others by Margaret Atwood Louise Penny The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis World of Wonders by Robertson Davies Fifth Business by Robertson Davies Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison Farley Mowat To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice A Matter of Will by Rod Carley Kinmount by Rod Carley Lives of Girls and Women and Others by Alice Munroe Steven Leacock The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot The Embroidered Book by Kate Hartfield The Hollow Boys by Douglas Smith The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee Changing Vision by Julie E. Czerneda Flash Forward Robert J Sawyer Flashforward TV series Rollback by Robert J Sawyer Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault by James Alan Gardner Eden's Eyes by Sean Costello Death Drives a Semi by Edo Van Belkom The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper The Long Way Back by Nicole Baart Samantha M. Bailey Giles Blunt Michael Connolly Linwood Barclay Into The Fire by Rick Mofina Hollow Place by Rick Mofina Requiem by Rick Mofina Canadian Werewolf Series The Line Painter by Claire Cameron The Bear by Claire Cameron The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan The Day The Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan The Color of Heaven by Julianne McClain Chasing the Wind by C.C. Humphries Someday I'll Find You by C.C. Humphries Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill Scott Overton (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
This week's guest is one of my favorite readers, writers and humans on the planet: Mark Lefebvre. Mark has been pushing Terry Fallis' books on me practically since we met, and I'm so glad I finally took his advice. We had a great time discussing political satire, reading slumps, and the differences between American and Canadian humor sensibilities. Host: Julie Strauss Website/Instagram Guest: Mark Lefebvre Website/Instagram Editor: Emily Zumchak Website/Email Join the Best Book Ever Newsletter HERE! Subscribe for FREE to receive weekly emails with complete show notes, photos of our guests, and updates on what Julie is reading on her own time. Support the podcast for just $5/month and you'll receive the weekly newsletter AND a monthly themed curated book list. Become a Founder for $100 and you'll receive the weekly newsletter, the monthly curated book list, AND a personal thank you on the podcast, AND a Best Book Ever T-Shirt in your favorite color and style. Discussed in this episode: The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis Earth Abides by George R. Stewart BBE Episode 009 Mark Lefebvre on Earth Abides BBE Episode 058 Mark Lefebvre on Traveling Music by Neil Peart (this is one of those very rare occasions when Mark and I disagreed about a book, and let me tell you, my friends: saying something negative about Neil Peart in front of Mark Lefebvre was the riskiest thing I have ever done in my life. I am so brave.) Fifth Business by Robertson Davies Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger BBE Episode 010 Casey Starnes on Catcher in the Rye Titles Bookstore at McMaster University High Spirits by Robertson Davies John Irving Steven Leacock McClelland and Stewart Pygmalian by George Bernard Shaw My Fair Lady (1964) Best Laid Plans TV Show Dennis Hamill Operation Angus by Terry Fallis No Relation by Terry Fallis Up and Down by Terry Fallis Poles Apart by Terry Follis The Candidate (1972) Three Cheers For Me by Donald Jack The Long Way Back by Nicole Bart Number One is Walking by Steve Martin Harry Bliss The Canadian Mounted by Mark Leslie Edo Van Belkom Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Note: Some of the above links are affiliate links. If you shop using my affiliate link on Bookshop, a portion of your purchase will go to me, at no extra expense to you. Thank you for supporting indie bookstores and for helping to keep the Best Book Ever Podcast in business!)
In this Self-Publishing Conference Highlight, authors and educators Matty Dalrymple and Mark Lefebvre explore ways writers can use their short fiction to connect with more readers, while generating income at the same time. Opportunities in anthologies, foreign language markets, and audio, as well as effective use of short fiction as reader magnets or reader funnels are covered, alongside creative ideas such as incorporating short fiction in location-based apps, or using micro-fiction as part of your bookstore pitches. This is a post from SelfPubCon (The Self-Publishing Advice Conference), an online author event, run free twice-yearly, in association with the Alliance of Independent Authors. Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org. About the Hosts Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the author (as Mark Leslie) of numerous horror short stories and curator / editor of horror anthologies. He writes, speaks, consults, and podcasts based on his more than a quarter-century of experience in writing, publishing, and bookselling. He established the Kobo Writing Life author program and is the Director of Business Development at Draft2Digital. Find out more at www.markleslie.ca/. Matty Dalrymple podcasts, writes, speaks, and consults on independent publishing as The Indy Author; find out more at www.theindyauthor.com. She is also the author of the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels and Suspense Shorts and the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers; find out more at www.mattydalrymple.com. Matty is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, Sisters in Crime, and the Brandywine Valley Writers Group, and is the principal at William Kingsfield Publishers.
D2D's own in-house experts—Mark Lefebvre, Kevin Tumlinson, and Dan Wood—chat about where we are as an industry of indie publishers, and where we see things going and growing.This episode refers to a blog post from Mark Lefebvre, which you can read here:https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/self-publishing-industry-insights-march-2020-to-march-2022///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.
The topic of today's discussion is the intimacy crises. I have the chance to speak with Mark Lefebvre on the subject. This is one of my lengthier interviews, but I decided to leave it as is because this is such a rich topic that I have never seen looked at before. I gained quite a bit of understanding and appreciate that Mark took the time to dive into this topic with me Watch the on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/wJgqQVJikWQ Check out Mark's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/NavigatingPatterns/featured follow me on twitter @andrealynnlewis email me at andreawiththebangs@gmail.com follow my vintage Instagram @fringevintagefinds
Mark Leslie Lefebvre founded the self-publishing company, Kobo Writing Life (KWL). Years after his departure from KWL, he reflects on his longevity in the publishing business, how he helped build Kobo Writing Life, and shares advice for authors and self-publishers.
The points made here were strung out in three different videos so I thought it might be of help to put them all together. @John Vervaeke talk with Rik Repetti https://youtu.be/VSURwG1f_U8 My first treatment of the Rik Repetti conversation in juxtaposition with Gavin Ashenden https://youtu.be/XSeZG3Dyv_k This is the discord convo with Mark Lefebvre talking about the transcendent container facilitating reconstruction. https://youtu.be/xs6Nzvf4bMA This is the discord convo with (4 Cult) Nick talking about his psychedelic experience of the personal. https://youtu.be/AikZmeKm4XA Discord link. Good for just a few days. Check with more recent videos for a fresh link. https://discord.gg/zuHPmWbD Paul Vander Klay clips channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX0jIcadtoxELSwehCh5QTg My Substack https://paulvanderklay.substack.com/ Estuary Hub Link https://www.estuaryhub.com/ If you want to schedule a one-on-one conversation check here. https://paulvanderklay.me/2019/08/06/converzations-with-pvk/ There is a video version of this podcast on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/paulvanderklay To listen to this on ITunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-vanderklays-podcast/id1394314333 If you need the RSS feed for your podcast player https://paulvanderklay.podbean.com/feed/ All Amazon links here are part of the Amazon Affiliate Program. Amazon pays me a small commission at no additional cost to you if you buy through one of the product links here. This is is one (free to you) way to support my videos. https://paypal.me/paulvanderklay To support this channel/podcast with Bitcoin (BTC): 37TSN79RXewX8Js7CDMDRzvgMrFftutbPo To support this channel/podcast with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) qr3amdmj3n2u83eqefsdft9vatnj9na0dqlzhnx80h To support this channel/podcast with Ethereum (ETH): 0xd3F649C3403a4789466c246F32430036DADf6c62 Blockchain backup on Lbry https://odysee.com/@paulvanderklay https://www.patreon.com/paulvanderklay Paul's Church Content at Living Stones Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh7bdktIALZ9Nq41oVCvW-A To support Paul's work by supporting his church give here. https://tithe.ly/give?c=2160640
Check out Marks conversation with Karen Wong on the meaning code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chybR... Like and Subscribe to Marks Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgIb... The first of the three RTNAR talks on AFtMC: https://youtu.be/J2yepV8_NxI Join the conversation on The Meaning Crisis Discord: https://discord.gg/WBvRK3EtRu Bridges Of Meaning Hub https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiJm... Chad The Alcoholic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuex... Logo Designed By Sally Cooper https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDiS... Sep 9
Mark Lefebvre and Manuel Post are leaders on the Awakening from the Meaning Crisis Discord and the YouTube channel of the same name. They arrived separately from myself at the idea that John Vervaeke's four ways of knowing might be incomplete. After seeing my videos on parabolic knowledge, they reached out to me for a conversation and we had a blast. Aug 29 2020
Mark Lefebvre talks about the importance of being a relaxed author, a topic he and co-author Joanna Penn explore in depth in their book THE RELAXED AUTHOR. We discuss relaxed writing (including writing at your own pace and fitting your writing process to your lifestyle); relaxed publishing (including the advice to publish wide … or not : ) and how to deal with cancel culture and bad reviews); relaxed marketing (including deciding if and where to engage on social media and the option of outsourcing); and relaxed business (including the importance of saying “no” and the benefit of finding trusted voices and tuning out the rest). For a transcript of this interview and links to more information, go to https://www.theindyauthor.com/podcast.html. Did you find the information in this video useful? Please consider supporting my work at The Indy Author via Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor) or Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple). Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the author of more than twenty books that include fiction and thrillers, and paranormal non-fiction explorations. He has also edited numerous anthologies. With three decades of experience in bookselling and publishing, Mark is a seasoned and trusted book industry professional who embraces both traditional and indie publishing options.
Get your copy of Mark's book Wide for the Win which is PACKED full of tips and tricks for marketing your books wide here: https://books2read.com/b/wideforthewin Find out more about Mark on his website: http://markleslie.ca/ Join the Rebel Author Facebook community here for more live events and writing support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelauthors/
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: Why whopping bits of paper are awesome for plotting The biggest mistakes writers make with plot How to use details to enhance your plot Tips and tricks for the middle of your book How to keep your motivation going when you're in the trenches of writing This week's question is: Do you plot or pants or plants? Recommendation of the week is: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune Kobo Apple Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Links and events I mentioned are: The Rebel Author Diaries Anthology Submissions are now open: Find out more here. Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing: 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST Find out more about Martha on: Twitter Facebook Instagram Boundless Creativity Workbook Martha's Books Listener Rebel of the Week is: Dominik August If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 1 new patron this week. A huge welcome and thank you to Jen Roundell. And of course, a big to all my existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: Whether it's still possible to make a career in 2021 Core business principles a writer needs The mindset shifts a writer needs to make in order to turn their writing into a business Other ways a writer can make money with their words? Tips for running an author business This week's question is: What do you find most difficult about the business side of writing? Recommendation of the week is: Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That is and What You Can Do About It by Steven Pressfield Kobo Apple Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Links and events I mentioned are: The Rebel Author Diaries Anthology Submissions are now open. Find out more here. Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing: 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST Kobo Writing Life talking about Prose Find out more about Jane on: Twitter Instagram The Business of Being a Writer Listener Rebel of the Week is: Val Neil If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 2 new patrons this week, a huge welcome and thank you to Jasmine Amaro and Giannin Viecili. And of course, a big to all my existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack This Show is Sponsored by ProWritingAid Find out more about ProWritingAid here. DISCOUNT CODE: REBEL25 Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: What the heroine's journey is Common mistakes with the heroine's journey The key beats of the heroine's journey The role of side characters in the heroine's journey Genre and reader expectations for heroine/hero's journey. This week's question is: Do you write the heroine or hero's journey? Recommendation of the week is: Your Press Release is Breaking my Heart by Janet Murray Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Links or events I mentioned are: Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST Find out more about Gail on: Twitter Facebook Website https://gailcarriger.com The Heroine's Journey Listener Rebel of the Week is: Victoria LK Williams If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 3 new patrons this week. Welcome and thank you to Harry Brooks, Holly Flynn and Scott Kavanagh. A huge thank you as well to all existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: Why you need to write a business plan The main components of an author business plan What to include and what not to include in your plan Mistakes to avoid with your business plan How to improve your money mindset This week's question is: Do you have an author business plan? Recommendation of the week is: Your Author Business Plan by Joanna Penn Kobo Apple Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Joanna's Links https://www.thecreativepenn.com/resources/ https://twitter.com/thecreativepenn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/author-business-plan/ Links and Events I mentioned are: Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST DO YOU LOVE WRITING FANTASY? CALLING ALL FANTASY WRITERS ProWritingAid are running a fantasy writing week in February and holy crap am I personally excited for this. Just look at the line up! With live sessions from bestselling fantasy writers TJ Klune, Angela J. Ford, David Farland and Stephanie BwaBwa, a world-building workshop, and a complete World Anvil software walkthrough, you don't want to miss this event! Please note, I am an affiliate of ProWritingAid, but that's because I personally use their software. Listener Rebel of the Week is: Mark Lefebvre If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 1 new patron this week. Welcome and thank you to Stanley B Trice. A huge thank you as well to all existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY KOBO WRITING LIFE Visit Kobo Writing Life here, read the Kobo Writing Life blog here, and listen to their podcast here.
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: Why swearing is good for you The gender difference between men and women and swearing Regional swearing and what this means for characterisation Why swearing helps you manage pain How swearing works in different areas of the brain This week's question is: what is your favorite swear word? Recommendation of the week is: The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger Kobo Apple Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Links and Events I mentioned are: Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST DO YOU LOVE WRITING FANTASY? CALLING ALL FANTASY WRITERS ProWritingAid are running a fantasy writing week in February and holy crap am I personally excited for this. Just look at the line up! With live sessions from bestselling fantasy writers TJ Klune, Angela J. Ford, David Farland and Stephanie BwaBwa, a world-building workshop, and a complete World Anvil software walkthrough, you don't want to miss this event! Please note, I am an affiliate of ProWritingAid, but that's because I personally use their software. Find out more about Emma on: Bookshop Twitter Instagram Listener Rebel of the Week is: Stacy L Frazer If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 1 new patron this week, welcome and thank you to Jackson Hollingsworth. A huge thank you to all existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: What the 80/20 principle means for your marketing The ultimate book marketing formula How to balance writing what you want versus giving the market what it wants Common marketing mistakes What to cut out of your marketing in 2021 This week's question is: What marketing tactic would you like to be better at? Recommendation of the week is: Alix E Harrow's A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies HUGO award winning short story Links and events I mentioned are: Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST Patron only Poison and Prose is 10th Feb. The Dialogue Doctor Episode with me! On voice, narrator voice, character voice, sharpening dialogue and more. DO YOU LOVE WRITING FANTASY? CALLING ALL FANTASY WRITERS ProWritingAid are running a fantasy writing week in February and holy crap am I personally excited for this. Just look at the line up! With live sessions from bestselling fantasy writers TJ Klune, Angela J. Ford, David Farland and Stephanie BwaBwa, a world-building workshop, and a complete World Anvil software walkthrough, you don't want to miss this event! Please note, I am an affiliate of ProWritingAid, but that's because I personally use their software. Find out more about Nicholas on: Website Amazon Page Listener Rebel of the Week is: Rebecca Pursell If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 1 new patron this week, welcome and thank you to Ryan Simmons. A huge thank you to all existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack This Show is Sponsored by ProWritingAid Find out more about ProWritingAid here. DISCOUNT CODE: REBEL25 Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Episode Show Notes In this episode we cover: What is a scene? Mistakes to avoid when creating scenes How to end a scene and leave readers wanting more How to layer action, emotion and theme into each scene How to use side characters to create the most impact in your scenes This week's question is: Recommend a craft, business or marketing book Recommendation of the week is: Writing Your Story's Theme: The Writer's Guide to Plotting Stories That Matter by K.M. Weiland Kobo Apple Amazon UK Amazon USA **This podcast uses affiliate links Links and events I mentioned are: Live Q&A with Mark Lefebvre on wide marketing 17th March 8:00pm GMT, 1pm PST, 4pm EST, 7am AEST Patron only Poison and Prose is 10th Feb. Find out more about Jordan on: Twitter Website Listener Rebel of the Week is: Helen Scheuerer If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod 1 new patron this week, thank you Martina JG. A huge thank you to all existing patrons. If you'd like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: https://www.patreon.com/sachablack
Episode Show Notes This Episode is Sponsored by Kobo Writing Life This Week's Question is: Where do you get your books? Do you buy them online, which store? Do you go to physical indie stores? Big chain stores, libraries? Somewhere else? The book recommendation this week is An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores by Mark Lefebvre. Get the book on Kobo Enter Mark's giveaway here. Join The Anatomy of Prose Street Team If you'd like to help with the launch of The Anatomy of Prose you can join the street team or read a review copy by completing this short form Listener Rebel of the Week is HB Lyne If you'd like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com or tweet me @rebelauthorpod *** One new Patron today, welcome Beth Ball. Thank you so much for joining me and thank you to all my patrons, who help to ensure that this podcast continues. If you'd like to support the show, and get access to all the bonus essays, posts and content, you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack Find out more about Mark on: His website www.markleslie.ca Twitter Instagram His Podcast Grab your copy of An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores
Mark Lefebvre, my co-author on “Taking the Short Tack: Creating Income and Connecting with Readers Using Short Fiction,” discuss the collaboration process and the messages of the book.
Rachel Amphlett, bestselling crime and thriller writer from Brisbane, Australia, was at Kobo HQ earlier this fall as part of an international author tour. Rachel spoke to Mark Lefebvre about: Rachel's re-introduction to writing after a long lapse and the underlying concept for a story that just wouldn't let go The wonderfully inspirational Christmas gift from Rachel's husband Nick and his keen words of advice on how to deal with that story (which became the novel WHITE GOLD) The Italian publisher who approached her wanting to purchase Italian language rights to that first published novel The mindset shift that requires discipline on a daily basis in order to hit the daily word count first thing before all the other business and marketing tasks take hold The necessary step of turning off the wifi and putting her phone in another room when it is time to be serious and get down to writing The Gantt chart Rachel uses to outline and stick to her twelve month pre-planned publishing schedule Her latest book, the November 2017 release HELL TO PAY and how it wraps up an underlying sub-plot that had been developing over the previous three novels in the series How emails and feedback from readers around the world have helped Rachel to “up” her game when writing the books in her two series The decision Rachel has made to use British English versus American English for different books depending on where they are set How Rachel's Canadian audience on Kobo was established well before any of her other international audiences started to grow How being in Kobo Plus in the Netherlands and Belgium have helped Rachel sell more books in those territories than ever before Her advice for beginning writers, which include “don't give up” and “do your homework” Nick's advice for the spouses of writers
Mark Lefebvre interviews James Alan Gardner and Spider Robinson, co-editors of the Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela anthology. Compostela means “field of stars” and is most commonly known from the Santiago de Compostela, which, for more than 1,000 years, has attracted pilgrims to walk to the cathedral that holds St. James the apostle's relics. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time.
Episode 93 includes a series of short interviews that KWL Director, Mark Lefebvre conducted at the 2017 When Words Collide conference in Calgary, Alberta. Mark speaks with authors Robert J. Sawyer and C.C. Humphreys as well as marketing consultant Mickey Mikkelson about digital publishing, global eBook pricing, author promotion strategies and successful author readings. Robert J. Sawyer Robert J. Sawyer — called "the dean of Canadian science fiction" by The Ottawa Citizen and "just about the best science-fiction writer out there these days" by The Denver Rocky Mountain News — is one of only eight writers in history (and the only Canadian) to win all three of the science-fiction field's top honors (the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and The John W. Campbell Memorial Award) for best novel of the year. Rob talks about how he sold the North American rights for his twenty-third novel, Quantum Night, to Penguin Random House, but retained the rest of world rights and took advantage of Kobo Writing Life to publish the international eBook edition of the book. (Link to the book in UK used) He shares the wisdom of lower eBook prices, comparing his own global sales of the title at $4.99 USD version the $18.99 price point that Penguin Random House set. WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH ROB Mickey Mikkelson (Creative Edge Publicity) Creative Edge Publicity specializes in arranging events such as book signings, library or school presentations, or any event related to the arts in general. They represent many book events including When Words Collide and have a strong belief and advocate for the independent and traditional artist. In his role at Creative Edge supporting authors with their marketing efforts, Mickey shares some of the things his company does helping both traditionally published and self-published authors. Mickey offers advice on what authors should consider before approaching a marketing team for support for their efforts and the fact that there is always a unique approach for each individual author. WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY C.C. Humphreys Chris (C.C.) Humphreys has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London's West End to Hollywood's Twentieth Century Fox. He has written ten historical novels, including the most recent Plague and Fire. Tales of religious fundamentalist serial killers set against the wild events of 1665 to 1666, London, Plague won Canada's Crime Writers' Association Best Crime Novel Award, the Arthur Ellis in 2015. In the Summer of 2016, both novels spent five weeks in the Globe and Mail Top Ten Bestseller list. Along with being a bestselling author, Chris is also a stage, film and television actor, who shares some tips for writers on doing public readings of their work. He suggests that an author's goal in doing a reading should be to really engage with that audience and also to remember that the audience is there to “love” and cheer for the author's success. He also suggests selecting a passage that is active and character driven as well as modulating the tone of their voice throughout the reading. WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS Mark then talks about the concept of authors taking full advantage of both traditional publishing and independent publishing opportunities, going into a full breakdown of the revenues earned from a single short story of less than 900 words. "Almost" the story in question, appeared in several self-published collections but also is contained in Bumps in the Night, One Hand Screaming and the Crimes, Capers & Rule-Breakers Bundle. but he also sold non-exclusive reprint rights to the story to McGraw-Hill Ryerson for their iLit program. Based on the fact that the professional rate for a short fiction rates is typically somewhere in the $0.05 to $0.6 per word range for most writers, Mark calculates what the per word earnings for this story have been, landing somewhere between $0.40 and $1.15 per word depending on the various income streams for that story. Ultimately, a story whose original pro fiction rate sale would have been approximately $44.00 ended up earning more than $1000. Of course, this is only a single short story, but as part of a larger strategy with plenty of other assets in play, consider how that might add up for authors who take full advantage of exploiting their rights and exploring all options available for earning money on their writing. (See the original blog details here) Links of Interest: Robert J. Sawyer's eBooks on Kobo Robert J. Sawyer's audiobooks on Kobo (Listen for FREE with Kobo Audiobooks trial) Robert J. Sawyer's website (SFWriter.com) C.C. Humphrey's eBooks on Kobo C.C. Humphrey's website Creative Edge Publicity website When Words Collide Website If you enjoy this podcast and would like to automatically download episodes as they go live – even before the show notes are posted to the Kobo Writing Life website – subscribe to the RSS feed via your favourite pod-capturing platform (such as iTunes) using this link: RSS feed for Kobo Writing Life Podcast.
In Episode 92, Mark Lefebvre interviews Charles de Lint, who is the author of more than seventy books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, Charles is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and has been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. In the interview, Mark and Charles talk about: The underlying theme for de Lint's new book, The Wind in His Heart – accepting the past and how community and a connection with others can help us surmount the challenges we face in the present – but only if we can teach ourselves to open up and trust those around us How long de Lint has worked on the book through its various stages The connections this novel has to de Lint's popular Newford novels and stories The pattern of writing adult novel, young adult novel and then repeating that pattern until it was suggested to de Lint that he focus on the YA market for a while The readership of de Lints work, which spans from 12 to 82 years and how various folks have started with different introductory books to his work and then stuck with his writing no matter which direction he has taken The factors that led to de Lint experimenting with indie publishing; such as the fact that the digital/eBook rights to his books were never sold to a publisher The comparison between independent authors and independent musicians The true hybrid approach for The Wind in His Heart, with de Lint self-publishing the eBook as well as a standard trade paperback POD version of the book, but how PS Publishing, a specialty publisher in the UK is released a limited edition hardcover version of the book and how de Lint's agent ended up selling the audiobook rights to a major audiobook publisher The great success of an independent musician such as Ani DiFranco - https://www.righteousbabe.com/ The hopeful and optimistic viewpoint that de Lint draws when comparing the music industry to the publishing industry Some of the music that de Lint listened to when working on the novel, and how he believes that the southwest style music of Calexico (http://www.casadecalexico.com/) encapsulates the mood of the novel quite well How de Lint got into writing book reviews, interviews with authors and articles about writers and the reasons behind putting all that work into it Places where de Lint hangs out, such as the Facebook group The Mythic Café, with Charles de Lint and Company (https://www.facebook.com/groups/114379772019551/) The launch events for the novel: Ottawa (Sept 19th at The Savoy Brasserie - https://savoybrasserie.com/_ ) Toronto Oct 21st at Bakka Phoenix - http://www.bakkaphoenixbooks.com/) A few of the projects that de Lint is working on now for future release and the liberating joy he has experienced being able to follow his muse and just write the books he would like to write (rather than trying to follow a requirement from a contract) De Lint's advice for beginning writers Mark then talks about the “true hybrid” approach that de Lint has taken on his writing and publishing journey – effectively and efficiently dividing up the rights of his works, as well as the optimism not only inherent in de Lint's new novel, but in his overall approach to the opportunities available through digital publishing, and what writers can learn from embracing that spirit of hope and hard work. Links of Interest Charles de Lint's Books at Kobo Charles de Lint's Facebook page Mythic Café with Charles de Lint & Company Charles de Lint on Twitter Charles de Lint on Goodreads Charles de Lint on Instagram Charles de Lint on Tumblr More info about Kobo Audiobooks KWL EP 52 - One More Story Games – Interview with co-founder Jean Leggett about the great opportunities for writers with this storytelling/game creation platform
Episode 89 of the KWL Podcast includes on location interviews with 7 different authors conducted by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Author Relations at Kobo during the 2017 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference. Barbara Freethy Sharing the enjoyment she gets connecting with fellow writers at RWA, Barbara also shares info about a new romantic suspense series (a spin-off of her Storm trilogy) that she was releasing during the week of RWA, as well as a collaboration with 6 other authors called “Seven Brides for Seven Soldiers” that will be launching in the fall. Chris Keniston Chris discusses the strategy she used for her Faraday Country series (currently 8 books out with books 9 and 10 up for pre-order at the time of the interview), including stock-piling the first 4 books before beginning to release the series. She also talks about how she used a permanently free Book One in the series to help propel sales of the rest of the books in this clean and wholesome romance series. The combined effect of this stock-piling and a permanently free first book in the series has helped her triple her sales numbers. Carrie Ann Ryan Fresh on the heals of the recent releases of Inked Expressions and Hope Restored, Carrie Ann shares the “tree-trunk” manner by which she connects the various series books together in a cohesive whole and the multiple points of entry this creates for readers. She also shares the combined multi-author launch of the Bad Boy Homecoming Romance connected novels as well as the slightly different branding that she uses when switching between paranormal romance and contemporary romance. M.L. Buchman How M.L. (Matt), who writes in 11 different series (publishing 8 books a year and at least 13 short stories, including two that appear in Fiction River #4 and Fiction River #23), doesn't engage in social media in any significant way, but uses his newsletter to create a great value for his fans. Matt provides a free short story for his newsletter fans every single month. Matt also shares a bit about his important book Estate Planning for Authors: Your Final Letter (and Why You Need to Write it Now) Ember Casey & Renna Peak Ember and Renna talk about the collaborative contemporary royalty romance series that they've been writing for the past 3 years (3 6 part serials that are all connected) and the way they split the writing (Ember writes the guy parts, Renna writes the girl parts). They also share the aggressive “every 2 week” release schedule that they developed and the success of creating a large reader funnel by making the first 2 books in the original series free. Mark Dawson Mark talks about some of the strategies that he has used for Facebook ads, particularly the ads placed for 8 book box sets targeting Kobo customers, particularly customers in Canada and Australia. Much of Mark's shared wisdom can be found on his website SelfPublishingFormula.com He also talks about the importance of not getting details wrong, in particular the use of weapons (which one of his most popular characters, John Milton, uses) and shares the fact that, later that same day, he was heading off to a shooting range to try various weapons first hands as the ultimate research. At the end of the podcast, Mark Lefebvre points out a recent article that was posted on both the Kobo Writing Life website and the Kobo Writing Life Community that outlines the 5 most common reasons why a book might be rejected in the publishing process. He shares that these posts are created specifically to help authors with finding information about particular details related to publishing on Kobo and encourages authors to take advantage of that information.
Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn't the more typical interview, but rather, KWL's Director, Mark Lefebvre, outlining five strategies that successful authors use to build their sales, raise their author profile and get readers to sign up their author mailing lists with Free eBooks. First, Mark talks about the updates to FREE tracking. If you've been paying attention to the updates in the Notification header of the Kobo Writing Life dashboard (which link to this VERY HANDY - hint, hint, nudge, nudge - part of the KWL Community) throughout July, you may have noticed that the Web team and the KWL Team have been working at revisions to the broken free tracking that we've been dealing with for quite a while. Currently FREE TRACKING is being refreshed and updated. But in the meantime, there's something important you should know about the FREE DOWNLOADS numbers you're seeing. The most important has to do with PREVIEWS. First, please don't worry, we are NOT giving your non-free books away. At Kobo, readers have the opportunity to preview the first 5% of eBooks. Whenever an ePub file is loaded into Kobo's database, the catalog generates a unique new ePub file that is comprised of the first 5% of that full eBook, then it tacks on a final page with a "BUY Button" for the full book into the end of that ePub. And whenever a customer clicks on the "Save Preview" button on a book's item page, it adds that preview ePub file to that customer's library. Since there isn't currently any filtering that distinguishes the preview ePub file from the full ePub file, it appears as if that eBook was given to a customer, and is tracked as a "free download" in the dashboard. (The KWL, Web and UX Teams will be adjusting and fixing this, but having that information can be extremely valuable, because it allows you to see how many customers have PREVIEWED your book. IE, if you have a huge number of PREVIEWS but not a huge number of sales, that could tell you something important about the conversion from free preview to sales) 1) First Free eBook in Series (Perma-Free) Although this isn't a new practice, it continues to be something that works quite nicely for authors looking to increase their sales and author profile at Kobo. Authors can set any book on Kobo to free at any time for as long as they want with no restrictions and no requests for exclusivity. The concept is creating a funnel to get a lot of people to grab the first book for free and hopefully converting them into buyers because the worlds, characters, settings and situations they are reading about in your series are so compelling that they HAVE to keep on reading. Below are some stats that are typical of the conversion rate from FREE to SALES via studies done on multiple different first book in series promos. 2) Free Book/Novella/Novelette Kept Perma-Free that ISN'T the first in the Series The same technique used above can be used for other books in the series (rather than the first book), or perhaps for interstitial stories in the series universe. Remember that, with Kobo Writing Life, you can enter Series metadata using decimals. IE, imagine you have a novella that takes place between Books 1 and 2 in your series. Entering 1.5 into the Volume Number value in your Series metadata connects those book. (See this post on how that works at KWL) 3) Free related/connected Short Story hook into a novel or series Mark shares a personal anecdote about using a short story to entice readers to want to learn more or explore more about characters that appear in a full novel. His example is how the FREE short story, This Time Around, a 10,000 word short story, has been successful at helping new readers discover his main character Michael Andrews, who is a werewolf attempting to live a normal life in the midst of one of the world's largest metropolitan centers in the novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York. 4) A Free eBook that is a stand alone novel / NOT part of a series For those of you who do NOT have series books, don't despair. There is still a correlation between the "funnel" of free eBooks and readers going on to buy more books by the same author (rather than books in the same series) Mark shares how his friend Sean Costello, a thriller/horror writer he works closely with, uses free to build a readership, not based on the book being part of a series, but based on readers discovering the voice of a brilliant author who they feel compelled to read more books from. Costello's SQUALL has garnered almost 3300 reviews on Kindle and more than 800 reviews on Kobo with a 4 star average. Again, good news for authors who don't write series books. Free works for gaining new readers and selling more eBooks for you too. :) 5) Using FREE eBooks for Newsletter sign-ups While it's great that retails can help authors sell more using algorithms and targeted emails to their customers making recommendations, it is important for authors to get readers to sign up to their author newsletter. Folks like Nick Stephenson (Your first 10,000 Readers) and Mark Dawson (Self Publishing Formula) have been helping authors use techniques to help get readers signed up for their newsletter mailing lists which allow authors to better control their own success. (Being able to let your best fans know when you have a new release or have a promotional price available has a direct correlation with sales success) The way this works (and you can get FAR BETTER details by clicking the links above), authors set up a newsletter sign up at the end of their eBooks or via targeted social media ads (Facebook, etc) and when a customer signs up, they can get a free eBook sent to them from the author. These are typically eBooks that are NOT free on the various retail websites. So these readers who become newsletter subscribers get something of value directly from the author which helps built brand trust and loyalty. Other authors, such as M.L. Buchman don't ever make their eBooks free nor do they give free eBooks away. But, instead, they create unique, fresh and interesting new stories and content specifically FOR their best fans, via either an author newsletter or directly on their own websites. (They will sometimes release this material via regular retail channels at a later date) This ensures that their best fans get access to reading fresh and exiting new material before anybody else can read it. That, in a nutshell, are just five different ways that authors are using FREE to help build their sales and their author brands. We would love to share more strategies that work well, so if you have a strategy that works for you, please free free to share that in comments on this podcast's show notes on the KWL Podcast web page under Episode 88. Related Links: Free eBooks on Kobo - curated from KWL titles and updated weekly. You can apply to be featured via the PROMOTIONS tab, which is currently in beta release. If you don't have it, simply request it by emailing writinglife@kobo.com
This episode continues from where episode 82 left off with KWL's recent live interviews with attendees from RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in early May 2017. RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed authors and industry folks about various topics. In Part 2, we share Mark's chats with: Meredith Wild A new series of collaborative novels launching in September, starting with Meredith's novel Misadventures of a City Girl and the fun writing experimentation that led to it Advice that Meredith would offer to beginning writers who are just getting started on their writing journey How Meredith allowed herself some “time off from writing” during this particular conference Stephanie Bond Stephanie's latest release in the Body Movers Series, 8 Bodies is Enough The things that Stephanie loves about RT, which is one of her favorite conferences A forthcoming project, Temp Girl, and the temporary tattoos that Stephanie is giving out to fans at the conference Liliana Hart The forthcoming book (due out May 23rd) in a brand new series (Gravediggers) from Pocket Books entitled The Darkest Corner which is a mix between her J. Graves and the MacKenzie Family series (combining thriller and romance) The unique position of being a hugely successful indie author who is also working with a major publisher and making the best out of both worlds How Liliana writes all the time, including sequestering herself in a hotel room or even as a passenger in the car while touring to events like RT Stephanie Phillips from SBR Media Literary Agency Some of the 20 authors that SBR Media represents, including Debra Presley, Kahlen Aimes, Micalea Smeltzer, as well as authors who are attending RT (M. Willard, Misha Elliott, Elizabeth Hayes) The pitches that Stephanie has been taking from authors interested in working with her agency Stephanie's Romance Focused Review Blog: Stephanie's Book Reports (where authors can submit their books for consideration for reviews) Mark Coker from Smashwords A sneak peek at the annual RT Smashwords survey that explores the aggregated sales data across all the retail platforms, including: Which price points get the most sales / which price points get the most income What impact does a pre-order have on sales related to different genres A deep dive into series, including the effect of free as series starters As of the time of this posting, the 2017 report hasn't been made live, but here is a link to the 2016 and 2015 report, chock-full of great insights and info for authors Diane and Dante from ListenUp Audiobooks Diane's role at ListenUp in assisting indie authors in the production of their audiobooks, including the initial discussion, finding the right narrator and getting the book distributed if the author chooses that option Dante's role as audio engineer and technical director, including working directly with the voice talent and the post recording production to ensure top-quality audio product KWL authors can get $100 off per hour by following this link, navigating to “Get Started” and entering the promo code “Kobo” http://www.listenupindie.pub/
KWL was recently in Atlanta, Georgia attending RT Booklovers Convention. Considered the Book Lover Event of the year, RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, was on site interviewing authors and industry folks about various topics on writing, reading and promotions. The RT Booklovers interviews have been broken into more than one episode. In Part 1, we share Mark's chats with: Helen Hardt Her latest novel, Surrender; her penchant for ending her series books with cliffhangers and the direct relation with her pre-order success; A teaser regarding her forthcoming MISADVENTURES series; some advice for beginning writers Jeff Adams & Will Knauss Jeff's new release Somewhere on Mackinac and its relation to the classic film Somewhere in Time; their publisher Dreamspinner Press and collaborating on a novel; Jeff and Will's Big Gay Fiction Podcast Julia Kent Her most recent novel, Shopping for a CEO's Wife in the bestselling romantic comedy SHOPPING series of novels; the pseudonym that Julia writes romantic suspense and pulse-pounding fiction under: Meli Raine Chloe from Written Word Media Opportunities for writers looking for promotions for their reduced price and free ebook titles; more places where writers can get great tips and advice Dan from Draft2Digital The free universal link tool that D2D has released for authors, making it simpler than ever before to be all inclusive when linking to retail websites where people can buy their books.
Mark Lefebvre is an author and editor; he serves as the director of self-publishing and author relations at Kobo, one of the top eBook retailers in the world. This fantastic interview covers a wide range of topics. We talked about traditional publishing and self-publishing and the true value of both. We also discussed emerging global markets […] The post 133: Kobo Writing Life and International eBook Sales with Mark Lefebvre appeared first on TCK Publishing.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews Young Adult Fantasy and Chicklit author, Katie Cross as she shares strategies about how she was able to keep writing, with even more productivity, in her transition from full time author to full time Mom. In the chat, Katie and Mark discuss: Her lifelong passion of writing and her recent passion of becoming a mother (which happened about a year and a half into her 3 years of publishing career) and how she juggles both with her 18 month old. Some of the time-scheduling strategies she uses, which changes every month with such a young child. (For example, right now, she writes for a couple of hours during the day during nap time as well as after bed-time) The concept of a Mom-swap with a few neighborhood friends. On a schedule with two other stay-at-home Moms who need time for personal errands/etc they rotate on particular days of the week where all the children are at a particular mother's house for about a three hour period. This provides Katie with about 3 additional hours to write twice per week Strategies in early childhood, actually holding her baby while he slept and managing to quietly tap away at the keyboard Other strategies used, (involving intense multi-tasking) walking the dogs while having her baby strapped onto her and dictating story ideas into her phone. (Exercise, fresh air, getting the dogs and baby for an outing AND getting some writing work done) How, being a Military Wife, she is able to arrange to travel to valuable writing and networking workshops like Superstars Writing Seminars How having limited time has made her a much more productive writer The way that hiring a virtual assistant has helped her maximize her writing time (Her assistant, Christina's website is www.faithfullysocial.com Katie's initial struggle to grow sales and readers at Kobo and how, over time (about a year and a half), her sales began a slow and steady build (she has been seeing growth mostly at Kobo, iBooks and Scribd since going wide) How, once she finished a young adult series (4 books plus a prequel and a novella) and created a bundle, the series seemed to have taken off The comparison of being a new parent to being an indie author The blog that Katie has which is meant specifically for author parents (IE: “I get it, I'm in the trenches with you”) kcrosswriting.com After the interview, Mark reflects on the manner by which Katie has made writing a priority and how other writers who struggle with balancing multiple priorities might be inspired by her as well as a reflective writing quote that has been with him for more than 20 years.
From his role as a guest faculty member at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre interviewed professional photographer Lauren Lang who was on site to help attending authors get a professional author photo. In the interview Mark and Lauren discuss: Lauren's start in the industry in journalism and her desire to use a visual medium as her preferred method of telling and sharing stories The desire of capturing a moment in photography and causing an emotional reaction in the viewer/audience Some of the differences between “posed” and more “candid” photography and Lauren's desire to love people in the midst of emotion, catching them emoting and enjoying themselves in the moment The methods that Lauren uses turning the “inherently unnatural” environment of posed photography into something where the subject doesn't feel so uncomfortable or self-conscious The importance of being real when Lauren is trying to draw the author and their story out as part of the photo shoot Some of the tricks that an author might use when preparing for a professional photo shoot, including moving beyond the “getting an author head shot is something I have to do” to thinking about this as being something for their fans (even if they're a beginning author and don't yet have a fan base) A look at some of the “do not do's” and “mis-steps” that people make when trying to select a good head-shot, including using a photo that actually looks like you (rather than the way you looked a few decades earlier) What an author should look for when finding a photographer to hire/work with A look at expression in photography from a study from Photofeeler.com Mark then reflects on the author photo, a projected image, authenticity and how that might all role into a larger picture of author brand. Links of interest: Jacobin Photography Website Jacobin Photography on Facebook Lauren Lang on Instagram Lauren Lang on Twitter Photofeeler.com Blog Superstars Writing Seminars
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Kobo is the host for this episode, and introduces a memorable clip from Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna Penn talks compares walking the 100KM "Race to the Stones" with writing. In her talk, Joanna goes into the details regarding 9 Lessons Learned About Writing from Walking 100K in a Weekend: Deadlines and specific goals help you achieve more It's good to have a goal, but training (and the journey) is the point Stamina builds up over time with practice You need a support team, but nobody can do the steps for you There are fun parts, but some of it will be hell Don't compare yourself to others. The race is only with yourself Follow the path others have set before you It's worth spending money to get the right gear A lot of people give up along the way – persistence is the key to success Mark then talks a bit about the beginning and end of the year as common goal-setting times for writers, and shares 5 of the bigger writing goals he had set for himself in 2016. He goes into detail, explaining the highs of meeting deadlines and goals, and the struggles with not achieving a goal (including his own 10 year struggle with getting his novel A Canadian Werewolf in New York published - he started working on it on a series from The Writing Show Podcast back in 2006) - something likely every writer faces. Links of Interest from this episode The Creative Penn Podcast Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast with Roz Morris Joanna Penn's books on Kobo (About Writing) Joanna's J.F. Penn novels on Kobo KWL Episode 32 - Interview with Dan Rubinstein The "Getting Published with Mark Leslie" episodes of The Writing Show Mark's A Canadian Werewolf in New York on Kobo
In a slight twist to the normal format for the podcast, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who is interested in getting involved in podcasting interviews Mark Lefebvre, Joanna Penn and J, Daniel Sawyer about podcasting for authors. Some of the questions that Kris asks in the discussion, are: --> How did you get started in podcasting? -->What schedule(s) do the podcasts come out on? Monthly, Weekly, Daily. --> Has podcasting interfered with writing or has it augmented it? In the course of the discussion, Kris, Mark, Joanna and Dan talk about: --> How podcasting allows them to network, learn, and connect with others --> How the podcast needs to become a "habit" for listeners. Joanna, for example, shares stats about how moving to a weekly format increased her listener engagement --> the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) value when you add a transcrpt of the show on your website --> How Joanna almost gave up podcasting a couple of years ago because of the time it took away from her writing and how having a monetization strategy helped with that --> Authors like Scott Sigler and Terry Fallis who used podcasting to build their audiences and kick-off their writing careers --> Time management challenges, tools used and how the use of "batching" (pre-recording a number of episodes in a single sitting) has benefited Joanna Penn and J. Daniel Sawyer --> The value of adding a personal side to a podcast, and the way that has benefited The Creative Penn podcast --> Bundlerabbit- a service that allows people to curate their own bundles --> The use of ad space swapping with other podcasts in order to expand one's audience --> Podcast distribution options --> The importance of listening to a podcast before pitching yourself to them as a potential guest In the wrap-up, Mark talks about the importance of constantly learning. Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an industry veteran who teaches and mentors writers directly and on her amazing blog "The Business Rusch" But even after all those decades of experience, she still has an open mind and is willing to learn, because the publishing industry is constantly changing and evolving. Links to other interviews with the same guests: Episode 16 - Joanna Penn Episode 29 - Kristine Kathryn Rusch Episode 54 - The Uncollected Anthology (with Kris) Episode 56 - J. Daniel Sawyer Other Links of Interest: Joanna Penn's HOW TO PODCAST The Creative Penn Podcast J. Daniel Sawyer's Full Suite of Audio/Podcasts BundleRabbit
What if some of the artists we feel as if we know – Meryl Streep, Neil Young, Bill Murray – turned up in the course of our daily lives? That's the basis of this collection of linked stories that follow Rose McEwan, an ordinary woman who keeps having extraordinary encounters with famous people. Nora Parker, Merchandising Coordinator at Kobo, interviews Marni Jackson, author of Don't I Know You? Published by Flatiron Books in New York. In the interview, Nora and Marni discuss: Marni's turn to fiction from her previous books such as Pain: The Science of Why We Hurt and Home Free: The Myth of the Empty Nest The accidental manner by which these stories ended up converging into the linked-stories novel that it became, starting with a short story Marni wrote called “Bob Dylan Goes Tubing” which was originally published in The Walrus in September 2012 How that same “Bob Dylan” short story was inspired by a painting that her son created one afternoon when they were at the cottage How Jackson choose who to include in the stories and how Rose McEwan's relationship to celebrity evolves throughout the tales How Bill Murray is a great character in the book because of the carefully curated and crafted persona of “Bill Murray” that he deftly manages and uses to connect with his fans (or, to use a very Canadian term, as Marni does: “Stick-handles” his fame in a really interesting way The interesting relationship between celebrity and audience and how the audience or fans actually “author” a celebrity's fame The manner by which celebrities don't necessarily exist “out there” in the distance, but that they are very much a part of our creative lives (ie, we may put on one of their songs while we are having sex – a perfect example of how they are incorporated into those intimate moments) The juxtaposition of the journalist in Jackson who enjoyed documenting real elements from the celebrities in this book with the fun and fictional encounters with Rose Jackson's interest in our relationships with celebrities and our relationship to fame rather than in the cult of celebrity The Al Purdy stage show project that Jackson is currently working on based on the film al purdy was here which she co-wrote that her husband, Brian D. Johnson, directed The concerns regarding the mention of famous people in the book and the fact that Jackson's lawyer went through it with her line-by-line to ensure there was nothing that could be construed as libelous or defamation of character After the interview, Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life and Author Relations, shares some thoughts regarding Author Branding, outlining some ways in which an author can ensure that they are curating and presenting a consistent author persona or brand out into the world. He draws upon a couple of examples that, like in the Bill Murray reference Marni Jackson uses, are Canadian. He uses his own example of the use of the life-sized skeleton Barnaby Bones that he employs for his Mark Leslie horror/paranormal/ghost story author persona. He also explores Hugo and Nebula Award winning science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer who uses the “Dean of Canadian Science Fiction” element throughout his persona, including the name of his website: SFWRITER.COM. As a final example, Mark looks at the fonts uses in the title for the Netflix original STRANGER THINGS and how that makes a promise to potential viewers. Other links of interest: Marni Jackson's Website Marni Jackson's Books on Kobo Flatiron Books The Walrus Magazine Branding for Writers – from Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn
Reedsy's ambition extends beyond just being a place where authors can connect with publishing professionals; it's a place for collaborative tools and with an ultimate goal of assisting the publication process right from the first written word of an author's manuscript right through the typesetting, publishing and marketing of the final book. Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, interviews Matthew Cobb, co-founder and lead designer of Reedsy regarding the platform and the amazing online Book Editor tool. In the interview Mark and Matthew discuss: What Reedsy is (a marketplace for authors and editors, designers, etc to meet and collaborate as well as an online tool that allows authors to both collaborate in the creation process, but also produce production ready ePub and print on demand files) How the filters allow an author to find the right professional to provide the right editorial services to them, and the quote request process where you can request a free quote from up to 5 different matching professionals The curatorial process by which editors and other professionals apply to be within this ecosystem and are vetted and approved by the team at Reedsy How Reedsy doesn't only handle the introduction to the publishing professional but also the transaction (ie, payment to the editor), but also the file transfer, as well as customer support and assistance Details about the online book editor and how it was born out of the frustration inherent when one of the founders wanted to publish a book The issues inherent with trying to use WORD to typeset and prepare a book for print-readiness along with how an author can simply copy and paste their WORD file document into the editor and it'll preserve all the formatting, including headings, alignment, etc The ability for editors and authors to work together collaboratively online using the Reedsy Book Editor The use of templates that authors select, when they're ready to export their print ready or ePub format file Whether or not this free editor is good for other formats such as children's books, cookbooks, or other fixed layout types of book formats A bit about the four co-founders of Reedsy and the internal Reedsy family of employees Matthew's favourite advice for a beginning writer to get on the right track for success Mark then talks about the importance of finding the right person for the right job (ie, an author looking for just the right editor) and relates that to both the story of Goldilocks (how she kept trying things until she found the one that was just right), as well as the concept of asking a more detailed question in order to get the most optimum answer for you. Links of Interest: Reedsy Reedsy Book Editor The Reedsy Blog Reedsy on Twitter
Episode 61 features an interview with Peter James, an international best-selling British writer of crime fiction, which took place at Kobo in June 2016 in front of a live audience. Peter is interviewed by Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre. In the interview, Mark and Peter discuss: Peter's work on the Canadian television program POLKA DOT DOOR in Toronto in the 1970s where he worked as a "gofer" and was asked by a producer, when a regular staff writer called in sick, to write an episode. After that he ended up writing for the show for a year. The original “Agatha Christie” style crime fiction that Peter was weaned on which had very strict rules and conventions: A dead body in chapter one; preferably in a country house; a bit of culture; a bit of sex; a little bit of violence and the hilariously fitting opening line that he has come up with which inserts all those elements How Graham Greene's Brighton Rock (one of two of the best crime novels ever written, in Peter's eyes – the other one is Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs) is a book that changed Peter's life, because it threw all of those rules out the window. How Brighton Rock taught Peter 3 important things about novels: A great opening line. Where the central character is a villain that you can care about. How some of the most enduring characters in all of literature have been villains. How the villain in LOVE YOU DEAD was inspired by a woman Peter met on a prison visit How having his house burgled let to Peter finding great friends from the police force who have invited him to learn directly from them for the past thirty years, inserting the authenticity that he so carves in his crime fiction The dedicated police officer who, upon first meeting Peter, pointed to a mountainous stack of crates of manila folders and introduced them as his “dead friends” and how he eventually became the inspiration for Roy Grace Two traits that really good detectives have: They are incredibly anal and capable of incredible out of the box thinking Peter's belief in the inseparable trinity of character, research and plot in creating writing The great extremes that Peter has gone to in the name of research for his books, including being locked in a coffin for half an hour, held a live scorpion in his hand, been submerged in an overturned van The book DEATH COMES KNOCKING: Policing Roy Grace's Brighton that Peter is co-authoring based on long-running respect for the real police and the many years of research he has done with them The haunted house that Peter lived in which partially inspired his novel THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL The real character (Hayden Kelly) from Peter's last three books who is a real guy and came up with forensic podiatry, the measurement of the unique gaits of different people Mark then talks about the great ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) that he received from Peter's Canadian distributor (see blog post here) as a great example of author branding and grabbing a reader or reviewer's attention as well as another important resource that authors can rely on for digital branding: PERSONALITY. He uses the example of Peter's YouTube channel and how it helped add a new layer a new dimension to Peter's author brand, and how watching several videos of the author helped Mark, as a reader, feel connected to the author. Mark discusses the importance of that connection which can be achieved through digital mediums.
Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews, author, podcaster, film-maker, photographer and audio-book producer, J. Daniel Sawyer. In the interview, Mark and Daniel discuss: Dan's publishing production schedule which include 5 books currently in the queue, 8 mysteries in a single series (The Clarke Lantham Mysteries) 6 science fiction books spread across two different series (The Antithesis Progression & Suave Rob's Awesome Adventures) and stand-alones, a couple of short story collections and two long form writer's guides (Making Tracks: A Writer's Guide to Audiobooks and How to Produce Them and Throwing Lead: A Writer's Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them) How four of the books in Sawyer's Clarke Lantham series started off as short stories, but then “escaped” into full sized novels Dan's book Idea's Inc. that was inspired by science fiction legend Harlan Ellison's snarky response to where he gets his ideas from. His goal to write 3000 words each and every day Dan's Nanowrimo Daily Podcast project Nanowrimo Every Month The three pillars of writing: Craft, Business, Law Examples of incorrect weapon use in stories, which Sawyer addresses in his book: Throwing Lead: A Writer's Guide to Firearms and the People Who Use Them How poorly researched use of something like weapons can kick a knowing reader out of the story The differences in weapon terminology use, such as a clip and a magazine, an automatic and a semi-automatic The Weaver stance, originally created in the 1950's and how it remains one of a number of popular shooting stances in handgun training today because it taught police officers how to shoot quickly, accurately and without accidents Why the “clicking” of a gun when it is out of ammunition is an inaccurate Hollywood convention when it comes to most modern firearms Why Doc Brown would NOT have survived the AK-47 attack in the movie Back to the Future, even with a Kevlar vest on Why being shot typically won't send someone flying backwards or even stop them while rushing forward Dan's life-long passion for theatre-radio and audio-books How Scott Sigler inspired Dan into podcasting his fiction. A look at the minimum standard equipment an author would need in order to produce their own quality audio book How Dan has created full-cast / multi-voice audio productions The rough number of hours it takes to produce each hour of finished audio product and the differences between single narrator recordings and full-cast productions The importance of learning from one's own blunders while finding your way through the business aspect of writing Links: Daniel Sawyer's Website Twitter: @dsawyer
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.
Episode 45 features an interview with USA Today Bestselling author Julianne MacLean, author of THE COLOR OF HEAVEN series, THE HIGHLANDER series and THE PEMBROKE PALACE series. Julianne is interviewed by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life and they discuss: Julianne's first visit to Kobo HQ in Toronto, Ontario How Mark fell into Julianne's first contemporary novel, THE COLOR OF HEAVEN during a flight, and could not put the book down The manner by which Julianne adapted what she learned from James Patterson in structuring THE COLOR OF HEAVEN and her desire to create a book that was suspenseful on an emotional level, producing what she likes to think of as: "Women's Fiction for Thriller fans" The fact that THE COLOR OF HEAVEN was released in 2011 and how Book 9 in the series (THE COLOR OF TIME) was coming out in September 2015 How, immediately after the success of THE COLOR OF HEAVEN Julianne couldn't immediately return to writing in that universe in order to fulfill a traditional publishing contract How Julianne is breaking things up in 2015 and writing both historical romance and contemporary fiction The fact that THE COLOR OF HEAVEN was originally written with the intention of being sold to a traditional publisher, that it was meant to be a stand-alone, and how readers often assumed that the novel was based on a true story The very "meta" manner by which the rest of the novels in THE COLOR OF HEAVEN series are about fictional characters reading the book THE COLOR OF HEAVEN How a traditionally published series Julianne had written was cut-off by the publisher before the end of the series (The Pembroke Palace Series), and how, to please fans, she continued the series. That's how the first three books were released by the publisher and books four and five are controlled by Julianne. How, on release day of Book Five for The Pembroke Palace Series, Julianne made Book 4 FREE, which not only boosted sales of the new release: Book Five, but how the publisher also sold a signifiant amount of Books 1 through 3, backlist titles that hadn't been expected to see such a dramatic increase in sales. Julianne's perspective on how her "New York Published" titles can help lend credibility to an author's platform The adoration Julianne has for her agent, who she has been with since 1999 (Paige Wheeler) Interesting facts about Julianne including the fact she was a dance club DJ in the 1980's (and the only female dance club DJ in Halifax at the time), how she has to dance when she hears the song called "Cheerleader" and what she is listening to when she wears headphones while writing Julianne's thoughts about the cadence and rhythm of the sentences while she is writing The fact that Julianne still enjoys writing the first draft of novels in long hand, how, when starting a novel she always has to write the first sentence long hand in pencil and the way she uses different forms/methods of writing to help "unstick her wheels" when in the process of writing How she will sometimes set a book up for pre-order before a book is even started in order to keep her on track What she might do differently if she were starting again but without any regrets Mark then talks a bit about some of the new features on the KWL Dashboard, specifically, Author Services and the two new types of Notifications added.
Marie Force, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than 40 contemporary romance novels was recently in Toronto and spent an evening with Kobo, Harlequin and an intimate group of lucky fans to celebrate Marie. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed Marie in front of the group. In the conversation, Mark and Marie discuss: How Gansett Island, a fictional island is based on Marie's favourite real island, Block Island, is a spot that Marie goes to regularly The next Gansett Island book (Celebration After Dark - coming December 1st) which will feature Big Mack and Linda The READER WEEKEND summer retreat that Marie runs for her fans, (limited to 300 people) which is co-ordinated and plann by Julie, Marie's Executive Assistant How Marie has been with a Harlequin imprint (Carina Press) since 2010 when Fatal Affair was launched and the recent deal for books 10 through 13 which is, so far, the biggest deal of her career A reveal that Sam is not going to get pregnant any time soon in the Fatal series (because of how significantly that might change everything in the series) How new ideas are constantly flowing through Marie's mind and the amount of time she ends up spending thinking about fictional people in her life The six people that Marie employs full time The fact that Gansett Island is Marie's favourite series and how Sam from the Fatal series is her favourite character to write. The manner by which Marie embraces both traditional publishing and self-publishing and how she enjoys the collaboration of working with publishers How self-publishing allows her to do things such as bring out three books in three weeks (something that is a rare feat when it comes to traditional publishing) The reality of the punishing writing schedule (writing 8 or 9 books in a year) that Marie keeps in order to meet the demands of the publishing that she does How the first books from the Fatal series sat on the shelf for a full year before Carina Press came along, wanting to do something different about the way that romance was presented to readers Marie also answers questions from her fans about: If Skip might ever recover from his paralysis Whether or not she will write until Scotty becomes an adult Her most memorable fan interaction Whether or not fans will see more of Shelby and Avery The hardest part of writing romance The best ways to keep informed about Marie's new works and the new Marie Force app that is available to keep fans informed and connected Whether or not she plots out books ahead of time Where she writes most often and whether or not she writes longhand or via a computer If Doctor Harry Flynn might ever have a love interest Her influences for writing After the interview, Mark goes over a few tips for those about to embark upon NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), conjuring up a few tips derived from articles on the Kobo Writing Life blog by Kevin J. Anderson and Chris Mandeville.
Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, in conversation with Dean Wesley Smith, a USA Today Bestselling author of books in multiple genres including Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers and Westerns. Currently producing novels in four different series, Smith is also the co-publisher of WMG Publishing along with his partner Kristine Kathryn Rusch and runs a series of workshops designed to help writers become smarter not only about the craft but also about the business of publishing. During their conversation, Dean and Mark talk about: · The fact that Dean wasn't born into writing, actually loathed it when he was in college (He has a Masters in Architecture) · The various careers and roles that Smith played during his life, including his past as a Pro Golfer and hot dog skier · How his goal of being a Golf Course Architect led to writing via an English course that he had to take. · The English Professor who told Smith that his writing was too commercial · The writing class that forced Smith to submit a poem to a college poetry market (at which he won second place and $300) – at the time, he had to go see the professor to ask about it because he had no idea what it meant · After this experience, Smith tried his hand at fiction, wrote a 1000 word short story and mailed it off to a market right away. Then he wrote a second story and mailed that off right away. Both stories sold immediately. · How, after these first three successes, Smith started listening to people's advice (AKA myths) about writing, and re-wrote his stories to dead, and for the next 7 years never sold a single thing · It wasn't until 1982 that Smith ran across Robert Heinlein's Business Rules of Writing, followed the advice, started selling again and has never looked back (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/heinleins-business-rules/) The RULES o 1 – You Must Write o 2 – You Must Finish What You Start o 3 – You Must Refrain From Rewriting Except to Editorial Order o 4 – You Must Put It on The Market o 5 – You Must Keep It on The Market Until Sold · Dean's books: Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing and Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. · The magazine that Dean and Kristine Kathryn Rusch ran for 9 years, called Pulphouse. · The Starfleet Corps of Engineers Series that Dean kicked off in the Star Trek Universe – a series about the people who follow up after Captain Kirk, cleaning up his messes (which was originally meant to be an eBook back in 2000 and knocked John Grisham off the eBook bestseller list when it was released) · The challenge of writing within an existing restrictive universe, such as Star Trek, such as the reader having to hear Shatner's voice when writing the character Captain Kirk. · Smith's lesson for writers creating character voice by paying really close attention to the differences in voice you can easily see created for the Star Trek characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy · Regency Romance as one of the only genres that Smith really can't write in · How Westerns, (the old West) and Science-Fiction are two of Smith's go-two genres for writing. · The FICTION RIVER anthology series that Smith edits with Kristine Kathryn Rusch and how this river of fiction brings in new talent along with some major names from the genre. (For example, the latest FICTION RIVER property, Pulse Pounders, edited by Kevin J. Anderson, included a previously unpublished sci-fi story by Frank Herbert) · The Oregon Coast workshops where the FICTION RIVER anthologies are derived that include a board of 6 Editors critiquing the stories live on stage and how that helps inform writers that what one editor rejects another editor might have bought · How the workshops that Dean and Kris started originated as the “Denise Little” short story workshops; because of the similarity to the way that editor/agent Denise Little liked to teach these principles · A bit about Smith's Monthly Magazine, which has both a paper and an eBook edition · How Smith sees the approximate 80,000 words that he writes each month as still “not enough” · Smith's ongoing Blog in which he shares daily insights: Writing in Public · How the teaching that Smith does is part of his desire to try to give back or pay forward to the industry in the way that the industry and writers before Smith have given so much to him · One of the biggest myths from indie publishing, regarding indie writers not being able to get their indie published books into bookstores and the “fairy dust” that has long been spread regarding that · How Smith isn't anti-traditional but is 100% pro smart-writer Other Links Dean Wesley Smith's Books at Kobo WMG Publishing Workshops WMG Publishing Lectures Fiction River Anthologies (website) Fiction River Anthologies (Kobo)
Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre recently attended the 2015 Superstars Writing Seminars (Teaching you the business of being a writer) in Colorado Springs, CO. During the conference, he had a chance to interview several of the faculty and guest lecturers. Presented here is Mark's interview with Superstars Faculty member James A. Owen a comic book illustrator, publisher and writer who is best known for the comic book series Starchild and the The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica novels. Highlights from the discussion include: How Owen got to know Kevin J. Anderson and was first invited to be a guest instructor of Superstars Writing Seminars and that led to a permanent Faculty position The collaboration that Owen is working on with with Kevin The regular Standing Ovation that Owen's "Drawing out the Dragons" talk receives The speaking that Owen has done in Middle Grade schools, Art Schools and for Corporations Mark pauses to express the wonder he feels whenever Owen gives a talk, harking on how James is an example of one of the ultimate types of oral storyteller The mixture of storyteller and artist and how Owen self-identifies as a "Comic Guy" The manner by which the story beautifully derives from the words and pictures coming together How Owen puts the needs of others, of those he meets, those he works with, those who look to him for advice first Owen's perspective on how all of us are born into this world without prejudice, without hate, without anger; but how some can become conditioned to that. The shewing of things into a positive light is a choice James makes as a way to perceive a life in an attempt to return to the more natural state Owen's roll at Superstars in terms of a question he asks, which is "How can I serve you?" The philosophy of deciding to make things happen or allowing things to happen to you and the manner by which Owen embraces that at all turns Being in the depths of despair, and how Owen had posted publicly regarding where he had been and the demons he had been struggling with the previous year, his public posting of it and how, in the middle of it, he still had to do the "Drawing Out the Dragons" presentation on an empty gas tank Owen's belief in the attendees of the Superstars Writing Seminars and how he knew that they all had his back and would not let him down The difficulty most people have in not surfacing those personal struggles in believing that we won't be listened to and that we will be judged for our struggle. Which is why Owen is so open about that An intriguing depression-help line discussion that Owen was involved in when he'd been struggling with his own demons A moment when a story Owen shares is so emotional that interviewer Lefebvre is overcome with emotion and is rendered speechless Advice for writers: How no writer ever wrote a great book without first having finished it. Finish it and then it can be made better Owen's next projects: The Fool's Hollow novels (the novel versions of the stories told in Starchild) and The Hundred. Mark then discusses the importance of drawing attention to mental health issues such as depression, which can affect writers and other creative types, outlining the need to discuss these things openly in an understanding way, rather than trying to blame those who suffer from mental health issues. He mentions online resources that might help in Canada (Healthy Minds Canada), the US (Mental Health America) and the UK (Mental Health Foundation)
This podcast includes a roundtable discussion with Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life as well as three other Kobo employees (Bessie, Camille and Shayna) who participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2014. The round table discussion includes the following: · Camille talks about the fact that during last year's attempt, she wrote about 25,000 words and that this year she wrote the entire 50,000 words. This year she took on a completely new project (rather than attempting the same one she attempted in 2013. Camille says she felt she got trapped in the wrong direction with last year's project, and that might have been what prevented her from completing the novel. This year, she prepared a synopsis in advance, and that is what she felt helped her. · This was Shayna's first attempt at NaNoWriMo – though she has written novels before – and she wasn't sure, going in, how she would do with the 30 day deadline involved. Though she completed the 50,000 word limit, she is still, in no way finished the book she is working on. (She estimates the book's length will be in the realm of 100,000 words) · Bessie, a self-confessed math nerd, admits this is the first time she has attempted writing of this nature. The whole experience was new to her and when it first started she was quite excited and wrote quite a bit, but then the “fun” aspect fell away, and so, too, did the writing. Her feeling was that the pressure of the deadline pushed her in the opposite direction – now that November and the NaNoWriMo deadline is out of the way, the writing has become fun for her again. · Mark got to 50,000 words at the “11th hour” cranking out close to 18,000 words in the final two days, so did complete the goal, but is still several thousand words away from the conclusion of his novel. · Shayna found that the deadline worked for her, despite her initial thoughts that it wouldn't be a good experience for her. · The group discussed the question about pre-planning and reveal who was a “pantser” and who was a “plotter” – who went just from notes and who created a chapter by chapter outline · How the roadmap of the chapter by chapter outline helped Camille, even though she didn't follow it precisely the entire time. · The fun that can happen when your characters make their own decisions and take you to places or situations that you hadn't originally intended or planned. · How Shayna doesn't always have her characters completely fleshed out in advance and how they discover their own voice as the story rolls out. · There is a discussion regarding whether or not they approached writing their novels in a linear fashion (ie, from the beginning of the novel to the end of the novel in the manner it would be read), or if they skipped around and wrote a number of scenes to be pieced into order for the final draft later. · Conventions of inserting notes into the manuscript in order to keep writing, such as Mark's use of inserting square brackets [with a note like this] inside the text for spots in which he might need to do research later on and fill in gaps, or Shayna's use of the letters TK as inserted into the text to denote spots that required filling in later (based on the principle that this is a very uncommon letter combination – thus, searching the document text later for ‘TK' returns those spots you need to find and fill later. · The importance of avoiding the research rabbit-hole that can happen to a writer, but with an example of how one of those rabbit holes actually helped inspire Mark with an entire scene (based just on looking at a particular area of Toronto using Google Maps) · A discussion of what's next for these particular book projects now that NaNoWriMo is over. · Is it harder to write serious literary fiction as opposed to some of the other more “fun” genres · The answer to the question: What was one thing that you learned from NaNoWriMo that you're going to take forward in your writing? Mark then discusses the concept of “winning” or “losing” NaNoWriMo, with a thought that, ANYTHING you wrote during NaNoWriMo, regardless of your final word count, means that you are a winner. Drawing from his own personal experience of having “not won” NaNoWriMo in 2006, yet managed to take the project he had started more than half a dozen years ago and work it into a novel that will be coming out in 2015, means the effort he put into it back then was part of the process of getting that novel done, and well worth it. LINKS: NaNoWriMo Shayna's KWL article entitled "Dear Writing: I Hate You!" The KWL article Shayna wrote about the importance of daydeaming Mark's appearance on The Writing Show podcast (in 2006) in which he did NOT win NaNoWroMo
At a recent visit to Kobo's home office in Toronto, Hugh Howey was interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre in front of an audience of about 150 people (60 of which were local Kobo Writing Life authors) for a Kobo in Conversation video. Here are some highlights from the discussion. Introduction of Hugh Howey and Mark Lefebvre by Tracy Nesdoly, Senior Director of Communications at Kobo Hugh talks about how interesting it is that history re-writes itself to fit the model of what people think happened – his first book was actually signed to a small press before he made the decision to try the self-publishing route Hugh also reflects on how, in 2009, he was only concentrating on print books and traditional contracts for the first book, but then noticed his eBook sales were overtaking his print book sales How Hugh was pressured by friends and family to get his book out to publishers so they could see it in bookstores How Hugh's Mom had been a great critic, early reader and editor for his work (and Hugh's joke about how his wife and his mother have spent years telling him about all the mistakes that he makes, which ensures they are perfectly suited for this type of role in his writing) The twenty years it took Hugh to complete the first novel (and how it wasn't the same novel) Hugh's first manuscript, started at age 12, which was, essentially an homage to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy How Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue, the first novel he completed, was written in a week How Hugh acquired “sequelitis” after finishing that first novel, and how, when you keep writing sequels you're left always promoting your first book How Hugh met his wife when he was living the boating life (and how she pulled him ashore and inland) The constant daydreaming and stories kept in his head while he worked at various other jobs How he used to get in trouble in grammar school for that “writing daydreaming” Where the darkness that surrounds the novel WOOL comes from (particularly from a writer whose persona is friendly, outgoing and positive) How Hugh felt sick to his stomach when he was out at a fancy restaurant to celebrate signing the contract for his first book because it was something he had worked so hard on and he was now signing it away (despite the fact it was a positive experience because someone was paying him for something he had written – ie, it was “the dream”) Even though he still has a physical reaction thinking about that moment, it wasn't a reflection on the publisher – he still loves them and has a great relationship with them, but he quickly saw how he had too much energy for them and was driving them crazy with all of the things he wanted to do Hugh reminds people that, despite it looked like he knew what he was doing all along, he was terrified, clueless and making it up as he went along A look at www.authorearnings.com and Hugh's motivation for always putting the reader and the writer first How, bookstores come third on Hugh's list of priorities – writers first (because without them you couldn't have readers), then readers second Hugh asks the question of why we're not focusing on the right things, like how to make people love books more – such as these things shaped like books that we give to students in classrooms and inadvertently team them to hate. (If it's shaped like a book, it better be fun) How writers are always looking for excuses not to write, and how Hugh has to channel his fear of what might happen if he stops writing into looking towards working on projects that his readers and editors want Hugh's favourite novel I, Zombie, his most non-commercial work which represents his attempt to write about 911, and his favourite writing, which is the book Peace in Amber (a book he still gets emotional about when he speaks of it) The manner by which Hugh took the opposite tack of anything that might seem logical, such as not telling people he was a writer and had a book available Hugh's discomfort at promoting his own work and how he would rather just work on writing the next book Social media as being a great place to connect with your existing fans rather than trying to use it to find new ones The important role that agents have played in Hugh's career, particularly since initially, it wasn't something that he thought he needed. Hugh shares his respect for his agent Kristen Nelson Literary Agency and the amazing agents and partners who have guided his success and earned every penny along the way Hugh's desire to see editors, cover artists, beta readers and all those unsung heroes whose efforts make books better, known and loved and celebrated (Example is an interview Hugh recently did with one of his cover artists, Jason Smith – [link to his blog post]) How Agencies might, in the future, look like law firms. Imagine Freethy, Andre and Howey. The importance to not run from labels, like “self-published author” – Hugh is proud to call himself a self-published author How H.M. Ward continues to turn down multiple 7 figure offers from publishers because their marketing plans aren't offering anything she hasn't already built for herself The role that NaNoWriMo has played in Hugh's writing (and his thoughts on how an author who writes one novel a year might just be writing that novel in a single month) As a postscript to the interview, Mark then calls out some of the key points that Hugh made during the conversation; in particular Hugh's take on marketing and how writing your next book or focusing on sharing information ABOUT writing it is far better than trying to push your book in front of everybody's face. OTHER LINKS Episode 013 of the KWL Podcast (with Hugh Howey)
Mark Lefebvre, KWL Director, interviews Melissa Yuan-Innes, author of the hot-selling Hope Sze Medical Mystery series about... Melissa's role as an emergency physician and the role this plays in helping develop her fiction and the character of Hope Sze Melissa's latest book, TERMINALLY ILL which is coming out February 1, 2014 (and is available for pre-order) How the beloved yet frustrating city of Montreal is a prominent feature in her fiction How Melissa manages to find time to write on top of her demanding day job (10 to 14 hour shifts) and her family life. Melissa's “secret weapon” otherwise known as her husband The many pseudonyms Melissa uses for the different style of fiction that she writes (sci-fi/fantasy and non-fiction medical humour fiction) under Melissa Yuan-Innes, medical thrillers and mysteries written under Melissa Yi, medical romance written under Melissa Yin, children's books under Melissa Yuan and the reasons behind that (and how it has changed since Melissa first started) The unpredictability and wonderful escape factor as something that drew Melissa to science fiction Melissa won second place in the Writers of the Future when she was in medical school The importance and value of professional workshops, including the long term friendships that were forged at Writers of the Future, and the reason why Melissa has returned to Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's professional workshops for over a decade Some early mistakes that Melissa made when she first started writing and sending submissions to editors (and great tips she learned from Kristine at the pro workshops) Some of the similarities and differences in the electronic age of writing and submitting and writing and publishing Melissa's amazing experience winning Kobo Writing Life's Win your Cover contest (featuring the talented and dedicated cover designer Scarlett Rugers Melissa's traditionally published short story “Burning Beauty” which appears in the anthology Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound, and how writing short fiction can be a refreshing change from writing novel length works, and still be a way of getting a lot of your material in front of a diverse and broad reading audience The CBC commissioned story written under Melissa Yi - No Air Melissa's yoga mystery story being published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and how Dean Wesley Smith calls being published in a market like that being one of the best advertising tools for a writer Melissa's dark humour December 2013 release: The Italian School for Assassins and the role that humour and dark humour plays in her life and in her writing. Melissa's advice to writers regarding persistence and humour Mark Lefebvre then talks about the difference between trying to find time to write and making time to write, outlining a few strategies that authors who work day jobs sometimes employ when carving out time in their busy schedules to make time for writing.
Camille Mofidi, European Manager for Kobo Writing Life interviewed three authors that Kobo sponsored for the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair Author Walk of Fame: Emily Bold, Kristie Cook and Hugh Howey. This is the third in the series of three interviews and features international bestselling author Hugh Howey. In the interview, Camille and Hugh discuss: Hugh's start into writing, the multi-faceted journey his life took, including being a ship's captain How Hugh was working as a bookseller when he started on the path of writing a book, publishing it, and then moving on to the next project writing the next book Hugh's perspective on the importance of joining a writing group; in particular the group he joined (the High Country Writers) The critical role that revisions of that first draft play for a writer, whether you are self-publishing or want to send it to an agent or publisher The role being a bookseller played in helping to inform Hugh about the realities of the publishing industry Hugh's belief that we should celebrate the fact that there are so many people out there able and willing to express themselves through literature like they do all other art forms How Europe, often seen to be lagging behind the North American trends is, in Hugh's opinion, actually progressing quite a bit more quickly than the U.S. in terms of accepting self-publishing The meetups that Hugh participates in when he is traveling, as a way to connect directly with readers How Hugh uses social media to make himself available and to interact with his readers and friends How Kobo Writing Life has been a major avenue to international readers for Hugh's eBooks How Hugh sees the KWL interface as the cleanest and most user-friendly platform, presenting data in an interesting format, and how he tells the other platforms they should be copying what Kobo is doing Hugh's 7 week tour through Europe promoting the book, and his embrace of a hybrid approach (Hugh sold the print only rights to WOOL to Simon & Schuster) The incredible innovation that several of Hugh's publishers have demonstrated in promoting WOOL Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, discusses a point that Hugh makes in the interview regarding patience and the strategy of continuing to work on your next book (rather than focusing all your time and attention worrying about your already published title or titles) -- he also references a recent blog post by Dean Wesley Smith entitled "The New World of Publishing: Some Perspectives of 2013" in which Smith notes the importance of building a career over decades rather than giving up after a few books and very little sales (or, as the case used to be with publishing, quitting after 50 rejections) Other Links: Hugh's website Hugh's books at Kobo The WOOL trilogy (WOOL, SHIFT & DUST)
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