Podcasts about Vellum

In this week's episode, we take a look at four different ebook formatting tools for indie authors. We also discuss the phenomenon of Star Wars day. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Malison: The Complete Series at my Payhip store: MALISON25 The coupon code is valid through June 3, 2025. So if you need a new book for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 251 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 9, 2025, and today we are looking at ebook formatting tools. Before we get into our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week, a progress update at my current writing and audiobook projects, and then Question of the Week. We'll also close out the show with a preview of my new audiobook Ghost in the Assembly (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy).   This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Malison: The Complete Series at my Payhip store, and that is MALISON25. As always, we'll have the coupon code and the links in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code is valid through June the 3, 2025. So if you need a new ebook for spring, we have got you covered. Now here's where I'm at with my current writing projects. I am 87,000 words into Ghost in the Corruption and I'm hoping to hit 90,000 words by the end of today. So if all goes well, I will finish it up later this week and then begin editing. I am also 9,000 words into what my next project will be, which is Shield of Power, the final book in The Shield War series. I'm also 91,000 words into Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest, and that will be my main project after Shield of Power is finished. So my writing goals for the next couple months will be Ghost in the Corruption, Shield of Power, Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest, and then the final book in The Ghost Armor series (the title of which I should really decide since I'm getting close to being finished with the fifth book).   In audiobook news, recording of Ghost in the Assembly (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is finished. That should be turning up on all the various audiobook stores before too much longer. Shield of Deception (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is finished and available at all the audio stores: Audible, Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Chirp, and all the others. You can get that right now. Brad should be starting a recording of Shield of Battle sometime in the second half of May, if all goes well. So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:02:09 Question of the Week   And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite Star Wars? The inspiration for this question is the fact that May the Fourth has become Star Wars Day (in a very tongue in cheek manner). And as you might expect, we had a variety of responses to this question. Justin says: I have not seen any Star Wars TV series, but your other choices are mine as well. I have the Trawn Trilogy in the box set and got a PC joystick just for playing TIE Fighter again. Jonathan D. says: Empire Strikes Back is still the best film. I cannot get into the Disney canon after they destroyed the Expanded Universe. I watched The Force Awakens and that killed any interest in watching Disney Star Wars for me. Books is either Heir to the Empire Trilogy or the Darth Bain trilogy. A well done film adaptation of the Darth Bain books would be the only thing that would make me want to watch any new films. Video games would have to be Knight of the Old Republic 1 or 2, with Jedi Academy coming in third. The original Battlefront games were also great.   John Paul says: Loved the Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fett, especially when they had the characters from each other's show guest starring in them. I saw somewhere they aren't making another series, but [there] was talk about a TV movie to finish it off, but [they are] now showing Series 4 on IBMD with no date. I grew up with the original trilogy though some of the later films are good, especially the special effects, though Jar Jar Binks spoiled the first three movies. Maybe they should reedit the character out since Lucas has spent some money on adding new effects to the trilogy to bring in line with the new movies. Skeleton Crew made me think of the movie Flight of the Navigator with Star Wars added, so I enjoyed that even though it's mainly for kids. I have fond memories of Space Invaders with the sidekick from the original Fall Guy TV show. Again, made for kids though adults can enjoy if they watch tongue in cheek.   Andrew says: There are only three Star Wars movies, of which Empire Strikes Back is my favorite. I really enjoyed Mandalorian Season One. Now Star Wars is dead to me, except for lightsaber battle videos. I really like the Princess Bride Battles. I played TIE Fighter, Dark Forces, and Knights of the Old Republic.   Tom says: Favorite film, Rogue One. With you on Mandalorian Season Two as favorite TV show. Favorite game, Rogue Squadron.   Tracy says: My favorite was Return of the Jedi.   Jenny says: Thrawn Trilogy for sure! Dark Forces was my very first computer game, so it's always going to hold a special place in my heart.   William says: The unofficial remasters of the original trilogy from preserved reels are a godsend.   MG says: Knights of the Old Republic was quite good and Knights of the Old Republic 2.   John K. says: I'm a grim dark sort of guy. Really liked Rogue One but it's slightly edged out by the original Episode IV. I absolutely love Andor but honestly, have not hated anything. Enjoyed them all. I was a nut for the original X-Wing game. Got good enough to one shot TIE Fighters with one quad shot and rarely missed and learned how to solo Star Destroyers pretty easily, though it would take forever. Having played the game that John K. is talking about, I can agree with him that you could take down Star Destroyers in your X-Wing if you knew what you were doing, but it really would take forever.   Dave says: Book wise, I really enjoyed the Thrawn books by Timothy Zahn, also the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole was a personal favorite.   And finally Michael says: I agree on Empire Strikes Back though as a kid, I disliked the lack of upbeat movie. Also really liked the Solo movie. I confess I found the Thrawn books underwhelming, though the original Star Wars novelization is pretty good. And finally, I got to agree on TIE Fighter, such great game. Also, I have a soft spot for Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2.   For myself, I would have to break it down into four categories because Star Wars media covers so many different formats now. For favorite movie, I would say Empire Strikes Back, with Return of the Jedi as the runner up. For the favorite TV series, Season 2 of The Mandalorian. For my favorite book, The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, with Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover, Darth Plagueis by James Luceno, and The Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn coming in as strong runners up. Seriously, if you're listening to this podcast, you probably enjoy reading books, so these five are definitely worth your time.   For my favorite video games, I would say TIE Fighter, with Knights of the Old Republic as a very close runner-up. But TIE Fighter was definitely my favorite. In the game, you play as an Imperial pilot, and the designers had the clever idea of making the Empire sympathetic by having the player spend most of the missions hunting ruthless pirates, suppressing alien civil wars, and fighting renegade Imperial warlords who are trying to overthrow the Emperor. In the last two expansion packs for the game, the player is flying as Grand Admiral Thrawn's elite pilot against the renegade Grand Admiral Zaarin, and finally defeating Zaarin after like forty missions was VERY satisfying.   So those are my favorite Star Wars media items. As we can see.  there is quite a range of opinion in the answer to that question.   00:06:54 Main Topic: Ebook Formatting Tools   Now let's move on to our main topic, which is ebook formatting tools. And this is an important thing for indie authors to discuss because if you do want to self-publish your books, it is one of those foundational skills you have to master. You need to know what kind of file format the platforms you're publishing to you take and how to produce it. Now this is something you can hire out but you really, really shouldn't in my opinion, especially because some ebook formatting services charge as much as $2,000 to turn a Word document into files ready to upload for ebook stores. Considering that it is something you can easily do yourself with free tools and a little bit of practice, spending any amount of money on it is probably a waste. I mean, there's a difference between the kind of intricate formatting you would need for say, a full color medical textbook with illustrations and a 60,000 word romance novel. Fortunately, all the major software programs are nowhere near as expensive as $2,000 a book and don't have as much of a learning curve as you might expect. Both video and written tutorials are plentiful for all of these options, making it easy to learn at your own pace. Today we're going to go over four software options for formatting ebooks and discuss their pros, cons, and the best uses for them. Although some of these products have word processing functionality and other features built in, today we'll focus on just the ebook formatting part of the software. #1: The first option we will look at is Atticus. Atticus is from the same company that makes Publisher Rocket, which is a software program I've spoken of very favorably of on the show over the years. The company has made an effort to understand the needs of authors over the years and added new features to Publisher Rocket consistently as time went on. The company Kindlepreneur has also made significant enhancements to Atticus since it launched. As of the time of this recording, it is a one-time purchase option that has free ongoing updates and the current cost is $147 (in United States dollars). Expensive, but the founder of the company Dave Chesson has said frequently he doesn't like software subscriptions. So hopefully this will continue to be a one-time fee and not become a subscription thing.   So here are the pros to using Atticus. It is less expensive than Vellum and has the same features. It works on operating systems other than Mac. In theory, since it has a web client, it can work on any platform. Reviewers say it is very pleasant to use and those who want a lot of customization options are generally happy with it and it has a nice tool for creating and reusing the template for things like author bios or link pages.   The con is that it does require an Internet connection to use and you have to have a computer connected to the Internet. Some people also prefer not to have their work stored in the cloud like Atticus does. Some users report slowness while opening or closing or when saving a file, especially if it's a book with a high word account. Because of the online requirement, there can be issues related to syncing. It does not support .mobi as a file export option. However, that's not a big deal anymore because Amazon is officially phasing out the .mobi file extension and is requiring people to use .epub. So this is not a major point and it's only for people who have a customer base with very old e-readers that can't handle .epub.   And finally, Atticus does not offer a free trial period if you just want to try it out, but does offer a refund within the first 30 days if you try it and decide that you don't like it. So what users would find Atticus the best? It's probably best for PC or Linux users who don't want a Mac and also want to have lots of fine control of your formatting or customizing your layout. Atticus is also heavily built around collaboration, where different people can work on the same file. So if you do work with a team (and many indie authors do) or are co-writing a book, then Atticus might be a good tool for you to use.   #2: The second program we're going to look at is called Vellum.  Vellum has been seen as the default option for ebook formatting for a lot of writers for a while now. As of the time of recording, there is a one-time purchase option that has free ongoing updates. The current cost is $199 for the ebook only version or $249 for the version that includes paperbacks. Vellum has gone on sale occasionally in the past, usually for Cyber Monday in November. The pros for Vellum are that many reviewers consider it the best option for ebook formatting and say it delivers professional results without too much work and a minimal learning curve. Vellum lets you try out the software for free, but you won't be able to export the files you're publishing until the software is purchased. Like Atticus, it offers a 30 day window for a refund.   Vellum is not cloud-based software and it can be used offline. So if you are, for instance, working on a laptop on the road with spotty internet connectivity, this can be a lifesaver. Now for the cons and the biggest con is a big one- that Vellum is Macintosh only. You need to have a Mac to use it and it is not currently available for Windows and Linux. The developers have said that presently they have no plans to port it to either Windows or Linux. It will also not work on iOS, so that means you can't run it on your iPad or your iPhone. You can in theory use it on a PC with a Mac OS virtual machine, but people have reported very mixed success with that. The other con is that it is the most expensive option. So the users this is best for I think would be if you already have a Mac or you are willing to buy a Mac for just one piece of software. #3: The third software program we're going to look at is called Jutoh. Jutoh is a labor of love, mainly created by two people in the UK and has been around for a long, long time. As of the time of this recording, there is a one-time purchase option that costs $45 (US dollars) and a Plus version for $90 that supports some additional features. It currently offers a free trial that you can download and install, but functionality is limited in the trial version. The pros of Jutoh is that it works on Windows, Mac, and most versions of Linux. It is not cloud-based software/is local to your computer. It does not need a constant Internet connection to function. Reviewers frequently praised how responsive their customer support is and of the paid options we are discussing, it will be the least expensive of all of them. The cons are the interface is a bit dated. It does kind of look like something from the early 2000s in terms of the buttons and where they are. Because of that, it can be more difficult for some users to use than Atticus or Vellum. It does not create PDFs or print ready files, so you would not be able to use it to format your files for print books, which is something both Atticus and Vellum offer. I think this is best used for users who want a less expensive option than Atticus or Vellum or a PC user who wants a non-cloud based option.   #4: The fourth and final program we're going to look at is called Kindle Create. And as of this recording, it is the only one of these four options that is free. It is a free download. This software is created and maintained by Amazon. The pro? It's free and you can use the .epubs it creates to upload your books onto other platforms. Just because you've made your ebook in Amazon Create, that doesn't mean you can't use the file for Barnes & Noble and Kobo and Apple and so forth. You can go ahead and do that. However, because it is free software, there are quite a few cons to it. The functionality is pretty limited and only a few fonts are available. It is not good with complex layouts and Amazon's own documentation recommends not using it for books with tables, footnotes, or complex text formatting.   The program doesn't handle edits well. There are people who write books in Vellum even though the developers don't exactly recommend that. And Atticus is designed to have books written in it. However, Kindle Create definitely cannot handle that very well. Windows and Mac are supported, but you can't install it on Linux. Kindle Create no longer supports .mobi as a file export option since Amazon is moving away from that option and most other vendors haven't used it ever. That is a minor point.   I think Kindle Create is best used by users who are just starting out and don't have much in the way of budget and have books that don't require a lot of complex formatting. Kindle Create is actually quite good for novels because novels in general don't have a lot of complex formatting and because it's free, it has a little bit of a steeper learning curve, but that can be advantageous as well.   So looking at those four options, what do I use and why? Well, for the first seven or so years I was self-publishing, I didn't use any of these. I used a program called Sigil, which is an .epub editor. And if Kindle Create has a high learning curve, Sigil's is much higher because you're essentially editing the raw guts of the .epub file.   I was content using that for a number of years, but what I needed was a program that would make uploading print books and formatting print books much easier because at the time I was using Create Space and Create Space required a specialized Word template that was just an enormous headache to use. And the reason that many of the Frostborn books have exactly 24 chapters is because I had a template that worked really well with 24 chapters for print books and I wasn't going to mess that up by trying to add a chapter or have one fewer chapter. So for some of the Frostborn books, I made sure there were 24 chapters.   Obviously this was not a tenable situation for the print books, even though I was happy using Sigil for the eBooks. So I eventually heard good things about Vellum. In 2018 (I believe) I got a used Mac and installed Vellum and started using that for print books. I was much happier with that.   Because the books looked so good in print, I eventually switched over to using Vellum for formatting my ebooks as well and I've been using that ever since. So my main ebook format writing program (as of May 9, 2025) is Vellum and I have a Mac specifically for that purpose. However, I also has high praise to say about Jutoh. I got started using Jutoh because for a while, Smashwords required you to upload a book using a specialized Word format. They didn't accept .epubs for the longest time and formatting a book in that proper Word format for Smashwords was a large headache, I have to admit. I never managed to get it automated quite right. And I had frequent problems with Smashwords rejecting the Word document I uploaded and so forth. Eventually, I discovered that Jutoh also had an export option for creating Smashwords-friendly Word documents. So I tried it out and that was just a godsend, I have to admit. It saved me so much time. So for about seven years as well, I used Jutoh for Smashwords formatting. However, in 2024 after Smashwords was acquired by Draft 2 Digital and the two companies became more and more merged, Smashwords changed and now accepts properly formatted .epubs. They don't do that specialized Word document thing anymore, which has made it much easier to upload files to Smashwords, I must say. But that also means that I've used Jutoh less and less in favor of Vellum because I no longer need those specially formatted Word documents. However, I do have nothing but positive things to say about Jutoh; it is a very good program. If you don't want to shell out the $249 for Vellum or if you don't have a Mac, I think Jutoh is an excellent option for you to use. I have never actually used Atticus, but it's popular enough that I wanted to talk about it on this show. I do know a lot of people who have used it to good effect. Just bear in mind the pros and cons we mentioned. And as for Kindle Create, there's nothing wrong with it. I think it's good starting point, especially if you're just starting out and want to format your book without paying a lot of money or having to pay $2,000 to someone on the Internet to do it. I do think it's a good starting point, even though it's very basic and for your first couple of books, it would be good. But as you get more experienced and want to branch into things like print books, you'll probably want a program with greater functionality like Jutoh, Vellum, or Atticus. So myself, I use mostly Vellum (with Jutoh occasionally), and that is what I use for ebook formatting.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.   00:19:53 Audiobook Excerpt   And now we'll close out the show with a short excerpt from Ghost In the Assembly, as narrated by Hollis McCarthy. [Remainder of podcast is audiobook except]

Today, I'm joined by Anita Kirkovska, Head of Growth at Vellum, a platform that helps businesses build and manage AI into production.We'll talk about how Vellum is making AI more accessible, how companies are using it, and Anita's role in driving that growth.In this episode:How Vellum helps businesses build and manage AI applications in productionAnita's role in driving growth and go-to-market strategyThe six levels of agentic AI behavior, and why they matterKey insights from The State of AI 2025 report (25% of companies now run AI in production)What's enabling successful AI adoption, and what's holding others backWhere the AI space is heading, and how Vellum is preparing for it

In this episode of the ONEder Podcast, CCB speaks with Lance Hayes and Yi-Chun Lin from Board and Vellum, a Seattle-based design firm, about their research project funded by the ONEder Grant. Their study explores the concept of workplace attachment in a hybrid work environment, investigating how employees form emotional connections to their workplaces in the context of remote and in-person work. Episode link: https://www.oneworkplace.com/podcast/fostering-connectivity-encouraging-workplace-attachments

In this week's episode, we continue our discuss about how seeking prestige can be dangerous for writers, specifically in the form of traditional publishing and the New York Times Bestseller list. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book #2 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: DRAGONSHIELD50 The coupon code is valid through March 21, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 241 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 28th, 2025. Today we are continuing our discussion of how to escape the trap of prestige for writers, specifically traditional publishing and The New York Times Bestseller List. Before we get to our main topic, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing and audiobook projects, and then Question of the Week.   This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight, Book Two in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. That coupon code is DRAGONSHIELD50. As always, I'll include the coupon code and the link to the store in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through March 21st, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook as we start to head into the spring months, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report I am done with the rough draft of Ghost in the Assembly. I came in at 106,000 words, so it'll definitely be over a hundred thousand words when it's done. I'm about 20% of the way through the first round of edits, so I am confident in saying that if all goes well and nothing unexpected happens, I am on track to have it out in March. I am also 10,000 words into Shield of Battle, which will be the fifth of six books in the Shield War series and I'm hoping to have that out in April, if all goes well.   In audiobook news, recording for both Cloak of Dragonfire and Orc-Hoard is done. I'm just waiting for them to get through the processing on the various stores so they're available. There is also an audiobook edition of Half Elven Thief Omnibus One and Cloak Mage Omnibus Three that hopefully should be coming in March. More news with that to come.   00:01:55 Question of the Week   Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is your favorite subgenre of fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, historical fantasy, urban fantasy, LitRPG, cultivation, or something else? No wrong answers, obviously.   Cindy says: Epic fantasy or those with a good history for that world. The Ghost Series are fantastic at this.   Thanks, Cindy.   Justin says: I enjoy all those sub-genres, if they are done well. In times past I would've said comic fantasy, but that is because Terry Pratchett at his best was just that good.   Mary says: High fantasy.   Surabhi says: I'd honestly read anything fantasy that's written well and has characters I'm attached to, given that it's not too gritty. Bonus points if there's humor! Also, I love your books so much and they're the perfect blend of fantasy, adventure, and characters. Your books were what really got me into Sword and Sorcery.   Thanks, Surabhi.     Matthew says: See, that's difficult. I love my sabers, both light and metal. I would say urban fantasy crosses the boundary the most. If it's a captivating story, it will be read.   John F says: I can't choose one- Lord of the Rings or LWW, The Inheritance Cycle, The Dresden Files, Caina, Ridmark, or Nadia. I think what draws me is great characters who grow. The setting/genre is just the device. That's why I keep coming back to your books. You create great characters.   Thanks, John F.   John K says: I think I'm partial to historical fantasy. I enjoy all genres, but when I think of my favorites, they tend to be derivations of historical settings. Think Guy Gavriel Kay or Miles Cameron. That said, I was weaned on Robert E. Howard, Fritz Lieber, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, Jack Vance, so a strong sword and sorcery second place.   Juana says: High fantasy. Belgariad, Tolkien, dragons, et cetera.   Jonathan says: Sword and sorcery in space! Prehistoric sword and sorcery, sword and sorcery always.   Quint: says Sword and sorcery!   Michael says: Sword and sorcery.   For myself, I think I would agree with our last couple of commenters and it would be sword and sorcery. My ideal fantasy novel has a barbarian hero wandering from corrupt city state to corrupt city state messing up the business of some evil wizards. I'm also very fond of what's called generic fantasy (if a fighter, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard are going into a dungeon and fighting some orcs, I'm happy).   00:04:18 Main Topic of the Week: Escaping the Prestige Trap, Part 2   Now onto our main topic for the week, Escaping the Prestige Trap, Part 2, and we'll focus on traditional publishing and the New York Times Bestseller List this week. As we talked about last week, much of the idea of success, especially in the United States, is based on hitting certain milestones in a specific order. In the writing world, these measures of success have until fairly recently been getting an MFA, finding an agent, getting traditionally published, and hitting The New York Times Bestseller List. Last week we talked about the risks of an MFA and an agent. This week, we are going to talk about two more of those writing markers of prestige, getting traditionally published and having a book land on The New York Times Bestseller List. Why are they no longer as important? What should you devote your energy and focus to instead?   So let's start with looking at getting traditionally published. Most writers have dreamed of seeing their book for sale and traditional publishing for a long time has been the only route to this path. Until about 15 years ago, traditional publishing was the way that a majority of authors made their living. Now that big name authors like Hugh Howie, Andy Weir, and Colleen Hoover have had success starting as self-published authors (or in the case of authors Sarah J. Maas and Ali Hazelwood, fan fiction authors) and then are getting traditional publishing deals made for them for their self-published works. It's proof that self-publishing is no longer a sign that the author isn't good enough to be published traditionally. Previous to the rise of the Kindle, that was a common belief that if you were self-published, it was because you were not good enough to get traditionally published. That was sort of this pernicious belief that traditional publishing was a meritocracy, when in fact it tended to be based on who you knew. But that was all 15 years ago and now we are well into the age of self-publishing. Why do authors still want to be traditionally published when in my frank opinion, self-publishing is the better path? Well, I think there are three main reasons for that.   One of the main reasons is that the authors say they want to be traditionally published is to have someone else handle the marketing and the advertising. They don't realize how meager marketing budgets and staffing support are, especially for unknown authors. Many traditionally published authors are handling large portions of their own marketing and hiring publicists out of their own pocket because publishers are spending much less on marketing. The new reality is that traditional publishers aren't going to do much for you as a debut author unless you are already a public figure.   Even traditionally published authors are not exempt from having to do their own marketing now. James Patterson set up an entire company himself to handle his marketing. Though, to be fair to James Patterson, his background was in advertising before he came into publishing, so he wasn't exactly a neophyte in the field, but you see more and more traditionally published authors who you think would be successful just discontented with the system and starting to dabble in self-publishing or looking at alternative publishers like Aethon Books and different arrangements of publishing because the traditional system is just so bad for writers. The second main reason authors want to be traditionally published is that they want to avoid the financial burden of publishing. This is an outdated way of thinking. The barrier to publishing these days is not so much financial as it is knowledge. In fact, I published a book entirely using free open source software in 2017 just to prove that it could be done. It was Silent Order: Eclipse Hand, the fourth book in my science fiction series. I wrote it on Ubuntu using Libre Office and I edited it in Libre Office and I did the formatting on Ubuntu and I did the cover in the GIMP, which is a free and open source image editing program. This was all using free software and I didn't have to pay for the program. Obviously I had to pay for the computer I was using and the Internet connection, but in the modern era, having an internet connection is in many ways almost a requirement, so that's the cost you would be paying anyway.   The idea that you must spend tens of thousands of dollars in formatting, editing, cover, and marketing comes from scammy self-publishing services. Self-publishing, much like traditional publishing, has more than its fair share of scams or from people who aren't willing to take the time to learn these skills and just want to cut someone a check to solve the problem. There are many low cost and effective ways to learn these skills and resources designed specifically for authors. People like Joanna Penn have free videos online explaining how to do this, and as I've said, a lot of the software you can use to self-publish is either free or low cost, and you can get some very good programs like Atticus or Vellum or Jutoh for formatting eBooks for very low cost.   The third reason that writers want to be traditionally published is that many believe they will get paid more this way, which is, unless you are in the top 1% of traditionally published authors, very wrong. Every so often, there's a study bemoaning the fact that most publishers will only sell about $600 worth of any individual book, and that is true of a large percentage of traditionally published books. Traditional publishers typically pay a lump sum called advance, and then royalties based on sales. An average advance is about the same as two or three months of salary from an office job and so not a reflection of the amount of time it typically takes most authors to finish a book. Most books do not earn out their advance, which means the advance is likely to be the only money the author receives for the book. Even well-known traditionally published authors are not earning enough to support themselves as full-time authors. So as you can see, all three of these reasons are putting a lot of faith in traditional publishers, faith that seems increasingly unnecessary or downright misplaced. I think it is very healthy to get rid of the idea that good writing comes from traditional publishers and that the prestige of being traditionally published is the only way you'll be accepted as a writer or be able to earn a living as a full-time writer. I strongly recommend that people stop thinking that marketing is beneath you as an author or too difficult to learn. Whether you are indie or tradpub, you are producing a product that you want to sell, thus you are a businessperson. The idea that only indie authors have to sell their work is outdated. The sooner you accept this reality, the more options you will have. Self-publishing and indie publishing are admittedly more work. However, the benefits are significant. Here are five benefits of self-publishing versus traditional publishing.   The first advantage of self-publishing is you have complete creative control. You decide what the content of your book will be; you decide what the cover will be. If you don't want to make the covers yourself or you don't want to learn how to do that, you can very affordably hire someone to do it for you and they will make the cover exactly to your specifications. You also have more freedom to experiment with cross-genre books. As I've mentioned before, publishers really aren't a fan of cross genre books until they make a ton of money, like the new romantasy trend.   Traditional publishing is very trend driven and cautious. Back in the 2000s before I gave up on traditional publishing and discovered self-publishing, I would submit to agents a lot. Agents all had these guidelines for fantasy saying that they didn't want to see stories with elves and orcs and dwarves and other traditional fantasy creatures because they thought that was passe. Well, when I started self-publishing, I thought I'm going to write a traditional fantasy series with elves and orcs and dwarves and other traditional fantasy creatures just because I can and Frostborn has been my bestselling series of all time in the time I've been self-publishing, so you can see the advantages of having creative control.   The second advantage is you can control the marketing. Tradpub authors often sign a contract that they'll get their social media and website content approved by the publisher before posting. They may even be given boilerplate or pre-written things to post. In self-publishing, you have real time data to help you make decisions and adjust ads and overall strategy on the fly to maximize revenue. For example, if one of your books is selling strangely well on Google Play, it's time to adjust BookBub ads to focus on that platform instead of Amazon.   You can also easily change your cover, your blurb, and so forth after release. I've changed covers of some of my books many times trying to optimize them for increased sales and that is nearly impossible to do with traditional publishing. And in fact, Brandon Sanderson gave a recent interview where he talked about how the original cover of his Mistborn book was so unrelated to the content of the book that it almost sunk the book and hence his career.   You also have the ability to run ad campaigns as you see fit, not just an initial launch like tradpub does. For example, in February 2025, I've been heavily advertising my Demonsouled series even though I finished writing that series back in 2013, but I've been able to increase sales and derive a significant profit from those ads.   A third big advantage is that you get a far greater share of the profits. Most of the stores, if you price an ebook between $2.99 (prices are USD) and $9.99, you will get 70% of the sale price, which means if you sell an ebook for $4.99, you're probably going to get about $3.50 per sale (depending on currency fluctuations and so forth). That is vastly more than you would get from any publishing contract.   You also don't have to worry about the publisher trying to cheat you out of royalties. We talked about an agency stealing money last episode. Every platform you publish your book on, whether Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords and Apple will give you a monthly spreadsheet of your sales and then you can look at it for yourself, see exactly how many books you sold and exactly how much money you're going to get. I have only very rarely seen traditional publishing royalty statements that are as clear and have as much data in them as a spreadsheet from Google Play or Amazon. A fourth advantage is you don't have to worry about publishers abandoning you mid-series. In traditional publishing, there is what's called the Publishing Death Spiral where let's say an author is contracted to write a series of five books. The author writes the first book and it sells well. Then the author publishes the second book and it doesn't sell quite as well, but the publisher is annoyed enough by the decrease in sales that they drop the writer entirely and don't finish the series. This happens quite a bit in the traditional publishing world, and you don't have to worry about that in indie publishing because you can just publish as often as you want. If you're not happy with the sales of the first few books in the series, you can change the covers, try ad campaigns, and other strategies.   Finally, you can publish as often as you want and when you want. In traditional publishing, there is often a rule of thumb that an author should only publish one book a year under their name. Considering that last year I published 10 books under my name, that seems somewhat ridiculous, but that's a function of the fact that traditional publishing has only so much capacity and the pieces of the machine involved there are slow and not very responsive. Whereas with self-publishing, you have much more freedom and everything involved with it is much more responsive. There's no artificial deadlines, so you can take as long as you want to prepare it and if the book is ready, you don't have to wait a year to put it out because it would mess up the publisher's schedule.   So what to do instead of chasing traditional publishing? Learn about self-publishing, especially about scams and bad deals related to it. Publish your own works by a platform such as KDP, Barnes and Noble Press, Kobo Writing Life, Apple Books, Google Play, Smashwords, and possibly your own Payhip and/or Shopify store.   Conquer your fear of marketing and advertising. Even traditionally published authors are shouldering more of this work and paying out of their own pocket to hire someone to do it, and if you are paying your own marketing costs, you might as well self-publish and keep a greater share of the profits. The second half of our main topic, another potential risk of prestige, is getting on The New York Times Bestseller List. I should note that I suppose someone could accuse me of sour grapes here saying, oh, Jonathan Moeller, you've never been on The New York Times Bestseller List. You must just be bitter about it. That is not true. I do not want to be on The New York Times Bestseller List. What I would like to be is a number one Amazon bestseller. Admittedly though, that's unlikely, but a number one Amazon bestseller would make a lot more money than a number one New York Times Bestseller List, though because of the way it works, if you are a number one Amazon bestseller, you might be a New York Times Bestseller, but you might not. Let's get into that now.   Many writers have the dream of seeing their name on the New York Times Bestseller List. One self-help guru wrote about “manifesting” this milestone for herself by writing out the words “My book is number one on The New York Times Bestseller List” every day until it happened. Such is the mystique of this milestone that many authors crave it as a necessity. However, this list has seen challenges to its prestige in recent years. The one thing that shocks most people when they dig into the topic is that the list is not an objective list based on the raw number of books sold. The list is “editorial content” and The New York Times can exclude, include, or rank the books on the list however they choose.   What it does not capture is perennial sellers or classics. For example, the Bible and the Quran are obviously some of the bestselling books of all time, but you won't see editions of the Bible or the Quran on the New York Times Bestseller List. Textbooks and classroom materials, I guarantee there are some textbooks that are standards in their field that would be on the bestseller list every year, but they're not because The New York Times doesn't track them. Ebooks available only from a single vendor such as Kindle Unlimited books, ebook sales from not reporting vendors such as Shopify or Payhip. Reference Works including test prep guides (because I guarantee when test season comes around the ACT and SAT prep guides or the GRE prep guides sell a lot of copies) and coloring books or puzzle books.  It would be quite a blow to the authors on the list to realize that if these excluded works were included on the list, they would in all likelihood be consistently below To Kill a Mockingbird, SAT prep books, citation manuals, Bibles/other religious works, and coloring books about The Eras Tour.   Publishers, political figures, religious groups, and anyone with enough money can buy their way into the rank by purchasing their books in enormous quantities. In fact, it's widely acknowledged in the United States that this is essentially a legal form of bribery and a bit of money laundering too, where a publisher will give a truly enormous advance to a public figure or politician that they like, and that advance will essentially be a payment to that public figure in the totally legal form of an enormous book advance that isn't going to pay out. Because this is happening with such frequency, The New York Times gave into the pressure to acknowledge titles suspected of this strategy with a special mark next to it on the list. However, these books remain on the list and can still be called a New York Times Bestseller.   Since the list is not an objective marker of sales and certainly not some guarantee of quality, why focus on making it there? I think trying to get your book on The New York Times Bestseller List would be an enormous waste of time, since the list is fundamentally an artificial construction that doesn't reflect sales reality very well.   So what can you do instead? Focus on raw sales numbers and revenue, not lists. Even Amazon's bestseller category lists have a certain amount of non-quantitative factors. In the indie author community, there's a saying called Bank not Rank, which means you should focus on how much revenue your books are actually generating instead of whatever sales rank they are on whatever platform. I think that's a wiser approach to focus your efforts.   You can use lists like those from Publishers Weekly instead if you're interested in what's selling or trends in the industry, although that too can be manipulated and these use only a fairly small subset of data that favors retail booksellers, but it's still more objective in measuring than The New York Times.   I suppose in the end, you should try and focus on ebook and writing activities that'll bring you actual revenue or satisfaction rather than chasing the hollow prestige of things like traditional publishing, agents, MFAs, and The New York Times Bestseller List.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Vellum & Spar go undercover on a trip to visit Gladia before going after the remaining stamps. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong.

In this week's episode, we take a look at five reasons to buy direct from authors through platforms such as Shopify and Payhip. We also take a look at my choice of computing platforms for 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Tombs, Book #3 in the Ghost Armor series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: TOMBS50 The coupon code is valid through February 7, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for next week's cold weather, we've got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 235 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is January the 17th, 2025 and today we are discussing the advantages of buying direct from the author. I will also share an update on what I've done for my writing computers this year and we also have Coupon of the Week, Question of the Week, and an update on my current writing projects. So let's get right to it.   Let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code is for the audiobook of Ghost in the Tombs, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. That is Book Three of the Ghost Armor series, and this coupon will get you 50% off the audiobook at my Payhip store: TOMBS50. This coupon code will be valid through February 7, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for next week's cold weather, we have got you covered. Now let's share an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 116,000 words into Shield of Deception, which puts me on chapter 28 of 31. So I'm hoping before too much longer I will be able to be done with the rough draft, which I think I'm hoping I'm going to be able to finish it on Monday the 20th if all goes well, but we'll see how things work out. I think it's going to end up being around 125,000 words, which will make it the longest book in the Shield War series and probably the longest book I've written since the end of my Dragontiarna series back in 2021. I kind of wanted a break from really long, complex epic fantasy, but I had my break. I'm rested and now we're doing it again. I'm also 13,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs, which will be the fourth book in the Ghost Armor series, and I'm hoping to have that out in March and Shield Deception out in February.   In audiobook news, Cloak of Masks is entirely done and working its way through processing. As I mentioned last week, it should be up on a couple of the stores like Google Play, Kobo, and Chirp, though it is not up on Audible yet. On Audible, though, is Ghost Armor Omnibus One (again narrated by Hollis McCarthy). That is an omnibus bundle of the first three books in the Ghost Armor series. That is available in audio at Audible, Amazon, and Apple. If you're on Audible, it is 31 hours of listening for just one credit, which in my opinion is a pretty good deal. That is where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:02:32 Question of the Week   Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended for enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question: what is your favorite Mexican dish? No wrong answers, including not enjoying Mexican food. A little bit about semantics. I'm aware that Mexican food is a very broad net and like all such definitions is prone to a substantial bit of haziness. Mexican cuisine is not the same as Tex-Mex, which is not the same as Puerto Rican cuisine, which is not the same as Guatemalan cuisine and so on. And the various regions of Mexico itself all have their own distinct culinary traditions. But this is true of all cuisines. By Mexican food, I mean Mexican food as it is generally defined in the United States, which tends to be an assemblage of various foods from the American Southwest, Mexico, and Latin America. And as you might expect, we had numerous responses.   Our first response is from Justin who says: We have taco night here once a week or so, but no actual tacos are used. A pan of seasoned crumbled hamburger meat along with standard toppings is available for folks to make what they want. That generally becomes beef and cheese burritos and taco salad (regular bowl, corn chips added as desired).   Hollis (who narrates the Ghost and Cloak audiobooks as we as mentioned) says: Quesadillas. Taste decadent but can pack in healthy spinach and peppers and whole wheat tortillas with decadent meat and cheese.   Juana says: burritos, loaded!   Tracy says: chicken and guacamole with roasted veggies.   Becca says: Chile en nogada, basically a meat stuffed grilled chili. I have had it with chicken and beef, usually comes with pomegranate or other fruit containing sauce.   John says: Three barbacoa tacos with cilantro, onion and the green salsa and three beef fajita tacos the same way. With large horchata from a sketchy food truck usually found in front of the local tire shop.   I have to say some of the best Mexican food I've had has come from somewhat sketchy food trucks in front of local tire shops.   Bob says: Any kind of mole. One nearby restaurant had a duck mole that was excellent.   A different John says: I'm always searching for a great cheese enchilada. At least three, please. Cheryl says: Never had Mexican, so can't comment.   Jenny says: Queso dip, especially when it's got beef and chili seasoning (not like chili peppers, but the southwest chili seasoning and beef).   Scott says: Anything Al Pastor (burritos taco, et cetera).   Steve says: Fish tacos, any way I can get them.   Yet another John says: Brisket quesadillas.   I've actually had those and they're very good.   Andrew Abbott says: Quesadilla.   Gary says: Al pastor.   Mandy says: Carnitas.   For myself, I think my favorite would be arroz con pollo with mushrooms. Tasty, very filling, and so long as you don't go too heavy on the cheese, it's not too terribly bad for you. I've had a couple of different variations of it, including one that had carrots and I admit I was dubious when it came out with carrots in the arroz con pollo, but it was really good. Steak fajitas would be a close second in my Mexican food preference list. The inspiration for this question was that I made homemade nachos for dinner twice this week and I also made tacos twice for dinner this week because if you make up enough taco mix, you can get a couple of meals out of it. So that's it for Question of the Week.   00:05:37 Work Computers/Writing Computer for 2025   Now I thought I'd talk a little bit about what I'm going to use for a computer in 2025. The reason for this is a couple of weeks ago, I posted a meme about choosing a new computer on Facebook and promptly forgot I had done so, but then I looked back a week and a half later to see it had gone viral and people are still arguing about the best computer in the comments, which is good summary of social media, isn't it? You can carefully consider a 1,500 word post that will get like three likes at the most but toss a meme up and forget about it and you'll come back in a week to see it had thousands of views and almost 300 comments, all of them arguing for or against specific computing platforms. So that is the reason I thought I would share what I actually picked for my computing needs in 2025.   Three caveats: One, for your own computing requirements, pick whatever meets your needs and that your budget will allow. Windows, Mac OS, Linux, a tablet, whatever. It doesn't really matter. Honestly, I think 90% of people can do 95% of what they need in a web browser nowadays anyway and maybe use a cheap laser printer to print something out like every other month or so. I recently helped an elderly relative with a computer problem and she does about 95% of her computer needs on her Kindle Fire tablet and only breaks out her laptop when a webpage doesn't render properly on mobile. She can even print from her Kindle Fire. That said, I definitely fall into that 10% that cannot use a web browser for everything. Caveat two, my objective isn't to have the best computer or the most powerful computer, it's to have the computer that will be the most efficient in helping me write and publish books. And finally, caveat three. I worked for a long, long time in IT support and I did in fact write an internationally bestselling book about the Linux command line. I have done tech support for operating systems that no longer exist. Remember Windows CE on phones, Palm OS, Windows Phone, getting Mac OSX to talk to Windows Print Services, getting Mac OSX to talk to Active Directory, and Windows Millennium Edition (ugh)? I remember them and none too fondly. That means whatever objection you may have to Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or any other operating system, I probably know about it already have personally experienced it and have in fact tried to fix it while on the phone with someone having a panic attack about that particular problem. So with all that in mind, this is what I will use for computers in 2025 and hopefully for several years longer than that. For my writing/editing computer, I have picked a Mac mini M4. I've mentioned before that I'm increasingly unhappy with Windows 11 because of Microsoft's turn towards AI. I thought long and hard about either Linux or Mac OS and in the end, I decided on Mac OS because I have several subcontractors who all use Excel. Granted, you can install Excel on a Linux system with an emulation layer, but it never works 100% right. Some of the more advanced Excel stuff, which I do use, freaks out with it. There are a number of excellent spreadsheet programs available for Linux as well, but none of them have 100% compatibility with Excel, which is what I need.   Additionally for ebook and paperback formatting, I use Vellum, which is Mac only. I have been very happy with Vellum since 2018, which means I've it to format around 60 different eBooks and paperbacks. So based on all that, I chose the Mac mini M4. I've been reasonably happy with it so far, since I've written about half of Shield of Deception on it. It's quite fast, which shows there are some advantages to the same company producing the CPU and the operating system. Microsoft Word is definitely faster on the M4 and the M Series Macs than it was on the Intel based Macs. I wasn't expecting this, but the overall lack of distraction in Mac OS is nice. It's very unobtrusive. Windows 11 is a very cluttered environment by default with lots of distractions and it is very annoying how Microsoft has been encrusting ads throughout the operating system. You can turn on quiet mode of course, but it's pleasant to have the overall lack of distraction be the default. So the Mac mini M4 will be the computer I use for writing, editing and book layout, but that's not all I do. My everything else computer will be a Windows 11 Intel Core I7 desktop. My previous computer before the Mac mini, a Windows 11 box with Intel Core I7, will also remain in use. The thing about being an indie publisher is that writing and editing isn't all I do. I do my own covers now, which means Photoshop and DAZ3D. Both of those applications are big, fat memory hogs. I definitely did not want to shell out the money for a Mac with that much memory. There's also advertising, which means a lot of spreadsheets and using Photoshop to make those ad images and other miscellaneous tasks like recording expenses, web design, audio proofing, podcast recording, and so forth. In fact, I'm recording this podcast on that computer right now, so my Windows 11 box is now my everything else computer. It doesn't have an NPU chip, which means that Windows 11's more odious features like Recall won't work on it, therefore I plan to nurse it along as long as possible. I have to admit there was an unanticipated pleasant psychological effect to this. When I write, I go to my writing computer and when I need to do something else, I use my everything else computer, so it's easier to avoid getting distracted by something else I need to do while I'm writing.   I should mention gaming. I don't really use desktop computers for gaming any longer. They're for work. If there's a PC game I want to play, it needs to be able to run on my laptop while I sit on my couch. Otherwise, it's not going to happen. In the past five years, I spent more time playing games on the Switch and the Xbox than on desktop PC. So that is my computer plan for 2025, write on the Mac, do everything else on the PC. I should mention that the day before I started recording this, Microsoft pushed out an update that added this big ugly Copilot AI button to Word and Excel. So while I'm going to finish Shield of Deception in Microsoft Word, I am probably going to write Ghost in the Assembly in either Libre Office Writer or maybe MobiOffice. I need something that's cross compatible between Windows and Mac, so I'll be investigating other word processor options with all this Copilot stuff they're jamming into Word, but in the end, I'm grateful I'm able to use two different desktop computers and hopefully I will use these computers to produce many good books for you to read in 2025.   00:12:00 Main Topic of the Week: 5 Reasons You Should Buy Direct from Authors   Now on to our main topic, five reasons you should buy direct from authors. What do we mean by selling direct? It's when the author has his or her own store hosted on a site like Shopify or Payhip that allows the author to sell eBooks, audiobooks, and sometimes paperbacks direct to readers. I should mention this is not intended in any way to be shaming or bullying. If you are most comfortable buying your eBooks from Amazon or Kobo or Apple Books or Google or any other platform, that is what you should do. This is just to talk about the advantages for both readers and writers for buying direct from authors. Payhip and Shopify are the two most popular platforms for selling direct to readers. I use Payhip since I'm mostly interested in selling eBooks and audiobooks direct and not paperbacks. You can actually look at my Payhip store, which is https://payhip.com/jonathanmoeller. The links are also available on my website and indeed in the show notes for the show for Coupon of the Week.   So why even bother with direct sales when most people are now locked into a platform like Amazon or Kobo and their libraries? Why take the time to convince readers to buy directly from the author? What are the advantages to the author and more importantly, what are the advantages to the reader? And there are five of them, which we'll discuss now.   #1: Faster access to new releases. The reason Payhip is always the first platform to become available for one of my new books by about a day or so is that when a new title releases, it's because I'm uploading it myself. With Amazon or other sites, my books are essentially put into a line with many, many other titles and I can't control or predict when it will become available for customers. Various stores can take longer to process or be unavailable/down when a new book releases. Kobo glitched quite badly at various points throughout 2024. In 2021, Barnes and Noble suffered a ransomware attack that blocked the ability to upload new books to the platform for about a month, and all the other stores have had various technical glitches throughout time. That's just the nature of running a large website, but having a site like Payhip gives me a place where people can turn to when it happens. Quite a few people bought Cloak of Illusion from Payhip because Kobo was down for a week when I was trying to upload the book to the site.   #2: The second reason, which is a big advantage for both readers and writers, is that I can control discounts and permafree so it's easier to get discounts from an author's store. It's easier to provide discounts on Payhip because I'm getting a higher profit margin. Even with the 50% discount on Ghost in the Tombs we mentioned this week, I still would make from that discounted audiobook more than on Audible and pretty close to what I get from some of the more generous sites like Chirp or Google Play or Kobo.   Just like with the uploads, I also have complete control over when the discounts happen on Payhip. Otherwise, as I mentioned earlier, I'm at the mercy of when the uploaded book processes on various stores, just like with release dates. It's hard to promote discounts or short-term freebies on those other platforms because the price change move slowly (and often unreliably) there, whereas they're instant on Payhip. Payhip is also my hub for providing free content to my readers beyond my Permafree series starters. Keep an eye on my blog and Facebook page for Coupon of the Week, where as I mentioned earlier in the show, I give out codes with steep discounts for my Payhip store. I also provide free short stories on my Payhip store for a limited time when new books release. Subscribe to my newsletter if you'd like to know when those free short stories become available. I also make a dozen older short stories (both ebook and audiobook) free on my Payhip at the end of each year, an event called 12 Days of Short Story Christmas. If you follow my website and blog, you might remember that from recently. It would take too much time away from writing to do all these things on all the other platforms, and it often isn't technically possible. Using Payhip frees up my time to do more writing instead of trying to work with the tech support of six different vendors when something doesn't switch price in time to run a specific promotion.   #3: A third advantage, and that is a big advantage for readers, is I am not interested in your data and I am not spying on you the way that a large e-commerce site might be. Payhip basically just shows me the buyer's email for an individual's data. I can't see any other purchases you make. I can't see any individual demographic data and I can't see anything that would be uncomfortable for me to know. Basically all I see is your email address and your geographic location (your rough geographic location), which obviously the store needs in order to calculate sales tax liability. I intentionally set up the Payhip store so that you don't need a user account to buy books or audiobooks there. We also try and turn off the more annoying site settings like follow up emails that request reviews. Even the aggregate data on the Payhip app dashboard is extremely limited compared to other platforms. I can see a map shaded in with countries of visitors, which isn't accurate or useful in an age where you can use a VPN to switch your location with the click of a button. [We can see] if users are accessing the link directly from a Google search and the raw number of clicks on the page. Compared to the amount of data collected by other sites, [that is very minimal]. For example, other sites can show that men ages 23 to 28 who like Taylor Swift, own a cat, and live in Canada are looking at your page at midnight on Tuesday. That is much less data than Payhip collects, so therefore, if you're concerned about data privacy, Payhip is a stronger choice than most other ebook and audiobook platforms. For details about what Payhip tracks separate from what the individual author does, check out their privacy policy.   #4: The fourth advantage is the reader gets a choice of file formats and you can send files to another ebook library. With Amazon or indeed any of the other ebook stores, you get your chosen format for an ebook and can't switch that format without using third party software. At my Payhip store, you get three ebook formats: epub, PDF, and when possible, the ancient .mobi format (which is kinda depreciated and gradually going away). I've noticed that people who like PDFs really like PDFs, and so if you want your ebook in PDF form, you can get them in PDF form from my Payhip store.   Having a choice of different file formats allows you to more easily import the books into the platforms you already use like Kindle or Kobo. It's a pretty simple process to send files to your Kindle, Kobo, iPad, or other device so you have access to them in your library there. All my eBooks are integrated with Book Funnel, so if you have a Book Funnel account, they automatically show up in your library. Book Funnel also has directions for sideloading the files onto your various devices.   #5: The fifth advantage, and this is a really big one for readers, is all the files you buy from me on Payhip are DRM free files that you can self-archive. Digital rights management limits your ability to transfer books and audiobooks through apps, devices, and so forth. It controls the way that you access things you have purchased. It's often said that you don't buy digital content, you have a conditional lease on it that's controlled by the platform you buy it from.   The content that you buy can disappear, especially when a platform is sold or closes. We've all heard horror stories of people whose accounts at various online retailers get closed for some reason, and then they lose their access to the library of any media they have purchased there or a platform can go out of business. There was a minor, well, actually a fairly major scandal a few years ago when a romance themed ebook store went out of business and everyone lost their access to their libraries. And for a while Microsoft was offering eBooks for sale through the Edge browser, but as we know, Microsoft tends to change mind about things a lot, and that went away and eventually people lost their ability to access any eBooks they had purchased through the Microsoft store. And this isn't even the first time Microsoft did this. Way back in the ‘90s and early 2000s, Microsoft was trying to be become a music retailer to compete with Apple's iTunes store, and they used a kind of a DRM called Play For Sure. Eventually they got out of that business and shut down Play For Sure's servers and anyone who had purchased music locked to that DRM could no longer play it. Our Payhip store has DRM free files. These allow you to store and archive the files separate from the ebook and audiobook stores so that doesn't happen. It allows you to actually own the content that you buy and build a library that best suits your needs. So that way, if for some reason (let's say for example, your audiobook store account gets hacked and you get locked out of it), you won't lose all your eBooks that you bought through my Payhip store if you downloaded them and stored them on a local storage device or some other kind of archive system.   One final advantage that is more for the author than for the reader, it is a better profit margin for direct sales than is for any of the other stores. The best percentage you can get in the ebook sales on any of the other stores is Amazon, which offers 70% for eBooks between $2.99 and $9.99. Whereas with Payhip, I get about 85% of each sale (minus sales tax and credit card processing fees). The Coupons of the Week we have been doing so far this year are a good example of that. I'm selling the Ghost audiobooks connected with the coupon for 50% off and the standard sales price is $11.99, which means you get them for about $5.99. Even though that's cheap, I still get almost as much money from a $5.99 sale than I would from a purchase on Audible or any of the other major audiobook platforms. Those are five reasons to buy direct from an author. I should note, it's just not good for the author. It offers many advantages for the reader as well.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the backup episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Content Warning: Truly terrible dad. Ila's Links: Beloved Asheville Art Garden - Their Gofundme Donate to Ila Directly - Ila's shop The agents gain a greater understanding of their companions, while reaffirming distaste for someone Spar used to know. Vellum finds his mentor a muffin; Max comes out in more ways than one; Spar talks in his sleep. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong.

Tony chats with Julianna Muir, Founder & CEO at Vellum Insurance, they are a data and analytics platform purpose-built for the insurance industry, specifically for insurance and reinsurance companies who receive bordereaus. They help ingest, validate, standardize and aggregate that information, and then add a powerful analytics layer on top. This allows their clients to go from a reactive position to more of a proactive portfolio management relationship with their partners. After almost 600 episodes I don't remember a single episode about bordereau related technology so this is very exciting!Julianna Muir: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julmuir/Vellum Insurance: https://www.velluminsurance.com/Video Version: https://youtu.be/cJ2Sxj8UE0sRumi.aiAll-in-one meeting tool with real-time transcription & searchable Meeting Memory™

The agents take shifts watching over their sleeping companions, and have some life-changing conversations while they're at it. Spar gets to know a relentless foe; Vellum gets to know himself. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong.

Content Warning: Survivors guilt Everyone takes a minute to talk things through on a most revealing episode! Vellum delivers a one-hit-kill; Spar and Xbala debate which of their memories is correct; everyone pieces together pieces of the larger puzzle. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong.

Looking for the best book formatting software for your self-publishing journey? Discover the top options like Atticus, Vellum, Dibbly Create, Scrivener, and Microsoft Word. Find out which one suits your needs for creating professional-quality books and get insights on features, usability, and pricing. Book Award Pro - https://DaleLInks.com/BookAwardPro (affiliate link) Dibbly Create - https://DaleLinks.com/DibblyCreate (affiliate link) Atticus - https://www.atticus.io/ Vellum - https://vellum.pub/ Scrivener - https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/ Subscribe to The Self-Publishing Hub - https://TheSelfPublishingHub.com Subscribe to my email newsletter - https://DaleLinks.com/SignUp  Join Channel Memberships - https://DaleLinks.com/Memberships Join Me on Discord - https://DaleLinks.com/Discord Check out my main YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@DaleLRoberts My Books - https://DaleLinks.com/MyBooks 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

Self-publishing might be a DIY publishing model, but there are plenty of tools and resources to help you get your book from manuscript to market. In this episode, Matt & Lauren discuss a debatable number of tools to help you draft, edit, format, design, market, and ship your book. Dive Deeper

Content Warning: Intended (failed) animal cruelty The SUITS agents are reunited with their leader under most unusual circumstances! Vellum solves several problems with creative uses of magic; Spar solves several problems with creative uses of (his own) head trauma.  Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong. Intro -  Dogtective; Midtro -  At Last, a Piano; Outro - Ghost + Guest.

In this week's episode, we'll take a look at five tips for creating distinctive character voices and viewpoints within your novel. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Update Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 209 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is July the 12th, 2024 and today we are discussing five tips for creating vivid characterizations. Before we get into that, we'll have some writing progress updates, a couple of questions from readers, Question of the Week, and then we'll get on to our main topic. So for my current writing projects, I'm pleased to report that Shield of Darkness is out and selling briskly, and you can get it at all the usual places: Amazon, Barnes, and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and my Payhip store. It's had a very strong response so far and thank you for that. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the book. Now that Shield of Darkness is out, my next project is Half-Orc Paladin. I am pleased to report I'm currently on Chapter 10 of 16, which puts me at 60,000 words. Yesterday I had a 10,000 word day while I was working on it, my sixth one of 2024. Good progress has been made. I'm hoping to have that book out preferably in early August. In audiobook news, the audiobook of Wizard-Thief as narrated by Leanne Woodward is almost finished. We've just got to finish proofing it and that should take place next week and hopefully the audiobook will be out towards the end of July or early August. Once Half-Orc Paladin is done, I have not 100% decided what I'm going to write next. I'm 20,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs, so that could be next or I might write Shield of Conquest or Cloak of Illusion. We will see what I do when I get to the end of Half-Orc Paladin. But right now, I am focusing on Half-Orc Paladin and bringing that to completion. We have a reader question from BV, who asks: I saw an app called Scrivener, and I thought of what Jonathan uses. I'm an old mainframe COBOL/RPG developer and I know that the tech environment can really help. I tried Scrivener way back in 2014 and it was too complicated for me, too much. Granted, the app might have changed since then because 2014 feels to me at least like it was really recent, but it was in fact ten years ago. So for writing, I primarily use Microsoft Word for writing and editing and then I use Vellum on the Mac for the final ebook formatting. That's the way I do it right now. Nothing to say that it can't change. Maybe I might switch to LibreOffice again for writing as Microsoft continues to sort of circle the AI drain and adds more and more useless AI features to its products. 00:02:38 Question of the Week Now it's time for Question of the Week, which is designed to inspire interesting discussion of enjoyable topics. This week's question: what is your favorite kind of sandwich? This got a lot of responses, as you might expect. Grimlar says: buttered oven bottom muffin, slice of lamb, medium mature slice of cheese, and a coating of salad cream. Justin says: the current sandwich at my house is turkey with provolone, lettuce, and tomato with mayonnaise on homemade sourdough. That actually sounds pretty good right now. Kevin says: bit boring here. Grilled cheese and bacon or BLT with mayo. Easily pleased, Michael says: can't beat a toasted cheese sandwich, which seems to be called a grilled cheese in the US, which has always baffled me. Ham is a good addition as well. I agree with Michael. That is a very good sandwich. Brandy says: old school. Tie between cold Jif creamy peanut butter and Concord grape jam or warm grilled Gruyere and Colby Jack on a good homemade bread (pumpernickel, oatmeal, wheat, or sourdough). Barbara says: Kind of a plain girl: toasted cheese and tomato. Annie says: toasted sandwich: ham, cheese, red onions, and tomato with butter and mayo. Jesse says: Italian sub with hot peppers. Steve says: I'd add some cheese because I'm a cheesy kind of guy and my spicy mustard has a bit of horseradish, too. Bonnie says: Maine Amatoes roast beef Italian (RB, cheese, onion, green pepper, pickled tomato, black olives, mayo, not oil. Jenny says: rare roast beef slices, sharp cheddar, and sourdough bread. I don't lubricate my sandwiches and prefer simple. Otherwise grilled cheese (extra sharp cheddar and gouda) or really anything with ham in there. Nick says: this is just perfect. Just make the beef pastrami. Jonah says: Panini. Genoa salami, roasted red peppers, onions, Jack and mozzarella cheese, good olive oil, and maybe a pesto. Gary says: there are lots of good ones, but if I can only have one, it has to be PB&J (crunchy peanut butter and raspberry jam). Andrew says: An MLT, a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich where the mutton is so lean. I have to admit I did not know that was an actual sandwich. Randy says: hot and juicy pastrami with melted pepperjack cheese, diced red onion, mayo, and horseradish mustard on a lightly toasted sourdough hoagie. Dang it. Now I'm hungry. Craig says: club. Stacy says: grilled cheese. David says PB and J. Judy says peanut butter and grape jelly or a Philly cheesesteak. John says: tie between a really good Reuben or really authentic Philly cheesesteak. Croque Monsieur is a close second. Venus says: funniest sandwich story I ever heard was when my brother ordered a BLT and the waitress asked if he wanted any condiments on it. He said no and received bacon between two slices of bread. When I was younger, I used to eat BLTs that way. Just bacon and bread, though now that I'm older and recognize the benefits of vegetables in many areas of life, I do have BLTS with the lettuce and tomato. Juana says: BLT. For myself, the answer would be I think a sub with roast beef, ham, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, and a significant quantity of spicy mustard. The inspiration for this question was that I typed it up, it was almost lunch time and I'm hungry. It may have been a mistake to record this podcast before lunch because I am now quite hungry after reading all that, but onwards to our Main Topic of the Week. 00:06:02 Main Topic: How to Create Distinctive Characterizations and Character Voices in a Novel Now on to our Main Topic of the Week: how to create distinctive characterizations and character voices in a novel. We're going to go through five tips for that. I got to think about this because I just finished Shield of Darkness, which was quite a long book, and it had multiple point of views. My previous long series, the Dragonskull series, was mostly a single point of view throughout all nine books. Gareth Arban was the main character and though we started to have more point of view characters come in starting with the fifth book and especially in the final third of the series, Gareth was still the main character and had the most scenes. By contrast, Shield of Storms and the rest of the Shield War series is going to be multi point of view. As of right now, Ridmark Arban, Niara, Lika, and Nikomedes are going to be the main characters and we will have new point of view characters that start introducing in with the rest of the series. The point of view of the different chapters will rotate between them. I'm writing in in what's called limited third person, where you shift entirely to one person's perspective for a scene or chapter. For example, if I'm writing from Ridmark's perspective, we will see things from Ridmark's perspective and know what he's thinking. Omniscient third person, by contrast, is when the author jumps from person to person. For example, in a scene with both Ridmark and the Nikomedes, the author will let us know what they're both thinking and will see things through both their eyes. There is nothing wrong with this, as a skillful writer can do it quite well. I think Agatha Christie especially did it quite well, but it's generally easier and simpler to write in third person limited instead of third person omniscient. Of course, third person limited is only easier if you can make each point of view distinctive. You have to write a distinctive voice for each character and it can become a problem if all the characters all sound and think the same way. So how can you create a distinctive voice for each point of view character? There are a couple of different ways that you can do this. #1: Descriptions. When writing from a particular character's viewpoint in limited third person, obviously that character will see things through his or her own personal lens. This is a handy way to differentiate characters. For example, take the laptop I used to write this podcast script. I got it in the summer of 2023 where my previous laptop went to the big recycling bin in the sky and it's an HP Envy with a 17 inch screen, since I'm at a phase of life where I prefer to write with the Microsoft Word window maximized and the screen size zoomed way up. But someone who knows less about computers than I do wouldn't see an HP Envy, they'll just see a silver laptop with a big screen. Someone who only uses Mac laptops would just see it as a big chunky PC laptop and would think of it that way. Firearms are another good example of this. For example, according to the FBI website, the official side arm of an FBI agent is a Glock 19 M semi-automatic pistol, which holds 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition, but many people would not know this. They would see the weapon and think of it as just a black handgun or a black pistol, or may even describe it inaccurately, calling it a revolver or a machine gun. This variation in description would also extend to characters. Consider a woman who works as a school administrator. The school board chairman might think of her as the most reliable employee in the district and describe her that way. The students might describe her as the mean lady who works in the office. One of the teachers might think of her as my best friend. Another teacher might think of her as my cousin's nasty ex-wife. Which one of these characterizations of the woman are correct? Well, it depends on the particular point of view at the moment, and you can use that description to help differentiate your characters from one another. #2: Dialogue is another great way to differentiate characters from one another. No two people ever really have similar speech patterns. The school administrator in the previous example might always find a way to bring the conversation back around to her cats. A socially awkward computer programmer might start over sharing facts about topics that interest him. A taciturn electrician might only speak when necessary and prefer silence the rest of the time. A lawyer might talk in very precise sentences with every word exactly measured, especially a lawyer who is used to arguing in front of a judge. A common joke is that rather than asking why, the lawyer will always say on what basis? People will also talk about different things. They have favorite topics or are better or worse at handling emotionally sensitive discussions. People also have things they absolutely refuse to discuss under any circumstances and become angry if someone tries to force them to talk about these topics. Dialogue is also a place where it's best not to get too hung up on grammar, since you'll find that most people do not talk in grammatically perfect sentences. People often repeat themselves, respond to a question with another question or an irrelevant answer, and go off on tangents. The trick for writing dialogue is to try and catch a feeling of verisimilitude with the somewhat rambling nature of human conversation in general without getting too bogged down and trying to make it too realistic. You want to keep the story moving forward, after all. #3: Attitudes. Another good way to differentiate between point of view characters is attitude. How do they respond to things emotionally? This ties into both description and dialogue because the character's attitude will obviously influence how they describe things and how they talk. To return to the example of the school administrator above, a student with a cranky attitude might think of her as the mean lady in the office, while a teacher who is in a good mood and enjoys his or her work might think of her as Miss Jones from the school district. The character's mood will color how they describe their surroundings and how they relate to the characters around them. A character who is in a good mood would simply note a car braking in front of them in traffic and slow down. A character in a bad mood will likely rant about how the jerk in front brake checked them. This leads into the next aspect of character attitudes. How does a character react emotionally to events and other characters? One character might view having to stand in line for a while as a minor inconvenience and turn his or her thoughts elsewhere during the wait. Another character might fly into a rage with impatience and demand to speak to the manager over. The first character might dislike going to restaurants because he or she finds it embarrassing to be waited upon and will get through the experience with stiff politeness. The second character might love going to restaurants and makes all sorts of unreasonable demands upon the waiter. Character attitudes and how they emotionally react to situations and each other is an excellent way to differentiate characters and therefore create unique voice. #4: Knowledge. Another good way to distinguish between characters is their individual knowledge and can also help inform the descriptions. For example, during a recent road trip I was listening to the audiobook of Dark Angel by John Sanford and narrated by Robert Petkoff. In the book, two federal agents Letty Davenport and Rod Baxter are assigned to infiltrate a group of dangerous hackers. Letty is an expert on firearms and violence and very physically fit while Baxter is 60 pounds overweight but an expert in all aspects of hacking and computer crime. He doesn't know anything about guns, but he knows everything about breaking into a computer system whereas Letty has only a surface level grasp of computer crime. She knows what a ransomware attack is but nothing about how to actually execute one or repair one. This is a helpful way to distinguish between the character's point of view scenes like we talked about with description. As we said, one character might see a firearm and think it's a black rifle but a character with greater knowledge of guns would immediately identify it as an M16A2. Another character might see a van and just think of it as an old red van, but a character who works as a mechanic would identify it as a 1993 Ford Aerostar. #5: Subtext. Now we come to the great bane and hindrance of human communication, subtext. How characters react to subtext, whether they notice it, imagine it, or fail to detect it at all can help distinguish between character point of views and help create character voice. In this context, subtext refers to an additional implied meaning beyond the actual literal meaning of the spoken words. For example, a woman tells her boyfriend that she hears the Grand Canyon is nice in May. The subtext is that she wants him to plan a trip for them to the Grand Canyon, and the boyfriend may or may not pick up on this subtext. Communication failure of this sort is a common staple of sitcom plots, where many conflicts could be resolved if the participants were capable of communicating clearly. This is something of a cliched example, but we've all had examples in real life where we said something only to have our words totally misinterpreted. For example, say you say, “I don't like fish” and the person to whom you are speaking interprets that as “I hate your cooking.” That might not have been your meaning at all, but the comment was interpreted that way. Or an office manager observes that there are budget cuts. His employees immediately interpret that as impending layoffs when in fact, the manager simply meant that the budget for office supplies and computers has been cut. Subtext provides an excellent tool for distinguishing between characters. One character might completely miss subtext in conversation, while another might imagine subtexts that aren't there at all, like with the fish comment or another character who constantly speaks in subtext and gets annoyed when people don't pick up on their subtle meanings. Hopefully these five tips will help you craft characters with distinctive voices and viewpoints. So that's it for this week. After all that talk about sandwiches, I think I might go look for lunch myself. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

This is a fun episode where we play a full 80min interview thr33s did ahead of Season 10 and ahead of thr33zi3s Gen3 and ahead of Vellum... interesting to hear how he speaks about the project with a total outsider. Crouton and thr33s are joined by arts writer Vittoria Benzine to live listen to the interview and interject delightful tidbits throughout. What makes this episode even more exciting, the release date is the one year anniversary of thr33s and Vittoria starting to date. A really great listen!

Dive into the journey of Akash Sharma, the innovative mind behind Vellum AI, a platform revolutionizing generative AI prompting. From his early days at UC Berkeley to making strides at McKinsey's Silicon Valley Office, and finally leading Vellum AI to secure $5M just months after its launch. Discover how Akash and his team are reshaping the LLM development process, bringing software engineering finesse to it. Don't miss this deep dive into the future of AI, where Akash shares insights, challenges, and the vision driving Vellum AI. This show is supported by Match Relevant. A company that helps venture-backed Startups find the best people available in the market, who have the skills, experience, and desire to grow. With over a decade of experience in recruitment across multiple domains, they give people career options to choose from in their career journey. Learn more about Match Relevant at matchrelevant.com

After solving Gambler's body swap trial, Vellum & Spar receive their rewards...but not before facing an unexpected hurdle. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong. Intro -  Dogtective; Midtro -  At Last, a Piano; Outro - Ghost + Guest.

Order your exclusive da Vinci BoldBrush paintbrush set!https://brushoffer.com/collections/boldbrushLearn the magic of marketing  with us here at BoldBrush!https://www.boldbrushshow.com/Get over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO:https://www.FASO.com/podcast/---For today's episode we sat down with Stephanie Birdsall, a floral oil painter and pastel artist with a keen eye for creating a sense of romantic atmosphere in her work thanks to her use of natural daylight. She tells us about her artistic journey including her time at the City and Guilds of London Art School as well as her experiences with Richard Schmid, Nancy Guzik, David Leffel, and Sherrie McGraw. We also discuss how to navigate the art world including building credibility, producing high-quality work, and finding the right galleries. Stephanie emphasizes the importance of confidence, conscious painting, and being intentional with your work. She also shares with us her deep love of teaching others and also tells us about the advantages of joining painting societies and clubs in order to network and learn from like-minded individuals about how to improve at your craft. Finally she tells us all about her upcoming workshops!Stephanie's FASO site:https://www.stephaniebirdsall.com/Stephanie's Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sbirdartist

Vellum is the gold standard for editing your book ready for publication. Listen as James Blatch talks to Brad West about tips for preparing your book

This week, Ryan and Brian are each a little pestier than usual, and ... okay, being real, Brian was super grumpy and Ryan wasn't making things any better. No Kealoa this week, but there is a useless fact, plus a Thunder Round of non-NYT puzzles: "Permanent Record" by Daniel Bodily (Universal, April 24) "Academic Terms" by Erica Hsiung Wojcik (The Modern Crossword, March 30) Crossword Club by Ada Nicolle (April 22) Los Angeles Times by Sarah Sinclair and Kelsey Dixon (April 25) "Ambitious Constraint Practiced Thoroughly" by Kieran J Boyd (April 5) "Fie! (Themeless)" by Ada Nicolle (Lucky Streak XWords, April 13) If you get bored (how could you?!), write something for the Fill Me In wiki. And if you're feeling philanthropic, donate to our Patreon. Do you enjoy our show? Actually, it doesn't matter! Please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This will help new listeners find our show, and you'll be inducted into the Quintuple Decker Turkey Club. Drop us a note or a Tweet or a postcard or a phone call — we'd love to hear from you. Helpful links: Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fill-me-in/id1364379980 Google Play link: https://player.fm/series/fill-me-in-2151002 Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/item_name/dp/B08JJRM927 RSS feed: http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/rss Contact us: Email (fmi@bemoresmarter.com) / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram We're putting these words here to help with search engine optimization. We don't think it will work, but you probably haven't read this far, so it doesn't matter: baseball, crossword, crosswords, etymology, game, hunt, kealoa, movies, musicals, mystery, oscar, pizza, puzzle, puzzles, sandwiches, soup, trivia, words

Having come out to their friends as body-swapped, Spar and Vellum continue their quest for the Gamblers' dice. An old rivalry is unearthed, guns are drawn, and a declaration is made. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum, Agent Asce Harland, and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Jordan Quiverns is everyone else and our GM Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong. Intro -  Dogtective; Midtro -  At Last, a Piano; Outro - Ghost + Guest.

On today's episode, we dive into three key ways you can demonstrate your credibility to prospective clients. *** Thanks to today's sponsor! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

As a ghostwriter (or someone who wants to be), it's easy to worry about whether you have the right credentials to be perceived as a pro. However, there's a far more important question you must ask first. *** Thanks to today's sponsor! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

The #1 topic people ask me about is ghostwriting. On this episode, we'll dive into ten reasons ghostwriting is a great business for writers. 1. You can work on your own time. 2. Books are pretty straightforward to write. 3. You only need a few projects per year to make a good income. 4. “Ghostwriter” is a compelling term that makes people curious. 5. Ghostwriting is easy to explain to people. 6. Everybody wants a book! 7. You can set your own income. 8. Ghostwriting is not a commodity-based business. 9. You become a trusted confidante to your clients. 10. As a ghostwriter, you can explore your curiosity. *** Thanks to today's sponsor! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

To celebrate Three of Hearts's anniversary, Ila and Essay play The Lovers by Adam Vass and Alyx Schroeder, a tarot-based game of romantic scenes. In this quasi-canonical series of dates, Spar and Vellum reflect on their pasts and consider a possible future, together. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum and our artist Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar and our editor Subscribe to our Patreon for bonus episodes, maps, and short fiction set in the world of our podcast! Talk to the cast and other fans on our Discord! The People, Places, and Things of Three of Hearts! Follow us on Tumblr! Our music was provided by Louie Zong.

In this episode, Lauren & Matt discuss the publishing, design, and marketing experts that you may want to help you self-publish your book.We take a look at hybrid publishers, different types of editors, and interior versus exterior designers. Plus, hear our thoughts on which services are a must-do and which we think you can DIY to help keep costs low, a few suggestions for tools designed to help you with different publishing steps, and some of our favorite self-editing tips. Dive Deeper

Collin Wallace is the Former Head of Techstars Silicon Valley (one of the top startup accelerators), co-teaches the Startup Garage accelerator class at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), and is a partner at Lobby Capital (formerly August Capital), a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Previously, as a repeat founder, he also was a participant in Techstars and Y Combinator (YC is, of course, also a top startup accelerator). One of the startups that he founded (FanGo) was acquired by Grubhub pre-IPO, where he became Head of Innovation. In this interview, we talk about startup accelerators, how they've changed, and whether they are worth it for founders. We also talk about how much equity startup accelerators take, the amount of funding they provide, and some details regarding SAFEs and other startup accelerator financing terms, as well as differences between startup accelerators. We also talk about the types of problems startup accelerators are especially good at helping founders solve. In addition, we discuss the differences between accelerators: Y Combinator vs Techstars vs Pear VC, etc. Collin has invested in over 80 early-stage companies, including PayJoy, Landed, Mosaic Voice, Postscript, and Vellum. He has a BS from Georgia Tech, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In addition, he speaks Mandarin Chinese.

As a writer, you long to make a difference in the world. You want to use your creative gifts. You might even want to build a part-time or full-time business with your writing. We know that a writing habit is the bridge to everything we want as writers. Of course, marketing, relationships, handling your money wisely … all those things are vital, but none of it matters if you're not producing the work. As creatives, we naturally resist routines and habits. But writing is a blue-collar job, like carpentry, plumbing, or anything else requiring regular, sustained labor. Without a writing habit, you will never get that blog built, you will never finish that book you've been thinking about all these years, and you will certainly never build a successful writing business. A great writing habit is the pathway to everything you have dreamed about as a writer. On this episode, we dive into the four "wheels" that keep it moving. *** Thanks to today's sponsor! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

If there's one thing we all want to do in 2024, it's to write and publish more books. I'm excited to have a guest today who can help us learn the secrets of writers who get the work done and watch their success keep rising. Brock Swinson hosts the Creative Principles podcast, where he speaks with writers, actors, directors, musicians, and more. He has interviewed figures such as Aaron Sorkin, Ethan Hawke, Jim Gaffigan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylor Sheridan, Judd Apatow, and hundreds more for his show. Recently, Brock has packed all of this knowledge into the book Ink by the Barrel: Secrets From Prolific Writers, which you can get completely for free by visiting https://www.brockswinson.com/ink. The book is divided into three parts: Time, Voice, and Process. It contains advice on every single page to help novice writers become prolific. Brock has also been a copywriter for the last decade, working with entrepreneurs like Russell Brunson, Grant Cardone, and Tony Robbins. In this conversation, Brock and I discuss how he got into screenwriting, using your time well, why you need to take action now, how podcasting has helped his career, and much more. *** A big thank you to our sponsors: There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block is the brand-new book from Honorée Corder. You'll learn what's really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you've always dreamed of, and much more. Grab your copy today! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Need a great book cover? Kristi Griffith from Thumbprint Creative has created the cover design and interior layout for many of my own books, and books of my ghostwriting clients and friends. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.

As a writer, you live in two worlds: the world of business and the world of creative thinking. Creative types tend to focus on making the product and spend less time on marketing and selling it. My guest today is here to help us develop our business chops as writers. Paul Leon is a training leader and sales manager with nearly twenty years of experience providing sales management in many industries. He has extensive experience developing and delivering sales training materials, including developing curriculum aligned with product training, facilitating new hire training, providing in-person and online classes, meeting and exceeding sales training goals, and leading cross-function teams. Paul also hosts the Persistence Mastery podcast, a great show about helping professionals grow their communication skills. In this conversation, Paul and I discuss creating your value proposition as a writer. What value do you bring to your clients, customers, and readers? How do you improve their lives? We also dive into the difference between cost and investment, and why this difference is so crucial. If you do client work as a writer, you'll love this episode and the actionable steps you can put to work in your business immediately. *** A big thank you to our sponsors: There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block is the brand-new book from Honorée Corder. You'll learn what's really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you've always dreamed of, and much more. Grab your copy today! Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Need a great book cover? Kristi Griffith from Thumbprint Creative has created the cover design and interior layout for many of my own books, and books of my ghostwriting clients and friends. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.

One of the recurring themes of this podcast is leadership. Writing and creativity are, of course, a huge part of what we do. But if we want to operate a successful business, we have to be able to manage all the moving pieces in order for things to run smoothly and grow over time. I'm excited to have a guest today who can help us do that. Valerie Cockerell was born and raised in France, where she graduated with a degree in Business Hospitality. She eventually joined Disneyland Paris in 1991 as a retail manager. After succeeding in a number of roles, she eventually oversaw the planning for all Resort merchandise locations in the park. Upon moving to Florida in 1997, Valerie worked as the Assortment Planning Manager at Downtown Disney and Epcot Center, eventually moving to Merchandise Brand Management for both Epcot and the Disney Cruise Line. Valerie left the company and started consulting for outside organizations in the retail world. She returned to Disney in 2013 to become a contract facilitator for Disney Institute, where she facilitated professional development classes and custom programs in both French and English. She drew from her international management experience in retail and operations to teach Disney's approach to Leadership Excellence and Customer Service. Since May 2019, Valerie has been a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator with her husband, Dan Cockerell. In her speaking, she shares her expertise and methodology in leading teams and delivering outstanding customer service. Valerie joins me today for a conversation about her new book, Manage like a Mother: Leadership Lessons Drawn from the Wisdom of Mom, which offers a simple-to-understand and easy-to-implement take on leadership inspired by a mother's playbook. We talk about her career working for the Disney organization, how everyone can learn to become a better leader and manager by borrowing concepts from mothers (even men!), how writers can implement these principles, and more. You can connect with Valerie at https://cockerellconsulting.com. * * * A big thank you to our sponsors, who keep this podcast free for listeners: Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. I've used it for years and love it! Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Feeling blocked as a writer? Grab a copy of There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block by Honorée Corder. You'll learn what's really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you've always dreamed of, and much more. Looking for a great book cover designer and formatter? I use and recommend Kristi Griffith, owner of Thumbprint Creative. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.

As an author, one of your biggest goals is to get your books into the hands of readers. It's going to involve various levels of marketing, and in some cases, a PR (public relations) team. Imagine if you could sit down with a bona-fide expert who knows the industry and has gotten her book clients on every conceivable platform. You'd come away with some golden nuggets of PR wisdom to apply to your current or future books, no matter what your genre or publishing path. I've got you covered. My guest today is Morgan Canclini-Mitchell, who is the Principal and Founder of two|pr. Two|pr is a boutique publicity firm representing talent and brands in a variety of verticals, including television stars, nonprofits, best-selling authors, professional athletes, film projects, and more. The firm has a unique niche in representing a variety of crossover entertainment personalities/brands/organizations, positioning them securely in both the faith-based and mainstream media landscape. In her role, Morgan spearheads publicity and influencer marketing campaigns for her clients. She has been featured in Fast Company magazine, Bustle, Her Story of Success podcast, Inspire Magazine, Christianity Today, Nashville Lifestyles magazine, and other outlets. She's also been a speaker at WriterFest, Baylor University, Vanderbilt University, Belmont University, and more. Morgan's past and current clients include: New York Times best-selling authors, an Academy Award-winning documentary, award-winning radio show hosts, ASCAP's Songwriters of the Century, Bravo and TLC reality show stars, cable news correspondents, NBA championship players, feature films, and Grammy award-winning recording artists. Morgan and I talk about paid vs. unpaid marketing, features you can bake into your books that help with PR, the best and worst time to launch books, how a PR agency works, avoiding common mistakes authors make with PR, and much more. You can find out more about Morgan and two|pr by visiting https://twopr.com. * * * A big thank you to our sponsors, who keep this email free for readers: Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. I've used it for years and love it! Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Feeling blocked as a writer? Grab a copy of There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block by Honorée Corder. You'll learn what's really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you've always dreamed of, and much more. Looking for a great book cover designer and formatter? I use and recommend Kristi Griffith, owner of Thumbprint Creative. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.

As an author, one of your biggest goals is to get your books into the hands of readers. It's going to involve various levels of marketing, and in some cases, a PR (public relations) team. Imagine if you could sit down with a bona-fide expert who knows the industry and has gotten her book clients on every conceivable platform. You'd come away with some golden nuggets of PR wisdom to apply to your current or future books, no matter what your genre or publishing path. I've got you covered. My guest today is Morgan Canclini-Mitchell, who is the Principal and Founder of two|pr. Two|pr is a boutique publicity firm representing talent and brands in a variety of verticals, including television stars, nonprofits, best-selling authors, professional athletes, film projects, and more. The firm has a unique niche in representing a variety of crossover entertainment personalities/brands/organizations, positioning them securely in both the faith-based and mainstream media landscape. In her role, Morgan spearheads publicity and influencer marketing campaigns for her clients. She has been featured in Fast Company magazine, Bustle, Her Story of Success podcast, Inspire Magazine, Christianity Today, Nashville Lifestyles magazine, and other outlets. She's also been a speaker at WriterFest, Baylor University, Vanderbilt University, Belmont University, and more. Morgan's past and current clients include: New York Times best-selling authors, an Academy Award-winning documentary, award-winning radio show hosts, ASCAP's Songwriters of the Century, Bravo and TLC reality show stars, cable news correspondents, NBA championship players, feature films, and Grammy award-winning recording artists. Morgan and I talk about paid vs. unpaid marketing, features you can bake into your books that help with PR, the best and worst time to launch books, how a PR agency works, avoiding common mistakes authors make with PR, and much more. You can find out more about Morgan and two|pr by visiting https://twopr.com. * * * A big thank you to our sponsors, who keep this email free for readers: Vellum is the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. I've used it for years and love it! Use the link to download Vellum for FREE. Feeling blocked as a writer? Grab a copy of There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block by Honorée Corder. You'll learn what's really blocking you, the value of building your writer tribe, how to become the writer you've always dreamed of, and much more. Looking for a great book cover designer and formatter? I use and recommend Kristi Griffith, owner of Thumbprint Creative. She works closely with you to create a design that perfectly captures the theme, message, and genre of your book.  

We live in an amazing time when authors have lots of options for publishing. The main three options are these: First, you can self-publish your books, which means you assume all the risks, responsibilities, and rewards. Second, you can work with a hybrid publisher, which usually means you pay for their help with specific services, and they provide some of the functions of a traditional publisher. The third option, and the one most familiar to everyone, is traditional publishing. In this scenario, you sell your book to a publisher in exchange for an advance. They own the book but also take all the risk of producing and distributing the book, in addition to some marketing. Even though self-publishing has come a long way in the last ten or fifteen years, many authors still dream of getting a traditional publishing deal, especially with one of the big five New York publishers. If that's your goal, you will need help in pitching your book to publishers to secure the best deal. That's where a literary agent comes in. On today's episode, I'm honored to talk with Mark Gottlieb, a New York literary agent who is here to give us the inside scoop on how to find and work with an agent. Mark is the vice president and literary agent at book publishing's leading literary agency, Trident Media Group in New York City. He attended Emerson College and was President of its Publishing Club, and established Wilde Press. After graduating with a degree in writing, literature and publishing, he began his career with Penguin's VP. His first position at Trident Media Group was in foreign rights. He was the EA to Trident Media Group's Chairman and ran the Audio Department. He is currently working with his own client list, helping to manage and grow author careers with the unique resources available to Trident Media Group. He is ranked highly among literary agents in overall deals and other categories. Some of the topics I talk about with Mark are: how he became a literary agent, what an agent actually does in the publishing ecosystem, the benefits of traditional publishing, what kinds of projects he looks for and how to stand out as an author, what the most successful authors do when pitching and working with an agent, and some common mistakes to avoid when trying to secure an agent. You can connect with Mark at https://literaryagentmarkgottlieb.com and find out more about the Trident Media Group at https://tridentmediagroup.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

We live in an amazing time when authors have lots of options for publishing. The main three options are these: First, you can self-publish your books, which means you assume all the risks, responsibilities, and rewards. Second, you can work with a hybrid publisher, which usually means you pay for their help with specific services, and they provide some of the functions of a traditional publisher. The third option, and the one most familiar to everyone, is traditional publishing. In this scenario, you sell your book to a publisher in exchange for an advance. They own the book but also take all the risk of producing and distributing the book, in addition to some marketing. Even though self-publishing has come a long way in the last ten or fifteen years, many authors still dream of getting a traditional publishing deal, especially with one of the big five New York publishers. If that's your goal, you will need help in pitching your book to publishers to secure the best deal. That's where a literary agent comes in. On today's episode, I'm honored to talk with Mark Gottlieb, a New York literary agent who is here to give us the inside scoop on how to find and work with an agent. Mark is the vice president and literary agent at book publishing's leading literary agency, Trident Media Group in New York City. He attended Emerson College and was President of its Publishing Club, and established Wilde Press. After graduating with a degree in writing, literature and publishing, he began his career with Penguin's VP. His first position at Trident Media Group was in foreign rights. He was the EA to Trident Media Group's Chairman and ran the Audio Department. He is currently working with his own client list, helping to manage and grow author careers with the unique resources available to Trident Media Group. He is ranked highly among literary agents in overall deals and other categories. Some of the topics I talk about with Mark are: how he became a literary agent, what an agent actually does in the publishing ecosystem, the benefits of traditional publishing, what kinds of projects he looks for and how to stand out as an author, what the most successful authors do when pitching and working with an agent, and some common mistakes to avoid when trying to secure an agent. You can connect with Mark at https://literaryagentmarkgottlieb.com and find out more about the Trident Media Group at https://tridentmediagroup.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

I have listeners from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and all ages and stages of life. However, if I had to pick one category of listener that probably represents the largest chunk of my audience, it's writers in the 40-60-year-old age range. We all know that profound changes can happen during this phase of life, the biggest of which is that your kids leave home and you become what's known as an “empty nester.” When the kids are no longer at home, everything about your family life changes. I'm going through this to some degree right now since my son, Ash, is 19. He's been out of high school a year and still lives at home, but will probably be moving out in the not-too-distant future. If this phase of life describes you, or if it describes someone you're close to, you'll relate very much to our guest today. Her name is Ruthie Gray and she's been a guest here on the podcast before, talking about Instagram marketing. However, Ruthie recently released a new book called Empty Next Awakening: Weaving the Threads of Your Passions into Purpose. The book is really wonderful and is a real gift to anyone in this stage of life, men or women. Ruthie Gray is a wife, grandmother, empty nester, and marketing coach for Christian female entrepreneurs, specializing in Instagram and newsletter strategy. Her hobbies include Florida beach walks, RV-ing with her hubby, and voraciously reading historical fiction. She is also the founder of the Authentic Online Marketing School and Insider Mentorship, and podcasts at Authentic Online Marketing. She's getting ready to launch her Authentic Online Marketing School, which can learn more about when you visit https://authenticonlinemarketing.com. In this conversation, Ruthie and I talk about the challenges of the empty nest phase of life, why you can still have a business even if you have a ministry, her book writing and publishing process, and much more. If you're considering writing a book, I think you'll be very encouraged by Ruthie's writing experience. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

I have listeners from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and all ages and stages of life. However, if I had to pick one category of listener that probably represents the largest chunk of my audience, it's writers in the 40-60-year-old age range. We all know that profound changes can happen during this phase of life, the biggest of which is that your kids leave home and you become what's known as an “empty nester.” When the kids are no longer at home, everything about your family life changes. I'm going through this to some degree right now since my son, Ash, is 19. He's been out of high school a year and still lives at home, but will probably be moving out in the not-too-distant future. If this phase of life describes you, or if it describes someone you're close to, you'll relate very much to our guest today. Her name is Ruthie Gray and she's been a guest here on the podcast before, talking about Instagram marketing. However, Ruthie recently released a new book called Empty Next Awakening: Weaving the Threads of Your Passions into Purpose. The book is really wonderful and is a real gift to anyone in this stage of life, men or women. Ruthie Gray is a wife, grandmother, empty nester, and marketing coach for Christian female entrepreneurs, specializing in Instagram and newsletter strategy. Her hobbies include Florida beach walks, RV-ing with her hubby, and voraciously reading historical fiction. She is also the founder of the Authentic Online Marketing School and Insider Mentorship, and podcasts at Authentic Online Marketing. She's getting ready to launch her Authentic Online Marketing School, which can learn more about when you visit https://authenticonlinemarketing.com. In this conversation, Ruthie and I talk about the challenges of the empty nest phase of life, why you can still have a business even if you have a ministry, her book writing and publishing process, and much more. If you're considering writing a book, I think you'll be very encouraged by Ruthie's writing experience. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

As I've mentioned before here on the podcast, one of the big benefits of hosting your own show is that it gives you the opportunity to talk to really cool people! Today's episode is no exception. I'm excited to bring you my conversation with the amazing Ginny Owens. I was introduced to her music back in 1999 with her album Without Condition, and I've been a fan ever since. Ginny Owens has spent the past two decades sharing her heart with listeners and readers as a singer/songwriter, author, teacher, and advocate. Her unique musical style and inspirational lyrics have transcended genre definition and taken her to diverse venues that include the White House, the Sundance Film Festival, Lilith Fair and the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C. Ginny has also been an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Belmont University, served as a worship leader, partnered with non-profits, and authored two books, the latest of which is Singing in the Dark: Finding Hope in the Songs of Scripture. She also just released her newest album a few weeks ago! It's called I Know a Secret, and it's fantastic! If you're a fan of thought-provoking music and great songwriting, you'll love it as well. Ginny and I talked about her life as a recording artist, how she got started in music, her songwriting process, the value of having a portfolio of creative work, and much more. As a side note, one of the most frequent frustrations I hear from writers is that they want to write, but they don't like marketing. If you have ever felt that way, I know you'll be encouraged by Ginny's perspective, which is that it's not marketing—it's encouraging. This was definitely a very encouraging conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

As I've mentioned before here on the podcast, one of the big benefits of hosting your own show is that it gives you the opportunity to talk to really cool people! Today's episode is no exception. I'm excited to bring you my conversation with the amazing Ginny Owens. I was introduced to her music back in 1999 with her album Without Condition, and I've been a fan ever since. Ginny Owens has spent the past two decades sharing her heart with listeners and readers as a singer/songwriter, author, teacher, and advocate. Her unique musical style and inspirational lyrics have transcended genre definition and taken her to diverse venues that include the White House, the Sundance Film Festival, Lilith Fair and the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C. Ginny has also been an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Belmont University, served as a worship leader, partnered with non-profits, and authored two books, the latest of which is Singing in the Dark: Finding Hope in the Songs of Scripture. She also just released her newest album a few weeks ago! It's called I Know a Secret, and it's fantastic! If you're a fan of thought-provoking music and great songwriting, you'll love it as well. Ginny and I talked about her life as a recording artist, how she got started in music, her songwriting process, the value of having a portfolio of creative work, and much more. As a side note, one of the most frequent frustrations I hear from writers is that they want to write, but they don't like marketing. If you have ever felt that way, I know you'll be encouraged by Ginny's perspective, which is that it's not marketing—it's encouraging. This was definitely a very encouraging conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

One of the universal truths of doing anything worthwhile is that you will feel like giving up at times. We all know that writing is hard work. But that's only part of it. There's the marketing, the business side, the relationship building, and so many other elements of running a writing business that can sap your energy. When things don't go the way you planned, it's easy to quit… unless you've decided ahead of time that you're going to stick it out and persevere. That's why I'm excited to introduce you to my friend Chris Bystriansky, who recently released his book, New Steel: Replace Doubt and Fear with Resolve and Courage: From Two Hip Replacements to Two Triathlon Finishes. Chris tells the story of going through a major health challenge, then going on to finish not just one, but two, triathlons. Chris is a husband, father, real estate investor, attorney, author, speaker, coach, IRONMAN, golfer, traveler, and much more. He has a BA in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University, a law degree from the University of Houston, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. Chris is also the author of a fantastic book with a great title: Renting From My 6-Year Old: The Right Actions That Can Make and Keep Your Family Rich. In this conversation, Chris and I talk about his journey from hip replacements to finishing two triathlons and what writers can learn about persevering through hard challenges. We also talk about why writers need to set health and fitness goals and where to start. Finally, Chris shares some thoughts on how he wrote his memoir. If you've been considering writing your own story, you'll find a lot of value in what Chris shares. You can connect with Chris via his website, https://chrisbystriansky.com/. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

One of the universal truths of doing anything worthwhile is that you will feel like giving up at times. We all know that writing is hard work. But that's only part of it. There's the marketing, the business side, the relationship building, and so many other elements of running a writing business that can sap your energy. When things don't go the way you planned, it's easy to quit… unless you've decided ahead of time that you're going to stick it out and persevere. That's why I'm excited to introduce you to my friend Chris Bystriansky, who recently released his book, New Steel: Replace Doubt and Fear with Resolve and Courage: From Two Hip Replacements to Two Triathlon Finishes. Chris tells the story of going through a major health challenge, then going on to finish not just one, but two, triathlons. Chris is a husband, father, real estate investor, attorney, author, speaker, coach, IRONMAN, golfer, traveler, and much more. He has a BA in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University, a law degree from the University of Houston, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. Chris is also the author of a fantastic book with a great title: Renting From My 6-Year Old: The Right Actions That Can Make and Keep Your Family Rich. In this conversation, Chris and I talk about his journey from hip replacements to finishing two triathlons and what writers can learn about persevering through hard challenges. We also talk about why writers need to set health and fitness goals and where to start. Finally, Chris shares some thoughts on how he wrote his memoir. If you've been considering writing your own story, you'll find a lot of value in what Chris shares. You can connect with Chris via his website, https://chrisbystriansky.com/. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

As a ghostwriter and author coach, I talk to a lot of writers. Whether someone has already written a book, or they're considering writing their first one, I hear something like these phrases quite often: I'm stuck. I don't know what to write about. I don't know how to get started. When you get stuck in the “writer's vortex,” it can feel debilitating with no clear way of escape. Thankfully, my guest today has a fantastic, brand-new resource to help both aspiring and seasoned authors alike. Her name is Honorée Corder, and this past Monday, she released her newest book, There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block: You Can Unleash Your Inner Prolific Writer. You've probably heard Honorée on the podcast before, and she's made multiple appearances here for a good reason: she's not only a good friend, but also my business coach, and leader of the Empire Builders Mastermind, which has been an awesome resource for me the last couple of years. Honorée Corder is the author of dozens of books, including: You Must Write a Book, You Must Market Your Book, The Prosperous Writers book series, The Bestselling Book Formula, The Successful Single Mom book series, and many more. In this episode, we do a deep dive into several topics related to writer's block. We talk about what it means to be a professional writer, how to remove the blocks holding you back, writing to the container of the book, surrounding yourself with other writers, and much more. You can get There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block on Amazon, and I also recommend signing up for Honorée's extremely helpful email list at https://honoreecorder.com. We also have 5 copies of the book available as a giveaway. The first 5 to leave a review of the Daily Writer Podcast on Apple Podcasts will receive a print copy in the mail. Just leave a review, take a screenshot, email it to me at kent@dailywriterlife.com along with your address, and I'll drop it in the mail! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

As a ghostwriter and author coach, I talk to a lot of writers. Whether someone has already written a book, or they're considering writing their first one, I hear something like these phrases quite often: I'm stuck. I don't know what to write about. I don't know how to get started. When you get stuck in the “writer's vortex,” it can feel debilitating with no clear way of escape. Thankfully, my guest today has a fantastic, brand-new resource to help both aspiring and seasoned authors alike. Her name is Honorée Corder, and this past Monday, she released her newest book, There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block: You Can Unleash Your Inner Prolific Writer. You've probably heard Honorée on the podcast before, and she's made multiple appearances here for a good reason: she's not only a good friend, but also my business coach, and leader of the Empire Builders Mastermind, which has been an awesome resource for me the last couple of years. Honorée Corder is the author of dozens of books, including: You Must Write a Book, You Must Market Your Book, The Prosperous Writers book series, The Bestselling Book Formula, The Successful Single Mom book series, and many more. In this episode, we do a deep dive into several topics related to writer's block. We talk about what it means to be a professional writer, how to remove the blocks holding you back, writing to the container of the book, surrounding yourself with other writers, and much more. You can get There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block on Amazon, and I also recommend signing up for Honorée's extremely helpful email list at https://honoreecorder.com. We also have 5 copies of the book available as a giveaway. The first 5 to leave a review of the Daily Writer Podcast on Apple Podcasts will receive a print copy in the mail. Just leave a review, take a screenshot, email it to me at kent@dailywriterlife.com along with your address, and I'll drop it in the mail! * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

Today's top story is Answers From Spotify. Question of the week is what are your thoughts about Spotify's payment structure for streaming audiobooks now that you have this new information? Join the Sell More Books Show Afterparty group on Facebook and answer the Question of the Week in the comment section. Be sure to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

One of the most exciting parts of hosting this podcast is getting to speak with authors who have just written and released their first book. Of course, I want you to write and release a lot of books! But there's something very special about your first book because it represents the beginning of a wonderful journey. I'm excited to bring you this conversation with my friend David Steen, who has just released his first book, Almost Home: Setting Our Sights Toward Heaven. A typical farm boy from the South, David grew up in pursuit of the American dream. After college graduation, he staked his claim in the corporate world as an accomplished Senior Designer in Engineering, followed by an adventurous career as a Product Manager. His calling and passion to write, incubating for decades, manifested itself through personal and professional blogging, as well as lots of published articles for various magazines. David resides on a small farm in Hartford, Arkansas, where he enjoys long walks to the creek with his lovely wife and short walks through the field with his sheep. His other passions include writing, music, reading, cooking for their large family, and sipping on a cup of dark roast coffee as often as possible. In this conversation, David and I talk about the main idea of his book and what it means for authors—namely, that we need to make time for space, solitude, and nature in our creative lives. David also shares his writing process for the book as well as his marketing strategies. Most of all, I hope that if you're thinking about writing your first book, you'll be encouraged by David's journey and know that you can do it too! You can connect with David at almosthomebooks.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.

One of the most common themes I come across when talking to writers is the frustration of being a creative, sensitive person… but wanting to build a successful business and doing all the things that requires. In some ways, that's the eternal question for creative people: how do you balance art and commerce? That's a huge question we can't answer in one episode, but I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with someone who can absolutely point us in the right direction. Jenn Granneman is the co-author, along with her co-writer Andre Sólo, of the new book Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World. She's also the author of The Secret Lives of Introverts. Both of these are wonderful books for writers! Jenn is the founder of the popular website Introvert Dear, and she has dedicated her life to writing about topics like sensitivity and introversion after she realized how difficult it was to navigate a world that favors extroversion and insensitivity. She wrote her blog anonymously for almost two years because, as an introvert, she had no desire to be in the spotlight. Today, her mission is to empower introverts and sensitive people to embrace their innate strengths, and to start seeing their nature as a good thing. She's been featured in The New York Times, CNBC, The Guardian, and more. Sensitive was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Nonfiction. In this conversation, we dive into topics from her new book. Jenn and I talk about the Sensitive Boost Effect, the connection between being an introvert and a sensitive person, advice for people who are worn out by social media and Zoom calls, advice for sensitive people and introverts on building a business, and much more. You can find out more about Jenn, read her blog, and grab all her social media links at https://IntrovertDear.com. I also recommend you check out Jenn's free quiz, available at https://sensitiverefuge.com. * * * Today's episode is sponsored by Vellum, the go-to book formatting software for indie authors who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books. Use the link to download Vellum for FREE.