Podcasts about Vellum

Episode: 3378 Tenth century author, Hrotsvitha, brought back to life in the sixteenth century.  Today, meet Hrotsvitha.

315 / How can authors find their reader community on Substack while balancing life's big changes? Jolie Tunnell shares her transition from years of blogging and waiting for permission to publish to indie success and serializing mysteries.✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishBalancing writing with life changesWaiting for gatekeepers vs. giving yourself permissionUsing Substack for serialized fictionCreative marketing ideas, including membership drives and interactive reader experiencesIncorporating graphics and interactivityBuilding community and engagement on Substack

314 / Tee Harlowe, a fantasy romance author, shares tips for successful Kickstarters as well as how she's adapting to market shifts and why diversification is key to surviving income drops. ✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishRapid release publishing strategiesInstagram tips for authorsFallacies in assumptions about genre size equating to sales  Challenges with Kickstarter fulfillmentDiversifying author income streams, including through traditional publishing and direct salesRunning a successful Shopify store

In part 1 of a 2-parter, I explore the myth that Nazis developed supertechnology, like flying saucers, looking at both the reality of German innovation in the war and the fiction that developed. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the show merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, perfect for gifts!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pledge support on Patreon to get an ad-free feed with exclusive episodes!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my novel, Manuscript Found!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Direct all advertising inquiries to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to find other high-quality podcasts! Some music in this episode was licensed under a Blue Dot Sessions blanket license at the time of publication. Tracks include "Zeriba VIllage," "Cicle Vascule," "The Gran Dias," "Illa Villardo," "Access Road 214," "Vellum and Steel," "Delicates," and "Invernen." Additional music, including the song "Remedy for Melancholy," is by Kai Engel, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

313 / How do you balance the demands of a full-time job with launching a romance writing career? Finley Daniels shares her lessons learned in writing and marketing.✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishBalancing writing with a full-time jobChallenges in marketing and adsImportance of book titles and tropesBuilding an email newsletterFinding editors and cover designersSuccess with TikTok and BookBub

312 / What are the creative lies writers tell themselves, and how can reframing your mindset lead to a long-lasting, resilient writing career? Katherine Collette shares her insights and lessons from both podcasting and publication.✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishWhy resilience matters more than talent or craftThe pitfalls of tying self-worth to external validationReframing the role of social media and visibilityThe archetypes of post-publication responseFinding joy and sustainability in your writing journey

311 / Think you need to be on every platform, spend big on ads, or release a book every month to succeed as an indie author? We're busting some of the most common publishing myths. ✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishBut first, we catch up on life after a writing retreat: the post-draft crash, newsletter plate-spinning, and the genuine weirdness of evaluating promos when the market keeps shifting Honest BookBub promo numbers and why results look different nowWhy discoverability matters more than "good enough" writingWhy you don't need every social media platform to succeedNewsletters, Goodreads, and BookFunnel as practical visibility toolsWhy direct sales and Kickstarter can work even with a small audienceWhy rapid release is optional and genre dependentWhy ads don't require huge spend, and how AI is changing targetingGenre zeitgeist: how trends like cozy and romantasy impact your strategy

In this week's episode, we take a look at eight common ebook formatting errors and how to correct them. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Ghost Exile: Omnibus One at my Payhip store: EXILE25 The coupon code is valid through April 6, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 296 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 27th, 2026 and today we are looking at eight ebook formatting problems that readers hate and how to fix them. Before we get into our main topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Ghost Exile: Omnibus One at my Payhip store. That coupon code is EXILE25. And as always, you can get the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store in the show notes. This coupon code will be valid through April 6th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook as we leave winter and head into spring, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. As of this recording, I am currently 97,000 words into Blade of Wraiths, and I'm hoping to get to the 100,000 word mark by the end of today. You will note that if you read the first three books in the series, this will make it longer than the first three by good bit, which is part of the reason why it's taking so long. I was hoping to have it published by now, to be honest, but between the length and the variety of things I've had to do in real life before I can get to writing have slowed me down a bit. I have made progress and I am hoping to finish the rough draft before the 31st, if all goes well. Then it will be time to write a tie-in short story that newsletter subscribers will get for free when Blade of Wraiths is published, and then on to editing. So I'm hoping to have the book out in the second half of April, if all goes well and the creek doesn't rise, so to speak. I'm also 12,000 words into Dragon Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series. I'm hoping that will be out in May because that will become the main project once Blade of Wraiths is finished. In audiobook news, as I mentioned before, recording of Blade of Storms (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) is complete. I think as of right now, you can get it at my Payhip store, Google Play, and Kobo. Audible, Amazon, Apple, and a few of the other major stores should hopefully be coming along before too much longer. Recording is done on Wizard Assassin, which you may recall is the fifth book in the Rivah series, and that is narrated by Leanne Woodward. We just have to proof that, and then it'll be time to submit it for processing at the stores. So hopefully you'll be able to get your hands on that before too much longer. I believe next week, Hollis McCarthy will start recording on Cloak of Illusion, the 12th book in the Cloak Mage series. Since a few people have asked about this, I thought I'd mentioned here there will be a Cloak Mage: Omnibus Four in audio that will combine Cloak of Embers, Cloak of Titans, and Cloak of Illusion. I will probably start working on that one month after Cloak of Illusion comes out in audio. So that will probably be along sometime this summer, if all goes well. So that's where I'm at on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. We've got good things coming up for you soon. 00:03:18 Main Topic: ebook Formatting That Readers Hate Now let's move on to our main topic this week, and it's something I have quite a bit of experience with, I have to say, is ebook formatting that readers hate. Today, we're going to talk about issues with ebook formatting, a topic that people have very strong opinions about. I am going to talk about eight issues in particular and then discuss how we can fix or prevent or best of all, avoid them. First of all, what do we mean by ebook formatting? Formatting is the term to describe the layout, text, and images of the book. Back in the print book days, this was a complicated but fairly fixed thing. In the very old days, you would have to lay it out the books manually. A few decades ago, they had programs like QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign where you could use these software applications to prepare finished files for sending to the printer to be printed as books. But nowadays, in an age where books are electronic files read on dozens of possible devices and apps, it's much more difficult to predict every possible thing that can go wrong with formatting. For example, with a print book in the old days, you would set the layout, and that is the way the layout would look. Every single book (ideally) printed would look the same. But in the modern age, if you have an ebook, it could be read on a Kindle, a Kindle Color, the Kindle app on the phone, a Barnes and Noble Nook, a Google tablet, on Apple iBooks on an iPod, on Apple iBooks on an iPhone, on the Kindle app on an iPhone. There are literally dozens of different potential combinations where an ebook file could be read and therefore dozens of different potential complications that can arise for ebook formatting. If there are formatting problems, readers will not be able to understand or even physically be able to read the text at worst, and more likely will be deeply annoyed by the issues that feel like road bumps such as extra line breaks and will express their displeasure in reviews. There are also an abundance of ebooks out there that are hastily converted from PDF or Word docs that make for an extremely difficult reading experience. Many of the problems we're going to talk about today arise from when that happens, including the first several. So with that in mind, here are eight ebook formatting errors to avoid and how to deal with them. #1: Illustrations, charts, and maps. Some of the most common issues are that these aren't legible in grayscale (like an e-ink reader, like the Kindle or the various Kobo devices) or have too small fonts or a poor quality or low resolution. This is a very common problem, and it's kind of a problem across all ebooks. Like for example, think of the map of Middle Earth from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It's a very complicated map with a lot of different names on it. Now imagine trying to read that map on a six inch black and white Kindle screen. You probably aren't going to be able to do it very well. People using dark mode are most likely going to have problems with seeing images in the same way. So if you have an image heavy book, it's a good idea to test that. So how to fix this? What I've done myself, because I write a lot of fantasy novels and fantasy novels traditionally need maps, is I will put the full color maps on my website and then in the author's note at the beginning, say a map of Owyllain or a map of Andomhaim is available at the author's website on this link. I had a few people ask if I could put the maps in the books and the nearest thing I've done is including the maps with some of the direct sales of my Payhip store. I think the system works very well because those map pages are consistently some of the most visited pages on my website. And to be honest, it would be a lot easier to look at the map on, for example, your tablet or your computer instead of on your phone when you're trying to use the e-reader application. And even if you are looking at the map on my website on your phone, you can pinch zoom in the browser in the way you probably can't in the ebook reader. So that is the quick and easy solution for it. For more image intensive books like textbooks, for example, you just have to take great care and make sure they use large, high resolution images that aren't going to get pixelated. It may be a good idea to set up a website that has these images that the readers can refer to. This would be a bit of extra expense and work, obviously, but it would go a long way to making your readers happy, like I have done with the maps on my website. #2: Paragraphs that aren't indented or unneeded spaces between indented paragraphs. This is one of the biggest pet peeves that people have when reading ebooks. Indented paragraphs are important and if they're properly indented, then space isn't needed between the paragraphs and this will look odd to readers. This was in fact a problem I did have the first couple of years of my ebook publishing career because I used Sigil for my primary ebook formatting and that is the default way Sigil renders ebooks. In time, I started to switch to using Vellum for ebook formatting and that solved the problem. So what I did at that point was I just went through all my entire library, reformatted the ebooks in Vellum, and then re-uploaded them to the various ebook store platforms and that took care of the problem. And that's what I've been doing ever since. I've been using Vellum for ebook formatting since at least 2018 at this point, I think. So how to fix? The easiest way to fix this is to spend a little money on a tool like a Vellum or Atticus or a similar program that does ebook formatting for you because that will make sure your paragraphs are indented properly and then you can spot check as well to make sure that the table of contents is working and the chapters are working and that the paragraphs are being indented properly. #3: Our third issue is hard to read fonts. Some people enjoy fonts that are very stylized, but let's be honest, most readers don't. It's also an accessibility issue if the serifs or the flourishes are too elaborate. How to fix? Honestly, the easiest way is to not use custom fonts for your book unless you have a really, really, really and I emphasize really good reason to do so because part of the appeal of ebooks and ereaders is that you can adjust the font size to whatever you want, which is also particularly important as people get older and it becomes harder to read small print. So if you have a font that is inherently difficult to read in your book, that is going to be a serious, serious speed bump to readers enjoying the book. So my advice for custom fonts is avoid if possible, and even if not possible, still try to avoid. #4: Our fourth issue is basically the same as the third issue, except worse. Font sizes that can't be changed/hard coded text size. A bad font choice is made much worse if the ebook is hard coded to a certain font. This can happen if you use certain exporting tools to export your print book layout into an ebook layout, and sometimes the font size carries over with that. People have strong feelings about fonts and some are more accessible than others, so it's very important not to do this. So how to fix this problem? Don't do it to begin with. It's bad and people will be mad at you. Do not hard set the font size in your ebook, and if you do it by accident, fix it if at all possible. That is my advice in this situation. #5: A fifth potential ebook formatting issue is random hyphens in the middle of words that shouldn't be there. Random hyphens in the middle of words can happen if you convert a book from a PDF file to an EPUB file, and this means it's a very preventable formatting issue. The best way to avoid this is not to upload a PDF file or a Word file to Kindle Direct Publishing and the other ebook platforms, because while they do have automated tools for converting a PDF and a Word document to an EPUB, there's often weird formatting glitches that pop up like the random hyphenations. The best way to avoid this is to use a proper tool to format your ebook like Vellum, Atticus, maybe Scrivener, maybe Kindle Create. So that is the best way to do that by preparing your own EPUB file and uploading that directly. #6: A sixth issue is footnotes or bibliography or endnotes that don't link back to the original page. This also really annoys people. Footnotes and other links within books either need to be popups or linked back to the original page otherwise, readers will be deeply annoyed trying to return to their place each time and even fewer people will read them. And the best way to fix this is to make sure you have set up the footnotes, bibliography, or endnotes properly in a formatting program so that the links work. If you try to do this using a PDF or Word document you upload to the ebook platforms, it's probably not going to work. So it's best to, again, to create your own EPUB and upload it directly. #7: A seventh thing that annoys readers is books without chapters or books without numbered chapters. Books without chapters or unnumbered chapters is a very annoying thing for readers, but most formatting software will help to create and number chapters. Now, how to fix? The technical explanation of this is an EPUB file is essentially a zipped version of several XHTML files and each XHTML file in the sort of zipped package should be its own chapter. The way an EPUB generates table of content files is that every chapter heading should have a H1 HTML key, and that it lets the EPUB know which heading should be chapters. Now you can hand code all this in a program like Sigil, but again, it's much easier to use a program like a Vellum, Atticus, or Kindle Create that will automatically create a proper table of contents for you rather than you having to go through with a XHML or EPUB editor like Sigil and then hand code the H1 tag. It's much easier to automate this and there are applications that will do this for you. #8: The eighth formatting problem that annoy readers is quotation marks the wrong way. What do we mean by that? Quotation marks come in two styles, straight and curly. Curly ones look like flipped commas, while straight quotation marks look more like two lines. Most word processing programs like Word will default the curly quotation marks and convert straight ones. Although curly quotations can sometimes create garbled formatting, they're considered to be the standard. How to fix? Honestly, the easiest way to fix this is to, if it's a problem for you, is to do a find and replace or a find and search. Just if you find that usually what happens is that if you hold down the shift key for too long while you're thinking and then you hit the quotation marks. Sometimes in certain operating systems, it'll convert it to straight quotation marks instead of curly ones. So if you are worried about a few of the wrong type of quotation marks showing up in your document, the easiest way to fix it is just a quick search through the document for straight quotation marks and then remove any ones that you see. We've talked a lot about formatting ebooks and tools for formatting ebooks. So I thought I would suggest the three most popular applications for formatting ebooks, and those would be Vellum, Atticus, and Kindle Create. Vellum is most expensive, but I think it has most features, whereas Kindle Create is pretty simple, but it's free. Vellum is Mac only. As I've mentioned before on the show, I started using it for print layout and then liked it enough that I switched over to using it for all my ebook formatting and that's been true for like the last eight years now. It's very easy to learn. It has excellent features and excellent support. I've never had any technical problems with it whatsoever. I'd say the biggest liabilities for it are that it's the most expensive of the options and it's Mac only. So if you don't have access to a Mac, you would need to choose another option. The next option would be Atticus, which the advantage for Atticus is that it's cross platform. It will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux because it is foundationally a web application. It's also very collaborative in that you can invite other users to use it. The creator of the program, the guy who runs Kindlepreneur named Dave Chesson, has said he wants to create an all- in-one ebook creation, writing, and formatting tool with Atticus, and I think he's taken a pretty good stab at it. I'd say the biggest weakness for Atticus is that it does have a bit of a learning curve because there are so many different functions packed into it. The free option would be Kindle Create, which is a program put out by Amazon. Kindle Create is pretty basic, but it does have everything you need and you can use it to create both files optimized for the Kindle platform and generic EPUBs that you can use on other platforms. I'd say its biggest weakness is that it's fairly simple and that it's produced by Amazon, which some people have strong feelings about, but it is free, which is hard to beat. In Episode 251 (about a year ago), I talked about ebook formatting software and offered pros and cons for each. There isn't one perfect option, so it's good to look over the details for each one of them and watch one of the many available reviews or overviews available online to get a feel for how each one works differently. And now the three strategies for finding formatting issues before your readers do. #1: Test your ebook in each file format (PDF/EPUB) and on multiple devices. It's impossible and prohibitively expensive to test on every possible device, but try some of the most common devices and apps. It's important to test on a Kindle, an actual Kindle and not just on the app, for example. #2: Check the page and chapter breaks in particular. These are the spots where odd formatting tends to cluster. Check all of them to make sure there's nothing weird that you need to fix. #3: Check for legacy things from the print version like page numbers, the table of contents, and so forth. And I find that the easiest way to do all three of these at once is in my final phase of editing a book, I will have my computer read it aloud to me with text to speech and I find that's a good way to find any remaining typos. It's also a very good way of spotting formatting issues since you'll be looking over the entire book one more time and if there's like a weird gap or a line break or something of that nature, you're probably going to have a good chance of spotting it. So in conclusion, ebooks can be a bit difficult to format, but there is dedicated software and a slew of tutorials and guides to help you do it. Learning a little bit of HTML and CSS can help, but it's not a requirement at this point. If you're self-publishing, having a well formatted book is important because readers either won't enjoy or won't even start a poorly formatted ebook. I hope these tips help you with knowing where to start with improving your 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 on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your view on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and we'll see you all next week.  

Patreon update about the state of the pod.In anticipation of a Bridge gathering, the SUITS agents have to quell a sobbing Josepha and deal with an unwanted Graham Whittlesby. Spar bottles it all up; Vellum does an enemy a favor; Nat goes back to cub scouts.Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin VellumEssay Mnktl is Agent Merim FelsparJordan Quiverns is our GMSubscribe 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.

306 / How do you get your first reviews? And what do you do about collating feedback from multiple beta readers? Evan Gow, creator of StoryOrigin, has solutions to these author problems. Plus we explore why building your mailing list is the number-one way to connect with readers and future-proof your business as well as discussing direct sales options and the perennial topic of AI impact on publishing.  ✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishImportance of reviews for book salesCross-promotions and newsletter swapsBeta reader management with StoryOriginDirect sales trends and challengesAI's impact on the publishing landscape

305 / Ember Mae shares lessons learned about starting small with crowdfunding as well as managing fulfillment. We also talk about marketing without succumbing to the pressure of conventional social media wisdom.✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishTips on setting up your first Kickstarter campaign and keeping it manageableMaking marketing personal and connecting individually with readersWhy ditching social media is freeingIntuitive storytellingIn-person event strategiesNeurodivergence as a writing superpower

Many authors assume book formatting is complicated, expensive, or something only professionals can handle.In ​this week's episode​, I talk with Bryan Canter about why that assumption is outdated, and how tools like Vellum have changed what authors can do. If you've ever wondered whether you need to pay a pro or learn to format your book's interior yourself, this conversation will give you clarity.In this episode, you'll discover:When you should format the book or reader magnet and when you should hire a proHow Vellum can prevent common design mistakesHow you can update back matter, fix typos, add reader magnets as needed​Listen to the episode​ or ​read the blog version​ to see how Vellum can save you money, time, and headache when formatting your next book or reader magnet.Support the show

304 / Are you curious how understanding grammar—not just as a set of rules but as a tool for creative expression—can transform your writing and help you find your unique author voice?✨ This week's sponsor is Vellum: http://tryvellum.com/wishWe talked with Patty McGee, a literary consultant and author of Not Your Granny's Grammar to unpack why grammar isn't about memorizing rules, but about developing your unique voice. Patty shared tips on building foundational skills, using grammar to enhance your writing's rhythm, and why it's totally normal to make mistakes. Finding your writing voice through sentence rhythmOvercoming grammar embarrassment as an authorPractical resources for learning grammarEffective strategies for giving and receiving feedback  Trends in grammar and punctuation in modern writing

In this year's season premiere, I return to my series on the myths and legends of the Indiana Jones franchise, this time examining the ideas underpinning the recent video game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, leading me to all kinds of claims about ancient landmarks aligning and their origin in the concept of ley lines. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the show merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, perfect for gifts!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pledge support on Patreon to get an ad-free feed with exclusive episodes!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my novel, Manuscript Found!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Direct all advertising inquiries to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to find other high-quality podcasts! Some music in this episode was licensed under a Blue Dot Sessions blanket license at the time of publication. Tracks include "Cicle DR Valga," "JoDon," "Access Road 442," "Game Lands," "Aloscape 2," and "Vellum and Steel." Additional music, including "Remedy for Melancholy," "Smoldering," "Sentinel," "daemones," and "Cold War Echo," by Kai Engel, licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A campervan has been torched in a suspected arson attack just an ‘arm's length' away from where a young family was sleeping in Sittingbourne. Firefighters were called to battle the on-fire Volkswagen in the residents' car park outside the Litmus House flat block off Vellum Drive in the early hours of Monday morning. Also in today's podcast, a man accused of repeatedly stabbing a uniformed British Army officer in the street has pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder.Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court via video link from high security psychiatric hospital, he admitted trying to kill Lt Col Mark Teeton near Brompton Barracks on July 23, 2024.A yellow weather warning for wind has been issued as Storm Goretti is set to batter areas of the Kent coast.The Met Office says gusts in exposed areas could reach 70 mph, with the caution covering seaside towns in the south of the county. You can hear from a young mum who says writing about her husband's death made her go back to therapy, but also forced her to face the worst moments of her life.Emma Charlesworthdidn't want her partner to become just “another statistic” and hopes her new book will bring comfort to those who have been widowed young. And a 30th birthday party's being thrown for Ashford International Station - as a campaign to bring it back into use continues.The facility opened on this day in 1996 - the same year Legoland also welcomed visitors for the first time. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us a textA wave of funding announcements, acquisitions, and product launches highlights how quickly AI, data, and customer engagement technologies are converging across the enterprise. Significant financings for PhysicsX, Vultr, and Vellum signal strong investor confidence in platforms that support AI-native workloads, applied intelligence, and modern infrastructure, while Capgemini's acquisition of WNS underscores growing demand for large-scale, technology-enabled business transformation services. On the customer and marketing side, deeper integrations and feature expansions from CallMiner, Hightouch, Insight7, Jasper, Oktopost, and Salesforce reflect a shift toward real-time intelligence, personalization, and content automation embedded directly into core CRM and contact center ecosystems. Collectively, these developments suggest the market is moving beyond point solutions toward tightly integrated platforms that combine data, AI, and execution at enterprise scale.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry analysts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to analyze current enterprise software stories. We covered many grounds including the direction and roadmaps of each enterprise software vendors. Finally, we analyzed future trends and how they might shape the enterprise software industry.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKJ7uZQ3sRAQuestions for Panelists?

Send us a textRecent announcements across enterprise software, AI platforms, and services point to an accelerating convergence of intelligence, automation, and scale. Product expansions from Deltek, CallMiner, and Hightouch reflect a push to embed advanced analytics, personalization, and contextual intelligence directly into operational systems, while launches from Intellistack and Kognitos highlight growing demand for no-code and neurosymbolic approaches that reduce dependence on scarce technical talent. Strategic transactions such as IFS acquiring TheLoops and Capgemini acquiring WNS signal a broader shift toward end-to-end, AI-enabled business transformation that blends software, services, and domain expertise. At the same time, substantial funding rounds for PhysicsX, Vellum, and Vultr underscore continued investor confidence in platforms that support AI-native workloads, from applied engineering intelligence to workflow orchestration and cloud infrastructure. Collectively, these moves suggest the market is moving beyond experimentation toward integrated, production-grade AI capabilities embedded across the enterprise stack.In today's episode, we invited a panel of industry analysts for a live discussion on LinkedIn to analyze current enterprise software stories. We covered many grounds including the direction and roadmaps of each enterprise software vendors. Finally, we analyzed future trends and how they might shape the enterprise software industry.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NufAeaJoPwIQuestions for Panelists?

What were your favourite supplies of the year?

In this week's episode, we take a look at the "personal curriculum" social media trend and look at how it can be useful for writers. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book #1 in the Cloak Mage series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: FALLMAGIC50 The coupon code is valid through September 29, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 269 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 19th, 2025, and today I am looking at the idea of a personal curriculum for writers. We also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing projects. So let's start things off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book Number One in the Cloak Mage series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), at my Payhip store. And that coupon code is FALLMAGIC50. And as always, the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code will be valid through September the 29th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook to listen to as we head into fall, we have got you covered. And now for an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report that Blade of Flames is finished and by the time this episode goes live on what should be the 22nd, it should be available at all ebook stores. Initial impressions have been positive so far, so I hope you'll check that out and enjoy it. Now that Blade of Flames is finished and out in the world, my next main project will be Cloak of Worlds. After a year, I am finally getting back to Cloak Mage. I am now 21,000 words into it, and I'm hoping it will be out in October, though it might slip to November because I think this one might be a bit on the longer side. My secondary project is now Blade of Shadows, which is the second book in the Blades of Ruin series and the direct sequel to Blade of Flames. I'm a thousand words into that. In audiobook news, Shield of Power is still in processing and quality assurance at most of the audiobook stores. It is now available at, I think Google Play, Kobo, my own Payhip store, and a few others, but it's still not up on Audible, Apple, or Amazon yet, though hopefully that should be fixed soon. Recording on Ghost in the Siege is finished and we're just waiting on files so we can proof-listen to them. So some new audiobooks will be available before too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:02:18 Personal Curriculum for Writers So let's move on to our main topic this week, the personal curriculum trend for writers. What is a personal curriculum? The trend of creating a personal curriculum has been going around social media for the past month or two. Basically, a personal curriculum uses a structure of an imaginary class to reframe your personal and professional development goals. It can be as simple as creating a set of reading to do in a month or as complex as creating a major project that will take many steps and months to complete. How does this work? Instead of having an undefined goal of wanting to learn how to learn more about how to market your books, you make yourself a course called Marketing Literature with Social Media, with a list of related books, videos, and tasks divided into blocks of time, just like the class would have things that are connected in each session. The key to the personal curriculum trend is having weekly goals and projects just like homework (and of course keeping up with it). Some people create monthly personal curriculum while others keep the more academic framework of quarters, terms, or semesters. Some people create multiple classes, while others focus on one at a time. The amount of detail in the curriculum's development ranges from scrawling a plan on a sheet of notebook paper to creating intricate Notion boards that are essentially a prettier version of an online course system used at universities. The personal curriculum trend is fueled by many things, including nostalgia for the structure of school and its relatively clear paths to success, the desire to spend less time doom scrolling on social media, and the desire to make goal setting more whimsical. Having clear and specific deadlines for completing tasks is one of the most important parts of goal setting, and that is at the center of the trend of creating personal curriculums. Most people spend 14 to 19 years in school (depending on the individual), so it's a structure that's familiar. It also takes an overwhelming and broad goal, such as learning about marketing and gives it focus by defining what is actually being learned and determining how to apply that to real tasks in a manageable way. It transforms the nebulous goal of learning something specific and also gives a clearer path on how to apply the learning into action. By design, it also emphasizes goals that can be done in weeks instead of years, which makes starting much less intimidating. Many people also need some outside accountability in order to work well, and this is a way of creating it for yourself. Being able to give yourself an “A” if you're completing your homework each week is a simple and free motivator for many. Since this is mostly a writing podcast, I want to discuss how the personal curriculum trend can be applied to writing goals and professional development for writers. To that end, I will share five ways that I think the trend can help you grow as a writer and make more specific and actionable goals. #1: Defining your priorities. There are endless things to learn both in life and as a writer, especially in the world of self-publishing. Therefore, it can be tempting to chase after every trend or every new thing that's working for other people. The problem with that is that it's impossible to do that in any meaningful or focused way. It's better to pick a focus for every month or every few months and gain as much proficiency as you can instead of dabbling at things without taking the time to understand them well and then bemoaning that they don't work. A month or a fake semester is still a narrow enough timeframe to pivot if you want to change your goals, instead of being locked into yearly goals. For example, I set specific goals for getting books out, and then each month is pretty well defined into writing, editing, cover design, layout, publishing, and marketing tasks for me based on each book. Other things I want to try, such as creating videos, doesn't fit within those specific goals because they're not the priority. Other things that are lesser priorities (like trying new effects in Photoshop for my book covers and ad images) are things that I know I can work on after finishing the primary goals I've set for myself each week. #2: Trying something new. The structure of a personal curriculum makes trying something new feel less intimidating. For example, “making my own book cover” is something of a massive and undefined goal. You know that's important and you want to do it, but you can never seem to get past watching a TikTok video or two on Photoshop when they come into your feed. By creating a course for yourself on learning how to use Photoshop and the best techniques for creating book covers and giving yourself homework of different things from your readings or viewings to try out, you give the goal a specific plan and tie what you're learning into actual tasks that will help you move forward and then make your learning stick by applying it in the right way. For example, what I did for myself to learn Photoshop well enough to do a book cover was during early COVID in 2020, I bought a couple of courses on it and took the courses. Now, I suppose that's something of more of an actual structured curriculum since someone set up that course, but you could do it for yourself with the same thing by getting The Beginner's Guide to Photoshop or (the some unfortunately titled) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photoshop from your library, reading that, and then watching a few longer focused YouTube videos on the process of creating a book cover. And then that would give you enough to go on in terms of starting your own personal curriculum and then developing your own book covers. #3: Managing your time. With endless distractions, it's too easy to look at a week or even a month and wonder where the time went with little to show for it. In contrast, the school environment has a rigid time structure, even at the university level. There is never a question of where the time went there. Work must be done at a specific time, and you have to show up multiple times a week to learn more and prove you understand what you've learned already. People often struggle without that structure after graduation, especially people who thrived in the school environment. But there's no harm in recreating it for yourself, especially if you are one of those people who thrived in the academic world. For example, if you want to do research on a specific time period for your next book, creating a course defines what that means. Instead of endless scrolling and watching videos online, you define what the scope of needed research is before you begin, so you're spending your time more efficiently. If you pick out the books, videos, and what you specifically need to research for the plot in advance and give yourself a set amount of time to learn the material, you're spending your time more wisely and freeing up time for other tasks. For example, in my most recent book, Blade of Flames, part of one of the subplots is inspired by a period in English history called The Anarchy, which was the civil war in the early 12th century between Empress Maude and King Stephen for the throne of England. Now, I knew a fair bit about this period already because of other reading I've done, but if I wanted to learn more about it, the best way to do it would be to read a few books and some of the more accessible books by popular historians. Like for example, maybe the best way to learn enough about The Anarchy to base a book on it would be read some of the books by Dan Jones, who has written many excellent popular history books about the medieval and early modern English time period. #4: Professional development. Most professions have professional development where you have to keep your skills updated, whether you're a teacher who has to get re-certified, a doctor who has to learn new procedures, a system admin who has to learn the latest bugs Microsoft has baked into their software, and so forth. Writing is no different (especially if you're a self-published writer) because there's so many side skills like layout and web design and so forth that it's kind of helpful to keep up on. It's hard to carve time out for professional development because as a writer, it's time away from the task that actually gets you paid, which is writing new stuff. Learning or trying new things becomes something that either feels insurmountable or happens in a haphazard way that doesn't actually move things forward for you. A personal curriculum gives you the permission to carve out time to learn new things. It's easy to hyperfocus on writing and feel like anything else is less productive, but there are many parts to being a writer, especially for the self-published, so it's important to give yourself a structured way to explore new software, marketing strategies, and social media channels as they emerge. For example, to use something of a negative example, I rather notoriously have a very low opinion of the AI tools currently flooding the market like ChatGPT and Midjourney. That wasn't an opinion I arrived at haphazardly. I did thoroughly investigate each of these tools. I tried Adobe Firefly, I tried Midjourney, I tried Microsoft's ones, Bing Chat and Bing Image Create. I tried ChatGPT, I tried one other, I can't think of off the top of my head, and I just did not come away impressed with these tools or the capabilities. So I suppose that was a negative example of something I'm talking about, whereas a positive example would be in 2018, I started using a Mac program called Vellum to format my paper books. It was a lot easier and more useful than the method that I'd been using previously, and I was so impressed with that that I eventually switched over into using Vellum for my ebook formatting as well, and learned how to do that as well, and I've been using it ever since. So that'd be a positive example of professional development. #5: Holding Yourself Accountable. One of the most difficult things about writing is that it lacks the structure of a traditional job or school environment. For that reason, many high achievers tend to struggle with starting or completing tasks when they leave school. Creating specific goals and making a clear timeframe for completing them helps with that tendency. For that reason, some personal curriculum devotees will even assign class times on a certain day of the week or a certain time of the night to make sure they're on track with their goals or homework for the week. National Novel Writing Month has kind of crashed and burned from its scandals over the past year, but the principle of accountability in giving yourself a set period of time to do something is helpful there. In the same way, your homework for each day for writing could be a set number of words or a certain percentage of progress in editing. Did you spend that day looking at social media instead of getting words done? There is a grade for that and it's not a good one. “A” students complete their work and turn it in, and that's the core of writing, putting down words consistently and publishing them. Now, I suppose you could think that the personal curriculum thing seems like a silly social media trend, but for some people, especially people who really thrived in and enjoyed the academic environment in school, it might work in a way that average yearly goals do not. Studies show time and time again that the happiest adults are those with defined priorities who make time to learn new things and enjoy hobbies. A personal curriculum provides a way to emphasize those important things in your life in a more whimsical way than say, the various yearly evaluation goals of the corporate world. For writers, it can be a much-needed way to add structure to an unstructured work environment and make sure that they're spending their time in the best way possible. And it all boils down to essentially one of the oldest dictums: know thyself. If this kind of thing would not be helpful for you, then there's no point in pursuing it. But if you know yourself and know that you have the kind of personality and mental inclination that would respond well to structure like this (even if it's structure you're creating for yourself), then a personal curriculum might be a good idea to pursue. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. I reminder that you can listen to all the 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 we'll see you all next week.

Last month, when the Trump regime allied with Israel in their Twelve-Day War and bombed Iran, there was much scrutiny of presidential war powers. In this episode, I look at the evolution of undeclared wars and military authorizations throughout US history, specifically examining the conspiracy claims about two preludes to war: Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Get 3 months of premium wireless service for $15 bucks a month at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MintMobile.com/Blindness⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the show merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, perfect for gifts!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pledge support on Patreon to get an ad-free feed with exclusive episodes!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my novel, Manuscript Found!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find a transcript of this episode with source citations and related imagery at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.historicalblindness.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Direct all advertising inquiries to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to find other high-quality podcasts! Some music on this episode was licensed under a Blue Dot Sessions blanket license at the time of this episode's publication. Tracks include "Tarte Tatin," "Illa Vallardo," "Delicates," "Cicle Vascule," "Vellum and Steel," "Black Ballots," and "Cicle Deserrat." Additional music, including "Remedy for Melancholy" and "Wake Up" is by Kai Engel, licensed under Creative Commons. Other music: "Leaving Home" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send us a textIn this episode of Writers With Wrinkles, we dive into the world of self-publishing adult fiction. Authors Barb Hopkins and Kelly Garcia share how they turned frustration with traditional publishing into indie success, building their paranormal mystery series Chronicles of a Cursed Midlife from the ground up while navigating the challenges of co-authoring and marketing.Guest Bios:Barb Hopkins – A former marketing director and freelance writer turned hybrid author, Barb writes middle grade fiction and co-authors the adult Chronicles of a Cursed Midlife series. Her dual path of querying middle grade while self-publishing adult fiction demonstrates persistence and versatility.Kelly Garcia – Known for her humorous, feel-good paranormal fiction, Kelly co-authors the Chronicles of a Cursed Midlife series. A veteran of the querying trenches, she now thrives in indie publishing, celebrating magical chaos, found family, and creative freedom.Key Discussion Points:Why Barb and Kelly chose self-publishing for their adult series.The inspiration behind Chronicles of a Cursed Midlife and its themes of midlife empowerment, friendship, and second chances.The biggest challenges in indie publishing: editing, design, distribution, and discoverability.Essential tools and resources: Amazon KDP, Vellum, Canva, Publisher Rocket, Bowker, and 20BooksTo50K.How co-authoring adds both complexity and creative energy.Marketing lessons from Facebook takeovers, in-person events, and building an online community.Barb's dual journey: querying middle grade while finding success in adult self-publishing.Conclusion: Barb and Kelly's story shows that self-publishing isn't just a backup plan—it's a thriving path to creative control and connection with readers. Their success with adult fiction proves that persistence, community, and smart strategy can empower authors to take charge of their careers, even while pursuing traditional goals in other genres.Links/Info Mentioned:From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors: https://fromthemixedupfiles.comArcane Covers by Karen Dimmick – Cover designPublisher Rocket – Keyword research toolBowker – ISBN providerKindlepreneur – Self-publishing resource20BooksTo50K Facebook Group – Indie author community Support the show Visit the WebsiteWriters with Wrinkles Link Tree for socials and more!

To conclude my series on the Israel-Palestine conflict, I look at Jewish presence in the Levant going all the way back to the Iron Age, the events leading to the founding of the modern State of Israel, its unique economic and military relationship with the US, and its long asymmetrical conflict with Palestinians. Please consider donating to help bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It can be confusing and complex to navigate the many charities that claim to offer direct aid in Gaza. Some recommend giving directly to family fundraisers, but investigative reports suggest some GoFundMe donations never reach the citizens they're intended to help. As for charity organizations, some smaller ones have proven to be fronts, and even some major organizations accept donations for Gaza despite not providing direct aid on the ground there. There are even calls by other charities for the Israel and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to be shut down because of the numerous massacres occurring at its distribution sites. Among the more trustworthy charities actually working on bringing aid to Palestinians are UNICEF, Oxfam International, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, and Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. Get 3 months of premium wireless service for $15 bucks a month at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MintMobile.com/Blindness⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the show merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, perfect for gifts!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pledge support on Patreon to get an ad-free feed with exclusive episodes!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my novel, Manuscript Found!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find a transcript of this episode with source citations and related imagery at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.historicalblindness.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Direct all advertising inquiries to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertising@airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.airwavemedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to find other high-quality podcasts! Some music on this episode was licensed under a Blue Dot Sessions blanket license at the time of this episode's publication. Tracks include "Cobweb Transit," "Black Ballots," "Cicle Deserrat," "Olivia Wraith," "Vellum and Steel," "Minister Creek," "Invernen," and "Cicle DR Valga." Additional music, including "Remedy for Melancholy," is by Kai Engel, licensed under Creative Commons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the way to the Gatineau Estate, the SUITS agents face off against magically-empowered guards. Later, they face off against a magically-confused debutante. Vellum digs into his past for a lesson in fashion history; Spar digs into his for a lesson in shared trauma. Ila Alexei is Agent Kaolin Vellum Essay Mnktl is Agent Merim Felspar Jordan Quiverns is our GM Edil May Hampsen is 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 of the Production and Distribution stream of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, ALLi nonfiction adviser Anna Featherstone speaks with Brad Andalman, co-founder of Vellum, the popular book formatting software used by thousands of indie authors. They discuss Vellum's origins, its evolution, and how it fits into the book production process—especially for authors looking to maintain control, streamline workflow, and update files efficiently. Brad also shares insights on how authors use Vellum in unexpected ways, recent feature updates, and how the team prioritizes new tools based on author feedback and publishing trends. Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. Sponsors This podcast is proudly sponsored by Bookvault. Sell high-quality, print-on-demand books directly to readers worldwide and earn maximum royalties selling directly. Automate fulfillment and create stunning special editions with BookvaultBespoke. Visit Bookvault.app today for an instant quote. This podcast is also sponsored by Gatekeeper Press, the all-inclusive Gold Standard in Publishing, offering authors 100% rights, royalties, satisfaction and worldwide distribution. Gatekeeper Press, Where Authors are Family. About the Host Anna Featherstone is ALLi's nonfiction adviser and an author advocate and mentor. A judge of The Australian Business Book Awards and Australian Society of Travel Writers awards, she's also the founder of Bold Authors and presents author marketing and self-publishing workshops for organizations, including Byron Writers Festival. Anna has authored books including how-to and memoirs and her book Look-It's Your Book! about writing, publishing, marketing, and leveraging nonfiction is on the Australian Society of Authors recommended reading list. When she's not being bookish, Anna's into bees, beings, and the big issues of our time. About the Guest Brad Andalman is the co-founder of 180g, the company behind Vellum—the Mac-based software that simplifies professional-grade book formatting for indie authors. He launched the company in 2012 alongside Brad West after more than a decade at Pixar Animation Studios, where he helped build next-generation animation and rendering tools.

The pen is mightier than the sword! This week we crack open that new book smell with a first edition copy of Vellum: the third-person literary hack-and-slash game. We navigate the maze-like stacks, pet some colorful wolf friends, and talk about how many puns is TOO many for understanding a game properly. Don't be quick to judge a book by it's steam store page! There's plenty of spells and quills and swords, but remember: A game a lone a last a loved a long the- Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:22 - game stats 2:50 - one sentence description 6:47 - Hub world complexity and literary theming commitment 12:37 - Overly complex terminology and ability descriptions 19:04 - Enemy design and literary theme implementation 25:33 - “One more run” phenomenon and replay motivation 29:17 - Positive aspects including UI and visual effects 33:00 - Inscription system and meta progression mechanics 38:26 - Vignette encounters and their effectiveness debate 42:54 - Tome selection system and special level rules 48:07 - Progression gating and attunement level complaints 55:39 - End game content and endless mode discussion 1:01:29 - Boss strategy discovery and magical lamp exploit 1:14:13 - rankings and final thoughts 1:22:08 - similar games 1:24:50 - listener correspondence: does the GROGPOD need a public discord channel? Next episode: 2025 Summer Music Fest Contact us at grogpodzone@gmail.com! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: My Little Brown Book - Duke Ellington, John Coltrane Outro music: Vellum OST - Boss Battle

Dat ain't Falco! This week we wavedash into Spiritfall: the platformer beat-em-up with strong influence from the Super Smash Brothers series as well as Hades. The Blight has taken over the lands and your mysterious animal gods have tasked you, the Omenforged, to beat them back. With an array of weapons ranging from an axe-hammer to a scythe that transforms into a baseball bat, join us as we down-smash, L-cancel, and neutral-air our way across deserts, jungles, frozen wastelands, and all the way up to the source of the Blight itself! No Johns in this episode, we promise. Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 2:04 - game stats 3:16 - one sentence description 5:57 Story Overview 8:58 Controls & Tutorial Complexity 12:46 Smash Bros Experience & Wave Dashing 18:10 Combat Mechanics & Arena Types 25:44 Generic Terminology & Art Style 32:38 Comparison to Dead Cells & Boss Fights 39:31 Map Navigation & Decision Making 50:39 Story Completion & Meta Progression 57:28 Hypothetical Smash Bros Crossover 1:22:39 - rankings and final thoughts 1:34:52 - similar games Next episode: Vellum (for real this time) Contact us at grogpodzone@gmail.com! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Charles Mingus - Mood Indigo Outro music: Spiritfall OST - The Frigid Veil

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.

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!

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

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.

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.