In Episode 15 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey talks about the things that can give away to publishers when an author is an amateur, including:

Beyond these factors, we’ll also talk about which of these things can impact the reader experience – which is more critical if you’re self-publishing.

In Episode 14 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey gives you a primer on book pricing. We’ll touch on pricing as it relates to traditional publishing, but the bulk of this podcast is aimed at helping self-publishing authors decide how to price their books. We’ll cover things like:

This is a somewhat controversial topic. Some self-publishers report great success with specific pricing strategies, but Bright Little Light Press doesn’t necessarily agree, so we’ll try to give you the arguments on both sides so you can decide for yourself.

In Episode 13 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey and guest host Kay Rhodes talk conventions! Convention season is upon us. BookCon is in NYC this weekend, and conventions are kind of a hot topic for writers, so we wanted to give you some tips for getting the most from conventions – no matter what stage you’re at in your career.

We’ll discuss:

Types of conventions, including:

As an aspiring author, what do you hope to get from a convention?

As a published author, what do you hope to get from a convention?

General convention notes:

Notes about behavior and personal safety:

Is there a point at which going to cons becomes a waste of time?

And as promised in the podcast, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) often hosts ‘fringe’ cons related to mainstream cons, that are more focused on self-publishing. You can visit ALLi here.

In Episode 12 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey and guest host Kay Rhodes explore some common misconceptions and misinformation about publishing and self-publishing, including:

These conversations are based on comments that people have left on an article in The Guardian about ‘self-published authors being snapped up by Hollywood.’

The comments we’ve chosen to discuss in this episode are reasonably representative of some common misconceptions and misinformation around the publishing industry, so we wanted to clear these questions up for people who were interested in self-publishing or traditional publishing their work.

In Episode 11 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey dives deep into the business side of publishing, and talks about publishing formats, rights and royalties, and book deals.

We’ll look at:

And talk about royalties for these formats, rights when you’re going with a traditional publisher, and things to think about if you’re considering a book deal.

If the business side of publishing isn’t interesting to you, you might want to skip this one. We get a little into the weeds.

Note: I mentioned that the average time between publishing a book in hardcover and publishing in paperback is generally two to three months. That’s actually pretty short for most traditional publishers. It averages around 11 months, and some traditional publishers wait 2 to 3 years – or never release a paperback at all.

This has been changing lately, so some publishers release paperbacks on a shorter timeframe – or skip hardcover entirely. It’s tough to generalize.

In Episode 10 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey and guest host Kay Rhodes talk about naming ALL THE THINGS!

We’ll talk about names for:

We’ll give you some general pointers, specific examples of what to do and what not to do, and food for thought when you’re brainstorming about naming things across your author career.

In Episode 9 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey talks about how long it takes a traditional publisher to publish a book. This includes details about what goes into the publication process, including the book production process, and marketing.

(Spoiler alert: it’s not fast!)

In Episode 8 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey talks about some of the ways you can reach your audience.

We’ve broken this down into a few pieces:

We’ll talk about some general channels, including some ideas for pitching into those channels. Also, how to identify channels that are specific to your genre or content.

When we get to messaging, we’ll talk about how the message must be targeted specifically to the channel and demographic, and go into details about how to do that.

We’ve also mentioned a source for more information for self-publishers who want to advertise into specific channels, so here’s the link: Mark Dawson’s Self-Publishing Formula

Don’t let the name put you off – he does a podcast, occasionally does online courses, and he has some videos that contain a lot of good info for self-publishing authors.

Note: At one point in the podcast, I mention: “There’s an author I know, Mark Dawson.” There should be an “of” in there – that should be “an author I know of, Mark Dawson.” Don’t mean to imply that I know Mark Dawson personally – I know him by reputation as an author who has done pretty well for himself self-publishing through Amazon. If you’re curious, here’s a Forbes article about how Amazon paid him $450,000 from a couple of years ago.

In Episode 7 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey and guest host Kay Rhodes talk about some of the ways you can find your audience. We’ll touch a little on why this is important, and then give you four different ways you can begin this process, including practical, actionable ways to begin identifying your audience.

In these exercises, we’ll talk about:

Some sources you can use as you do your research include:

Another source we forgot to mention in the podcast, but is a good place to research comparable books, especially if you’re a more visual person, is:

Next week, we’ll look at ways you can reach that audience. Keep in mind as you work on identifying your audience that your goal is to market your book to them.

In Episode 6 of Beyond Writing, host Dachary Carey breaks down the decision-making process when a publisher decides whether or not to buy a book. Have you always wondered what goes on inside a publishing house, or why publishers pass on books that go on to be wildly successful? Here it is!

As promised in the podcast, here’s a link to an example P&L to help give you an idea of the business decision and math that goes into whether or not to buy a book:

The Book P&L: How Publishers Make Decisions About What to Publish