Hear us Roar

Ever wonder what the term hybrid publishing means and whether it might be right for you? No, it's light years away from the old vanity presses but yes, it offers you the chance, for a fee, to be intimately involved in your book's title, cover art, back blurb, and publicity. Listen to our interview with Julie Maloney and her experience with one of the most respected hybrid publishers in America today, She Writes Press.

Julie's not only a novelist but a poet as well. She's also the founder/director of WOMEN READING ALOUD, a non-profit international organization devoted to promoting women writers. She is a trained workshop leader in the Amherst Writers and Artists Method and holds an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a former dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of the Julie Maloney Dance Company in New York City.

To learn more about Julie, click here.

Johanne's debut novel takes place during The Great Depression in Canada. Here how she loves reading the classics because of the beautiful language, how a kind godmother brought her out of her shell as a child, and how she spent eleven months being GI Joe in the Canadian military reserves.

She's worked in sales and management most of her career. In 2017 she did a complete flip and now works in a group home for adults with developmental delays as a personal service worker. She graduated from York University with a bachelor degree in psychology. Once a year, she and her husband visit orphans in Tanga, Tanzania to make sure they can afford to go to school, as they believe education is the key for their future. She has two grown children and is grandmother. She lives in Tottenham, Ontario Canada. When she's not researching or writing, she likes to swim, train her Doberman puppy to become a therapy dog, and most weekends you'll find her at street fairs, meeting her readers in person, and selling her books.

Sally shares how her non-fiction books led her to discover the joys of fiction , how a writing group prompt inspired this first novel, and her advice for anyone considering the self-publishing route.

Although Come Back is Sally's first novel, she's no stranger to writing. Shortly after losing her first husband, Sally published Find the Love of Your Life to share how she and Dave found each other. "We'd both been hurt, and were nearly ready to give up on love. And then we both gave it one more shot. Lucky, lucky us!" That last shot at love involved a strategy Sally had never tried before. "I stopped looking for the perfect guy – and instead got really clear about what I wanted in a relationship. I set a goal for that amazing relationship – and 3 weeks later, I met Dave. He came with lots of complications, including being blind. But in my goal, I never said my partner had to be able to see! My goal kept me honest and gave me the guts to give love with Dave a try. Thank all the stars I did!"

Several years after Dave died, Sally met Ray. "Our relationship is different than what I had with Dave. We're both different people. But the essential components – what I really need – those are present in my relationship with Ray. I'd say lucky, lucky us – but it took and continues to take a lot of work to be so lucky!"

Irene talks about why she choose the novel format rather than writing a memoir, how the stigma of Alzheimer's disease compares to cancer, and how a horoscope in her local paper galvanized her to finally start writing her story.

Much of Irene's early non-fiction pieces focus on a family caregiver's journey, especially as that journey relates to taking care of a family member with a terminal illness such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and other dementia. Readers simply need to enter a keyword in the search engine found on her personal blog site, and all articles relating to those keywords will instantly pop up for her readers to readily peruse.

The primary motivation for her writing quest: to open readers' eyes while ushering support into each reader's corner. And who couldn't use a little more help now and then?

Ms. Olson is a member of AlzAuthors, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that strives to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer's and other dementias, through a digital platform and community events. She lives in Washington state with her husband.

To learn more about Irene, click here.

Listen to Rachel discuss the life-changing trip to Italy that inspired this debut novel, the experiences that led her to finally publish through a small press, and how a piece of her is up in space orbiting the planet for the next few thousand years.

Rachel enjoys reading and writing, preferably set in exotic places. She has traveled to Italy and India and plans to expand her journeys beyond countries that start with the letter "I", A daughter of a fine art painter who was also a rocket engineer, Rachel learned early about creativity and that being a little crazy is okay. She now lives in Northern California with her husband and Silky Terrier. When not writing or walking the the Bay Area open space, she raises funds for nonprofits. She's a member of the Women's Fiction Writer's Association and Authors18.

To learn more about Rachel, click here.

Denitta describes how setting her first novel in Kansas City during the Roaring '20's was an historical goldmine, why she thinks you should write at least two books before publishing, and how she learned everything she needed to know about self-publishing from one on-line course.

Denitta Ward writes historical and contemporary fiction from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. After decades of writing legal briefs and contracts, she picked up her pen and decided she'd write the stories she really wanted to tell - about young women discovering their own resilience in times of transition. Denitta is a member of the Women's Fiction Writers Association, the Historical Novel Society, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.

To learn more about Denitta, click here.

Elena talks about the challenges of writing in two historical periods, how her WFWA critique group helps her by being tough, and how she uses writing instead of television for stress relief.

Elena was born in Ukraine and came to New York City as a refugee with her family at age 17. She is somewhat obsessive about travel, but, when at home in San Antonio, can be found browsing through bookstores or antique shops with her family and two adopted pups. When not writing stories, primarily about women who have a chance to change their lives, she is a Pediatric Psychologist, working at a Children's Hospital, helping children cope with chronic medical illness. She actively blogs on issues of mental health for teens and adults and also provides consultation to authors writing about those issues.

To learn more about Elena, click here.

Hear how humor writer Marianne Hansen had to overcome self-doubt before she could write her book, what made her decide to self-publish, the differences between NYC and Montana, and how she thinks meals that come in a box are the best thing going.

writer, wife, mother of 3 and purchaser of shoes. I live in Montana with my family and dog princess Ginny. I spent the first half of my life in Connecticut. In high school, I was uprooted from my home and moved to Utah. I have been trying to move back East ever since. I'm starting to think it will be just as easy to change that goal to move to the Far East. She attended Brigham Young University and received a degree in English, realized she had no employable abilities and got an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The only full-time job she could get was in Yemen so she went to the University of Iowa law school. Now, she have a JD from U of Iowa, and an MA and a BA from BYU, but she's till trying to convince her family she knows what she's talking about. Her second book, Better Off Divorced, published in April, 2019 When not writing or watching bad television, she can be found answering the question: "What would happen if I..."

To learn more about Marianne, click here.

Eldonna tells us why she set her book in the 1960's, how she can still remember what it was like to be eleven, why she chose a children's Sunday school song for her title, and how her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger became an award-winning PBS documentary.

She grew up in a large family nestled between cornfields and churches in the provincial Midwest. She eventually escaped the harsh winters, moving to California where she expanded her career from massage therapist to journaling facilitator to author to beloved writer's conference instructor and public speaker. Her bestselling debut novel, This I Know, won over the hearts and minds of readers everywhere and was a Delilah Book Club selection. In her second novel, Clover Blue, Eldonna once again explores themes of otherness and belonging, and the true definition of home. She is also the subject of the award-winning documentary Perfect Strangers that follows one kidney patient and one potential kidney donor in their search for a possible match. Her 2014 memoir Lost in Transplantation chronicles this life-changing decision. Eldonna currently lives and writes in a tiny pink house with her best friend, Brer.

To learn more about Eldonna, click here.

Hear Carrie's story of how she utilized everything from InstaFreebies to Book Funnel to Book Bub to publicize her novel, how in her thirties she finally realized books by contemporary women could actually be considered literature, and why Calgary's city-wide Zombie Days scares her to death.

Carrie Mumford has lived on both the East and West coasts of Canada, and many places in between. She completed a degree in English literature at Saint Mary's University, and went on to complete a master's in information studies at the University of Toronto. Carrie now lives in Calgary, Alberta, with her husband, three naughty cats, and one rambunctious dog.

Her short fiction has appeared in Full of Crow Fiction, the Bella Online Literary Review, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, the WCDR's Whispered Words anthology and other fine journals. Her vignette, "The Blemish Collector", was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2012. In 2013, her short story "Ashes to Ashes" was short-listed for the Room Magazine contest.

To learn more about Carrie, click here.