SPA Girls Podcast

Jacob McMillen is a professional copywriter, content strategist & freelancing coach and he’s here to share how we can use the power of clever copywriting to connect with our readers and build sales. We often struggle with what to write in our newsletters and social media posts in a way that’s authentic and reaches the right readers. And then there’s the copywriting skill needed for our book blurbs and advertising. So we’re thrilled to have an expert in the SPA today!

This is a Copywriting Tip-packed episode that’ll empower you to up your copy skills tenfold!

Lots of great nuggets of wisdom, including:

The Two Fundamental Rules of Copywriting: Understand Your Audience and Be Clear

The Light Bulb moment for blurb writing we uncovered talking with Jacob (hint: what got you excited to write the story in the first place?)

Facebook ad text – why it’s different to book description and other copywriting

Why the goal of your blurb writing is to reduce uncertainty in readers

You can learn more about Jacob McMillen at: https://jacobmcmillen.com/

Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls!

Today we talk about writing successful trilogies, and successful settings with award-winning author Jayne Castel. Jayne writes epic Historical and Fantasy Romance. Her vibrant characters, richly researched historical settings and action-packed adventure romance transport readers to forgotten times and imaginary worlds.

Jayne is the author of a number of best-selling series. In love with all things Scottish, she writes romances set in both Dark Ages and Medieval Scotland.

When she’s not writing, Jayne is reading (and re-reading) her favorite authors, cooking Italian feasts, and going on long walks with her husband. She lives in New Zealand’s beautiful South Island.

www.jaynecastel.com

❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls!

➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes

🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast”

📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet!

You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes

✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls

✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

If you’ve been considering taking the plunge into Amazon’s new serials platform, Kindle Vella (and yes, Wendy asked if they’d named it after her), then this is the episode for you!

We talked to Virginia Milner, the principal product manager for Kindle Direct Publishing, and leader of the Kindle Vella project, all about the new platform. She explained how Kindle Vella – which launched in July 2021 to readers – works, how authors are already using it to their advantage, and the possible ways that Kindle Vella could be used by authors in the future to broaden their readership, and sell more books. 

It was an awesome episode, and we really enjoyed having Virginia on the show to explain it all first hand! 

About Virginia:

Virginia Milner is a principal product manager for Kindle Direct Publishing, leading the Kindle Vella product, business, and marketing teams. Virginia’s previous projects at Amazon include Great on Kindle and helping independent brands build their business selling on Amazon. Virginia started her career in the Bay Area working in public relations at LaunchSquad helping early stage startup companies, including Okta, Mindflash, and sharethis, tell their stories. She has a BA from Columbia University in New York and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. A San Francisco native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and lhasa apso dog Lola.

To find out more about Kindle Vella click this link to head over to Amazon.

Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls!

We’re delighted to welcome back Roseanne Cheng of Evergreen Authors to the SPA for this special two-part interview. In this episode we follow on from Roseanne’s approach outlined in EP306 (go listen if you haven’t already!)

This is another power-packed show with tips that blew our minds!

We cover:
Pinterest marketing secrets for authors
Why doing Less is better
How to create your own marketing plan around what brings you joy
The “bumper sticker test”
Tough truths: Every bestselling author is marketing their books and why
Making conscious decisions about social media and what you can let go

Your author platform and the two vital ingredients every author needs: a website (basic is fine) and a newsletter/email list
How amazon ads work with your marketing strategy – and it’s not just about building your sales
Why data is your secret weapon

And finally, we also discuss how everything, including your book, has a sales cycle.

About Roseanne
Roseanne Cheng is the author of five books including The Evergreen Author: Master the Art of Book Marketing. She worked in publishing as a marketing director in Minneapolis for four years before founding Evergreen Authors, the first of its kind school teaching authors how to create a career as writers.

You can find Roseanne at: https://www.evergreenauthors.com/

PART ONE of a two part series

Today we welcome Roseanne Cheng of Evergreen Authors to the SPA and we’re going to talk about all about Book Marketing with Joy – especially for the reluctant or overwhelmed author.

How do you decide what to do when people tell you to “Do All The Things”?! When the hustle is just too much, Roseanne has guidance for what works and what doesn’t.

Roseanne, and her business partner Josie, run Evergreen Authors and offer courses and coaching to hundreds of authors. The Evergreen Author philosophy is that any book marketing you choose to do should bring you joy.

We promise that this episode will generate a sigh of relief for many of you listening. If you’re ready to scream in frustration over learning facebook ads, tik tok dances and what on earth social media platform you should be on, listen up!

About Roseanne Cheng
Roseanne Cheng is the author of five books including The Evergreen Author: Master the Art of Book Marketing. She worked in publishing as a marketing director in Minneapolis for four years before founding Evergreen Authors, the first of its kind school teaching authors how to create a career as writers.

Websites: Roseanne’s personal website: https://roseannecheng.com/

https://www.evergreenauthors.com/

This is our second podcast with Veteran Police Detective Adam Richardson, who spent seventeen years of his almost 25-year law enforcement career as a detective.

Today we talk to Adam about the police duty belt (gun belt), and what they carry on it. Adam goes into detail about each item and explains their use and when it would be needed. So strap in (see what I did there) for an amazingly informative podcast.

Adam hosts The Writer’s Detective Bureau podcast where he answers questions about criminal investigation and police work posed by crime-fiction authors and screenwriters writing crime-related stories.
Adam has also developed a crime fiction Guns Course for everything crime fiction authors need to know about firearms and ammunition.

LINKS MENTIONED:
Adam’s course: crimefictionguns.com COUPON CODE “SPA” for 10% off

Book “THE TALENT CODE by Daniel Coyle https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X

Learn more from Adam at: 

Writer’s Detective Bureau

 where you can sign up to his All-Points Bulletin for writers.
To submit a question for Adam, visit 

SUBMIT A QUESTION

Don’t miss his facebook group: 

Facebook Groups

Adam’s podcast Writer’s Detective Bureau: 

‎Writer’s Detective Bureau on Apple Podcasts

❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls!

➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes

🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast”

📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet!

You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes

✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls

✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

International bestselling author Rachael Herron joins us in the SPA today to talk to us about her writing journey, how she has created a career with multiple genres (including thriller (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, feminist romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing), how she deals with procrastination and blocks in her writing, and the main differences she sees between having books traditionally published and being an indie. It’s an awesome interview, and we loved having Rachael in the SPA! 

You can find out more about Rachael at https://rachaelherron.com/

Are you bored, or disheartened, with your writing? Many of us hit the wall of blahhsss or burnout. When persevering and grinding through it just doesn’t work, sometimes you really need to shake things up. From writing in a completely different genre, to rekindling your creative spark, we discuss how to cleanse your writing palate. Soon you’ll be moving from the wahs to the wahoos!

Lots of practical tips in this episode including:
-try changing things up like font, (bigger smaller)
-writing space, move around
-when you get to the saggy middle. Stop, go and write a few lines of something different. A side project, or a different genre.
-Are you over writing your current genre?
-try a side project of something different.

Are you actually bored or bored with the process? Do you need to set better goals to get you motivated?
-Changing things will help freshen your mind. LIke when we eat or do something we’ve never done before.

Writing several genres : This is not that easy, but fun. Two of the SPA Girls do it.

Are you burnt out?
-Are you making your deadlines too tight?
-Is the burnout coming from the pressure you’re putting on yourself?

If your books aren’t selling, is that the right genre for you?
It’s not good or bad to change, because things in your life change so you need to adjust and pivot too.
We all go through this in one way or another – you are not alone! Often cleansing your palate will refresh your creative and get you up and going even stronger than ever!

❤️ Learn to Self-publish with the SPA Girls!

➡️ Visit SpaGirlsPodcast.com for full show notes and all previous episodes

🔍 Subscribe on your fav podcast app – search “SPA Girls Podcast”

📧 Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors Get your FREE Cheat Sheet!

🖱️ You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: Podcast Episodes

✔️ Subscribe and Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ How To Self-Publish with the SPA Girls

✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast

Cozy Mysteries are hugely popular with readers and authors alike, and Nancy J. Cohen is with us today to share her fantastic advice for writing the successful cozy.

Alongside her fiction, Nancy has also written the acclaimed “how to” for cozies “Writing The Cozy Mystery”, so we’re thrilled she agreed to give us the scoop on all things cozy.

We discuss:

About Nancy:

Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail. These books have won numerous awards along with her nonfiction titles, Writing the Cozy Mystery and A Bad Hair Day Cookbook. Active in the writing community, Nancy is a past president of Florida Romance Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Florida Chapter. When not busy writing, she enjoys cooking, fine dining, cruising and visiting Disney World. Visit her at NancyJCohen.com

Conventional wisdom says ‘bigger is better’ for books, but is that really true? In this episode, we discuss what different word counts and book sizes mean for successful publishers today, how you can use different sizes to your advantage, and how to find your sweet spot. The Right Size isn’t a black and white thing – in fact, there are 50 shades of writing (size) to embrace!

There is NO ONE RULE for word counts:

Example: The Romance Writers of America defines a novella as 20,000 to 40,000 words and a novel as a work of fiction of 40,000 words or more as determined by computer word count.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America organization defines:
Short Story: less than 7,500 words;
Novelette: at least 7,500 words but less than 17,500 words;
Novella: at least 17,500 words but less than 40,000 words
Novel: 40,000 words or more.

Bookbub current rule for word count needed for a featured deal:
A full-length book. Novels and collections of short stories or novellas should be at least 150 pages in length, works of nonfiction at least 100 pages, cookbooks at least 70 pages, middle-grade books at least 100 pages, and children’s picture books at least 20 pages. We currently do not feature stand-alone novellas or short stories.”

Uses of shorter fiction:
Short stories can be published on their own or used to create anthologies
They can be used as newsletter subscription lures

READER EXPECTATION is the key to what word count you should aim for
Romance readers (generally) expect a full novel to be 50,000 to 80,000 words; however, there are some popular niches such as sexy shifter romance telling the story in a shorter word count eg 35,000.

Thrillers and suspense normally are 60,000 – 90,000

Epic fantasy can have 120,000 words +

Cozy mysteries tend to 40,000 to 60,000

Serialized fiction tends to be around 700 – 2000 words per episode
The new Kindle Vella program states “between 600-5,000 words”

IT”S NOT SET IN STONE and TRENDS DO CHANGE
Advantage if you’re publishing exclusively with Amazon and in the Kindle Unlimited program is to have a longer word count. More pages = more $

Want more of the SPA Girls?

✔️  Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter with tips and resources for self-publishing authors http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/join/ 

✔️  You’ll find all the show notes and SPA Girls podcast episodes at: http://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/  

✔️ Watch episode recordings on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast 

✔️ Join us on Facebook and Twitter @SPAGirlsPodcast