SPA Girls Podcast

This week Wendy and Cher sit down in a fairly noisy cafe with Indie author Damon Suede and his partner, Geoff Symon. The f-bomb went off fairly early in the piece, so if you're offended by swear words... you should still listen, because all the rest of the words out of their mouths are gold... :)

Damon published his first novel, Hot Head, in 2011, which has since been named one of 'Top 100 Romance Novels of All Time' on Goodreads. He's currently on the board of directors for Romance Writers of America, and is well known for the way he unbundles characters when writing his books.

His partner Geoff Symon is a US federal agent, and has now written three non-fiction books all about how to write forensics for fiction authors. He's full of fantastic information about crime scenes, and because he's lived with a writer all these years, he can translate it in a way that makes sense for authors.

Between the two of them, they kept Wendy and Cher on their toes, talking at double speed, and giving off gems of information like they were sand at the beach. From characterisation, to stepping up in the author community, to the best way to write crime scenes - this interview has it all.

Today's interview is a must-listen interview with... Indie Superstar Bella Andre!

We were super excited to be able to chat to Bella, who it turns out is the most lovely, down-to-earth person we've interviewed so far, plus being super inspirational. She was in New Zealand for the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference, and we were able to kidnap and interview her about self-publishing, how she made it as an Indie, and her advice for people aiming to follow in her footsteps... 

We had such a great time chatting to her, that we tried to adopt her and convince her to move to New Zealand, but she was a little resistant to the idea... :)

Today's interview is a must-listen interview with... Indie Superstar Bella Andre!

We were super excited to be able to chat to Bella, who it turns out is the most lovely, down-to-earth person we've interviewed so far, plus being super inspirational. She was in New Zealand for the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference, and we were able to kidnap and interview her about self-publishing, how she made it as an Indie, and her advice for people aiming to follow in her footsteps... 

We had such a great time chatting to her, that we tried to adopt her and convince her to move to New Zealand, but she was a little resistant to the idea... :)

This week we talk about the top ten traits we believe you need to have to be a successful self-published author. 

These include, among other things, having a thick skin, being willing to take risks and staying focused. They're not always easy, and some involve practice and mindfulness, but if you manage to get everything on this list right, we believe you'll be on the road to success.  

It might seen weird to talk about stuff like this being super important over things like knowing how to put a book up on Amazon or how to market your book, but in fact a lot of what's involved with being successful in self publishing - in fact in any business - is to do with getting your head straight and your priorities focused. 

With this in mind, we give you some tips on how to develop and attain some of these skills and traits, what to do when you fall off the wagon, and how to get around it if you really just can't manage to develop that thick skin...

This week we talk about the top ten traits we believe you need to have to be a successful self-published author. 

These include, among other things, having a thick skin, being willing to take risks and staying focused. They're not always easy, and some involve practice and mindfulness, but if you manage to get everything on this list right, we believe you'll be on the road to success.  

It might seen weird to talk about stuff like this being super important over things like knowing how to put a book up on Amazon or how to market your book, but in fact a lot of what's involved with being successful in self publishing - in fact in any business - is to do with getting your head straight and your priorities focused. 

With this in mind, we give you some tips on how to develop and attain some of these skills and traits, what to do when you fall off the wagon, and how to get around it if you really just can't manage to develop that thick skin...

We had a fantastic guest this week in the form of Becca Syme, Cosy Mystery author, writing coach, teacher of the Write Better-Faster course, and podcaster at the Smarty Pants Marketing podcast. 

Becca talks to us about how we can all write better-faster in our writing careers, using our own unique skills to improve your chances of success. It's not about tips and techniques for getting more words per hour - it's about understanding who you are as a writer, your strengths within that, and using those talents in the best way to ensure you are successful. 

Aside from the fact the she was great fun, the most important takeaway we had from our conversation with Becca is that you don't have to do everything exactly the same way as other people are doing it to be successful. In fact if it's the wrong methodology for you, then you're more likely to fail and feel bad about it, and that creates the opposite outcome from what you were trying to achieve. If you understand who you are, how you think things through and understand the world, then you can use that to create a system that will work for you and totally kick butt! 

She was a fabulous guest and very thought provoking in terms of our own systems and thought processes, and we know you'll feel the same way.

We had a fantastic guest this week in the form of Becca Syme, Cosy Mystery author, writing coach, teacher of the Write Better-Faster course, and podcaster at the Smarty Pants Marketing podcast. 

Becca talks to us about how we can all write better-faster in our writing careers, using our own unique skills to improve your chances of success. It's not about tips and techniques for getting more words per hour - it's about understanding who you are as a writer, your strengths within that, and using those talents in the best way to ensure you are successful. 

Aside from the fact the she was great fun, the most important takeaway we had from our conversation with Becca is that you don't have to do everything exactly the same way as other people are doing it to be successful. In fact if it's the wrong methodology for you, then you're more likely to fail and feel bad about it, and that creates the opposite outcome from what you were trying to achieve. If you understand who you are, how you think things through and understand the world, then you can use that to create a system that will work for you and totally kick butt! 

She was a fabulous guest and very thought provoking in terms of our own systems and thought processes, and we know you'll feel the same way.

This week we're joined by the Newsletter Ninja, Tammi Labrecque (of IndiePubIntensive.com), who talks to us about creating an amazing author newsletter that will help amp up your writing career. 

She talks about why every author needs a newsletter, and how to turn the people who sign up for your list into super-fans who will buy every book you write.

Tammi also gives us a whole heap of tips on what kind of content to put into your newsletter, how to find the perfect subscribers for your books, and when to cut subscribers from your list. 

It's another tip-packed episode that you'll want to listen to carefully. I know Shar took heaps of notes (She even broke out the shorthand...) and you will too!

This week we're joined by the Newsletter Ninja, Tammi Labrecque (of IndiePubIntensive.com), who talks to us about creating an amazing author newsletter that will help amp up your writing career. 

She talks about why every author needs a newsletter, and how to turn the people who sign up for your list into super-fans who will buy every book you write.

Tammi also gives us a whole heap of tips on what kind of content to put into your newsletter, how to find the perfect subscribers for your books, and when to cut subscribers from your list. 

It's another tip-packed episode that you'll want to listen to carefully. I know Shar took heaps of notes (She even broke out the shorthand...) and you will too!

This week we talk about our own creative health, where we are at, and how we are attempting to ensure our creativity wells don't try up.

We use examples from our own writing lives, and give a whole bunch of suggestions for how you, too, can plan and execute your own creative health plans to ensure that you can keep writing, despite the other stresses in your lives. 

As Shar says, it's about keeping your muse massaged and your creative health tank topped up, and of course, the writing flowing...