SPA Girls Podcast

This week we have Kelly Lytle from Findaway Voices with us in the SPA to talk about creating audio books for Indie authors.

If you've ever considered creating an audio book, but were concerned about the price, the technology or the difficulty involved, then this episode is a must listen. Kelly takes us through the whole process of creating and distributing an audio book with Findaway Voices, from the very moment an author contacts them, to finding the perfect narrator, to pricing, and then to the recording and approval process. He demystified the whole process for us, and showed us how doable it actually is! 

He also gave us some fantastic ideas for how we might market and promote a newly published audio books to our readers, both new and old. It's a fascinating subject, and Kelly was a great sport about answering all our silly questions, and giving us the kind of in-depth information on audio books that we've all wanted to know, but have been too afraid to ask. (Or maybe just too lazy? It's a close call. It's nice and cozy in the SPA.) 

It's a great episode - especially if you're thinking of diversifying your income by doing audio books at any time in the future (which you should be!).

This week we talk about how to get yourself motivated again after life gets in the way. It could be illness, personal issues, a holiday, an injury or even just your own negative self talk. Whatever it is that has stopped you from doing the amount of writing you want to do, we're here to bust those barriers down and find ways to get you back on track.

We've all experienced it at some point in our lives; that feeling that you're wading through the quicksand, your body and mind not working as quickly as you want them to. It can feel almost impossible some days to get out of that quicksand, but we're here to help. This episode is all about the ways we've managed to get back into healthy, happy writing routines after problems in our lives, and what you can do to do the same. We've got options for different types of writers, because we're all different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. 

The beginning of this conversation was a series of tweets by author Courtney Milan, who talked about how she got herself back into the writing groove after her writing mojo took a dive, by being more aware of how she was 'training' herself to write, and making writing fun again. Let's all make writing FUN!

This week we talk about how to get yourself motivated again after life gets in the way. It could be illness, personal issues, a holiday, an injury or even just your own negative self talk. Whatever it is that has stopped you from doing the amount of writing you want to do, we're here to bust those barriers down and find ways to get you back on track.

We've all experienced it at some point in our lives; that feeling that you're wading through the quicksand, your body and mind not working as quickly as you want them to. It can feel almost impossible some days to get out of that quicksand, but we're here to help. This episode is all about the ways we've managed to get back into healthy, happy writing routines after problems in our lives, and what you can do to do the same. We've got options for different types of writers, because we're all different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. 

The beginning of this conversation was a series of tweets by author Courtney Milan, who talked about how she got herself back into the writing groove after her writing mojo took a dive, by being more aware of how she was 'training' herself to write, and making writing fun again. Let's all make writing FUN!

This week we chat to Toni Kenyon, a New Zealand indie author of Pacific rockstar and billionaire romances. She gives us the inside scoop on some of the new techniques she's using to attract and engage with her readers. About two months ago, she decided to try two new ideas: firstly to do a regular weekly Facebook LIVE session, and secondly to write a weekly serial, where she gets reader input to decide what happens next. 

She talks about what she's doing, why she decided to do it, and how it's all working out for her after more than two months of putting this type of content out to her readers. (HINT: It's going well!)

This week we chat to Toni Kenyon, a New Zealand indie author of Pacific rockstar and billionaire romances. She gives us the inside scoop on some of the new techniques she's using to attract and engage with her readers. About two months ago, she decided to try two new ideas: firstly to do a regular weekly Facebook LIVE session, and secondly to write a weekly serial, where she gets reader input to decide what happens next. 

She talks about what she's doing, why she decided to do it, and how it's all working out for her after more than two months of putting this type of content out to her readers. (HINT: It's going well!)

This week in the SPA we talk about how to handle changes in the Indie Publishing environment without freaking out, including where to find the information you might need about any new changes, and how to figure out if the information you're reading on Twitter is the real deal. 

Whenever a new change is made at Amazon, or a new law is passed somewhere or someone figures out a new way to do something, a certain percentage of people will freak out about it. Sometimes they even have a point. But what we in the SPA are saying is that it's important to actually calmly research the changes, via blogs, FB groups, or your author network, before you start to make changes to your business, or before you start posting online, or taking certain actions. We also give a whole bunch of places that you can go to find more information about the latest news in Indie Publishing, so that you can have the information at your fingertips when you need it. 

This is an episode about critical thinking for authors, and how to keep your head when nobody else seems to be... :)

This week in the SPA we talk about how to handle changes in the Indie Publishing environment without freaking out, including where to find the information you might need about any new changes, and how to figure out if the information you're reading on Twitter is the real deal. 

Whenever a new change is made at Amazon, or a new law is passed somewhere or someone figures out a new way to do something, a certain percentage of people will freak out about it. Sometimes they even have a point. But what we in the SPA are saying is that it's important to actually calmly research the changes, via blogs, FB groups, or your author network, before you start to make changes to your business, or before you start posting online, or taking certain actions. We also give a whole bunch of places that you can go to find more information about the latest news in Indie Publishing, so that you can have the information at your fingertips when you need it. 

This is an episode about critical thinking for authors, and how to keep your head when nobody else seems to be... :)

We were lucky enough to have contemporary romance author Maria Luis talking to us this week. She's super marketing-savvy, and talked on a range of topics, from how her launches have changed as she's learned more about the industry, to what kind of advertising she's been doing and her pricing strategy. 

She's done some great reader engagement activities, including a serial on her website where she allows her readers to vote on what's going to happen next, and she talks about that, as well as diving deep into her techniques for Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads. 

You'll want to break out the notebooks this week, I know we sure did!!

We were lucky enough to have contemporary romance author Maria Luis talking to us this week. She's super marketing-savvy, and talked on a range of topics, from how her launches have changed as she's learned more about the industry, to what kind of advertising she's been doing and her pricing strategy. 

She's done some great reader engagement activities, including a serial on her website where she allows her readers to vote on what's going to happen next, and she talks about that, as well as diving deep into her techniques for Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads. 

You'll want to break out the notebooks this week, I know we sure did!!

We’re delighted to welcome Kevin Tumlinson, bestselling thriller author, and Director of Marketing for Draft2Digital into the SPA today! Kevin talks us through using Draft2Digital to format and publish your books on line, the best practices for keywords and a host of other tips for indie authors.  For many of us living outside the US, Draft2Digital is the way to access online retailers who don’t allow us to upload directly, and all the SPA Girls are D2D fans.  As a company D2D are continually innovating and bringing out new tools for authors (listen out for Cher’s suggestion mid-podcast!).