In this episode Mark interviews Kate Tilton about the work she does supporting and helping authors be successful.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares shares comments from recent episodes and social media, offers a personal update, and says a word about this episode's sponsor...

You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their conversation, Mark and Kate talk about:

• Meeting for the first time at the basement in the Javitz Center in New York at Book Expo America
• How Kate got into the book business
• The way that interacting in social media led to Kate falling into the role of author assistant
• Kate starting in the book business when she was still in high school and always being an "old soul" her entire life
• The fact that Kate has always been a "How" person who likes to figure out processes and how to make things work
• The challenges of "re-identifying yourself" within an industry
• How Kate helps authors make decisions within publishing based on what's best for the author and what's best for each book
• The important role Kate plays in terms of keeping her author clients accountable
• The value of focusing on humans and relationships and connection for a broader perspective of marketing
• The mistake that most authors make in thinking of social media as a marketing or sales platform
• The way that Kate's own use of social media has changed over the years
• Questioning certain "givens" of business such as "you have to keep increasing the incoming revenue"
• The importance of having someone as a "thought-partner" in the business of writing and publishing
• How two different people collaborating can come up with ideas and processes that are far better than they ever would on their own
• Advice that Kate would give to her younger self

After the interview, Mark reflects on accountability and the human connection element of social media, particularly as it relates to how he and Kate have stayed connected over the years.

Links of Interest:

• Kate Tilton's Website
• Kate Tilton on Social Media:
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
• Episode 157 - A Conversation with Jeff Elkins, The Dialogue Doctor
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Series
  • This Time Around (Book 0)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York (Book 1)
  • Stowe Away (Book 1.5)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles (Book 2)
• Findaway Voices
• Books2Read
• Draft2Digital
• Wide for the Win Submission Form
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

Kate Tilton works with authors of all publication paths, from New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, award winners, and six-figure authors, to pre-publication authors, to authors somewhere in the middle. By standing beside authors as a partner, Kate turns scary and overwhelming things like marketing and finding an audience into tools that can be used to make an author's dream a reality. She achieves this mission with one-on-one partnerships with authors, free resources available on her website, and so much more.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0