Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Kerrie Flanagan and Chuck Harrelson about collaborating on multiple genres under two shared pseudonyms, growing global sales, increasing author newsletter subscribers, and experimenting with marketing through Twitch.

Prior to the interview, Mark welcomes new patron Malcolm Coon, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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, Kerrie, and Chuck talk about:

• The origin of how Kerrie and Chuck started writing together under multiple pseudonyms
• The books that they are working on under the names C.G. Harris (The Judas Files - Urban Fantasy; The Rax - Science Fiction) and C.K. Wiles (Romance)
• Their experimentation with going exclusive on their eBooks with KDP Select and how it failed and they returned to publishing wide
• Dedication to getting more subscribers and moving from 55 to over 3000 people on their list
• How focusing on Facebook ads was helpful in the newsletter subscription
• Apple success that came from Apple putting The Nine (book one in The Judas Files) on their "Free First in Series" page
• Using ScribeCount to measure their wide sales and the difference that a few months made
• How they work together in terms of the writing process as well as the logistics of publishing and handling the finances
• The way they are budgeting out their ad spend
• The experimentation they did with sponsoring a Twitch stream to talk about their The Judas Files books
• Learning about the unsustainable nature of rapid releases
• And more...

Mark then reflects on the experimentation and iteration that Kerrie and Chuck continue to do, trying new things, changing their approach, exploring new marketing opportunities, and not giving up.

Links of Interest:

• C.G. Harris Website
  • Judas Files
  • The Rax
• C.K. Wiles Website
• Twitch Stream Content from Fellowship of Awesome:
  • Full Stream (Starts about 11 minutes in)
  • Talking about The Nine
  • Reading excerpt in Canadian accent
  • Reading excerpt in sexy romance voice
• Episode 31 - Kerrie Flanagan on Writing and Selling Magazine Articles
• Episode 45 - Co-authoring with the Writers Behind C.K. Wiles
• Episode 117 - Multi-Layered Collaboration with Kerrie Flanagan, Chuck Harrelson, and Macleod Andrews
• The Relaxed Author
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

C.G. Harris is an award winning science-fiction and fantasy author from Colorado who draws inspiration from favorites, Jim Butcher, Richard Kadrey and Brandon Sanderson. For nearly a decade, Harris has escaped the humdrum of the real world by creating fictional characters and made-up realities. When not writing, Harris spends time collecting the illusive arcade token, from the golden age when Dig Dug and Frogger were king. Harris knows the value of such a collection will only be seen in the confused faces of those family members left behind long after C.G. Harris is gone.

​ C.G. Harris is the combined persona of writers Kerrie Flanagan and Chuck Harrelson.

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

Mark interviews Deborah Levison, a multi award-winning author, freelance writer, publicist and the author of THE CRATE: A Story of War, a Murder, and Justice - a true crime story with echoes of the Holocaust.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and talks about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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 Debbie talk about:

• How much of a bookworm Debbie was from an early age, and that she'd always dreamed of being an author
• One of the earliest essays she had to write for school about her, her mother, and her grandmother going to visit the bears at dusk at the local garbage dump
• Debbie's lonely childhood growing up spending summers in the Muskoka region of Ontario, and how that helped fuel her imagination and love of fictional characters from books
• Her work as a professional writer (a journalist, publicist, etc)
• Debbie's true crime book, The Crate, which was about a very grizzly and gruesome crime that personally impacted her family
• Family history that includes paralleling evil from the past (Debbie's parents being Holocaust survivors) with evil in the present
• The surreal 2010 life-changing phone call Debbie received from her brother informing her about this crate he discovered hidden under the crawl space of their family cottage
• The challenge and experience of reaching out to the victim's mother and sister and learning about who she was -- which was the focus of the second half of the book
• How the media painted the situation in a very "blame the victim" manner
• The "memoir" elements in the structure of this book
• The process of pitching the book, and the first agent she'd reached out to who graciously spent time and energy helping Debbie make the book better for her pitch, and then recommended her to another agent
• How Canadian publishers are heavily subsidized by the Canadian government, which led to them passing on Debbie's book because she was no longer a Canadian resident (those publishers only get grant money when they publish books from Canadian authors)
• The third agent Debbie worked with who found a publisher in Colorado that worked quickly to get the book out
• The cover promotional blurbs Debbie got from Lee Child and James Rollins after connecting at ThrillerFest in New York
• Some of the logistics about the research and writing of this book
• The numerous live events she has done talking about The Crate, and what Debbie is working on now

Links of Interest:

• Deborah Levison's Website
• Episode 206 - No One Will Believe In You More Than You, with Steena Holmes
• Episode 204 - Overcoming Self Doubt with Tessa Smith McGovern
• Episode 203 - A Rant on Unprofessional Author Behavior
• Episode 191 - Insights from the Immersive Media & Books 2020 Consumer Survey
• The Relaxed Author
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

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

This solo episode features a recording of a talk Mark gave at When Words Collide 2021.

Prior to the talk, Mark shares a personal update and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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

Links of Interest:

• Episode 99 - Getting Your Book into Libraries
• Episode 191 - Insights from the Immersive Media & Books 2020 Consumer Survey
• Episode 177 - Author Insights from Youth Services Librarians
• Episode 110 - A Conversation About Working with Bookstores and Libraries
• Episode 87 - You, Your Book, and Bookstores
• Episode 193 - Showcasing Indie Author Books in an Indie Bookstore
• Episode 167 - Bookseller Insights with Laura Hayden
• The Relaxed Author
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

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

This episode features a 2021 When Words Collide Keynote given by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Steena Holmes.

The talk was recorded on Friday August 13, 2021.

After the talk, Mark shares a couple of reflections and thanks patrons of the podcast who support it at patreon.com/starkreflections. He also shares that the presentations he gave at When Words Collide will be shared in video and audio formats for patrons.

Links of Interest:

• Episode 17 - Focusing on Your Readers with Steena Holmes
• When Words Collide
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with over 2 million copies of her titles sold world wide, including The Forgotten Ones, Saving Abby and The Memory Child. Named in the Top 20 Women Author to read in 2015 by Good Housekeeping, she won the National Indie Excellence Award in 2012 for Finding Emma as well as the USA Book News Award for The Word Game in 2015. Steena has been featured in various newspapers and magazines, websites such as Goodreads, BookBub, RedBook, Glamour, Coastal Living and Goodhousekeeping. To find out more about her books and her love for traveling, you can visit her Website: http://www.steenaholmes.com/

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

Mark interviews Simon Lowe, an author with a number of stories published in various magazines, who, after a decade working in book stores, released his first novel (The World is at War, Again) in June 2021 and now writes part time while also performing the role of a stay at home dad.

Prior to the interview, Mark welcomes new Patrons Talena Winters, Rachel Amphlett, and Carolyn Stein, reads comments from recent episodes, offers a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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

In their chat, Mark and Simon discuss:

• Simon's recent release of the speculative fiction novel The World Is At War, Again and how it's about government declaring newer technology to be too much of a threat to be allowed
• How the novel is set with the world at war without there being a specific single war such as WWII - as a commentary of the ongoing "state" of war
• Some of the parallels between the content of this novel and the current pandemic world we're living in
• How the removal of technology also reduces a person's ability to "fake" who they are, in the same way they can behind the filters of social media
• Conceiving of a world without technology as one of of being able to focus on how people interact directly with one another
• The impact of external factors on the way people connect and focus
• Simon's 10 years of experience as a bookseller and the various formats for paperbacks
• The difference in UK and North American bookshop genre designations such as "Crime" in the UK which is "Mystery" in North America
• Mark's experience on what people were looking for when they walked into a bookstore and asked for the "non-fiction books"
• How, for some people, walking into a bookstore can be an intimidating experience
• The way Simon's experience as a bookseller informed him as a writer and within the business of publishing
• Decisions on which books to stock, which are based on understanding the marketplace and what is going to sell within that market
• The importance of not taking it personally when a bookseller or publisher is not interested in your book
• How thinking of the book in smaller chunks made the process of writing the novel more manageable
• And more....

After the interview, Mark reflects on the concept of breaking your work/writing into smaller, more manageable chunks as one way to conquer the overwhelm of a large project in front of you.

Links of Interest:

• Simon Lowe's Website
• Episode 204 - Overcoming Self-Doubt with Tessa Smith McGovern
• Episode 203 - A Rant on Unprofessional Author Behavior
  • Original Unedited raw Rant (Patron link)
• Episode 17 - Focusing on Your Readers with Steena Holmes
• When Words Collide
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

Simon Lowe is a British author. His stories have appeared in various publications, including AMP, Storgy, Ponder Review, EX/POST, Blackwater Review, and elsewhere. After a decade working in book stores he now writes part time as well as being a stay at home dad. His new novel, The World is At War, Again, was released in June 2021.

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

Mark interviews Tessa Smith McGovern an award-winning and best-selling author who has taught writing for 22 year.

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

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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 Tessa talk about:

• How, during the lockdown and covid-19 pandemic isolation, Tessa had to come face to face with herself while stuck at home
• The recognition of guilt, misery, and self-doubt that led to self-sabotage
• Tessa having been an author for thirty years and being traditionally published and indie published
• Finding herself humiliated in a situation with a writer whose work Tessa quite adored
• Tessa's experience with teaching writers, and how writers often bring a significant amount of material to those lessons
• How we have to find the belief in ourselves
• Lighting the candle for someone else when the flame of inspiration goes out
• Things we can do to avoid self-sabotage
• Setting a goal that doesn't end up engaging your ego (which can often introduce self-doubt to the equation)
• The Westport Writes writers program in Westport Connecticut
• How love and kindness meditation can improve your focus, your memory and your productivity
• The importance of creative rest, and recognizing when we need that
• If you understand your creative process and what works, you can be more in control of it
• The fifty+ short stories Tessa had from her writing career and how she found particular connections between the stories, based on themes, similar characters, and other factors that can be patterned
• How the process of linking short stories can be a delightful process
• Tessa's book Cocktails for Book Lovers
• The value of a good editor, and how sometimes working with an editor from a traditional publishing house can offer perks that are difficult to buy from freelance editors
• The way that the right editor can help an author turn something that is good into something that is fantastic
• And more...

Links of Interest:

• Tessa Smith McGovern's Website
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Free Coaching/Zoom Classes
  • How to Link Stories & Memoirs into a Collection
• BookGirlTV
  • BookGirlTV on YouTube
• Episode 203 - A Rant on Unprofessional Author Behavior
  • Original Unedited raw Rant (Patron link)
• Episode 201 - Building Your Marketing From Day One with Julie Broad of Book Launchers
• Episode 197 - Rambling Reflections from the Darkness Within
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

Tessa Smith McGovern has taught writing for 22 years and, for the last ten years, at the Writing Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, NY. She is an award-winning writer whose linked short story collection, LONDON ROAD: LINKED STORIES, received a 'Featured' review from Kirkus, is an Amazon best-seller, and a gold medal winner in the 2012 eLit Awards. Her non-fiction book, COCKTAILS FOR BOOK LOVERS (Sourcebooks), is also an Amazon best-seller. Her many publication credits include the Connecticut Review and Equinox, a UK poetry journal archived by the English Arts Council at the Southbank Centre, London. She's currently writing a contemporary fantasy novel inspired by British mythology and pursuing her MFA in Writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She is founder and editor of eChook Digital Publishing. eChook won a silver medal in the 2012 eLit Awards and its stories have been read by thousands of readers in 100+ countries.

Tessa is also host, writer and producer of BookGirlTV (BGTV), an award-winning digital channel that promotes books and reading. BGTV has 6 million+ minutes viewed on YouTube and 10,000+ likes on Facebook.

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

Mark shares a rant about a particular thing he noticed continues to happen related to authors looking for promotional opportunities.

Prior to the main content, Mark talks about how this episode was born from content originally sent to patrons of the podcast who responded to his slightly rawer rant on the same topic. For that special episode, he merely turned on the microphone and just let it out.

But a number of patrons commented about that rant, suggesting that it would be beneficial to the larger author community to be aware of an author action that can really set off retailers, distributors, and other industry people.

Mark reads off the names of the current patrons, thanking them for their support, and for bringing this episode to all listeners.

This episode is sponsored by the patrons of the Stark Reflections podcast.

Patrons can support this podcast at http://patreon.com/starkreflections for $1, $3, or $5 a month, and gain access to additional content, text, video, and special audio episodes. A common theme to those episodes is "Stark Reflections on Other Podcasts." As of July 29, 2021, there are 75 exclusive backlist patron posts available.

Within the main content, or rant, for this episode, Mark talks about all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into finding promotional space for indie authors on the majority of the larger retail platforms outside of Amazon, and the thoughtless way that some authors treat all this hard work.

Links of Interest:

• A Rant on Unprofessional Author Behavior (Patron link)
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

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

Mark shares an early draft excerpt from his forthcoming August 2021 book PUBLISHING PITFALLS FOR AUTHORS. Specifically he talks about Publishers and Predators and the things that authors need to be careful to look out for.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares some comments from a recent Patreon only rant episode he recently released talking about unprofessional author behavior and promises to release an edited and slightly modified version into the regular feed in the near future.

He thanks his patrons for the feedback on that episode as well as helping him realize that the learning and insights would be valuable to the greater author community.

He then shares a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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

Links of Interest:

• A Rant on Unprofessional Author Behavior (Patron link)
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

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

In this episode Mark interviews #1 bestselling author and founder of Book Launchers, Julie Broad.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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

Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal upon, an opportunity for listeners to win one of three spots in a full day author boot camp workshop taking place in mid August 2021, and a new opportunity for listeners to win a 1:1 Story Stuck consultation with editor Clark Chamberlain.

In their conversation, Mark and Julie talk about:

• The non-straight-line journey that Julie took to get to her current career in helping authors (which involved real estate, properties, and that world)
• Being approached by published in 2011 for some book ideas, and the back-and-forth of a book proposal done collaboratively by a major publisher that changed their course/plan at the last minute
• How Julie's crushed-ego from that rejected led to her self-publishing the book and shepherding the book (More Than Cash Flow) to #1 for over a month
• The nightmarish horror stories that helped Julie's real estate book sell really well
• The passion to help authors that drives Julie and is evident in her dynamic Book Launchers videos
• How Book Launchers has learned that, once an author is past a certain point in developing their manuscript, it might be too late for effectively building those marketing efforts in early
• Some of the common mistakes authors make such as an ineffective title, and even the TOC and chapter titles
• How the chapter title "You are Who Google Says You Are" in her book "New Brand You"
• The reality that Book Launchers only works with about 10% of the people who approach them - because they want to ensure they can truly help the clients they take on
• The behind-the-scenes of the Book Launchers videos, including about five hours of research and writing that goes into the videos before they even begin to shoot
• The critical importance of those core supporters and the people who regularly interact and comment
• Being recognized in public because of the popularity and value of her YouTube channel
• Some of the things that authors should look out for when it comes to service providers in the self-publishing space
• How asking for and getting reviews is one of the most important aspects of the business of writing
• Some of the industry trends that Julie is tracking and paying attention to
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a couple of things that the conversation made him think about.

Links of Interest:

• Booklaunchers.tv (YouTube Channel)
• Booklaunchers.com (Main Website)
  • Julie's Video Review of KILLING IT ON KOBO
• EP 29 - Terry Fallis on Writing with Authenticity, Humor, and Passion
• EP 200 - Alas, Dear Author, I Reflected for 200 Episodes
• EP 197 - Rambling Reflections Through the Darkness Within
• Mark's TikTok #DuetMe Request (Planes, Trains and Automobiles)
• Mark's YouTube Video of "You Play with Your Balls a Lot" Scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles)
• Bibliofic Designs
• The Relaxed Author
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

Julie Broad, founder of self-publishing services firm Book Launchers and Amazon Overall #1 Best Selling Author, knows what it takes to successfully self-publish a book. Julie's titles include More than Cashflow, which topped Amazon, The New Brand You, and her latest book, Self-Publish & Succeed. An expert on writing a book with marketing in mind, Julie teaches authors how to write a #noboringbook on her popular YouTube channel BookLaunchers.TV. Her advice for authors and investors has also been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, Yahoo! Business, CTV, the Toronto Sun, and Medium.com.

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

Mark reflects on 200 episodes and also shares a reading from a chapter in his book WIDE FOR THE WIN on Quantum Eggs merged with ad hoc musings.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares an opportunity for listeners to win one of three spots in a full day author boot camp workshop taking place in mid August 2021, and also shares a word from this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices.

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

Mark reflects on why he started the podcast, what he think it offers, then shares a chapter from the book WIDE FOR THE WIN interspersed with pauses and reflective asides.

Links of Interest:

• Link to Entry Form for Full Day Workshop
• Free Registration to Virtual When Words Collide Conference in August 2021
• Episode 192 - Bold Business Strategies for Authors
• Parody Video: Stuck in This House Here with You
  • Stupid Dad Joke Shorts
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City

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