The Complete Creative

This week on the show we have Jane Friedman, one of the foremost publishing experts in the world. Here's a part of her bio from her website: 

Jane Friedman has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. She's the editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential industry newsletter for authors, and has previously worked for F+W Media and the Virginia Quarterly Review. In 2019, Jane was awarded Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.

Jane's newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press); Publishers Weekly said that it is "destined to become a staple reference book for writers and those interested in publishing careers." Also, in collaboration with The Authors Guild, she wrote The Authors Guild Guide to Self-Publishing.

I've known about Jane's work tangentially for a long time, but it wasn't until my The Online Writer's Conference co-host Nicolas Nelson reached out to her that she came into my circle. I will admit that he actually booked this interview, or at least got it to the point where she was willing to do an interview. I finished it off with a date and time, and then conducted the interview, but it was really him that was responsible for making this happen...and I'm so glad that he did. 

We used her book, The Business of Being a Writer as a guide for this conversation. Listen to this episode if you would like to learn: 

How to make a living as a writer

How to generate leads and gain exposure

How to build your author platform like a three-legged stool

The basics of book launches

...and much more. 

If you loved this episode, head over to https://www.janefriedman.com and check out her work.

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

This week on the show we have seriously my last interview from Podcast Movement: Evolutions back in February.

I met Shannon at an afterparty during the show and then listened to him moderate a keynote and knew I needed to have him on the show. Why? I'll tell you after his bio. 

Shannon Cason has shared his stories all over the country. Shannon is a host, MainStage storyteller and GrandSlam champion with The Moth. He is a regular on NPR’s Snap Judgment; awarded their Best Performance Award. Shannon has appeared on countless podcasts and storytelling stages, including TEDx, RISK!, Third Coast Festival, Podcast Movement, and an upcoming television pilot.

He also hosts his own long-standing storytelling podcast, Shannon Cason’s Homemade Stories. Shannon also launched a podcast with WBEZ Chicago called The Trouble with Shannon Cason. His storytelling is featured in the anthology, The Moth Presents: All These Wonders. Shannon serves as the chief educator for the Brutally Honest Storytelling workshop series, where he has helped companies, pro athletes, celebrities, and everyday people tell their stories more honestly.

I talked to Shannon at the show for maybe 15 minutes, but during that time he was constantly deluged with people coming up to him and telling him how much they loved his show Homemade Stories. There was a visceral reaction people had to his stories that you don't see very often, and when I do see it I queue into it. He is a podcaster's podcaster, and when I listened to his show I realized he was also a storyteller's storyteller. He took these small moments and made them big and grand. I love that about his work. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to develop your voice

How to love the small moments

How to develop the feel of a story

How to be more vulnerable with your work

If you loved this episode, head over to https://www.shannoncason.com and check out his work. 

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

This week I have another episode with somebody I met at Podcast Movement: Evolutions. This time it's with celebrity psychic Laura Powers. If you think that's a little too out there for you, then I would urge you to listen because Laura delivers so much value in this episode. Before I tell you how, here's a piece of her bio: 

Laura Powers is a celebrity psychic who has been featured by Buzzfeed, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, Motherboard Magazine by Vice, and many other media outlets.

Laura is the author of seven books and her new book, Archangels and Ascended Masters is out now. She is working on the eight and ninth books, Celebrity Channeled messages and her work with Pets and Animals. 

Even if you are wary about psychics, you will still get a ton out of this episode as Laura is as much business and life coach as spiritual healer. She is a master at navigating a creative career AND booking media, which is something most of us have problems with. 

She gives us her step by step formula for booking media, which rocks and will totally revolutionize how you think about the press. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to manifest the career of your dreams

How to turn directions midstream when something isn't working

How to book media like a pro 

How to know when to quit and when to keep going

And much more. 

You can find Laura on her website at: https://www.healingpowers.net/laurapowers

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

I've known about the story of Buño Books since pretty much the beginning when they had a deal with Magnetic Press, before they went off on their own to conquer the brave new world of independent publishing. So, when Storme Smith emailed to ask if I wanted to have him on my show, I jumped at the chance, and I'm so glad I did. For those of you who haven't been obsessively following this upstart company for years, here's their bio: 

Buño is an independent publisher founded in 2016, by Ulises Farinas and Storme Smith. We publish graphic novels and comic books by talented artists from around the world. We look for fresh and unexpected work, and believe in a diverse and dynamic community of creators, making work that connects cultures, experiences, and people.

I loved this conversation. I find the best conversations for this podcast come with people who've been on a similar journey as I have so we can dive deep into the aspects of commonality we both share, and Storme and I have both been fighting in the pits of publishing for years, which made this conversation as fun as it was cathartic and (hopefully) informative. 

Listen to this episode if you'd like to learn: 

How to build a brand from scratch

The perils of independent publishing

How to avoid being drowned out by the bigger players

How to design for markets

How to understand comics better

and much more. 

You can find Buño on the web at https://bunobooks.com and Storme Smith on Twitter. 

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Earlier this year, before ANY of this COVID stuff happened, my friend Wendy Shaner put together a virtual comic book convention on Kickstarter called the Naughty Faeries Online Comic Con Experience.

I had no idea what she was thinking, and I was confused for just about the whole Kickstarter, but she raised over $13,000 so I knew she was doing something right. 

When the world ended, she seemed like the most prescient guru of all time, because she was WAY ahead of the curve on that one. 

Since then I've run three conventions, but while they've been well-received they have not even come CLOSE to making me $13,000. 

So, I thought it would be a good idea to have Wendy on the show to talk about her experience, and then dovetail it with my experience running shows. 

This is likely the future, at least in the short term, so we might as well turn into the skid. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to create a convention experience online

What swag has the best ROI

How to make money on an online convention

What you need to make sure your convention goes off without a hitch

...and much more.

You can find Wendy on Twitter or check out her Etsy store. 

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

This week's guest is podcast Maurice Cherry, who I met at Podcast Evolutions many months ago. It feels like a hundred years but it was really only two months. He has an award-winning podcast called Revision Path, which is the first podcast featured in the Smithsonian. Here's his bio: 

Maurice Cherry works as a snior creative strategist at Glitch, the friendly community where everyone can discover and create the best stuff on the web. Before Glitch, Maurice was principal and creative director at Lunch, an award-winning multidisciplinary creative studio in Atlanta, GA.These days, Maurice is perhaps most well known for his award-winning podcast Revision Path, which showcases Black designers, developers, and digital creators from all over the world. Other projects of Maurice’s include the Black Weblog Awards, 28 Days of the Web, The Year of Tea, and the design anthology RECOGNIZE.Maurice is the 2018 recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from AIGA, was named as one of GDUSA’s “People to Watch” in 2018, and was included in the 2018 edition of The Root 100 (#60), their annual list of the most influential African-Americans ages 25 to 45. 

I met Maurice just hanging out trying to get work done at one of the conference tables and we struck up a conversation. I really loved what he had to say about podcasting and finding your fanbase, so I invited him on the show, and he did NOT disappoint. He really brought the value about how to make something that resonates with an audience. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to get your show into the Smithsonian

How to use radial adjacency to your advantage

How to scale a podcast

How to give your project an identity that resonates with people

How to define success

And much more. 

If you enjoyed this interview, make sure to find Maurice on Twitter and check out his other work at https://mauricecherry.com.

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Today's episode features a guest I've wanted to interview for a long time, Tapas editor-in-chief Michael Son. Here's his bio. 

Michael Son, Editor-in-Chief of Tapas Media, graduated from UC Berkeley where he facilitated a course on publishing creator-owned comics. Shortly thereafter, he joined Tapas, formally known as Tapastic, where he helped nurture a growing community of independent creators, starting with eight and growing it out to what is now over 50,000. As Editor in Chief at Tapas Media, he has helmed notable projects such as Cheshire Crossing with Andy Weir (author of The Martian) and Sarah Andersen (creator of Adulthood is a Myth), as well as Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, a modern adaptation of Little Women with an all-star art team physically published by Hachette.

I was introduced to Michael a couple of months ago, and we got along well from the off. We've both edited and created comics, and now were very focused on how to build an audience for those comics. 

However, while I'm doing it on a relatively small scale, he was handling it for hundreds of comics at once. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to create a popular webcomic

What editors look for in creator pitches

How to make your comic stand out from the crowd

How to build an audience for your comics

And much more. I really enjoyed this one with Michael, and if you've ever thought about creating a webcomic, or you have a webcomic that you want to take to the next level, you have to listen to this one. 

You can find Michael on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tapastic or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/coolbeanjeans

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

This week's guest is Amira Valliani, founder and CEO of Glow.fm, a membership platform catering specifically to podcasters. Here's how it works: 

A Branded Page for Your Podcast

Your Glow page is a custom marketing webpage which you can design to match your brand.Place your Glow Page URL in your Episode Notes, on your website, in social media, or wherever else you'd like. Then drive listeners to your Glow Page with calls to action.

Listeners can sign up for recurring subscriptions or send one-time payments through your Glow Page without leaving their favorite podcast streaming apps.Payments are quick and easy with Apple Pay and Google Pay, or directly through Stripe.

I met Amira after hearing her present at the conference about building a membership and I desperately asked if she would be on my show. We talked once between the conference and this recording, and I am so fascinated by what she's been able to accomplish, and how she's able to help so many podcasters. 

Because of her experience working behind the scenes with podcasters in their membership communities, she knows A LOT about memberships, and this is something we're all trying to do right? Build a community of people who'll pay you every month to make things? 

Well, Amira has lots of hard data and experience, and she came on the show to talk all about it. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

How to turn your fans into buyers

How to build a vibrant community

Why building a membership community is like compounding interest

When to start building a membership community

And much, much more. 

Find Amira at glow.fm or Twitter @amiravalliani.

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Sean McLachlan is a member of my Facebook writer's group, Authors and Creators Making Money Selling Books, and avid listener to the show who pitched me a great idea for an episode. He recently released a book called Writing Secrets of the World's Most Prolific Authors, and wanted to come on the show to discuss what he learned writing the book. 

On top of that, Sean McLachlan is a freelance writer specializing in fiction, history, and travel, Sean's the author of numerous books, including the Toxic World post-apocalyptic series and the Trench Raiders WWI action series

I usually don't accept people's pitches for being on the show, but he tugged at the right strings, as I am all about writing faster and better. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

Why it's possible to write good books fast

How we are in the New Pulp Era, and what that means

How to stop the purple prose

What you need to master before turning out world-class books

And much more. 

Find Sean online at http://midlistwriter.blogspot.com/

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

I met Mark Reichers at Podcast Evolutions in February. He's one of several past and upcoming guests I've had on from that conference, which ended up being one of my last conferences of the year as things are working out right now. Mark is the digital producer for the radio show and podcast To the Best of Our Knowledge. Here is his bio straight from the site. 

Mark is the digital producer for the show, dreaming up ways to extend discussions on the show to the web and spark new conversations between ourselves, our listeners and guests via social media. He makes it his goal to give listeners a voice in editorial meetings. And yes, he really does read every one of your emails to the show.

He's worked for The A.V. Club, Madison's Isthmus weekly paper, and local alt-weekly Tone Madison, writing on beer, nerd culture, video games, film festivals, and the occasional op-ed on the economic value of reclining seats. He has formerly worked as a science communicator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Chicago, interviewing engineers, computer scientists and Nobel laureate economists about their work and relating their discoveries to a mainstream audience.

In his free time, Mark dives into internet weirdness, plays with his two Boston terriers, and hangs out with his awesome wife — she gives him his best ideas. 

I met Mark at an after-party, and he immediately started to tear down my podcasting set-ups, chiding me for using a Blue Yeti and not having a mixing board...so of course we were fast friends because I love when people at the top of their game confront me about that kind of thing. 

When I got back from the conference, I immediately asked Mark if he would be on the show, to which he agreed, and I brought him on to talk about how to make a podcast right. 

We play a fun game where he gives me the RIGHT equipment, and then I give you my dirty equipment set-up. 

Listen to this episode if you want to learn: 

The equipment you need, and may want, to make your podcast set-up sound professional. 

How to interview better

How to edit an interview so it sounds perfect

How tech will help us survive the COVID-19 pandemic 

And much more. 

Follow @markonfire and @ttbook on Twitter, and check out To the Best of our Knowledge at: https://www.ttbook.org or on any podcast player. 

If you love this show, please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.