Thriving Authors Podcast

I like to surprise my clients in Thriving Authors Academy with bonus sessions where I bring in experts to talk about various topics. Last month, two amazing cover designers, Rebecca Barney & Lenore Stutznegger, spoke to the group about…

I’m excited to share an excerpt of this expert panel on cover design with YOU as this week’s podcast episode. Enjoy this behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it is like to be part of Thriving Authors Academy!

(And if you’re interested in joining us for the next round, I would love to have you! We begin October 8. Apply & find more info at www.ThrivingAuthorsAcademy.com or apply for the scholarship at https://bit.ly/ThrivingAuthorsAcademyScholarship)

About our guest experts:

Lenore Stutznegger is the author of the award-winning debut novel BLUE SHADOWS FALL and a cover designer for published books in a variety of genres. She learned from a young age to hone her talents in art and trust in her voice. She graduated from Brigham Young University in Fine Art, married the love of her life, and lived in North Carolina for many years and considers the South to be her happy place. She now resides in Northern California with her four spirited children, a pug, two cats, and backyard chickens in a new kind of crazy paradise.

Rebecca Barney is the founder of Barney Design, a graphic arts design studio with experience in print and digital branding, illustration and website design. Her love for art began in high school after a trip to Italy, and she continued to study art history through college, where she graduated with a BA in Art History. She moved back to San Diego and started working at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, where a co-worker and good friend encouraged her to take her studies toward graphic design, and the rest is history! (She designed the gorgeous cover for my novel Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life!)

Have you ever wondered about hiring a publicist for your book? Or maybe you would like to make a plan to rock PR on your own… but you have no idea where to even begin. In such a crowded book market, how can an author ever hope to stand out?

Today’s brand-new episode of the Thriving Authors Podcast is one you might want to listen to more than once, and take notes! Because my guest Lilian Sue is an expert on everything related to book publicity and she generously shares her top tips, wisdom and insights with us about how you can…

- push past your limiting beliefs

- make connections and build relationships

- hit your marketing goals for your book

- all without burning out!

I daresay this episode might shift the entire way you view book marketing and PR. I would love to hear what comes up for you!

I have a new solo episode for you today delving into the question: Are you in a season of waiting?

Sometimes we want something SO BADLY, but there is nothing we can do but wait, with patience and faith and surrender, for it to come to us when the timing is right.

Other times, we put ourselves in a season of waiting when we don’t have to be, because we are afraid or doubtful about what if we are “ready.” (Spoiler alert: you will never feel completely, 100% “ready” to write your book!)

This episode was originally an IG Live that I did last year, and received so much response that I decided to bring it back as a podcast episode.

I hope you enjoy and that it resonates with you!

Barbara Graham is the author/editor of the New York Times bestselling Eye of My Heart: 27 Women Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother, her non-Hallmark take on the complexities of being a grandparent in the 21st century. She’s also the author of Women Who Run with the Poodles: Myths and Tips for Honoring Your Mood Swings, a national bestseller that offers a satirical look at the dark side of the self-help movement. Her memoir, Camp Paradox, is a haunting yet wry coming-of-age tale set at an all-girls summer camp which fast-forwards decades into the future when Barbara realizes that the “love affair” she believed she’d shared with her camp counselor fits every definition of sexual abuse. Barbara has contributed to many magazines, including National Geographic Traveler, O The Oprah Magazine, Food & Wine, Glamour, Vogue, and her essays have been collected in numerous anthologies, and her plays have been produced Off-Broadway and at theaters around the country. Her first novel, that we focus on a lot in this interview, is titled What Jonah Knew.

In this solo episode straight from my heart to yours, I talk about three important ways you can invest in your writing AND six reasons you should do so – not later, but NOW.

(Spoiler alert: you deserve it. You deserve to be a writer, pursuing the projects in your heart. And when you pour into yourself, you have so much more capacity to pour into others around you.)

I’ve compiled all six inspiring reasons into a pretty PDF you can print out and hang at your desk for those days you need an extra reminder of why you matter and your writing matters. Click here to download it! 

Risa Nyman was born and lived in Boston until a move to the Ocean State two years ago. She proudly carries her Boston accent with her wherever she goes. Risa has worked as Executive Director and President of the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and served as Chair of the Diversity Implementation Task Force for the national organization. She has moderated candidates’ debates, organized voter registration drives, and get-out-the-vote campaigns to promote participation in our democracy.  

Risa’s deep dive into creative writing started after finding three pennies in a neat stack on a windowsill in a completely empty apartment that belonged to her mother. She assumed those pennies were a message that it wasn’t too late to follow her dream. After taking classes, attending workshops, and conferences, Risa found her writing voice in middle grade fiction.  

When not writing, you might find Risa reading, exercising, or doing therapeutic ironing (yes, there is such a thing.) Connect with her at https://www.risanyman.com/

In this solo episode of the Thriving Authors Podcast, l delve into the differences between over-writers & under-writers.

First of all, you might be thinking, "What does that even mean?? Over-writers? Under-writers? I’ve never heard those terms before!"

In my coaching programs, I always bring up the topic of under-writers and over-writers and 99% of people have never heard these terms. So you’re not alone if you’re scratching your head a bit right now!

"Over-writers" and "under-writers" are two categories that writers tend to fall into.

Neither one is better than the other. They are simply two different working styles.

Tune into this week’s episode to figure out which category you fall into AND how to use this knowledge to propel your writing forward!

Filip Dousek is an AI & analytics expert. He was the founder and CEO of Stories.bi, one of the first startups in the world to automate big data analysis, which got acquired. He is the author of Flock Without Birds, a novel about the illusions that make up our world, which sold sold over 10,000 copies in its original Czech language. Filip regularly speaks at industry conferences and podcasts on the topics of mental models, paradigm shifts, and the impact of artificial intelligence on our lives. He worked in London, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley, hitchhiked across Alaska, and got married at Burning Man.

Flock Without Birds  

A genre-bending, mind-altering novel about the illusions that make up our world. Flock Without Birds comes in two volumes, with neither one first or second--it's up to the reader to start with the Story or the Book.  

In the Story, an aging philosopher tells the tale of the Book--a tale of love that spans centuries, continents, and precious texts. Adam, who will one day write the Book, is a young PhD student torn between love and his obsession--coding an algorithm to sift the world's data and find God, dead or alive. But a series of mysterious paintings lead him on a winding journey from Cambridge through a Faustian bargain to the edge of reason. Meanwhile in his library, Toito the philosopher calls into question everything there is to believe about Adam--and our world.  

The Book--Adam's journal from a foreign prison--promises to cure the divisions that plague the world. Their root cause isn't politics, capitalism, race, religion, or media. A deeper layer, obvious and invisible, forms what we think, believe, and do. It shapes our wars and our relationships. Unless we confront these illusions, we will remain slaves to the obvious and lose the greatest freedom--the freedom to create a different world. The code--and the key--is within the human mind. But will Adam himself manage such a feat? Can he escape the prisons of the body and of the mind, and regain his love?  

After reading both volumes, Adam's story--and our society--will look very different in the end. Two tales, separate and intertwined, ask the question: where does the whole end and the part begin? What is a flock without birds?

This is a solo episode straight from my own personal experience of coming out of a season of book launching, and is also a topic that has come up a lot lately with my clients in Thriving Authors Academy.

→ How do you create a sustainable creative practice 

– how do you build a career as a writer 

– how do you actually get to the finish line of your book 

– without burning out? ←

My answer: build plenty of self-care into your writing routine.

In this episode, I delve into my TOP EIGHT self-care tips for writers. Listen, bookmark, and enjoy! This might be an episode you want to save and come back to when you need to hear it again. I always like to pause and reflect on my self-care practices after a book launch, after I finish a big project, when I hit a milestone in my life like a birthday or anniversary, or even with the change of seasons.

You can also download a FREE PDF with all eight of these tips!

About Tobey:

Tobey Hiller writes fiction, flash and poetry. She’s the author of a novel, four collections of poetry, and a book of stories. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in a wide variety of journals, print and online, national and international, and in six anthologies. She writes both realist and fabulist fiction. One of her stories, "Splinter," was short-listed for the first Los Gatos-Listowel Short Fiction Contest and later won a First Prize in Craft Magazine’s Short Story Contest; two of her other stories have been short-listed for prizes. Her fiction collection FLIGHT ADVICE: A FABULARY was one of five finalists for Omnidawn’s 2019 Fabulist Fiction Prize and appeared from Unlikely Books (Jonathan Penton, New Orleans) in December 2021. Her most recent book of poetry, CROW MIND (Finishing Line Press, 2020) was reviewed in The Los Angeles Review. She may be found at http://thiller.ag-sites.net