We Make Books Podcast

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

This week, the podcast features 50% more Parvus Press rep as we are joined by Colin Coyle, publisher for Parvus Press. Colin is responsible for (almost) all of the Parvus book covers, and has a oodles of useful knowledge about the process of commissioning an artist to create a book cover, from knowing what your cover should look like, to picking an artist, to successfully working with them with a clear and helpful contract. He also approaches the topic of whether you should art direct your own book covers (either as part of the traditional publishing relationship or self-publishing on your own).

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and tell us your favorite novel covers!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 42: Art Directing a Novel Cover with Colin Coyle

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

K: Hey everyone, welcome back to We Make Books, a show about writing, publishing and everything between. I’m Kaelyn Considine. I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.

R: And I’m Rekka Jay, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

K: And this is a milestone episode because we have a very special guest today. The man of myth and legend,  the whispered entity that haunts the virtual halls of Parvus Press—

R: This is that moment in the book where you finally get to find out what that backstory character everyone keeps mentioning is about.

K: Yes. We were very lucky. Colin Coyle, who is the publisher of Parvus Press, and has been mentioned multiple times in various levels of affection and frustration on this show before, sat down to talk with us about art direction and cover design. Colin handles most of, if not all, of the art direction and cover design for Parvus Press. Colin actually has a lot of experience with this and, you know, apart from all of the stuff we talk about in this episode, Colin’s got a really good eye for this and there is something to—we don’t really go into that, but there is something to be said of, you know, you need an eye for it.

R: Yeah, that’s true. We didn’t talk about the actual ability to say, “That is a good piece of art,” and be correct. Because a lot of the time, that’s not as much of the component of a good cover design as you might think it is.

K: Colin actually has given a few presentations at conferences about cover art and design and some, you know on the more artistic side, some on the more technical. So, Colin is an excellent resource for this, he’s fantastic to talk to, incredibly knowledgeable. I always describe him as frighteningly competent.

[R laughs]

K: But I say that about Rekka, too, so maybe I just—

R: Maybe you’re just frightened of competent people!

K: I was gonna say maybe I just surround myself more with people that I can trust to just get the job done.

R: It’s a good skill to have, is figuring out those people that you can surround yourself with. And that is one of the points of this one, is maybe you’re not the right person to art direct your cover.

K: I’m fairly competent in saying, “You are not the right person to direct your—”

R, worried: Wait, why are you making eye contact with me?

K: Because I love you.

R, weepy: I have four books that I’ve art directed covers of!

K, laughing: I know. No, most—Rekka’s right, in most cases you

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

We are SO excited about this week's episode!  We were luck enough to sit down with the incredible LD Lewis of FIYAH Literary Magazine - a quarterly speculative fiction magazine that features stories by and about the Black people of the African Diaspora.  L is, to say the least, a simply astounding and amazingly talented person who sat down with us to discuss the ins and outs of cover art, design, and direction for a magazine.  To call something like this challenging is an understatement; unlike a novel, a magazine cover has to appeal to the reader while somehow representing the multiple stories and author featured for that issue.  L gave us a look into her process and took the time to explain what she is looking for in a cover artist and how she strives to find the best work to represent what FIYAH is publishing.  FIYAH's covers are commissioned rather than licensed so each one is directed by L and completed by a different artist.  L even had some advice and suggestions for any aspiring artists out there, so be sure to listen to the end!

You can, (and should!) check out L online and follow her on the socials:

https://ldlewiswrites.com/

Twitter: @Ellethevillain

And be sure to check out FIYAH Magazine!

https://www.fiyahlitmag.com/

 

And while we touch on the first annual FIYAHCON (happening this October!), the team has since announced The IGNYTE Awards and are asking for donations to help support the event and the trophies, so toss them some cash to lift underrepresented voices!

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and the your favorite cover that FIYAH has released so far!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

 

Episode 41: These Covers Are On Fire!! Magazine Cover Art Direction with LD Lewis of FIYAH Literary Magaine!

 

[0:00]

 

K: Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Kaelyn Considine, I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.

 

R: And I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

 

K: And we had such a great time recording this episode. This was a real treat for us. We got to sit down with L. D. Lewis, who, I guess we can’t even call her, specifically, the art director of FIYAH Magazine because it is just one of many hats that she wears.

 

R: And she was part of the foundation of the magazine as well, so we can’t really just call her the art director. 

 

K: But for this episode, we got to sit down and talk with L about art direction for FIYAH Magazine  and for magazines and publications in general, which is one of the many things that she handles at FIYAH.

 

R: Yes, yes. So Kaelyn had proposed that we do an Artwork August and I made her promise that we weren’t going to do nine episodes in August.

 

K: It wasn’t going to be a repeat of Submissions September.

 

R: And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that FIYAH Magazine covers are just…

 

K: Beautiful!

 

R: Jaw-droppers.

 

K: Absolutely beautiful.

 

R: Every time. I love them. So, to talk to the person responsible for these—and I did expect that she was going to say that some of them are just licensed pieces of art that, you know, they pick ‘em out and license them because, knowing that it’s a staff of volunteers, I wasn’t sure if the budget was there

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of We Make Books - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

 

This week, Kaelyn gets Rekka to go on (at length) about the process of laying out a book for print and digital, once a manuscript has reached its ultimate form.

 

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor. Together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, and concerns!

 

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @bittybittyzap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 40: For That You Get the Print, the Digital, the Whole Damn Thing

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

 [0:00] R: Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between. And I am Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore. K: And I’m Kaelyn Considine, I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. And today we’ve got an interesting episode. Full disclosure: we debated whether or not we should do this one. We were a little worried that the subject material might be too dry— R: Yeah. K: But, that said, it’s, I think, an interesting part of publishing that’s frequently overlooked and that is actually assembling a book. And we don’t mean finish writing it, we mean, at some point, you’ve gotta put a book together. R: Right, and we don’t also mean physically gluing it to the binder, which is also fun. I’ve done that, too, but this is more the magical process that happens when you finish your copy edits final pass and the publisher says, “Okay, we’ll get you page proofs in a little while!” and what happens there. What’s going on in that moment, or those long moments if you’re just waiting. K: Yeah, if you wanna talk about one of the unsung heroes of the publishing world, it is certainly the designers who actually have to go through and make it so nobody realizes that they did any work on this. You don’t pick up a book and think about, “Hey, look at the nice order that the dedication and the table of contents and the acknowledgements and everything is in! Look at all the great work that was done with the typeface and setting and how all of this is really easy to read and I don’t even have to think about it.” And that’s the whole point. R: Yep. Really, the only part of the book you want to notice is the cover. The design of the interior, you definitely want to be perfect but completely unnoticeable. In a sense. K: Absolutely. R: It’s not disheartening for the designer to hear that. It’s literally the goal of the designer is to make the book an easy reading experience. And so if their work goes unnoticed and they get paid, so be it. K: Yeah, so it’s, like we said, we were worried that this might be a little dry. But as we got into it, we realized it’s really not. Actually, there’s a lot of really interesting steps that go into this and things that the average reader or potential author doesn’t know or think about. Anyway, as always, take a listen. We hope you enjoy and we’ll see you on the other side of the music. [intro music plays] K: Terrible. R: Yeah, I’ve been trying not to walk outside too often, lately. Which, you know, with nowhere to go, that works out really well. Except that my office is outside… but then I lost all my files so I didn’t even wanna go face my computer. So, again, stayed inside. K, sighing: It broke my heart. R: No, it broke mine, too. K: Are we recording already? R: Yeah, of course. K: Yeah, of course we are. Okay. [cheerfully] Hey, everyone! [R and K giggle] R: So I’m hoping that this conversation will be useful

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

 

This week we were lucky enough to sit down with Michael R. Underwood, author the upcoming novel "Annihilation Aria" from Parvus Press.  Full disclosure: Kaelyn was Mike's editor on the book and so we got have an extra in-depth and behind the scenes discussion about the craft of writing and how characters, plots, and worlds can change and adapt as the story is written.  Mike was a fountain of information and knowledge and we both left the conversation with some amazing insight into the process behind creating a book with such rich world building and dynamic characters.  We had a great time talking with Mike and hope that you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

 

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and if you've read Annihilation Aria, let us know what you think!

 

You can (and should) check out Mike on social media at:

 

Twitter: @MikeRUnderwood

Website: www.michaelrunderwood.com

 

Annhiliation Aria is available everywhere awesome books are sold on July 21, 2020!

 

www.books2read.com/annihilation-aria

 

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

 

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 39: Annihilation Aria with Michael R. Underwood

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

R: Welcome back to We Make Books, a podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between! I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

 

K: And I’m Kaelyn Considine, I’m the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. 

 

R: And today, we have to make another full disclosure-confession. We have another Parvus author on today. You recently heard us talk to Scott Warren of the Union Earth Privateers book—book series, I should say. And today we have another author of another amazing Parvus book, Michael R. Underwood of Annihilation Aria fame, or about to be fame. I hope it’s fame because this book deserves it.

 

K: Yeah, Annihilation Aria’s coming out a week from when this will be released, so this is July 14th, coming out July 21st. It’s a fantastic book, space opera. When I first got the manuscript and was kind of giving a it a rundown to my publisher and the other people on my team, I described it as the gender-swapped Mummy in space.

 

R: Yeah. With magic. Well, I guess The Mummy does have magic, too.

 

K: Yeah, yeah but with giant space turtles, and therefore better.

 

R: Yeah, yes.

 

K: So Mike was kind enough to take the time and sit and talk with us about the evolution of story writing and character development. This book had been something that he was working on for years. It, well, the core parts of it didn’t change too much. The book certainly underwent a lot of evolution over the years. And MIke is so smart, so talented, has a lot of really great insight and advice to offer when it comes to, you know, being about to take a look back at your own work and figuring out how it needs to change in order to serve the story. So, we had a great time talking with Mike. Hopefully you have a great time listening to him, and you should, you still have time right now to pre-order Annihilation Aria, book one of The Space Operas. Absolutely check it out. Not only because I’m the one that edited it, but because it is an excellent book.

 

R: I totally agree. I got the chance to read it when I was recovering in the hospital and it was a delight. It

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

This week we are talking pen names!  What is a pen name and why would you want to use one?  We know what you're thinking, practically every episode we've mentioned your website, your social media, your brand - wouldn't a pen name just make it harder to for people to find you and check out your work?  The truth is there are lots perfectly good reasons to want to use a pen name instead of your own and in this episode we get into those reason plus some of the fact and fiction of pen names (there is some really weird misinformation out there about what a pen name can do for a writer).  

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and the best pen name you've ever come up with!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 38: An Author Called By Any Other Name Will Still Write Amazing Things

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

R: Welcome back to We Make Books, a podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

 

K: And I’m Kaelyn Considine, I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press and—

 

R: But is that your real name?

 

K, sighing: Well, um. The acquisitions editor for Parvus Press is a suffix that I use to—

 

R< laughing: I was gonna say, don’t you get tired of saying the whole thing every time?

 

K: It is a bit of a mouthful. Sometimes I do just introduce myself as Kaelyn. So, yeah, we’re talking about pen names today in this episode. What are they? Why do people use them? Why are they beneficial? How do you pick one? All of these important aspects.

 

R: And what not to expect from your pen name.

 

K: Yeah, things that a pen name will not do for you. There’s some frightening stuff on the internet.

 

R: There’s some bad advice out there, did you know that?

 

K: Yeah, who woulda thought? Just because it’s on the internet, doesn’t mean it’s always true.

 

R: Yeah. Yeah, imagine that.

 

K: Pen names can be an important and valuable tool, so that’s what we spend some time talking about in this episode. You know, if you’re going to use one, getting the most bang for your buck, so to speak.

 

R: If you’re early enough in your career that you might wanna choose a pen name, I hope this is something that gives you stuff to think about. If you’re mid-career, you know, you might still decide that you’re gonna launch a new career in a different genre or something. But it’s also, you know, maybe it’ll help reinforce the decision you did make. So take a listen and enjoy!

 

K: Enjoy, everyone!

 

[intro music plays]

 

K: My bluejay nemesis.

 

R: Is back?

 

K: Well, here’s the thing, it turns out it was never gone! Because I found out that bluejays are actually excellent mimics, so—

 

R:Ohhh, yeah.

 

K: I saw it and it was like… it was very jarring because it was not making the normal bluejay noise. And I was like, “Oh my god!” And it… it can imitate other birds. I hate this thing so much! It’s… it’s terrible. I mean, thankfully it’s not sitting outside my window every morning screaming and waking me up like it has been in previous years. But I feel like it is tormenting me now. It is absolutely, now, pretending to be other birds.

 

R: Maybe that’s a courtesy to you. Like, it knows that you don’t like the jay. So you might better enjoy a ch

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

This week we have another vintage episode from Rekka's previous podcast, The Hybrid Author.  Rekka sat down with author Jennifer Mace to talk about how you deal with all of those loose ends and dangling plots while finishing your story and the answer is both straightforward and awesome: Murderboards.  We really don't want to give too much away here because this episode is just that awesome, so give it a listen and get ready to add a giant post-it covered bulletin board to your life!

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and a maybe a story about when you once had to take one of your darlings out behind the chemical shed. 

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

You can (and should) check out Macey on Twitter @englishmace and check out her Hugo-nominated podcast 'Be the Serpent'.

Episode 37: Jennifer Mace and Murderboards

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

K: Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing, publishing, and everything in between. My name’s Kaelyn Considine, I’m the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.

 

R: And I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore. 

 

K: So this is another throwback episode, a throwback to even before We Make Books. This is another—what do we call this? A relaunch? A re-release?

 

R: Yeah, we just wanna make sure this episode’s out there where people can access it because it comes up every now and again on Twitter, people asking a certain author how they go through the process of creating an outline for their novels. And the person that I interview in this episode, Jennifer Mace, who goes by Macey, always has this great process and, rather than force her to explain it over and over again, I wanted to make sure that, since the Hybrid Author episodes are no longer available, easily, to find that there was a way for people to get this information and so, I will continue to relaunch this interview no matter how many podcasts it takes.

 

K: So this is an episode, as Rekka said, sat down and talked with Jennifer Mace, goes by Macey, fantastic author, fantastic person. One of the cohost of the Be the Serpent podcast, the Hugo nominated Be the Serpent podcast—

 

R: Twice now!

 

K: Twice now!

 

R: Yes.

 

K: So, yeah, absolutely check that out. Fantastic show, fantastic people on it! But Macey has a really great and interesting take and perspective on how to plot and outline your book, and what you’re working on. It can be complicated. And it’s like, “Oh, I’ll just sit down and make an outline,” and then that even sounds easier than it actually turns out to be! 

 

R: So, in this interview, I was using this to create a new outline, but what Macey often does is use this to fix drafts that she’s already started. So she uses this to track the outline of what has been written in a draft, and then use it to find imbalances, visually, and then adjust. So she hadn’t usually used it to create a new outline, but that’s what I was using it for in this interview.

 

K: Yeah. So, anyway, great episode. A lot of good information, especially if you are struggling with the pacing or story issues or even some story development issues, I think, in this. Macey’s technique can certainly help you. So, anyway, take a listen and enjoy!

 

[

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

This week we have a very special guest!  We were lucky enough to be able to sit down with author Scott Warren.  Scott is the author of the Union Earth Privateer series and the third and final book of the trilogy is being released the same day as this episode!  Full disclosure: Scott was the first author ever signed by Parvus Press and so it was extra awesome to be able to talk to him ahead of the release of the last book in his trilogy.  Scott is an all-around amazing and fascinating guy, so we were thrilled to be able to get his perspective and thoughts on developing a story past your original plan, writing from your own experience, and wrapping up a trilogy.  We had a great time talking with him and hope you enjoy listening!

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and the best bit alien weaponry you've imagined, or maybe actually invented.  You can trust us!  This a secure line and we pinky-promise that the Roswell guys will never know!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 36: Every Rivet in the Alien Railgun - Military Science Fiction with Scott Warren

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

K: Hi everyone! Welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Kaelyn Considine, I’m the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.

 

R: And I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

 

K: And today’s a big day for Parvus.

 

R: Yes! We, full disclosure, we are being very self-serving today and loving every minute of it! And hopefully you’ll love it, too.

 

K: Today is the launch of Where Vultures Dare the third and final book in the Union Earth Privateers series and thus the first completed trilogy published by Parvus Press! Oh, also, Scott Warren had something to do with this, I guess.

 

R: I, well, he can talk later. It’s just us now. We can—

 

K: It’s just us now. So today we had Scott Warren, author of the Union Earth Privateers series sit down with us to talk about—I mean, we talked about everything in this interview!

 

R: Yeah.

 

K: We had a great time talking to Scott, covered a range of topics from writing techniques to crafting action scenes to where he came up with the idea for the UEP series. It’s a fantastic interview, Scott is always a delight to talk to.

 

R: Yeah, and as a reader I really enjoyed Vick’s Vultures and To Fall Among Vultures and I’m just about to dig in because, of course, I have the inside scoop. I got an advance copy of Where Vultures Dare. I, of course, picked it up because I was interested in a small press, to see what they were all about, and I really enjoyed the first book and the second one went a direction I did not see coming, so it’s really great that Parvus was there to allow Scott to take it in a direction that military sci-fi might have said, “Um, actually, if you’re gonna follow the conventions, maybe don’t do this thing?” And I’m really excited to see where book three is gonna go.

 

K: Scott was the first author ever signed by Parvus Press, so we are very excited about the success and progress of all of our authors, but this is our first completed trilogy and this is Scott’s first completed trilogy, as an author as well. So big day all around!

 

Anyway, we had a great time tal

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

Can you believe that it’s already been a year since we dropped our first episode, because we sure can’t!  A whole trip around the Sun and what a long, strange trip it’s been.  There’s nothing quite like an anniversary to make you look back on what you’ve done and think about what you maybe could have done differently so in this episode, we decided to talk about retrospection and reevaluation.  Taking a step back to reassess your work is a really, really hard thing to do.  It requires you to put aside strong feelings and possibly favoritism that you might not realize you have toward parts of your writing.  But here’s the thing: sometimes those parts are important to you, aren’t important to the story and maybe even aren’t good for it.  It’s not always fun, and it’s certainly not easy, but reevaluating what you’ve written is a crucial part of the process and the best way to stomp out those pesky Giant Mechanical Spiders (listen to the episode and we promise that will make sense).

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and a comprehensive description the largest mechanical spider you encountered and a detailed description of how you vanquished it.

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 35: Reevaluation Anniversary Episode

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

R: Welcome back to another episode of the We Make Books a podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.

 

K: And I’m Kaelyn Considine, I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press!

 

R: And—

 

K: This is a big deal! This episode.

 

R: Kaelyn, it’s our anniversary!

 

K: What did you get me?

 

R: Beer. You’re drinking it.

 

K: Yeah, no that’s—Great. Yes, I am drinking a beer. Um, technically it’s the paper episode—technically it’s the paper anniversary.

 

R: So the label on your beer.

 

K: Oh, okay. That works. I was—

 

R: Which, actually, I did not buy you. I lied. I’m sorry. I bought you the socks you’re wearing, though.

 

K: That’s a good point, yeah.

 

R: On our anniversary episode we are wearing matching socks!

 

K: Yes! I was gonna get you a book for the anniversary.

 

R, touched: Were you really?

 

K: Paper anniversary. You know, that sounds like a good one. There may or may not be something in the mail for you. Right now.

 

R: Which book?

 

K: I can’t tell you, it’d ruin the surprise and surprise is, of course, that keeps our relationship alive.

 

[both laugh]

 

R: I thought it was the mechanical spiders that kept our relationship alive.

 

K: Okay, first of all! You know how I feel about the mechanical spiders!

 

R: And everyone else is about to.

 

 K: And everyone else is about to, so I apologize in advance. Yeah, so it’s been a year! That’s crazy.

 

R: Um. I like it.

 

K: I like it, too! Just think about a year ago, I came up to visit you for the first time. I met your various animals, there were other animals—

 

R: —and family members, yep.

 

K: Family members! There were other animals out in the pond.

 

R: Did we barbecue the very first time? I feel like maybe not the first time.

 

K: We didn’t go to barbecue, but we cooked out the first time.

 

R: Oh, okay.

 

K: Yeah. We—So, yeah, it’s been a year!

 

R: Yeah. And we’re still here—

 

K: Still here!

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between!

This week we have something a little different lined up.  As Rekka is recovering, we wanted to give her a break wherever possible and so for this episode, we are happy to bring you an episode of Rekka's previous podcast: The Hybrid Author.  In this episode, Rekka interviews Alexandra Rowland, author of "A Conspiracy of Truths" and one of the hosts of the Hugo-nominated podcast 'Be the Serpent'.  Alex and Rekka spend this episode talking romance and all of the ways to incorporate it into your story.  It can be an awkward part of the writing process but it doesn't have to be!  Alex has a lot of advice and insight into the process of making your characters kiss and they won't even make you blush while telling you how! 

You can (and should) check out Alex on their social media, which is linked below.

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, concerns, and the most uncomfortable "romantic" exchange you were forced to enure in a book or movie.  Don't hold back, bring the cringe!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Find Alex at:

https://www.alexandrarowland.net

Twitter: @_alexrowland

Instagram: @ _alexrowland

https://www.patreon.com/_alexrowland

 

 

Episode 34: Making Characters Kiss with Alexandra Rowland

transcribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)

 

[0:00]

 

K: Hey everyone! Welcome to another episode of the We Make Books podcast, a show about writing, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Kaelyn Considine and I’m the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. 

 

R: And I’m Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore. 

 

K: And, uh, this episode is a throwback. It’s a throwback so far that it predates our podcast!

 

R: Yes! [laughs] Many of you may know that I previously hosted, or co-hosted and then solo-hosted, a podcast called Hybrid Author. I lost my co-host and it wasn’t really fun doing it by myself, so when Kaelyn made herself available to become a co-host on an entirely new podcast, I was all too eager to jump ship. But there were some good tidbits on that podcast, including a couple of interviews that, now that we’ve needed to come up with some additional back-up episodes, for whatever’s going on in my health and treatment and everything like that—

 

K: Rekka’s recovering and just to make sure that everyone’s healthy and—

 

R: That we have options, you know.

 

K: —not straining themselves, we thought this would be a great episode to put out there. So Alex Rowland is a published author of two books, right now, called A Conspiracy of Truths and A Choir of Lies, and they came on this podcast to discuss writing romance with Rekka.

 

R: Yes! Well, not this podcast, as we’ve already mentioned.

 

K: Oh, yeah. Sorry.

 

R: But, yes, Conspiracy of Truths was out when Alex recorded this. This was actually recorded on February 5th, 2019. So that’s where this falls in the whole realm of time. And A Choir of Lies, as I was speaking to Alex, had just had its cover reveal that morning on Barnes and Noble’s website. So that’s where we were in time, was February 5th, 2019. But it was a good conversation with Alex. One of the things I realized is that we call this a podcast about writing and publishing and everything in between, but we don’t actually talk too much about different genre topics or writing techniques and so I ha

Hey kids! Are you ready to sell out to make cash fast?! 

In today's episode of We Make Books, we discuss what artistic integrity is, how to tell if you've blown yours to smithereens, and why it's 100% okay and good to make a living from your art.

We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves.

We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Hit us up on our social media, linked below, and send us your questions, comments, and concerns.

Stay safe everyone!

We hope you enjoy We Make Books!

Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap

Instagram: @WMBCast 

Patreon.com/WMBCast

 

Episode 33: Artistic Integrity and Suffering For Your Arttranscribed by Sara Rose (@saraeleanorrose)[0:00]K: Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of We Make Books, a show about writing, publishing, and everything in between! I’m Kaelyn Considine and I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press.R: And I’m Rekka, I write science fiction and fantasy as R.J. Theodore.K: And, Rekka, as a writer—R: Which I am! Totally.K: Which you are, yeah, of course you are. You probably have a lot of opinions about what people tell you— R: Everything.K: Well, yeah, a lot of things in general. But, specifically, about other people’s opinions and them giving you suggestions and guidance and thoughts about what you should do, not only with your writing, but your life and how to support your continued writing, in your life.R, unenthused: Yeah. Yeah, they do that. So, you’re gonna intermix with a lot of people’s opinions over the course of your writing career. Especially as you let other people read your work. K: So today we’re talking about artistic integrity.R: Right. When people tell you to change stuff, where do you plant your feet?K: Not only people telling you to change stuff, however, also what you’re doing with your life in the meantime to support your art.R: Mhm.K: We were thinking about this episode and thinking about this idea of what does it truly mean to be a writer?R: Mhm.K: And we start far clear of that definition—Or, we really steer clear of that conversation because I, personally, am of the opinion that if you are trying to write something professionally, that makes you a writer.R: Correct. I also agree with you.K: Yes, so now that we’ve got that established.R: If you’re listening to this podcast and then, when it’s done, you go and you try to work on your writing, you are a writer.K: You are a writer. Congratulations.R: If you just listen to this podcast and you think about writing and you never go write. Uh, we might have to debate that one.K: You’re a… future writer.R: Yes, hopefully. Hopefully an aspiring writer.K: Yes, there you go.R: To be a writer without a modifier, is to write.K: There ya go. But there’s also a lot of conversation around, like, well if you’re doing this then you’re not serious about your writing career. If you’re, you know, not focused 100% on only writing, then how could you be serious about your writing career?R: Which is funny, you know, because it just occurred to me—we don’t cover this in the episode—but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a family gathering, speaking of opinions, where they find out I’m a writer and they say, “Oh you should write _____.” Children’s book. A Gone Girl. You know, whatever’s hot at the moment. Their opinion is you’ve gotta write the most commercial thing that I’ve actually heard of right now.K: Yeah, yeah. So there’s—You’re gonna run up against a lot of this stuff in your career, as you interact with people. So we, in this episode, talk first about this notion of if you’re not suffering, you’re not writing. Which is silly.R, sarcastically: If you’re not