Writers Authors On Fire podcast

Ben Wolf is the founder and editor-in-chief of Splickety Publishing Group, which publishes three flash fiction magazines. Here's the link to the Show Notes Page for Ben Wolf's interview with highlights, links, and social media connections.

Ben’s an author of speculative fiction and a children’s book. Ben starts by defining flash fiction, which he says is a different term for short story. Splickety uses flash fiction that is 1000 words or less with a beginning, middle, and an end - with some sort of conflict going on. Ben shares his struggle with three obstacles: time, money and understanding the craft. His first published novel was a unique story about a vampire that gets saved and he talks about the challenge and value of the book. He helps us understand who can write flash fiction, and shares tip on how to try your ideas, write the story, and edit it to hold the finished story to 1000 words. We talk about the difference between short stories and flash fiction, and how writing flash fiction is a good starting point for writers to build a writing foundation. Ben candidly shares that if he were to go back in time, he would have written flash fiction and short stories to build writing credits and generate some freelance writing revenue. He shares an insightful insight into the challenges of writing that most writers and authors can identify with. He says the best advice he received was to study the craft, adding that if he had he could be five years ahead of where he is now. He’s direct with his advice for struggling writers - get your butt in the chair and write.

Crystal Bowman was an early childhood educator who has written or coauthored over 100 children’s books, won awards, and sold millions of books. Here's Crystal Bowman's Show Note page with highlights, tips, and links to her books and websites.

Crystal has fun writing mostly for preschool but has done books for early readers, and devotionals for older children. Her start came when she wrote lyrics for children’s piano music after which she wrote humorous poems for children. In this in-depth interview, Crystal provides insights into the challenges of writing to this audience. She shares about word counts per line and lines per page, the number of characters per line, spacing and punctuation, and the importance of following the publisher’s guidelines. We learn tips about getting published, fine-tuning your manuscripts, how to tell if your idea is worth doing, and more. There’s excellent information on the value of attending writers conferences. We talk about, after repeated rejections, when to consider publishing on your own. Crystal shares a wealth of information about all aspects of writing for children. 

Wayne Kurtz has tagged himself as the Chief Goals Officer. He’s an ultra-distance triathlete who loves challenges and has turned his experiences into books. Here's the link to Wayne's Show Notes Page to show highlights, and links to his books, websites and social media connection.   Wayne understands writing, publishing, and the importance as a writer of establishing goals. Wayne learned to set goals in the first grade. He talks about taking what he calls, risk-failures, either in sports or in business as a personal challenge.An Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.6 mile marathon. Wayne describes what triathlons and Ironman races are, and the double, triple, quintuple, and deca (10 times) races. Wayne has done even done a triple deca - 30 Ironman distances in 30 days! His focus comes out in this interview and it’s easy to see how he applies his goal setting, discipline, and focus to his writing. His first book came out of his journals of his training methods as others asked him for help. He walks us through writing his books and the importance of goals for every writer.   Wayne's goal for 2016 is the Trans Am Bike Race, a self supported bike race across the U.S - about 4400 miles. Then he’ll write a book about the race and go back to the memorable towns and do talks at schools to promote literacy. 

Penny Sansevieri has been helping authors market their books for over 16 years through her company Author Marketing Experts. Here's the link to the Show Notes page for Penny's interview with highlights and links to her websites, books, social media links, and more.

Penny reminds us that book marketing is vastly different because of it’s nature - close to 4500 books are published every day in the U.S. So how are you going to stand out? She stresses that two of the biggest changes in the 16 years she’s done book marketing is the acceptance of self-published books and the rise of ebooks. She explains the difference between book marketing and book publicity. Her new 4th edition of Red Hot Internet Publicity gives readers a game plan for their book. Its sections cover social media, websites, and traffic - three core parts of a marketing strategy - and two bonuses. She shares her tips to get started with publicity as an author, and tips on how to find and work with a publicist, talking about everything from personal chemistry to budgets to a realistic marketing plan. We talk about super fans, an important part of your book marketing plan; her favorite ways to market her books, how you should write the marketing section of your book proposal, and much more. There’s a wealth of information in this interview with Penny.

Ray stresses that in order to sell your products and services online, you must be able to write persuasive web copy. Here's the link to the Ray Edwards Show Notes page for show highlights, links to Ray's books, his website, podcast, and social medial connections. In this interview, Ray shares great effective tips for writers in all genres, why all writers must understand and use copywriting techniques, his writing process, and more.

Ray's new book How to Write Copy That Sells provides a step-by-step, fill-in-the-blanks system for writing persuasive copy for websites, sales and promotions. Ray’s sales copy is amazingly effective – having sold an estimated $200 million in products and services over the last 5 years. Now he shows you how, step-by-step, you can use the same methods he does. 

As a young boy, Ray Edwards was fascinated by the topics in newspapers like the National Enquirer, that he later found out were direct response copy ads. When he got into radio, he started writing ads for the station’s clients. (Direct response ads call for someone to do something right now - call a number or clip a coupon.) 

Ray is a Communications Strategist, Copywriter, Author, Speaker, and host of one the top iTunes Business Podcasts. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, and with some of the most powerful voices in leadership and business. His clients include New York Times best-selling authors Michael Hyatt (author of Platform and co-author of Living Forward), Tony Robbins (author of Unleash the Giant Within and Money: Master the Game), Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (co-authors of Chicken Soup For the Soul), Jeff Walker (author of Launch), and many more. Ray’s copy and marketing expertise has helped sell an estimated $200 Million or more in products and services. Ray is the founder of Ray Edwards International, Incorporated, which offers: Copywriting, Consulting and Coaching, Product Launch Management, and Training and Instruction.

Alisa Hope Wagner is not your ordinary author. How many authors do you know that have been an MMA cage fighter? Here's the link to Alisa Hope Wagner's Show Notes page.

She has written nonfiction and fiction, has books in two different series and stand alone titles. Her writing reflects her passion for fitness and faith, and bodybuilding, which led to a transformation from a Christian writer to fight in a mixed martial arts (MMA) cage for national television. Her driving passion is the imagination God gave her to create beauty for Him. As a junior in college she felt the call to write. After earning her Masters in English she taught in high school and junior college. She has several websites, including Granola Bar Devotional, which includes 366 devotionals and a Devo Workshop to teach people how to write devotionals. Alisa candidly talks about her MMA fight, the hardest thing she has done, and how that experience grew her faith. She holds certifications as a Certified Fitness Trainer and a Specialist in Fitness Nutrition, and both have helped in her writing. Her journey to become published was filled with closed doors and it took seven years from writing her first book to seeing it published. In an eye-opening statement Alisa shares how her early writing was bad - but it have her a starting point to improve to where she is today - good advice for writers of all levels. Alisa takes us through her writing processes and how she accomplishes so much - with everything else in her life competing for time. 

Terri Schneider is an author who loves nature and adventure. Here's the link to Terri's Show Notes page with episode highlights and links to Terri's books, website, and social media.

Terri's an ultra-endrance athlete who started in triathlons and moved into mostly Ironman triathlon races as a professional athlete. Later she moved into the difficult multi-discipline sport of adventure racing, then ultrarunning and multi-day ultra races, and mountaineering. After writing two books about triathlons, she wrote Dirty Inspirations. Her goal in the book is to take readers inside her head in many of the extreme races she completed. Each chapter also looks at what it means to be human while doing the race - the gripping fears and struggles - and how much more we can learn about ourselves as we push our limits. What inspires her is when people tell her how hearing her stories have helped them try new things. She talks about how defining moments in life shape us. Terri talks about the struggles of writing Dirty Inspirations, where each chapter is a new story of adventure and stands alone from the other chapters. She shares that writers basically are sitting in a cave, writing, not knowing it it’s any good until your editor or others see it and provide support and feedback. We learn about Terri’s challenges, motivation, and how ultra-endurance sports have helped her as a writer. This is an interview with a different perspective on writing and a book that you’ll want to get for the adventurous person in your life.

James L Rubart writes contemporary fiction where fantastical things happen - novels that will challenge and inspire you to freedom. Here's the link to the Show Notes Page for James L Rubart.

You will be amazed by James’ story of how his wife's fasting determined he was to write - to be a novelist - even though he had very little experience. He learned the craft by reading books and by trial and error. After a six-year process, his first book, Rooms, was done, at 148,000 words! You’ll cringe at his story of hearing from one editor and the editor’s in-your-face reaction, and how this affected his writing. His next step was going to the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference and then to a writing clinic by Cecil Murphey - both instrumental in his writing journey. An agent followed and Rooms became a best-seller. His admission on why he writes what he does is good advice for any writer. He encourages aspiring writers to ask the "What if?” sentence as they develop their writing ideas and shares why that simple question is important. James takes us through the process of developing the ideas for his books, how he makes the ideas unique, and why he wrote them. You’ll smile as he describes why his writing process is like having ADD. He talks about how he builds characters in his novels and how writing is not hard but is exhausting. Hearing James talk about his passion for why he writes will encourage you to define your personal passion statement. He shares the what if statement for his next book - and it’s not your standard book. James writes unique and challenging books that make people think. He takes his writing to the next level by attending conferences, developing friendships with other writers, and continuing to read books on the craft. James shares great advice in this interview; his challenge of just getting in the chair to write, not to compare yourself to others, and his definition of success. 

Jennifer Slattery writes missional fiction and missional romance - gospel centered and mission or outreach focused. Here's the link to the Show Notes for Jennifer's interview.

Jennifer's tagline is "broken lives saturated by grace." Her ah-ha moment when she knew writing was for her came while she was running. Then the more she wrote the more she discovered she loved it. She got her break in writing fiction in an unusual way - by entering writing contests - and doing well. Her journey to become published is strong and offers hope to struggling writers. Jennifer stresses the importance of remaining true to your brand and true to what God has called you to be. She walks listeners through the process of writing Intertwined, a novel about organ donation, a tough subject, and the extensive amount of research it took. In the interview she spends quite a bit of time talking about creating believable characters. Her characters are developed with help from her critique partners - often as many as nine people giving feedback. She confesses to reading her reviews to learn what she can work on for future projects. Jennifer's explanation, for struggling writers, of the investment it takes to become successful is a reminder all writers need to hear again and again. She provides an interesting perspective on choosing to self-publish.

In this powerful interview, Paula Wallace shares stories of overcoming trauma and abuse. Here is the link to Paula's Show Notes page of her interview about Bloom in the Dark.

Paula was born to missionary parents in Peru. Raped at the age of five, Paula was caught in a cycle of damage and abuse, which lasted into her thirties. From sexual abuse to later mental, emotional and even spiritual abuse, Paula developed a victim mentality, which fueled decades of continued abuse. As a high school senior, she took a creative writing class in college and received an A in the class. Shortly after, she received an extreme critique, which caused her to stop writing for 25 years - believing she didn't have any writing talent. Paula wrote Bloom in the Dark by interviewing women who had suffered some kind of trauma or abuse. Then she turned the interviews into stories, poems, and letters of brokenness - about how those women had found hope and life and a new start. It's the story of the trauma and abuse in her life too. The book's theme is hope and redemption. Paula does a great job of sharing how difficult it was a to write and compile the book. She candidly says she wanted to quit even as she got stated writing. Sharing the stories beaks the bond of isolation and starts the healing process, breaking through the shame and guilt that accompanies the trauma and abuse. Paula talks about the writing process as she wrote the women's stories and often went into the dark places of their stories. Her advice for struggling writers shows the determination she gave to her writing - and it can help you too. Paula's goal was to let broken women know that they are not alone and that there is hope. She nailed it. Her book is beautiful.