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Today the dudes chat about “compromise,” or how to spend less to get a “minimum viable product,” or MVP. They talk a lot about cover design, and how to make a book cover that works well enough to at least get some attention.

Today is a special day – the guys are live at the North East Texas Writer’s Organization conference, doing a live podcast. That’s right – they’ve got a table set up in the front of the meeting hall, and they discuss some of the reasons for podcasting as a marketing tool. This episode is great […]

The guys discuss the deceptively difficult genre for writers: the elusive short story. From Arthur C. Clarke to Philip K. Dick, and a few other notable short story penners in-between, they discuss how they’re using them to build their platforms, how to approach them as a writing tool, and how to write them. Wikipedia’s word […]

Today the goodly gents discuss genres with C.S. Lakin. She’s a hugely successful author in different genres, both fiction and nonfiction, and she has some amazing insights into the all-too-important task of choosing a great genre for your books. She has two courses up as well that I (Nick) highly recommend. One is free, one […]

The dudes answer a couple listener questions about launching two books at the same time, building a “funnel” and setting up book giveaways, and other on-topic (really!) stuff. Tune in to see how the guys respond to some great – and tough – questions! How to launch more than one book (as in, you have […]

Subtitle: Being Awesome, Successes, and Celebration Rituals. Today the dudes talk about how they maintain positivity and celebrate their wins. There are plenty of ways to “celebrate” little victories (and big ones), and the guys chat about their weird and not-so-weird ways of doing just that. Before they jump into things, they discuss (yet again) […]

…Or at least according to the guys. In this episode, the dudes chat about the most inspiring presentations, talks, books, movies, podcasts, etc. they’ve ever encountered and had the pleasure to consume. Also Nick got a van. Mentions: Tony Robbins – Unlimited Power Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Speech J.K. Rowling’s interview with Oprah Veteran’s Writing Project Austin Film […]

Today the goodly gents discuss trilogy and serial promotion and marketing, reviews for trilogies, and what defines a “trilogy.” Also, the boys discuss Kevin’s recent experience with theft and plagiarism – he had his book stolen and reposted under a different Amazon account. Kevin tells the horror story and what he did to resolve it. […]

Today the guys discuss the rules of improve, as they apply to writers. Comedy improvisation rules are things like, “never say ‘no,'” “yes/and,” etc. But while these “rules” are helpful and can lead to really funny improvised comedy, it can also be a detriment to your story arcs. Which rules are meant to be broken? Which are […]

Rachel Starr Thomson doesn’t just have a cool name. She’s a veritable writing rockstar (a “wrockstar”). She’s been on the show before, but we caught up with her today to discuss a HUGE topic we’ve been pondering for quite some time: writing Christian fiction. Specifically, we talked about: What is Christian fiction? Why write it? How […]

We had some podcast issues last month, so some of the later episodes appeared out of order. Not to worry though, this is the long-awaited, critically-acclaimed, and highly anticipated “goals and dreams” episode we publish every year. It’s a look back at 2015, a look ahead at 2016, and a discussion of our dreams, goals, […]

Today’s episode is a fun look at some of the ways we’re trying to get more out of our schedules, writing plans, and tackling multiple projects at once. We dive into napping, multitasking, and much more! Seth Wilks writes in: “Would it be better to release stories as they come out, doing the full edit […]

Happy New Year! Today on the show, the guys invite special guest and friend Bryan Cohen, who wants to teach authors how to write book descriptions that don’t suck. Not much else to say about this episode, except… …LISTEN TO IT!

Happy Christmastime Veteran’s Day podcast! (It’s Veteran’s Day-ish when this was recorded, but Christmas-ish when it’s going live) We answer a voicemail about building a website, then jump into the topic: “overcommitting.” Basically, “overcommitting” is committing to too much at one time. How do you know you’re overcommitted? Can you effectively diagnose overcommitment?  Justin: “When […]

Today, Kevin, Nick, and Justin chat with VERY prolific writer-friend Rachel Starr Thomson, who writes on a Neo. She’s the co-author of Five Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing, a book that tackles writing fiction from the perspective of editors. Here’s a brief overview: What sets this book apart from all other writing craft […]

Writing is hard. Writing well is near impossible for most of us. Today on the show, Nick Thacker, Kevin Tumlinson, and Justin Sloan discuss what it’s like, in their own experience, to write in a “cinematic” way. Tips, tricks, and answer galore in this show! Don’t miss it! And, of course, don’t forget to rate us […]

Today the guys talk with a guy who’s been on a “nuculur” submarine… and a writer. David Bruns has been writing full-time for 2 years. Some books he’s written/been a part of: Dream Guild Chronicles Weapons of Mass Deception The Yesterday Adjustment The Seal Bearer “Rules and limitations set on you by the author’s world is […]

In this episode, the guys (Justin Sloan, Kevin Tumlinson, and Nick Thacker) take some time to update the world (or whoever’s listening) on their world. Kevin’s selling his house (finally), Justin’s finishing up an exciting book and jumping into more projects, and Nick’s dealing with how to build more margin into his life. For the […]

We talk about an important issue today: when do you start getting “serious” about writing (seeing it like a business)? More specifically, when you start paying real money for “author services” like publishing help, cover design, etc.? The bottom line for us? It seems like everything you do costs time, energy, or money (or some combination […]

Only have one book? Mark’s advice: write the second book. No matter what. Want more advice? Read on, and listen in to this week’s show: We chat with Mark Dawson, of Self Publishing Formula course fame (and a damn fine author, to boot!), about Facebook (and other) advertising. One of the things that (naturally) came […]