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The Author Inside You

141 Episodes

29 minutes | Feb 28, 2022
Searching For a Publisher & a Publicist
Author, Shawn Singleton, joins us on this episode of The Author Inside You podcast, where we converse about the key traits of a publicist. Additionally, we discuss how Shawn found the ideal publisher for his first book.   
39 minutes | Dec 15, 2021
Who Is Your Audience and Who Should You Trust?
Whether you are writing a query letter or a best-selling novel, our guest on this episode of The Author Inside You stresses that it is vital for you to know your audience. Author Nicola Kraus, writer of the immensely popular Nanny Diaries, shares with us helpful tips for writing query letters. Plus she shares some great behind-the-scenes of the making of the movie based on her bestseller. Nicola also explains why so many writers fail to trust. Trust who? Listen to this episode to find out, you just might be surprised at the answer! TheNannyDiaries.com TheFinishedThought.com e-AudioProductions.com Have an idea, comment, or feedback on the podcast? Give Matt and Leah a call at 475-4PODCAST (475-476-3227)
34 minutes | Nov 11, 2021
Fun Times At Barnes and Noble
Author Silvia Davis wrote a humorous memoir about her life growing up in a large family. As part of the promotional campaign for her book, Silvia contacted her local Barnes and Noble and was given the opportunity for an in-store book signing. With the help of Facebook Live and her outgoing personality, Silvia was able to sell out the Barnes and Noble supply of her books - and more! Check out this episode of The Author Inside You to hear all of the details of Silvia's fun times at B & N. For more information about Silvia: LivingaParable.com Leave feedback for The Author Inside You at 475-4PODCAST
33 minutes | Oct 28, 2021
Giving The Publisher Your Best Shot!
Before you submit your manuscript or a sample of your writing to a publisher, it is essential that you do your homework. On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast we discuss the publishing business with Reagan Rothe, the creator and owner of Black Rose Writing, an independent book publisher based in Texas. Reagan shares some great tips on what you can expect from independent publishing houses and what they expect from you.   BlackRoseWriting.com Contact Reagan: creator@BlackRoseWriting.com Free Book:  TheAuthorInsideYou.com/freebook
27 minutes | Oct 21, 2021
Character Development Tips
On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast we discuss character development with published author Mary Ellen Bramwell. We touch on character growth, consistency, and sequels with returning characters. Mary Ellen also shares a funny story about nearly being rejected by her publisher. MaryEllenBramwell.com BlackRoseWriting.com e-audioproductions.com
28 minutes | Sep 25, 2021
Teaming Up To Get Published
When business slowed down during the pandemic, David Meyer stepped it up by writing a book. In order to share the stories of his clients he utilized his knowledge, and that of his team, to teach readers how to protect their retirement savings. In this episode of The Author Inside You podcast we hear how teamwork was used to write and publish David's book - The Investor Protector. Learn more about Scribe Media InvestorClaims.com BrokerCheck.org TheAuthorInsideYou.com/publish
28 minutes | Sep 12, 2021
Second Look
Does your manuscript need a second look? Jyotsna Sreenivasan has written several published books and reminds us on this episode of The Author Inside You, that it’s important to have a support group. Friends, other authors, or a writer’s group who can give you honest feedback on your manuscript are vital before submitting your book to a literary agent or publisher. Do you have a support group? Check out this episode as Jyotsna gives us some useful tips on finding feedback. These Americans available at bookshop.org SecondGenStories.com Need help ghostwriting or promoting your book? Visit our friends at Scribe Media (affiliate link)
19 minutes | Jun 28, 2021
Landing In A Bookstore
Have you ever wondered about the best way to get your book onto the shelves of a bookstore? On this episode of The Author Inside You we interview Kate Schlademan, the owner of the Learned Owl bookstore, an independent business located in our hometown. If your goal is to have your book in a bookstore, then this episode is for you! We discuss the best way to approach a bookstore to land your book on the shelves, best practices for book signings, and the importance of your book spine design.  Kate's bookstore: LearnedOwl.com Special thanks to PodPoluli for letting us use their studios to record this interview. If you are able, please donate to Hudson Special Olympics.
28 minutes | May 6, 2021
4 Ways To Find A Book Agent
It's not uncommon for writers to dream about having their own agent help sell their manuscript to a big publishing house. What is the best way to find an agent for your book? On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast, we interview literary agent Lucinda Halpern who shares great advice on how to find a book agent and what you can expect them to do for you. Ready to get your book noticed? Get Lucinda's essential guide for writers: The 6 Things Every Book Pitch Needs – Click here to receive your guide: www.lucindaliterary.com/subscribe Twitter: @LucindaBluFacebook: @LucindaLiterary  Instagram: @lucindaliteraryLinkedIn: @LucindaHalpern   -transcription- Announcer: [00:00:04] You're listening to the author Inside You podcast, a weekly podcast designed to motivate you to finish writing a book. Choose a publisher and build an audience. Keep listening if you're looking to get propelled into the next chapter of your life. And now it's the author Inside You podcast.   Matt Rafferty: [00:00:23] Hello, I'm Matt Rafferty.   Leah Rafferty: [00:00:24] And I'm Leah Rafferty.   Matt Rafferty: [00:00:25] A special thanks to you for listening to our podcast and helping us spread the word. It's working. And more and more people are listening to the author inside you.   Leah Rafferty: [00:00:34] And also, thank you to our listeners, Neil Heslin and David, who specifically asked if we could do a few interviews with people who work in the book publishing business, such as agents, bookstore owners and independent publishers.   Matt Rafferty: [00:00:49] Well, this episode begins our mini series Inside the Book Industry today. Our guest is Lucinda Halpern, president of Lucinda Literary, a consulting agency dedicated to representing and publicizing authors with specific expertise in new media. Welcome, Lucinda. Thanks for joining us today.   Lucinda Halpern: [00:01:09] Thank you. Happy to be here.   Leah Rafferty: [00:01:11] Well, Lucinda, I see that you worked for HarperCollins in Scholastic magazines. How did these experiences lead you to become an entrepreneur?   Lucinda Halpern: [00:01:20] So I'd always been interested in working with authors and working on books like so many people who enter publishing. I was an aspiring author and creative writer and I had to get my foot in the door somehow. Right. It's a it's a small world in inner circle. And so I took the job that was offered to me, which was a publicity assistant at HarperCollins, and I parlayed that when I left into a marketing role at Scholastic. And in those days, which was now about 15 years ago, online, was really just sort of burgeoning for authors. So online marketing newsletters, websites, the blogosphere, the Twitter sphere. And so I had to just jump in and learn very   Leah Rafferty: [00:02:10] Quickly an exciting time, I would think I   Lucinda Halpern: [00:02:12] Was. It was an exciting time. And then I thought, how can I marry these new skills with my deep passion of nurturing the careers of authors and being editorially involved from the ground floor up. So I thought there has to be a job that does this right. And there was it was it was becoming a literary agent. The problem was I had no list. I had no revenue to guarantee any New York literary agency. So I knocked on every door and I found the person who would take me on as sort of an unknown and give me a letterhead and give me a desk and let me make phone calls and use the agency name. And I am forever indebted to my boss who allowed me to do that. And through working at that agency, I worked with Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project and a number of other of their marquee authors. And I started I started my agency when I was twenty seven years old. Wow, that's really cool. Yeah, it's been a wonderful experience where, you know, we're now in our 11th year and we've been innovating all along the way, trying to service our authors and, you know, in the best way possible. So it's been it's been a really rewarding experience.   Leah Rafferty: [00:03:27] Well, congratulations. First, I just having a business and having it succeed for 11 years is wonderful. And then also as a woman, that's just wonderful. So thank you. Very good to hear.   Matt Rafferty: [00:03:41] Well, I think the big question that our fan base is probably wondering is how do I get connected to an agent?   Lucinda Halpern: [00:03:48] So, you know, as I said, it is it's a tightly knit world and it does often take an insider connection. So what I always recommend is find the person you know who is a published author. And it doesn't matter if you are writing fiction and the person you know has published a memoir, can you get any connection to a publishing insider or agent or editor and have that person give you something of a plan? So I'm more personally a fan of that networking than I am going to the Internet and sort of Googling how to get an agent and looking at all kinds of resources that exist often with confusing, conflicting wisdom. So, you know, that's that's always the first way to go. But if you don't have access to that network or great idea whether you're a fiction or non-fiction writer is to establish any kind of audience online. And that could be from a social media audience to writing an article that gets picked up and, you know, in Forbes or in Refinery or Huffington Post or, you know, like Pie in the Sky. New York Times. Because agents and publishers are looking at the media constantly and we're looking for new voices and we're looking for exciting stories and we're looking for a fresh point of view. And so if your story gets traction in the media, you've now elevated your chances of getting published. So, you know, those are a couple of ways. Of course, there used to be in person conferences to attend, and I think those will start up again soon. So there are a number of ways, but I'd say I'd almost try those three before going about blind queering agents that you find on query tracker, dot net, you know.   Matt Rafferty: [00:05:43] So I think those are three good things. Go out in and find somebody who's done it before and then try to get some traction online and go to in-person events. I think those are all great ideas.   Lucinda Halpern: [00:05:55] And I'll give a fourth resource, which is Publishers Marketplace is the industry database. So we all use that to find it offers direct contacts to emails that you might be interested in connecting with, to editors, to publishers, scouts. And, you know, it's a paid subscription, but it's a nominal fee. It gives you a free daily newsletter that you can you can see what is selling in the marketplace. You can write that agent that day and say, I saw you sold X, Y, Z, and I'm actually writing a novel that reminds me a lot of, you know, of something on your list that I've read. So you can you can make those more personal, tailored introductions that can go such a long way in.   Leah Rafferty: [00:06:36] The agents will respond back.   Lucinda Halpern: [00:06:38] Well, you know, you're talking to a different kind of agent, right? I literally we pride ourselves on being responsive and, you know, sort of guiding writers through this process. And we've developed a whole sort of coaching and course offering around that. So it isn't you know, it isn't every agent that's going to respond. But having a number of agent friends, I can tell you that when they get the letter that says, you know, dear David, I saw that you represent Peter Sellers, the dog stars. And this book changed my life. And so I'm reaching out to you because, you know, that agent will read will read the query letter. It will get to that person and it will be meaningful. And, you know, it just enhances your opportunities for response and success.   Matt Rafferty: [00:07:27] Well, speaking of query letters, like what what sort of mistakes do people do when they write a query letter?   Lucinda Halpern: [00:07:33] So I'm smiling because this is one of my favorite questions. And and again, because I think there is so much bad wisdom out there. And so, you know, so we we have a few sort of myth busting insights to give on this topic. And one is that we care who you are. We care who you are as an author. So don't start with, you know, dear so-and-so. My book is it's like I want to know who you are, sort of the inspiration for your writing this, which is usually about the audience that supports it, you know, fiction or non. So to use a fictional example, if you've written a popular story, whether it's a short story or whether it's won an award or whether it's for a major media platform, and you say that you've had a response and engagement around this. Now you've told me why I should get interested in what you're about to present. So the first thing for us is we want a sense of who you are. So the second is hiding information. So if you've self published before or if you are working with an agent currently or you've published, you know, traditionally before, these are facts that we want to know because the first thing that any agent or editor is going to do upon receiving a submission they're actually interested in is Google you.   Lucinda Halpern: [00:08:50] And so if you're hiding really pertinent information to your submission, like the fact that you've already published a book, then then it's kind of a red flag. Right? Or if you're working with an agent who's a close friend of mine and you didn't tell me that you have representation. So again, these are delicate topics. And I completely get where writers are coming from and not wanting to sort of you know, a lot of writers, they cower about writing an agent to say, I self publish this book, but my sales were really pitiful. So instead take a positive spin if self publish this book. But this new idea is poised to do very differently because here's sort of the marketing plan I have for it or the idea's really timely or I didn't have support for my first book. But I you know, I, I plan to find a traditional publisher for this. Whatever your reason is, don't exclude the information, find
26 minutes | Apr 10, 2021
Connecting With Writer's Groups - A Great Way To Network
Are you looking for support and encouragement with your writing? Tonya Todd is our guest on this episode of The Author Inside You and she highly recommends you join a writer's group. You can make new friends, find beta readers, receive critiques, and who knows, maybe even find an editor or publisher!   https://www.mstonyatodd.com/the_author/ https://www.mstonyatodd.com/podcast/ https://hendersonwritersgroup.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/hendersonwritersgroup https://www.meetup.com/  
27 minutes | Feb 8, 2021
Writing and Sketching a Graphic Novel
Every once in a while, you find a book that touches a chord in your heart, one that you want to share with everyone you know. Well, that is exactly what happened with Leah and the book, Black Heroes of the Wild West. On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast, we interview James Otis Smith, the author and artist behind this spectacular graphic novel.  Toon Books
24 minutes | Dec 30, 2020
Never Too Young
You are never too young to start teaching! Stephanie Wang, a high school student from Texas, recently wrote and illustrated a book designed to educate younger readers on the COVID-19 pandemic. On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast, listen to her inspiring interview and learn how she is creating a curriculum based on her book. Stephanie's website Lulu.com Canva.com
31 minutes | Dec 8, 2020
Novel Writing Tools
Generally, we think of tools being used to aid in manual labor, but tools can also be very effective while writing a book. On this episode of The Author Inside You, we are joined by author Aran Jane who shares with us how he utilizes many different types of tools in his writing process. Plus, he tells us how enlisting in the military at the age of 17, became a great source of material for his books. If you are writing a novel, then this episode is for you! AranJane.com Dramatica.com CardFlow.com  
23 minutes | Nov 2, 2020
Listen To Your Audience
Famous podcaster - and now author - Dave Jackson joins us for this episode of The Author Inside You. Dave shares great advice on how members of your audience can help you pen your book, that you can in turn market to all of your followers. If you already have a tribe, then this interview is for you.  SchoolOfPodcasting.com
26 minutes | Oct 7, 2020
Writing A Book At Work
Author Charles Cassady is fortunate to have a job that has a significant amount of downtime during his shift. Having been a writer for many years, Charles put this spare time to good use and wrote a book while on the clock. That's not all, while at work he taught himself video editing skills and made promotional videos for his books. In this episode of The Author Inside You, Charles shares with us some useful advice about approaching publishing companies and the preparation you need to complete before your first meeting. YouTube.com/user/cassxdy/videos SchifferBooks.com Writer's Market - book
38 minutes | Sep 28, 2020
Improving Your Writing With Google Maps
Our guest on this episode of The Author Inside You podcast was fortunate enough to be able to take an entire year off of work to concentrate on his writing. Jeffrey K. Walker joins us to share how he used Google Maps, Scrivener, beta readers, and a copy editor to ensure his novels were top notch. We also discuss BookBub, self-publishing, book cover design, and discipline. If you are considering the self publish route, this interview is a must-listen! JeffreykWalker.com bookbub.com
27 minutes | Jul 7, 2020
Working With A Professional Publisher
Rick Terrien began his working career as a kid selling newspapers at a stoplight. Years later his entrepreneurial spirit grew into a weekly blog that eventually became his first book. Ageless Startup: Start a Business At any Age, quickly became a reality thanks to Rick's perseverance and a large publishing company. Listen to this episode of The Author Inside You podcast to hear Rick's advice on the best time to start writing your book. Ageless-Startup.com rick.terrien@gmail.com  
31 minutes | Jun 20, 2020
Illustrations, Fonts, and Low-Cost Printing
Author Melissa Lyons joins us for this episode of The Author Inside You podcast. She shares with us her divine download experience which led to ultimately selling thousands of copies of her book. If you are looking for an economical way to print your book, this episode is for you! melissa@melissa-lyons.com Melissa-Lyons.com alibaba.com Contact print broker Bob Passantino at bobpass@aol.com    
1 minutes | Jun 6, 2020
Support For Black Podcasters
In these troubling times, we thought it would be helpful to encourage our audience to support black podcasters. Thank you. Minorities In Publishing The Brandon Show
24 minutes | May 25, 2020
Creating YouTube Videos To Grow Your Audience
On this episode of The Author Inside You podcast we are joined by author Michael Deeze who reminds us that we all have to believe in ourselves to get over our inferiority complex. Michael also explains how he is using YouTube to strengthen his audience, plus he shares a few tips for working with copy editors. MichaelDeezeBooks.com Facebook.com/MichaelDeezeBooks Michael Deeze YouTube Channel OutskirtsPress.com IndiesUnited.net
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