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The Best of Self Publishing Podcast episode is the last of SPP Classic. Audra went through over 100 episodes to find the most informative, dynamic and interested segments for this final send off. Get a taste of the new intro and enjoy the best of Johnny, Sean and Dave! Next week, we start anew. If you are subscribed, you won't have to do anything to make sure you get SPP 2.0. It'll still be in your favorite podcatcher, only better.

After 167 episodes, Johnny Sean and Dave talk about what they've learned from three years of writing, interviewing and recording the Self Publishing Podcast. Today's special episode includes: The value of talking things out with others. Branching away from Amazon The Benefit of community Understanding the importance of a list The Value of haters -- Katt Williams Haters gonna hate Nurturing your list and letting your list nurture you Audiobooks The US and the UK isn't the world Diversification Patience Ends v. Means

Today Hal Elrod joined Johnny and Sean to teach Dave how to improve his productivity by using a specific morning routine. Now, night owls don't turn SPP off yet, because these techniques can be used regardless of when you wake. Live purposefully, create a morning routine and learn what many of the most successful people due to improve their productivity and creativity. In this episode Hal talks about the six practices he does every morning based on the practices of the world's most successful people. You can find Hal's book The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) here.

After many changes in the Amazon logarithms we must ask ourselves, is free still a viable strategy? While free used to be an easy button to improving sales, it now has a more nuanced benefit. What may work for one author or even one book, may not work for another. Choosing free is both about the sales, but also the message you are sending about your books and the expected hits to reviews. While still great, it is no longer that automatic advantage. In this episode, see how Sterling and Stone is using free for some books and not for others. We also learn some of the thought processes that went behind those decisions.

Episode164? Nah, this is episode 165. This week the guys tackle a discussion of being influenced by other works without plagiarizing. It has been said that there are no new stories; attacking an old story is a novel way is a crucial topic for writers. We can be influenced by anything from movies, the news or other books. Johnny, Sean and Dave discuss attacking ideas from new angles, sampling from multiple ideas and attempting to create something new.

If you've ever questioned your writing or wondered whether you were ready for your dream project, this inspirational episode is for you. As Dave said, sometimes writing something smaller and more personal will give you the lessons to attack the big stories. Fresh on the heels of finishing The Beam and Yesterday's Gone, listen to Johnny, Sean, and Dave get into the emotional part of writing. Having faith in yourself and trusting the process in crucial, whether it's the struggle to beat insecurity, starting earlier than you want or wrapping up loose ends. Some of the best artists are the best because they are willing to take the time and even trash entire projects. That was the biggest take away for me. What is your biggest take away?

Justin Sloan joins us to talk about video game writing and writing while keeping your day job. He a novelist, game writer for telltale games, and screenwriter. This episode is full of information on the differences in structure between novels and games, how he started and what is required to think outside the box when considering a career as a professional writer. Some of the things covered: Justin's writing process Educational opportunities What the collaborative process is like when writing for games and how to break into the industry while you still have a day job

Selling more books with autoresponders goes beyond a simple newsletter list. While Sterling and Stone requires detailed segmentation, you can learn tools and techniques for you own list regardless of size. This episode covers: What is the purpose of an autoresponder How to use broadcast and autoresponders for maximum effectiveness What you should put in an email newsletter How to make them happy to open your emails and much more Master Beats Forum Scrivener for Beats class aka How to Plan and Outline Novels (Using Scrivener)

Johnny and Sean brought JA Huss on to talk about street teams after they read her popular book 321. In addition to being the first romance book that Sean told Johnny to read immediately, they were impressed by the number of her day one verified reviews on Amazon. This interview took an amazing left turn as she disclosed the small size of her unstoppable street team and ferocious Advanced Reader Copy list. She is inspiring as you see how doing the work and being prepared for success pays off. Listen as she talks about her off typical pricing and sales strategy, success with Facebook ads, and how she uses back matter to create superfans that will buy a book just to see what she says next. This episode is all about being unapologetic and true to your voice.

This week we welcome Dan Wood, Director of Author Relation’s for Draft2Digital, to talk about how to make the most of a multi-platform distribution with Draft2Digital. The result is an intense episode packed with actionable information that should not be missed. In fact, you may want to listen to this episode multiple times if you are serious about your own multi-platform approach to self publishing. One of the biggest take-a-ways is the fact that Draft2Digital doesn’t use the same systems to deliver content to retailers that an individual author does. As a result, authors can bypass some of the short comings of working directly with providers like iBooks and Nook. Dan discusses: How subscription services like Scribd and Oyster pay differently than Kindle Unlimited and may be more author centric. Where to focus when going international. How to get promotions in the iBooks store. Yes you can have free books on Barnes and Noble. What you might be doing that’s causing lower numbers on non-Amazon retailers. How Draft2Digital can help you get higher royalties and much more.

Once you've decide to step outside Amazon, you need to understand the best ways to market for each platform. This week we delve deep into Nookpress, and who better to learn to tips and tools to succeed on Nook from than Julia Coblentz, the senior marketing manager for Nookpress. Julia discusses: Why 3D box images don't work well on nook Best tips to get traction Specific nook marketing promotions for Independent authors Then, just when we thought we'd heard it all, Johnny blows us away with the idea of segmenting their list by reader platform. This is an information packed episode that should not be missed.

One of the biggest strategies we push here on SPP is “go wide,” and for good reason. Select may make you more money in the short term, but nothing beats getting a foothold in your as many markets as possible, earning readers Amazon can’t deliver. But how can you get that foothold in other platforms if you can’t figure out how to sell BIG on those platforms, platforms like Apple iBooks? Enter Julia Kent. She was sent our way by Apple to explain how she got started selling HUGE in their store. Much of her advice is valid, even if you aren’t a Romance writer like her, and even for platforms other than Apple. To listen closely and take notes! Find Julia online at: http://www.jkentauthor.com/ One question answered in this episode: Should I include invented names and words in the titles of my book?

Masterbeats—a new apps for writers, which will be finished and out sometime in the near future—is probably the best thing to happen to indie authors since Write Publish Repeat hit the stores. You’ll love all the features this baby will have, as explained by none other than Seth Atwood, the developer spearheading the app’s creation. Seth has some amazing ideas for this app. Here are just a few features mentioned on this week’s show: Templates for story structure Accessibility on line and as an app for just about any device, so you can beat on the go Default character pictures and actors’ headshots, so you can cast your characters Sample questions that come to you randomly, so you can “interview” your characters and get to know them better. The ability to collaborate and share beats with others, right in the app Totally stoked to see this app come to life? Join the club! We’ll have periodic updates on the show and on our site, so you can stay in the loop as Masterbeats is developed! Also, you should check out strangewindstudio.com the the latest on what Seth is up to! Here are some of the questions that were answered: How viable is Rain Maker for authors? Do the guys recommend it? Is using Amazon’s advertising services a good idea? If you get a cover at 99 Designs, can you reuse the cover for other books?

After three years of sterling professionalism, the Self-Publishing Podcast is as strong as ever! This week, we celebrate our three-year anniversary—36 months of pure awesome as we watch Johnny, Sean, and Dave change the face of indie publishing. Even if you’ve been a fan of SPP for all of 5 minutes, you’ve probably already fallen in love with the immature banter mixed with not-officially-advice advice about how to make a success in self publishing. How can you not jump for joy with us? And, you’ll totally enjoy the special treat about halfway through the show, dedicated to everyone’s favorite grouch—Dave! You won’t want to miss it!

Still swimming in enthusiasm from the Colonists Summit in Austin, Sean and Johnny have all kinds of awesome new projects and ideas. This week’s episode was basically a super-enthusiastic rundown of all the cool stuff that they guys talked about and did in the summit, as well as all the new ideas they came back with. They talk about things like: The new mastermind: The Stone Table! Next Year’s Summit (It’ll be bigger and better!) An upcoming app The Idea of a Street Team …and so much more! Here is the comic the guys talked about: selfpublishingpodcast.com/comic And here is the new editing service they guys are suggesting: selfpublishingpodcast.com/editing

Hugh Howie, John Locke, Amanda Hawkins… these are writer that are known for something we all wish would happen to us. They all started out self publishing their books and ended up becoming household names (well, if your house is full of voracious readers, I guess). This week (or, actually last week), the guys talked to another writer who went from indie author to author superstar—Andy Weir. Andy wrote The Martian as a serial on his blog (OMG!), and that same story is now being made into a movie. You’d be completely bonkers to now pay attention to his story. One thing that really made The Martian blow up is the audio book, read by R. C. (or just Bob) Bray and produced by Podium Publishing. That why the guys had Bob on along with Andy, and the group quickly plunged together into the immature depths of dick jokes, so you can tell they all got along really well! You can see Andy’s original website here (not the Random House version, which is flashier but boring): http://www.galactanet.com/

Everybody loves Kindle, or at least they are trained to think that they have to love it. KDP Select is just making publishing exclusive to Amazon more and more tempting, but not any less frustrating to Johnny (or anyone else with a strong, and reasonable, revulsion to having all your eggs in one basket). If only there were a publishing company that offered enticing deals, custom coupons, and an otherwise business-savvy setup to help authors sell books. Wait, that sounds like Kobo! Mark from Kobo came on today to tell us about all the awesome stuff Kobo Writing Life has going on, stuff that will make any indie author start salivating for sure. You’ll have to listen to the show to hear all the benefits Kobo can offer, plus some hot tips for improving your international sales in Kobo (and everywhere else!). Questions answered in the show: How safe is Scrivener compared to typing directly in the cloud? Where can I find a collaborator/writing partner? Can/Should I package a bunch of short stories of different genres together?

As most of us know, the current promotion atmosphere is a little frustrating. Bookbub is the big man on campus, and yet trying to get your book accepted there is about as easy as getting Dave to use his Nutribullet. But is using a promo site like Bookbub the only option we indie authors can use? Could there possibly be another option? Enter Mark Dawson, who, as this episode’s title points out, uses Facebook and his own mailing list to make his own Bookbub-level promos. Whether you’re just starting out with your first book or you’re already fleshing out an impressive funnel, you’ll want to check out Mark’s list-building skills here! Also, if you want more great advice from Mark Dawson, you should check out http://www.selfpublishingformula.com/

The audiobook market is unquestionably becoming more and more a thing, and indie authors would have to be totally bird-brained to not be interested in turning their written words into bundles of audio goodness. This week, the guys had audio-book legend David H. Lawrence XVII (and don’t forget the XVII!!) back on to talk about how to choose the best narrator, what to pay them, and how to work with them to make an audio masterpiece you can be proud of (and that will sell). Definitely a must-listen! And, if you want more advice from David, head on over to vo2gogo.com and get even more audio-book-related advice. Oh, and here’s the audio clip from Buck Books that Johnny mentioned. This is some important stuff about how you can promote an audiobooks with those amazing guys! (For the audio clip, go to: http://sterlingandstone.net/audiobook-launching-david-lawrence-self-publishing-podcast-151)

The dreaded “R” word, the one task that sends some writers away screaming just at the mention of it—RESEARCH. Do you shy away from research? Do you hate it? Do you avoid writing certain yarns in your story garden just because you’re paralyzed by the gobs of research you know you’ll have to suffer through? Or, on the flip side, do you love and embrace a deep and wondering investigation, so much so that you may never get around to actually writing anything? Either way, this episode may be just what you need. It’s fascinating to see how Johnny, Sean, and Dave see research in a very different light, and how researching a story may not be nearly as scary as you think. And, even if you don’t care about research as a topic, this episode is worth listening to just to hear Dave’s giddy ayahuasca jokes!