Spa Girls Podcast

One of the most experienced editors in the industry joins us in the SPA! Prior to becoming a freelance editorial consultant, Mary-Theresa (known as Matrice) worked at Harlequin for more than 25 years, editing nearly a thousand titles. As editor, senior and executive editor, she read, acquired, revised, rejected and critiqued triple that. Many of the books she has edited went on to find places on both the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists.

Today's episode answers a listener question - namely, how do you deal with all the graphics an author needs? DIY or outsource? And what works best?

Hit the ground running with this episode all about how to successfully finish the first draft of your novel! We talk about how we stay motivated, what you need to know before you can start, how we keep going when we get to the saggy middle, what we plan beforehand, and what we leave to figure out as we go. If you've been struggling to get started on your first draft, or you're wallowing somewhere in the middle, this is the episode for you!

Do you want to be a full-time author? Today we discuss how we transitioned to writing full-time, including: • how we approached the financial and business planning side • balancing the creative and business sides of the job • mindset tips and corrections along the way • our expectations versus reality • courage and resourcefulness Make a plan, understand your process, know how much you need to earn and adopt the right mindset to ensure you’ll be ahead of the game. If you join us as a $10 Patreon patron, you'll have access to us (warts and all!) in our private facebook group for authors, where we discuss all things self-publishing and answer your questions. www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

This episode we cover plot development AND character development and you’ll come away (hopefully!) with some awesome tips to improve your story telling and create compelling characters that your readers will love – or love to hate!

In the Spa this week we talked to the talented Naomi Barton. With more people listening to audio books now, there has never been a better time to learn about this side of our industry. Naomi has produced audio books for our very own Cheryl, under CA Phipps, her cozy mystery pen name. We talk about processes, cost, and the industry. You won’t want to miss this one! 

This week we talk to long-time PR coach and publicist Lilian Sue about how authors can successfully use PR to help with their author business. Her aim is to help authors fulfill their potential and become global industry leaders by focusing on how to build a healthy PR mindset above any strategy. We talk about authors can develop strong and healthy PR mindsets (by busting down fear and imposter syndrome) and how to use the right tools, knowledge, and resources to fulfill their goals. It's another awesome episode!

Today we welcome back for a record 3rd time, Zoe York, to talk about Romancing Your Goals. Like so many authors it was hard to read and write during 2020 which was the last time Zoe was with us. Yet, her latest book Romancing Your Goals was written during the pandemic and highlights how to treat your business and is full of wonderful tips to build a marketable genre fiction series.  At the end and beginning of our business plans emotions come in strong. They must be honest to get what we want. Deceiving ourselves or being dishonest is when we don’t achieve. We need Goals to move forward. Find a way to build a tool for yourself to help make the decision whether you make safe choices or step out of your comfort zone from time to time. Do you get a tingly feeling or is it the smart choice you must make right now? What is urgent and what is important and what is the difference? Zoe recommends a five-year goal then to break it down. In five years, what do you want to have written? Where does your book sit?

Many of us have tried different methods to get AMS Ads to work: from creating hundred of ad variations to wrangling spreadsheets with thousands of keywords to try. And then there’s the whole bid price – how do we know what to bid? Can we trust auto ads? 

Jay Hogan writes character driven mm romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst.

This week we talk to fantasy author AK Mulford about how she got started on TikTok! We cover TikTok for authors in depth: how to start, who to follow, how to get your follower count up, best length of videos, what to post, how to create the videos, hashtags, sounds, dealing with comments, batching, duets, stitching, etiquette plus differences from other social media platforms. And most importantly: does it sell books? If you've ever considered jumping on TikTok, this is the episode for you! 

Feeling a bit blah about your writing? Struggling with getting good words down and your word count UP? Today we're taking inspiration from Marie Kondo, and we're sparking back the joy in our writing lives! Our SPA Girls tried-and-true steps are: 1. Re-commit to your Why 2. Re-evaluate your ideal writing life / writing day 3. Let gooooooooo 4. Start with Simple 5. Be Like Marie and ask Does It Spark Joy? As always, a brutally honest and real-time discussion how we're all struggling a bit for different reasons. Wendy's tired, but she can still invent words - see "unbogging" as an example!

How do you get a cover that finds readers and converts to sales? How much should you expect to pay?

Going from zero to $3k per month in just a few months is a dream for many of us and today's guest achieved just that. Ella Barnard is here to talk how she did it, how she meets reader expectations, and most importantly, how we can still enjoy the process!

Confused about preorders? Wondering if you should start using them? Wondering if you should stop using them? This is the episode for you! We talk about what preorders are and how they work, how we use them successfully, and when we think you shouldn't use preorders.

Today we share our SPA Girls patented

What’s the real reason you’re a writer? We’ve talked about finding your why before on the podcast, and today we're delving deeper. Inspired by Simon Sinek's book Start With Why, and Find Your Why, Trudi has us "on the couch" again, which Wendy, in particular, absolutely loves (not)!

In this episode Tara brings us up to speed on Kobo’s new audiobook platform, other updates from Kobo including Kobo Plus, and top tips for marketing your books and audio.

Happy New Year people! It's a crazy time of year, and this episode is all about why you need to take time out, recharge your batteries and come back in the new year ten times more productive and energised!!!

Despite 2021’s best efforts we’ve managed to do some great work this year and had some good times. From launching as planned when health or life got in the way, to self-improvement on many levels, we’ve hit the markers. Maybe not on time or in an effortless ballet-like movement, but we’re taking the wins and so should you! SPAGirls’ favourite moment: We spent 8 hours together on a train trip to conference where we ran a workshop, plus Wendy and Cheryl hosted a panel. Being with friends and other fellow writers was a tonic that needs to be bottled! Listen in for: Our favourite moments of the year. Apologies as Wendy tells us dad jokes! Christmas recipes we love! SPA Girls Podcast - www.spagirlspodcast.com