Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast

Fully Booked EP54: How To Write Successful Short Stories

In this episode of Fully Booked, Craig and Roland dive into the world of short story writing. This week’s guest is KC Grifant, who writes internationally published horror, fantasy, science fiction and weird western short stories. She shares her insights and expertise on the ins and outs of the short story genre, tells us about the various outlets for publishing short stories, including literary magazines, anthologies, and online platforms, and also shares tips on how to increase your chances of getting your short stories accepted and published.
KC also talks about the financial side of short story writing, delves into the structure and technique of short story writing, and tells us how we can create a strong plot and well-developed characters even with  a limited word count. This episode is a must-listen for any aspiring short story writer looking to take their craft to the next level.
 
KC Grifant
https://scifiwri.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
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All episode details and links: 
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Fully Booked EP53: Can Authors Earn with Patreon and Memberships?

Mailing lists and newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with readers and even spark some helpful sales bumps whenever new releases are announced. However, some authors have taken things a step further in their quest to build out a more stable income stream. Subscription services, like those made popular by sites like Patreon, can provide a reliable monthly income that supplements books sales while also providing value and excitement to your dedicated fans.
Author K Webster has been running a membership club like this for over a year and has built up a healthy side income from her most loyal readers, all while keeping them happy with monthly exclusive extras like special signed hardcover editions of her books, character naming rights, and all sorts of branded swag. By offering diferent levels of rewards at a variety of pricing tiers, she's able to offer options to a variety of readers and keep everyone happy.
Today, she's talking to Fully Booked about what goes into running a membership club like this, the work involved, the lessons she's learned, and a whole bunch of ideas for what sorts of things readers enjoy. There's a lot of work involved in running a service like this - but for authors who are interested in doing it, the rewards can make it worthwhile for both them and their fans!
 
K Webster
https://authorkwebster.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book?
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
All episode details and links:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast
 

Fully Booked EP52: One Year of the Fully Booked Podcast

With Episode 52, Fully Booked marks an entire year of podcasting - and we have no plans on slowing down any time soon! To recognize the anniversary, Craig and Roland look back over the year and highlight a few of the episodes that were most memorable to each of them, as well as talk about some of the big things currently shaking up the industry, or that seem likely to have an impact on self-publishing in the near future. Topics include:
Amazon attribution tags
Amazon not allowing book sales from their mobile app (and why)
How AI (like ChatGPT) can be used as a tool for authors now and in the future
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP51: How Understanding Trauma Can Help You Write More Authentic Characters

To write deep and engaging characters that readers can connect with, we must first create empathy. This is commonly done by giving those characters detailed backstories, sometimes filled with the same sort of difficult histories and traumas that we've faced within our own lives. To do so, however, authors have to tread carefully - ensuring that they’re handling these complex and potentially triggering issues as sensitively as possible, and that they understand them enough to write about them accurately, even if they lack personal experience in the specific issue relating to their character.
To understand the best ways to handle these types of topics, we've invited two subject-matter experts to the podcast. After writing A Soldier's Guide to PTSD, veteran and licensed professional counselor Virginia Cruse turned to USA Today bestselling author Katie Salidas for help on expanding her work to a wider audience. Through their partnership, the women were able to translate the more clinical or technical jargon into language that was easier to understand, eventually leading to the publication of Acknowledge and Heal: A Women-Focused Guide to Understanding PTSD.
In today's episode, Virginia and Katie help explain how understanding the "why behind the what" of our behavior (that is, how our past trauma and experience guide how we act) is the key to writing believable and engaging characters that connect with readers without scaring them away.
 
Virginia Cruse
https://militarycounselingsa.com/
 
Katie Salidas
https://www.katiesalidas.com/
 
 
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book?
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
All episode details and links:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP50: Using Dictation Software to Enhance your Productivity

If you haven't tried it recently - or ever! - you might be surprised at how useful and effective dictation can be toward increasing your word count and productivity as an author. The AI that drives voice recognition systems has come a long way over the years and, as a result, most of today's technology comes pre-loaded with some sort of speech recognition without even having to pay for it. This means authors no longer need to even sit at a computer to create their stories.
USA Today bestselling author and longtime dictation software-user Kayla Perrin has a lot of experience using speech-to-text software to write her novels - and, as she explains to Craig and Roland, it isn't all about simply saving your wrists from carpal tunnel or to compensate for a slow typing speed. Kayla often uses the software to write on-the-go, while waiting for an appointment, or even while out walking the dog. Plus, the benefits extend beyond simple convenience, especially for authors who have a tendency to get bogged down by self-editing as they go. The nature of dictation software forces you to break that habit, allowing you to get through your all-important first draft much sooner. So even if you aren't interested in committing to using dictation software as your primary writing method, the versatility of the software and ubiquitousness of the devices that support it mean that some sort of hybrid approach could easily be incorporated into your routine and make you a more productive author.
 
Kayla Perrin
https://www.authorkaylaperrin.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
All episode details and links: https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP49: Getting a Bookbub Spot and Maximizing the Results

Almost since the very day it was founded a decade ago, BookBub Featured Deals have been known as the Holy Grail of promotional newsletters for authors. Despite the high cost and difficulty of getting selected for inclusion, those that do get a spot generally see thousands of sales or downloads. This can be a massive boost to an author's career, which explains why the demand for these limited spots is so high and writer forums everywhere are littered with more tales of rejected applications than news of success. 
Yet authors DO get selected, some multiple times, as is the case with today's guest. Juliette N. Banks has been publishing her romance novels for a couple of years now, and along with her experience and knowledge gained from spending three decades as a senior marketer, she's already had six BookBub Featured Deals. They, along with other marketing strategies, changed everything in her business, taking her from three figure earning months to five. And she's learned a lot along the way. 
Juliette sat down with Fully Booked to talk about her experiences and share her insight with our listeners. She has some great tips on ways that authors can improve their chances of being selected in the first place, and then once they do, how best to maximize their ability to profit from the huge exposure to their featured book and overall catalog. 
 
Juliette N. Banks
https://www.juliettebanks.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP48: One Author’s Path to Self-Publishing Success

Traditional publishers were once the gatekeepers - deciding exclusively which stories were worthy of publishing, and often only because they fit the mold of what they “thought” would sell. The beauty of self-publishing is that it transferred that power back where it belonged - to the readers themselves,  who now had a chance to decide for themselves what they wanted to read. By allowing anyone to publish their stories, the marketplace gained a diversity of voices and flourished as previously unserved markets were finally offered content that interested them. 
Just as the types of books that may interest people are varied, so are the paths to finding your audience and attaining success as an independent author. That's why we like to talk to different authors at various levels of success and points in their careers to hear how they did it. What are the steps they took? What are the lessons they learned along the way? What can we learn from them?  
Today, fantasy author Rosalind Tate sits down to tell us her story. With 3 books under her belt, she admits to making some mistakes on her journey to self-publishing success, but also learned that the key to success is the time she took to figure out where she went wrong and come up with a plan to correct those mistakes. What worked for Rosalind may or may not work for everyone, but by learning about the variety of routes that others have followed toward their goals, more authors might find the confidence to try new things and discover their own paths to success.
 
Rosalind Tate
https://www.rosalindtate.com/
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP47: Keeping Your Publishing Empire Organized With OneNote

In previous episodes, we've discussed the benefits authors earn by staying organized - a complicated enough task for the independent author, who needs to do so much more than simply write their books, and one that becomes even more complex with each new novel published. 
Everybody has their preferences on how to keep track of everything, with ingenious authors creating systems that range from using handwritten notes to creating complex spreadsheets. However, there is one piece of software that today's guest believes is ideally suited for the task, and one she's become somewhat of an expert in using. 
Microsoft's OneNote is part of the Office suite, which means that many of us probably already have the software installed, but have likely never even opened it. Yet author Abigail Owen makes a solid case for how it's the best option available for organizing and keeping track of not only your entire catalog of novels, but even your personal life! Today, Abigail sits down with Fully Booked to go through the different features of the software that she thinks are key to keeping your writing and publishing career organized, and even how to apply that organization to other aspects of your life.
 
Abigail Owen
https://abigailowen.com/2014/07/30/onenote-for-authors-getting-started/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP46: Getting a Movie or Series Deal for Your Books

The dream of most authors is to one day have their book adapted into a movie or television show, but very few of us are fortunate enough to ever have that happen. Many people believe you need a mega-series that’s sold millions of copies before any production companies will consider optioning your work for the screen, but today’s guest proves this isn’t necessarily the case. 
 
Long time independent romance author Alana Albertson already had a lot of success with her novels, but was never able to get a producer to even consider her work for film. Rather than continuing to wait to be ‘discovered’, Alana took matters into her own hands and figured out what she needed to do to make her dreams a reality. It wasn’t easy, though. The whole process spanned a couple of years, with many steps involved, and she found herself second-guessing many of her choices along the way. But it was all worth it in the end, as she eventually signed a deal to turn her new book into a multi-part series on a major streaming service, with options on future sequels. 
 
Now that she can finally talk publicly about the whole process, Hidden Gems was Alana’s first stop. Today, she’s sitting with Craig and Roland to discuss everything that went into getting this deal done, the lessons she’s learned along the way, and even the elevator pitch that helped spark a bidding war amongst producers – all in the hopes that others can learn from what she went through and make their own dreams come true. 
 
Alana Quintana Albertson
https://www.authoralanaalbertson.com/
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP45: How Can Writers Stay Organized and Motivated?

A lot of writers struggle with organizational skills, which can be a problem since keeping yourself organized and motivated is often the key to a successful career as a self-published author. That’s why learning tactics and strategies to help manage your time and focus your attention can be incredibly powerful.
So powerful, in fact, that author and public speaker Felice Cohen has become a ‘professional organizer’ and helps other authors conquer the organizational challenges she faced when starting out as a writer. Today, she joins Craig and Roland to discuss what she teaches struggling authors, and provide some actionable tips you can take advantage of right away. 
 
Felice Cohen
https://www.felicecohen.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book? 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 
All episode details and links: 
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast