Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author 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

Fully Booked EP44: How to Keep Your Characters Consistent

Whether you’re writing epic fantasy like George R. R. Martin or a 12-book Small Town Romance series, it’s often challenging keeping up with a large cast of recurring characters - and avid readers are often all too eager to point out inconsistencies! That’s why it’s important to keep track of important biographical details for your characters, and remember all the events and relationships they have going on.
This is a challenge that romance author Anna J. Stewart is all too familiar with, and on today’s episode of Fully Booked she joins Craig and Roland to discuss how she manages to keep on top of all the characters in her multi-book series, and offer tips and suggestions on using tools like OneNote to make the whole process more manageable. 
 
Anna J. Stewart
www.AuthorAnnaStewart.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 EP43: The Importance of Research for your Fiction Books

Unless you’re already a subject matter expert, most books require some level of research. That may seem more obvious with non-fiction, but even many fiction novels require some level of knowledge that you may not already have. Maybe the book takes place in an unfamiliar setting or time period, or perhaps the characters have jobs or belong to organizations you aren’t completely familiar with. Whatever the case, details matter and while you may think that you can fudge some things, there are readers out there that will notice. 
Collin Glavac spent a lot of time researching details for his thriller trilogy that was set in Latin America, and today he speaks with us about all of the different ways he went about that. Despite the fact that Collin’s father spent a lot of time traveling the area, there were still many aspects of the books that needed further study. Making sure he got things like local customs, language nuances, and other regional details right meant that he could really immerse his readers in the story instead of tripping them up when they noticed something that didn’t quite fit.
 
Collin Glavac
https://www.amazon.com/Collin-Glavac/e/B081YDNB9N
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 EP42: How to Pivot to Keep Up with an Evolving Market

Tastes and trends among readers change, but learning to pivot and adapt to an evolving marketplace doesn’t necessarily mean selling out. Paying attention to the market and what people are looking for is smart business, and a savvy self-publisher can find ways to appeal to what readers want while still remaining true to themselves as writers. That’s exactly what contemporary romance author Leah Busboom discovered when her first books initially failed to find the success she felt they deserved. 
Today, Leah joins Craig and Roland to discuss how she used this experience as a tool to better understand her genre and subgenres. She explains how, after careful research, she came to realize the mistakes she’d made with her cover choices and the categories in which she’d marketed her books and was then able to not just write a new series of books that performed much better, but also republish her previous books in a format that appealed much more strongly to her target audience.
 
Leah Busboom
https://authorleahbusboom.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 EP41: How Can You Market Audiobooks?

In Episode 2 of Fully Booked, Craig and Roland were joined by audiobook narrator, producer, and author Karen White of Home Cooked Books. She piqued a significant amount of interest in the growing audiobook market, so today we welcome her back to discuss the second challenge authors face when turning their written word into spoken media - actually marketing their audiobooks!
 
In this discussion, Karen sets the groundwork for how to approach presenting, promoting, and eventually marketing your audiobooks - including rarely-discussed challenges like where to host them, and how to navigate the process of getting reviews. It’s a great listen for those dipping their toe into this exciting and expanding part of the industry.
Karen White
Home Cooked Books
https://www.homecookedbooks.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 EP40: Getting the Most Value from your Beta Readers

In Episode 9 of Fully Booked, Craig and Roland spoke to two authors about the importance of Beta Readers. Today, we’re revisiting that topic with another special guest - J. L. Delozier, author of crime, mystery, and thriller novels, who not only relies on Beta Readers to polish her own books, but also Beta Reads books written by some of her colleagues.
This has given her a unique perspective on Beta Reading because she’s seen both sides of it - and in this podcast, J. L. Delozier will use that experience to explain how authors can get the most out of their Beta Readers and make the whole Beta Reading process more efficient and enjoyable. There’s a lot of great information in this episode, and it’s a must-listen for anybody considering hiring Beta Readers of their own.
 
J.L. Delozier
https://www.jldelozier.com/
 
Hidden Gems
Hidden Gems offers a beta reading service which you can book right here: https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/product/beta-reader-service/
 
All episode details and links: https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast

Fully Booked EP39: Why a Traditionally Published Author Chose to Self-Publish

Despite the fact that the popularity of self-publishing continues to grow, often at the expense of traditional publishers, there are still some authors who are on the fence about which option is right for them. Today, we address that dilemma by talking with J.B. Manas - an author who’d already been published by traditional publishers, but very deliberately chose to self-publish his latest work. 
 
Jerry Manas, who writes fiction under the name J.B. Manas (and nonfiction under his full name), grew frustrated at the lack of creative control, long lead times, and increasingly less-justified royalty model one has to deal with when working with traditional publishers, not to mention their aversion to risk in today's market. Today, he sits down with Craig and Roland to detail all the reasons why he decided that self-publishing was a better alternative. This episode is packed with advice for authors who are on the fence about which publishing path to follow, and hopefully you’ll find it as valuable as we did.
 
J.B. Manas
https://jbmanas.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