Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author 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? 
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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
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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? 
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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? 
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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? 
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All episode details and links: 
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Fully Booked EP38: Industry Issues and News - October 2022

As a semi-regular ongoing feature of Fully Booked, Hidden Gems covers news, issues or rumors that affect authors and publishing in general. Today, Craig and Roland are following up on a few issues we’ve previously discussed in blogs and on podcasts, plus one newly announced Amazon product.
Amazon finally bows to industry pressures and announces planned changes designed to make their eBook return policy more restrictive and less likely to be abused
Quick update to Vellum ePub kindle files – previous format issues have all been completely resolved.
Quick update on Send to Kindle ePub support.
Our thoughts on Kindle Scribe, the latest eReader device announced by Amazon that includes a stylus. Is this something people really want or need?
 
Original Blog about the Return Policy Issuehttps://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/amazons-ebook-returns-process-abuse/
Hidden GemsNeed 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 EP37: An Editor’s Advice on Thinking Like a Writer

When you’re trying to become a successful writer, one of the most important things you need to do is form a connection with your readers. The first step toward doing that is to really understand why people read and write in the first place, and then use what you learn to help improve your craft. At least, that’s what author and editor Peter Gelfan believes - our guest on today’s podcast.
Peter believes it’s because great books often do more than just tell a story. They can also impart knowledge in a way that resonates with people and sticks with them. After all, humans are the only creatures that can learn through second-hand or even third-hand knowledge. Our survival skills aren’t dependent on taking risks to gain experience, but rather on listening to a storyteller impart that knowledge to us through anecdotes and stories we can connect to.
Unfortunately, many authors do things that distract their readers from the message they’re trying to impart, weakening their story’s ability to really resonate and take hold in a reader’s mind. As a professional editor, Peter has seen many examples of this throughout his career, and spent years compiling a list of the most common issues and how best to help authors fix them. In today’s podcast, he explains a few of them.
 
Peter Gelfan
https://petergelfan.com/
 
Hurling words into darkness: A Book Doctor’s Dose of Brain Science for Writers https://www.amazon.com/dp/1955196672/?tag=hgbblog-20
 
Hidden Gems
Need our help publishing or marketing your book?
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All episode details and links:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/podcast
 

Fully Booked EP36: Are Independent Publishers a Good Alternative to Self-Publishing?

There’s more to self-publishing than just writing. As a self-published author, writers are often forced to take on multiple different roles involved in marketing and selling the books they’ve written - and not every author is able or interested in that side of the industry.
For many writers, the idea of having somebody else take on the responsibility of publishing and marketing your book is really appealing, which is why the option of finding an independent publisher seems like a great option. Independent publishers straddle the gap between self and traditional publishing, offering more opportunities for new authors to see their books in print.
However, finding and being accepted by a reputable independent publisher comes with its own set of challenges. Given that anyone can call themselves an independent publisher means there are many stories of predatory companies seeking out naïve authors and taking advantage of them.
Author Daemon Manx fell victim to one of these disreputable companies when he started his journey as a writer - but instead of letting the bad experience disillusion him, he decided to start his own independent publishing company in order to do things the right way. Today, Daemon is here to not only tell us about his writing and publishing journey, but also to give us advice on what independent publishers can and can’t do for authors - and how to make sure you’re selecting one that isn’t going to just rip you off.
 
Daemon Manx
https://www.daemonmanx.com/
Last Waltz Publishing
https://www.lastwaltzpublishing.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 EP35: Can Raising the Stakes Produce More Compelling Fiction?

Whether you’re writing a romance story or a thriller, your characters undoubtedly have goals - but how you communicate, escalate, and eventually let your characters achieve those goals (or fail to) often marks the difference between a well-written book and a great one. 
Today’s returning guest is Alex Kourvo, author of No Hero Wants To Save The World. She joins Craig and Roland to make the case that all of the stakes in your books are life and death, regardless of your genre - and communicating that is what really makes a book memorable.
In a thriller, those stakes might literally be ‘life or death’ - but Alex argues that in other types of stories, life and death are equally at stake, just in a different way. That could mean anything from the death of a relationship to the destruction of a character’s standing in your community. 
Alex has a lot of insight into the best (and worst) ways to go about doing it, and if you’re interested in taking your writing to the next level, there’s plenty you’ll learn in this discussion - not least of which is how “raising the stakes” keeps your readers not just invested in your current book, but also looking forward to how you raise the stakes in your next book as well. 
 
Alex Kourvo
https://alexkourvo.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