Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast

Fully Booked EP28: Why Are Covers SO Important?

It doesn’t matter how great your book is if you can’t get people to read it in the first place. Without a huge existing fanbase that buys whatever you publish, the best way to get people to try your book is to make sure it’s packaged the best way possible.
A strong cover is arguably the most important part of that package, and unfortunately many authors aren’t selling as many copies as they could be because their cover isn’t working for them.
In today’s episode of Fully Booked, we talk to Hidden Gems cover designer Nate Allison about why covers are so vital to selling books, what goes into a good cover (it’s not just about the pretty picture!) and what to look for in a designer if you’re hiring someone to produce your cover for you.
 
Nate Allison’s Cover Design Page
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/nate/
 
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 EP27: Can Updating Your Book Details Improve Your Sales?

Here is one of the most difficult things to accept as a self-published author: You can write the best book in the world, but it won't make any difference unless it's packaged in a way that makes potential readers want to actually buy and read it. 
That's a truth urban fantasy and paranormal author JP McLean had to accept when she tried marketing and advertising her books - but unlike many others, she acted on that information. Investing in new covers and blurbs written by our very own Ginger, JP McLean was able to double sales for her books.
In this week's podcast, JP joins Craig and Ginger to discuss how she came to this conclusion, the work it took to update her book details and republish her books, and the end result it had on her career as a self-published author. It's a fascinating discussion and one many struggling authors will find immensely valuable. 
JP McLeanhttps://jpmcleanauthor.com/
 
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 EP26: The Professional Way to Narrate Your Own Audiobooks.

Most audiobook producers warn authors not to narrate their own books, and for good reason. It’s very easy to tell a professionally narrated and produced audiobook from a homemade one, and when done poorly, readers can be turned off from listening just as fast as a weak blurb or cover can turn them off from buying in the first place. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. It just has to be done right.
Author Adrienne Giordano had a good reason for wanting to narrate her book, but with no experience with audiobook recording, she realized she would need some serious guidance. In this week’s podcast, Adrienne takes us through everything she went through and learned – from hiring a voice coach and booking a recording studio, to whether doing it all herself ended up saving or costing her money.
Recording your own audiobook isn’t for most authors, but it can be done successfully if you’re motivated enough to take it seriously and understand that there is much more to it than simply turning on your home microphone and reading your book out loud.
 
Adrienne Giordano
https://www.adriennegiordano.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 EP25: Do You Need a Book Coach?

Most authors are aware of the need to hire a good editor to work on their book once it’s finished, or to recruit Beta Readers to look over an early draft. However, sometimes it’s better to get help even sooner than that. A book coach works with an author early in the writing process, sometimes even before they’ve put down their very first words. With many tools at their disposal, coaches can help guide authors towards success in a variety of ways, such as serving as a sounding board for ideas, working as an accountability partner, or even helping to design a blueprint or outline for your book.
As a certified non-fiction book coach, author Amy Bernstein takes a holistic approach to helping authors improve their books and realize more success. In today’s episode, Amy stops by Fully Booked to chat with us about everything a book coach can do for authors, the differences between fiction and non-fiction
book coaching, and how to determine whether or not a book coach is right for you.
 
Amy Bernstein's Author Website
https://amywrites.live/
 
Amy Bernstein's Book Coaching Website
http://wordfirstbookcoach.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 EP24: Is Traditional Publishing Right for You?

In the past, Fully Booked has covered the idea of Going Wide, meaning selling your books on a variety of online storefronts instead of being exclusive to just one. However, another alternative to expanding your reach would be to sign on with a traditional publisher and have your books distributed by them.
Of course, it’s not always as easy as that. Unlike self-publishing, where anyone can publish a book on their own in a very short period of time, the traditional publishing process has many steps and hurdles to overcome. That’s why we asked Tudor Robins and Mara Shatat to speak with us today, as these two authors have experience with both traditional and self-publishing, and even mentor other authors in how to muddle through it all.
Together, Mara and Tudor take us through what goes into trad publishing, the pros and cons, landing an agent and making deals, and even who it’s right for in the first place.
 
Mara Shatat
www.marashatat.com
www.maradabrishus.com
 
Tudor Robins
https://www.tudorrobins.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 EP23: Living and Writing the Wanderlust Lifestyle

One of the best things about writing is that you can do it from anywhere and on your own schedule. Taken to the extreme, that means you can even do it from a boat in the middle of the ocean while travelling around the world!
But believe it or not, that’s exactly how today’s guest lives her life. For the last few years, romance author Liz Alden and her husband have been sailing the seas, visiting exotic locales that most of us only read about, and using that first-hand experience as the backdrop of her successful series of romance novels.
In this episode, Craig and Roland ask all about how she found herself living this hard-to-believe life, and how she balances her adventures with the practicality of finding time to write, getting a reliable Internet connection, and building her career as an author.
 
Liz Alden
https://www.lizalden.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 EP22: The Importance of Protecting Your Intellectual Property

When it comes to writing, the worlds you spawn from your imagination, the characters you create, and the series you bring to life are all part of your Intellectual Property (IP) and are very important to both your career and your brand. However, just because you were the first one to create or publish your works doesn’t mean they’re automatically protected from copycats (intentional or otherwise). In fact, publishing first didn’t even protect this week’s guest from being the one accused of being a copycat!
Brian Sachetta, a blogger and author/owner of Get Out Of Your Head™, tells a cautionary tale that may sound more like a horror story to many of us authors - but Brian’s story is not an isolated incident, and he’s eager to share with Fully Booked all the things he wished he’d done differently during his ordeal, including registering a trademark, in the hopes that he can help other authors avoid going through what he had to endure by thinking seriously about protecting their IP.
 
Brian Sachetta
https://getoutofyourhead.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 EP21: Unlocking In-house Promotions When You’re Publishing Wide

Erin Wright is back to continue our previous discussion about the various ways of marketing your books when you publish on storefronts beyond just Amazon. Many of the online bookstores have their own in-house promotions that can be taken advantage of, and some of them can provide a big boost to your book sales. The problem is that most authors don’t even know about them, because many of them are hidden unless you specifically ask for them to be added to your author account! And even then, there may be some hoops you have to jump through…
Luckily, Erin knows all about these promotions, and this episode is chock full of the secrets you need to unlock them on your own accounts. So if you are an author who publishes wide and don’t already know about all of the promotions that sites like Google, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Apple have to offer, this is not an episode you can afford to miss!
 
Erin Wright:
https://erinwright.net/
Wide for the Win Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wideforthewin
 
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 EP20: Getting the Big Picture on Book Revisions

Some authors think that in order to publish a book, there are just three simple steps: Write. Edit. Publish. However, there's actually a whole step between writing and editing that sometimes gets forgotten, overlooked, or just not taken seriously enough by a lot of fledgling writers, and that step is revision.
Author and developmental editor Alex Kourvo understands how important the revision process is, and how it shouldn’t be ignored or treated as an afterthought. That’s why she wrote The Big-Picture Revision Checklist, as a way of helping authors keep from being overwhelmed during this sometimes daunting process. Today she sits down with Fully Booked to discuss why it is so important to take a step back and look at your book as a whole when trying to determine what needs to be revised, and the best way to tackle the whole process in general.
 
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

Fully Booked EP19: Turning a Passion for Writing into a Family Business

Many self-employed people dream of having a “family business”, but you don’t hear about it quite as often when it comes to authors. In those rare cases that it does happen, it is often a husband and wife co-writing team, but when it comes to Bill and Mia Belew, it’s a father daughter duo. Mia is only 14, but she’s an avid reader and deeply involved in the process of creating the stories and characters for the Upper Middle Grade books that she and her father, Bill, create. Today they’re sitting down with Craig and Roland to discuss how and why they do it, besides the obvious benefit of just getting to spend some quality time together. We get into everything from where they get their ideas, what their goals were in starting this journey, the routes they’ve traveled to find their audiences and gain success, and where they hope it will all end up. Mia & Bill Belews’ Growing Up Aimi series
Website: https://growingupaimi.com/
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086QZPNF2
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