Fully Booked: The Hidden Gems Author Podcast

Fully Booked EP8: Could Radish, Vella, or serialized publishing be right for you?

Breaking content into parts that can be sold, distributed and consumed on a schedule isn’t a new idea. We see it on television all the time, where we’ve become accustomed to waiting a week between new episodes of our favorite shows.
Fiction has been doing it for even longer, with Charles Dickens often credited with writing the first serialized novel (The Pickwick Papers). But recently, novel serialization has exploded in popularity through a number of companies that began to deliver content in this format and finding huge audiences happy to consume it. The popularity has led to a number of very expensive acquisitions in the space, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the entry of a new and very big player in Amazon and their creation of Vella.
Author/Publisher/Marketer Sean Zirconia has been publishing in this space for a while, and has experience with a number of the options available. Today he sits down with Fully Booked to take us through who can benefit most from this model, how they earn money, how your books get marketed on them, and even some of the pros and cons of the different platforms available.
 
Krista Lakes (Sean’s wife)
https://www.amazon.com/Krista-Lakes/e/B00AW3NJTY
 
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 EP7: Do you need an author assistant?

Whether you need help with social media, book formatting, mailing list setup and automation, or any number of other things, a versatile author assistant has a range of skills and tools that allow them to take over not just the tasks an author doesn’t have time for, but even the ones they either don’t enjoy doing or don’t have the knowledge to handle themselves.
Erin Tolbert has worked as an author assistant for years, and today she sits down with Fully Booked to go through all of the things that she or her peers can help with, an idea of how much you can expect to pay, and even provide tips on what to look for when you hire them.
So whether you need an assistant on a continual basis, for one-time tasks, or even just to get you organized, the sooner you get the help you need, the quicker you can get back to the part of being a self-publisher that actually earns you money – writing your next book.
 
Erin Tolbert
https://www.etolbert.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 EP6: Making money with non-traditional writing alternatives

Writing books is one way that authors can earn a living, but these days there are plenty of other alternatives available as well.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro that just wants to take a break from writing novels, a new author that isn’t sure you’re ready to write an entire book, or even if you simply want to try something new, there are plenty of reasons and options for branching out creatively while still getting paid.
Author Naomi Bellina has experimented with a variety of non-traditional writing paths, and she sits down with Fully Booked to deliver all the details. From interactive gaming and visual novels, to professional blogging and greeting card writing, Naomi is either familiar with it or has tried it herself.
Find out what works and what doesn’t, the pros and the cons, and what options are available to authors looking to build new audiences and revenue streams by going beyond traditional books.
 
Naomi Bellina
https://www.naomibellina.com/
https://www.naomibergner.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 EP5: Finding your tribe makes it easier to write for them

Many authors write their books first, and then struggle to identify who the audience for it is and how to reach them. Author Gail Z. Martin found success by reversing this process, identifying the key elements and tropes that made one of her favorite shows, Supernatural, so successful and then using those same elements in her own original works. This allowed her to connect with the audience for that show through their shared passion, and allowed her to offer them something unique, yet comfortably familiar.Even though Gail had been publishing and building her audience for years prior, building this separate series and publishing it under a completely new pen name gave her a big advantage when it came to marketing and advertising it, because she already knew exactly who the audience for it was and where to find them. There is much to learn from Gail’s story about how she found her tribe – a group of people that share similar interests and tastes – because having a strong connection to your audience is one of the most important factors in selling your book.
Gail Z. Martin: www.GailZMartin.com
Morgan Brice: https://morganbrice.com/
ConTinual: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConTinual/
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 EP4: From $200 in sales per month to a six-figure income

Advertising your book is one of the trickiest things for a self-publisher. Do it wrong, and your ad spend can easily outpace your sales. But when you get it right, you can take your career to the next level and beyond. Paranormal cozy mystery writer Trixie Silvertale did just that, and she sits down with us from her writing retreat in Mexico to share the story of just how she made it all happen. Her catalogue was earning $200 a month before she got serious with ads, but now consistently brings in many thousand. This is a tale lined with silver that no author should skip, because Trixie speaks frankly about her numbers and the self-awareness, market research and experimentation that led to where she is now. And the best part is, through her careful monitoring and tweaking of her ad performance, she saw results quickly, and never had to risk everything to make it happen. 
 Trixie Silvertale
http://trixiesilvertale.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 EP3: How TikTok Created a Bestseller with Jennifer Millikin

If you’re an author still on the fence about Tiktok, you won’t want to miss this episode. Bestselling author Jennifer Millikin stops by to share her incredible story of how Tiktok changed her career, literally overnight.  Jennifer’s video had over 14 million views, turned a 4-year-old book into a bestseller, and even led to it being optioned for a movie/tv deal.
 
Self-published authors should never be afraid to experiment with new ways to market their books, especially because that often means putting your book in front of a brand new audience. Tiktok may have started off as a way for kids to waste time watching silly videos, but has matured into a platform that authors can no longer afford to ignore. Readers have embraced the platform, creating a massive #booktok community that can not only improve your sales, but potentially change your fortune overnight.
 
Jennifer Millikin
https://www.jennifermillikinwrites.com/
 
Jen’s famous TikTok video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@authorjenmill/video/6946330855946194181

Fully Booked EP2: Getting Started with Audiobooks with Karen White and Sarah Beth Goer

Authors seeking to capture the attention of readers more interested in listening to a book than turning pages may be surprised at all that goes into audiobooks. There’s plenty more to it than simply reading your book into a microphone and selling it.
There are plenty of things to consider, which is why we turned to two seasoned audiobook narrators and producers to help us navigate the sea of questions and decisions that an author needs to make.
Sarah Goer and Karen White walk us through all the factors that authors need to consider when beginning their audiobook journey, such as:
When is the right time in your career to start creating audiobooks?
Deciding whether to do it yourself or simply sell the rights to a company to do for you?
If doing it yourself, what goes into that?
Do you need to hire narrators and producers?
What benefit do you get from them?
And plenty more!
Sarah Goer https://www.sarahbethgoer.com/
Karen White https://karenwhiteaudiobooks.com/
Looking for some help publishing or marketing your book? Check out all the ways Hidden Gems can assist you here: https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
 

Fully Booked EP1: The One Where We Talk About Reviews (and ourselves!)

In this first episode of the Hidden Gems Author Podcast, Craig Tuch and Roland Hulme discuss the purpose and goals of this podcast, a bit about the author services company Hidden Gems itself, and then dive into a discussion about one of the most important topics to authors in general: Book reviews. 
There are ways to position your book to get good ones, but even the best books end up with some negative ones. We discuss why those bad reviews aren’t always as “bad” as authors fear and what they might mean, what can be done about them, and even how they can be used to improve our books going forward.
Looking for some help publishing and marketing your book? Check out all the ways we can help you here:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/author-services/
Are you a reader that loves leaving Amazon reviews and getting free books? Then you’re in luck! Sign up to the Hidden Gems ARC program for an endless supply of free books of all genres:
https://www.hiddengemsbooks.com/genre-landing-page/?referral=HGPod1