indie publishing – Writing & Editing Podcast

2023

207. The Craft of Writing Children’s Books

My guest today is Tonya Ellis. She’s a children’s author who has independently sold over 150,000 books in her Sophie Washington chapter book series and recently signed a deal for a picture book with HarperCollins. I invited her on the show though to talk in more general terms about writing books for children, how a writer writes for their level without writing down to them, and how the whole thing differs from writing for adults.
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Tonya's Website
https://tonyaduncanellis.com/

2023

188. Caveat Scriptor: Watch Out for Scam Self-Publishers

My guest today is Amy Bernstein. She’s a writer and book coach, but also has an excellent knowledge of the current publishing landscape. I invited her on specifically to talk about those publishers and services that some writers pay to help self-publish your book—and especially the dubious services and the outright scams to watch our for. This is “Caveat Scriptor: Watch Out for Scam Self-Publishers,” episode 188 of the podcast.

Amy’s Website
https://amywrites.live/

Writer Beware Blog
https://writerbeware.blog/

2023

180. A New Author Talks about His Disappointment with Hybrid Publisher Friesen Press

My guest today is Furkhan Dandia . He’s a first-time author of Pursuit of Self-Love: 30 Uplifting Messages and Reflections, which he paid to have published by the hybrid publisher Friesen Press, in Manitoba, Canada, just this past March.

A bit more background here before I get to my conversation with Furkhan. If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you may remember episode 152 in March, when I told the general story of my efforts to get Friesen to answer two simple questions for me: why are there books priced anywhere from 30 to 100 percent more on Amazon than they are on the Friesen site, and do they inform authors of this before contracts are signed? I ended up talking directly to the president, who hinted she might sue me, but refused to answer the questions.

Furkhan is one of two Friesen authors who told me that in fact they were never informed of the Amazon pricing issue, and he agreed to come on the podcast to talk about his experiences regarding the editing of his book as well.

This is “A New Author Talks about His Disappointment with Hybrid Publisher Friesen Press,” episode 180 of the podcast.

Furkhan’s Website
https://www.eunoiazen.com/

Furkhan’s Book on Friesen’s Site: $21.99
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000249077816/Furkhan-Dandia-Pursuit-of-Self-Love

Furkhan’s Book on Amazon.ca: $48.13
https://www.amazon.ca/Pursuit-Self-Love-Uplifting-Messages-Reflections/dp/1039156177/

2023

143. Publishing and All the Self-Publishings

My guest is Jane Friedman, who is an internationally known publishing expert based in New York. Jane has over 25 years experience in the publishing business, having worked as President and CEO of HarperCollins as well as holding senior executive positions at other major publishers. She’s the author of the book The Business of Being a Writer, produces the biweekly email newsletter called The Hot Sheet, which covers the publishing industry for authors, and offers classes online.

2023

134. Indie-Publishing Books with Your Own Publisher Imprint

My guest is Colleen Tews, who is an author with a taste for writing about strong women who take strength even from their weaknesses. Colleen has established her own imprint, Delphian Hope Publishing, to publish her work and hopes that she can also some day publish others’ as well. Her novel Onyx is forthcoming in March.