Spa Girls Podcast

Kait is a USA Today best selling, RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author of smart, sassy, small town Southern romance. She calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin', and can wield a 'Bless your heart' like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements.

The number one thing you need to produce as an author is WRITTEN words, but sometimes that's the hardest thing to do. So when words are hard to come by, when you’re avoiding the blank screen or finding yourself doing housework for hours instead of sitting your butt on the office chair (or couch) with your laptop, you need a cheerleader, an advocate, and champion... a human cattle prod, if you will. And that's where we come in. This week we’re sharing our best tips and advice on how to get yourself motivated, beat resistance and get your $#@!! words down.

Award-winning USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Brighton Walsh spent a decade as a professional photographer before taking her storytelling in a different direction and reconnecting with her first love—writing. After getting a publishing deal Brighton went on to become a hybrid author and is now mainly indie. She started on TikTok in January 2022 and used mainly page flips back then and went viral immediately. She has since developed her own brand of TIKTOKing which continues to impress. Today she brings you plenty of tips and tricks to start you off on the right foot.

Ten proven productivity hacks for self-publishing authors!

Alpha, Beta, Tortured or Bad Boy? How do you like your heroes? This week Cheryl, Wendy and Shar discuss how to write a great hero (in their opinion) complete with controversial examples! In particular we cover: Character Connection Creating Conflict from Character Main Characters Should Be Equals Characters Should Have Complementary Strengths  Hero should Show Vulnerability Different hero types including Alpha, Beta, Bad Boy, Tortured and Playboy Don't miss out on our take on writing a great hero! 

Wanting to speed up your plotting and writing time? Or have an easy way to keep a series bible? We've got just the answer today ...

Who says Valentine’s Day has to be about couples? We think it should be about all kinds of love and this year we’re promoting a little self-love. Go on, you deserve it! Treat yourself to a craft course or something else you would enjoy – find a course and do it! Do something awesome for your body – manicure, pedicure, massage, facial. Regular exercise – walk, run, bike, swim, yoga, pilates, sport. Combat stress – read, listen to music, have a bath, meditate - try Paul Mckenna and Youtube videos. Breathing exercises – breathe in for seven, hold for seven, out for seven. Eat healthy and drink more water. Try something different – puzzles, a new hobby like knitting, crochet or miniatures.  Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

This week Trudi and Shar go rogue ... and discuss courses along with our writing friend and writing tutor Tania Hutley / Talia Hunter.

So many times we’ve heard authors say that they don’t like this or that when it comes to promoting themselves. So how can we work with our biases and not fight against them?

If there’s one person in the self publishing world who’s considered a bit of an expert at advertising… it’s Mark Dawson. This week Mark joins us in the SPA to talk about Facebook ads – how to set them up, what to do if they’re not working, and some of his best tips and advice to get them running well for you. He’s a genuine guy, and he still does all his own ads – which means he knows exactly what works and what doesn’t! Join us for another awesome podcast in the SPA.

Kathleen Sweeney is Bookbrush’s Customer Service Manager & Marketing Lead. She brings over 17 years of client service experience, business assurance, strategy and problem solving to Book Brush. Kathleen loves creating images and is happy to share her knowledge. We’re talking trailers for TiK Tok Instagram and other social media, as well as QR codes and where to use them. And so much more!

Ready to up your newsletter game in 2023? Listen up, because Tammi's got the very latest best practices for author newsletters ...

Happy New Year from the SPA Girls !! In this episode we talk about what goals and plans we have for 2023, Rom Com style using Billy Mernit's book, Writing The Romantic Comedy. We work through his story beats. Set Up. Catalyst. Turning Point. Midpoint. Second Turning Point. Crisis Climax. Resolution. The SPA Girls open a vein and talk about what we want to impliment and change in 2023. (there will be no fries with this, ignore Trudi) The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon!

This is an awesome episode just for you! We went through all of our episodes from 2022, and picked out the best pieces of advice, the most actionable tips, and the things we definitely think you should be doing for your writing career in 2023 and gave them to you here in one easy episode. You're welcome. :)

The Spa Girls wish you a wonderful Christmas and today we’re sharing our celebrations and things we’re grateful for. From Shar’s first taste of travel in three years and reaching 1000 subscribers on Youtube, all Wendy’s historical books hitting the top in that category and doing German translations, Cheryl achieving her goal of four books for 2022 and opening a store, Trudi finally finished a series and found a course that resonated more than she could have hoped for, there is plenty celebrate. The grateful list was long and included our guests who keep things real, listeners old and new who make us want to continue, doing what we love, family and author friends who support and get us, and on to entrepreneurs who build products and supply services which make our lives easier – we thank you all. Listen in to for a more comprehensive list and maybe there are some things that resonate with you too. Take care and make sure to recharge over the season.

If your book is not selling, what can you do? USA Today Bestseller, romance writer Leanna Morgan is here to day to help us sell more books PLUS offer wise ideas on advertising.

Lightbulb moments about writing and publishing that have turned you from gloomy to galloping along - have you had them? We have and today we're sharing the nitty gritty self publishing and writing tips that positively impacted our craft and careers - plus, of course, the mentors who've given us great advice.

Join us for another deep dive into an intriguing genre that's doing well for indie authors. USA Today bestselling author Honey Phillips joins us in the SPA to talk about Science Fiction Romance - what it is, what readers are looking for, and how to make sure they get it! Honey was a delight to interview and there are definitely a few gems in here for everyone, whether you write in this genre or not!

Today we’re talking to Dionne Lister about how she made the leap from part-time to full-time in one year, writing in two genres.

Steff ran an incredibly successful kickstarter in 2022 to fund limited-edition hardcovers of her books - in fact, it was fully funded in just FIVE HOURS!