Spa Girls Podcast

Today in the SPA we talk about not relying on luck to build your career. We believe you can make your own luck, but don’t wait for it to happen! Ron Weasley (or not, we’re not really sure) says believing in yourself is 100% more powerful than luck! Overnight success may happen for some, but if you dig deeper often, what appears to be a lucky break is actually from years of hard work to get to that point.

In this fun episode with Lillian Lark, we learn about monster romance - what it is, how it's defined, who's writing it well, and how to write one for yourself! Not only is Lillian doing well in the genre of monster romance, she's also doing amazing things on TikTok, so we were able to quiz her on her tricks and techniques for the social media platform as well.

There are many types of editing and today we're discussing how the SPA Girls approach a second draft. Plus, we've produced a checklist, which is an amalgamation of all our processes. First, we suggest you start with a break from the project altogether, and how long that is will depend on your timeline, so going forward factor this in. Here's our checklist: Does your story make sense? Is there enough conflict? Pacing is vital - Does it flow and read well? It is too slow or fast? Does the tension build? Setting - Does it hit all the feels? Can I visualise it? Buildings, places, etc. Characterisation - Are your characters consistent? Do they do what they are supposed to? Do the support cast do their job? Do the hero or heroine achieve growth in the book? Or reach the goal you originally set for them? Description - are you recounting or summarising, or are you world building? Hooks - Does each of the last lines in chapters make you want to read on? Action - is it clear what the roles of your protagonist

This episode sees the SPA Girls sharing their own Big Oops and how they recovered / learned from them. Inspiration plus for indies at all stages of their careers :)

In this episode we talk to the amazing Renee Rose about her new release Write To Riches!  15-time USA Today bestselling romance author Renee talks to us about the power of abundance mindset, manifesting your desires, and attracting wealth. She's an amazingly inspirational speaker and this is one episode you don't want to miss!

Ever wondered how authors create a reader base full of raving superfans... and how you could do it too?? Well, wonder no more! This week we have bestselling paranormal and contemporary romance author Steffanie Holmes on the show to talk about how to create superfans for your books. Steff talks about the methods she's used to create stronger connections with her readers, including having a strong author brand, newsletters, interconnected stories, and so much more! We love having Steff in the SPA, and she's super smart with her marketing, so this is an episode you don't want to miss!

A long-time friend of the SPA Girls Nalini Singh is here to talk about world-building, and if anyone knows how to do this–it’s Nalini! New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series of paranormal romances, Nalini also writes New Zealand-set thrillers, the most recently released of which is Quiet in Her Bones. Her contemporary romances include the Rock Kiss and Hard Play series, the latter of which revolves around a rugby-loving family in Auckland. 33 of Nalini's solo titles have hit the New York Times Bestseller list (most recently Archangel’s Light, in November 2021). Her books have also hit the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller lists. She's received the Australian Romance Readers Award several times and won two Sir Julius Vogel awards. The first book in the Psy-Changeling series, Slave to Sensation, was named as one of the New York Public Library’s 125 books from the last 125 years that inspire a lifelong love of reading.

Looking for tips to make your marketing tasks more organized and less stressful? This is the episode for you! From marketing bibles to free online tools, your book marketing should become a whole lot less overwhelming.

This week we talk to the amazing Mia Brody all about how she makes a fulltime living writing instalove short romances. It's an amazingly informative episode with plenty of wow moments, that you won't want to miss!

One size doesn't fit all - we've all heard that saying, but how do you know what DOES work for you? In this episode, we discuss how to identify what best works for you in three areas: - Your Writing Process - Your Publishing Strategy - Your Marketing Strategy and share tips and resources that we've learned along the way.

It was our great pleasure to interview Michele Scott, a NYT, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling author of over forty novels and the CEO/owner of equestrian sports medicine company Professional’s Choice, Inc. Michele has written in various genres including thrillers, mysteries, young adult mysteries, fantasy, and women’s fiction. Her thriller Daddy’s Home from her Holly Jennings’ Thriller series written under her pen name of AK Alexander has sold over one million copies and was the #1 bestselling book in the UK Amazon. Her thriller Mommy, May I? was number 2 on the Amazon list. Her Wine Lover's Mysteries are currently optioned, and a movie version is projected to begin filming this year.

Learn how Emilia Rose started her publishing career through posting chapters on Wattpad, and monetized through Patreon subscriptions!

Do you want to have an author store and don't know where to start? USA Today bestselling author Morgana Best takes us through the process of setting up your store and best practices. This is an episode you won't want to miss!

This week we talk about how to find new ideas, and how to use those ideas in new ways. How to find them in the everyday hustle and bustle of our lives, and how to turn them on their heads to create something intriguing and interesting to our readers.  We go through a series of story starters, of intriguing kernels that you can use to create an awesome story that your readers will love to read... 

Samantha Price is a USA Today bestselling author of Amish romance books and cozy mysteries. She was raised Brethren and has a deep affinity for the Amish way of life, which she has explored extensively with over a decade of research.  Focused and organized, Samantha's the results speak for themselves, but it will amaze you how prolific she is and how she built her career in a relatively small niche. Listen in to the episode for all the details of how understanding that niche inside and out made her such a popular and successful author.

This week we discuss burnout, protecting our creativity, being productive and not buying in to the hustle culture.

All about book launch strategy - from pre-orders, why publishing print books before ebooks makes sense, wrangling an ARC team, paid and free advertising and lots more!

Dave Chesson joins us in the SPA to chat about some of the awesome apps that he's designed for authors on the Kindleprenuer website.  Dave is a smart guy, and he knows his stuff when it comes to self publishing, so the apps are all super useful and on-point. This includes the free apps, such as the Book Description Generator and the Hashtag Generator (if you've ever struggled with finding good hashtags on any of the socials, that's the app for you!) and his two powerful paid apps, Publisher Rocket and newbie Atticus.  Join us for Dave's insider tips and tricks on how to get the best use out of the apps, and hear some of his best insights into marketing for indies.

When you feel the frantic need to achieve and you don’t, it’s easy to get stuck or suffer burnout. If that’s happened to you, then Corinne has some ideas to get you through. The Calm Entrepreneur was born out of a series of aha moments over the past several years. After a long time writing-to-market and chasing the algorithms with rapid release, she found herself in deep burnout. Deciding to write a book about recovery from burnout, Corinne soon realized that it wasn't just about recovery - it was also about the practical things needed to move through the slow process and claw her way out.  This was about getting back to basics on the admin side of her business and writing, and re-assessing and re-securing the foundational practices of her work. Focusing on the fundamental organizing and system principles of day-to-day life, and getting back in touch with all the things that were on auto-pilot (or had been ignored) was the thing that shifted everything. As she started sharing this with friends, other autho

This week we broadcast our 350th episode and in complete contrast to how laid-back Kiwis generally approach milestones, we’re celebrating the heck out of it!