The Story Studio Podcast - Writing, Storytelling, and Marketing Advice for Writers & Business

This week, the guys talked about the pre-production process. The way Sean and Johnny develop their stories with beats has evolved constantly with each project, and it’s always getting better. We also had tons of great questions from viewers about how Dave handles pre-production. With Sean and Johnny always going on and on about THEIR beats and production process, it seems everyone (myself included) was very interested in what Dave does on his end. Some very interesting stuff came out of the conversation!

We’ve been talking about Fiction Unboxed 1.5 on the blog for a while. One key aspect of the project is that Sean and Johnny will be writing the sequel to The Dream Engine during NaNoWriMo. But what exactly is NaNoWriMo? Why do so many writers take up the yearly challenge? How can a writer take some of the underlying principles of NaNo and apply them all year to keep a daily writing habit in all the months that aren’t November? That’s what the guys talked about this week. (Well, except what NaNoWriMo is, because they didn’t really touch that.) They actually spent most of the show trying to help Dave become a more driven writer. In the end, they decided that collaboration and working with a partner is a major motivator for Dave, and perhaps for many other writers like him. This is good stuff, and I can’t agree more with what they came up with by the end. If you ever wish you could write more (or enjoying writing more), this show could really help! WE’VE MOVED! From now on, the show notes and comments for each episode will be at SterlingAndStone.Net, the new digital home for EVERYTHING Johnny, Sean, and Dave do creatively. Click here to see this episode’s show notes, transcript, and video.

Let’s say you hit it out of the ballpark with your first book in a series. How do you follow that up? Do you up the ante? (Bigger and badder action!) How to you make sure the series doesn’t jump the shark or (worse) just fizzle out? This week, the guys talked about how to continue a series and make sure it stays awesome. They had the topic on their mind because Sean and Dave just finished Yesterday’s Gone Season 5, and there was a lot of pressure to keep the series interesting and just as addictive as the earlier seasons were. They have a lot of cool stuff to share about this. Even if you’re not continuing a series (yet), there is a lot of good info here. WE’VE MOVED! From now on, the show notes and comments for each episode will be at SterlingAndStone.Net, the new digital home for EVERYTHING Johnny, Sean, and Dave do creatively. Click here to see this episode’s show notes, transcript, and video.

Previously on this show, KDP Select was compared to an abusive boyfriend that keeps begging you to come back, only to be beat down again. Exclusivity is a tough pill to swallow even if you can make a little more money in the short term. On this week’s episode, the guys discuss the ups and downs of Select, and they describe why they’re putting Yesterday’s Gone in the program for 90 days, as well as some Lexi titles and possibly more titles to come. So is select worth it? Is it okay to make a purely tactical decision, maybe just sometimes? What if you already have your books uploaded somewhere else? There’s a lot to think about, and the guys hash out their thinking live on the show. Great stuff! WE’VE MOVED! From now on, the show notes and comments for each episode will be at SterlingAndStone.Net, the new digital home for EVERYTHING Johnny, Sean, and Dave do creatively. Click here to see this episode’s show notes, transcript, and video.

This week (which was actually last week—welcome to the time warp!), the guys talked at length about their recent live events, namely the Author Marketing Live event and the Worldbuilders’ Summit in Austin. There are a lot of benefits to meeting live with other authors, whether it’s at an event like the Summit or at a local coffee shop with some friends. Nothing beats the face-to-face communication, the energy and creativity you feel when everyone’s in the same room, bouncing ideas back and forth. This episode is definitely worth the listen just for all the fun and energy you can feel from the guys coming off the Summit.

This week the guys talked to Tucker Max about his new book, “Bookstrapping Your Way to a Bestseller.” Whether you’ve read the book or not, there was a lot of good stuff in this episode. First, the show began with the new SPP intro, along with an explanation for why SPP needed a new intro. The key difference is the disclaimer (“…mileage may vary…”). Always keep in mind that the decisions these guys make in their self-publishing business isn’t necessarily the best decision for everyone. Pay more attention to why they do what they do and never follow blindly. A bit of news: The “Scrivener for Beats” videos are up on Udemy, and the folks who supported Fiction Unboxed at a level high enough to get that will also get a code to see the videos directly from Udemy. Why use Udemy? The guys are hoping to have a lot more stuff up there in the future, so they’re racing to break into the new market now. While waiting for Tucker to appear, the guys also talked about the restaurants they went to at last week’s summit, a conversation that only turned into a rant when Tucker got on. His opinions about restaurants are as ranty as they are entertaining. Ah, finally, the guys started talking about self-publishing half-way through the episode. Tucker told the story behind his new “Bookstrapping” book, which he admits will be most helpful to nonfiction writers. He also ranted about the supposed “book marketing gurus” that have never launched a true bestseller themselves. Tucker’s advice really has to do with baking marketing into your book from the start and having in mind your ideal reader. Even though he focuses mostly on nonfiction, the group did talk about the differences in marketing fiction and non and what a fiction author can do to get more exposure. They also mused about how we need a better system for book referrals, a problem someone will hopefully solve one day soon. All in all, this show gets an A+ for ranty hilarity and helpful insights on marketing from a gang of pros.

This week the guys talked to Rysa (with a Y) Walker about self publishing, YA, and time travel. Loads of good stuff here! Sean and Dave were celebrating the completion of Yesterday's Gone Season 5 at the start of the episode. If you're a YG fan, you'll be happy to know that's coming out very soon. The guys seem very proud of the story, so you'll certainly enjoy it. Johnny, on a different note, is actually considering using 99 designs to help him design a tattoo. How cool is that? Weigh in with a comment if you support that idea. Finally, when Rysa got on, she talked about self publishing and working with Amazon to publish. She also talked about what kind of language should and shouldn't go into YA. There was also some fun time-travel talk, which can't help but be totally amusing. Give this show a listen and you'll quickly see why Rysa is destined to be an instant favorite SPP guest!

This week, the guys had Garrett Robinson on to talk about a new and exciting video series soon to appear on Youtube and Sterling & Stone, which we’re aptly calling Nuts and Bolts. Nuts and Bolts will be a regular, weekly series on the S&S blog. Made by Garrett, they’ll walk you through the how-to’s of everything self publishing, from how to upload your book to KDP to how to design a smart sales funnel. If you’ve seen the thousands of screen-capture how-to’s already online, you may feel pretty nonplussed about this new project, but Nuts and Bolts will aim to stand apart from everything already out there by taking on a Lynda-like, professional style. Listen to the show to find out why Mondays just might become your new favorite day!

Being a writer can be pretty unhealthy, especially since you sit on your butt all day, moving little else than your brain and fingers. That’s why Roland Denzel volunteered to come on this week and teach us a thing or two about being a healthier writer (and no, it wasn’t just to bust Dave’s balls). Before Roland got on, the guys talked about how amazing our Sterling & Stone site is coming along. Yes, we’re doing a lot of things at once, and yeah, we can barely keep up some times. But that doesn’t mean the site isn’t worth checking out. One new thing we’re starting is the Indie Fiction Podcast, which, if you like podcast fiction, you won’t want to miss. Once Roland joined the party, the conversation got remarkably… healthy. Here are a few key topics they touched on: Diet and nutrition Roland’s Health Background Simple stretches you can do Ergonomic keyboards Standing desks and treadmill desks You might be surprised by some of the stuff Roland shared. But if you want to keep creating your art for years to come, being healthy and working healthy are things you’ll want to look into. Enjoy the show!

This week, the three whitest guys in podcasting chatted about setting in story. How important is it and how can you make your setting awesome? You’ll want to listen to find out. The guys started out by talking about how amazing the new Fiction Unboxed book is going to be. What started out as stupidly wordy transcripts turned into an awesome follow-up to Write Publish Repeat. The book tells the story of Fiction Unboxed while sowing in lessons every writer needs in their work and life. After Dave ranted about Linkedin, the guys answered one voicemail question about promoting through KDP select and another about funnels and CTAs. Interestingly, both callers were nonfiction writers, so if you do the nonfiction thing, you should check these out! Then, they finally go to the main topic: Setting. Some points that were discussed: How important setting is How setting changes the story How setting can be like a character in of itself What stories/authors handled setting well (or not so well)

You don't want to miss this Q&A! Some great topics are covered here. NOTE: If you want to see these G&A's in the future, you'll have to become an S&S Starter. Find out more about that HERE.

This week the guys talked about using cliffhangers to make a series or serials addictive for readers. They talked about both good and bad examples of cliffhangers, and there are some spoilers, so BEWARE! First, Johnny opened up a mini-topic: dating your work. Should you include dates, technology, or cultural references in your work? Will that turn readers off in just a few years? Is there a way to date your work without losing future readers? They talked about how Stephen King dated his work all the time, to both good and bad effect. But there is a danger here, and you can give your book a very short shelf life if you’re not careful. Even though the guys spent only a few minutes on the topic, it did include some interesting food for thought. On to the main topic. The guys talked about cliffhangers: Why you use them, when you should or shouldn’t use them, and to what effect. They included some examples of good cliffhangers. So possible spoiler warnings for Dexter and Battlestar Galactica. A few other shows that have handled cliffhangers well are Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones, though they didn’t mention any specifics for those series. Cliffhangers can also be done poorly or at the wrong time. They showed some examples of ways to enrage your readers, which probably isn’t a good thing. Finally, the show ended in a cliffhanger, so you’ll have to tune in next week to find out what happens to…

This week, the guys talked about Direct Sales and why Rainmaker is helping us make SterlingandStone.Net the best author website on the internet. They (well, mostly Sean) ramble quite a lot about the subject at first, but they end up saying some really useful stuff by the end. First, they talked about writer health, prompted from a listener voicemail. The conversation focused mostly on how important ergonomics is for writers, since we spend most of our day sitting very still while typing our brains out. They also showed off Sterling & Stone’s first ever hardcover, The Dream Engine. This is a big step for us, and we hope to have many more hardcovers in the future. Even though there is quite a learning curve involved, plus the lack of promise of getting any real profit from sales, having hardcover available is really making a statement about how seriously you take your books, and hopefully that will inform how seriously others take them, too. We got an update on the Sterling & Stone logo contest, which, thanks to 99 Designs, is going awesome! There were so many options to choose from that it made Dave cranky, and once we had narrowed the choices down to a handful, the results were astoundingly beautiful. Finally, they got to the topic of direct sales and the reasoning behind the decision to make S&S the official umbrella site for everything Johnny, Sean, and Dave are doing. A few things that were touched on: How Sterling and Stone came about The benefits of direct sales The subscription model and how to build a relationship with readers What authors can do now to apply some of the stuff we’re doing on S&S, even if you can’t afford to use Rainmaker. By the way, here’s the link Johnny mentioned from Garrett’s blog, about direct sales. If you have questions, about any of this, leave them below on this blog post, and the guys will answer them on a G&A hangout tomorrow (Thursday) night. NOTE: You’ll see that hangout, not on the usual Youtube channel, but a different one completely. Here’s the link to S&S’ new, official channel, where all SPP and BOU episodes will be from now on.

This week the SPP crew had on special guest David Lawrence. They talked about ACX and audio books, especially about how to choose between recording your own audio and hiring someone to narrate your books for you. The S&S Website Monster The guys started out by complaining about how frazzled they feel after fighting to keep Sterling and Stone up and running. In case you haven’t been paying attention (and if not, how are you reading this?), the S&S website has been consistently publishing two posts a day, thanks mostly to Sean himself. (I’ve helped a little, but Sean’s the man on this, hands down.) SterlingandStone.Net will be the best author website on the web… one day. For now, it’s a whole lot of work because we’re moving so much stuff over to the one destination. The only thing that keeps us going is the vision of how awesome it will be in just a few more months. We can’t wait! Another Stupid Ad Read As long as they work, the guys will keep doing them. This week they talked about the show’s sponsor, 99 Designs, in a very apt context: Dave has set up a contest on 99 Designs to create the perfect logo for Sterling & Stone. They’ve gotten so many entries that Dave actually started to complain about it before the show! But all complaints aside, there have been so many great entries, it’s certain at this point that S&S will soon have a rock-star logo to match the beautiful site. David Lawrence Steals the Show We’re accustomed to seeing guests that seem almost out of place because of how professional they look compared to the rest of us, and David Lawrence fit that bill to a T. His refined manner, professional mannerisms—even the way he looked into the camera when speaking—it all gave David a credibility that demanded attention. And then there was all the great stuff he had to say! Lawrence talked about choosing between making your own audio book and paying someone else to do it. His advice is definitely worth a listen. Sean even got some live tips on how to improve his own fiction-reading podcast, which will hit the digital airwaves right here on S&S real soon. All-in-all, this show is worth at least a couple of listens, and it’s one you’ll want to come back to when thinking about audio books of your own work.

This week we had Mimi Strong on the show, and boy was she a fantastic guest. She’s found success in more than a couple of genres (which is why she calls herself a Genre Hobo) and she shared some of her secrets with us on the air. Whoever thought this show was too blokish should absolutely give this episode a listen! Sterling and Stone’s Live! First, we talked a bit about how awesome and massive this site is. Sterling and Stone is quickly becoming the best author site on the web, and it’ll only get better with time. Kindle Unlimited A lot of listeners have requested that we talk about Kindle Unlimited, so we did for a few minutes. The consensus was luke-warm at best. On one hand, Unlimited is another marketing opportunity for authors, but it only applies to those in KDP Select. So, maybe, it could be worth it to put a new book through Select first before releasing wide. On the other hand, as Johnny so frankly pointed out, exclusivity is a remarkably bad idea. Johnny likes to compare KDP Select to the abusive boyfriend that keeps begging you to come back, only to beat you again. Mimi Strong Smacks the Blokes Around Mimi Strong publishes in several genres under several pennames. Her strong opinions sometimes clashed with what we normally say on the show, giving a fresh debate to SPP. Mimi put out a convincing argument about publishing under different names. She also shrugged off categories, saying indie authors pay way more attention to them than readers do. Agree? Disagree? Listen to the full show and leave your opinion below!