Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 049 - Rambling Across America with Tommy Ray

Mark interviews engineer and author Jeff Krehmer about his new book Infinite Resources: How to Sustainably Develop the Arctic, by Supplying Green Hydrogen, Fresh Water, and Healthy Food to the World.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #InspireInclusion.

Learn more about International Women's Day and find resources at: InternationalWomensDay.com

In the interview, Mark and Jeff talk about:

• Jeff's background in various disciplines, including mechanical engineering, project management, software, computer sales
• Sitting on the vision for this current book project for more than ten years, and how having a heart attack two years ago prompted the idea that he should get that work out into the world
• The basic premise of the book in that the arctic can create a sustainable solution if we leverage it in the right way
• "If global warming is the problem, then shouldn't we be maximizing global cooling?"
• The boiling temperature of different liquids, such as propane
• Some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded on earth
• How the book has numerous possible target audience readers, depending on which of the world's problems they are looking to solve (or the economics they want to reap benefits from)
• What people can do to help
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on the fact that, in the same way that humans have had an impact on the world, and Jeff is reminding us of the positive impact we can have if we learn and we act, we have an impact on one another. This is a reminder to authors of the powerful impact that they can have with the words they write and share.

Links of Interest:

• Infinite Resources Website
• Jeff Krehmer on LinkedIn
• International Women's Day
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
  • Smashwords Link
     (eBook 57% Off until end of Feb 2024)
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Jeff Krehmer is a professional mechanical engineer and the author of “Infinite Resources.” He is president and chief engineer at Big Time Engineering Corp.

During his engineering career, Jeff has worked as a salesperson, technical support technician, estimator, project manager, product designer and engineering manager. He has more than a decade of experience designing equipment for the oil and gas sector and is a Certified SolidWorks Professional (CSWP).

Jeff has volunteered with and received awards for his volunteer work with the Canadian Ski Patrol System, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and APEGA, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews author, podcaster, and publisher Edward Willett about his writing, his podcast, Kickstarter campaigns, and some bold new ventures he is pursuing with his publishing company Shadow Paw Press.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

Mark interviews Amanda Byrd about her writing, direct sales, and the new platform she has launched called AuthorsGoDirect.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, welcomes new patrons Rob Johnson, Jennifer Brinn, and Rasana Atreya and then shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

Mark interviews John Chrastka, the executive director of EveryLibrary, the first nationwide political action committee for libraries, and the EveryLibrary Institute, a nonprofit research and training organization focused on the future of library funding. 

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, reads comments from recent episodes, and says a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores.

You can get the book online, order it through your local bookstore, or ask for it as your local library.

Universal Book Link

Smashwords Link (Coupon Discount for Feb/March 2024)

In the interview, Mark and John talk about:

• John starting off his career in publishing as a bookseller in a small neighborhood Chicago community bookstore, and how that led to becoming a publishing sales rep
• Migrating over to the Ed-Tech realm as the internet came around
• Moving on over to The American Library Association from there
• What EveryLibrary is: a 501(c)(4) organization that is a political action committee for libraries
• How it's more of a network than a membership that is about 330,000 people strong
• Telling stories about how libraries are solutions to problems for people and librarians as enactors of those solutions
• In about 37 states, public libraries actually have to go to election days to get their funding secured
• The four different ways that voters stratify:
  • Believers - People who love the library and have a relationship with their library (25%)
  • Questioners
  • Suspicious Voters
  • Never Gonna Vote for you Never (22 to 25%)
• The answer for people who question the value of a local library because they "don't do books"
• How the library as a source for reading grew from 19% to 24% during the pandemic and the way that percentage is continue to hold in 2024
• The way that the isolating of society is not just a library issue but a public health issue
• The popularity of book banning in the United States in recent years and the fact that it's easier to censor a book than it is to attack a person or a population
• How this censorship and book banning isn't merely a matter of freedom of speech issue, but a matter of human rights
• The pernicious nature of using the term "obscenity" and "obscene" to criminalize particular pupulations and to help skirt around First Amendment rights
• How libraries are an affordable way to put tax dollars to good use in the way they provide so much to their local communities
• The multiple pathways they have to help people move from "aware" to "active"
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on how books are being banned and censored as an underhanded way to strike at specific demographics and populations, and the value in focusing on the "Suspicious Voters" as a brilliant strategy.

Links of Interest:

• EveryLibrary
• fightforthefirst.org
• Canadian Federation of Library Associations
• Canadian Library Association
• Ontario Library Association
• Canadian Urban Libraries Council
• Superstars Writing Seminars
• Author, Author (Indie Bookseller - Laura Hayden)
  • EP 167 - Author, Author, Give Me The News: Bookseller Insights with Laura Hayden
• Fantasy Island (TV Show)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
  • Smashwords Link (eBook 57% Off until end of Feb 2024)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Superstars Writing Seminars
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

John Chrastka is the executive director of EveryLibrary, the first nationwide political action committee for libraries, and the EveryLibrary Institute, a nonprofit research and training organization focused on the future of library funding. Since 2012, EveryLibrary has helped 133 library communities with ballot measures for funding, operations and buildings, winning over 80% and securing over $2.8 billion in funding on Election Days. Through its digital platforms, EveryLibrary provides advocacy support to state library associations for legislative issues and direct actions in support of school library program budgets. The EveryLibrary Institute supports the library funding ecosystem through its research, training, publishing, and programmatic agendas.

Mr. Chrastka is the co-author of Winning Elections and Influencing Politicians for Library Funding and Before the Ballot: Building Political Support for Library Funding with Patrick “PC” Sweeney (ALA / Neal Schuman). He has contributed chapters to Planning our future libraries: Blueprints for 2025 (2014), and Re-envisioning the MLS: Perspectives on the Future of Library and Information Science Education (2018). In 2015, he delivered the McKusker Memorial Lecture, “The Accidental Candidate: Updating Voter Nostalgia about Librarians and Libraries on the Campaign Trail” for Dominican University and has written for numerous trade publications and journals, including Library Journal and Library Quarterly. In 2018 he delivered the keynote “Advocacy and Activism” for CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, in Brighton, England, and in 2020 he was invited by EKZ Group in Hamburg, Germany to present a colloquy on advocacy for their members and the profession. He is a frequent keynoter and speaker at state and national library conferences in the United States and abroad, is a sought-after trainer for state libraries, and is a regular guest lecturer for MLS / MLIS programs where he speaks on the topic of "political literacy".

Prior to his work on EveryLibrary, Mr. Chrastka was a partner in AssociaDirect, a Chicago-based consultancy focused on supporting associations in membership recruitment, conference, and governance activities. He was Director for Membership Development at the American Library Association (ALA), was a principal in the education technology start-up ClassMap, and was the founder of the virtual publishers’ sales rep group ReviewCopy, which focused on textbook adoption in the higher education market. In 2014 he was named a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal for his work with EveryLibrary. He was recognized by the Chicago Tribune in 2022 as a Chicagoan of the Year and by Publishers Weekly in 2023 as a Notable for his work opposing book bans and censorship.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

A solo episode where Mark shares an excerpt from four elements from his book PUBLISHING PITFALLS FOR AUTHORS.

• PAST
• PATRIARCHY
• PAUSE
• PAYING

The main content (those four points) are read by Mark's AI voice via Eleven Labs.

Links of Interest:

• EP 246 - Four of The Pitfalls of Publishing
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
  • Smashwords Link (eBook 57% Off until end of Feb 2024)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Superstars Writing Seminars
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Josh Cook, Josh Cook, an author, bookseller and the co-owner at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has worked since 2004 about his writing, his book The Art of Libromancy and his life as a reader and writer.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, welcomes new patron Jennifer Brinn, thanks Buy Mark a Coffee patron Nikki Guerlain, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the books The Art of Libromancy and An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores.

Ask for these books via your local indie-owned bookstore or via your local community library.

In the interview, Mark and Josh talk about:

• Josh's earliest days really getting into reading and how he had wanted to be a writer since about the age of 16
• After post-secondary education, landing in Boston and deciding that working in a bookstore would be a good place for a writer to work
• Discovering the "coming soon" and "help wanted" sign on a neighborhood bookstore: Porter Square Books
• Continuing to build a freelance writing career, crafting articles, reviews, fiction, and poetry
• Getting his first manuscript into the hands of a publisher that he knew well from his role in bookselling, which was the novel AN EXAGGERATED MURDER
• The path, via roles such as Online Presence Manager (website and social media) and Marketing Director that led to eventually becoming a co-owner of Porter Square Books
• The challenge of the most qualified people to take over owning and running a bookstore, the booksellers, often don't have the necessary money, funding, and resources to do so
• The model that has become a bit more common recently that enables employees the option of becoming a vested co-owner or interest sharing participant in a bookstore
• The genesis of the book THE ART OF LIBROMANCY
• The major reckoning that many people had in 2016 when Donald Trump got elected at trying to understand their place in a world that would allow something like that to happen
• The concept of how the book industry (publishing, bookselling) would continue to empower and legitimize the voices of misogyny, white supremacy, other bigoted ideas
• How it all clicked after Josh had participated in a virtual event with Biblioasis author Jorge Carrion for the book AGAINST AMAZON AND OTHER ESSAYS
• Pitching the book to Biblioasis and how the existing relationship and in-depth knowledge Josh had of their publishing house (and their editor's knowledge of Josh himself) led to an instant acceptance of his book proposal
• The importance of relationships and recommendations from people that you already know, like, and trust - and how that plays a significant role in book projects
• Elements of human curation that can happen in person within a community, particularly as something that Amazon can't do
• The idea of a bookstore as a "third place" that is neither home nor work where someone can go and be a human being with other human beings
• A few of the challenges, both expected and unexpected, that happened when Porter Square Books had to adapt into an online and curb-side order facility during the pandemic
• How the learned skills of booksellers being able to absorb information and insights about books from publishers, colleagues, and customers, even if they haven't read them, is such an important aspect of a bookseller's role
• ARCs (Advance Review Copies) as one of the primary ways Josh has of knowing what is on the way
• Christopher Morley's THE HAUNTED BOOKSHOP and the Melville House edition that Josh first discovered which is a love letter to the art of bookselling
• How books are great ways to be safely uncomfortable
• The paradox of tolerance, as expressed by Karl Popper in THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES: If you tolerate the intolerable, your space will eventually become intolerant
• A bookseller's role within that paradox of allowing tolerance for voices that seek fresh voices, but prevent those voices whose mandate is to shut-down or not allow diverse voices the ability to be expressed
• Josh's perspective of how publishers, authors, bookstores and others within the industry involved in this process are all teammates working together to get books to readers
• Strategies authors can use to establish genuine relationships with their local community bookstores
• And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on walking away from fascinating conversations with a list of books to read, some of the parallels between Josh's journey into bookselling and his own, and how the employee-to-owner situation also parallels the change-of-ownerships of Words Worth Books, a local indie bookstore in Waterloo that Mark adores.

Links of Interest:

• Josh Cook on Social Media:
  
  • BlueSky Social
  • Instagram
• The Art of Libromancy (Biblioasis)
• An Exaggerated Murder
• Porter Square Books (Cambridge and Boston)
• Words Worth Books (Waterloo, ON)
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
  • Smashwords Link (eBook 57% Off until end of Feb 2024)
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Superstars Writing Seminars
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Josh Cook is a bookseller and co-owner at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he has worked since 2004. He is also author of the critically acclaimed postmodern detective novel An Exaggerated Murder and his fiction, criticism, and poetry have appeared in numerous leading literary publications. He grew up in Lewiston, Maine and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews author Eric T. Knight about his writing and about the origin of StoryFair. net a platform that seeks to pay authors the highest royalty of any other third party platform for their audiobook sales.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes, welcomes new patron Rob Johnson, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount (affiliate link). Spend less time logging in to multiple platforms and crunching numbers, and more time writing and marketing your books thanks to ScribeCount's handy all-in-one interface.

In the interview, Mark and Eric talk about:

• Eric's youth being way off the grid and in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, which made reading an important aspect
• How reading became a gateway for access and connection to the rest of the world
• Understanding that if he were to keep working at it, that he really could make it in writing some day
• The long and arduous road of submissions of writing to publishers, finding an agent, and pursuing traditional publishing
• The fantasy series that Erik had worked on starting back in the 80s
• Deciding to put one of his fantasy novels up on Kindle just for fun and how that led to a colleague's wife discovering the book and loving it
• Eric's mindset not changing until the year he decided to submit to a total of 50 agents
• The power of being able to write the series exactly the way he wanted to
• A bit about The Chaos Legacy universe and the various different linked series that take place within those books
• The experience of getting his books into audio and beginning to understand some of the barriers that existed within that realm for authors
• Beta launching StoryFair in the summer of 2023 and then making the site live in November 2023
• How the payment to authors process at StoryFair works
• Plans for an affiliate program for authors to send readers to this platform
• The challenge of having to scale up their infrastructure so early in the process due to huge interest from some major players
• How the StoryFair app is currently only available in the United States (at least for now until some of the legal stuff can be sorted out)
• How to set up an account, load your book, and when the monthly payments to authors come in
• The way that a good narrator can bring characters and stories to life in ways that you might not be able to imagine
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on that pioneering indie author spirit that leads to providing the market with elements that were previously missing but needed, as well as the value that a library brings to a community.

Links of Interest:

• StoryFair.net
• EricTKnight.com
• Eric's books at Amazon
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• The Author Wheel Podcast - Season 5 Episode 3 - Overcoming Self-Doubt and Mastering Book Marketing with Mark Leslie Lefebvre
• Feisty Familiars Anthology
• Draft2Digital Self-Publishing Insiders with Jeaniene Frost (Jan 25, 2024)
• Matty Dalrymple (Episode Links)
  • EP 116 - Taking the Short Tack
  • EP 216 - Podcasting for Authors
  • EP 236 - Reflective Round Table Feb 2022
  • EP 245 - Reflective Round Table March 2022
  • EP 258 - Reflective Hangout Highights - June 2022
  • EP 300 - Celebrating 300 Episodes with Guest Reflections
• Episode that mentions license plate and skeleton thief:
  • EP 330 - Book Indexing Made Simple with Stephen Ullstrum
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Eric T. Knight grew up on a working cattle ranch in the desert thirty miles from Wickenburg, Arizona, which at that time was exactly the middle of nowhere. Work, cactus and heat were plentiful, forms of recreation were not. The TV got two channels when it wanted to, and only in the evening after someone hand cranked the balky diesel generator to life. All of which meant that his primary form of escape was reading.

At 18 he escaped to Tucson where he attended the University of Arizona. A number of fruitless attempts at productive majors followed, none of which stuck. Discovering he liked writing, the author tried journalism two separate times, but had to drop it when he realized that he had no intention of conducting interviews with actual people but preferred simply making them up.

StoryFair is a platform with a mission: Put an end to author exploitation in the audiobook industry

There’s a problem in the audiobook business. A MAJOR problem. Did you know that when you purchase an audiobook on Audible, Amazon keeps as much as 75% of the cover price of the book? The average price of a major publisher/new release audiobook is in the $24 range. That means Amazon keeps at least $18.00… after fees, it’s actually a little bit more.

That leaves very little for the publisher, authors, and narrators to divvy up, and ultimately, it means that readers are by and large paying exorbitant audiobook prices to do one thing above all else… pad Amazon’s pockets.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews Elizabeth Andre (AKA Karen and Victoria) about her/their journey through writing, collaboration, and the new book SELF-PUBLISHING LESBIAN FICTION.

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from recent episodes and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount (affiliate link). Spend less time logging in to multiple platforms and crunching numbers, and more time writing and marketing your books thanks to ScribeCount's handy all-in-one interface.

In their conversation, Karen, Victoria, and Mark talk about:

• The background of how Karen and Victoria got started as writers, and then about how they met and why they started writing together
• Karen's earliest memories coming up with playtime stories with her younger brother that took on a "soap opera" and "serialized" format
• The concept of how to earn money that came down to one of two things: Sell drugs, or write porn
• Researching the writing of gay male porn by getting magazines and reading through them
• Coming up with numerous ephamisms for the male sex organ appendage
• How Victoria comes from a long list of writers, including her father and how she wanted to be anything BUT a writer
• The two of them each discovering the joy and the magical allure that is journalism
• Being one of the many writers who was "Sherry Lovelace" for the UK edition of Penthouse Magazine
• Meeting at a Gay Journalist Convention and clicking, but not really having that much in common
• Discovering that, despite the "common wisdom" from traditional publishing, money could be made from writing lesbian fiction. That shift, of course, came from the rise of self-publishing
• Who the readers of gay male fiction and lesbian fiction are
• The origin of the pen name Elizabeth Andre
• Some of the logistics of how the two write together
• Who the book Self-Publishing Lesbian Fiction is for, with an analogy of an off-the-rack suit and a tailored suit
• The tally of the $35 and $45 dollars owed from various publishers and platforms
• The term and use of "Sapphic Fiction" and how it is more inclusive of lesbian, bi-sexual, trans, and non-binary
• Some of the barriers that arise when writing lesbian fiction
• How self-publishing can overcome so many of the barriers within traditional publishing
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on a couple of topics brought up, specifically "serialized playtime stories" and the "tailored" work of writers.

Links of Interest:

• https://www.tiktok.com/@elizabethandrelesfic
• https://www.instagram.com/elizabethandreauthor/
• https://www.facebook.com/elizabethandreauthor
• https://twitter.com/Elizalesbian
• https://substack.com/@elizabethandre
• ScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• EP 290 - Thanks for the Inspiration, Jim Turcott
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
  • How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Elizabeth Andre has been self-publishing lesbian fiction since 2014. She writes cozy paranormal mystery, lesbian romance, science fiction, and young adult stories. Before turning her hand to fiction, she was a newspaper reporter for many years, and she has the paper cuts to prove it. She has won many writing awards including a Goldie from the Golden Crown Literary Society for fiction and a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club for journalism. Elizabeth Andre is actually two people, a married interracial same-sex couple (Karen and Victoria) living in the Midwest.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this special bonus solo episode, Mark shares some reflections about recent publishing trends.

Prior to the main content, Mark welcomes new patron Donn King, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor, the patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

Links of Interest:

• Written Word Media Publishing Trends Posts
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2020
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• EP 340 - Personality, Passion, Presentation, and Persistence with Todd Fahnestock
• EP 011 - The Power of Free With Musician and Composer Kevin MacLeod
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Mark interviews bestselling writer, editor, and writing instructor, Wulf Moon, who won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards at the age of fifteen, and followed that with winning the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Contest, and Writers of the Future. He leads the Wulf Pack Writers group and is the author of The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing and How to Write a Howling Good Story. 

Prior to the interview, Mark reads comments from previous episodes, shares a personal update, and then says a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the Stark Publishing book How to Write a Howling Good Story by Wulf Moon.

The book is 25% off at the Smashwords store until the end of Jan 2024.

Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast can get the book for 75% off until the end of Feb 2024.

In their conversation Mark and Moon talk about:

• How Wulf Moon might not have been the name that he was born with and how the name "Moon" which he has been called most of his life came from his Ojibwe grandmother
• Moonbeam Road, a local road his father named after him when he was growing up
• Not having a father who was supportive of his writing, and even having to run away from home when he was younger
• Finding an important positive voice as a youngster in a teacher
• The additional lengths this one teacher went to support and encourage Moon in his writing
• Winning the Scholastic Art and Writing Award at the age of 15, among so many other awards that this teacher helped him find
• Getting beat up so often in high school that the only thing he could do was look down as he walked in the hallways - but how he found his power in writing
• The importance of finding a way to be who you are and to not allow others to repress you from that
• Starting up Wulf Moon's Super Secrets Writing Workshop right after winning Writers of the Future - and offering all this support to other writers for free
• The repeated authors who have gone through Moon's teachings and then ended up winning Writers of the Future
• The Wulf Pack Writers group that Moon manages
• Following the concept of "how can I help you with what I know"
• How writers don't understand proper Manuscript Format
• The high ranking sales that HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY has hit since its release in November 2023
• Moon's concept of Heart's Desire as the most important principle in a story
• Caring that happens in the heart of the reader, which can create the Reader/Hero bond
• Getting to a point in his life that was so low that he took risks and was burning bridges behind him and not writing for 10 years
• Realizing that he couldn't be happy and couldn't be fulfilled not being a writer
• Moon's experience meeting Dean Wesley Smith at the Nebula Awards in Eugene Oregon
• The importance of having both the fundamenals of writing and the belief in yourself
• The mantra "belief determins reality" that Moon instructs his students to write down
• The dedication in Moon's HOW TO WRITE A HOWLING GOOD STORY
• Meeting other people "like me" at writer conferences, etc and the incredible value that can bring
• Advice Moon would offer to newer writers
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of not denying who you are and not denying the things that bring you pleasure. He also reflects on the concept of finding your people, your Tribe, and the positive impact we can have on one another if we just take the time to listen, to reach out, to others.

Links of Interest:

• Wulf Moon's Website
• How to Write a Howling Good Story
  • Smashwords link
  • Patron Coupon for 75% off
• EP 340 - Personality, Passion, Presentation, and Persistence with Todd Fahnestock
• Mark's YouTube Channel
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard

Wulf Moon is a bestselling writer, editor, and writing instructor. At fifteen, Moon won the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and followed that with winning the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Contest, and Writers of the Future. He leads the Wulf Pack Writers group. He’s won both Best Author and Best Writers Workshop four years running in the Critters Readers’ Choice Awards, and is the author of The Illustrated Super Secrets of Writing and How to Write a Howling Good Story. www.thesupersecrets.com

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0