Tag: marketing

• May 8, 2025Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP499 – Interview with Ana Huang, Multi-Million Copy Bestselling Author (Classic Replay)

  Ana Huang is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of fourteen contemporary romances, which have collectively sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Her subgenres range from sports to billionaire and suspense, but all of her books feature her signature blend of steam and swoon.

• October 9, 2024Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP469 – Marketing, Selling Wide & Direct Sales – with Rebecca Hefner

  Rebecca Hefner is a USA Today bestselling author who is a passionate advocate for authors to reach more readers through publishing their books across a wide number of retailers, as well as on their own store. This episode she shares how she juggles her writing over three pen names, creating a monthly schedule for easy marketing and social media wrangling, and lots more marketing advice for connecting with readers.

• September 4, 2024Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP464 – Switching Genres and TikTok Success with Alexa Rivers

  When she decided to write a palate cleanser novel in a completely different genre - with a brand new pen name - Alexa Rivers had no idea she would have a hit on her hands. In this interview she talks about why she wrote the book, how she picked the new pen name, the marketing she did, and how a book she wasn't expecting to do much at all... kinda did awesome. :) She also talks about the ups and downs of her journey with TikTok, and gives some great pieces of advice for everyone to use!

• May 15, 2024Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP448 – Changing From Frontlist to Backlist Focus with Maggie Dallen

  This week we talk to regency romance and young adult author Maggie Dallen, who tells us how she changed her mindset and her author business model, with huge success! Maggie is a prolific author who was writing up to twenty books a year, but she was reaching a point where she wanted to slow down and diversify her writing skills by learning script writing. She realised she needed to find a system that would take advantage of her extensive backlist, and allow her more time for her other writing interests. In this fascinating interview, Maggie talks us through how she did it, what the major challenges were, and how you can do the same thing!  Maggie was a delight to interview, and gave us so much useful advice - you're going to love this one! 

• April 10, 2024Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP443 – Book Marketing and TikTok with Kate Hall 

  Kate Hall is a paranormal romance and non-fiction author who has taken her marketing expertise and used it to kick butt on TikTok. She started Alyne Digital Solutions in an effort to help authors make a sustainable income from their books, and since starting has scaled two of her businesses and several others’ to six figure incomes. As well as discussing facts and figures for TikTok, we’re also delving into marketing for authors, and why you’re probably using the wrong hooks in your social media. A wonderful open and informative discussion that could unlock answers to questions we’re all asking right now!

• December 12, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP426 – How To Launch A Successful Series with Helen B. Scheuerer

  Are you dreaming of an easy approach to create successful book releases? Listen up, because we’re joined again by the bestselling fantasy author, Helen Scheuerer, who shares all the secrets of a Successful Series Launch, including:

• December 5, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP425 – Book Launch Strategies

  Congratulations! You’ve finished your first book (or series) and are ready to hit the publish button! So what can you do to get your book noticed in sea of other new books, and how can you find the right readers for you? The SPA Girls are here to help!

• November 8, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP421 – Book Marketing With Carrie Elks

  This week we talk to contemporary romance author, Carrie Elks about amping up your book marketing. It's a fantastic and informative interview packed with great tips and advice that you won't want to miss!

• September 13, 2023Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP 413- Back Engineering a Bestseller

  Today’s topic was prompted by a commenter on youtube who asked us about reverse engineering bestsellers. What makes a book, be it your second one published or your tenth, sell more than others.  We believe there are many variables to that. Timing, tropes, the first 10% of how a book starts. The cover, blurb, and other popular tv or books that may have similar aspects.  There are many things to consider, and today we take a dive into why a book can launch a career!

• August 23, 2023Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP410 – What To Do When Your Marketing Isn’t Working

  Marketing but not achieving results? Maybe you need to do a bit of a deep dive into why. We've got some tips on where to start ...

• July 19, 2023Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Writing Craft & Editing

  SPA Girls – EP405 – Hotwire Your Publishing Plan For The Holidays

  We know there are still 5.5 months to go until the end of the year! But!! We think it’s important to start getting organized for the final push. Ads, blurbs, covers. In the SPA today we talk about the things you need to focus on!

• June 21, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP401 – Lynn Raye Harris, Let’s Talk Series!

  Today we talk to the amazingly talented author Lynn Raye Harris about series. Everything from multiple connected to branding. This is a must listen podcast!

• May 23, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP397 – Marketing Audiobooks with Rebecca Hefner

  USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Hefner is passionate about marketing audio books wide. After several years of struggling early on, her audiobook sales now surpass her ebook sales most months. As Rebecca says, “I had an excruciating learning curve with wide audio and want to save other authors from this torture!” She shares her best practices and tips for wide audiobook success in this must-listen episode.

• April 12, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP391 – How to Successfully Publish Wide with Erin Wright

  USA today bestselling author of Western Romance, Erin Wright, has worked every job under the sun, including library director, barista, teacher, website designer, and ranch hand, helping brand cattle, before settling into the career she’s always dreamed about: Author.  Despite starting out in KU in 2016, she went wide on all platforms in 2017 when she discovered she couldn’t get her books in libraries if she was exclusive to Amazon. She started the Wide for the Win Facebook group in 2019, to help other authors find information about being wide, and now the group has grown to a community of 14,390.  Erin breaks it down and lists the reasons why she made this decision. She uses serial apps, website direct sales, multi-author promotions, as well as many platforms that we had never heard of. If you are keen to diversify and find more ways to reach readers, this is the episode for you.

• March 14, 2023Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP387 – TikTok For Authors With Brighton Walsh

  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.

• January 17, 2023Guest Interview, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP379 – How To Make a Trailer with Bookbrush

  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!

• December 29, 2022Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP376 – Top Tips from 2022

  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. :)

• December 7, 2022Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP373 – Lightbulb Moments of Writing Advice

  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.

• October 18, 2022Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP366 – How To Recover When You Screw Up

  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 :)

• July 13, 2022Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP352 – Interview with Dave Chesson from Kindlepreneur

  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.

• February 23, 2022Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP332 – TikTok Tips with AK Mulford

  This week we talk to fantasy author AK Mulford about how she got started on TikTok! We cover TikTok for authors in depth: how to start, who to follow, how to get your follower count up, best length of videos, what to post, how to create the videos, hashtags, sounds, dealing with comments, batching, duets, stitching, etiquette plus differences from other social media platforms. And most importantly: does it sell books? If you've ever considered jumping on TikTok, this is the episode for you! 

• December 15, 2021Goal Setting, Planning & Productivity, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP322 – Uncommon Writing Advice

  We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom for fiction writers – but is it actually appropriate for self-publishing today?  We break down five pieces of uncommon advice that have stood us in good stead and why we think they’ll work for you too ...

• November 24, 2021Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP319 – Reader Reach with Written Word Media

  It’s no secret that we use Written Word Media for ads and while we don’t have affiliate links, we can’t think of a reason not to try Freebooksy and Bargainbooksy. But what would you say to them running Facebook ads for you? Today we talk to Clayton Noblit, Senior Marketing Manager, along with Grant Shepherd, Ad Fulfilment Manager at Written Word Media about their new advertising offering, Reader Reach. Reader Reach is a data-driven all-in-one ad solution that allows authors to reach thousands of readers on Facebook as efficiently as possible. Learning how to build ad images, audience research, or writing ad copy, the setting up and running ads can be time-consuming, costly, and stressful. Reader Reach does all the heavy lifting for you. The Reader Reach team handles everything, from ad creative and copy to audience targeting and bidding. Their goal is to help you find the right audience for your book, and let you focus on what matters most: writing your next book!

• November 11, 2021Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP317 – StoryOrigin

  Evan Gow is the indie developer of StoryOrigin, a marketing tool and community of authors that work together to find reviewers, build mailing lists, increase sales, and stay on top of deadlines.

• November 3, 2021Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP316 – Interview with Nicholas Erik

  Wondering how to get started with Facebook ads, but not sure where to start? Join us for today's podcast with Facebook ads guru, Nicholas Erik! Nicholas is a science fiction author with more than 20 books to his name. He's also written books for authors including The Ultimate Guide to Book Marketing and The Ultimate Guide to Productivity, as well as running courses about Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads and BookBub Ads for authors. He was awesome to talk to and gave a huge amount of useful information for authors - this is one of those episodes you really don't want to miss!

• August 25, 2021Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP306 – Finding Joy In Book Marketing with Roseanne Cheng

  How do you decide what to do when people tell you to "Do All The Things"?! When the hustle is just too much, Roseanne has guidance for what works and what doesn't.

• July 14, 2021Self-Publishing Process & Tools, Writing Craft & Editing

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP300 – Pride and Perseverance

  Join Shar, Wendy, Cher and Trudi for the 300th EPISODE of the SPA Girls Podcast! EEEEEEKKKKK!!!!! Can you believe it? It's been a crazy ride, but we've loved every minute of it. :) In this episode we talk about having pride in your work and being proud of everything you've achieved, and then how to persevere in the face of all the odds! This is a fun episode where we open up about some of the things we've been through over the last six years, and give our best advice for anyone looking to self publish! 

• July 7, 2021Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP299 – Book Marketing On A Shoestring

  Marketing doesn't have to be Big Bucks spent on advertising. In fact, some of the best marketing you can do is free or low cost. If you're just starting out there probably isn't much left in the budget for paid marketing. We've been there! In this episode, we've dug deep to find all the tools we used instead of heavy investments—and some we still do.

• September 2, 2020Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP255 – Newsletter Strategies

  This episode we discuss our (very!) different newsletter strategies: what provider we use and why, how we build our lists, our content, how frequently we email subscribers and what tips have worked for us.

• February 12, 2020Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP226 – Romance Your Brand with Zoe York

  We are delighted to welcome back NYT and USA Today bestselling romance author, Zoe York. Zoe is not only a fabulous writer, but she's a marketing whizz who talks to us today about building a marketable genre fiction series.

• February 20, 2019Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP175 – How To Make Facebook Work For You

  We often get asked what authors should post on Facebook, and whether it's worthwhile even being on the platform at all. The answer from the SPA is a firm yes, we believe Facebook is a really useful tool for authors, especially in romance. There are many positives to having a presence on the social platform, not least of which is the ability to find and connect with readers and other authors.  So this week we break down the platform and talk about the different areas that are useful to know about as an author, plus give you ideas to use for ongoing content, some etiquette to bear in mind for using Facebook as an author, and ways you can use Facebook to amp up your book sales.

• July 11, 2018Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP143 – Interview with Carlyn Robertson from BookBub

  This week we were lucky enough to talk to the delightful Carlyn Robertson from BookBub, all about how the email advertising platform works, and how it can help you as an author. For some authors, BookBub has literally been a game changer, and it's well known in the Indie community as a way you can get a massive boost in sales. The downside is that every man and his dog wants to get a BookBub ad, and they get hundreds of applications every day, making it really freaking difficult to get a BookBub ad. Happily for all of us in the SPA, Carlyn takes us through exactly how it works, how to apply, what to expect when you apply, and some of the ways to make sure your application is more likely to succeed. She was also able to give us insights into the way they write their amazing blurbs, and how they decide what content to provide to their millions of readers. (Hint: it's all about data and testing). It's an information packed episode, so make sure you have your notebooks out!

• August 10, 2017Guest Interview, Marketing, Advertising & Sales, Mindset, Health & Writing Life

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP94 – Interview with Monica Leonelle

  In this week's interview Shar and Trudi have to soldier on in rainy old New Zealand while Wendy and Cher continue swanning about in Orlando. Happily we managed to score a fantastic interview with the lovely Monica Leonelle who chatted to us about marketing for indie authors, and the lessons she's learned since starting out. Knowing what to write about in your newsletter or on Facebook, or even how to connect with your readers can be a big problem for writers. (I know I struggle with it!) Monica took us through some of the psychological triggers that she's come across over her years as a marketer and copywriter, and explains how you can sprinkle them into your marketing content to make it more compelling and persuasive to the reader.  This interview is filled to the brim with fantastic tips on how to amp up your connection to your readers, find new super-fans, and generally improve your ability to promote your books. Yay!  Note: There is a small echo problem in the first five minutes of this recording - but don't give up, it gets better. And you won't want to miss this content!

• March 2, 2017Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP71 – 10 Marketing Tips for Beginners

  This week we talk through the basic marketing principles that you need to make sure you've got in place for promoting your books. Think of it as a 101 class in marketing, just for you. :) We talk through tips like ensuring consistency of brand, having the right kind of bio and blurb, and being professional.

• August 28, 2016Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP46 – Should I Write a Series?

  This week I (Trudi Jaye) was away, so against my better judgement, I let the other three do the podcast without me. Surprisingly, against all expectations, they managed to do an episode that was moderately okay. :) Don't miss this episode as Wendy, Cher, and Shar talk about writing in series - why you would do it, what it involves, how to remember all the characters, and some hot tips on marketing your series.

• May 18, 2016Self-Publishing Process & Tools

  SPA Girls Podcast – EP33 – Getting Your Newsletter Started

  Welcome to another episode of the infamous SPA Girls Podcast, where we break down the journey to self publishing one step at a time. This week we talked about newsletters - what they are, why you should have one, and how to go about getting one sorted. Setting up an email newsletter is often quoted as being the number one top priority for a self published author - it gives a direct line between you and your readers, which can be invaluable.