Podcasts Episodes

In this episode, I interview photographer Kelly Cummings about how to design a social media campaign for your self-published book and book tour. We discuss how to use hashtags, how to deal with Instagram changes and how to spin a lackluster book signing into social media gold.

In this episode, I interview Jonathan Walls, the web designer and developer who built the website for The Localist. We talk about whether you should hire a web developer to design your author website or use a template, when to install Google Analytics, the pros and cons of WordPres and Squarespace, and which pages and functionality your book’s website will need.

In this episode, I talk about how to network to promote your self-published book, including tips for a short and sweet elevator pitch, ideas for how to drive people to your website, and how to meet people who’ll care about your book.

In this episode, I interview Mollie Hawkins, freelance writer and former librarian. We talk about why it’s difficult to get your self-published book onto library shelves and the best ways to butter up library staff and librarians in hopes of getting your book into a library catalog.

In this bonus episode, book buyer Elisa Munoz and I continue our conversation. In this episode, we talk more about The Localist book tour, discussing how to get book signings in brick and mortar bookstores, how to approach book industry people for favors, and what to expect from a book signing.

In this episode, I interview Elisa Munoz, former book buyer at a big box bookstore. We talk about why it’s almost impossible for self-published authors to get their books into big box stores, how to approach a book buyer, and which genres perform best in corporate bookstores.

In this episode, I give tips for taking better selfies, including: how to find better lighting, how to get better at turning the camera on yourself, and how to deal with feeling bad about self-promotion — because self-published authors and published authors alike need to know how to self-promote on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

In this episode, I interview Cary Norton, the Birmingham area photographer who took my press photos for The Localist book. We talk about how to hire a photographer, how to properly credit a photographer, what photo styling will make the best author photos, and we discuss Cary Norton’s tin type photo project, Gus Dugger.

In this episode, I interview Sarah Cook, freelance journalist for publications like Birmingham Magazine and Social Media Manager for Iron Tribe Fitness. We talk about best practices for press releases, what to include in your press kit, and what to say (and what not to say) when emailing a journalist about your self-published book.

In this episode, I talk about my writing process, including writing rituals, the magic of deadlines, the importance of grammar and most important writing tool of all — hard work.