Selling lots of books and winning literary awards can sometimes be mutually exclusive, but today's guest has managed both, so I'm thrilled to be talking to Rebecca Cantrell.

In the intro I give my own writing update and talk about my progress on Destroyer of Worlds. In publishing news, there are rumors of Amazon opening more bookstores across the US, and a kerfuffle about KU pages read now being calculated differently.

I also mention the release this week of How Authors Sell Publishing Rights by Orna Ross and Helen Sedwick, which is all about how you can sell foreign rights, translation and many more rights as the industry continues to open up to business minded indies.

This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.

Rebecca Cantrell is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning thriller and mystery author.

Her series include the Hannah Vogel historical thrillers set in 1930s Berlin, the Joe Tesla contemporary thrillers, the Order of the Sanguines supernatural thrillers with James Rollins (which I love!), and the Malibu Mysteries with Sean Black.

You can listen above or on iTunes or Stitcher or watch the video here, read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below.

An overview of the series Rebecca writes, including two co-written series; one with James Rollins and one with Sean Black.

On researching times and places where and when one doesn't necessarily live, and the tools available to do that including YouTube and historical diaries and newspapers.

Rebecca and I had an awesome conversation about the gates of hell, vampires and more. You can find an audio and transcription here.

Rebecca's advice about having fun while doing research and her suggestions for how to create a successful co-writing partnership.

How co-writing partnerships can help an author learn new skills, and grow and stretch as a writer.

How Rebecca manages and markets her books across several genres, and how she chooses what to write next.

On winning awards with writing and being a hybrid author.

The challenges and benefits that come with being traditionally published.

The shifting attitudes of traditionally published authors toward independent publishing.

Where the German market is on paper books vs. ebooks, and also what genres are popular in that market vs. the US.

On some of the challenging rules and laws in Germany that affect book pricing, titles and royalties.

You can find Rebecca at www.RebeccaCantrell.com and all her books on Amazon here, and at the usual online stores.

Transcript of interview with Rebecca Cantrell
Joanna: Hi everyone. I'm Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn. And today I am here with New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning thriller and mystery author, Rebecca Cantrell. Hi, Becky.

Rebecca: Hi, Joanna. Thanks for having me.

Joanna: Oh, it's great to have you on the show. And we've known each other a few years now, but you actually haven't been on this podcast before. You've been on my other show, on the Thriller site. So, I'm really thrilled to have you on this show today.
So first off, tell people a bit more about you and your writing background and why you're in Berlin.
Rebecca: Those are complicated questions. I'm one of those writers, like most writers, who always knew this is what I wanted to do from the time I was a little girl. And then after my son was born I think I kind of realized the clock was ticking.

And so, shortly after he was born I started the novel that would become my first published novel, which was set in Berlin in the 1930s. So that was called 'A Trace of Smoke', and it's set in 1931 Berlin. We moved here and as soon as we moved here,