Today I have an interview with A.K.Benedict who moved from being an indie rock musician into writing supernatural crime novels. We talk about writing the dark side and why we all need the shadow, the challenges of marketing cross-genre novels, writing audio drama as she does for Torchwood and Dr Who, and how introverts can use performance techniques at conventions and literary festivals.
In the introduction, I mention the updated Kindle app on IOS which now includes Goodreads and how that might impact your marketing, why you should immediately subscribe to The New Publishing Standard as the next wave of growth is global, a personal update on the Coast Business Workshop – check out my pics on Instagram/JFPennAuthor.
If you'd like a dark read for Halloween, check out the Fear Bundle, which includes my novel, Gates of Hell, and my short story, The Dark Queen in the Feel the Fear anthology. Available a limited time at Storybundle.com/Fear. Here's a pic of some of the authors involved.
There are also 2 new podcasts that might be useful: The Smart Author Podcast with Mark Coker from Smashwords, and the Book Marketing Podcast by Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur, who also makes KDP Rocket, a super-useful tool for keyword research.
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.
A.K. Benedict writes supernatural, crime novels, poetry and short stories, radio plays, and audio dramas. She's also been a composer and indie-rock singer/songwriter.
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.
Show Notes

* Tracking creative ideas with online and paper means

* Why writers and readers need the shadow

* Combining genres and the challenges of marketing those books

* On the market for short stories and their flexibility with genre

* How writing for audio differs from other types of writing

* Finding writing work at conferences