Celebration time! In this week's very special episode, we're celebrating Phill's transition from corporate jerk to full-time author, and getting into the nitty gritty on how Phill and J.H. have slowly grinded this pipe dream into a reality. It's episode 42, and it's about life, the universe, and everything.

Literary agent Stacey Kondla joins the pod this week to talk about agenting, concerts, and parrots. On a related note, Phill might be part parrot. Stacey provides some great advice for anyone out there in the querying trenches.

News:

• The Never-Ending Story will never end
• Library fines paid in cat pics
• Reading the newspaper is cool again?
• The U.K. publishing sector

Tools:

• The value of a robot voice reading your stories to you

Creatives on F.I.R.E.:

• Do's and dont's of querying
• What Phill has learned transitioning to a full time author

Author Paula Lafferty joins the podcast this week and shares her success with finding an audience on TikTok and running an exceptional Kickstarter for her debut novel, La Vie de Guinevere.

And Phill has an exciting annoucement!

Paula's TikTok

La Vie de Guinevere Kickstarter

News:

• Writer Beware warns about impersonation scams
• Book clubs
• TikTok and the fed
• Spotify adding Countdown pages to audiobooks

AI News:

• The Publishers Association pens a letter to the robot overlords

Writing Tools:

• TikTok & Instagram - Building an audience
• Kickstarter - Running a big ole campaign

Creatives on F.I.R.E.:

• Putting our money where are mouths are

The book writing, podcasting, movie making, beefy moo man Nic Lishko joins the pod this week! Nic is the author of the Young Adult Fantasy series - John Little. He also a co-created of the award winning web series Long Walks on the Beach. And he hosts a podcast called Cinema Gush.

News:

• Brandon Sanderson VS Audible
• Dead Folk's Books
• The Zon vs Bookwire

A.I. News:

• More lawsuits!

Writing Tools:

• Dictation

Creatives on F.I.R.E.:

• Querying Agents
• Do your taxes

Musician, author, podcasters, and all around amazing artist Olivia Harding joins the show this week! You may know Olivia as Liv the Druid from the band, Music the Gathering, but she is also the host of the podcast Folk Files, where she dives into the history of famous folk songs. She is also a member of the band Gumshoe Noir, and recently took pen to paper to write a novel to their tunes.

Music the Gathering

Folk Files

Gumshoe Noir

News:

• Kindle Vella changes
• Books-A-Million rolls out same day delivery
• Penguins unite!
• According to Webster...

Tools:

• Vellum & Atticus & the joys of formatting

Creatives on F.I.R.E.:

• Cross branding
• Debt

R.L. King joins the pod this week to tell us about her Alastair Stone Chronicles. She also shares a wealth of knowledge about her process and why her nickname is rat.

News:

• World Con is going to L.A.
• Blocking pirate ships reduces pirates. Neat.
• McAnime Nuggets
• EC Comics

Tools:

• Plottr
• BookBrush

Creativies on F.I.R.E.:

• Going wide vs going Zon
• The dangers of life-style inflation

"You can always sell a good book." - Craig Martelle.

Craig Martelle joins the show this week to tell us what he's been working on and to drop some knowledge bombs. Whether you're pursuing the indie or trad path, you won't want to miss what Craig has to say.

Phill & J.H. recap their time at Superstars. Spoiler alert: It was awesome.

News:

• World Con Awards Drama Update
• World Con Bids
• Cormac McCarthy Valentine's Candy
• Orbit Works

A.I. News:

• King Charles A.I. books
• The suit against the robot overlords is not going well for team Authors

Tools:

• Book Funnel

Creatives on F.I.R.E.:

• Submitting to publishers
• Reducing expenses & value-based spending