The Indy Author Podcast
Matty Dalrymple, The Indy Author
The Indy Author Podcast is for writers who are serious about both the craft of writing and the business of publishing — whether you're working toward your first book or building on an established career.
Every week, host Matty Dalrymple talks with authors, editors, marketers, and publishing professionals about what's actually working right now. Topics span the full range of the writing life: developing compelling characters and tighter plots, navigating indie and traditional publishing paths, running effective book marketing campaigns, building an author platform, working with AI tools, writing short fiction and memoir, managing the business side of an author career, and much more.
With hundreds of episodes in the catalog featuring guests from across the publishing world — from debut authors to bestsellers, indie publishers to Big Five veterans — there's something here for writers at every stage of their journey.
Named one of the 10 Best Podcasts for Authors by Dale L. Roberts, and recognized five years running by Writer's Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers.
Hosted by Matty Dalrymple, author, publishing consultant, and founder of The Indy Author platform.
Every week, host Matty Dalrymple talks with authors, editors, marketers, and publishing professionals about what's actually working right now. Topics span the full range of the writing life: developing compelling characters and tighter plots, navigating indie and traditional publishing paths, running effective book marketing campaigns, building an author platform, working with AI tools, writing short fiction and memoir, managing the business side of an author career, and much more.
With hundreds of episodes in the catalog featuring guests from across the publishing world — from debut authors to bestsellers, indie publishers to Big Five veterans — there's something here for writers at every stage of their journey.
Named one of the 10 Best Podcasts for Authors by Dale L. Roberts, and recognized five years running by Writer's Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers.
Hosted by Matty Dalrymple, author, publishing consultant, and founder of The Indy Author platform.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 23, 2021 • 59min
Episode 071 - The Provider Side of Author Services with MK Williams
M.K. Williams talks about what she has learned from her author services business, including the importance of establishing a network within the community you want to serve, the advice to approach people with an offer rather than an ask, the value of her project management background, and the importance of knowing what your time is worth. M.K. Williams writes suspenseful literary fiction for the contemporary reader. Her fiction work includes NAILBITERS, an apocalyptic science-fiction thriller, ENEMIES OF PEACE, a cautionary tale of the American Dream gone awry, and THE INFINITE-INFINITE, the first in a series of sci-fi adventure books. Her non-fiction work includes writing and self-publishing guides, a budgeting and planning workbook, and THE FIOLOGY WORKBOOK: YOUR GUIDE TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE. She helps bloggers and podcasters bring their message to print.
Mar 16, 2021 • 39min
Episode 070 - Copyright for Authors with Orna Ross
Orna Ross of the Alliance of Independent Authors talks about COPYRIGHT FOR AUTHORS. We discuss why it's so vitally important for authors, and especially indy authors, to understand the basics of copyright, at what point in the creative process copyright is established, the various parameters by which rights can be defined, and when legislation that focuses too heavily on authors' rights can harm more authors and readers than it helps. Orna Ross is the founder and head of the Alliance of Independent Authors, a non-profit professional business membership organization for self-publishing authors. ALLi provides trusted advice, supportive guidance, and a range of resources, within a welcoming community of authors and advisors.
Mar 9, 2021 • 41min
Episode 069 - Writing Memoir with Beth Kephart
Beth Kephart talks about WRITING MEMOIR, including various motivations for embarking on a memoir, and which might be considered unproductive or unhealthy (for example, for revenge). She discusses how writers can approach topics or episodes that involve actual people, both from a writing perspective and in terms of preparing those people for the experience of reading about themselves. And she talks about the market for memoir, and her experience across the full spectrum of publishing options—from the most well-established traditional houses to her own imprint. Beth Kephart is an award-winning teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. She was the 2013 Master Writing Teacher for National YoungArts, is a co-founder of Juncture Workshops, has delivered keynote addresses on the art of teaching, has led teach-the-teacher sessions, and has taught writers of all ages in a variety of settings. She has published two books on the teaching of memoir—HANDLING THE TRUTH and TELL THE TRUTH. MAKE IT MATTER.—and writes a monthly educational newsletter, Juncture Notes.
Mar 2, 2021 • 39min
Episode 068 - Handling Difficult Topics in YA Fiction with Emma G. Rose
YA author Emma G. Rose talks about the event that led her to write about suicide in her YA novels, how her goals for her book changed over time, how she approached her family about the topic of the book and how she interacts with her readers, and how she uses guidelines from her journalism background to avoid glamorizing the topic. Emma G. Rose is a Maine author of contemporary fantasy, including NOTHING'S EVER LOST and NEAR-LIFE EXPERIENCE. She intended to become a kick-ass girl reporter like Nellie Bly. Then she spent a Christmas Eve standing on a riverbank waiting for rescue divers to pull a body from the water. That's when she stopped waiting and wandered off to explore the world instead.
Feb 23, 2021 • 45min
Episode 067 - Mistakes Writers Make about the FBI and How to Avoid Them with Jerri Williams
Former FBI agent Jerri Williams talks about MISTAKES WRITERS MAKE ABOUT THE FBI AND HOW TO AVOID THEM. We discuss common myths and misconceptions about the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, including the portrayal of jurisdictional issues and roles and responsibilities. Jerri shares tips for the best way to approach subject matter experts for information to inform your own work. And we discuss how you can stay true to the facts while still making the story interesting. Jerri Williams served for 26 years as a special agent in the FBI, working major economic fraud investigations. She uses her prior professional experiences with scams and schemers to write crime fiction about greed. Her novels PAY TO PLAY and GREEDY GIVERS – both inspired by actual FBI cases – feature a female FBI agent assigned to a Public Corruption and Fraud Squad in Philadelphia. She is the producer and host of the true crime podcast FBI RETIRED CASE FILES REVIEW, where she interviews retired FBI agents about their high-profile cases and careers.
Feb 16, 2021 • 41min
Episode 066 - From Indy to Traditional with Jason Kasper
Thriller author Jason Kasper discusses what drove his move from indy publishing to a small traditional publisher, the control he's maintained over his two primary reader outreach mechanisms (email and a private Facebook group), and how he has maintained another indy author practice: rapid creation of content. Jason Kasper served in the US Army as a Ranger and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq before attending West Point. Jason then served as an Airborne Infantry and Special Forces officer, deploying multiple times to Afghanistan and Africa. During his off-duty time he began running marathons and ultramarathons, skydiving, BASE jumping, and writing fiction. His last Army assignment was as a Green Beret team commander. Upon returning from his final deployment in 2016, Jason began his second career as an author with the publication of his debut novel, GREATEST ENEMY. Jason lives with his wife and daughter in North Carolina. A portion of all his sales benefits the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
Feb 9, 2021 • 48min
Episode 065 - X-raying Your Plot with Tiffany Yates Martin
Tiffany Yates Martin talks about X-RAYING YOUR PLOT, including the benefit of the x-ray—getting an overarching view of your story—how it differs from an outline, the importance of the "but / therefore" test, and some steps you can take if your x-ray reveals breaks in your story. Tiffany Yates Martin has spent nearly thirty years as an editor in the publishing industry, working with major publishers and New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling, award-winning authors as well as indie and newer writers. She is the author of the Amazon bestseller INTUITIVE EDITING: A CREATIVE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO REVISING YOUR WRITING. She's led workshops and seminars for conferences and writers' groups across the country and is a frequent contributor to writers' sites and publications. Under the pen name Phoebe Fox, she's the author of the Breakup Doctor series and her most recent release, A LITTLE BIT OF GRACE.
Feb 2, 2021 • 48min
Episode 064 - Writing and Publishing Children's Books with Keith Wheeler
Keith Wheeler talks about writing and publishing children's books, including the importance of writing for the parents as well as the child, how to find and work with an illustrator (including advice to never work with friends or family), and the production process and options for books with illustrations. Keith Wheeler is a multi-award-winning author. His first work was published while he was a freshman in high school and since then, Keith has self-published over 250 books in numerous genres, and has helped others achieve their goals of becoming published authors. His philosophy is simple: "EVERYONE from 7 to 107 has a book inside them waiting to come out and I love to help them on that journey."
Jan 26, 2021 • 48min
Episode 063 - Wide for the Win with Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Mark Leslie Lefebvre talks about going wide for the win—the importance of distributing to and understanding all the retail platforms, not just Amazon. He gets pretty impassioned as he talks about the dangers of a lemming mentality, and he reminds us that there are bookselling professionals behind those other platforms, and that our own professional reputation benefits from us keeping that in mind. And he questions whether an author distributing only to Amazon really deserves to be called an independent author. Mark Leslie Lefebvre is an author, professional speaker, and bookseller with more than a quarter century of experience in writing, publishing, and bookselling. Mark started writing when he was thirteen years old, was drawn to bookselling and has remained in the industry since 1992, wearing many different hats. Among other things, he was the founder of the Kobo Writing Life author platform and is currently the Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital. He is a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction, and is the host of the Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing podcast.
Jan 19, 2021 • 45min
Episode 062 - Mastering Point of View with Jon McGoran
Jon McGoran discusses point of view, the pros and cons of first-, second-, and third-person point of view, and reader expectations based on considerations such as genre. He discusses the importance of narrative economy and triangulation--how one character's observations of another character can give the reader a lot of information about both the observed character and the observer. And he shares a formatting tip for helping to keep track of POV characters, and to see where POV shift occur throughout your manuscript. Jon McGoran is the author of ten novels for adults and young adults, including the award-winning YA science fiction thrillers SPLICED, SPLINTERED and SPIKED, and the acclaimed thrillers DRIFT, DEADOUT, and DUST UP. He cohosts THE LIARS CLUB ODDCAST, a podcast about writing and creativity. He is a freelance writer, developmental editor, and writing coach.
