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Bree Moore has been writing fantasy since the fourth grade. She lives in Ogden, is wife to an amazing husband, and the mother of four children. She writes fantasy novels between doling out cheerios and folding laundry. Her most recent book is Woven. In real-life, Bree works as a birth doula, attending women in pregnancy and labor, which is huge inspiration for her writing. Bree loves shopping for groceries like other women like shopping for shoes (no, seriously), movies that make her cry, and Celtic music. She likes both her chocolate and her novels dark.  Do you have an 'elevator pitch' for Woven, to summarize it for our audience members who maybe haven't read it before? It's a retelling of the Arthurian legend, and it's got a lot of really neat twists and a female cast. I focus heavily on a mostly female characters because they get a little neglected sometimes when we're talking about King Arthur and the Round Table. I don't recognize the characters of Sir Gereck or Winna ? did you make those up?  Winna is made up because Sir Gereck needed a wife. Gereck is technically listed as one of those as a knight of the Round Table. I based him off of like some other stories from other knights. In my Arthurian legends studies I covered very little of the Lady of the Lake, Nimue. I didn't realize she took physical form and wasn't always in the lake! What were your sources on that? When I was writing woven I was really intrigued by how many different characters seem to have so many different names. And I really wanted to find a way to kind of include that in woven. Just the fact that these are all like the same people, but they have different aspects of themselves. I watched the BBC show "Merlin" a bunch of times as one main source! Tell me a little about your journey writing "Woven." Where did the idea come from?And do you have a long-standing Arthurian legend obsession, or were the legends just necessary to the idea? A little bit, yeah. I think the first book I read in Arthurian legend was probably the Merlin series by TS White. Then in college actually had the opportunity to go on study abroad to Great Britain and did a tour of former sites potentially associated with the legends. Then my mom and I used to take turns trying to inspire each other with Arthurian legends, and she challenged me to write something on The Lady of Shalott. Probably one of the biggest reasons Elaina takes such a huge role is because the story started with her and I was halfway through the book before I realized that Guinevere needed a stronger part in the book. You're self-published, right? I am kind hybrid published in a way. I work with an indie publisher, and there's some things that I do like other self published authors do. So I hired my own editor, I hire my own cover artists, and then I send it off to my publisher and they work with Ingram to distribute my books. So my book is treated like a traditionally published book, but I have a lot of say in my deadlines and what everything looks like and a lot of control over the final product and I really love that. But I'm like any author that isn't huge: I do the bulk of the marketing. What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what's the most effective marketing strategy you've used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) Well the very first one, and I only say this because I am not actually there yet, but it's what everyone tells me: write the next book. I've tried focusing on promoting Woven by itself, with mixed results, and it's kind of discouraging to not have something for, for readers to go to next. So I think I'd rather build up a backlist a little bit. What are you working on now? I'm working on a ton of things right now. I am a super busy mom, but I refuse to let go of my writing. I'm working on the sequel to Woven, it's called Bound and it comes out September 1. And then I just had a short story accepted to an anthology. I have two other anthologies that I'm working on, and one comes out in December. Then I've started an urban fantasy trilogy that I hope will be released next year. Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations? Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorites. Anything I haven't asked you that you want to make sure you communicate to our audience? Summer is the best time to read. So I think everyone should read in the summer and find a new book!   Check out this episode!

Today's podcast comes from this online review of Sweet Evil. Check out this episode!

Kate Avery Ellison decided she wanted to be an author when she was five years old, and her dreams of telling stories for a living came true in 2011 with her first novel, The Curse Girl, and continued with her Amazon bestselling series The Frost Chronicles and numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. She loves putting a dash of mystery in everything she writes, an ode to her childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes, and she can't resist adding a good twist in the story wherever she can. Kate wishes she could live in a place where it's always October, but for now, she makes her home in Atlanta with her husband, two small children, and two spoiled cats. Her hobbies include--oh, who are we kidding. She is probably being lectured on the difference between a steam train and a diesel train by her toddler, or reading on her Kindle while rocking a fussy baby to sleep. Tell us a little about the world of Itlantis. How did you come up with it? Is Atlantis a longtime interest of yours? (And why change the spelling?) She always liked Atlantis. It's not set in our universe per se. She was trying to figure out how to explain this exactly. Since writing this book, she's written 10-12 other books. It's an alternate universe. Several of her books take place in the same world but people don't always realize this. There's a book that is on the shelf of one of her characters in one book and that book becomes a big deal in another series. She wants to write another series that will tie these connections together. As for Atlantis: Plato wrote about Atlantis and there are a lot of theories on it. She also liked the Disney movie when she was a kid. It's called Atlantis: The Lost Empire, came out in 2001. She's had a casual interest in stuff like that for a long time. You're self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? Did you ever consider going traditional? (Would you in the future?) She was trying to get an agent and had some positive movement in that direction in 2010. She was all about traditional, though self publishing was gaining steam at that time. She had no plans to be self-published, but she heard about Amanda Hawking, and she was in the news. She read blogs about her, and began to think about how she would do it. Then she realized she just really wanted to, to be in charge of covers, marketing strategy, etc. At one point in her life she wondered about doing graphic design, editing, etc. She's also really interested in marketing, etc. She's also very prolific and is able to put things out faster. She was courted by a traditional publisher and wondered if she wanted them to acquire one of her series. There was a movie deal: this was for Frost which was in the top 20 in the kindle store for awhile. She had a great moment for a few years. Then she had children and stopped working for awhile. She's now returning her full attention to it. It ended up coming down to money and the contract, and she just wanted to retain the creative control. She was already making a lot of money on the series. She ended up not going with it. But that series was an inspiration for a game: it's an app based game, called Frost. She's sold rights for that and various things. Secrets of Itlantis is one of her smaller series. What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what's the most effective marketing strategy you've used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) It has changed. What she'd have said 5 yrs ago is totally different than now. She's still seeing that if you can write fast, that still matters. But not so fast that you sacrifice quality. You get word of mouth, creating a base of true fans is huge. She doesn't like the word "fans," she likes the word "readers" better. Passionate readership. But you build that slowly. Blog tours don't work as well as they used to. Having some books on Kindle Unlimited has worked for her, but some people aren't big fans of that. She's noticed that running Amazon marketing service ads has been good for her. Promo stacking: buys ads with lots of places. Book Bub elevates sales for all books. Have to have a good cover that looks professional and conveys the genre in a glance. She had a lot of trouble with the cover of one of her books bc she kept thinking that it looked like the wrong genre. Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations? When she was a kid, she was hugely inspired by mysteries: read that exclusively when she was eight. Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, etc. She liked mysteries that had a twist. She also likes mysteries where there's a clever character who knows what's going on. Then she got into fantasy: Robin McKinley and historical fiction. All the stuff out now is what she wishes she had when she was a kid. Harry Potter: big fan of that too. Megan Whalen Turner is one of her favorite authors. She does hit NYT when her books come out: she has twists, clever character, fantasy, etc. She didn't read those books until she was 20-21. Another big one: Melina Marchetta. She's an Australian writer and she's written amazing books too. The Thief is the first of Megan Whalen Turner's books, and Finnikin of the Rock is the first of Melina Marchetta's. Robin McKinely continues to be an influence on her. She's still writing. Smart fantasy women who have a lot of political intrigue and strong female characters. Another one that's not a novel: not for children, but it's called Saga. It was written by one of the writers on LOST. It's a comic series. They like to push the envelope. Anything with a "found family": people who are misfits who come together and become a family. Star Wars is a big influence too. She wrote fan fiction for that and thinly veiled Nancy Drew fan fiction when she was little. She still reads a lot of fan fiction on An Archive of Our Own and fanfiction.net. They take someone else's ideas and world, and expound on them. I love the relationship between Nol and Aemi. Are your characters drawn from life at all? She wrote that series a few years ago and feels like her series grow with her. Her current series she feels come from some relationships she's had. She doesn't take people she knows and put them into her books. That's very dangerous, and doesn't usually work, bc what they do depends on the story. If there's a main character in her books, they're the opposite of herself. She puts herself in secondary characters. Her husband crops up in one of her most recent books. She'll put an element of people in characters. If she's ever had a character that is inspired by someone she knows in real life, she'd never admit to it. In your 'about the author' section, you say, 'She loves dark chocolate, fairy tale retellings, and love stories with witty banter and sizzling, unspoken feelings.' Sounds like we need to hang out! :) Favorite fairy tale retelling? The Curse Girl is one of these. :) She also recently read a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights: the motif in there. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. That's not even the only retelling of that to come out that year. Ella Enchanted is her favorite retelling of Cinderella. It's middle grade, very funny and witty and clever. She's also writing a retelling of Sleeping Beauty but it's really different. It doesn't have a release date yet. She has 50 series ideas all the time. 7. Anything I haven't asked that you want to share with the audience? Her most recent series is the Kingmaker series: 5 books in there so far, and the 6th one is coming out really soon ? way too soon. If you like Game of Thrones, you'll love it. It has the "found family" thing, and dragons. She has a passionate readership for that one and they get really excited and opinionated. The first book is called the Gift of Poison and it's on Kindle Unlimited. 8. If you use Amazon Prime, you can donate to The Clubfoot Research Foundation. This is a charity that is near and dear to her heart: Kate's daughter has clubbed feet and spina bifida. The group is raising money to explore alternative and better ways to treat clubbed foot. Awareness is always important bc awareness leads to money and more research. The treatment hasn't changed in the last 40-50 yrs. The braces their daughter wears they got from England and have done a lot of alternative treatments that they have to pay for out of pocket. They also live in Atlanta and there are some great hospitals and they're treated by a really famous and good doctor at a well-known hospital, but a lot of people don't get that chance. The methods available to many are limited. The technology is there and the knowledge is there, but it hasn't trickled down to the practitioners necessarily. Some babies can't tolerate the current treatment, or they don't ever sleep bc the treatments are so tough. Clubfoot is one of the most common birth defects. To donate, you can go to smile.amazon.com and enter the Clubfoot Research Foundation and it will put a portion of your purchases toward them? or you can donate directly, at https://www.clubfootresearch.org/copy-of-about-us. Check out this episode!

Today's podcast interview is with Amy Patrick! Amy is a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist (2013 and 2014) who writes Young Adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance as well as Contemporary Romance. She is the author of the Hidden Saga and the Still series. Living in New England now with her husband and two sons, she sometimes craves the heat and humidity of Mississippi, where she grew up. For many years she was a writer of true crime, medical anomalies, and mayhem, working as a news anchor and reporter for six different television stations in four different states. Then she retired to make up her own stories. Hers have a lot more kissing.  You can download a copy of the first book in her Hidden Saga, Hidden Deep, for free on Amazon! Do you have an 'elevator pitch' for Hidden Deep (and the series), to summarize it for our audience members who maybe haven't read it before? The first book: when 16 yo Ryann Carroll runs into the guy who saves her life in the woods. But he's not supposed to exist! The series is up to 9 books and a companion novella. The premise: what if the incredibly talented and gorgeous celebrities in our world who seem too good to exist actually aren't human ? they're fae who have used their glamour to hide their true identities? At last, they've grown tired of hiding in plain sight and they're ready to take their rightful place! You're self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? She grew up going to conferences and workshops and learning craft. Everyone she knew was pursuing traditional, so that's all she thought about. She was querying and looking for an agent, and around the same time she got an author from an agent, she discovered the compelling info on indie publishing. She felt like she'd be foolish to not even try it. The agent was fine with her self-publishing. She had a manuscript that she didn't think was suitable for self-publishing so the agent shopped that around for her. Meanwhile, she self-published a contemporary romance series. Amy told her agent about Hidden Deep, her first Golden Heart Finalist. But the agent wasn't interested in shopping that at all bc of the genre (YA paranormal romance). She's really glad that the agent didn't want that book, bc that was the one that took off. She self-published it in March 2015. What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what's the most effective marketing strategy you've used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) It's different for everyone, and things have changed a bit even since 2015. Back then people said the glory days of self publishing were gone. It is harder now, but write in a series if you want to have financial success. If she wants to put a lot of time and effort into something, then she wants it to pay. Interacting with fans is the best part, but she also needs to make a living. If you put one book out, it's a waste of time and resources to promote just that single book. Having the series really helps. Then, wait until you have at least three in the series before you start putting time and money behind a big promotional effort. She put Hidden Deep out in March and did nothing. The second book came out in May. Then she did Book Bub ads and dropped the price of Hidden Deep to $0.99. Then when she put out book 3, she made the first one free and continued the paid ads. Things exploded after that. She puts out books every 2-3 mo now. She writes full time. Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations?  In her own genre: there's one she adores but she'd written a few before she found her series: Wendy Higgins' Sweet Evil series. They're also clean reads. Her inspirations as a writer have been mostly romance authors but they're not writing urban fantasy or paranormal. Her top favorite is Lisa Kleypas: contemporary and historical romance. She rereads those and she learns something every time. Her favorite: not entirely clean but it's tasteful and beautiful: Again the Magic. Tell me a little about your journey writing "Hidden Deep." Did the idea fall into your head all at once, or was it gradual with a lot of outlining? It wasn't all in her head. It was the first book she ever wrote, over a period of 6 mo, every night after her kids went to bed, from 9 to midnight. She did feel like it was flowing, but she didn't outline it. Now she outlines everything ahead of time and that helps her to write so fast. This book just flowed, but it therefore took a lot of revising. She has to go back to the Lord of the Rings as her inspiration, even though that's high fantasy (taking place in another world). She read that 17 times back to back as a child! She was especially into Legolas (but I mean, who wasn't?) Were your characters modeled after anyone you know, or inspired by anything else you've read? Or were they all from your imagination? The main characters are complete fiction. There's always a little of the author in everybody, though. Ryann lives in a rural area of Mississippi. She modeled the location on where her father actually lives. Grandma Neena is modeled on her great grandmother. Her great grandmother's hair turned white in her 20s (after tragically losing her husband). Ryann's best friend Emmy was modeled on her high school friend Nissi. She was picturing her in her mind. I love the fact that your characters don't just jump into bed together. Since that's the way most stories seem to go these days?what made you resist? (And did you have a hard time coming up with an 'explanation' in the story for why they didn't?) It's good to have a legit explanation for why people wouldn't do that. Her characters are teenagers and human beings. It was important to her that they not do this bc she thinks it's a lot more romantic to not have that happen. She thinks it's a healthier way to go to take things slowly. The reason that goes with her character's mythology: even though they really want to, they're not going to. The main male character is part of a secret race living among humans. For his race, they bond for life. There is only one partner. So it's a serious decision. What are you working on now? (I hear it involves A.I? that's my current series too!) It's a YA science fiction taking place in the near future. Amy is a Blade Runner geek ? she's seen the first film hundreds of times. Anytime she sees a trailer on artificial life or genetic engineering, she's in! The book has to do with the idea of what it means to be truly human. Her main character, Marea, is a teenage girl who has never left her army base and never questioned why. She hadn't wanted to until an event happens in her life ? her peers are leaving the compound, and when they return, they're all beginning to act very strange and robotic. It takes place in 2055. Is there anything else in the Hidden saga coming down the pipeline? The people who read the series want to read more, and she loves the world. She has a few ideas she wants to explore. The series is 9 books long ? but within the Hidden saga, there are segments. If you read the first four books, you'll come to a point where you get a satisfying, wrap-up conclusion. Then you get additional characters that come in in the next few books. Original characters are always involved, but books 5-6 explore different aspects of the world. Books 7-9 start with totally different characters on a different continent. The rules of the world are the same but then it wraps back around. Then they're all in it together in the last book. Again, you can get Hidden Deep for free on Amazon here! Check out this episode!

Bio: Tiana Warner is the author of the multi-award winning Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy. She has a Computer Science degree and is a professional nerd working in the high-tech industry. She lives by the beach in Vancouver, Canada, and spends her free time riding her horse, Bailey. Do you have an 'elevator pitch' for Ice Massacre, to summarize it for our audience members who maybe haven't read it before? The series is based on the legend that mermaids are supernatural creatures that lure men to their deaths. It's set on an island in the Pacific NW. Did you ever consider going traditional? (Would you in the future?) Self-publishing is harder to get noticed. Hard to get into bookstores. Most of the books are e-books. It's choosing to run your publishing like a business. A good plan is to be hybrid. She wants to try to publish the next one traditionally. It's hard to get an agent and publishing deal. Shows that she has a following. You're self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? There are pros and cons: self-publishing is great bc you have total control. Set her own price, makes it affordable for readers. You can price your book lower and still get more money from it. Can also run promos whenever you want. Timeline was appealing too: you can publish when you want. What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what's the most effective marketing strategy you've used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) Book marketing is very hard. The #1 way to sell books: word of mouth. But that's outside of your control. Advice: get as many reviews as you possibly can. Ask readers to leave a review at the end of the book. If you reach out to book bloggers and offer them a free copy, that helps too. Run a lot of promos where you give your book away for free. Do KDP select or InstaFreebie. Donate to libraries. For Ice Massacre, she was on KDP select for the first 90 days and she got higher royalties. But for the next two in the series, she didn't do it bc it meant she was kindle exclusive. Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations? JK Rowling is her favorite author forever. She's a Ravenclaw. Also Maggie Stiefvater: Scorpio Races (water demon horses). In terms of general writing advice and inspiration: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder: great for plot structure and K.M. Weiland: Helping Writers Become Authors (https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/). Tell me a little about your journey writing "Ice Massacre." I've never seen anybody do a mermaid story before where the mermaids are not the main characters?and in fact, they seem like the villains for about half the book (sort of anyway). Where did you get the idea from? She came up with the idea in Disneyland in 2012. She wanted to write about something supernatural but that hadn't been done in awhile ? especially the real legend where they are vicious sea demons who try to lure men to their deaths. When she got home, she wrote the first scene from the middle and then jumped around. Usually she starts with a scene that excites her the most. Along those lines: is there a long-standing mermaid obsession? :) Or was it just something that worked for the story? No long-standing mermaid obsession but she's always loved fantasy creatures (especially unicorns!). Were your characters?especially Meela, Lysi, and Dani?modeled after anyone you know? Or were they all from your imagination? These were imagination. Dani's character arc had a few sources of inspiration. When she pictures her, she pictures a purring, sneering personality. Her arc was inspired by Black Swan, the film. Someone obsessed to achieve her goal. What are you working on now? The series is finished. She's now working on her next book: a sci fi about a woman who gets an internship at a space tech company and discovers that her boss is a supervillain. And Ice Massacre is being adapted into a graphic novel. Working with a comic artist who approached her about it. They'll pitch that to publishers. She did promotional art. Anything I haven't asked you that you want to make sure you communicate to our audience? On the topic of self-publishing: she has a blog post about this. Search for Tiana Warner Step by Step Guide. It outlines the steps involved, not as scary as it seems! https://tianawarner.com/2016/05/06/step-by-step-guide-to-self-publishing/ Check out this episode!