Kobo Writing Life Podcast

In Episode 92, Mark Lefebvre interviews Charles de Lint, who is the author of more than seventy books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, Charles is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and has been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. In the interview, Mark and Charles talk about: The underlying theme for de Lint’s new book, The Wind in His Heart – accepting the past and how community and a connection with others can help us surmount the challenges we face in the present – but only if we can teach ourselves to open up and trust those around us How long de Lint has worked on the book through its various stages The connections this novel has to de Lint’s popular Newford novels and stories The pattern of writing adult novel,

KWL Episode 90 is a special episode featuring the announcement of the launch of Kobo Audiobooks, narrated by Jim Dale. Let me tell you a story. Do you remember when you first fell in love with reading? Well you weren't really reading, were you? No, your passion for books began quite another way. It was listening, wasn't it? To a story. Yes; your love of reading got started when you were being read to. Could there be any six words that have more anticipation behind them than: "Let me tell you a story." Introducing Audiobooks for the Free Kobo App with a beautifully designed, easy to use player. One home for all your ebooks and audiobooks. It's your whole reading life - always with you! Start your free trial today and embrace the art of listening. For authors looking to get their audiobooks loaded to Kobo's catalog, there are currently three main ways to do that via distributors: ListenUp Audiobooks (click here for more info) Findaway Voices Authors Republic If you are using a third party distributor for aud

Episode 90 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast features an interview with Dennis Weichman, (AKA, Mr. W.), a retired math teacher who has brought his passion for teaching and tutoring into the digital realm with YouTube channel and study guides published to Kobo. Mr W. is interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre. In the interview, they discuss: How, after he retired in 1998, Dennis began tutoring students in math and he recognized something that was lacking for many of the people he was working with were enough examples. His compilation of those examples into a print workbook that was made available via a local school uniform company’s retail store The request from students for him to compile more math books for even more grades The various high school math subjects covered and how they are all based on the Ontario curriculum How he created math tutorial videos and the YouTube channel with more than 50 videos and 100,000 views from 150 different countries Advice for those who are either frightened of or are not

Episode 89 of the KWL Podcast includes on location interviews with 7 different authors conducted by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Author Relations at Kobo during the 2017 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference. Barbara Freethy Sharing the enjoyment she gets connecting with fellow writers at RWA, Barbara also shares info about a new romantic suspense series (a spin-off of her Storm trilogy) that she was releasing during the week of RWA, as well as a collaboration with 6 other authors called “Seven Brides for Seven Soldiers” that will be launching in the fall.   Chris Keniston Chris discusses the strategy she used for her Faraday Country series (currently 8 books out with books 9 and 10 up for pre-order at the time of the interview), including stock-piling the first 4 books before beginning to release the series. She also talks about how she used a permanently free Book One in the series to help propel sales of the rest of the books in this clean and wholesome romance series. The combined effect of th

Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn't the more typical interview, but rather, KWL's Director, Mark Lefebvre, outlining five strategies that successful authors use to build their sales, raise their author profile and get readers to sign up their author mailing lists with Free eBooks. First, Mark talks about the updates to FREE tracking. If you've been paying attention to the updates in the Notification header of the Kobo Writing Life dashboard (which link to this VERY HANDY - hint, hint, nudge, nudge - part of the KWL Community) throughout July, you may have noticed that the Web team and the KWL Team have been working at revisions to the broken free tracking that we've been dealing with for quite a while. Currently FREE TRACKING is being refreshed and updated. But in the meantime, there's something important you should know about the FREE DOWNLOADS numbers you're seeing. The most important has to do with PREVIEWS.  First, please don't worry, we are NOT giving your non-free books away. At Kobo, r

  Episode 87 of the Kobo Writing Life podcast features a keynote address from When Words Collide’s 2016 Guest of Honour, Eve Silver. She is a national bestselling author of books for adults and teens, has won the Ontario Library Association’s “Forest of Reading White Pine Award” and has been praised for her “edgy, steamy, action-packed” books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines. Eve is introduced by Randy McCharles, When Words Collide chair, and who happens to also be a successful author. In her keynote talk from When Words Collide, Eve talks about: Writing her first book at the age of 9 The first form-letter rejection she received at that same age, which crushed her “little writer’s heart” A short story she wrote at the age of 16 for a high school assignment which led to a teacher calling out her talent The next teacher she encountered who wasn’t as fond of the fiction Eve was writing for her homework assignments and how that represented the second time her “little writer’s heart” was crushed The f

Episode 86 features an interview with international bestselling author Catherine Coulter, about one of her most recent titles, Insidious.   In the interview, Mark and Catherine talk about: The question Catherine’s sister asked her at a family reunion back in the 1990’s that inspired the her first romantic suspense novel, The Cove (which became the first book in her FBI series) The devious nature involved by the author when writing in a series where each book can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone novel The reason why, when most books in the series are set about 2 weeks apart from one another, there’s a 5-year time-lag between Books 2 and Books 3 in the series The benefits of moving between writing different types of genres as really great exercises for the brain The cross-over in Catherine’s fan base who read both Historical Romance and Romantic Suspense As a self-confessed “pantser” the fact that about 98% of Catherine’s writing is discovery and the backward-building that she does in the re-writing How he

Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi’s new book One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter. Please note that this interview contains adult language which might not be appropriate for all listening audiences. In the interview, Johanna and Scaachi talk about: The story behind Scacchi’s Twitter profile picture How Scacchi inherited her sense of humor from her father and the role humor has played in her life How men always get to be “complicated” while women are “difficult” The sixth grade writing assignment that might have been the spark to Scacchi’s writing career How “sitting in a room pouring out bitterness” might be the only possible job she could have based on her skill set How most of the content of the book is taboo to her family The topic of “shaking up complacent white media” and a discussion about the fiery debate in the Canadian literary community over race, representation and free speech after a short column ti

Episode 84 contains the third and final installment of interviews that took place at RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers Convention in Atlanta this year. This time the interviews are from Sinead McElhinney, PR Coordinator for Kobo, who was interacting with dozens of authors and romance readers at the conference. Featured interviews include chats with the two authors who write under the name Christina Lauren and with Ella Quinn. Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the dynamic duo co-authors who make up the NYT and USA Today bestselling author Christina Lauren. In their chat, they discuss the process of co-authoring and how it has evolved in the past 8 years as well as the personal closeness/friendship that is the foundation for their authoring partnership.  Ella Quinn is a USA Today Bestselling author of smart and spicy regency romances. In her chat with Sinead, she shares a bit about the incredible amount of research on the customs, the manners and the buildings for the worlds she writes about in her historical n

This episode continues from where episode 82 left off with KWL’s recent live interviews with attendees from RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in early May 2017. RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed authors and industry folks about various topics. In Part 2, we share Mark’s chats with:   Meredith Wild A new series of collaborative novels launching in September, starting with Meredith’s novel Misadventures of a City Girl and the fun writing experimentation that led to it Advice that Meredith would offer to beginning writers who are just getting started on their writing journey How Meredith allowed herself some “time off from writing” during this particular conference Stephanie Bond Stephanie’s latest release in the Body Movers Series, 8 Bodies is Enough The things that Stephanie loves about RT, which is one of her favorite conferences A fort

KWL was recently in Atlanta, Georgia attending RT Booklovers Convention. Considered the Book Lover Event of the year, RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, was on site interviewing authors and industry folks about various topics on writing, reading and promotions. The RT Booklovers interviews have been broken into more than one episode. In Part 1, we share Mark's chats with: Helen Hardt Her latest novel, Surrender; her penchant for ending her series books with cliffhangers and the direct relation with her pre-order success; A teaser regarding her forthcoming MISADVENTURES series; some advice for beginning writers Jeff Adams & Will Knauss Jeff's new release Somewhere on Mackinac and its relation to the classic film Somewhere in Time; their publisher Dreamspinner Press and collaborating on a novel; Jeff and Will's Big Gay Fiction Podcast Julia Kent Her most rec

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre speaks with former college professor Gilian Baker about her new novel Blogging is Murder. In the discussion, the two explore: The transition from teaching academic writing and literature for twenty years to the challenge of writing; first approached through blogging and ghost-writing Her original blogging experience, which was created for college students who were reluctant writers How her daughter managed to convince Gillian to join NaNoWriMo one year after long and enjoyable discussions about writing How long the idea of Jade and her world had sat in the back of Gillian’s mind before she sat down to write the book Elements that helped to make the characters in the story very real for readers; in particular the old woman character of Phyllis who is often called out by reviewers as a favorite character What the novel has to say about cybersecurity, identity-theft and online transactions and the tips available on Gillian’s Blog regarding that. (http://gilianbaker.com/2017/01/23/cybe

Kobo was delighted to recently host Emily Schultz in a “Kobo in Conversation” chat in the Kobo Café a few weeks ago while she was coming through Toronto on a book tour. Kobo Merchandiser Nora Parker interviewed Emily. In the interview, Emily and Nora talk about: The fact that Emily had started working on this novel before her previously released novel The Blondes The rum-runner history in Emily’s family and the different manner by which they traversed the water to conduct their rum running in the winter and summer How the story of a relative who was lost during one of these winter-time runs crashing through the ice helped to inspire Emily’s desire to explore this narrative The explosions of culture, literature, music and sexuality in the 1920s. The contrast and clash of society being both “open” and “closed” during the Prohibition Era Various methods of research, including old photographs, documentaries, silent films and novels written from that time period The concept of justice in the novel and the line “y

Julie Czerneda, an international bestselling science fiction and fantasy author from Canada, was one of the Author Guests of Honour at the 2016 When Words Collide conference which takes place in Calgary each year in late summer.   When Words Collide is an annual non-profit festival designed to bring readers and writers together in a celebration of the written word. Up to 10 tracks of programming, beginning at 1 PM on Friday and running through 5 PM Sunday, offer informational, educational, and social activities covering a wide spectrum of literature including Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Historical, Literary, Script-writing, Poetry, Comics, and Non-fiction. Roughly 650 readers, writers, editors, publishers, agents, and artists attend with over 200 presenters. Kobo Writing Life has been a proud sponsor of When Words Collide for the past several years and are delighted to present one of the inspiring keynote talks from 2016 by Julie Czerneda addressing the “Dreamers” who were there attending the

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviews Young Adult Fantasy and Chicklit author, Katie Cross as she shares strategies about how she was able to keep writing, with even more productivity, in her transition from full time author to full time Mom. In the chat, Katie and Mark discuss: Her lifelong passion of writing and her recent passion of becoming a mother (which happened about a year and a half into her 3 years of publishing career) and how she juggles both with her 18 month old. Some of the time-scheduling strategies she uses, which changes every month with such a young child. (For example, right now, she writes for a couple of hours during the day during nap time as well as after bed-time) The concept of a Mom-swap with a few neighborhood friends. On a schedule with two other stay-at-home Moms who need time for personal errands/etc they rotate on particular days of the week where all the children are at a particular mother’s house for about a three hour period. This provides Katie with ab

From his role as a guest faculty member at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life director Mark Lefebvre interviewed professional photographer Lauren Lang who was on site to help attending authors get a professional author photo. In the interview Mark and Lauren discuss: Lauren’s start in the industry in journalism and her desire to use a visual medium as her preferred method of telling and sharing stories The desire of capturing a moment in photography and causing an emotional reaction in the viewer/audience Some of the differences between “posed” and more “candid” photography and Lauren’s desire to love people in the midst of emotion, catching them emoting and enjoying themselves in the moment The methods that Lauren uses turning the “inherently unnatural” environment of posed photography into something where the subject doesn’t feel so uncomfortable or self-conscious The importance of being real when Lauren is trying to draw the author and their story out as part of the photo shoot Some of the tri

On site at Superstars Writing Seminars, Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Joshua Essoe, freelance editor. In their discussion Mark and Joshua discuss: What led him to writing (the author’s notes at the end of a Piers Anthony novel he had picked up at an early age) and then, more specifically, what led him into editing The role that Brandon Sanderson played, at the very first Superstars Writing Seminars in Pasadena, in launching Joshua onto the patch towards editing The editing pitch that Joshua did to David Farland, which led to Joshua editing his Award-Winning Novel Nightingale The struggle that Joshua deals with in making the time to write while having such a heavy editing workload The benefit of consultation calls between a writer and an editor when the writer is at the early stages of working on their novel The types of works that Joshua mostly works on, including the types of manuscripts he would like to see more of (horror) The process of finding an editor who is a good fit for a part

Instead of the regular interview with an author or industry person, episode 75 of the podcast features Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre pausing to look at some of the most successful Kobo Writing Life authors on Kobo for 2016. He compiles a list of the top 5 things that the most successful authors in terms of both unit sales and net sales all have in common, and tries to break them down into things that you as an author might consider in your own business plans for success. The items are: 1) Genres / Genre Fiction - the top authors are all writing books in genre fiction, with Romance and Mystery/Thriller/Suspense being consistently in the top 2) Series - many of the top titles are either books written in a series, or, if not, involve an aggressive production schedule far quicker than traditional publishing schedules 3) Targeted and Appealing Visuals / Covers - the covers for the books aren't just professional and attractive, but they're attractive to the right audience, to a very targeted audience or

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self-Publishing and Author Relations for Kobo is the host for this episode, and introduces a memorable clip from Episode 279 of The Creative Penn Podcast where Joanna Penn talks compares walking the 100KM "Race to the Stones" with writing. In her talk, Joanna goes into the details regarding 9 Lessons Learned About Writing from Walking 100K in a Weekend: Deadlines and specific goals help you achieve more It’s good to have a goal, but training (and the journey) is the point Stamina builds up over time with practice You need a support team, but nobody can do the steps for you There are fun parts, but some of it will be hell Don’t compare yourself to others. The race is only with yourself Follow the path others have set before you It’s worth spending money to get the right gear A lot of people give up along the way – persistence is the key to success Mark then talks a bit about the beginning and end of the year as common goal-setting times for writers, and shares 5 of the bigger writi

Colson Whitehead, is the author of Zone One; Sag Harbor; The Intuitionist, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award; John Henry Days, which won the Young Lions Fiction Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Apex Hides the Hurt, winner of the PEN Oakland Award. Colson is interviewed by Kobo’s Nora Parker about his latest book, The Underground Railroad, which is an Oprah's Book Club pick. Whitehead’s decision to play with the quirky premise of “what if the underground railroad was a real railroad?” The navigation of research and how it gets interwoven into the fiction; but the fact that this is not a historical novel and that it doesn’t stick to any real world chronology The freeing aspect of not being beholden to reality when crafting a novel The manner by which the novel addresses the two opposing viewpoints and biases that take the same passage(s) from the bible and use it to either oppose or support slavery The choice of the opening setting in North Carolina and the different arenas for Cora to