Stark Reflections On Writing And Publishing

Mark interviews Emma Dhesi, a bestselling author and certified book coach who educates and inspires first-time authors to fulfil a calling and write their debut novel. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at https://patreon.com/starkreflections and https://buymeacoffee.com/markleslie.  New content for patrons has dropped here. In the interview, Mark and Emma talk about: How Emma got started in writing as a child at school The waves of how that "itch" to write kept coming to Emma every 6 months or so The feeling of writing that first draft and the effective challenge it was for her Emma's first book THE DAY SHE CAME HOME and how it began as an exploration of post-partum depression The concept of how engaging in the creative life can provide that balance we need How it can look different depending on where on the creative journey we are, but the similarities The importance of trying new thi

Mark interviews Dale L. Roberts about his new book NETWORKING FOR AUTHORS. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, reads comments from recent episodes, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Mark's book AN AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO WORKING WITH LIBRARIES AND BOOKSTORES. You can get the book for 50% direct from Mark from now until Jan 2024 using coupon code STARK2024 at checkout. Patrons will get access to a 75% off coupon for that book and a wider range of titles from Mark's direct sale store. In their interview Mark and Dale talk about: How long it has been since Dale has been on the Stark Reflections podcast. (Episode 96 - Sept 2019) Dale's first big breakthrough in the indie author space and how that led to him pivoting to becoming a YouTube content creator Dale's passion for helping showing other authors things related to the business of writing and publishing Their mutual passion for Rush How the word networking can be thought of as a "dirty" word Dale's uni

Mark interviews author D.F. Hart about 2 of Harts Business Services, a company she founded with her sister by empowering indie authors and small businesses through bookkeeping services that not only track the ‘in and out’ but also provide tailored product analysis reporting to assist authors in growing their business. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 Novel Writing Storybundle - Only available until the end of November 2024.   In the interview, Mark and DeAnna talk about How long it has been since D.F. Hart and Mark co-authored a book (Accounting for Authors) in March 2022 The work she has done as an accountant which started with Wide for the Win, an indie author, and a local newspaper back in April 2022 Walking away from her full-time day job in July of 2024 in order to have the time to support the growing roster of clients she works with The various specific things that she is

Mark interviews Cathy Rankin and Ken Mary about Cathy's new single "Now You've Gone." On October 29, 2024, Cathy Rankin released her debut single “Now You’ve Gone,” featuring renowned musicians David Ellefson (formerly of Megadeth) Ken Mary (formerly of Alice Cooper) and John Ronson. The emotional track, inspired by deeply personal experiences, reflects on themes of love, grief, and ultimately hope. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the 2024 Novel Writing Storybundle - Only available until the end of November 2024.   In the interview, Mark, Cathy, and Ken talk about: Cathy's various family members who are musicians, her first exposure to music when she was young and how that impacted her creative life Getting into theatre, and acting, when she was little, but not having the confidence in music itself The first time Cathy had to perform a singing scene when she was acting in a film The dif

Mark interviews Andy Lidstone about the unconditional boundaries he talks about in his life coaching as the Uncondictional Coach. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at https://patreon.com/starkreflections and https://buymeacoffee.com/markleslie.    Links of Interest: Andy Lidstone's Unconditional Coach EP 387- Rambling Reflections From The Disappointing Aftermath One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years Books2Read Link Shop Local (Canadian Indie Bookstore Lookup) Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Lo

In this solo episode Mark reflects on how disappointed he is with the recent US election, and the importance of creators, artists, and writers to continue to do their work as storytellers and improving the world. This episode contains adult language, but only for a brief moment when Mark loses his cool when trying to express his anger and frustration.   Links of Interest: Amie McNee's Website Instagram We Need Your Art (Book) Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City Onl

Mark interviews Liz Worth about her new poetry book Inside Every Poem, A Raging Sea. Mark skips the regular introductory matter to skip right to the interview. In their interview Mark and Liz talk about: How the book is about p laying with the idea of the cross-over or similarities between spell-writing and poetry The way that every line, every word counts in each of them Thoughts on what intuition really is as opposed to what many people think it is The importance of having to know the rules before you break them and how that works in both divination and writing How a lot of the poems in this collection were written in the depths of the pandemic when things were closed down, as well as when Liz's mother was living with dementia and in the last years of her life Her mother being a magical thinker and the influence her mother had on Liz Certain lines and ideas that would come to Liz as she was going out on regular walks Filling up a notebook she had found on the curb with these ideas and poems The way a lot o

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from his hotel room in Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada's West Coast. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at https://patreon.com/starkreflections and https://buymeacoffee.com/markleslie.    Links of Interest: One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years Books2Read Link Shop Local (Canadian Indie Bookstore Lookup) Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City Only Monsters in the Building The Cana

In this solo episode, Mark shares a few thoughts from the hotel room at World Fantasy Con 2024 in Niagara Falls, New York. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at https://patreon.com/starkreflections and https://buymeacoffee.com/markleslie.  From Mark's extremely detailed bullet points about what he wanted to reflect on: 1) Coming to WFC. 2) The nature of relationships in the writing world/community 3) Feeling like a real writer (via recent events) 4) But also feeling like a failure - afternoon at Indigo 5)    Links of Interest: One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years Books2Read Link Shop Local (Canadian Indie Bookstore Lookup) Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup) Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries &

In this solo episode Mark talks through the logic and reasoning behind a recent book launch by sharing a little of his own experience and publication history. This episode is sponsored by the patrons who support this podcast at https://patreon.com/starkreflections and https://buymeacoffee.com/markleslie.    Mark shares the behind-the-scenes story of: Why he first self-published the book One Hand Screaming in 2004  The logistics and strategy behind making it fully returnable and why he was trying to push the envelope of publishing so early in the digital publishing revolution A little bit of his experience as a writer in those manual "mail out submissions" days The reasoning behind wanting to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this first published book by launching One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years Why he invested into getting this self-published book into a traditional distribution warehouse in Canada with a sales team -- and what that means Collaborating with a local brewery to create a tie-in beer One

Mark interviews Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn about their new co-authored book From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker. Prior to the interview Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by the Fall 2024 Novel Writing Storybundle. In their conversation, Matty, Michael, and Mark talk about: A bit of a refresher/background for both Matty and Michael Dale L. Roberts being the person who connected the two of them together How they got the idea for the book when both at a Writer's Digest conference together The process of going about writing the book together The flight instructor term of the "awkward exchange of control" Why a writer might be interested in getting into speaking A look at the importance of fleshing out your goals from speaking How speaking can open up new opportunities for a writer Some of the key strengths that can be brought to a speaking engagement, such as storytelling or making a tal

Mark interviews Andrew Snook about his writing and editing work as well as Canadian Independent Publishers magazine, which is celebrating its first anniversary. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at https://theindyauthor.com/platform. In their conversation, Mark and Andrew talk about: Celebrating the first year of publishing Canadian Independent Author Andrew's first ventures self-publishing many many ago Some of the early novels and novellas that Andrew released Moving to Ottawa to become a newspaper reporter so that he could write full time Moving back to Mississauga and getting a role in the Business-to-Business magazine business Starting up his own company in 2019 The six issues per year of Canadian Independent Publishers Magazine How the magazine is still a cost center

Mark interviews Brianna Wodabek, Assistant Manager of Digital Marketing at HarperCollins about her lifelong love of reading, books, and writing, and her evolution in the book industry. Prior to the interview Mark welcomes new Patrons, shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at https://theindyauthor.com/platform. In their conversation, Mark and Brianna talk about: How Brianna always loved reading and writing, but also knew that she wasn't interested in journalism Finding the brand new Creative Writing & Publishing degree program at Sheridan College Learning improv and how that helped with the overall process involved in publishing pitching Thinking that she would be focusing more on the writing program when she got involved, but pivoting over to the publishing side of things Getting an unofficial internship in her first year

Mark interviews Dre Baldwin the CEO and Founder of Work On Your Game Inc. about his books and his experience helping others in finding their own paths to success. Prior to the interview Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor This episode is sponsored by FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn. You can learn more about the book at https://theindyauthor.com/platform. During the interview, Mark and Dre talk about: The importance of the simplification process as a great place to begin The 80/20 rule and the less-than-smooth ways we have of not being able to drop the 80% How, over time, Dre has accumulated little pieces of wisdom that have ended up being part of the training and coaching that he does The first question that Dre often asks which is: What is your goal? The challenge of being inundated with so many messages which results in trying to work on more than one priority How Dre has always been a big reader and a bit of a

Mark interviews Dominician Gennari, a writer, storyteller, composer, and musician about his multimedia book and novella opus, The War for Ascension. Prior to the interview Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, a word from this episode's sponsor, as well as a word about a previous episode sponsor. One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years - Kickstarter NEWS: Please note that the Feb/March 2025 Writers Retreat at Sea from Cruising Writers has been cancelled.   During their conversation Mark and Dominician talk about: How Dominician's creative and artistic voice started with music at about the age of 13/14 Discovering Tolkien about six or seven years later How, when writing, Dominician was imagining the accompanying soundtrack and the way the process became inseparable Learning from one of the most incredible music teachers Dominician's Italian heritage and how his family would gather in the kitchen and, while cooking together, would sing works like the music from Madame Butterfly and othe

Mark interviews Denise Massar, a writer, an adoptee, and a mom via birth and adoption about her new memoir MATCHED and the ten-year journey she took getting it published. Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from a recent episode, a personal update, and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Cruising Writers. During their conversation Mark and Denise talk about: How Denise had been "big five or die" when it originally came to her publishing dream and how and why that changed over the years Some of the feedback that Denise's agent got back on submission of her memoir in 2020 and how they fueled her in a positive way Denise's agent coming up with a strategy to change the title, to wait a year as publishing shifts and movements within editorial departments would naturally occur, then to try to send it out on sub to the market again Some of the limitations within traditional publishing that happen with titles that might be perceived by some as "somewhat similar" How memoir

Mark interviews bestselling and award-winning author Dianne Scott about her Christine Lane Mystery series which is set on Toronto Island in the 1960s. Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from a recent newsletter he sent out asking writers to share their thoughts on the collective noun for a group of editors, a personal update (including the launch of his new Kickstarter campaign), and a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Cruising Writers. During their conversation Mark and Dianne talk about: How, after writing a creative writing piece in University that was supposed to be a research essay, Dianne's teacher suggested that she switch her major over to English The teaching that Dianne has done for the past 30+ years Other writing that Dianne has worked on and published Dianne learning from her father, how he, as a police officer, used to patrol Toronto Island, and the spark of that into some ideas for her novels Deciding to make her main character a female officer in t

Mark shares some behind-the-scenes insights and helpful tips offered to him for his forthcoming Kickstarter. He also loses it briefly after discovering that 40 minutes of in depth and detailed recording was lost due to a tech issue with Audacity crashing. Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, welcomes a new patron, and introduces a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Cruising Writers. Mark's Kickstarter, coming very soon, is for the 20th Anniversary edition of his book One Hand Screaming.     Links of Interest: Mark's Kickstarter (Preview link as of Aug 15, 2024) Anthea L. Sharp's Kickstarter for Authors EP 374 - WMG Publishing Editor Round Table EP 373 - Musings on Getting a Masters and Getting Married Kickstarter Episodes EP 149 - Russell Nohelty - Killing it on Kickstarter EP 327 - Joanna Penn - Writing the Shadow EP 357 - Kevin J. Anderson - 50 Years of Short Stories EP 356 - T. Thorn Coyle - The Midlist Indie Author Mindset DropCap Marketp

In this episode Mark has a round-table discussion with the seven other editors in the August 2024 WMG Publishing Anthology Workshop. Prior to the main content, Mark shares a word from this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by Cruising Writers. The WMG Publishing Anthology workshops help authors see behind-the-scenes on how editors compile and select stories for anthologies. This in-depth and in-person experience involves a panel of editors (for August 2024 it was a panel of 8 editors) debating the merits of stories written by the attending authors. In this round-table discussion, Mark chats with the other editors: Kristine Kathryn Rusch Dean Wesley Smith Loren Coleman Anthea Sharp Chris York Ron Collins Brigid Collins They discuss advice for writers, some of the details about the process as well as the learnings (both as writers and editors).   Links of Interest: WMG Publishing Workshops DropCap Marketplace  Use coupon STARK20 to get 20% off Cruising Writers Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Sta

In this solo episode, Mark reflects and muses on the past couple of weeks where we got his Masters in Creative Writing with a concentration on Publishing (July 26th in Gunnison, CO) and got married to his partner Liz (July 29th in New York City, NY).   Prior to the interview, Mark thanks Patrons and Buy Me A Coffee buddies, welcomes new patron Jo-Ann Carson, shares comments from recent episode, and announces the winner of the mindset coaching session with Thorn Coyle.   Links of Interest: EP 356 - The Midlist Author Mindset with T. Thorn Coyle EP 370 - Questioning and Reflecting with Becca Syme EP 371 - Rambling Reflections from the Road July 2024 DropCap Marketplace  Use coupon STARK20 to get 20% off Cruising Writers Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Books