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Biz Buzz

Memories of Our First Clients

The three of us, Peter, Colleen, and CaZ look back at some of our first clients and how e each got into the industry. We cover each of our starts, how we have maneuvered through an ever-changing industry, and how the three of us came to meet. 

Guest Interview

Janet Kassalen 

A look back at a previous episode, we talk with Janet Kassalen one of the first authors Peter worked with and someone wh...

Your Book Is NOT Your Business Card Biz Buzz

Beta Readers v. Street Teams v. Arc Readers

What are Beta readers? What about ARC readers? Or a street team? These are all different variations on a theme: how writers can leverage their fans to help their book succeed. But these terms are often misused and have some blurred lines as to their actual usage. So we clarify each of these terms in this week's episode and discuss how these gro...

A Bit of Reading Fun

What are some of your favorite reading memories? Did you stay up late reading way past your bedtime? Did you take a vacation with a backpack overflowing with books? Or maybe you visited to local library every summer afternoon. We each share our favorite reading memory in a fun discussion for this week's show. Let us know what your favorite memory of reading is in the comments! 

Biz Buzz 

Our Favorite Reading Me...

The Importance of Your Author Brand

This week's show is all about your author brand and Colleen is main character of this week's show. Colleen begins with her third segment in the Building Your Author Brand series. Miss out on the first two episodes? Check out the links below! 

Then, in our Guest Interview segment Colleen talks with designer AK Westerman. AK is a book cover artist and she talks with Colleen about her love of art, t...

Biz Buzz Segment

A Case Study In Publishing - And How To Spot a Fraud

Recently, news came out about missed royalty payments from Unbound (now known as Boundless). With the news of the missed payments, there came some great informative articles which took a look at Unbound. On this week's episode, we lay the groundwork for the Unbound (now known as Boundless) saga. In the second part of the segment, we talk about how authors can be ...

Biz Buzz Segment

Questions From Around the Industry

Each of us answers a question we've heard asked from around the publishing industry. From trusted places to publish to the best type of format for your book and how you can tie it all together with your business. 

What questions do you have in the publishing industry?

Timestamps

Biz Buzz: Questions From Around the Industry (2:28)

The Author's Voice Links  Episode Links

Interview w...

Biz Buzz Segment

Selling Your Book Online

How do authors sell their book online? From Amazon to their own website to book box and more, there are many avenues authors can take to reach readers online. Amazon has recently reworked their royalty rates for print books priced below a certain price and we began by covering that change. We also talk about how authors can sell both hard copies and ebook copies of their book on their own w...

How do you sell your book? This week we discuss two separate avenues for book sales - bookstores and audiobooks. 

Biz Buzz Segment

Bookstores and Authors

Peter and CaZ talk about how authors can work with bookstores to sell their book. With a particular focus on brick and mortar stores, and indie bookstores specifically, authors can work with their local bookstores to promote their book. There is no right way to work with bookstore...

This week we talk about bookstores and libraries. The Biz Buzz segment covers how authors and libraries can work together. Then Peter takes a look at the book, The Bookshop by Evan Friss for this month's book review segment. 

Biz Buzz Segment

Libraries and Authors

How can libraries ad authors work together? Libraries are great places for readers to discover new books, fall in love with stories, research new topics, and much more. H...

This week's theme on the show is Reader Magnets. What are they and why are they important for authors to create in their marketing plan? 

Biz Buzz Segment

The Best Reader Magnets

Reader magnets are ways that authors can attract new readers. Colleen begins the segment with a look into the different kinds and versions of reader magnets. Then the three of us talk more in-depth about the reader magnets and why each type of these might ...

In this week's episode we talk popularity. They say that life is not a popularity contest but it certainly is in the publishing world! This week we talk about the popularity of print books and share what makes some characters so popular.  

Biz Buzz Segment

The Popularity of Print Books

There is nothing quite like cracking open a fresh book . Whether it's a hard back treasure or an easy reading trae paperback, print books are still ...

Biz Buzz Segment

Was your book used to train AI? 

Peter, Colleen, and CaZ talk about the recent news, originally from The Atlantic, which published a database of books Meta used to train their AI. This news came about from a lawsuit filed against Meta alleging they trained their AI using Library Genesis (LibGen) which is a collection of books, journals, articles, etc. which is normally paywalled but are available for free. 

We also...

Biz Buzz Segment

Intro to Marketing

What does it take to market you book? 

It's never too early to begin to market your book and it's not too late start either! We talk about the entry-level marketing tactics that every authors should look at when marketing their book. 

Conversations with Colleen

Building Your Author Brand - Part 1

Colleen is back with a brand new Conversations with Colleen segment this month where she introduces a...

Biz Buzz Segment

What It Takes To Be A Bestseller

Do you know what it means to be a bestseller? Did you know there are a variety of bestseller lists? Is the author a bestseller or the book? We dive into the many facets of bestseller lists in this week's Biz Buzz segment.

Whether you are a writer or a reader, it's important to understand what the term bestseller means. 

Tales and Threads

Storytelling Agency

CaZ is back again with a ...

Did Amazon remove their downloads? Amazon recently made a change to how readers can download books but it's not as bad as some might think. 

Biz Buzz Segment

Catching Up On Amazon

So what the heck is going on with Amazon? This week we take a closer look at some big news which may not really be big news coming from Amazon - They are no longer allowing you to download ebooks to devices through the use of a USB cord.

Plus, are readers...

What does it take to publish your book? We have a great episode for authors this week! Our Biz Buzz breaks the myth behind going wide in distribution and Tara Hayes joins Colleen for a special guest interview. 

Biz Buzz Segment

Going Wide Vs. Stay Exclusive

What does it mean to go wide in publishing? What does being exclusive mean? When talking about self-publishing, especially in terms of distribution, there are many terms authors...

Biz Buzz Segment

What's On Your Back Cover?

How do you sell your book, especially your physical book? YOUR COVER!

This week's Biz Buzz segment is a from an older episode where we talk about what goes on the back of your book. Colleen takes the non-fiction perspective and CaZ shares the fiction perspective. There are a few common areas readers look for on the back of your book and even if you only have an e-book, will still be popul...

What is going on with the writing and publishing industry? Change and innovation are always happening.

Biz Buzz Segment

We talk about what we're most looking forward to in the upcoming year in the industry as a whole and within The Author's Voice specifically. From the change in book blurbs (from last week's episode) to the return of the library, and much more, there are many great things in store for the upcoming calendar year. 

T...

What are book blurbs and why do so many authors fret over them? We talk about that in our Biz Buzz segment this week. But this all comes about after the shock news that Simon & Schuster is ditching their book blurb requirements. Peter read a great article from Literary Hub (linked down below) about this news and is why we're re-running this segment this week.

Plus, Peter lays out some of the upcoming segments for the show inclu...