The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

As one of the fantasy genre's most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following.

His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 30,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s most recent original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New Y...

Welcome to the Thursday Live Q&A Show. It’s your place to ask questions, get unstuck, and stay motivated throughout the 60-Day Novel Challenge!

Each week during the challenge, we go live to: Answer your questions Troubleshoot common writing roadblocks Share tips to help you plan, draft, and finish your novel Highlight upcoming challenge events and writing sprints

This week, we're talking genre, plot brainstorming, and worldbuil...

Julie Artz helps status quo busting writers slay their doubt demons and get their stories reader-ready. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach and a sought-after writing instructor and speaker. She regularly contributes to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and is an instructor for AuthorsPublish. A consummate social justice minded story geek, Julie lives by an enchanted river in Fort Collins, Colorado w...

Chris Pourteau is the bestselling author of the sci-fi thriller novels of the SynCorp Saga (co-authored with David Bruns), the post-apocalyptic Serenity Strain novels, and the military sci-fi collection Tales of B-Company. His first novel, Shadows Burned In, earned the 2015 eLit Book Awards Gold Medal for Literary Fiction. The Lazarus Protocol, the first novel in the SynCorp Saga, placed in the Top Ten in Read Freely's 2018 50 Best...

Our #IndieSummer journey comes to an end this week, but it's not a finish line that awaits us, this is just the beginning. Today Indie author powerhouse Craig Martelle joins us to talk about building a plan to launch your work into the world and to see the success that book deserves. 

Craig is a million-selling author of science fiction (post-apocalyptic, military sci-fi, and space opera), thrillers, and non-fiction. 

Craig retired...

Chrystal Schleyer lives in South Carolina with her husband and children. Tucked away in a little black house on an old hay field, she happily lives in the middle of nowhere. 

When not writing or reading, she can be found outside with her ever growing number of animals or scouring the shelves of the nearest thrift store. 

A celebration at a turn-of-the-century manor takes a deadly twist, and everyone becomes a suspect.

Twin brothers...

Jason Anspach joins us today to talk about the importance of your author newsletter. If you had nothing at your disposal but a newsletter filled with people that enjoy your work, could you build an indie author business? We'll talk about it with Jason. 

JASON ANSPACH (1979- ) is the award-winning, Associated Press Best-selling author of Galaxy's Edge, Wayward Galaxy, and Forgotten Ruin. He is an American author raised in a military...

Are you a plotter or a pantser? This is one of the biggest points of debate in the author community. Today we hear from Claire Fraise and get her personal insights into plotting, and how the Plot Grid helps her to envision her stories and keep them on track. 

Claire Fraise is the author of five ghostly thrillers. She won the Grand Prize at the 2023 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards and is active on her YouTube channel, whe...

Nick Cole has built a rabid fan base that eagerly await new releases from him. He and his partner pioneered a successful business plan that allows them to embrace the Amazon ecosystem while also maintaining independence from the corporate world and sell direct to their readers.

Nick Cole is a former soldier and working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being sh...

Josh Hayes continues our #IndieSummer campaign with a chat about formatting and page layout for Indie Authors. Presentation matters, and how you present your work can have a tremendous impact on how people experience your work. 

A retired police officer, Josh Hayes is the author of the Valor Trilogy, the Tranquility series w/ Devon C Ford, Stryker’s War (Galaxy’s Edge), and The Terra Nova Chronicles w/ Richard Fox, along with numer...

Jeff Brown has worked as a  science fiction and fantasy illustrator and cover designer since 2013. Jeff has designed covers for Tor, Scholastic, Penguin, Bloomsbury and many more.

He has worked on projects such as Eragon, The Devils, The Three-Body Problem, Malazan Book of the Fallen, Riftwar, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and The Dragonbone Chair.

Jeff has been a Dragon Award finalist in 2023 and 2024 for Best Illustrative Book Cover

Kicking off our #IndieSummer campaign is Michelle Hazen. Michelle Hazen is a nomad with a writing problem. Years ago, she and her husband ducked out of the 9 to 5 world and moved into their truck to become desert tortoise biologists. She found her voice with the support of the online fanfiction community, and once she started typing, she never looked back.

As a result, she has written most of her books in odd places, including a bu...

Many writers struggle with resistance—procrastination, perfectionism, writer’s block. Instead of writing, you find yourself scrolling social media, cleaning the kitchen, or calling your mom. You listen to a podcast and tell yourself, Hey, this is still productive, but deep down, you wish you were making your own art. Maybe you run an errand—something necessary, but not urgent—knowing you could have written instead. It feels like yo...

Claudia Gray is the pseudonym of Amy Vincent. She is the author of the Mr. Darcy and Miss Tilney Mysteries, which began with The Murder of Mr. Wickham. She is also the writer of multiple young adult novels, including the Evernight series, the Firebird trilogy, and the Constellation trilogy. In addition, she’s written several Star Wars novels, such as Lost Stars and Bloodline She and her husband, Paul, live in Turin, Italy, under th...

KILL YOUR DARLINGS (William Morrow; June 10, 2025) is New York Times bestselling author PETER SWANSON’s most ambitious novel yet. The book marries an evergreen hook—a terrible secret unravels a marriage—to a one-of-a-kind structure: this is a thriller told in reverse.

Swanson—a “master of suspense” (Crimereads) who specializes in psychological thrillers that subvert expectations—“never disappoints” (NPR). Critics call his novels “i...

In this episode we talk with New York Times Bestseller Jayne Ann Krentz about her long career in publishing, the importance of genre, meeting reader expectations, mixing popular genres, and so much more.

With over 50 New York Times bestsellers, Krentz is one of the forerunners of paranormal romance. She writes romantic thrillers, futuristic suspense, and historical mysteries under the Krentz, Castle, and Amanda Quick names, respect...

KIMBERLY BELLE is the Edgar Award nominated, USA Today and internationally bestselling author with more than one million copies sold worldwide, with titles including The Paris Widow, The Marriage Lie, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Mystery & Thriller, and the co-authored #1 Audible Original, Young Rich Widows. Kimberly’s novels have been optioned for film and television and selected by LibraryReads and Amazon a...