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In this episode Mark interviews USA Today Bestselling author Ann Charles.
Prior to the main content, Mark provides a personal update, welcomes a new patron, and shares a word about this episode’s sponsor.
This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK10 at checkout and save 10% off your own personalized report.
In their conversation, Mark and Ann talk about:
- How Ann got into writing in the first place (as a way to stop complaining about the way some stories ended and writing her own stories)
- The first experience submitting her writing and the value of not giving up
- Getting an agent about the time she was shopping around book five
- The first “Deadwood” book which combined western, horror, mystery, supernatural, and romance and how it went up the chains until marketing finally shot it down because they didn’t think it would have a big enough audience
- The “stuff” that happened to Ann in the middle of this powerful author career
- How the 4 to 5 month process of writing a book has now gone to a 6 to 9 month process
- Finding the balance in her 50s
- Sammy the Skeleton, Ann’s mascot companion who hangs out in her office with her
- Moving from Push Marketing to Pull Marketing
- Losing the person who loved to tell stories by becoming a “content creator”
- The two tools/platforms she uses for that pull-marketing (Patreon and YouTube)
- What Ann learned about storytelling from taking photographs
- How Ann re-reads the entire existing series before she starts to write the next one
- The way Ann co-authors books with her husband
- Advice Ann would offer to writers either trying to get into it or trying to get back into it
- And more…
After the interview Mark reflects on three different things that Ann mentioned in their conversation.
Links of Interest:
- Ann Charles Website
- Ann Charles – YouTube
- Ann Charles – Patreon
- Manuscript Report (Mark’s affiliate link – use MARK10 to save 10%)
- Buy Mark a Coffee
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Mark’s YouTube channel
- ElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation – Affiliate link)
- Mark’s Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
- An Author’s Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Stark Realities Book
- Mark’s Canadian Werewolf Books
- The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
- Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
- Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- I Think It’s A Sign That The Pun Also Rises
Ann Charles is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes hilarious, sometimes hair-raising, award-winning books overflowing with humor, mystery, adventure, romance, supernatural elements, and whatever else sounds like a great time on the page. Ann has a B.A. in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Washington. When she isn’t escaping into story worlds, she is arm wrestling her kids, planning road trips alongside her husband, and arguing with her sassy cats.
The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Today I need to reflect on dropping notes to the podcast hosts listeners like me enjoy hearing every week. While I admit not every podcast host has gotten some kind of ‘hello I’m listening’ from me (I need to do better on that front), I do make an effort to reach out and let them know I am out there listening. One such outreach has even resulted in me being a guest on the Scott Patterson Project Podcast about how writing has always been my passion (talk about a lightning strike moment). That last bit aside, I would encourage more podcast listeners to reach out to the host of their favourite shows just to let them know you are out there listening. I have yet to hear from a podcast host who says they don’t want to hear from their listeners so maybe you can be the one tro make their day.
When I heard Ann Charles say that her activities were divided into three distinct areas (writing, Life, and marketing), it made me realize how little time I had spent on marketing my own books compared to the first two areas. Clearly, I have been unbalanced. As they say, when you clearly identify a problem, the solution is usually obvious…
This is one if the few podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis, and I found this episode particularly comforting. I especially liked Ann‘s decision of moving from Push Marketing to Pull Marketing, which really resounded with me. So much, in fact, that I will make it a top priority in my marketing strategy that I have been developing this year — as I had marketing tactics, but not a strategy until now —, to get rid of having to produce content continuously for platforms such as Instagram.
Thank you, Ann, for the reassurance, and thanks Mark for another great episode!