Finish publishing your indie book! (Indie Publishing Part 2)

Learning and Growing as a Writer

In this episode of Salt and Sage Books, Erin discusses her return to podcasting after a period of burnout. She reflects on the challenges of balancing her business and personal writing journey, and shares insights from a conversation with a client about writing social justice themes. Erin emphasizes the importance of understanding privilege, the mission of Salt and Sage Books, and the role of sensitivity readers in creating inclusive narratives. She encourages authors to approach their work with humility and compassion, recognizing the power of storytelling to effect change. Main points: * Burnout can impact creativity and productivity. * Writing often evolves beyond initial intentions. * Understanding privilege is crucial for authors. * Sensitivity readers help bridge gaps in knowledge. * Compassionate storytelling fosters empathy and understanding. * Community engagement is essential for meaningful change. * Authors should be humble in their approach to diverse narratives. * Intentional writing can lead to positive societal impact. * Representation in stories matters for inclusivity. * Continuous learning is vital for personal and professional growth. Chapters 00:00 Welcome Back and Personal Reflections 01:39 Navigating Burnout and Change 03:28 The Role of Privilege in Storytelling 06:45 Understanding Allyship and Sensitivity Reading 13:55 The Importance of Community and Listening 19:30 Empowering Diverse Voices in Writing This is an episode about writing, social justice, sensitivity reading, privilege, storytelling, compassion, community, representation, and authorship

Problematic kid lit... when your favorites don't age well

You head to your bookshelf and pull off a childhood favorite... only to be shocked by some of the content you'd completely forgotten about! So... what now? Kid lit is a complex subject, and it becomes even more complex give the passage of time and the way morals have moved since you were a kid. Erin & Sachiko approach this from a parenting lens as well as an educational one, and we're curious how you would approach this, too. What are your favorite books that you've since realized are problematic? Have you decided to share them with your kids? If you did, how did you approach it? This is the end of season one! We're taking a break, but we'll be back in September. If you just can't wait until then, we've got a lot of past episodes, courses, and our Incomplete Guides series. Find us all over social media, too! All our links are on our website: https://www.saltandsagebooks.com We'll see you in September! *Audio has been corrected from a previous upload, thank you to everyone who let us know!*

Finish publishing your indie book! (Indie Publishing Part 2)

Check out the previous episode for indie publishing part 1. Sachiko has questions about indie publishing, and Erin has (some of) the answers! Last episode, we went over how to write to market, what exactly it means to write to market, and how to find an audience and category that are hungry for your writing. In this episode, we move from writing the piece through publishing, including all the ins and outs of ISBNs, buying covers (and where to find them), what edits you can and should pursue for your project, formatting your book, and uploading all of it to Amazon. If you'd like help with any of that, Salt and Sage Books would love to give you a hand! Learn more about us and book through our website: https://www.saltandsagebooks.com [www.saltandsagebooks.com] If you're in the US, buy your ISBN on Bowker [http://www.bowker.com/isbn-us] For all things indie pub, 20Booksto50k [https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k] is an amazing resource. Look at their files!

Indie Market Research (Indie Publication part 1)

Sachiko's got some questions about her upcoming project--and Erin has way too much hyperfocus-fueled knowledge about how to make data-based decisions about your indie novel. We talk about writing to market, and why that's a smart choice for indies; how to understand your chosen market, including tropes, reader expectations, and genre overlap; and how research the existing market to find the information you want and need.  Erin covers the market research in this episode, from finding a profitable niche (and why that's important), to using specific categories to rank, to helpful tools that will make your indie journey easier.  We'll talk about the rest of the publication process next week (finding covers, ISBNs, blurbs, uploading, keywords, etc.). LINKS: k-lytics: https://k-lytics.com/ KDSpy: https://www.kdspy.com/

How to Create When Your World is Falling Apart

The world is falling apart. Whether that’s your personal world, your community’s world, or the literal world around you, how do you cope? As a creative especially, what do you do? How do you keep writing, quilting, drawing, creating? The answer might be that you don’t. The answer might be that you do. The answer might be that you switch mediums, switch stories, switch modes. It might be that you wait it out. It might be ready for you right out of the gate.  Regardless of what you do (or don’t), we believe that the way that you process is going to be deeply unique, personal, and that, critically, there is no right answer. It’s okay for you to be easy on yourself; you deserve grace and kindness, especially from yourself. www.saltandsagebooks.com [http://www.saltandsagebooks.com] References: * “Free” by Florence and the Machine * “Everybody Supports Women” by Sophie Isella * Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski [https://bookshop.org/a/11930/9781984818324] * Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski [https://bookshop.org/a/11930/9781982165314] * My Neighbor Totoro, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki