Writing and Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns

Angelique Fawns
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Fiction
  • Updated Semimonthly

Season 2 of "Read Me A Nightmare" shifts its focus to conversations with writers, editors, and creators working in and around dark fiction — about craft, career, and the realities of making stories in the world.Visit www.fawns.ca to learn more. Please --if you enjoy the episode, leave a review! angeliquemfawns.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    Meryl Klemow on Comedy, Envy and Making Podcasting Pay

    Prefer to video to audio? The full YouTube interview is here. Meryl Klemow and I have worked together creating podcasts, and she might be the most fun human I have ever met. Seriously. And she is so sweet. I know nothing about the stand-up comedy world, and Meryl is one of those brave souls who actually has a career doing that insane thing. This chat takes us into some very real places. Like how envy can affect your mental health, the price of fame, and how to find balance in a chaotic industry. I keep all this gold content free. Because some writers (and comedians!) are struggling. But this single post took six hours to create. Maybe throw a coffee or two my way each month? Here is one of Meryl’s insights on LA: “Everyone is in kindergarten here -- not everyone, but a lot of people, you know, are like, she has this and I don’t have this. I’ve really had to do some healing and adjust myself. Otherwise I was either going to become part of it or let it eat me alive.” AF: You’ve built a podcast booking business alongside your comedy. How did that happen? MK: That’s where I’ve been the most excited in a few years. I come from the production side -- show notes, project management, launching the show, all the nitty-gritty. My strong suit is both booking people onto shows and working with podcasts to book them guests. I decided to flip it around, use more of my PR background, and start booking people on shows -- and to be really intentional about it. Why is someone coming on a show, and what are they really trying to get out of it? With the boom of the past couple of years, it’s easy to spray and be on a million shows, but what’s the actual point? So I take on only about five or six people every three months, so I can really focus on everyone. I’ll be watching a TV show and looking at it through the lens of a booking agent -- everywhere I go, I’m thinking, “This would be good for this.” I teamed up with some longtime PR people and I’m the podcast arm of it. I feel renewed and happy -- and it never would have happened if I hadn’t created the space for it. Check out the agency here! AF: How did it get off the ground? MK: I approached one of my favorite longtime PR friends, Jordan at Julep Publicity. I told her, “This might be a weird idea, feel free to say no, but I envision doing the podcast side of things for you.” She was open to it, and we were off and running last October. That’s the lesson: sometimes you can just create things. It didn’t fully make sense at first, but now it makes sense for everyone. AF: How do you balance the comedy grind, your podcast job, and having a social life? MK: That balance has been ingrained in me since I was young -- one part trying to do the normal-life things, pay my bills, go through school, be serious, and another, more artistic and comedic side. I did radio in San Diego and was part of a local variety TV show called Tonight in San Diego. There was always something a little devilish and expressive on one side while I tried to be a human who could pay her bills on the other. Now they’re converging, and it really is synergistic. I’m relentless about having a life where I can do both. I love comedy, but I don’t need to be out every night as a stand-up. I want to do this long-term, so I’ve chosen to go a little slower at my own pace -- hopefully so I don’t burn out and can be there longer. It’s important to me to actually go to dinner with my friends, or take a night off and watch The West Wing with my boyfriend. Even if it takes longer to hit my goals, I’m happy to have a calm life. AF: Has that pace always been your approach? MK: The writer side of me could be prone to a nervous breakdown -- I’ve had little mini ones over the years. Experiencing my goals, wins, and challenges in a calmer, slower state is so much better for me. I’ve had frantic periods where I met some goals and wasn’t even happy; in fact, I wasn’t feeling well. Moving to Los Angeles, surrounded by so many insanely talented, driven, cutthroat people, I had to choose my own adventure and create my own stuff. AF: You’ve talked about the jealousy in the comedy world. What’s that like? MK: I could never fully communicate the jealousy that goes on among comedians. I’ve had to talk friends down from just staring at other people’s flyers. AF: How do you keep it from getting to you? MK: I always think, “we don’t know what we don’t know.” The reason I seek balance now is that in my younger years I really struggled with anxiety and panic attacks. And when we see people succeeding so much, they’re driven, but a lot of the time it’s from some deep pain, or they’re trying to make their parents love them. We never know why people are accomplishing things. People tell me, “You’re so lucky,” and I think, “If you only knew.” We’re all dealing with so much more than what we see in the above-ground hot tub. (Authorial note: If you listen to the podcast or watch the video, I told Meryl all about my irrational envy of people with hot tubs. Until I got my own.) AF: You mentioned comparison a lot. How do you counsel friends through it? MK: One of my best friends just got into a comedy festival she’d been trying to get into for years and kept getting rejected from. This year she got in -- and it went straight from an excited wave to dread: “I’m intimidated by who else is on it.” I reminded her that she’s truly competing with just herself. I try to be a voice of counsel there. I don’t really struggle with comparison; I see clearly that we’re only ever in it with ourselves. AF: Do you ever envy the comedians at the top? MK: I see some of the top comedians and I wouldn’t trade my life for theirs for one second. Some don’t seem very grounded -- there are a lot of addiction issues, a lot of work addiction. You have to really like the life you’re in. AF: You work with authors on the podcast side. What’s surprised you about publishing? MK: I assumed publishers put together book signings and did tons of publicity for their authors. A lot of traditional publishers don’t -- which is exactly why authors come to us for help getting on podcasts and doing PR. I had this older, New-York version in my head, where they put you on a 50-city tour. Some still do, but it’s not the way it used to be. It’s almost like the music industry now: the record label doesn’t do everything for you the way it once did. If you want to learn more about Meryl, check out her Insta! https://www.instagram.com/merylklemow/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Jul 19

    Master Your Marketing for Authors

    Watch 👀 this interview on Youtube. If you’ve been following along with my writing adventures, you know I’ve been trying to figure out how to market my upcoming novels. I’ve been playing in the short story game since 2018, but now I want to make a little more money, and the only way to do that seems to be going all-in on series. Get readers hooked on what you create, and give them a reason to keep coming back. How do I learn how to do this? Well, you take advice from experts. That’s exactly why I felt so lucky to attend the Spring Writing Retreat in Collingwood with Write Way Escapes last month with Kelley Armstrong, Christine d’Abo, and today’s guest, Lilith Darville. Lilith graciously agreed to join me for this episode, so let me tell you a bit about her. She’s a USA Today and internationally bestselling romance author with novels across dark, paranormal, and contemporary romance, publishing since 2015. Before that, she built a career as a magazine columnist, a textbook writer, and a communications and marketing consultant.She also spent years as a college instructor in English and Communications, and these days she mentors emerging and established authors in craft, branding, and career development. Sitting in Lilith’s classroom reminded me of school in the ‘80s. You behave, listen, and above all… learn. I picked her brain about marketing, about how she’s found success writing in series, and why you need a plan if you want this to actually work. Going back to school has never been more enjoyable than it has been with Lilith Darville. One of the things Lilith was helping me with? My Roxie Vega Kickstarter: Check it out here! If you enjoy this content, please consider joining the next tier! I keep most of my stuff free so every author can access it, but a few $$$ does help. AF: What’s the secret to your success as a spicy author? LD: Continuous hard work and passion for writing, learning my craft, and just write, write, write, and learn, learn, learn. I don’t think I have any big secrets. It’s a lot of hard work. Butt in chair, as we say. Head down, learning and practicing our craft. AF: I know we’re not supposed to say we write for money, but I’d like to earn some money! LD: I’ll disagree with the framing there. Genre authors definitely write for money. Literary folks are the ones who’ll say they don’t. We still have passion for the craft, and writing is in our blood, but so is the desire to make money as genre fiction authors. AF: When you read, is it strictly romance, or do you range wider? LD: If I’m learning craft, I’m not reading fiction--I’m reading things like K.M. Weiland’s books on story structure. All story has the same kind of structure: a beginning, a middle, an end, pinch points, turning points. For market information, I follow people like Jane Friedman, and I subscribe to K-lytics for data and analysis. For fiction, I read every day. If I don’t have my reading fix, I can’t survive. A lot of that’s romance, because I love it, that’s one of the reasons I write it. But I also read things like Lee Child’s Reacher series. For non-fiction, I read a lot of self-help, because I use things like IFS (Internal Family Systems) and Brené Brown’s work on shame in my writing. AF: I’m about to launch my space opera Roxie Vega on Kickstarter, then Amazon. Advertising feels overwhelming. Where do I even start? LD: There’s a checklist of things you want in place while you’re working toward putting five to ten books out. At least five are critical. One is a website, and the big one is your newsletter. We talk about things like BookFunnel and techniques to build your readership while you’re getting content out there, so you have something for readers to read through. Because if you only have one book, you have nothing to market. Once they’ve read that one book, if you don’t have something else for them to buy while they’re looking for the next thing, you’ve basically just lost that sale. Having a Plan (Which I need. Focus? What’s focus? SQUIRREL!) AF: Originally, I was planning to launch Roxy Vega as two novellas, one feeding into the next. But… after some research… I don’t think there’s much of a market for novellas. Am I wrong? LD: There is a market for novellas, but readers look for a fast re-release with them. A lot of the people I know who do novellas do one a month at around 20,000 words. I know an author--I think this is Alyse Anders--who did a sci-fi romance series with twelve women who end up stranded on a planet with aliens. (Authorial note. Aluse Anders writes erotic fiction) Twelve books, one a month for a year, each one a short story about one woman connecting with her alien. One of the things I’d recommend, above everything, is having a plan. How many novels do you plan for your series? (Another Authorial Note. I have no real plan for the series. Roxie keeps flying… ABACUS keeps helping her out. They both keep getting into trouble. I may need more of a plan, lol.) AF: What’s the single best piece of marketing advice you’ve ever gotten? LD: Early in my romance career, I had lunch with Donald Maass at a conference. He asked how many books I had published. One. He said, “You shouldn’t even be talking to me about marketing until you have five books out there.” Build your newsletter. That’s real estate you own, and focus on getting words out. Because if you don’t have a backlist to sell through, you really don’t have anything to sell. His opinion was to have ten books out there, or at least five, before I even thought about marketing. AF: Where do you go for coaching as you’ve grown in your career? LD: Right now, it’s Becca Syme. She’s helped me see where my strengths are and to focus on what works for me as a writer, not somebody else. Take word count: everybody wants to write faster, put out more words. But not everybody can write 3,000 words in an hour. It depends on how your brain works, what your process is. We compare ourselves to somebody who might be nothing like us in personality or skill, and expect to produce as they do. AF: What’s the biggest shift you’re seeing in book marketing right now? LD: Ads aren’t where readers are starting to look for books anymore. Readers are using AI to find books. You can put in “I want a dark romance with kidnapping and shifters in it,” and get a list of exactly the books you want. AF: And you want to make sure Lilith Darville’s name, or Angelique Fawns’, is actually in that list. LD: Exactly. So the question becomes: how do you get found by those readers? What you need to do is bring back the blog. If you don’t have one, start one. That’s on my list right now: publishing an article a week, fueled with the keywords readers are searching for. Want to check out Lilith’s work? https://lilithdarville.com Thank you for joining us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jun 7

    Writing Your Own Story with J.D. Barker

    Sometimes strange, auspicious coincidences happen, and you wonder if it’s fate nudging you in the right direction. Like, for example, when I was sitting down reading Confessions of the Dead, co-written by James Patterson and J.D. Barker, getting really into the dark and twisted tale… and an email popped up in my inbox the next day asking if I’d like to interview J.D. Barker. I was like, hell yes. But of course, it also felt a little suspicious. Hadn’t I just been telling my husband how much I loved this book? Was my phone spying on me, feeding information to some scammer? They’re so advanced these days, who knows? I didn’t fully believe it. But I double-checked with my friend Mark Leslie Lefebvre , who confirmed J.D.’s publicist was real and that he was doing podcasts to help promote a prequel in his 4MK series. And that, folks, is why we all get to enjoy this amazing interview with horror writer J.D. Barker. His career is enviable, I enjoyed every second of our chat, and I hope you will too. You can watch the interview on YouTube here. Or listen to the podcast up above. Here is a recapped version of the interview below: Enjoy! AF: I have to say, when your publicist reached out to me, I thought it was a scam. And what was so surreal — I was reading Confessions of the Dead when the email came in. JDB: She is fantastic. I’ve worked with a ton of publicists over the years, and my model has completely changed. Early on I hired a firm in New York — Dean Koontz recommended them — and I paid a $20,000 retainer. That first month, they got me two blog reviews, one website mention, and a blurb in a magazine. Nothing for $20,000, and there was no accountability. Now I’ve got everyone on an à la carte basis. I give them a list of what they can go get and a price point for each — a podcast gets this much, a magazine gets this much. They can work as hard or as little as they want. I pay for actual results. My current publicist is out of the Philippines and she is phenomenal. Every time I’ve got a new release, everybody seems to know about it. AF: I’m a huge fan. Your connection with Stephen King, your collaborations with James Patterson — you’ve somehow found the zeitgeist. JDB: I tend to get in front of a lot of people and bug the hell out of them until they either agree to work with me or they issue a restraining order. I heard a long time ago: if you don’t ask the question, you’re never going to know the answer. I’d rather hear someone say no than not ask at all. I used to teach at ThrillerFest quite a bit. If you go, you’re eventually going to end up in an elevator with a famous author. You’ve got 15 seconds to either make an introduction or stand there staring at the numbers and watch that person walk away. I am not the kind of guy who ever watched somebody just walk away. AF: I loved hearing about what you do at cons. You don’t sit behind the table selling books — you give them away for free. JDB: I’m in a unique situation. I’ve got my own imprint at Simon & Schuster, so my production costs are very low. I can produce a hardcover for a fraction of what I was paying through IngramSpark. And I’ve got books sitting in a warehouse because we tend to overprint — 50, 60, 70,000 copies. Eventually the dust settles, and I’ve got to find something to do with them. I looked at what indie authors do — they’ve always been ahead of the curve — and for years they’ve given away the first book in a series as an ebook. You’re basically a glorified drug dealer. You’re hooking them with a taste, hoping they come back for more. I just took it to the next level and started giving away hardcovers. Think about it from the reader’s perspective. They come to these events and it’s awkward. They’re walking past tables with authors staring at them with that please buy my book look. They’re afraid to approach because they don’t want to commit. So instead I put a book in everybody’s bag for free. They all come to the table, it keeps me busy, they walk away with that taste, and most of them end up buying another book after that. At Author Nation, I gave away 2,000 or 2,200 books. A good chunk of those people went home and started buying my other titles. That’s how you move the needle. You’ve got to approach everything as a business — how are you going to get people to come back and buy your next widget? AF: At what point do the cons stop being useful? JDB: My first big one was the Writer’s Digest conference — the last one I went to before I got a publishing deal. I learned a lot. But everything tends to be geared toward the early author trying to get that first book out there. When I was on the board with ITW, I noticed everything was built for two groups: debut authors and the big names. Everybody else is stuck in the middle. You can only hear how to write a compelling first sentence so many times. What actually attracted me to Author Nation is that it fills that void. It teaches authors: okay, your first book is out. This is how you get to book two, book three, book four, and steadily raise your profile over time. In the traditional world, they try to hit it out of the park with each book, and if you don’t, you’re kind of written off. The problem is that’s not sustainable. If you’re just slowly building, selling a few more copies with each book, you’re building a very solid base beneath you. That’s what sustains a career. (Authorial note: If you are interested in learning more about Author Nation, I’ve interviewed Joe Solari . CLICK HERE) AF: So I have to ask about the TV and film side, because that’s where my heart is. You’re there now with the 4MK series, aren’t you? JDB: I’ve got eight different projects in what I call various stages of Hollywood hell. Every time my film agent calls, it’s a roller coaster — either really good news or really bad news, no in between. With 4MK specifically, this is actually option number four. The book came out almost ten years ago. Sylvester Stallone’s company, Balboa Productions, just picked it up. And they brought in Channing Powell, who was showrunner for The Walking Dead, as lead writer. AF: What else do you have on the docket? JDB: I’ve also got a feature film in the works for Behind a Closed Door — they’re already on the third or fourth draft of the script and talking to directors. A Caller’s Game is at another studio. Dracul keeps getting picked up by different companies. I wrote that one as a prequel to Dracula for Bram Stoker’s family. AF: At least the option money keeps flowing while all that’s happening. JDB: Any veteran author will tell you that. The option money — it doesn’t matter if it gets made or not. Those checks are real and they keep coming. And here’s something I’ve noticed: when something gets optioned once, the second it’s available again, everybody jumps on it. Producers see it as a hot commodity because someone else just had it. So if you keep making a little noise, they keep coming back. Sooner or later something is going to make it to the screen. It’s a numbers game at this point. But as an author, all I do is put my head down and write the next book. That’s the only thing you can control. The written word, whatever ends up in that final book — that’s 100% you. Nobody can take that away from you. AF: How did you start your career? JDB: I was told at a very early age that you can’t make a living as a writer and I needed to get a real job. So I went off to college, got multiple degrees, and ended up working in finance. But when I was in school I worked for RCA Records and BMG Distribution. I chauffeured some very famous people around for a couple of days at a time. And I realized I could interview these people and sell those interviews to offset the cost of college. That’s how I broke into writing. When you work for magazines, everybody around you has a half-finished novel in a desk drawer somewhere. I became the person they’d show those to because I was strong with grammar, punctuation, and developmental editing. That turned into a side hustle as a book doctor and ghostwriter. While I was in finance, I was helping other people rewrite their books and get them published. Over 23 years, I had six different books hit the New York Times list — with other people’s names on the cover. That gets old after a while, and that’s when my wife and I decided to pull the trigger on becoming a full-time author. That was eleven years ago. AF: How does someone get to work with you? JDB: Honestly, all you have to do is ask. Most people are too hesitant. Nobody asks the question. Typically if someone reaches out, I look at a writing sample, see if there’s something I can work with, figure out where they are career-wise. It has to be someone I genuinely feel I can take to another level. And they’ve got to come to me with a decent foundation, something that may or may not be working but can be fixed — and an idea I haven’t heard before. That’s the hard part. AF: How does one break through in an increasingly fractured publishing industry? JDB: Making your own path is the key. When I was in the music business, I drove Madonna around for about a week during the Vogue tour. She told me that whenever she had a new album coming out, she would make a list of everything everybody else was doing to sell their albums — and then come up with something brand new that wasn’t on that list. That’s what she would do. I’ve kept that in my head ever since. My last book was Something I Keep Upstairs, a haunted house story. The house in the book is real — it’s right off the coast of the island where I live in New England. To promote it, I came up with a contest: I gave away an overnight stay in the haunted house to one reader, who could bring three friends. We put out a press release, and I got a ton of press — television, radio,

  4. May 12

    How I Sold Over 100 Short Stories

    How I Play Submission Jenga 🎲 It all starts with my monthly list. Click here for the big list for May: I hunt down every call for submissions that catches my eye, sticking mostly to the speculative genres. I have two firm rules when I’m scouting markets: * They have to pay. * No submission fees. Ever. Then I look for the ones that genuinely intrigue me. The Apex Flash Fiction calls are a personal favorite — they’re always a little weird, a little off-kilter, exactly my flavor. When something hooks me, I sit down and bang out 1,000 words. Fun side story: that’s actually how Roxy Vega was born. She started life as a flash fiction response to a prompt from Apparition Lit (RIP). The image was a man smoking a cigarette in this dank, vaguely alien-looking bar. Cool vibe — but I didn’t want to write about a man. I wanted to write about a really rough woman. What if she was a space trucker on break? What if she had a terrible gambling addiction? And just like that, Roxy Vega walked into the world. She’s now a serial on Substack. https://angeliquemfawns.substack.com/s/the-chronicles-of-roxie-vega My Submission Process Here’s how a story moves through the system: * Draft at 1,000 words and send it to a flash market. * If it doesn’t find a home, expand it — maybe to 2,000 or 3,000 words. * Send it to the next market on my chart. * Keep meticulous notes on where each story has been so I don’t accidentally send Neil Clarke the same story 25 times. (He would notice.) * Track rejection times so I know which markets are fast (looking at you, The Dark) and which ones will leave me waiting six months to a year. * Eventually, string related stories together into a novella — that’s exactly how Roxy Vega came to life, and I’ve got a couple more brewing. I do this old school with Excel charts. I know everyone loves Submission Grinder, but I remember the day it went down and the mass panic that swept through my writing group. Charts are pablum for my brain — I genuinely love filling them in, ticking the little boxes, watching the data build. The Rules I Live By (Mostly Heinlein’s) * You must write. * You must finish what you write. * You must put it on the market. * You must keep it on the market until it sells. * You only revise to the needs of an editor. (Okay, this one I break. My craft keeps improving, and sometimes I reread an old piece and think “what was I thinking with that opening?” So I’ll go back in, tighten the try-fail cycles, and send it out again.) The Real Secret I don’t take rejections to heart. I really think that’s what’s set me apart in the writing world — I just keep subbing. And subbing. And subbing. It’s a numbers game: * More stories out = more chances to sell. * More stories out = more editorial feedback. * More editorial feedback = a better writer. Look at this list of rejections… But honestly? We have to remember to have fun. We’re doing this because we love it. I’ve looked for the money in fiction writing, and it’s hard. There’s far more money in nonfiction, which is why my day job is journalism — though it does feed nicely into the market research I do for all of us. Anyway, I appreciate every one of you. Good luck with your own submission Jenga, and I hope to meet you at a con one day. Conferences are my new love — they’re so energizing, and every single time I go to one, my career and my dreams take a step forward. Okay — toodles! 👋 All this stuff takes me time, and I will be bringing in some pay walls, please join the next tier! Selling short stories is what we do. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Apr 26

    Rage Bait, Freak Flags & Finding Your Readers

    ** Stay tuned for your May list of open calls on Tuesday! Most of my information is free, but some of the most exclusive info is paid. Join the next tier! I met Sylvie Soul at the Toronto Indie Author Conference and knew immediately I’d found a kindred spirit — someone who loves short fiction, wrestles with the same questions about craft and career, and isn’t afraid to go to dark places on the page. We sat down to talk about perfectionism, productivity, the courage it takes to write what you actually love, and why embracing your inner “disrupter” might be the best career move you ever make. The notes below are just a tiny taste of all the fun stuff we chat about in the actual podcast! Listen above, or if you like to watch (and who of us doesn’t?) Click here for the YouTube link: AF: Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing. SS: I’m a writer of short fiction — I’ve published several short stories over the years. The main goal, though, is the novel. The full manuscript I could either traditionally publish or, if not, I’m very much looking forward to self-publishing. I’ve been exploring my love of fiction, learning more about myself, discovering that speculative fiction is really my home. And I’m trying to get back to having an online presence. I had a site, it’s been dormant since the pandemic, but after meeting everyone at the Toronto Indie Author Conference, I feel motivated to bring up my brand and really express myself again. AF: There’s so much pressure these days for authors to be their own marketing machines — social media, TikTok, BookTok, all of it. Do you think every author has to be an influencer? SS: No, and I think there has to be a balance. I’m actually an introvert — I prefer being behind the scenes, and that’s even true in my day job, where I’m more in a support role. But when it comes to my writing, I’ve felt a shift lately. I do want my face out there. I want my personality attached to what I write. But the balance is the thing — you can build a presence, do the TikTok dances, do the BookTok thing, but if you’re devoting all your time to promoting that image, there’s little left over to actually focus on the craft. Especially if you have a day job on top of it. I don’t write full-time. Right now it’s a hobby. The dream is that eventually what I create overtakes what I do in my day job. But I think I’m a long ways out from that. So it’s about finding balance — fill my cup and also get paid. AF: I’ve come to believe that the one thing all successful full-time authors have in common is sheer output — the number of books they have out there. Zoe York has over a hundred, Mallory Cooper over four or five hundred. What do you think? SS: Consistency is the word that comes to mind for me. Don’t focus on motivation — you know what you have to do, so just get it done. But you’re right that it comes down to productivity. You have to add productivity to that triangle of talent, opportunity, and luck. That’s what lets them build. And honestly, what holds me back most is perfectionism. I always tell myself done is better than perfect, but I’m always so fearful that I’m going to be embarrassed in the future when people read something that isn’t exactly right — and that fear ends up freezing me completely. AF: You have a completed novel. Tell us about it. SS: I lovingly call it draft 1.5, because I’ve gone through moments where I’ve completed it, then gone, no, I don’t like this, I need to scrap it and start over. I finally had a version I was happy enough with to get from point A to point B. I gave it to my editor last year, and she gave me phenomenal notes. Now I have to go back and, as I say, take a sledgehammer to it and beat it into submission so it’s better. No one who cares about their audience ever puts out a first draft. Maybe it’ll be draft five. Maybe draft nine. I don’t know where it is yet, but it’s somewhere on the horizon. And word count wise — I’ll be honest — it’s still in novella territory. I haven’t cracked 50,000 words yet. But I think the market’s changing. People used to want a big fat tome. Now I think readers are more receptive to smaller, bite-sized stories they can actually consume. So if I just can’t embellish further, maybe it stays at 35,000 to 40,000 words. And that’s fine. AF: What’s your take on editors? SS: They are absolutely essential, and I don’t think we give them nearly enough praise. I was lucky enough to get a Toronto Arts Grant to help fund my editing, and it was the best money ever spent. I think when we reach the stage where we truly want to write the best thing possible, we’ve evolved past peer workshops — those can be overwhelming because you get six or seven different schools of thought and you don’t know which one to follow. You might have someone who has a completely different story in their head, and if you cater to them, you’re damaging your own story for someone who might not even read it anyway. When you actually invest in your writing by hiring a real editor, that’s when you take it to the next level. AF: Where can people find you and your work? SS: I’d recommend starting with Midnight Indigo — it’s one of the very first pieces I sold for money, and it’s called Waiting Room. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s a bit dark and it’s short. It’s a good introduction to the kind of writing I do. My Substack is growing, so come find me there. Hey… Of course you know folks who want to hear about the effervescent Sylvie Soul. Share this interview!! I’m running a Kickstarter… and if you are a short story writer, you need this Guide with so many of the best paying markets and HINTs on how to send them your best stories. Plus, I share my insights right from the publishers and editors. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Apr 20

    The Real Truth About Author Nation — and What It Could Mean for Your Career

    Welcome to part two of my no-holds-barred chat with Joe Solari. If you’d rather watch a video, HERE IT IS. This podcast is dropping a day late—on a Monday instead of Sunday—because I spent the weekend at the Toronto Indie Author Conference at the Toronto Public Library, and I’ve got to tell you, I’m so glad I went. (I learned the difference between an em dash and an n dash during my free edit of the upcoming Roxie Vega novella. That was worth the price of admission alone, lol.) I met some remarkable people, learned a ton, came away with new strategies, and got that free edit. (Hi Sylvie! And of course, my conference bud, Mark Leslie Lefebvre) Paid subscribers can read all about what I learned and where I’m taking my career because of it in an exclusive post tomorrow. One thing writers absolutely need to do is keep learning. And that’s what this weekend was about for me. AND why I’m going to Author Nation. We need to hear how other authors are running their businesses, what’s working, what isn’t, and where the opportunities are. Because, as Joe said in our chat last week, there is no magic bean that grows a successful author career. The right person has to read the right story at the right time. But you can absolutely improve your odds of being discovered. If there’s one truth I keep coming back to in my years-long search for how to make real money with writing, it’s this: the more books you have out, the more chances you have to succeed. So whatever’s been holding you back—and I’m saying this to myself too—fear, imposter syndrome, perfectionism—it’s time to shove that aside in 2026. This is the year I give this thing a real go. Attending conferences like the Toronto Indie Author Conference and going to Author Nation this November are a big part of my strategy. It’s the networking. It’s the learning. It’s the headspace you put yourself in when you’re around people who are serious about this business. So I hope you enjoy part two of my chat with Joe, where he gives me a real blueprint for what to expect at Author Nation this November. Enjoy! (Ps. Most of the “stuff” is in the podcast and video. The bit below is just a summary.) — Here are the links mentioned in the chat; https://www.spoken.press https://www.curios.com https://www.kickstarter.com/ https://www.authornation.live https://www.royalroad.com/home AF: For authors who are wondering whether Author Nation is worth attending, what’s the biggest value? JS: Access. At a large event like Author Nation, authors can connect with major service providers, new technology companies, and other serious authors all in one place. It’s not just about inspiration. It’s about relationships, information, and opportunities that can save years of trial and error. AF: So it’s partly about networking, but also about learning what tools and strategies are actually working now? JS: Our job is to bring the industry to the community. That means established players, new platforms, and emerging technologies. We want authors to see what’s changing, think critically about it, and decide what fits their business. AF: You also talked about helping authors before they even get to the event. JS: One example is the free Kickstarter cohort. Authors can join, learn by listening, get feedback, simplify their campaigns, and improve their odds of funding. We’ve seen people use Kickstarter not just as a fundraising tool, but as a smart first launch for a book. AF: That was one of the most interesting things you said—that Kickstarter can help authors make money earlier instead of pouring money into a launch and hoping it works. JS: If authors can break even or better on a first launch, that solves a real business problem. It helps them fund production, build confidence, and grow without digging into savings. AF: And Author Nation is also creating projects that give authors opportunities beyond just attending panels. JS: Absolutely. We’ve run anthologies, launched them on Kickstarter, and created ways for authors to earn money and gain exposure. We’re also developing projects like comic adaptations, where writers from the community can see their work turned into something new. That kind of hands-on opportunity matters. AF: So this isn’t just a conference where people sit in rooms and take notes. JS: Everything we’re building has a purpose. We want authors to leave with clearer direction, better tools, stronger connections, and real ways to grow their business. AF: You also made an important point that authors need to think like business owners. JS: Nobody will care about your career as much as you do. Whether you pursue direct sales, Kickstarter, wide distribution, Kindle Unlimited, audio, serial fiction, or live events, you need to understand the model you’re choosing and build intentionally. AF: And that’s one of the real benefits of Author Nation—you’re giving authors a place to figure out which path makes sense for them. JS: There isn’t one right path for every author. The goal is to reduce friction between writers and readers, help authors understand their options, and create an environment where they can make smarter decisions faster. AF: So if an author comes in with too many ideas, too many possibilities, and not enough focus, Author Nation can help them narrow things down? (Asking for a friend… who am I kidding… This is SO me.) JS: The more work an author does ahead of time—thinking about where they want to be in two years and what stepping stones matter—the more they’ll get from the event. But even then, the point is clarity. Focus. Better decisions. Better opportunities. AF: That really feels like the core of it. Author Nation helps authors connect, learn, focus, and find practical ways to move their careers forward. JS: That’s the goal. Learn more about Author Nation! And here is the link to my Kickstarter, which I’m doing as part of the Author Nation Kickstarter Cohort. Join up to be notified when it launches! Very cool rewards. Including paid subscriptions to this SUBSTACK! Or why wait? Join now and read all about my super intense insights from the Toronto Writing Conference tomorrow. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Apr 12

    Why Serious Authors Can't Miss Author Nation

    I’m going to Author Nation this year, and the founder and driving force behind one of the biggest writing conferences in the world talks about WHY this event can’t be missed if you are looking to take your author career to another level. PREFER to 👀? LINK TO YOUTUBE INTERVIEW PS. There was so much good info! Part two will drop next week. AF: What makes Author Nation different from other conferences? JS: Having been in this industry for 10 years now, and seeing how it’s changed and what’s going on, and understanding how it works — we’re really trying to create a place where two things happen: * One, we’re actually being forward-thinking and proactive and changing how the industry will work. If you’re not happy with how things are, change ’em. * But also being realistic about how difficult it is, especially if you’re striving toward earning a living as an author. Once you understand how difficult that is, what can you do to change the probabilities? We’ve never been the kind of group that says: “Oh yeah, come and buy our magic beans and you’re just gonna have success and it’ll be wonderful.” That’s not the truth. But what we can do is look at how things work and say, okay, what are the main failure points in author businesses? Then either educate you to go around those points or do things as a community to stack advantages toward our community. That’s how I think and how we’re approaching the show, and why it’s structurally different than other events. It really is kind of a system. AF: So, having raw talent isn’t enough to be successful in the author world? JS: Talent’s the floor, assuming it’s a good product, because bad products won’t sell no matter what. It really is luck, and there are so many factors you can’t control when it comes to algorithms and word of mouth. And then we complicate it further by having situations where people say, “Well, this is what I did, and you do the same thing, you can be successful.” I’m not saying those authors are lying, they do honestly believe that their success is repeatable. That’s survivor bias. But there are too many factors that can’t be controlled. AF: So what should authors take away from that? JS: Don’t beat yourself up because you’re in that fat tail, (Authorial note: Joe explains the Power Law Curve in our talk, and most authors are in the big tail and not the tall head of success.) Understand that what gets you to move from the average result to an above-average result isn’t your average cost of advertising, or how much you spend on marketing, as more often than not it’s a threshold event driven by your audience that you’ve built. AF: And what creates that threshold event? JS: It has more to do with a rinse-and-repeat cycle. The more you launch your books on Amazon, the more that you go to live events, the more that you do whatever it is that you’re deciding to build your brand around. (Authorial note: then I asked Joe Solari about a podcast episode I heard him on.. Self-Publishing with ALLi - Why Recipes for Publishing Success Dont Work. This is what he dives into next.) And this gets us to the artificial cultural market study. I think we should all be talking about it all the time. It demonstrated that if you took the same books on Amazon and took them to a parallel universe, it would come up with a different number one book right now. It’s about how the audience interacts with that data set. It has more to do with word of mouth and what’s driving a popularity market. I’ve seen a lot of times where authors will huddle up and try to case-study a successful author. What if we did all these things? What if we imitated the writing style, cover, whatever? We’re all gonna make covers like her now and we’re all gonna write psychological thrillers. But her success will lift the whole genre and may make some other people lift up, but it’s not like her audience sees your book, if it looked identical and was written similarly, as an equal substitute. It’s not like one pound of sugar is equal to another pound of sugar. It has more to do with the audience’s personal connection with those brands and the story world and the characters. AF: You mentioned Matt Dinniman and the wild success of Dungeon Crawler Carl. What did he do that made such a difference? JS: It was a long time before those books took off. A lot of people were not willing to do the things that Matt was doing. He went to a lot of live events. He was going to things like Dragon Con, but also anytime he would go anywhere that he traveled, he would do local book events. He would call up an independent bookstore and say, “Hey, I’d like to host some of my fans.” Maybe in the beginning, two to five people would show up. But he would keep doing it. And doing it. And doing it. Now he’s massive. Live Nation is running his events because they’ve gotten so big. But here is an example of how he goes the extra mile: They canceled his New York event, and he got on Facebook and his group and said, “Well, I’m here in New York and I know there was snow and they canceled the event, but I’m gonna hang out at this bar, whatever day, from two to five. Meet you there.” Now he didn’t have to do that, but he understands. AF: Does this lead into why it was important to create Reader Nation as a part of Author Nation? (Authorial note: On the last day of the conference, there is an enormous mass signing event on the Saturday, where fans can come and buy books and get them signed.) JS: One of the things we’ve invested heavily in and are focused on is the sister event, Reader Nation, which is a live signing event. People have asked, “Well, why are you doing this?” There’s kind of this disconnect. “Well, I thought this was about authors networking and authors learning about business.” Yes, it is. Our approach is, how do we make this thing the most effective event possible? Our hope is that over time many authors will come to our show, they’ll get that first part, which is the author education and the networking and all that cool stuff, and then they’ll stick around and participate in the live event, and they’ll come home not only with their head full of information, but they’ll have paid for their trip through selling books. (Authorial note: Is this not genius? But I’m still terrified of live selling. Maybe next year…) AF: You’ve changed your thinking about where book sales are going. How so? JS: If you asked me five years ago where book sales were going, I would’ve pointed you at things like direct sales. I was an early adopter of stuff like using Shopify and Kickstarter. But then what I observed is there’s this really crazy thing going on in the world, and that is that new readers, younger readers, are coming into the marketplace buying physical books at live events. AS PART OF THE AUTHOR NATION KICKSTARTER COHORT, I’M RUNNING A KICKSTARTER NEXT MONTH! SIGN UP TO BE NOTIFIED. Click here AF: One of the practical things that interested me most was your print-on-demand system for the event. JS: My wife Suze and I are the owners of the show. This is how we do stuff. We are creative people, we love solving problems. The value is created between what I call the reader-writer relationship. If there’s not a writer creating story and there’s not a reader who’s prepared to give some money up for that story, it doesn’t matter—Amazon, us, the whole thing collapses. That’s the keystone relationship. The symbiotic relationship that drives everything. Our event lets writers sell directly to readers. But they need their books. (Authorial note: I told Joe that I can’t even imagine hauling all my books to sell on a plane, paying for the extra baggage… etc.) All those people have to get the books there. That’s a problem for you as an author, especially if you’re coming from out of the country. And the hotel is not really thrilled with thousands of boxes showing up from Amazon. So once we knew we had the store and were going to have to collect taxes, the next thing was to open our store up earlier so you’re not just selling books on the day, you’re selling books weeks ahead of time. The orders come in and get delivered to one place. We look at all of the orders that come in ahead of time and we get those printed. The whole idea is solving problems. That’s how we add value to this whole community. Joe blew my mind with this interview. He graciously spoke to me for over an hour! Part Two dives more into how an author (like myself) can get the maximum out of her first journey to AUTHOR NATION. It’s this November. Wanna meet me there? If you’re going, drop a comment and let me know! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Mar 28

    Direct Sales & Scare Mail with David Viergutz

    David Viergutz has dialed into something old made new again. It started with Scare Mail and is now a full story service at Epistolary Fiction. And he made $ 4 Million last year doing it.💰💰💰Prefer to watch? I was scrolling Facebook last year and froze the screen when I saw an ad for Scare Mail. What? As a horror fan and writer, I thought, this is sheer genius. Who wouldn’t want to find something that cool in their mailbox? Because, let’s face it. All I normally find in that green box outside my farmhouse is bills, ads for politicians and the occasional truly terrifying letter from the government. David Viergutz has a solution to one of my problems. The mailbox is no longer boring or just full of bad news. Plus, he may have solved another one of my problems… How to be profitable as a writer? (Give me six months and I’ll let you know how it’s going!) If you prefer to watch your interviews, here is the link to our chat on YouTube. These interviews dive deep into the truth of the publishing world in a friendly, accessible way for authors. To keep receiving all the best hints, join the next tier! AF: David, for people who are just discovering you, how did you get here? You’ve had such an unusual path into publishing. DV: My history is probably very similar to a lot of authors. At some point, you always wanted to be an author, then maybe you forgot about it, got a traditional job, and later found your way back. Along the way, I was in the service and in law enforcement, and that didn’t leave a lot of room for creativity. I became a personal trainer and had that business for a while. I remember standing over a client one day and saying out loud, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” At that point, I had written my first book. So I sold my gym. I was making about a hundred thousand dollars a year with it, and the year I sold it and published my first book, I made $220. My wife was thrilled to see how much money we were making. I’m a true overnight success. I wrote overnight for five years straight. (Authorial note: The more you hear the story behind successful authors, the more you realize there are almost NO overnight successes. It takes years of work to get to the tipping point.) I wrote 23 novels, stealing every second I could. I was always listening to podcasts on how to write better. I was reading books on how to write better. I got my master’s degree while standing in the evidence locker typing my thesis for six months straight. My chief gave me extra time so I could work on it. I spent a lot of time studying writing and the business of writing. I come from a true entrepreneur background. I come from sales. I come from selling very expensive personal training packages. So I’m kind of the reverse of most authors. Most authors are writers first and figure out the business later. I take a different approach. I’m a businessman who happens to do the writing, and I really enjoy that. If I want to write something, I think about how I can sell it first. I’ve spoken at Author Nation and at the Self Publishing Show in London. I’ve been featured in Indie Author Magazine and Writer’s Digest. And when you talk about ScareMail, really, that’s a brand, or several brands, that I own under a company called Epistolary. We are the world’s premier publisher for story letters and epistolary writing. As far as I know, I’m the only publisher on the planet focused specifically on story letters and epistolary writing. We don’t accept traditional novels. It has to be epistolary. AF: I love that. I’d also love to hear how far you’ve come, because I just listened to your interview with Joanna Penn when you didn’t even have your first warehouse yet. Your wife and kids were still stuffing envelopes. How did you go from that stage to where you are now? DV: I took the traditional approach like everybody else when it came to publishing. I had my books on Amazon because that was the easy place to have them. But I was always iterating on something different. Every single novel was something different, and I was always stretching the boundaries of where we are in sales, how we communicate with readers, how we sell to them, and what kinds of extras we can offer. So I spent about five years building an email list. My funnel at that time, right before I launched ScareMail, was to get free subscribers any way I could. Everything was focused on the subscriber. I didn’t care about sales. I cared about the subscriber. I spent about five years building that list and around a hundred thousand dollars to build it. I had 30,000 readers, and it was a cold list. AF: What do you mean by a cold list? DV: A cold list is a list where people come on, then disengage. They stop clicking on things, they stop reading, and you have to cull the herd. You get rid of them. If they’re not doing anything, you send them a series of emails asking, “What the hell are you doing? Why aren’t you clicking my stuff? Why aren’t you reading my stuff? Do you still want to be here?” So I built this list and hadn’t really hit them with anything big. I’d done book releases, but special editions never really interested me. I didn’t want to do what everybody else was doing. Then I had this idea for ScareMail. At that point I was all in on Amazon and KU, but Amazon’s algorithm wasn’t giving me any love, so I wasn’t going to give any love to Amazon. I thought, if it’s going to be this hard for me to make sales, I might as well sell my books myself. I can price them at full price and not worry about Amazon taking a big chunk for no visibility at all. So I made a website, and I sent this email to my KU list. This is still my favourite email. It said, “Hey, I’m going direct. My prices are going full price because my work is worth it. There is no difference between my books and trad books. Somebody tell me otherwise.” Then I said, “If you want to stay here and support me, click this link to buy my books on my website, or click this link to buy them on Amazon.” If they clicked the Amazon link, it automatically unsubscribed them. AF: You are the bravest author I’ve ever met. (Authorial note: Does this not drop your jaw to the floor?) DV: The point was standing up for the work we put in. In the indie community, we understand there is value behind our books. There’s no reason a traditional publisher can charge $15 for an ebook, and we act like that makes sense only because they’re trad. I’ve asked people on stages why trad publishers can publish a $15 ebook, and they say, “Because they’re trad.” So we’re making excuses for traditional publishers charging a livable amount for a book that we spent six months on and thousands of dollars producing. They can charge full price. Who decided an ebook was only worth $3.99? I want to know who that person was. In my mind, I put in the exact same effort a traditional publisher does, maybe even more, because there’s nobody else doing the job for us. Once we release that manuscript, it’s on us. The strongest way to make money as an author, without the luck of Amazon’s algorithm, is to go direct, price your books at full price, and then learn how to make a good sale. That’s it. There is no magic strategy here. AF: So, where do your first-time buyers usually come from? Are they coming in through ScareMail, through books, or both? DV: Both. Typically, right now, what makes the money for me is ScareMail and my story letters, so it makes the most sense for me to continue selling that. But I still sell a hundred thousand dollars a year in books. I just don’t advertise them as much. AF: What is the key to getting top dollar for your books? DV: A lot of it comes down to the fact that we don’t see value the same way a reader does. We look at how many words we wrote, how much time we put in, how much editing we did. A reader is looking at it and asking, “How is this going to make me feel?” People will pay anything to feel something.. If you can make a person feel something, or at least let them know they’re going to feel a certain way by the end of whatever you’re selling, you can charge anything for that. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short story. Then you think about content and medium. Is a short story going to perform better in audio or as text? Probably audio for some people, because audio has inherently more value to an audio listener than an ebook does. But if they’re primarily a reader and they want something that will punch them in the gut on the subway in six minutes and make them feel something for the rest of the day, then you’ve got exactly what that reader is looking for. At that point, it’s just about finding a way to convey that price value in a way that makes sense. AF: Where can people find you? DV: I’m centrally located. You can find me at epistolary.com. For speaking engagements and that sort of thing, davidviergutz.com. But we’re all in on epistolary writing. We’re bringing story letters to the world. We have some of the most powerful indie authors on the planet publishing with us, and we’ll have 14 story letters out by the end of the year. SOME HUGE DEVELOPMENTS in Angelique’s writing life. All this research is paying off! -2026 has some big news! New sales, a new novel, possibly a short story to film adaptation, new jobs + life-changing revelations. * I’ve made five sales so far in 2026. * After the Storm Magazine bought “The Case of the Tiny Tea Toys” for their April issue. * My latest sale is out now: Polar Borealis is a Canadian Speculative Mag with a good rep. My story “The 6ix Trials” is on page 12. It’s a dystopian game show flash. * AHOY Comics has bought two of my upcoming shorts for 2026. “She Cracks” and “Elena and the Belligerent Zeno Beets.” * Zooscape, a pro-pay market I’ve been trying for since 2018, finally purchased a story called “Pirate’s C

See All (70)

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Season 2 of "Read Me A Nightmare" shifts its focus to conversations with writers, editors, and creators working in and around dark fiction — about craft, career, and the realities of making stories in the world.Visit www.fawns.ca to learn more. Please --if you enjoy the episode, leave a review! angeliquemfawns.substack.com

Information