Writing and Selling Stories with Angelique Fawns

Angelique Fawns
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  • 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. 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

    29 min

  2. MAR 22

    Growing an Indie Brand with David Hankins

    David Hankins and I have been writing short stories and learning the industry together for several years. He’s helped me when I’ve gotten stuck with my Writers of the Future entries. (like, why are they rejecting me?!) Authorial note— he took a story from rejected to Silver Honorable Mention. I’ve been watching him sell multiple short stories, run Kickstarters, and self-publish two fun novels with avid admiration. David has been an inspiration as I forge my own path through the many ways writers find success. He’s not afraid to try new things while always coming across as a professional. I interviewed him when he first won several years ago, and he read one of his shorts! This is his second time on the podcast, and feel free to check out his books and learn more about him, here: https://davidhankins.com Angelique: You seem to have a real method to your madness. When it comes to indie publishing, what have you found works? David: Really the way I tend to do things is I find the people who have done very well, and then I mimic what they do because clearly it worked for them. Then I see if I can do what they did in order to reach the next level. With publishing and writing books, I took a look at some of the big names who moved from traditional publishing over to primarily indie, like Dean Wesley Smith and Kevin J. Anderson. Dean gave us a class on the history of publishing, and it really came down to publishing changing dramatically about every fifty years. Right now we’re in the middle of one of those changes. Once he did that analysis, he moved straight over to what was new and where that was going, and I said, all right, I’m going to do the same thing. Angelique: I love that. So when you decided to publish Death and the Tax Man, why did Kickstarter make sense to you? David: Dean Wesley Smith has done a bunch of Kickstarters, and a bunch of others I had followed had done Kickstarters, and I was like, all right, I’m going to launch my first book with a Kickstarter, which was a smashing success. My profit was between thirty and fifty percent. That Kickstarter made about eight thousand dollars, so I made a profit of three to four. Which is great because that means I started in the green. Angelique: That’s amazing. And for anyone nervous about trying Kickstarter, what do you think the real risk is? David: The worst that happens is it doesn’t fund and you’re out nothing but time. But if you do the things that you have seen work, and you’ve observed other people, just mimic what they’ve done. Look at people who have run that kind of Kickstarter. For nonfiction especially, you’re trying to hook people in a different way than you would for a novel. It’s not the adventure, the mystery. It’s, here, learn how to do the thing. Angelique: What’s one of the biggest things you’ve learned so far from indie publishing your trilogy? David: I learned that there are lots of different audience pools out there. Kickstarter is its own pool of readers. The people who are supporting me on Kickstarter are not necessarily the people who are finding me on Amazon, because they do their book shopping on Kickstarter. There’s some crossover, but the growth that I had in Kickstarter did not translate over into Amazon reviews. Angelique: That’s so interesting. What did that teach you about reviews and momentum? David: One of the things that I was always hesitant on and didn’t really do was giving away copies to get reviews. A friend of mine is rapid releasing an urban fantasy series, and she’s doing ARC copies and giving away the free books. I was like, I just had people pay for it on Kickstarter. But it’s a totally different audience. They never would’ve found me on Kickstarter, and my Kickstarter people aren’t the ones who are going over there looking for ARC books to read and review. Angelique: So are you wide, or are you in KU? David: I’ve gone wide, and I’ve loved being wide. I can sell through my website, and I’ve actually sold more through my website and through direct sales, like me going to conventions and fairs and stuff like that. That’s where I made most of my money last year. If I were in KU, I couldn’t sell on my own website. Angelique: That direct sales piece is really interesting. What do you use to power that side of things? David: My sales engine is Square. They have a storefront, which is very basic. Here’s your book, book, book, price, click, buy. And that’s all I need. It integrates via links, so I have my book cover on my website and say, click here for my shop. I use Square because I started with them for in-person sales, because they’re very, very easy for in-person sales. I wanted something that integrated all the same stuff. I wouldn’t have to maintain two different tracking systems. If I sell out of a book in person, then it shows on my website as not available. Angelique: Since you’ve had success with in-person sales, what have you found makes the biggest difference there? David: There are a couple of things that make a difference with in-person sales. One is having the stuff to sell. The people who have three items on their table, they sell three items’ worth of stuff. When I first started, and I had just one book, I sold ten or fifteen copies, and that was it. As soon as I started adding more and more things to sell, I started making more sales, because when someone goes, I don’t know about this lighthearted humor stuff, I can ask what they like to read and point them to something else. So the more options you have, the more sales you’ll make. Angelique: That makes so much sense. Anything else you’ve learned about selling in person? David: I don’t sit. Never sit. I have a chair there just so I can sit and sign, but I’m standing the whole time. That’s another thing I found with in-person sales. If you are standing, you are engaging; they will engage with you. If you are sitting behind your table, hiding behind your books, no one’s going to talk to you. Angelique: What kinds of events have worked best for you? David: I’ve had a variety of places I’ve gone. I’ve done a couple of conventions like LTUE in Provo, Utah, and they have their book sales event on Friday night, and that’s all authors. They leave it open to the public, so it’s not just people at the convention, and that’s a madhouse of people coming in buying books. The one I’ve done the most often is a local toy and game sales event in malls. It’s fifty bucks a table, give or take, and you’re set up in the aisle of the mall. It focuses mostly on comics and games, and the authors do pretty well because there’s crossover. People like comics, they like fantasy books. Angelique: I know a lot of authors wonder about the cost of doing events. How have you approached that side of it? David: You have to build it small. I started with those small events that cost me nothing. I’d go up to the local Barnes & Noble and say, hey, I’m a local author, I have a book that just came out, can I do a signing? I sold ten books through them over two to three hours. Then I built up earnings and moved into something like the comic and game convention at the mall that cost me basically nothing. Everything else, I’m setting up my books, grabbing a wooden box from somewhere else in my house, and making it work. As I make more money with it, that all goes back into the business of expanding it. So if you see my setup now, probably a thousand bucks or more has gone into my setup, but that was all purchased over time. Angelique: I love that approach. You’re really building as you go instead of overextending. David: I would rather pay for things as I go as opposed to going into debt, hoping that I’ll make enough sales to pay it off. (Authorial note: I wish I were smart enough to live my life like that!) Angelique: Audio seems like another piece you’re thinking seriously about. Why is that your next big move? David: Audio is my next big thing because I really, really need to get into audio. It’s the biggest, fastest-growing segment of the market, and every time I have a table, people say, do you have it in audio? No. And then they go, oh, and they walk away. Every single time. Some of them will explain, I’ve got glaucoma, I can’t read the pages anymore, or I’m always on the move. One gal drives truck all day long, so she listens to audiobooks. She doesn’t have time to read physical books. I didn’t have an audiobook, and so I will have an audiobook now. Angelique: Conferences are obviously part of your strategy, too. How important have they been for you? David: For me, conferences are important because one, you get the connections, like I got the connection with the audiobook, and two, building a fan base. But it depends on the conference you go to. LTUE in Provo, Utah is a writing conference. Their focus is all about writing your book, training and teaching and learning. This year was the first year I actually taught my own class. They gave me the auditorium, and it was packed. That was an author level-up moment. My name is getting out there, I’m growing an audience through that, as well as paying it forward because I have learned from a lot of other people at conferences. In that aspect, I think conferences are very, very important because you become part of the community. Angelique: And are all conferences equally useful for you? David: If you’re looking at conferences like Dragon Con or FanX, which are fan-based conferences, that’s a different experience. It is still valid in its own right, but I get less from that because I’m not going there to geek out over who showed up and what panel they’re running. I went to Worldcon and Dragon Con, and I felt lost. There were just so many people. I was lost in the rush. I made a couple of connections, learned a bit about the community itself, but didn’t really grow that much. But I’m tryi

    35 min

  3. MAR 8

    The Unfiltered Truth About Indie Publishing with Mark Leslie

    Mark is a writer, an editor, a professional speaker, and a book nerd with a passion for craft beer. He’s also an ambassador for the Canadian publishing industry and my mentor. Prefer video? Watch this interview on YOUTUBE. It’s worth your while… I include a clip where I failed to hit record on our 1st attempt at this interview. My expression and shock might be priceless. I met Mark Leslie several years ago when we took the same short story webinar. When he found out about my short story blog, he invited me onto his podcast. Here is my first chat ever with Mr. Leslie: Since then, we’ve become fast friends, and I bump into him all over the continent at writing conferences. All sorts of goodies in this podcast… You can learn more about Mark over at markleslie.ca Angelique: You’ve said failure is just a data point and writers shouldn’t be afraid of it. What do you mean by that in publishing? Mark: I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and I’ve failed thousands of times. I’ve screwed up, done the wrong thing, and made mistakes constantly. But if it weren’t for those mistakes, I wouldn’t have learned. Sometimes, if something works accidentally, you think you knew what you were doing, and that can actually teach you the wrong lesson. Failure gives you information. It shows you what didn’t work, and that helps you adjust. Angelique: A lot of writers look for the magic formula. Is there one? Mark: No. There’s no magic bullet. There are good strategies, yes, but every single book is different, even for the same author. Every platform is different. Every reader is different. You can’t just copy what someone else did and expect the same result. You have to learn and adjust it according to what you’re writing, who you’re serving, and how you’re releasing it. A hundred authors can do all the so-called right things, and only a tiny percentage may still hit that perfect timing where everything aligns. Angelique: So writers shouldn’t just chase whatever seems to be working for everyone else? Mark: Exactly. Too many indie authors act like a bunch of ten-year-olds playing soccer, all chasing the ball around. They’re following the latest trend without thinking strategically. You have to think more like Wayne Gretzky, skating to where the puck is going to be. You have to figure out where your puck is, and your puck is going to be different from someone else’s. Most of the time it still won’t work, but every once in a while you’ll get a hit. That’s part of the game. Angelique: Is publishing really that unstable, even when something works? Mark: Absolutely. You can have a good year and still be broke the next year. There’s no guarantee in writing. You have to be able to pivot. I put out maybe three books a year on average, and they don’t all make money. Some books are successful, some do okay, and some are complete duds. So I’m playing the odds. I’m not waiting ten years and hoping one book becomes a blockbuster. I’m producing the books that are meaningful to me and releasing them with passion. Angelique: How important is talent compared to persistence? Mark: Talent matters, but it’s only one part of the equation. Persistence is huge. The writers who don’t quit are the ones who win. You’re going to get bad reviews, rejection, disappointing sales, and things that make you want to stop. But if you quit, that’s the end. You have to keep going. Angelique: How should writers handle negative reviews and readers who don’t connect with the work? Mark: You have to remember that not every reader is your reader. My mother never liked my writing because she was a romance reader and I didn’t write romance. That didn’t mean my books were bad. It just meant she wasn’t the ideal reader for me. The same is true with reviews. Some people are simply not the right audience. That’s okay. What matters is finding the people who do love what you write. Angelique: Why does having a body of work matter so much in publishing? Mark: Because one book rarely gives you enough leverage. When you spend money marketing one book, the math is tough. Maybe people click, maybe a few buy, but the return can be small. When you have more books, even if they’re not all in the same series, a reader who likes one can go looking for the others. That’s where the value of a backlist comes in. If someone discovers you and enjoys your writing, they may go buy more of your books. That’s one of the best reasons to keep building a body of work. Angelique: Does the backlist only matter if you write in series? Mark: Series make it easier, but no, it’s not only about series. If a reader connects with your voice or your storytelling, they may want more from you regardless. I’ve done that myself as a reader. I’ve read one book by an author and immediately gone out and bought everything else they wrote. That’s the power of a body of work. Angelique: For writers with anthologies or story collections, should they spend a lot on marketing them? Mark: Usually short story collections and anthologies are a harder sell unless you’re a very big name. They can still be valuable, though, because they may be how readers discover you. Someone reads one of your stories in an anthology or a magazine, likes your work, and then goes looking for more. So they can be part of the ecosystem, even if they aren’t your biggest money-makers on their own. Angelique: Your collection One Hand Screaming did unusually well for a short story collection. Why? Mark: Part of it was Kickstarter, but part of it was also that I invested in traditional distribution. I put it into warehouse distribution, had sales reps going out to bookstores, and I also did a lot of in-person promotion myself. I went to bookstores, met people, signed books, and did events. So it wasn’t just one thing. It was a combination of distribution, visibility, and effort. Angelique: What’s the advantage of traditional publishing for a project like your upcoming Great Lakes book? Mark: One major advantage is access. Because the book is through a traditional publisher, I don’t have to negotiate directly with bookstores. I can just tell them the book is coming out through a recognized publisher and that they can order it through normal channels. That makes events and bookstore outreach much easier. Sometimes, traditional publishing is the right fit for a certain kind of book because of the infrastructure it gives you. Angelique: So part of the publishing strategy is matching the project to the right path? Mark: Exactly. Some books fit indie better, some fit traditional better, and some fit hybrid approaches. You have to look at the project, the audience, the distribution needs, and what you want the book to do. Angelique: Writers are always told to focus, but you’ve also talked about trying multiple things. How do those ideas fit together? Mark: Focus matters, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try numerous things. I go back to Kevin J. Anderson’s popcorn theory of success. You throw a bunch of kernels in and see what pops. You can’t always test one tiny thing at a time. Sometimes you need to try several things and see what actually works. The key is not being random. You’re experimenting, learning, and watching for patterns. Angelique: You’ve recently started selling more short fiction again. What did that teach you? Mark: It reminded me that short fiction can be incredibly valuable. I sold a 5,000-word short story for $500. I have books that don’t earn $500 in a year. When you compare the time investment, that’s significant. A novel might take 80,000 words and months of work. A short story might take a few focused hours to draft and revise. That really changed the way I looked at the opportunity. Angelique: That’s a surprising comparison for a lot of writers. Are short stories underrated as an income stream? Mark: In many cases, yes. The average indie author book isn’t even going to make a hundred dollars in a year. So when a short story brings in five times that, you pay attention. That doesn’t mean everyone should stop writing novels. It means short fiction can be a smart part of the mix. It can generate income, build your name, and help you explore ideas quickly. Angelique: How are you deciding where to submit short fiction now? Mark: I’ve gotten into the habit of reading through market reports and seeing whether the concept inspires me. If I’m inspired, I write something for it. That’s what matters for me. I’m not just blindly chasing every market. I’m looking for opportunities that spark an idea and fit what I do. Angelique: So writers should pay attention not just to open calls, but to where their imagination lights up? Mark: Exactly. A market report is not just a list of places to submit. It can also be a creative trigger. If the concept grabs you, that may be a sign there’s something there worth writing. My list for this March! Angelique: Can short stories also help writers understand what resonates with readers? Mark: Absolutely. Short fiction lets you test ideas, characters, and worlds. If readers respond strongly, or editors keep saying they love the concept even when they pass on it, that tells you something. It means there may be a bigger opportunity there. Short stories can help you identify what has energy and what readers are connecting with. Angelique: So in that sense, short fiction can function like market research for your larger career? Mark: Yes. It can show you where there’s traction. It’s a way to discover what keeps getting a response, what people remember, and what may deserve expansion into something larger. Angelique: What would you say to writers who want their writing life to work as a business, not just as creative expression? Mark: There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money from your writing. But if you want it to work as a business, you need to think strateg

    32 min

  4. MAR 1

    Indie Book Selling Strategies with Cindy Gunderson

    Okay, my fellow writers and readers, You are in for a treat. This remarkable woman is one of a kind. She’s authentic, friendly, and gave me so much actionable advice. And inspiration. And hope. Cindy has managed to create a thriving business without losing her sense of humor or fun. Her latest a-ah moment? She’s giving away her audiobooks for free on YouTube. FOR FREE. (Check it out) Though it’s completely counterintuitive, this is driving more sales for her. (Listen to learn more.) If you like YouTube, here is our interview in video form. And can you believe she initially grew her business to gangbuster numbers by using free social media marketing? Yup. I was lucky to meet Cindy at Superstars last year. (If you wonder about the benefits of cons, the connections and people you meet are worth every penny.) Here’s her official bio: Cindy Gunderson is a voice actress, content creator, and award-winning author. Since she has commitment issues, she writes sci-fi and fantasy, plus contemporary romance and women’s fiction under the pen name Cynthia Gunderson. After 25+ years of performing, voiceover and commercial work, instructing piano and vocal performance, and directing children’s theater, she turned to audiobook narration and production. She’s narrated, mastered, and produced over fifty-five audiobooks since 2020 in her home studio and has created a massive audio listener following/community on TikTok, YouTube, and other various audiobook platforms. Cindy’s first novel, Tier 1, was awarded First Place in Science Fiction at the 2021 CIPPA EVVY Awards, and her women’s fiction novel, Yes, And, was honored with the Indie Author Award’s first place prize for best adult novel in the state of Colorado, 2023. Let’s get real here. All we have to do is look at her titles and cover art to be drawn in. How clever is that title? You can listen to it here. Or this one: (Listen to it here) Okay, I could do this all day. So go ahead and click play on the podcast (link at top) or our YouTube interview. Here are some highlights below. If you want to learn more about Cindy, Her website is here: https://cindygundersonaudio.com Most of my content is free, but there is another tier for those who want to take their short story writing to the next level. AF: How many books did it take until you started to see some traction in your career? CG: It took me until I had 12 books out before I was making some money, and over 40 before I hit six figures. AF: Let’s talk about the day-to-day. Writing full-time is hard. What’s your routine— CG: I’m still figuring it out. Life variables change—kids’ schedules, my husband’s schedule—so what works one year doesn’t work the next. I’ve leaned into curiosity. My favorite phrase is, “I don’t have to do it forever.” I’ll try a routine, and if I hate it, I change it. AF: So what are your productivity goals? CG: What got me to six figures isn’t what will get me to the next level. I maxed out what I could do alone, so now I have two assistants, and we’re moving toward expanding the business. AF: What are they doing for you? CG: One is international—she helps with audio editing and content creation. The other does formatting, promo submissions, admin, Shopify tasks, and she’ll be helping more with book maintenance and my YouTube channel. Delegation is a whole skill set. AF: I heard you say it took five years to get to six figures—was that right? CG: Almost four years. AF: And is that gross or net? CG: Gross. Net depends on ad spend. The first year I hit six figures, I barely spent on ads because social media drove sales. That changed in the last 6–8 months—TikTok slowed down, platforms shifted—so I leaned harder into paid ads. AF: I love your social media posts where you pretend to be thinking like one of your main characters. Do those actually drive sales? CG: Yep. They used to drive more on TikTok than they do now, but they still work. My strategy shifted: social media used to be my sales strategy; now it’s connection, reader retention, superfans. Paid ads are more of a straight sales engine. And honestly, all the pieces work together—social, ads, Amazon, Meta, YouTube—you don’t always know which one “caused” the sale. Once I stopped trying to control it perfectly, it worked better. AF: When you say paid ads, what do you mean? CG: Mostly Facebook and Amazon right now. I also do promos by discounting—Chirp deals, Barnes & Noble promos. BookBub deals were okay for me, but expensive and stressful, so I don’t submit much anymore. Audio promos have been huge for me. AF: Where do most of your sales come from? Are you in KU? CG: I was wide for ebooks and doing Draft2Digital, but when social sales slowed, I talked to others and tried going back into KU. It was a huge boost. My audio is still wide, though. AF: Which audio platforms? CG: Audible, Chirp, Nook, Kobo, audiobooks.com—everywhere. And also free on YouTube. AF: Doesn’t free hurt paid? CG: Not in my experience. YouTube has increased my sales everywhere else. I think it’s a different audience. People are thrilled to get free audiobooks, and they review, buy paperbacks, and buy audio elsewhere too. AF: You also write across genres—sports romance, holiday romance, sci-fi, and more. Why? CG: At first, I didn’t have a strategy. I just wrote what I wanted. Then I learned focus matters, but I also realized I need variety. If I wrote only fantasy, I’d hate my life. It wasn’t the fastest path. If I’d started only in hockey romance, I’d probably have made money faster—but now I’m more “bulletproof” through seasonal shifts. AF: What do you love writing most? CG: Rom-com. Always. And I started a paranormal pen name for fun, something “unhinged” as a brain break, and it became my bestselling series. My pen name is Luna M. Rose, and it’s the Shadow Pack series. It’s open-door but not explicit, and it still does great. AF: Was it a lot of extra work to create Luna M. Rose? CG: No. People say you need a whole new ecosystem, but I didn’t. It’s basically KU, some ads, and it’s on my website and YouTube. Readers know it’s me. I don’t want to make things more complicated than they need to be. AF: I love that. “What would this look like if it were simple?” CG: Exactly. And I’ll commit to new strategies for at least six months. Most things take time. Ads, direct sales, YouTube. It took about a year for my YouTube channel to get monetized, and then growth was exponential. I also try only one or two new things at a time. AF: You narrate your own audio too, which is something not every author is willing to do. CG: For me, audio is my biggest connection with readers. I’m reading stories every night, getting feedback, and it’s the most joyful part of the job. AF: Why indie over trad, and did you ever try the trad path? CG: I did. Early on, I wanted validation, so I queried. One person gave me really actionable feedback, and it helped a lot. Then I joined 20 Books to 50K, kept learning, and decided I could grow faster by publishing and learning in public. Going viral on TikTok helped things click, and I decided indie made the most sense. Thank you for joining Cindy and me in our little chat! If you join Cindy’s Substack, you can get more of her stories and other wondrous stuff. Here is a great post that made me giggle: If you liked this interview, please feel free to pass it along. 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

    31 min

  5. FEB 15

    From Expertise to Authority

    Learn more about Matty at The Indy Author Prefer to watch? I really enjoyed this conversation with Matty and though her new ventures focuses on helping entrepreneurs and those approaching retirement establish the next phase of their career, her advice works perfectly for authors hoping to grow their platforms. Like me! When I find an author who has managed to make this a full-time gig, I am all ears!!! If you’d rather focus on short stories— which is the main thrust of this platform, and where I am BUILDING authority — check out this podcast with my mentor, Mark Leslie Lefebvre and Matty Dalrymple where we talk about short story strategies. Now back to building authority from expertise! Here are some of the highlights from my chat with Matty: Angelique: Your project is called From Expertise to Authority. What’s the difference between those two? Matty: Expertise is what you know. Authority is when other people recognize you as someone to listen to on that topic. A lot of people—especially later-career professionals—have deep expertise, but they haven’t built the visibility, relationships, and platforms that turn that into authority. Authority isn’t just knowledge. It’s knowledge plus reach plus trust. Angelique: You work with a lot of experienced professionals, not just new writers. What are they usually trying to figure out? Matty: Many of them already have a book out. They’re retired or transitioning careers and want to stay engaged, share what they know, and be seen as leaders in a new or adjacent field. Their question isn’t “How do I publish?” It’s “How do I become known as a go-to voice in this space?” That’s the shift from simply having written something to building authority around a topic. Angelique: You emphasize starting simply. Why is that so important? Matty: Because it’s much easier to add than to take away. If you launch with a complicated system—paid tools, elaborate production, lots of deliverables—you can trap yourself in work that isn’t sustainable. I learned this with transcripts for my podcast. I started offering heavily edited transcripts, and when I had to stop for time reasons, it felt like I was taking something away from my audience. If I’d never offered them, no one would have missed them. Start lean. Build only what proves useful. Angelique: You talk about the three steps to building authority. Can you walk us through them? Matty: Sure. * Showing Expertise– This is where you share what you know. Written content is powerful here: newsletters, articles, posts that demonstrate your knowledge. You’re showing people your thinking. * Growing Connections and Trust – Now people get to know you. Your voice. Your perspective. This often happens through podcasts, interviews, and conversations where your human presence comes through. * Being an Authority – This is where people pay for access to your expertise. Courses, consulting, editorial services, coaching, client work. You’re not just sharing knowledge—you’re applying mastery to help others directly. Angelique: For someone with a strong niche—like mine in paid, no-fee short fiction markets—how do they grow without going broader? Matty: You don’t necessarily have to widen the niche. Instead, deepen your relationship layers. You’re already doing expertise-based work through written guidance. You’re building personality-based connections through conversations like this. The next step is exploring authority-based offerings—paid newsletters, consulting, editorial feedback, submission strategy help. That lets you be deeply meaningful to a specific audience rather than vaguely useful to a huge one. Angelique: You’re big on repurposing content. How does that fit into building authority? Matty: It’s essential. Every piece of content should do multiple jobs. An article can also be a podcast episode if you read it aloud. That article might become a chapter in a future book. An interview becomes both relationship-building and source material for your ideas. When you think holistically, you’re not creating ten separate things—you’re creating one idea that moves through multiple formats. That’s how you grow authority without burning out. Angelique: Let’s talk platforms. Why do you like newsletter ecosystems like Substack for this stage? Matty: Because you own the relationship. You have the email addresses. If a social platform changes or disappears, you can take your audience with you. It’s also low-cost, which matters when you’re in the building phase and not expecting immediate profit. It lets you experiment without heavy financial pressure. Angelique: How do in-person events factor into authority building? Matty: They’re powerful for two reasons. First, you observe your audience—what resonates, what doesn’t, what problems people actually talk about. Second, you build real relationships. You meet peers, speakers, organizers. Those connections lead to invitations, collaborations, and referrals. In a world full of AI noise, a real conversation at a conference cuts through everything. Angelique: You’ve changed how you pitch yourself because of AI noise. What do you recommend now? Matty: Warm introductions over cold emails. I used to teach structured email pitching. Now, many of those emails look identical to AI spam. If I can, I ask a mutual contact to introduce me. That human bridge makes all the difference. It’s another example of relationships being more valuable than ever. Angelique: If someone feels shy about visibility, especially video, are they stuck? Matty: Not at all. Audio can be a great middle ground. The key is that people hear your real voice and personality. You don’t have to start with high-production video. Choose the format that feels sustainable, because consistency matters more than polish at the beginning. If you want to learn more about Matty, visit https://www.theindyauthor.com 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

    31 min

  6. FEB 8

    Selling your Novel with Cherry Weiner

    Join my chat with Cherry Weiner as we go over… 📝 How our editing process works📖 What the big publishers are looking for🧭 How long it REALLY takes to go from book deal → bookstore shelf💡 Smart moves that help authors build lasting careers I finished my first novel, City Lights to Country Nights, last February and signed with Cherry Weiner at Superstars 2025 last year. (This year’s con starts Feb 4 in Colorado, but I am missing it this year.) The only way to query Cherry is to meet her in person, and she signed a few of us from last year’s convention! It’s been a year of trying to sell my book, and here’s your chance to eavesdrop on our conversation as Cherry talks about me through the realities of the publishing world and the best way forward to success for an author. Join the next tier and read my cold email to Cherry before the con and the winning query letter! AF: A lot of writers imagine you write a book, get an agent, sell it, and a few months later it’s in stores. What’s the real timeline from book sale to publication? CW: Much longer than people think. First, editors can take months just to read submissions — three, six, sometimes nine months. If they love it, they still have to take it to an acquisitions meeting where sales, legal, and other editors weigh in. If it passes, we negotiate the deal, which can take a week or even months. Then, contracts take weeks to process. After the manuscript is accepted, publication is often scheduled up to 24 months later because publishers buy books years in advance. AF: I didn’t know about the acquisitions meeting. Does this mean an editor can love your book and still reject it? CW: Absolutely. An editor can be passionate about a book, but if the acquisitions committee says no, the deal is dead. Publishing decisions are business decisions as much as creative ones. AF: How has publishing changed since you started? CW: It’s much harder now. I used to be able to sell a book on three chapters and an outline. Today, especially for new authors, I need a complete, polished manuscript before submitting. Publishers are taking fewer risks. AF: How many major publishers are we really talking about now? CW: Very few. There are about four or five major houses left, plus some big independents. And many imprints under the same umbrella consult together, so if one says no, that often closes doors within that house. AF: What does a manuscript need today for you to say yes? CW: I have to feel like I’m not reading — I’m there in the story. If I can put it down easily, it’s a no. It has to pull me in completely and make me want to turn the page. AF: What’s a common character mistake you see? CW: Weak protagonists. Today’s readers and editors want strong, capable main characters — especially women. Not “wet noodles.” Growth is great, but they need strength from the start. (Authorial note: Cherry originally thought the main character in my cowboy romance was a “wet noodle” and was going to say no. But I convinced her to let me take another crack at it. And hired Bruce McAllister to help me. DM me if you want to learn more about hiring Bruce.) AF: Do editors still buy series from new authors? CW: Not the way they used to. I try to pitch series, but most editors will buy one book first and wait to see how it performs before committing to more. AF: How long will you keep submitting a book before giving up? CW: I keep going as long as I believe in the author and we have options. Sometimes we pause and try another project. I once worked with an author for six years before selling the right book — but it was in the genre she truly loved writing. (Authorial note: This eased my mind greatly. I was panicking about my book not being sold after a year of being pitched to editors. Cherry won’t give up on me if I don’t give up on writing. I am considering creating book #2 in this world. After I complete a million other projects, of course. Squirrel anyone?) AF: How important is an author’s platform now? CW: Very. One of the first things editors ask is about social media and audience. Discoverability is a huge issue, and having a following helps prove there’s a readership. AF: When does it make sense to use a pen name? CW: If you’re switching genres and don’t want to confuse readers, or if previous sales were weak. Editors can see sales history, so sometimes a fresh start with a new name helps. AF: What makes a great agent–author relationship? CW: Trust, honesty, and communication. It’s like a business marriage. You’re trusting me with your work, so transparency is essential. AF: What’s your best advice for writers pitching agents or editors? CW: Be natural. Don’t read a script. Put your best foot forward — and ideally, have a complete manuscript ready. Curious how I found my agent? Read my cold email and the winning query letter. Cherry Weiner only takes queries from authors she meets in person. I knew she was going to be attending Superstars Writing Seminars in 2025, and I finished my novel in the summer of 2024. (Or I thought I had.😂) I researched all the agents taking pitches at the con using Publishers Marketplace and found that Cherry represented some very interesting authors. Tim Waggoner. (I am a huge fan of his horror.) And some very successful Western genre authors. Hmmm. And I wrote a cowboy romance. This might be a fit. Here is my cold reach out email sent on July 18th, 2024: Dear Cherry, I’m hoping to see you this February at the Superstars Writing Seminar in 2025. (I picked you for my career counseling and pitch session!) Last year I won the Eric Flint scholarship, and took everything I learned and wrote my debut novel, CITY LIGHTS TO COUNTRY NIGHTS. Perhaps I can be your next Brett Cogburn? CITY LIGHTS TO COUNTRY NIGHTS is a complete 80,000 word cowboy romance wrapped up like a Hallmark Christmas movie. Think BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY meets YELLOWSTONE. Emma believes nothing makes for better feel-good television than a hot cowboy, fuzzy alpaca sweaters, and a Hallmark-worthy Christmas market. After a tragic accident derailed her dream of growing Christmas trees, she’s reinvented herself as a Morning Show Host. Now she lives in a trendy city condo and is engaged to an accountant. Life is great until her decision to feature artisan alpaca sweaters –instead of a corporate holiday story –gets her fired. Heading home early, she catches her fiancé cheating with her best friend. Worse yet, the condo is in his name! Devastated, betrayed, and homeless, Emma remembers how the owner of the alpaca ranch, Melissa, said she needed some help. And her head cowboy, Cliff, did look devastatingly gorgeous in his fuzzy holiday sweater, even if he rubbed her the wrong way. Emma secures a job on her ranch. Accommodation included. Now Emma’s dealing with stolen alpacas, winter storms, ex-con cowboys, and stampeding cattle. Through it all she grows to love her newfound family. Not to mention that irritating cowboy, Cliff Waters. The stakes escalate when she discovers Everwood Ranch is in financial trouble and faces foreclosure if the mortgage isn’t paid by New Year’s. Emma is in for the ride of her life, and she just might find love along the way. CITY LIGHTS TO COUNTRY NIGHTS is my debut novel. Themes include enemies-to-lovers, rom-com, small-town romance, and spirited independent heroines. An LGBTQ+ romantic subplot also sparkles in the story. There is definite series potential and a dynasty of tales waiting to be discovered at Everwood Ranch. I have 30 years working as a television producer/writer in downtown Toronto and live on a ranch with far too many animals. My family competes on the RAM Rodeo circuit. I have more than 60 short stories published in places like Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Amazing Stories, and Mystery Tribune. I’m prepared to write short stories in this world and aggressively help market the book. If interested, I’d love to send you a sample of the novel! Thank you, Angelique. Angelique Fawns socials: www.fawns.ca Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B07ZHJGCX1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amfawns https://twitter.com/angeliquefawns This was her response: Hi Angelique Sounds interesting.... and I can see you don’t want to wait until February. Why don’t we arrange a phone conversation? Email me a good day and time for you to call me -- and please quote east coast time ( a la New York. I am in Georgia). I will see if that day and time will work for me, and we can go from there. Best Cherry Cherry Weiner Literary Agency As Cherry says in her interview, she always talks to an author on the phone first. It’s definitely a chemistry thing. In retrospect, my response to her is HILARIOUS. And shows how green I was: Hi Cherry! I can’t wait to talk to you. If you like my work, I can write you a complete second -and maybe even a third -novel before February. I’m available for a conversation at your convenience. Or even a Zoom if you prefer. We are both Eastern time. Tomorrow morning works for me from 7am-11am. Or anytime Monday- Friday next week. My first novel was the cowgirl romance— and now I’m almost done a dark fantasy/romantasy that I’ve cowritten with Rachel Luttrell (Stargate Atlantis fame). She has a large cult following that may help market that book! Thank you so much for your prompt reply. Angelique 647-206-0840 Like, I was actually going to be able to write 2 more novels before February. (Even though, at that time, I believed I could. Little did I know that Cherry would have me completely rewrite my first novel before the conference. Trust me, it needed it. And I’m still not done with novel #2, and it’s more than a year and a half later. But I’m still working on it. With a new respect for the ACTUAL hours that go into creating a truly professional novel. OMG. Why do we do this? That’s right. For the love of writing a

    37 min

  7. JAN 22

    Writing for TV & Film with Chris Goldberg

    Don’t miss this raw and authentic interview with Chris Goldberg. He tells the honest truth about optioning IP for film and the current state of the industry. He’s rarely interviewed, so I am so grateful he’s chosen to share his story with us. Prefer to watch your interviews? See it on YouTube. Chris Goldberg is veteran in the film industry and is heavily involved the book-to-film world. He’s the founder and force behind Winterlight Pictures and is working on over 25 projects at places like A24, Netflix, Sony, Plan B, 87Eleven, and Lionsgate to name a few. He’s been been involved in huge hits like The Martian, and The Fault in Our Stars. Some of his projects currently in development include The Maid with Universal Pictures, and Biter staring Zöe Kravitz. Here is a notice in deadline.com about one of his projects which involves Patrick Hoffman’s The White Van. Black Label Media’s Molly Smith, Rachel Smith, Thad Luckinbill and Trent Luckinbill will produce alongside Chris Goldberg at Winterlight Pictures, who brought the project to Singer and Black Label Media, with Black Label also financing. Seth Spector will executive produce. Here are some of the highlights from the interview: AF: Can you tell people a bit about who you are? CG: You were one of the very first people I met on Substack when I started, so it’s really great to be here talking with you. I’m a producer and a writer. I started my career in New York as a literary scout, finding books to turn into movies for Fox. I did that for about ten years, reading constantly and reporting back to executives on what might work as film or television. After that, I moved to Los Angeles and worked as a development executive. About five years ago, I started my own production company, Winterlight Pictures, and at the same time I began writing again for the first time in about twenty years. Substack has been a completely unexpected experience for me. I didn’t go there with a big plan, but it’s turned into a creative home and a place where I’ve met people—like you—who share similar interests in storytelling, film, and the business behind it all. AF: What is Winterlight Pictures, and how does it fit into your work as both an executive and a creator? CG: Winterlight Pictures is my production company, and it really allows me to combine all the different parts of my background. When I was coming up in the industry, there was very much an attitude that being an executive and being a creative had to be separate. If you were a producer or development executive, you weren’t supposed to be a writer. For a long time, that separation shaped my life. I always wanted to write, but I was deeply immersed in developing other people’s work. Now, having my own company gives me the freedom to wear multiple hats. I can develop projects, produce them, and also create my own material. That balance works for me in a way that it never could when I was under a studio contract. AF: You’ve mentioned before that you stopped writing for a long time. Why did that happen? CG: When I was coming out of NYU, I was very focused on being a writer. I met director Whit Stillman when I was about twenty-one, and I asked him for advice. I told him I was about to take a job as an assistant and reader at Fox, and I asked whether he thought that was a good idea. “If you want to be a writer, go work at a gas station. Don’t take that job.” Whit’s advice to Chris His reasoning was that I’d be reading five-hundred-page books for studios every weekend, and the last thing I’d want to do afterward was sit down and write my own work. He was completely right. I took the job anyway, and I didn’t write again for almost twenty years. AF: So, should you have taken that job at the gas station? CG: I don’t regret it exactly, but I do think about it a lot. For twenty years, I worked with writers, read constantly, gave notes, developed scripts, and helped shepherd projects forward—but I didn’t write myself. When I finally came back to it five years ago, it felt like rediscovering a part of myself that I’d put away. At the same time, I gained an incredible education. I saw how projects really get made, how many drafts it takes, how notes shape a script, and how ideas evolve. So while I lost time as a writer, I gained perspective that I wouldn’t trade. AF: How did that background shape you as a writer once you returned to it? CG: My version of the “10,000 hours” was working at Fox. (Authorial note: Malcolm Gladwell famously said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve true expertise.) Writing loglines, reading submissions, and getting immediate feedback from executives rewired how my brain works. You learn very quickly what makes an idea pop, what feels urgent, and what feels commercial. I also learned by watching writers revise. Seeing draft after draft, watching how notes land, and how stories change in response—that’s an education you can’t really get anywhere else. All of that informs how I write now, whether that’s short fiction or something intended for film or TV. AF: Do you ever wonder what kind of writer you might have been if you’d taken a different path? CG: All the time. I wonder what I would have written if I’d stayed raw and untrained, or if my taste would be different if I hadn’t spent years reading commercial thrillers and studio-driven material. I missed out on a lot of literary work during that time. But at the same time, this is the brain I have now. For better or worse, it’s shaped by the industry, by development, and by thinking about story through a cinematic lens. AF: Hollywood is a rarified circle, and hard to break into. Can you tell us about it? CG: It absolutely can be closed off. I was privileged enough to be able to intern unpaid and work low-paying assistant jobs while bartending. Not everyone can do that, and that creates a lack of economic diversity in the industry. It’s a real problem. That said, even people who’ve been in the business for decades don’t feel secure. The industry has been contracting—first the pandemic, then the strikes, now layoffs and uncertainty around streaming and AI. Even very established people feel under the gun. AF: You sold a short story to Netflix. Did that change things for you? CG: Not in the way people imagine. The story, Bunny Never Sleeps, was optioned and developed, but ultimately dropped during the strikes and internal changes at Netflix. That happens to about ninety-five percent of projects. It didn’t change my life financially, and it didn’t get made. But I got the rights back, and now it’s one of several projects I’m still exploring—possibly as a novel, or as a script I write myself. AF: Are short stories a pathway into film and TV? CG: There’s an active market in Hollywood for high-concept short fiction that most writers don’t realize exists. Studios and producers buy short stories all the time because they’re quick to read and easy to imagine as films. Publishing doesn’t really have that same market for commercial short fiction, which is why I ended up on Substack. I already had film interest in my stories, and Substack gave me a place to share them rather than letting them sit on my computer. AF: How hard is it to sell a script, especially without connections? CG: It’s extremely hard, especially in television. TV is very hierarchical—you usually work your way up through writers’ rooms. Features are slightly easier because it’s a one-time commitment rather than a multi-year relationship. There’s also a lot of scamming out there: submission fees, questionable festivals, and people promising access if you pay. Writers have to be very careful. AF: Can you explain the difference between a manager and an agent? CG: Agents work at large agencies and represent many clients. Managers tend to be more hands-on, take fewer clients, and help develop material. Managers can also be producers and help package projects. For writers trying to break in, I usually recommend starting with a manager rather than an agent. AF: How does someone actually find a manager? CG: Research and targeting. Look at projects similar to yours, see who represents those writers, and reach out thoughtfully. Personalized outreach matters. I still cold email people all the time, and it works when it’s smart and specific. (Authorial note: Chris suggests the best place to find a manager is by scrolling through Deadline deals.) AF: You’re currently developing a project based on the viral dating show The Button. What drew you to that? CG: My wife introduced me to it. It has massive pre-awareness—over a hundred million views—and a whole ecosystem of reaction content. Anyone under thirty knows what it is. I partnered with Cut.com and Gunpowder & Sky to explore adapting it as a scripted rom-com. My vision is a feature film that explores what happens behind the scenes and what chaos erupts when two people meet on a show like that. See a clip of The Button here! AF: What does the development process look like for something like that? CG: We create a deck, find a seasoned rom-com writer, develop the concept, get approval from the rights holders, and then take it out to studios. It’s a long process—often years. AF: Do you option IP with your own money? CG: No. I usually partner with companies or rights holders. Development is expensive, and the failure rate is high. Partnerships are the safest way to do it. AF: Any final advice for writers and filmmakers? CG: Do your homework, be strategic, and don’t assume people on the inside have it all figured out. Everyone is struggling in some way. There are paths in—short fiction is one of them—but it takes patience, persistence, and a lot of work. Want to find and follow Chris? Substack: Max Winter https://www.instagram.com/winterlightpictures This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers

    33 min

  8. JAN 11

    Making Horror Movies with Robert Stahl

    Prefer to WATCH this interview? CLICK HERE Robert Stahl is a long-time writing friend of mine and we met because he follows my monthly short story call lists. This Texan native also makes the most blood-chilling (and fun) little horror movies. Check them out! You Better Watch Out (trigger warning: gory) Trick (trigger warning: really spicy and gory) Think Robert Rodriguez. I saw his latest Christmas horror short on YouTube and decided a catch-up in 2026 was a must-do. Learn more about Robert at www.robertestahl.com. We also talk about his recent anthology Show Me Where It Hurts Angelique: One thing that really stands out about you is that you’ve actually made horror movies—something many writers dream about. Can you tell us about your short films? Robert: I’ve done two short horror films, both under ten minutes. I wrote and produced them and worked with a very talented local director. The first was a gay slasher short called Trick, and the second was You Better Watch Out. The second one won Audience Choice at a local film competition, which I’m very proud of. Angelique: Is filmmaking something you see as profitable, or is it more of a passion project? Robert: Those films were definitely passion projects. They’re more expensive to make than they are profitable. For me, they were a way to learn the process and train myself. I do have ideas for full-length screenplays, but with a full-time job, it’s all about finding the time. Angelique: Your production quality is impressive. It feels like the industry should be snapping this kind of work up. Robert: Thank you. I think it’s possible to get there eventually, but I have to focus on one project at a time. Right now, that focus is writing fiction. Angelique: Let’s talk about your short story collection. Why did you choose to work with JournalStone instead of self-publishing? Robert: I wanted the experience of working with a publisher. I liked the reputability and the extra validation. I shopped the collection around for about a year and a half, got plenty of rejections, and eventually connected with JournalStone after seeing other authors I respected working with them. Angelique: What did that publishing process look like? Robert: They handled formatting, cover art, ebook versions, and distribution. It was a very smooth process, and I’d recommend them to other writers. Angelique: Was it financially worthwhile? Robert: I’m not retiring anytime soon, but it did reasonably well. It’s a profit-split model, not an advance, and everything was very transparent. I’d happily work with them again. Angelique: There’s a lot of talk online about big numbers and writing income, but not much honesty about expenses. What’s your take? Robert: Exactly. There are many ways to lose money in publishing. My experience with JournalStone was straightforward and fair, but writing—especially short fiction—is rarely career-changing income. Angelique: Do you see novels or novellas as the next step? Robert: Definitely. When you go to conventions, authors with more books have more opportunities. I want to build my inventory—novels, novellas, maybe comics or screenplays. Angelique: Are you aiming to make writing your full-time career? Robert: I made peace with the fact that I do this for love, not money. If something big happens, great—but that’s not my focus. Having a day job lets me create without pressure. Angelique: I think we write horror for similar reasons—processing difficult things in the world. Is that true for you? Robert: Absolutely. I’ve had a dark inner world since childhood. Writing horror helps me channel it. My mother had dementia, and that experience directly inspired one of my stories, Family Time. Writing gives me a way to work through those emotions. Angelique: That comes through in your work. Your film You Better Watch Out barely has dialogue, which I didn’t even notice when watching. Robert: That was intentional. We wanted to challenge ourselves and rely on visual storytelling. There are maybe a couple of spoken lines, but it’s mostly pure action and atmosphere. Angelique: What’s your main focus going into 2026? Robert: Building more work—hopefully another short story collection, a novel or novella, and continuing to explore screenplays and comics. I just want to keep getting better. Angelique: And where can people find you? Robert: I’m on all the socials, and my website is robertstahl.com, where people can also sign up for email updates. If you want to hear my ORIGINAL interview with Robert, check it out here. He also reads his short story “Treats.” 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

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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

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