New Author Podcast

Jerry Evanoff
  • 5.0 (8)
  • ARTS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

First time authors Jerry Evanoff and Rich Kacy take you through their writing, publishing and marketing strategies. You'll get to hear every success and every mistake along the way.

  1. 1D AGO

    Episode 352 - A+ Content, AI Tools, and Other Ways Writers Make Life Harder

    This week, Jerry kicks things off on NFL Draft night in full Browns gear, ready to podcast, watch the draft, and somehow still pretend he’s focused. Rich opens with a writer personality quiz that includes Middlemarch, fountain pens, complicated mothers, and being from Ohio “in a very sad way,” which is honestly a strong start for two guys who then spend the next hour proving they absolutely do have writer personalities, even if one of them expresses it through obsessive to-do lists and the other through book donations and train videos. On the writing and publishing front, Jerry has one of those weeks where he somehow does everything except actual drafting. He gets Book 2 and Book 3 preorders moving, updates front and back matter, builds out Seven Four Press, launches the new website, orders ISBNs, sets up a PO box, wrangles BookFunnel and Draft2Digital, works through MailerLite automation emails, and dives into A+ content for Amazon without paying somebody the GDP of a small nation to do it for him. There is also a nice little subplot where jury duty hangs over all of this for two weeks and then never actually happens, which feels like the legal system trolling him for sport. Jerry also starts shifting his focus toward Book 3 in a smarter way this time around, building a chapter-by-chapter plot summary and character document before charging ahead, because apparently learning from previous pain is allowed. He talks about using NotebookLM to pull summaries and character information from the draft, then feeding all of that into his own writing app while he actively updates the app itself. So yes, he is using production data to test a writing tool while building a novel outline for the next book. Very calm. Very stable. Very programmer. Rich has a quieter but still productive week. He gets more editing done, keeps using 11 Labs to have chapters read back, talks about why it helps him hear clunky phrasing, and shares a couple of Substack rabbit holes on discoverability, AI behavior, and the increasingly weird future of writing and publishing. He also rebuilds a wood planer, survives library chaos, gets distracted by mystery book donations, and continues proving that writers will absolutely find seventeen side quests before sitting down to work on chapter twenty-two. There’s also golf, lawnmowers, estate paperwork, battery-powered adult purchases, and the ongoing reminder that writing books is somehow only a fraction of what authors actually do. This episode is a good one for anyone trying to balance writing, self-publishing, tech tools, marketing, and real life without setting fire to the whole schedule. Or at least without setting fire to it twice. Contact UsJerry EvanoffEmail: ⁠jerry@jerryevanoff.com⁠Website: ⁠https://jerryevanoff.com⁠⁠https://jerryevanoffauthor.substack.com/⁠ Rich KacyEmail: ⁠rich@richkacy.com⁠BlueSky: @RichKacy⁠https://richkacy.substack.com/⁠ Tagswriting podcastself-publishingindie authorbook marketingA plus contentMailerLiteBookFunnelDraft2DigitalNotebookLM11 LabsSeven Four PressNFL Draftauthor productivitywriting toolsmystery writing

    1h 11m

  2. APR 16

    Episode 351 - Action Beats, Deadlines, and Other Ways Writers Torture Themselves

    This week, Jerry and Rich return under storm clouds, weak internet, and the comforting glow of Jerry trying to watch The A-Team while podcasting like the professional he absolutely claims to be. Rich opens with the joy of spending two hours on the phone with Bank of America while dealing with his mother’s estate, which sounds exactly as fun as you’d imagine. Jerry counters by explaining that he is currently trying to release a novella, prep a novel, set up a preorder for another novel, avoid jury duty, work a full-time job, play golf, and launch a publishing company at the same time. So, naturally, everything is going great. Jerry talks through finishing Book 1.5, expanding it with the first chapter of Book 2, and discovering that his writers club and editor were absolutely right about one thing: he uses “looked,” “glanced,” “smiled,” and other action beats like they’re being handed out for free. That leads into a funny but useful discussion about overwriting dialogue beats, how writers lean on visual tics when the scene already does the work, and how to fix that without turning every conversation into two floating heads in a void. So if you’ve ever had an editor politely tell you that your characters spend too much time looking at each other, congratulations, you are among friends here. There’s also a whole pile of indie publishing talk in this one. Jerry gets deeper into Seven Four Press, buys ISBNs, wrestles with Atticus formatting, builds out front and back matter, sets up BookFunnel delivery, works on a MailerLite automation sequence, and realizes Amazon still makes certain things harder than they need to be because apparently that is part of the author experience package. He also builds fake newspaper articles for Book 2, hides Easter eggs for future books, and gets caught by Rich after accidentally uploading a version with a blank Chapter 38. Which is not ideal for a murder mystery unless the killer was white space. Rich brings his own writer-life chaos to the table too. He gets some editing done, tests 11 Labs for read-aloud revisions, realizes his chapter one needs real work, gets distracted by train cams, buys enough canned fish to alarm coworkers, immediately undercuts the health kick with cookies, and somehow still makes progress. There’s also book club fallout from Dean Koontz, note-taking experiments in Obsidian, cucumber planting, and the ongoing mystery of how either of these guys ever finish a manuscript while constantly inventing new side quests. Contact UsJerry EvanoffEmail: ⁠jerry@jerryevanoff.com⁠Website: ⁠https://jerryevanoff.com⁠⁠https://jerryevanoffauthor.substack.com/⁠ Rich KacyEmail: ⁠rich@richkacy.com⁠BlueSky: @RichKacy⁠https://richkacy.substack.com/⁠

    1h 18m

  3. APR 9

    Episode 350 - Find a Girl Scout and Roll Her for her Cookies

    In this episode, Jerry somehow turns one busy release week into six separate side quests. He finishes revisions on Book 2, gets the covers in, pushes the release back two weeks, works through the final pass on Book 1.5, discovers his big TV has died after only 18 months, survives a rough Columbus sports weekend, and then casually drops the kind of news that probably should have come with its own dramatic sting: he’s starting a publishing company. Because apparently editing one book, prepping another, and juggling release details was not enough chaos for one human being. There’s a lot here for writers. Jerry talks through the final cleanup on Book 2, what his editor caught, why complicated plots always come back to collect their debt, how he handled the last round of notes, and why he decided not to rush the release. He also gets into covers, formatting in Atticus, ISBNs, LLC setup, EINs, and the early nuts-and-bolts thinking behind building a small press that could eventually publish other authors. So yes, this episode includes actual useful indie publishing talk right alongside “my television died” and “I may have jury duty.” Which is, honestly, pretty on-brand for this podcast. Rich, meanwhile, contributes the steady wisdom of a man who got zero editing done, read a Dean Koontz novel that betrayed him halfway through, wrote some poetry for a workplace challenge that apparently leads straight into a desk drawer never to be seen again, and spent most of his week wrestling a greenhouse roof instead of a manuscript. It’s not exactly a productivity masterclass, but it is a strong reminder that writers are still people, and sometimes life kicks the writing plan in the teeth and then hands you a sonnet prompt. They also talk about Raymond Chandler, noir narration, book club reactions, reading taste, and the kind of voice that can make an old crime novel feel like a smoke-filled movie in your head. So this one lands in a sweet spot between practical publishing talk and two writers busting each other’s chops while trying to hold their projects together with caffeine, stubbornness, and whatever scraps of free time they can steal. Contact Us Jerry Evanoff Email: jerry@jerryevanoff.com Website: https://jerryevanoff.com https://jerryevanoffauthor.substack.com/ Rich Kacy Email: rich@richkacy.com BlueSky: @RichKacy https://richkacy.substack.com/

    57 min

  4. APR 2

    Book Launch Prep Is Going Great, If You Ignore the Panic - Episode 349

    This week, Jerry is deep in the author bunker, trying to finish approximately seventeen publishing tasks at the same time. Book 1.5 is nearly done, Book 2 is buried under editor notes, Book 3 needs a preorder, covers are still in motion, front matter and back matter still exist to ruin a perfectly good afternoon, and the release calendar is getting close enough to feel personal. He walks through the real behind-the-scenes mess of getting books ready to go live, from revision passes and Grammarly cleanup to preorder planning, newsletter setup, pricing strategy, and trying to figure out how many moving parts one human can juggle before turning into a stress goblin. Rich talks about his own editing process on his work-in-progress and how he’s been using Claude to help him stay focused during revisions without flattening his voice into robot oatmeal. The guys get into the difference between useful AI help and the kind that makes writers want to throw laptops into traffic, plus the weird mess of AI detection, why some tools seem determined to accuse humans of being computers, and why author voice still matters more than whatever some checker says. They also get into book descriptions, Amazon’s algorithm, natural-language search, newsletter strategy, Substack versus MailerLite, free reader magnets, and the ongoing indie author question of how to market books without becoming the kind of person who talks like a LinkedIn post. There’s also talk of golf, greenhouse repairs, Girl Scout cookies, Perry Mason recaps, and the usual proof that writing podcasts are never only about writing. But the core of this episode is one thing every writer will recognize: the book might be written, but that does not mean the work is done. Not even close. Jerry EvanoffEmail: jerry@jerryevanoff.com Website: https://jerryevanoff.com Rich KacyEmail: rich@richkacy.com

    1h 14m

  5. MAR 12 ·  BONUS

    Writers Club, Treasure Hunts & the Revision Z Grind | Ep 347

    This week on the New Author Podcast, Jerry and Rich kick things off with Midwest weather chaos, loud neighbors with louder trucks, and the annual tradition of dressing for four different seasons in a single week. From there, it’s back into the writing trenches. Jerry is deep into what he calls Revision Z, the final editing pass before sending his mystery novel to the editor. The plan: power through chapters during lunch breaks, writing sessions at Buffalo Wild Wings and Chick-fil-A, and a full weekend marathon to tighten the manuscript, examine chapter endings, and possibly break a few sections into new chapters. There’s also talk about using NotebookLM and AI tools to analyze scenes, deciding what to read at writers club, and the strange psychology of asking other writers for feedback when you’re not quite sure which part of the book is actually the problem. Rich shares his own editing plans for the coming week, balancing library work, gardening, and the ongoing struggle to stay motivated when real life keeps sneaking into the writing schedule. And because this is still the New Author Podcast, the conversation eventually drifts into: the Smarter Artist podcast and how author podcasts evolve over time planting seventy-two lettuce plants like it’s a full-time job and a real-life treasure hunt happening in Jerry’s small town that currently has people from dozens of states wandering around libraries and flower beds looking for clues. Writing progress, editing strategy, mild paranoia about strangers casing the neighborhood, and the eternal attempt to finish a book before the next idea shows up. Jerry EvanoffEmail: jerry@jerryevanoff.comWebsite: https://jerryevanoff.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerryevanoffauthor Rich KacyWebsite: https://www.richkacy.comBluesky: @KacyHimselfSubstack: @richkacy

    58 min

  6. MAR 5

    From 867-5309 to Substack: Another Week in the Author Rabbit Hole | Ep 346

    This week’s episode opens with a generational crisis when Rich fails to immediately recognize 867-5309. Jerry is deeply disappointed, though eventually forgiveness is granted after a brief cultural intervention involving Tommy Tutone. Once everyone recovers from that trauma, the conversation settles into the usual mix of writing progress, publishing logistics, and the never-ending list of things authors definitely plan to do soon. Jerry shares progress on the latest revision draft of his mystery novel, where chapters continue to shrink, grow, and occasionally get thrown out entirely depending on how cooperative the story decides to be that day. Word counts are tracked, editing passes get renamed with increasingly mysterious letters of the alphabet, and the looming April release date quietly watches from the corner. Meanwhile, Rich works through revisions on his own project, cutting words from early chapters, rewriting sections that refuse to behave, and slowly reshaping the story into something tighter than the original draft. The discussion then wanders into the author-marketing technology maze, including: Whether Substack should be treated as a newsletter platform or simply a lead generator The continued quest to connect Substack, BookFunnel, and email services without duct tape Why Substack currently refuses to play nicely with integrations (hint: no API) The ongoing debate over which email service might actually be worth using Somewhere along the way there’s also talk about golf weather, overly loud neighbors, domain names, and the comforting reality that writers are basically professional list-makers. In short: writing updates, platform experiments, mild technological frustration, and one classic 80s phone number that refuses to leave Jerry’s brain. Contact Info Jerry EvanoffEmail: jerry@jerryevanoff.comWebsite: https://jerryevanoff.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerryevanoffauthor Rich KacyEmail: rich@richkacy.comBluesky: @KacyHimself

    1h 2m

  7. FEB 26

    Substack, BookFunnel & the API Problem We're Trying to Solve | Ep 345

    This week on the New Author Podcast, Jerry and Rich attempt to solve the great modern writer dilemma: Substack vs. MailerLite vs. BookFunnel vs. reality. Jerry dives deep into whether Substack can integrate with BookFunnel, hunts for API roadmaps like a man searching for buried treasure, and contemplates manually deleting and re-uploading subscriber lists every week (before realizing that might be… mildly unhinged). The big question: can you grow on Substack without breaking your existing email system—or your sanity? Rich approaches it from a different angle, focusing less on integrations and more on discoverability and community-building, because maybe the tech isn’t the point. Maybe the readers are. They also talk about: Email automation strategies Early-access content ideas Unsubscribe gray areas (and why they make everyone nervous) Whether Substack even wants to play nicely with third-party tools Using ChatGPT to generate podcast titles and descriptions (yes, again) It’s part marketing strategy, part tech frustration, and part two writers trying to build something sustainable without duct-taping five platforms together. If you’ve wrestled with Substack, BookFunnel, email lists, or the eternal “how do I grow without breaking everything” question—this one’s for you. 📬 Contact InfoJerry EvanoffEmail: jerry@jerryevanoff.comWebsite: https://jerryevanoff.com Rich KacyEmail: rich@richkacy.comBluesky: @KacyHimself

    1h 31m

  8. FEB 18

    Two Hosts Again, One Deep in a Revision - Ep 344

    Rich is back after time away handling family matters, and the show settles into that familiar rhythm: a little life, a lot of writing, and the kind of honest “here’s where I’m stuck” talk that makes the work move again. Jerry breaks down the biggest Book 2 overhaul he’s done so far—condensing cliffhanger split-chapters, trimming confusion, and rebuilding the opening so the story hooks earlier and cleaner. Word count drops hard, chapters get reorganized, and the editor’s notes keep steering Jerry away from over-complication and toward clarity the reader can follow. They also dig into the gap between drafting and the work that comes after—why so many writers finish a draft and freeze, why editing can feel like the real craft, and how deadlines change everything once you finally commit to one. Also: Jerry eats at warp speed, becomes a regular everywhere he writes (against his will), fights his writing app login problem, and buys an expensive golf club because winter makes people do strange things. Getting back to routine after time away Revision strategy: cutting, consolidating, and clarifying Avoiding “plot convenience” and over-complication Drafting vs. editing (and why people stall after draft one) Deadlines, momentum, and preparing for copyedit Building a writing app while AI tries to “help” by breaking things Jerry EvanoffEmail: jerry@jerryevanoff.comWebsite: jerryevanoff.com Rich KacyEmail: rich@richkacy.comBluesky: @KacyHimself

    1h 8m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

First time authors Jerry Evanoff and Rich Kacy take you through their writing, publishing and marketing strategies. You'll get to hear every success and every mistake along the way.

Information

  • Creator
    Jerry Evanoff
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    325
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jerry Evanoff
  • Show Website
    New Author Podcast

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