10 Comments
User's avatar
Joe Radke's avatar

I’ll be honest, first episode I didn’t listen all the way through on. For whatever reason, he couldn’t grab my attention. He obviously does well for himself. And full of information. Just a bit slow for my taste. As always, your interview skills are getting better every week.

Expand full comment
Jody J. Sperling's avatar

Thank you for the honesty, Joe. And I'm just grateful that you've listened to my podcasts so far. You are not an author, and so, every time you listen, you are blessing me with kindness. I'm so grateful for your loyalty and friendship.

Expand full comment
Joe Radke's avatar

Of course always. I have actually learned many things, as has been the case throughout our friendship.

Expand full comment
Rich Hosek's avatar

As an author, I can tell you I had the opposite reaction. I immediately listened to it 2 more times.

Expand full comment
Heather O'Brien's avatar

Great show. Interesting to hear from Michael Lindley and his literary journey!

Expand full comment
Jody J. Sperling's avatar

He really impressed me.

Expand full comment
Rich Hosek's avatar

By the way, regarding selling books through your podcast, there are very few authors you've had on that haven't gotten a sale form me...

Expand full comment
Jody J. Sperling's avatar

You are a generous person, and I am grateful to know you.

Expand full comment
Rich Hosek's avatar

I listened to this one 3 times!

I grow more heartened by the week when I hear stories like Michael's about his experience finding, growing and making a living off an audience for his books.

Questions I wish you would have asked him:

- How many books does he put out a year?

- How much time a day does he spend actually writing?

- How long are his books? Does he go for shorter episodic stories in his series? Or are they closer to 100k or more?

I know you're focused on the marketing side and this was a GREAT episode to show how to make that work. I'm starting to think that the indie writer setting up his own distribution is the next frontier that has not been completely exploited or saturated.

Next time we talk, I want to pick your brains about what's missing from the current mashup of services you're using, what could be better. As a web developer, I'm keen to build something that is geared toward writers out of the box--rather than warping existing tools to meet your needs...

Yeah, like I have time for that! :)

I wish I could remember what it was, but there was a term you guys used, creative-something-or-another regarding ads. It would be nice if when you're editing, if you notice something that is obvious to you, but might be new to your listeners, that you inject a little sidebar. Use an EQ filter to differentiate it from the actual interview. That would be cool.

Look at me producing your show.

Like I have time for that! :)

Expand full comment
Jody J. Sperling's avatar

Hey, Rich, here's Michael's replies:

"Hi Jody,

Sorry, just got to this...

Answers to Rich's questions...

- I've been writing and releasing two novels per year, typically 70,000 words or so each

- I typically work 8-12 hours per day on my writing and publishing business, probably 80% marketing and 20% writing

ML"

Expand full comment