Emotionally Booked Podcast
Welcome to Emotionally Booked Podcast, where romance meets realism, and dragons share shelf space with literary greats. We're Michaela and Bella-two book-obsessed friends here to talk stories we love, authors we admire, and the bookish adventures we're having along the way.
From swoony fantasies to thought-provoking lit fic, we've got your next favorite read waiting for you. So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let's turn the page together.
Emotionally Booked Podcast
Ep. 3: Behind the Book: How Publishing Shapes What You Read
In this episode, Michaela and Bella take you behind the scenes of the book world! Ever wondered what makes indie publishing different from traditional publishing—or why it matters for the books you love? In this episode, we explore the perks and pitfalls of both, uncover the hidden dangers of book pirating, and share how these issues affect the authors who bring your favorite stories to life.
If you’re a reader who loves discovering new books and wants to understand the challenges (and triumphs!) your favorite authors face, this episode is a must-listen.
Hey Mikayla, how are you?
Speaker 00:Hey Bella, I'm so good this week. How are you doing?
Speaker 02:I'm good, a little sick, so hopefully I don't cough too much since this is voice only, but we'll see.
Speaker 00:Oh my gosh, there's so much going around right now, but I hope that you get to feeling better. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 02:So if this episode sucks to you guys, just come back next time. But
Speaker 00:the dedication to do it when you're still kind of under the weather, that's what matters. i've not been
Speaker 02:i've not been posting on tiktok i will say have
Speaker 00:you not is that more like you're giving yourself kind of some time to recharge or
Speaker 02:yeah yeah yeah but i i have like these press on nails so i feel like and i never do my nails so i kind of feel like this is a good opportunity to do like where you just hold the books and show them oh yeah
Speaker 00:for tiktok
Speaker 02:yeah
Speaker 00:oh i think that so good I saw one earlier and I was like this is so cute some people do so great with those and it's low
Speaker 02:effort right huh you do a lot of pictures
Speaker 00:I do a lot of pictures I'll do the slide shows on TikTok sometimes because I saw something that says that those do really well and I feel like when I do them they do like decently well I didn't know people like to slide through pictures on there so
Speaker 02:weird I've seen those where it's like de-influence or influence my TBR I do really like sliding through those
Speaker 00:oh my gosh those are so fun I've been wanting to do one of those because I'm just like what do people want opinions on and I like to comment on those too because I'm like this is so fun yeah
Speaker 02:and if we're wanting to interact and other people want to interact so
Speaker 00:oh for sure and sometimes they have ones on there that I'm like oh my gosh like these are just like I don't know they're so different but they're like I don't know I'm so passionate in the comments like you have to read this one like don't not read this I I don't know.
Speaker 02:Is there a book that you've been seeing a lot that gets you excited? On those De-Influence Me ones?
Speaker 00:Yes. The Hurricane Wars. I feel like people put that one on there a lot and they're like, should I read this? Should I not? And that is one that I'm just obsessed with that world and I don't know. I'm just ready for the third one to come out. Is there one you've been seeing?
Speaker 02:Oh, Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Speaker 00:You're going hard for this book.
Speaker 02:Matt Deniman commented on my video I mean he just put like a laugh emoji but oh my gosh and how good does that
Speaker 00:feel like when an author sees something you do it's like I don't know it's like this really this rush of like validation it feels so good
Speaker 02:yeah but I do think they're more active on insta so I don't know I wish I wish that's where I wanted to be you know and I wish tiktok is
Speaker 00:where
Speaker 02:I
Speaker 00:wanted to
Speaker 02:be like
Speaker 00:I just greener and the grass is always greener I feel like insta Instagram's fun, but TikTok is, like, more fast-paced, and there's a lot more trends on there that are fun to do. Oh, yeah. I love doing sounds and stuff. I'm so excited for us to be on here today, and just to kind of, like, preface what we'll be talking about, we're going to be discussing indie and trad publishing today. Ooh! Another trend. Another trend. It's not been moved over, so. I feel like there is kind of a stigma around the indie publishing? And I don't know, do you feel like things have changed within the last couple years with that? Like, what are your thoughts on just indie publishing in general?
Speaker 02:I've always been, you know, really, I really respect the game. It takes a lot to say, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. And I saw an author, Rebecca Thorne, who has went mostly trad, but some indie still. And she talked a indie you can't go in with the mindset of I'm hoping to get picked up later like because the community will know it and they will suss you out and you will not be welcomed so I think I think there's a lot of respect due there for people willing to and excited to really get into the indie game because it's so much harder I think
Speaker 00:it is so challenging I saw TikTok speaking on TikTok the other day of an indie author and she was like hi I'm I can't remember her name. I wish I did. She's like, hi, I'm Tammy and I'm the author. And then she would like walk off screen and she'd be like, I'm Tammy and I'm the editor. And then she would walk off and be like, I'm Tammy and I'm the marketer. It's like you really do put all these hats on whenever you do IndiePub because it falls just to you. You're like your whole team.
Speaker 02:Which is I mean, it's time commitment, but also financial because you have to pay for every part of it. The editing, the cover. And to get a really good cover designer can be pretty expensive.
Speaker 00:There's a lot that goes into it. Before we get too deep in this, I want to kind of define indie versus trad publishing, just for people that don't have a lot of knowledge on it. How would you distinguish the two?
Speaker 02:So independently published is when an author goes in and, like you said, they don't just write the book. They are in charge of editing it and then finding an editor because there should be multiple rounds so they'll do hopefully just the initial one um and then they have to organize the the cover process and they're their own marketers they just they're doing everything like you said wearing all the hats and um they're obviously gonna have a little bit more trouble getting into bookstores and by a a lot of support behind them. They have a team, sometimes even a lawyer, and they have their editor, they have their agent, and their agent ends up sending them out to publishers, finding them a publisher. It's just a lot more hands-off, and they get to focus on writing.
Speaker 00:Yeah, this is something I had no idea about. I kind of did a little research for our episode today, and I had seen that it takes approximately 18 to 24 months from when the contract is signed to when it's actually on the shelves. Is that
Speaker 02:not insane? So they kind of put it on the back burner, I think.
Speaker 00:Yeah, it is a lot. And they want to give it their full time and attention to do like the marketing for it, the build up for it. They send out like advanced copies and get some hype going. There is definitely a lot that they do that, you know, indie published authors are doing these things themselves and they're fronting all the costs for it. And the timeline
Speaker 02:is true. Like for marketing, I ran a fundraiser once and I did not give much time to to let people know about it and I did not realize how crucial it is to leave a huge gap between when it's announced and like let that build up and it's insane so I definitely think that um the marketing is a big reason for that timeline for sure yes
Speaker 00:and I noticed that now like with trad publishing I saw an author announce a book the other day and it's not going to be out for like seven months and I'm like what am I supposed to do with this knowledge like
Speaker 02:it has way too soon for 2026 it is
Speaker 00:too soon and i want an arc like i want an advanced copy and most times they don't even send those out to like i don't know a few months ahead and i'm like now i just have to wait for the book and for like everything it's kind of frustrating but huh what book oh gosh i don't know i sent the email to request the arc uh let me try to think who it even was it
Speaker 02:was if it pops up on netgalley or something i'll like hit you up immediately you know
Speaker 00:Yeah. Yeah. And NetGalley, I'm the worst with checking in on there and like doing all that. So yeah, I'll let you know.
Speaker 02:NetGalley is where reviewers, even yourself, if you just review on Goodreads or Amazon, you can pop in there and request advanced eARCs.
Speaker 00:Yes. And we love it. Like it's so fun. Like there's something so just like fun about getting your hands on a book before it's out. And then also helping to build the hype for the book, like telling your friends about it and getting people ready for it. It's exciting. It's exciting and it feels like special.
Speaker 02:Yeah. I
Speaker 00:don't know.
Speaker 02:And I'm still going to buy the finished copy, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 00:I know. I feel like most people that are on NetGalley that are doing like the eARCs, they also follow up and get the like finished copy. And I think they're not really losing anything by putting it out early.
Speaker 02:There's good follow through. I will say that's another thing. Indie versus trad. It's apparently really expensive. I think I've heard like $500 to get your book on to NetGalley. oh my gosh yeah so a lot of indie authors don't go through netgalley they choose there's a site called book funnel um yeah that's much more manual and they have to get people to proactively sign up versus like just putting it in front of their faces so even that's a little bit more difficult
Speaker 00:i don't know if you've seen there have been cases where like indie authors will send out arcs but then like those arcs aren't getting read like even on book funnel or something and there's kind of this i don't know if it's resentment from the author but like they expect you to follow through like you signed up for it you requested it and you don't follow through it's like you really have to think it's different with indie versus trad because there's more on the line for them if you're signing up for arcs and not reading them so if you do request arcs from an indie author make sure you follow through and like even if you're busy and something comes up like post about their book tell when it's coming out blurb of it
Speaker 02:yeah definitely say like upcoming releases or something but sometimes like i said they don't even require you to be posting like that it can just be good for amazon so unfortunately you have to read it to do those
Speaker 00:yes well we are talking about like indie authors do you want to talk about some that you love like let's shout some out if we feel like it um You go first. Okay. I'm going to talk about something. This is so hard. I was telling you this earlier in the week that like a lot of the indie authors that I read are actually doing like trad now. It's so crazy. It's, I mean, like maybe they're doing a few trad, but like Ruby Dixon, I talk about her all the time. I love her. She has her Minotaur series and she's signed with Berkeley for that one, which was kind of surprising, but that's awesome. But then she self publishes like all of her other stuff because she wants that creativity in that um so i guess ruby still counts because she is still kind of like oh for sure a lot
Speaker 02:of them just have like one foot in one foot out so they
Speaker 00:get the rest
Speaker 02:of both worlds
Speaker 00:so her and then also speaking of kind of like alien romances um victoria avaline um she does this series called klekanian series she's awesome too she does really great on her social media like probably promoing her stuff. Follow her if you're into a kind of like sci-fi, alien, political, like she does some great stuff. I don't know. There are just so many authors that deserve kind of the praise and recognition that there's no way I could even begin to start. Oh,
Speaker 02:yeah. For me, I did. I wanted to look up this book because I've been seeing it. And I think the author is doing such a good job with marketing because I've seen it through multiple people. And then when I finally looked up on Goodreads, The first review was like someone I have connected with on TikTok. And they said it was amazing. So such a win. And the book, it comes out tomorrow, the 5th of September. So clearly this is the author's doing. It's called To Touch a Silent Fury by R.A. Sandpiper. And it says, an epic romantic fantasy filled with dragon's deceit and a delicious slow burn romance for fans of Sarah A. Parker and Penn Cole. I'm so excited for this one. And then I also love Jamin Eve who has, who's also dipping her toe into Trad right now as well as LJ Andrews. And then I also want to mention Matt Deniman's track because he went from Indie with his Dungeon Crawler Coral series to Trad. But he actually went and saw his panel that he discussed the transition between Indie and Trad and how he has held onto the rights for the ebooks and the audios oh that's a really interesting thing that they're starting to do now as well which is so smart because if you've heard of dungeon crawler carl you've probably heard that the audios are amazing yeah yeah so everyone has to buy the audio to read these things and he
Speaker 00:held onto the rights for it
Speaker 02:yeah which he talks a lot about yeah and he talked about how that means you're able to get paid like monthly versus trad um apparently is paid, I think, quarterly. Yeah. So imagine, right? We're, we're,
Speaker 00:we're posting on his bag. Schedule. Yeah. That's awesome. I think this is so kind of unrelated, not really though, but like Taylor Swift and her masters, like just people that create
Speaker 02:every topic, right?
Speaker 00:Yes. It's just people that create art that want to hold on to their rights to it. And like, they're like, they put so much into it and it's kind of a question of like, how much do they deserve back? And I think that like it's great like anytime you see people kind of holding on to their rights and things and like being able to work out things where they're not getting screwed over that's so good yeah
Speaker 02:there's a book talker have you seen lynn moore no i don't think so oh girl you need to get on book talk i'm
Speaker 00:not even on book
Speaker 02:talk well he um he actually wrote his own book and he said he was not really pursuing the trad published route because he's already super popular on book talk he can do his own marketing and he really talked about how it's more for your ego a lot because trad when you're trad published they don't automatically allocate a lot of marketing towards you until you're already kind of proven in the industry yeah so I think that's something to consider as well is it more of the ego thing because I think that rings true if I were to write a book like I want to see a publisher next to my name you know yeah
Speaker 00:Yeah, I don't know. I feel like things are changing that way, too, because it's like, originally, like, I don't know, people that have the idea to write, like, you want to query and get a publisher and get an agent. And like, that's kind of the goal and the dream. But then you don't think of everything that you give up when you do that, like, a lot of money, a lot of creative rights. It's, I don't know. And then some indie authors that can really build themselves up and make a name for themselves. And like, they get to keep the rights of their books, but they also are like best-selling authors still so you don't necessarily have to be tried to be like a best-selling author and I think that's amazing now yeah I did want to talk about just briefly I have seen Lila Sage like a couple times at different signings and I think her story is just kind of like amazing um she literally queried before trying to like publish a book and was rejected and then she was just like like screw it I'm doing it myself I have the means to like sell whatever so she wrote this series um she wrote done and dusted so good cowboy romance um but she literally published it i have it written down here it was like beginning of june of 2023 and was contacted by penguin random house within like 20 days of that it was like 21 days from her published herself pub date to being signed with the dial press under penguin random house and i think that is just amazing like that was something she was wasn't really even trying for, I guess. Like she was kind of doing her own thing and wanted to maintain like her rights and her freedom in it. But she was just like at Target and got this call and was like, okay, screw it. Like I'll do it. And now she's written like five books in two years, which is insane in itself.
Speaker 02:And because she did it that way, like she started off with the leverage, which is so important. And that's what Matt Deniman talked about as well and how he was able to keep some of those rights because he didn't care if they said yes or no. You know, he was willing to walk away. So I think it's probably the same for her.
Speaker 00:That is so important. She did get a lot of say in her stuff. Like she had things she wouldn't compromise on, like the artist of her like covers. She had picked out all that stuff and her own stuff. But that's great. Speaking on rights, I wanted to kind of get into the Kindle Unlimited exclusivity clause because a lot of authors do like the Kindle Pub stuff And there's a lot that goes into that as well.
Speaker 02:okay yeah um i know that when they get their books on kindle unlimited which is a subscription you can pay and then if you're if you have kindle unlimited you can automatically download those download these books for free there's like 10 or 15 you can download at a time and um in order for authors to have their book enrolled in that program they have to promise that that's the only way they're going to be distributing their digital copies and of course that means libraries won't have them that means you won't be able to buy them from other websites like sometimes you can buy them from Barnes and Noble and different stuff like that and same with Audible they have the same kind of clause there so definitely pretty unfair if you ask me
Speaker 00:yeah it definitely knowing the amount of money and power and everything that Amazon has like it just kind of feels like more I don't know, maybe more than they should be able to take because you're giving up your rights to sell your book digitally anywhere else. I think they sign for like 90 days at a time and then it like renews. So it's kind of, I've seen people be successful with it. A lot of authors, like it's great. It's a good way to get your book out there, but also there's not, it's not like signing a deal with the devil, but also I think Amazon kind of is the devil. So it kind of is.
Speaker 02:I don't know and I've also seen where authors get in trouble because someone pirates their book and they put them on these pirating websites and then Amazon considers that a breach of the agreement so then the authors are like frantically scrambling to get their books removed from these shitty pirating sites it's not their fault it's on there so that they can stay in the Kindle Unlimited program even though again that's probably not the best way for them to get paid in know but it's
Speaker 00:yeah but it's better than pirated for sure for sure because they're getting something at least but speaking on the pirated I just cannot believe the amount of people that are doing it and feeling no remorse like just they consider it like something normal and they're just they were girls like I saw a thing on threads the other day there were girls like bragging about it like they were telling their friends where they were getting these free like digital books it's not free guys it's stolen it's like it's
Speaker 02:Yeah. And I think it's important whenever you're talking about... When you think about how if someone were pirating books, how they would react to this conversation, they'll probably be reactive. But I think... So I think on our part, it's important to like... empathize a little bit to help you see the light because there are so many other ways to get free books. You can get them from Libby. There are a lot of things that no longer have copyright rules. So you can see like super old books online. You can get the PDFs. You don't have to do just stolen work. So if you are in a position where you can't afford books or something, I feel for you. I really do. I've been there. but I think stealing someone's work is just imagine their perspective and how disheartening that is and they might not want to keep writing so your favorite authors might not keep coming out with books because they're not seeing the support and it feels like they're talking to a wall and then the wall is stealing from them on top of it so yeah
Speaker 00:I mean you're not wrong okay they love this like they're writing because it brings them joy but imagine if something that brings you joy becomes like something that you fear. They don't want their books leaked. They don't want people getting their stuff for free. It's such an invasion
Speaker 02:of privacy as well. It's not just the money. It really is so violating. If you do pirate books, first of all, I'm not the one to confide in. I don't
Speaker 00:think Mikayla is either. Listen, I will tell you where to get free books. I will help you. Let's do better. I
Speaker 02:love my library. There are free libraries you can sign up with Libby on. There's a queer liberation library you can look up. Free law in details. I mean, really, with the access we have right now, until it gets limited by this administration, we have lots of access to e-books and there's no need to pirate them. I really implore you if you do pirate them to just look up different videos and listen to their perspective on it. I think Victoria Aveyard posts a lot about it. It's similar to using ChatGPT because it's all just stolen work yeah or generative ai not like yeah regular because there's a certain author who compared generative ai to using a roomba so let's clarify
Speaker 00:really i missed that one but yes
Speaker 02:oh my god jessa hastings i will name and shame there's really yeah okay are her covers ai um i don't think so she actually has given a lot of shout outs and praise to her cover designer Hers
Speaker 00:are kind of cute, but I've never read her stuff. So that's interesting. But okay, speaking on authors, talking about indie, talking about everything, it's kind of natural next to go to like book events. We love talking book events. We love going to book events. The inclusion of indie authors in bigger book events doesn't really exist, right?
Speaker 02:Yeah, I think it is changing a little bit. Imaginarium has a good mix, but there are still a lot of events that are either indie-focused or trad-focused. And unfortunately, I think as is reflected in the marketing of their books, the indie ones just don't get as much attention. Yeah. So yeah, what do you think on it?
Speaker 00:I don't know. I'm trying to rack my brain now to be like, okay, I have been to some that have indie authors. They get a lot less attention, a lot less people stopping by their table. And then also, like they're coming and bringing their stuff and like it's all their like, like stickers or like things like that. And it's kind of, it's like, you know, they're paying for all that. And you kind of do wonder like, and also they pay to be there. most places that's another
Speaker 02:consideration trad published authors are often invited because they're to be like a good draw for the event versus indie authors often do have to pay for their table and then of course they pay for their travel as well so yeah
Speaker 00:so there are a lot of cost with that but I do think kind of like you were talking about like more indie like I guess more book events that are primarily indie are a little bit less well-funded like there's obviously okay there's a difference and i hope to see a change in the future like maybe i
Speaker 02:also just feel like unfortunately indie authors are more easily preyed upon yeah which is so sad but but like there's an event i went to um last year where it was indie only and the budgeting was so bad like it was just a room of tables and there were supposed to be other activities and there weren't and then like they had raffles and stuff but instead of doing it in a fun way they just were screaming into the microphone to the point you couldn't hear anyone and it was terrible we didn't even know what was going on we couldn't understand them so I definitely think it's important whether you're indie or trad to vet the events that you're going to and I did actually ask the authors there because I was curious like how much are you making I know I get those, but I'm curious. And they told me that they're really there for community, which I think checks out because that's a great way to meet other indie authors. And having that community is very powerful as well. It's definitely great for marketing. And then what else did I want to say? Oh, gosh.
Unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 02:Oh, the fact like as an attendee at these events, we're going to be brutal. If there are indie authors listening, this is not to shame you. This is just to state at least my perspective and maybe Michaela agrees, but I am a people pleaser. I hate saying no and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and I have such a deep respect for indie authors that it really, I kind of avoid indie tables a lot of times because I see that you all are trying to sell your books and you're so passionate. And if I walk over, I'm going to feel like I need to buy it. Versus with a trad author, there's just so much less pressure in my opinion. Yeah. And it's incredibly unfortunate. And I'm really not sure how to bridge the gap there.
Speaker 00:It's uncomfortable. I remember my first, I went to Authors in the Bluegrass. That was my first book event like years ago. And I spent so much money just because I couldn't say no like I felt so bad like you can tell that there's like this desire to like you know like sell these books and market it and like I don't know like you said it's hard being a people pleaser and go into these because there's an expectation it feels like an expectation from these authors to buy these books and it's like I bought books I would never read like ones that are not even really interesting to me and I just could not be like no thank you it was so bad
Speaker 02:it feels so personal because because you're talking to the creator of it the marketer of it and you're saying I'm looking at your books and they just didn't hit for me so I'm going to walk away and it feels so much more personal to have to turn down all that hard work in person I
Speaker 00:actually found out kind of like a cheat code for this not really but like I figured out that you could be like um are you on kindle unlimited like where else can I find your stuff online I'm a kindle girly like I want to read online And then a lot of times they were on Kindle Unlimited and they'd be like, yeah, I'm on Kindle Unlimited. And I'm like, thank God. So I would just take a picture of their book on my phone and be like, great, like I'm downloading this. And then I would like I would follow through and be like, cool. But it was it's just so hard to say no. But at least that was my
Speaker 02:mom. My mom primarily does read digital. So I do like going with her and seeing the ease with which she says things like that. Yeah, because it is the truth. But for me. I don't want to lie because I'll say that to you and then walk over to the next table and buy their book. It just.
Speaker 00:Oh, wait, but I do read digital. So, okay. So in a case where you don't read digital, I guess it is. Yeah. Don't lie to people.
Speaker 02:Like what you just said was you asked them if they're on KU, which is a stressor for authors as well, because let's be real. Being on KU is a big decision. Do you want to limit availability of your books to KU? So, man, I'm just putting myself in their shoes. Like, damn, another one. ask me if I'm on KU but
Speaker 00:most of like almost everyone I asked was which this was a few years ago
Speaker 02:I would ask instead of if you're on KU just you I'm sure you have ebooks right where can I find your ebooks or do you have a website
Speaker 00:yeah I think that could be better now that's probably more appropriate with where we are at everything and especially with how they're like doing all this exclusivity stuff
Speaker 02:yeah okay and now that we know we've informed the public
Speaker 00:and now we can do better our Yeah. Always room to
Speaker 02:grow, for sure. And stop buying books just because we feel pressured.
Speaker 00:It's so hard. It's just seeing their faces. But I'm just like, okay. I feel like we're really, like, getting to the meat of things here. And I'm learning some stuff, too. This is good. But I thought maybe we could talk about... We're talking indie. How do you like to support indie authors? Like, what do you do? So I...
Speaker 02:For me, it's not posturing. I genuinely don't love Amazon because, but I'm obsessed with signed books. Yeah. Also feeds into it. And you can often find signed books through their website. Sometimes they have Etsy set up. A lot of authors these days have Patreons where if you sign up for certain tiers, you get a signed book when they're released.
Speaker 00:Love
Speaker 02:that. Yeah. So that's how I prefer to do it. But some of them, of course, are exclusive to Amazon. So that's plan B or Z. Yeah,
Speaker 00:or Z. I do think I had heard someone recently say, like, adopt an indie. And I love that. I like the idea that, like, read indie. Like, it's definitely... That was another thing I was going to ask you is, can you tell a difference in a book that's, like, indie published and trad published? Like, just reading it. Do you feel like you can tell a difference? I think...
Speaker 02:when I'm reading an independently published book I do give more leeway for the editing yeah typos and things like that um but I am still I still expect a good book you know I can ignore typos that's about it I because the editing process also includes you know the entire um plot points sometimes they change around the the character arcs and stuff like that so the actual story sometimes is is changed through editors and if you don't have a good team it's gonna show and I'm not gonna excuse all of it you know
Speaker 00:and you're picky like I am yeah you're picky but okay I think there is a difference like maybe maybe I also am a little bit less like not less harsh but less likely to to dwell on like things that I probably would dwell on if it was trad published because it is like one person looking it over or one or two instead of like a whole team so it is a little bit different there's some leeway there but i love the idea of adopting an indie like picking an author that you really like and then just really like promoing not promoing their stuff but like when you get a chance when people ask you for book recs like shout them out it's literally free
Speaker 02:i think that makes sense to make to have one person that's your default that you try to fit into the conversation instead of just trad
Speaker 00:yes i love that and that that helps them also support them on social media like um it's free to like it's free to share to your story like it costs you nothing and i think it's helpful going back to lala sage she actually had like got discovered or whatever because of a tiktoker so like your voice on tiktok matters your voice so many authors
Speaker 02:have a similar experience even the trad ones they'll say it blew up once this person posted and the the interesting thing is they often in fact every time they've said it that i've heard heard, they know the name, the username of that person.
Speaker 00:Yes. They're so grateful. I think that is so cool. So yeah, it matters. And then also, yeah, you could get authors attention by doing that, like shout their stuff out, become a regular of theirs. And
Speaker 02:they're much, you know, for better or worse, they're a bit more accessible in general. Yeah. Indie authors, like they're easier to message if you want to rave about their book, if you have questions about the next book, if you want advanced reader copy of the next book they're probably going to have more availability for open signups and stuff like that versus in traditional publishing it's it's handled by the publishers um
Speaker 00:that is yeah that's true i love to collect a good arc charlotte stein she had released grumpy versus sunshine and i literally read an arc of it i messaged her on insta and was like i'm obsessed i love this book i want to tell everyone about it she told me nobody's told me that about my book yet like can i send you one I kind of was like can I get a physical arc and she was like I would love to send you one nobody has told me they love it yet and like you sound like you love it and she actually mailed me like a signed arc and like little a little postcard with like a grumpy sunshine thing it's of stickers and wrote a note in it that she was so thankful for me like telling her that like it really does matter when you give these people like the time of the day like you know give like I don't know treat indie authors like people too like they want praise We
Speaker 02:can get so desensitized to it and pirate books and things. You need to remember there are people behind there
Speaker 00:for sure. There are. I did want to ask you too. I know we're getting close to the end here. But after everything we've talked about today, would you rather have complete control over all your work or hand it off and have less say and more support? Like what would you choose? I'm
Speaker 02:going to be, let's be so for real, that was a biased way of asking. asking
Speaker 00:okay the question's worded wrong it sounds terrible would you rather like shit in a hole or like shit in the toilet well
Speaker 02:like i like i said earlier i i got a big ego you want to be tried published i would want to be tried yeah i can't lie and if to lie would be a disservice so like i think you have to do what's in your heart but what do you think
Speaker 00:I think I am so impatient. If I wrote a book, I would be like, I want to publish it like right now. Like, I don't care. Like, I don't want to wait 18 to 24 months, you know, but I do want to sign. I feel like it would be, yeah, it's an ego. Like, yeah, I want to be signed by freaking Penguin Random House or whatever, you know, it's just like, it feels good. But also, I don't want to wait. So I think I probably would try indie publishing. But I think in the back of my mind, it would be like, oh, I want to be signed. Like you said, that gets sussed out. I think they'd be sussing me out. Maybe
Speaker 02:you want to write a few books, get your foot in the door, and then release. Because sometimes when you turn, when authors are picked up, they are picked up for new books. It's not just pulling the old and republishing it. Like with Jame and Eve, she just got picked up and she's releasing Spellcaster, which is going to be traditionally published, but it was never indie.
Speaker 01:Yeah.
Speaker 02:I love her. Love her little Fated Mates duology. I
Speaker 00:don't even know what she writes. What's your rec from her?
Speaker 02:Well, the Fated Mates duology is my favorite. Okay. And she does a lot of romanticy. The Fated Mates is like... They're dragons. And... There's a scene, like, right when you start the book, and I'm gonna spoil it, you guys, because it was one of the craziest scenes I've ever read, but it's right when you open the
Speaker 00:book. Right when you start, yeah.
Speaker 02:I almost put the book down, because I thought, what the hell? Is this all smut? But no, it was like this ball, and you have to mate with someone for, like, a prolonged period of time, like weeks. You're just constantly stuck with them mating. What? And so they get stuck together, because you have to pair up with someone and it was crazy i was like oh my gosh is this the whole book but it's not it's not so hang in there you get past the man in there
Speaker 00:okay when you say they get stuck i'm like okay like stuck like
Speaker 02:well they're locked in to this room uh-huh they're locked into this building and it's a ceremony and you have to pick someone so there is a pro long period where they're stuck that way uh-huh but also it's just like that's they're like they're feral yeah like the part of the ceremony is like you're absolutely feral for each other for this prolonged period of time so it's weird but it honestly passes quickly and highly recommend it and you're still going to be taken aback when you read the scene so
Speaker 00:oh my gosh so the fated mates duology
Speaker 02:um i cannot remember what the book is called but i think that's it
Speaker 00:well you gave us the author and we have that so let me look it up real quick we're gonna find it
Speaker 02:jame and eve also under the dust jackets for indie authors are it's more likely to have like a pretty design so i love i love that too it's called gilded wings as book one it's the fallen fae gods duology oh yas yas
Speaker 00:i love this rec i actually that sounds like something i want to check out so don't judge me
Speaker 02:it's like it's absolute junk food but it was
Speaker 00:oh my gosh you say don't judge me you know what I read I read trash so I'm like this sounds great oh good okay but we've talked about a lot today we have talked about Indie vs. Trad we've covered a couple things like the differences in them you have let us know that you would like to be Trad published but I
Speaker 02:so deeply truly respect Indie authors let's not let's not twist it
Speaker 00:no
Speaker 02:there's a lot there's a lot goes
Speaker 00:into that. But I don't know that I would want to be indie and have to do all that work myself. That sounds exhausting.
Speaker 02:It
Speaker 00:does. But yeah, there are benefits to it.
Speaker 02:Yeah, which is something that hopefully we can help with this podcast is hopefully feature a few indie authors and just a little free marketing. Yeah.
Speaker 00:Come on, talk to us. Tell us about your stuff. And also, we have so many questions about the process. I would love to talk to someone about it. Yeah, we want to pick your brain about it. If you're hearing this, come on here with us. We have so much fun stuff. But it has been so good to catch up with you today. Yeah,
Speaker 02:this was honestly so fun. It's
Speaker 01:always so fun. This is a topic I
Speaker 02:feel pretty passionate about as well.
Speaker 00:Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing your knowledge about it. I feel like you know a lot about it too. So it's been good to kind of just discuss some of this stuff. Hopefully
Speaker 02:I'm not wrong about anything because I'm very loud.
Speaker 00:But if we are wrong about it, leave a comment with an emoji. Let us know. And they let us know, Mikayla. Okay, guys, follow us on Instagram. Rate our podcast. Leave a review. Yeah. One to five stars. Yes, I'm just getting in their psyche. Subconsciously, five stars, you guys. Yeah, and then follow both of us on Instagram. You can find me at Miko Books. And then you can find Bella at A Reader's Bedlam. We'd love to talk to you guys and connect. But until next time, we will see you in a couple weeks.
Speaker 02:Yeah. See you guys. See you guys.