#9 - A Podcast for Writers, Interview with Terry Fallis

11/05/13 • 40 min

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Terry Fallis, multi-award winning author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road and Up and Down. Mark and Terry talk about:

• How they met when Mark was a bookseller at McMaster University’s bookstore, and Terry, a former McMaster student self-published The Best Laid Plans in 2007. • Mark’s comparison of Terry’s writing to John Irving • How Terry applied his knowledge of politics and engineering to create the characters of Daniel and Angus (the main characters from The Best Laid Plans and The High Road) • Terry’s original nativity when venturing into the realm of self-publishing back in 2006/2007 • How Terry used podcasting to gain a worldwide audience for The Best Laid Plans and was the first Canadian to follow in the footsteps of such podcasting pioneers as Scott Sigler • Mark’s original reluctance as a bricks and mortar bookseller to carry The Best Laid Plans or even read this satirical novel of Canadian politics, but how, after a single page, Terry’s prose won him over • How, feeling “up” from the McMaster Bookstore launch event led to Fallis deciding to submit The Best Laid Plans to the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour (which Terry won and which led to his book deal with McClelland and Stewart) • How Terry is thrilled to have Beverly Slopen as his agent and Douglas Gibson as his editor & publisher • Winning November 2010’s CBC Canada Reads for the Essential Canadian Novel of the Decade • The importance of local community bookstores and the great relationships that Terry has forged with so many amazing Canadian bookstores (Canadian Booksellers Association honoured Terry with the CBC Libris Author of the Year Award in 2013 • CBC’s creation of The Best Laid Plans miniseries (and having lunch with the fictional Angus McClintock in Ottawa during filming) - (which will begin airing January 2014) • Terry’s use of humour and heartfelt moments in The Best Laid Plans and The High Road • Terry’s membership in the “Write What You Know” club – and how he takes advantage of that by writing about things he already knows a lot about (public relations, politics, etc) rather than spending more time doing research • How Terry’s latest novel Up & Down seemed to almost predict the incredible manner by which Commander Chris Hadfield captured the hearts and minds of people who again became interested in the space program. • A bit of insight into Terry’s forthcoming (spring 2014) novel No Relation – about a writer with the unfortunate name of Ernest Hemmingway (although spelled differently) who is trying to leave the family business to pursue a writing career • How Terry manages to write novels while working full-time • The importance of writing detailed outlines (each outline approximately 65 page long) and how, when you know that much about the story the efficiency of getting the manuscript completed in about 4 months • How, despite the detailed outlining, how at least half of the comedic moments and humour comes to Terry during the actual writing process • Terry’s creative/musical family and the dinnertime family tradition which included the goal of trying to tell a story that would make his stone-faced father laugh • The importance of being true to one’s own writing and one’s own personality • How there are likely some fine manuscripts sitting in publisher slush piles right now and the opportunities authors have to creating bold new opportunities For this episode’s side-bar note, Mark reflects back on Terry’s journey into publishing and how he and authors like Scott Sigler used podcasting as a way to help find an audience for his novel. Mark mentions the website Podiobooks.com and using programs such as GarageBand (MAC) or

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Terry Fallis, multi-award winning author of The Best Laid Plans, The High Road and Up and Down. Mark and Terry talk about:

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#8 - An Interview with Johnny B. Truant of the Self-Publishing Podcast

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews Johnny B. Truant author of the Fat Vampire series, and co-author of The Beam and Unicorn Western. The two discuss:

How Johnny is continuing and concluding the Fat Vampire saga, which began as a joke during a discussion on the Self-Publishing Podcast, but became a series featuring a loveable, sympathetic and genuine hero (Reginald) rather than just a simple series of fat jokes.
Johnny’s evolution as a writer – specifically, how Johnny’s first novel, The Bialy Pimps, described as “Clerks” in a bagel shop, took him twelve years to publish it; compared to the incredible weekly word count he is currently producing (ie, 270,000 words for the Fat Vampire series in a single year)
Giving oneself permission to simply write fast
Johnny’s first collaborative novel project (along with Sean Platt) entitled Unicorn Western, and the hilarious origin story of how the series stemmed from a research argument on the Self-Publishing Podcast that led Dave to crack a joke about unicorns appearing in a western.
The Beam, an intellectual science-fiction series that Johnny is co-writing with Sean Platt
How outlining, or creating “beats” for a story helped Johnny to write fast
Johnny’s continuing experiments with his writing, including the layout and placement of the tools, such as keyboard, monitor, etc
Eminem as Johnny’s “go-to” musical artist to listen to while he is writing
Johnny’s evolving philosophy on pricing strategies and funnels for writers, including making the first book in various series free
The call to action including choice of links to the other books and bundles in a book published as part of a series.
How the product image for The Beam books one through six is a three dimensional image conveys something one might normally only see when holding or looking at a physical boo
How there is no instant fix or easy solution, but that being successful requires thinking long term, being patient and involves a lot of hard work
The satisfaction of helping other writers that Johnny receives from producing the Self-Publishing Podcast

For this episode’s side-bar note, Mark speaks about social media strategies, including how it’s not about “broadcasting” a message (such as “please buy my book”) but, rather, engaging with and participating and adding to a community (with a reference to Episode 004 with Mitch Joel)

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#10 - Experimenting with Self Publishing with Darcie Chan

Christine Munroe, US Manager for Kobo Writing Life, interviews Darcie Chan, author of the NYT and USA Today bestselling novel, The Mill River Recluse.

Christine and Darcie discuss:

Darcie's dedication to this novel, which she finished writing almost 10 years ago, and her unique experience from experimenting with self-publishing to signing a deal with a traditional publisher
The exciting moments when in 2011 MILL RIVER RECLUSE sold 100 copies – and when it hit the NYT Bestseller List a few months later
Why it's important for authors to read across different genres – and whether Darcie would ever write outside of what she describes as her "mainstream fiction comfort zone"
What Darcie would do differently given the benefit of hindsight: hint, it involves making your book as professional as possible
Collaboration with other writers – Darcie describes the group Backspace as "the most invaluable source of information" she found on her journey as an author
Darcie's daily writing life, including a description of her above-garage "Writer's Nook" where she does all of her work
The real-life inspiration behind Mary, the protagonist of The Mill River Recluse, who left a legacy of generosity in Darcie's hometown, Paoli, Indiana
Hints about the long-awaited follow-up to Mill River Recluse, which Ballantine will publish in 2014

Mark Lefebvre, Director of Self Publishing & Author Relations, talks about the “KoboWriMo” team at Kobo participating in NaNoWriMo and offers up a couple of helpful tips. The following links on the Kobo Writing Life Blog are useful and NaNoWriMo related.