Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
Mark Leslie Lefebvre

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EP 327 - Writing the Shadow with Joanna Penn
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
10/10/23 • 60 min
Mark interviews Joanna Penn about her new book Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness into Words, then associated Kickstarter she launched for it, plans she has to window its release, and much more.
Prior to the main content, Mark thanks Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.
In their conversation, Mark and Joanna talk about:
- How it has been a while since Joanna has been on Mark's podcast (she was in episode 212)
- The number of years Joanna has been podcasting under The Creative Penn brand (March 2009)
- How sometimes there's a book that you really want to write that you're not ready to write yet
- The way we can often push the "shadows" down and repress them
- The importance of writing the things that fascinate you
- What happens when you push a balloon down underwater and try to hold it there
- Plato's Chariot and the White and Dark horses and getting them to run together in harmony
- The value of addressing what we're repressing and bringing it into the light particularly in your writing
- How critical it is for successful fiction to have conflict, which is often derived from the shadow
- The common themes in Joanna's writing about helping or saving the family or saving the world
- The only way we're going to be able to stand out as human in a crowded market, and, in particular, a market with emerging AI-generated content
- How Writing the Shadow and Pilgrimage are "mid-life" books for Joanna as she is addressing that part of her existence and Mememto Mori in those memoir-style books
- Exploring how you're being held back by some of those things that you've allowed to be repressed
- The shadows in both self-publishing and traditional publishing
- How you don't need to be afraid to look into the shadow and perhaps find the gold in that shadow
- The Kickstarter that Joanna has launched for Writing the Shadow
- The way authors have long focused on the retail websites for sales but how that has slowly shifted into a new phase of direct selling and windowing strategies
- Joanna's launch strategy for Writing the Shadow which starts with Kickstarter, migrates to direct selling on her personal websites, and then moves into broader retail and library distribution
- The value of standing out as an author, particularly today
- How Writing the Shadow is an optimistic book despite the topic and themes explored in it
- Building a new author ecosystem and training existing and new readers to engage in that realm
- The importance of remembering how the business model will keep changing but what doesn't change is writing the books of your heart and the books that will help you and others
- Gifts of the shadow, finding the gold, and the idea of "after the curse comes the gift"
- The spiral bound workbook
- How thecreativepenn.com/shadowbook will redirect either to the Kickstarter or wherever the books are available in the future
- The horror themed storybundle that Mark and Joanna are both in
- And more...
After the interview Mark reflects on a few things from the conversation, announces a bonus for his patrons related to a reward from Joanna's Kickstarter, and invites listeners to share their own reflections on this topic.
Links of Interest:
- Joanna Penn's Main Website: The Creative Penn
- Halloween/Horror Storybundle (Ends after Oct 31, 2023)
- Joanna's Previous guest appearances on this podcast:
- EP 002 - Living the Healthy Writer's Life with Joanna Penn
- EP 148 - AI Voice Double Conversation with Joanna Penn
- EP 212 - A Conversation with Joanna Penn about Co-authoring The Relaxed Author
- SELECTED OTHER MENTIONS / Appearances
10/10/23 • 60 min

1 Listener
EP 225 - Writing Personal Experience in Fiction with Ami Sands Brodoff
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
12/17/21 • 58 min
Mark interviews Ami Sands Brodoff, the award-winning author of three novels and two story collections about her latest book, The Sleep of Apples and the stories and books she has written over the years.
Prior to the main content, Mark discusses recent comments, welcomes new patron Jared Nelson, shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
In their conversation Mark and Ami talk about:
- Ami as a "late-bloomer" writer who had worked on a number of short stories for years before working on a novel
- The encouragement, including a nomination for The Pushcart Prize that happened early on with Ami's first published story
- Being invited to The Algonquin Hotel in New York for lunch with some editors
- Asking herself is this the career I want to be doing no matter what
- The related anchor job that Ami had for guaranteed writing money coming in while she did freelance work
- Adapting real-life circumstances into her first novel, Can You See Me?
- How the stories in The Sleep of Apples are linked by a neighborhood, whereas in a previous collection, it was a theme that unified the stories
- The concept of neighborhoods in cities like Montreal and New York
- The amazing critical acclaim for The Sleep of Apples and how publicist can snowball
- Various workshops that Ami has lead over the years
- Tapping into the stories that other people want to share and tell
- Advice Ami would have for beginning writers
- And more...
After the interview Mark reflects on the idea of how publicist can snowball, or how a lot of hard work can lead to those "viral" things.
Links of Interest:
- Ami Sands Brodoff Website
- EP 223 - Love, Only Better with Paulette Stout
- The Canadian Mounted
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
Ami Sands Brodoff is the award-winning author of three novels and two story collections. Her latest novel-in-stories, The Sleep of Apples, centres on 9 closely-linked characters confronting crises related to mental illness, mortality--sooner rather than later--and gender identity.
Ami's novel, In Many Waters, grapples with our world-wide refugee crisis. The White Space Between, which focuses on a mother and daughter struggling with the impact of the Holocaust won The Canadian Jewish Book Award for Fiction. Bloodknots, a volume of thematically-linked stories was a finalist for the ReLit Award.
Ami leads workshops for teens, adults, and seniors. She has taught writing to formerly incarcerated women and to people grappling with mental illness. Ami has been awarded fellowships to Yaddo, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, and St. James Cavalier Arts Centre for Creativity (Malta).
Ami lives in ...
12/17/21 • 58 min

1 Listener
EP 235 - Inspiring Readers Through Fiction with Annaliese Morgan
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
02/18/22 • 54 min
Mark interviews Annaliese Morgan, an author, traveller, a solo mum of two boys, and an award winning Advanced Veterinary Surgical Nurse, about writing, her book STAY WILD, and her passion for inspiring young adults and young readers through fiction.
Prior to the main content, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
During their conversation, Mark and Annaliese talk about:
- Annaliese's entrance to writing in the 1990s after her extensive veterinary work
- Those veterinary related books, and how that led to a successful blog of autobiographical vignettes
- The way that real life elements can be incorporated into her fiction
- Annaliese's first novel, STAY WILD, an urban fantasy story set in present day London
- Her imprint, Black Daisy Press, and her plans for it
- The importance of inspirational fiction, particularly for younger readers
- Advise that Annaliese would offer to beginning writers
- And much more...
After the interview Mark reflects on a couple of things Annaliese said about there being no half-way when you're a writer, as well as big decisions and small decisions.
Links of Interest:
- Annaliese Morgan's Website
- Superstars Writing Seminars
- James A. Owen's Website
- Findaway Voices
- The Canadian Mounted
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
Annaliese Morgan is an author, traveller and solo mum of two boys... Max an actor and Woody, a gamer, You Tuber and aspiring chef. Originally from Yorkshire but based in London the three are rather like the three musketeers; they have a Basset hound called Pineapple, but he is more meh than musketeer.
Formerly, and in a different life, Annaliese was an award winning Advanced Veterinary Surgical Nurse in the UK. She co-authored a book on veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia in 1999 for the BSAVA. In 2007 and 2009 she was sought after to write three books (NVQ2, NVQ3 and A-Z for Veterinary Nurses) to help students pass their exams. In 2008 she opened the first pet health spa in the UK and published Desperate Housepets: Become a Chic Pet Owner Without Being a Bitch in 2014, and ran a successful blog of inspiring autobiographical vignettes entitled The Annaliese Journals - terrible title with some dodgy writing in parts but we all start somewhere - thousands loved it and were helped by the blog pieces, which is the bit that matters.
Since a child Annaliese has always been a writer and traveller, but after recovery from a near fatal motorbike accident including over eleven operations a...
02/18/22 • 54 min

1 Listener
EP 326 - Rebranding and Relaunching with E.L. Williams
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
10/05/23 • 49 min
Mark interviews author E.L. Williams about her writing life, about her books, about rebranding one of the books in her series, and more.
Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes a brief personal update, welcomes new patron T. Thorn Coyle, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.
This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.
In their conversation, Mark and Emma talk about:
- How it took Emma about ten years to write her first book
- Getting slightly "bullied" into going to a writer conference from a fellow author
- Publishing her first book during Halloween season in 2020
- How the global pandemic changed enough things with her day job that allowed her the opportunity to get the book finished and published
- The "Murphy's Law" events that piled up with the launch of book two, which led to a signifcant health issue that had to be dealt with
- The decision to change the title and cover for book two after realizing it wasn't hitting the market properly
- Being a great believer in learning by doing
- Rolling back on the unrealistic expectations Emma set herself up with and learning to enjoy the process and take a more relaxed approach
- Emma's ideas involving merchandise in relation to her book and how that led to collaborating with Deadweight Brewing
- The book "relaunch" party Emma planned out including the beer and book cakes
- The social media "long shot" that Emma took on Instagram asking if the beer book branding thing had ever been done before
- How social media can be a bit like marmite
- Beginning to check out experimenting with TikTok by doing a video a day
- Advice Emma has for other writers who haven't taken the plunge yet
- And more....
After the interview, Mark reflects back on a couple of things his conversation with Emma made him think about.
Links of Interest:
- E. L. WIlliams' Website
- Deadweight Brewing Company
- Mark's YouTube Channel
- EP 324 - The Asset of Attention with Joe Solari
- EP 325 - Reflecting Back: Three Things That Are Wrong With Indie Publishing
- Buy Mark a Coffee
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Best Book Ever Podcast
- Lovers Moon Podcast
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
10/05/23 • 49 min

1 Listener
EP 325 - Reflecting Back: 3 Things That Are Wrong With Indie Publishing
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
09/28/23 • 50 min
In this episode Mark reflects back to Episode 6 of this podcast, which was released on Feb 6, 2018.
He shares clips from that episode, in which he outlined three of the things that bothered him about the indie publishing world.
Reflecting back, he comments on a few things that have changed, and what is consistent more than 5 years after the initial broadcast.
This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.
Links of Interest:
- Episode 6 - What's Wrong with Indie Publishing
- Buy Mark a Coffee
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- Best Book Ever Podcast
- Lovers Moon Podcast
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
- The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
- Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
09/28/23 • 50 min

1 Listener
EP 233 - Sinking Your Teeth Into Reader Interaction with E.E. Judd
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
02/04/22 • 40 min
Mark interviews author E.E. Judd about her new novel, TEETH, her writing life, and interacting with her readers.
Prior to the main content, Mark shares a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
In their conversation, Mark and Elise talk about:
- The humor that Elise puts in her biography and how it's indicative of the tongue-in-cheek snark in her fiction as well as in her author newsletter
- Her new novel TEETH, the first in the series, and the creation of the prequel story "reader magnet"
- How Elise has always loved the werewolf genre, and the werewolf books by Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong
- Enjoying blood and guts, and action, and monsters
- The decision to release her books under the "gender neutral" pseudonym E.E. Judd
- The main character, Danielle Waters, who is a naive werewolf with no idea of the world of the other supernaturals that exist
- Why Canada is the perfect setting for werewolf novels
- The dojo she helps her husband run and their theory of "if it's useful learn it; if it's useful, use it"
- Realistic and realism in fight scenes that Elise writes
- Deciding upon what parts of the werewolf mythology and to leverage in her novels
- How much Elise appreciates Brandon Sanderson's "Laws of Magic"
- The frequency of communicating with her readers via her author newsletter
- Wanting to write stories since she was a kid
- How Elise considers NaNoWriMo a gift from the heavens
- Elise's perspective on how social media is a great way to interact with existing readers
- The importance of a supportive community for a writer
- Writing by plotting line by line or writing by exploring how a scene should feel
- Advice Elise would give to beginning writers
- And more...
After the interview, Mark reflects on Elise's use of her newsletter and social media as a way to engage with and entertain her readers, rather than trying to sell to them. He also talks about her advice on the importance of finishing.
Links of Interest:
- E.E. Judd's Website
- Findaway Voices
- The Canadian Mounted
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
- The Relaxed Author
- Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
- An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
- Wide for the Win
- Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
E.E. Judd writes badass fantasy. She’s into reading (shocking!), video games, plants, sarcasm, and stories wit...
02/04/22 • 40 min

1 Listener
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 097 - 10 Tips for Marketing and Making Money Off Your Short Fiction
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
09/26/19 • 48 min
In this episode, Mark shares ten tips on how authors can leverage their short fiction to earn more money as well as for various marketing activities.
This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices. Mark Talks about the promotional pricing tools built in to their tools.
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
Links of Interest:
- Findaway Voices
- Ralan.con - (Short Fiction Market Resource)
- 8 Podcasts and Audio Projects Looking for Fiction
- Douglas Smith Article: Selling to Foreign Markets
- Douglas Smith's Foreign Market List
- Douglas Smith's Book: Playing the Short Game
- Active Reader (Digital Chapbook example)
- Snowman Shivers (Themed Collection - Free eBook)
- Episode 9 - Collaborative Publishing with Chuck Heintzelman of Bundlerabbit
- Episode 27 - Bundles, Curation, and Collaboration with Jamie Ferguson
- Bundlerabbit
- Books Gone Bad Bundle
- Amazing Monster Tales
- Collateral Damage (Short Story - Custom / Tie-in to Novel)
- Prospero's Ghost (Free Short Story - Tie in to Anthology)
- NINC Conference
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
09/26/19 • 48 min
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 098 - You Can Handle It with Laurie Wright
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
10/04/19 • 38 min
In this episode Mark interviews bestselling children's author Laurie Wright who is on a mission to empower people one book at a time through her books and the support she offers other authors to take action and publish their own books.
This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices. Mark talks about the promotional pricing tools built in to their tools.
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
Prior to the interview, Mark shares a bit of an update about the previous week at NINC (Novelists Inc). He then congratulates the winners of copies of M.L. Buchman's ESTATE PLANNING FOR AUTHORS.
Amy Tasukada And Vanessa Kier where the listeners who won by commenting on Episode 92 of the podcast. Julie Strauss and Amy Teegan were the two patron winners.
In their conversation, Mark and Laurie talk about:
- Laurie's background as a kindergarten teacher and how she was so motivated by the presence of "learned helplessness" to go home and write a book in order to address it
- It wasn't that the children couldn't solve their problems it was that they didn't take the steps to solve the problem
- Laurie's belief that boredom is a good thing, particularly for creativity and that great things can come from boredom
- The importance of the repetition in Laurie's books for 4 and 5 year olds, such as "I Can Handle It!" that become their self-talk and a mantra and a pathway for them
- Putting the book aside for ten years before actually doing something with it
- Why she went whole hog into self-publishing with this project
- Creating the print book first (considering the audience) and the reason Laurie created an eBook via prompting from Brian Meeks and Amazon Ads
- Selling the foreign language rights of her book in Chinese, Korean, Romanian, Icelandic, and Vietnamese
- The importance of a foreign rights agent in the process of selling those foreign rights
- Laurie's interest in mental health for children and the importance of open non-scheduled time for children for free play (what she also calls "wildness")
- How Laurie has fallen in love with the marketing and other aspects of writing, and how she adapted that into creating helpful content for other writers
- The importance of "short and easy" in a course
- Laurie's podcast for children's book writers
After the interview, Mark reflects on self-talk, self-doubt, negative thinking, and positive thinking. He works through a You-Can-Do-It attitude inspired by Laurie's work.
Links of Interest:
- Laurie Wright's Website
- Laurie's Books on Amazon
- Laurie's Foreign Agent
- Laurie's Courses for Writers
- Laurie's Tedx Talk: Release the WILD in our children
- Findaway Voices
- NINC Conference
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
10/04/19 • 38 min
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 101 - Will Dages from Findaway Voices
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
10/22/19 • 60 min
On Oct 17, 2019, Mark Lefebvre and Kevin Tumlinson from Draft2Digital hosted a live webinar "Ask Us Anything" Q&A about audiobooks, relaying questions from authors to Will Dages, head of Findaway Voices.
This is a slightly abridged version of the audio track from this video, which you can see on YouTube.
Discussion includes the following topics:
- Findaway Voices Giveaway Codes, how they work, how authors can request them and track their use
- StoryOrigin promotion site for audiobook giveaway codes
- How to get started with setting up an audiobook via Findaway Voices
- Standard calculation for determing finished audiobook hours (9300 words = 1 finished hour - or, for easier math, assume that 10,000 words = 1 hour)
- Typical studio production hours based on word count of the original manuscript (Most audio producers work on a 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 ratio - it, if the manuscript is 100,000 words, that'd be 10 finished hours and would most likely take 30 to 40 hours of production time
- The Voices Share royalty share program and how it works (50% up front payment for production hours and a 60/20/20 split for author/narrator/Findaway) - and how the buyout works if you want to get out early
- The recent Audible text transcription controversy
- Whether or not an author can narrator their own books (spoiler alert: YES, you can, with the right setup/equipment/software)
- The origin of Findway Voices and the back story about the company Findaway, that has been around alot longer in the audiobook industry
- The built in pricing suggestion tool in Findaway Voices
- How easy/difficult it is to update your audiobook (both metadata and audio files)
- The cost and benefit of using Findaway Voices for distribution VS going direct (spoiler: Findaway keeps 20% of your royalties)
- A little bit about how exclusivity with ACX to Audible works
- Thoughts about loading audio samples to YouTube or other ways of promoting their audiobooks
- And more...
You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.
Links of Interest:
- Draft2Digital's Blog Post: Everything Audiobooks with Will Dages from Findaway Voices (Full Transcript)
- The YouTube Video of the Webinar
- Episode 5 - Global Audiobook Opportunities for Authors
- Episode 15 - The Process of a Writer's Life with Kevin Tumlinson
- Episode 52 - The Three Co-Founders of Draft2Digital
- Findaway Voices
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
10/22/19 • 60 min
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing EP 094 - Thanks for the Inspiration: Laurie Blake
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing
09/09/19 • 26 min
Thanks for the Inspiration is a new type of show that will appear from time to time in the regular schedule.
As writers, we often absorb elements from the world, the places, and the people around us. We observe, we ask questions, we speculative, we listen, we watch, we feel, and we write so much of that down which gets re-integrated, like some sort of sausage creation, into the stories and words and worlds we share with our readers.
This Thanks for the Inspiration episode is an attempt to acknowledge and say thanks to the people, places, and things that have helped to either feed the muse, or perhaps just to feed the very soul and makeup of the writer behind that writing.
This particular episode, Mark thanks Laurie Blake for his role in both his life and in his life in storytelling.
This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast via patreon.com/starkreflections
In his reflective thanks, Mark shares the influence that Laurie Blake has had on:
- His storytelling, in particular the memorable telling of "Angela's Golden Leg" story that Laurie shared over a campfire, and how that continues to influence Mark's own oral storytelling style to this day
- How Mark adapted that campfire tale into "The Legend of Prospero's Ghost" which he has shared for the past two decades
- His perspective on trying to be open-minded and open-hearted in his approach to life
- His respect for an honest and hard-day's work
- His fondness for roadtrips and excellent conversation with one's traveling companion
- And more...
Links of Interest:
- Levack Ontario (Onaping Falls, ON)
- Fox Lake Lodge
- The Golden Arm Ghost Story (Wikipedia)
- Campus Chills
- Prospero's Ghost (Free Short Story)
- Episode 90 - Interview with Craig Martelle
- Patreon for Stark Reflections
The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
09/09/19 • 26 min
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FAQ
How many episodes does Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing have?
Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing currently has 284 episodes available.
What topics does Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing cover?
The podcast is about Writer, Publishing, Writing, Author, Podcasts, Books, Digital and Arts.
What is the most popular episode on Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing?
The episode title 'EP 327 - Writing the Shadow with Joanna Penn' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing?
The average episode length on Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing is 51 minutes.
How often are episodes of Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing released?
Episodes of Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing are typically released every 6 days, 23 hours.
When was the first episode of Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing?
The first episode of Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing was released on Dec 5, 2017.
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