Independent and traditional publication each have pros and cons. How do you know which is right for you? In this episode of Modern Publishing, my guest is Jen Craven, author of emotional and suspenseful women's fiction. Jen recently signed a two-book deal, after publishing previous books independently. Jen shares her journey and offers advice for t…

Explore creative ways to market your book and find the right readers. My guest on this episode of Modern Publishing is author Michelle Cox. We discuss Michelle's transition from a hybrid press to self-publishing, and Michelle shares her book marketing insights. We talk about email lists, book tours, and the essential approach to marketing that most…

Do you see the story you're writing play out like a movie? In this episode of Modern Publishing, my guest is Anthea T. Piscarik, an accomplished novelist and screenwriter. Anthea explores the differences between novel writing and screenwriting and the lessons she's learned from both disciplines. Topics Discussed Screenwriting vs. novel writing Taki…

Go behind the scenes with an Alaska-based literary agent working for a New York agency. In this episode of Modern Publishing, literary agent Anjanette Barr of Dunham Literary gives us an inside look at what it's like working for a New York agency while living in Alaska. She demystifies the process of working with a literary agent and explains exact…

Every author deals with fear. Learn how to respond to fear and self-doubt in a way that drives your writing career forward. In this episode of Modern Publishing, my guest is historical fiction author Tanya E. Williams, whose five novels include Becoming Mrs. Smith and Welcome to the Hamilton. We discuss the way Tanya runs her business and approache…

We've decided to merge our Backmatter podcast interviews into our other podcast, Frontmatter, and going forward, we're going to publish all our in-depth publishing industry expert interviews there.For an explanation of why we're doing this (it's good news!), please listen to this short recording wherever you've found it, or read this post on our bl…

Nathan Bransford is a freelance editor and media strategy consultant, an author, and a former literary agent for Curtis Brown. In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Nathan about his background, studying English at Stanford during the dot com boom, work as a literary agent, getting published, and current issues facing the book pub…

David Vandagriff is known by people in the publishing industry as Passive Guy, his persona on his popular publishing industry blog, The Passive Voice.In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with David about his background, how he got into the law after studying speech and literature, his early innovations with desktop publishing in the …

Orna Ross is an award-winning author and poet who founded the popular Alliance of Independent Authors, an influential professional association for self-published authors.In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Orna about her background in publishing, the changing roles of literary agents, getting her rights back from a big publishe…

In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Associate Professor Rebecca Giblin about her background, her e-lending and Author's Interest projects, DRM and creator compensation, the potential role unfair competition law could play in regulating dominant companies, and author compensation in relation the economics of library ebook lendin…

Bill Kasdorf is a partner at the consultancy Publishing Technology Partners, where he provides guidance and insight regarding the publishing industry. He has worked with many well-known companies and institutions, from the scholarly press at Harvard, to the World Bank and the British Library, amongst many others.In this interview, Leanpub co-founde…

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a bestselling and award-winning author who also writes a very popular blog on the business side of book publishing, which is an invaluable resource for authors in all genres.In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Kristine about her background as a writer, journalism and politics in the US, the impact of w…

Carla King is an author and founder of the Self-Publishing Boot Camp series. In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Carla about her background as a writer, how she got into motorcycles and travelling solo, the impact of 9/11 on travel writing and publishing in the United States, why every self-published author should set up their …

Marie Force is a New York Times bestselling author of romance fiction whose books have sold over seven million copies worldwide. In this interview, Marie talks about her interesting journey to life as a successful author, building a business around successful indie publishing, and about the Indie Author Support Network initiative, an organization d…

Nate Hoffelder is the force behind The Digital Reader, one of the best sources online for up-to-date information and analysis about the book publishing industry and innovation in book publishing and reading technology.In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Nate about changes in ebook technology and e-readers over time, about why s…

Mike Shatzkin is the Founder & CEO of The Idea Logical Company. In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Mike about his remarkable career, the history of major developments in book publishing spanning 50 years, and his thoughts about the future for an industry that has been experiencing constant upheaval for some time.This interview…

Based in Oxford, Dan Holloway is a writer, performer, and mental health campaigner who, amongst his many other activities, writes a weekly self-publishing column at selfpublishingadvice.org.In this interview, Dan discusses his education and career, his involvement in mind sports, the impact of AI and potential changes to net neutrality on publisher…

Jane Friedman is a popular publishing industry consultant, speaker, lecturer, editor, and the author of Publishing 101: A First-Time Author’s Guide to Getting Published, Marketing and Promoting Your Book, and Building a Successful Career. Along with her colleague Porter Anderson, Jane is also the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, a leading publishing in…

In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with Mirela Roncevic about her career, the publishing industry, and her fascinating Free Reading Zone project.Par Len Epp

In this interview, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp talks with publishing industry expert Thad McIlroy about his wide-ranging career in book publishing, the state of the publishing industry today, whether self-published authors should submit their books to subscription services, some recent controversies in the book publishing world, and the future of pu…

In this interview Leanpub cofounder Len Epp chats with Emmanuel Nataf, co-founder of Reedsy, a marketplace for high-quality publishing services that helps authors find professional editors, designers and marketers. We talk about how how Reedsy got started and about their vision for the future of publishing.…