Advertise on podcast: The Pint and Portal Author Podcast

Liz Delton didn't make any money from her books for five years. Then a short story she'd already written became a cozy fantasy series that now raises five figures on Kickstarter, and every campaign has beaten the last. S. Usher Evans has 49 books and a series that's earned her $100,000 a year for three years, yet her Kickstarters kept shrinking. In this live conversation, we work out why. Usher explains what happens when you treat a side quest like your front runner, and what changed when she finally put her best-selling series on Kickstarter. Liz breaks down how she presents a campaign, from the banner to the story page, and how she's grown a community of backers who come back every time. We also get into the business behind it: print runs versus print on demand, early birds and secret tiers, how much of a campaign lands on day one, running Meta ads to a pre-launch page, referral links, and why bundles have become a huge part of Usher's income. Both campaigns are live now. 🥧 Find Liz Delton The Pie Maker at the Edge of the Wood on Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lizdelton/the-pie-maker-at-the-edge-of-the-wood-deluxe-cozy-fantasyWebsite & shophttps://www.lizdelton.com/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/lizdeltonwrites/TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@lizdeltonwritesFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/lizdelton🐉 Find S. Usher Evans The Weary Dragon Inn Omnibus, Vol. 1 on Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/susherevans/weary-dragon-omnibus-vol-1Websitehttps://susherevans.com/Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/susherevans/Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/susherevans/Usher's previous episodehttps://youtu.be/uIsOl-eGBsE🔗 Mentioned in This Episode Kickstarter for Authors (2nd Edition) by Anthea Sharphttps://www.amazon.com/dp/1680131818?tag=hermansteuern-20New to Kickstarter? Start with my episode with Oriana Leckerthttps://youtu.be/byCWcx2ZRx0Novel Publicityhttps://novelpublicity.com/BookVaulthttps://bookvault.app/SeSe Printinghttps://www.seseprinting.com/⏱️ Time Stamps 00:00 Shrinking launches vs growing ones01:58 Meet Liz Delton and S. Usher Evans06:13 Why Usher's Kickstarters kept shrinking22:14 Side quests vs the series that pays the bills26:07 What makes a Kickstarter campaign stand out48:29 Backers, fulfillment and the personal touch57:46 Print runs vs print on demand1:06:20 Early birds, secret tiers and day one1:17:52 Meta ads, pre-launch and bundles1:38:58 Their number one piece of advice⭐ Interdimensional Drink Masterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master?ref=72j627 🛠️ Deals on Writing & Marketing Tools I Usehttps://www.pintandportal.com/deals 📚 My Books & Author Newsletterhttps://www.hermansteuernagel.com/links Theme song: Power Rock Intro 7 by AndrewVovchynaC (Envato License). Some links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show. © Herman Steuernagel, The Pint & Portal Podcast

Brady Hunsaker works a full-time job, writes for two hours before he leaves for the office, and earns six figures from his fantasy books. He published his first book in 2023, has sold around 80,000 copies since, and now runs six-figure Kickstarter campaigns for his deluxe editions. We get into the book marketing strategy behind those sales. Brady explains why he stopped caring about followers and started measuring posts by whether they sell books, how he runs separate TikTok accounts for different kinds of content, and why he pitches the world of a fantasy novel instead of the characters. He tests a book idea on social media before he writes it. One of those videos reached 300,000 views, so he wrote the book. We also talk about the business side of being an indie author. Brady breaks down where his income comes from across Kickstarter, direct sales from his own store and Kindle Unlimited, what he spends to produce a special edition, and when it made sense to hand fulfillment to someone else. He walks through how he drafts a novel in about two months without a second draft, and the daily schedule that fits writing, marketing and a family around a day job. Find Brady Hunsaker Website: https://bradyhunsaker.comShop: https://shop.bradyhunsaker.comDepths of Vanalf: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRDYL2C6?tag=hermansteuern-20All books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BRL74ZDJ?tag=hermansteuern-20Instagram: https://instagram.com/bradyhunsakerTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@bradyhunsakerYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BradyHunsakerMentioned in This Episode Jeff Brown Graphics (cover art): https://www.jeffbrowngraphics.comMerrick Books (special editions and fulfillment): https://www.merrick-books.comTime Stamps 00:00 Sales over followers00:43 Meet Brady Hunsaker03:30 Why he chose self-publishing07:28 A thousand sales on day one09:47 A second TikTok account and a new pitch14:17 Posting every day for sales16:38 Covers, audio and Kindle Unlimited19:03 Six-figure Kickstarters and where the money comes from26:32 Writing fast around a full-time job36:38 His number one piece of adviceSupport the Show Back my next Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master?ref=72j627The Pint & Portal Author Podcast: https://pintandportal.comMy books, newsletter and socials: https://www.hermansteuernagel.com/linksTools I Actually Use All deals: https://www.pintandportal.com/dealsPublisher Champ, 10% off: https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/Publisher Rocket: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442Wise, first transfer up to $800 CAD free: https://wise.prf.hn/l/RlANJvG/Envato: https://1.envato.market/c/7700687/298927/4662Stallion Express: https://ship.stallion.ca/register/Qr3Wy5Riverside: https://riverside.com/?via=herman-steuernagelTheme song: Power Rock Intro 7 by AndrewVovchynaC, licensed via Envato. Some links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. © Herman Steuernagel, The Pint & Portal Podcast

Eighteen authors, seventeen original urban fantasy stories, one Kickstarter anthology. Daniel Coolbaugh and Ben Schenkman built Arcane Awakenings by pooling their audiences instead of launching alone. A business to consumer author entrepreneur success story. They set a funding goal that covered only the base book and saved the bells and whistles for stretch goals. We recorded this live in May, during pre-launch. The campaign went live on September 15 and funded in under 34 hours. We get into how the anthology came together. They widened a Halloween theme into origin stories about the emergence of magic so more authors could say yes, and recruited from a shortlist of about two dozen. They asked for 8,000 to 10,000 words per story, and we talk about how fantasy authors treat a word limit. The cover is a single illustrated piece from Miblart that pulls in elements from all 17 stories. Ben explains why they kept the price fair to readers rather than paying for a big-name artist. Daniel walks through the one-year exclusivity deal that lets every author take their story back afterwards. Daniel also shares the rule he applies to every project: never waste words. Launch book one, book two and book three separately, then an omnibus, and you have four products instead of one. His own anthology story is a prequel to his Nathaniel Wither: Monster Hunter series, so it sends new readers straight to his books. Ben talks about his three urban fantasy series, publishing through Caffeinated Terrier Press, and narrating his own audiobooks. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FIND DANIEL COOLBAUGH Arcane Awakenings on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arcaneawakenings/arcane-awakenings Website: https://authordanielcoolbaugh.wordpress.com The Fantasy and Sci-fi Fanatic's Podcast: https://thefantasyandscififanaticspod.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_danielcoolbaugh FIND BEN SCHENKMAN Website: https://benschenkman.com My Brother's Keeper: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GKHWPBKT?tag=hermansteuern-20 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Time Stamps 00:00 Books are expensive 01:24 Welcome and what's changing in November 06:47 Meet Ben Schenkman and Daniel Coolbaugh 14:44 Building an urban fantasy anthology 24:34 Why Kickstarter 30:24 One cover for 17 stories 34:45 Keeping the cost fair to readers 41:21 Getting more than one product from a story 47:32 Reward tiers and the pre-launch push 53:58 Where to find Ben and Daniel ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ SUPPORT MY NEXT KICKSTARTER https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master?ref=72j627 THE PINT & PORTAL AUTHOR PODCAST https://pintandportal.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ TOOLS I ACTUALLY USE All deals: https://www.pintandportal.com/deals Publisher Champ, every sales dashboard in one place, 10% off: https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/ Publisher Rocket, keyword and category research: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442 Wise, international payments, first transfer up to $800 CAD free: https://wise.prf.hn/l/RlANJvG/ Envato: https://1.envato.market/c/7700687/298927/4662 Stallion Express, discount shipping from Canada: https://ship.stallion.ca/register/Qr3Wy5 Riverside, what I record the show on: https://riverside.com/?via=herman-steuernagel ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MY BOOKS, NEWSLETTER & SOCIALS https://www.hermansteuernagel.com/links MEDIA CREDITS Theme song: Power Rock Intro 7 by AndrewVovchynaC, licensed via Envato. Stock video licensed via Envato. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Some links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. © Herman Steuernagel, The Pint & Portal Podcast

Melissa Storm built a seven-figure career without writing to market. Learn how she finds the right author marketing strategy. Her first novel got a stack of rejections from literary agents, and she cried over every one. Fifteen years later she has over a hundred books across multiple pen names. Plus she's a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. We discuss the realities of self-publishing today, including why she treats direct sales as ads on hard mode. Whether you are struggling with Facebook ads or trying to build an ecosystem for your pen names, Melissa shares how to adapt your book marketing to fit your personality. She calls it a seven-figure career, and she'll also tell you she can't write to market to save her life. In addition, she runs Novel Publicity and runs Kickstarter campaigns that teach Facebook ads for authors. We also talk about how Meta's AI is changing Facebook ads and how she sees authors adapting. Back her Facebook Ads for Authors Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/melstorm/shopify-ads Creator page: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/melstorm ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FIND MELISSA STORM On Amazon: On Amazon: https://link.amazon/B06yoYJRD Website: https://www.melstorm.com Novel Publicity: https://www.novelpublicity.com Book Marketing with Melissa (Substack): https://marketwithmelissa.substack.com Molly Fitz: https://mollymysteries.com Luna Ryder: https://lunarauthor.com MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Author Marketing Archetype quiz: https://www.novelpublicity.com/quiz/ Luna Ryder's books, including When Life Gives You Legends: https://lunarauthor.com/books/ Cal Newport: https://link.amazon/B06Bb14Cz 📘 SUPPORT MY NEXT KICKSTARTER https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master?ref=72j627 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Time Stamps 00:00 Intro 02:21 Hundreds of books and dozens of pen names 14:57 From agent rejections to a marketing business 22:33 If your heart's not in it, readers can tell 25:27 Matching your marketing to your personality 34:41 Why selling direct is ads on hard mode 45:12 The sunk cost fallacy and knowing when to quit 54:20 Running courses on Kickstarter 1:01:45 AI and the future of Facebook ads 1:08:47 Her number one piece of advice ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎧 LISTEN TO THE PODCAST Website: https://pintandportal.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGMgBmH0YQJBdT6Mw9MxK Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-pint-and-portal-author-podcast/id1697315896 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/2c6a0d11-a60b-418a-a568-580bef9c904d/the-pint-and-portal-author-podcast 🛠️ TOOLS I USE All deals in one place: https://www.pintandportal.com/deals Publisher Champ — all your sales dashboards in one place, 10% off: https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/ Publisher Rocket — keyword and category research for Amazon: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442 Wise — international payments, first transfer up to $800 CAD free: https://wise.prf.hn/l/RlANJvG/ Envato: https://1.envato.market/c/7700687/298927/4662 Stallion Express — discount shipping from Canada: https://ship.stallion.ca/register/Qr3Wy5 Riverside — what I record the show on: https://riverside.com/?via=herman-steuernagel 📚 MY BOOKS & NEWSLETTER All my books and links: https://www.hermansteuernagel.com/links ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MEDIA CREDITS 🎵 Theme song — Commercial Rock by StudioKolomna https://app.envato.com/music/96865697-95b3-4554-866e-6d4ad66a575e Some links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show. © Herman Steuernagel — The Pint & Portal Podcast

What if you broke all the rules they tell you for building an indie author career? Maggie Beeler doesn't run ads. She doesn't post on social media. She barely sells on Amazon. She built her author business by attending 30 to 45 events a year, setting up a table at everything from craft fairs, markets, bars and bookstores to niche events. Why don't most indie authors do the same? According to Beeler it's because "A lot of indie authors have this precious mindset where they think that their books are just going to sell themselves. And that is not the case." In this episode, Maggie breaks down how she picks events worth paying for, what to say to someone walking past your table, why she scaled her display down instead of up, and how to pitch a book in fifteen seconds to a person who has never heard of you. We also get into Tropetails, the cocktail and mocktail book for bookworms that she turned into a genre-inspired drink mix brand, now stocked in roughly 100 retailers. Plus, what you actually have to put in a bookstore's hands to make them say yes to stocking your book. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ NEVER MISS AN EPISODESubscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pintandportal My Kickstarter campaigns: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/hermansteuernagel/created ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FIND MAGGIE BEELERWebsite: https://margaretcbeeler.comTropetails: https://tropetails.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/margaretcbeeler/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@margaretcbeeler ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE PINT & PORTAL AUTHOR PODCASTWebsite: https://pintandportal.comSupport the show: https://www.pintandportal.com/deals SUPPORT MY NEXT KICKSTARTERThe Bartender Between Worlds: Illustrated Special Edition HERMAN'S BOOKS & NEWSLETTERhttps://hermansteuernagel.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Time Stamps00:00 Your books are not going to sell themselves06:48 Nine years to finish the first book12:51 Why she only sells in person16:29 Finding events worth paying for21:45 Working the table without being weird about it34:03 Pitch the tropes, not the plot36:54 Tropetails: turning a book into a product line41:57 Getting into 100 retailers58:05 Selling in person in the age of AI1:01:47 Her number one piece of advice ---👉 NEVER MISS AN EPISODE: Subscribe Here: https://www.youtube.com/@pintandportal?sub_confirmation=1🛠️ TOOLS I ACTUALLY USEAll deals in one place: https://www.pintandportal.com/dealsPublisher Champ — every sales dashboard in one place, Get 10% off your subscription:https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/Publisher Rocket — keyword and category research to optimize your Amazon listing for both ads and organic sales: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442Wise — how I handle international payments. Your first transfer up to $800 CAD free:https://wise.prf.hn/l/RlANJvG/Riverside — what I record the show on. Premium remote recording:https://riverside.com/?via=herman-steuernagel📚 MY BOOKS & NEWSLETTERAll my books and links: https://www.hermansteuernagel.com/linksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hermansteuernagelFacebook (the podcast): https://www.facebook.com/pintandportalpodcastFacebook (my books): https://www.facebook.com/hermansteuernagelwritesTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hermansteuernagelwrites━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━MEDIA CREDITS🎵 Theme song — Commercial Rock by StudioKolomnahttps://app.envato.com/music/96865697-95b3-4554-866e-6d4ad66a575eSome links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show.© Herman Steuernagel — The Pint & Portal Podcast

E.A. Winters went from $0 to six figures and left a ten-year counseling career behind — but she's blunt about why most authors never get there: "Most people want to spend hobby energy on it and get career revenue from it. That is not a thing that will happen." In this episode, Erin breaks down the difference between the author hat and the publisher hat, why she stacks a series before launching it, how she went from writing in naps and after bedtime to 12 books and a full-time income, and what she looks for in a writer that tells her whether they'll make it. We also get into the Level Up Conference she co-founded with Seth Ring for authors who've outgrown the beginner track, and her new LitRPG series set in a world where XP is reaped, taxed, and sold back to the people. Check out my previous episode with E.A. Winters (Episode 7): https://youtu.be/uEiUuO2cI1I FIND E.A. WINTERS Website & newsletter: https://www.eawinters.comFor Authors resource page: https://www.eawinters.com/forauthorsAmazon: E.A. Winters on AmazonTikTok: @eawintersInstagram: @e.a.wintersFacebook: eawintersnovels MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Monster Makers (Book 1, out September 15): preorder on AmazonBlood and Flame Saga Special Edition on KickstarterLevel Up Conference for Authors: https://luca.vip THE PINT & PORTAL AUTHOR PODCAST Website: https://www.pintandportal.comSupport the show: https://www.pintandportal.com/deals HERMAN'S BOOKS & NEWSLETTER Books and newsletter: https://www.hermansteuernagel.comMy Kickstarter campaigns: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/hermansteuernagel/createdInstagram: @hermansteuernagelFacebook: hermansteuernagelwrites TIME STAMPS 00:00 From counselor to full-time fantasy author09:22 The author hat vs. the publisher hat15:55 Getting in rooms with people ahead of you19:02 The levers that actually moved the needle21:31 Preorder and release strategy26:24 Building a conference for authors past the basics39:50 Why fast success can be a trap41:18 Her number one piece of advice43:12 Monster Makers, LitRPG, and the Kickstarter---👉 NEVER MISS AN EPISODE: Subscribe Here: https://www.youtube.com/@pintandportal?sub_confirmation=1🛠️ TOOLS I ACTUALLY USEAll deals in one place: https://www.pintandportal.com/dealsPublisher Champ — every sales dashboard in one place, so you stop clicking between Amazon, Kobo, D2D and the rest to build your own spreadsheet. 10% off your subscription:https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/Publisher Rocket — keyword and category research to optimize your Amazon listing for both ads and organic sales: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442Wise — how I handle international payments. Your first transfer up to $800 CAD free:https://wise.prf.hn/l/RlANJvG/Riverside — what I record the show on. Premium remote recording:https://riverside.com/?via=herman-steuernagel📚 MY BOOKS & NEWSLETTERAll my books and links: https://www.hermansteuernagel.com/linksMy Kickstarter campaigns: https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/hermansteuernagel/createdInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/hermansteuernagelFacebook (the podcast): https://www.facebook.com/pintandportalpodcastFacebook (my books): https://www.facebook.com/hermansteuernagelwritesTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hermansteuernagelwrites━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━MEDIA CREDITS🎵 Theme song — Commercial Rock by StudioKolomnahttps://app.envato.com/music/96865697-95b3-4554-866e-6d4ad66a575eSome links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show.© Herman Steuernagel — The Pint & Portal Podcast

Ever read a book where the world just felt off? Straight-line rivers, cities in places that make no sense, characters crossing a kingdom in an afternoon? Your readers feel it too — and it might be costing you read-through. This week on The Pint and Portal Author Podcast, we're chatting about an often overlooked craft problem, because your readers might care more than you think. I sit down with author, illustrator, and mapmaker Adam Bassett to break down the world-building details that make a setting feel real and lived-in. More importantly, we chat about the small, fixable mistakes that pull readers out of the story. We get into map design, climate, travel time, and why the geography of your world should be shaped by the story you're telling. Whether you're drafting your first novel or sharpening the setting in your current work-in-progress, this one's packed with practical, low-effort ways to level up your world-building. Adam is the author of the cyberpunk collection Digital Extremities, the post-apocalyptic fantasy Copper Skin, Oaken Lungs, and the new reference book An Author's Guide to Setting Design: Worldbuilding & Cartography. His newest release is a guidebook for authors and game masters featuring 100+ illustrated real and fictional maps. --- New here? I'm Herman Steuernagel, author and host. The Pint and Portal is where I corner working authors and get them to share the strategies that actually helped them build a career. If you've found any value in these episodes, please hit that like button and — more importantly — pull up a chair and hit subscribe Please support the show and visit our sponsors. You can find them all at https://www.pintandportal.com/deals --- ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro: don't let world-building overtake your story01:45 – Meet Adam & his new book on setting design04:00 – Matching your map's style to your story05:18 – How Adam fell in love with maps10:07 – What authors get wrong about world-building12:39 – How landscape shapes culture, economics & stor21:25 – Climate: escaping the "generic temperate Europe" trap28:20 – Mountains, volcanoes & why terrain isn't random32:15 – Travel time: how far should things really be?42:11 – City history & making characters feel real46:21 – Where to find Adam & his book46:21 – Where to find Adam & his book --- 📚 GET ADAM'S BOOKS & CONNECT An Author's Guide to Setting Design (eBook): https://books2read.com/agsd Sprayed-edges pre-order (The Crafty Bookstore): https://www.thecraftybookstore.com/product-page/an-authors-guide-to-setting-design Digital Extremities: https://books2read.com/digital-extremities Copper Skin, Oaken Lungs: https://books2read.com/copper-ash1 Website: https://www.adamcbassett.com Newsletter: https://adamcbassett.substack.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/adamcbassett.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/adamcbassett

How do you build an author career that survives every algorithm change, platform shake-up, and market shift? Fantasy author Katharine Wibell has spent 10 years doing exactly that. Publishing 25+ works across YA, new adult, and adult fantasy without ever betting everything on a single platform. In this episode, Katharine breaks down her "piece of every pie" marketing strategy: spreading her reach across social media, crowdfunding, live events, and new platforms so that no single channel controls her career. We talk about the branding mistake she made early on, why she markets herself as an author brand instead of one book, how she turned 16 novellas into box sets and special editions, and what she's learned running five Kickstarter campaigns; including her first five-figure launch. This conversation is full of practical, honest advice on building a resilient author platform. If you get value from the show, please hit like and subscribe, it genuinely helps the podcast reach more authors trying to build their careers. 00:00 — Intro & meet Katharine Wibell 02:46 — 10 years, 25+ books: her backlist and journey 05:34 — From painter to author: how COVID shifted her focus 08:52 — The branding mistake: market your name, not one book 11:10 — Writing across multiple genres (and what it really costs) 15:57 — Matching books to the right platforms and readers 18:59 — Making novellas work: box sets & special editions 23:51 — The "piece of every pie" strategy & surviving algorithm changes 28:30 — Inside her Kickstarter campaigns & the collector reader 35:41 — Advice for new authors: start small, market early, reach out Links Katharine Wibell Website: Katharine Wibell Books Current Kickstarter for FLEET: Fleet Deluxe Special Edition The Podcast Help support the show — please check out all of our sponsor links: pintandportal.com/deals Subscribe on YouTube Follow on your podcast app

Book marketing broke him, so he rebuilt. In this episode, I down with author and SFFAddicts podcaster Adrian M Gibson to talk about what it actually takes to build a sustainable author career after burnout. After launching his debut Mushroom Blues into thousands of sales, awards attention, and a grueling year-long SPFBO run, Adrian hit a wall. This conversation is about the way back: how he rebuilt a writing routine around two young kids, time-boxed social media, funded a $50K Kickstarter, and fell back in love with the craft while writing his new release, A Murder Most Fungal. If you're a writer trying to turn your books into a long-term career without burning out, this one's for you. We dig into practical author-career strategy, sustainable writing habits, the genre-blending "training wheels" trick that hooks any reader, worldbuilding across a shared timeline, and how food and culture shape great fiction. 🍄 Adrian's new book, A Murder Most Fungal, is out now. A Michelin-star tragedy in six courses. Links below. Get Adrian's books A Murder Most Fungal — Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Most-Fungal-Fungalverse-Hofmann-ebook/dp/B0GSW6DKM4 A Murder Most Fungal — Signed hardcovers (The Broken Binding): https://www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk/product-page/a-murder-most-fungal-adrian-m-gibson Mushroom Blues — Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mushroom-Blues-Hofmann-Report-Book-ebook/dp/B0CTCF9TCF Adrian's website: https://www.adrianmgibson.com SFF Addicts Podcast: https://www.adrianmgibson.com/sff-addicts Follow Adrian on X: https://x.com/adrianmgibson --- Timestamps 0:00 My kids are my writing sprint partners 1:19 Welcome + what to expect this episode 5:16 Meet Adrian M Gibson 7:00 Two wild years: awards, a $50K Kickstarter & a new publishing role 13:39 Building a writing routine around two young kids 20:19 Book marketing broke me: burnout & SPFBO pressure 23:28 Falling back in love with writing (sustainably) 26:11 Inside A Murder Most Fungal: a fungal chef & a murder 33:30 Worldbuilding across a shared timeline 43:27 The training wheels trick to hook any reader 51:41 Food, Anthony Bourdain & connecting through cuisine 1:14:14 Release date & where to get the book --- Support the show Subscribe & follow The Pint & Portal Author Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pintandportal Interdimensional Drink Master Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master/ Publisher Champ (10% off): https://www.publisherchamp.com/referral/42246/ Publisher Rocket: https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442 All Deals: https://pintandportal.com/deals/

Most authors sell one book at a time. Andy Peloquin built a machine where every book sells every other book. With around 45 titles across six interconnected series, he's turned his backlist into a self-sustaining author business — where a new reader who starts with Darkblade or Queen of Thieves has to read five of his six series to get the full picture of his world. In this episode we get into the actual strategy behind a full-time indie fantasy career: building an interconnected universe, why book one has to carry everything, rebooting a series so it outsells the original, driving direct sales through his website and newsletter, filling the "holes" in his catalog for different readers, and the three pillars he says every author business is built on — newsletter, social media, and branding. If you've got a few books out and you're trying to turn writing into a real business, this one's for you. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00:00 - Intro: why book one is everything00:08:36 - Meet Andy Peloquin: 45 books & going full-time00:13:45 - What worked in 2018 vs. 202600:15:41 - Cover design & branding that actually sells00:18:51 - The interconnected universe: every book sells every other book00:28:00 - Rebooting a series that outsold the original00:41:11 - Direct sales & the newsletter that prints readers00:50:28 - Filling the holes in your backlist00:52:15 - How he writes so fast (process & word counts)00:58:35 - The 3 pillars of an author empire 🔗 FIND ANDY PELOQUINWebsite: https://andypeloquin.comAll socials (IG/TikTok/etc.): https://linktr.ee/andypeloquinauthorNew novella A Mother's Love → available direct on his website 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODENewsletter Ninja by Tammy Labrecque: https://books2read.com/u/388lvwStallion Express (Canada → US media mail shipping): https://ship.stallion.ca/register/Qr3Wy5 🍺 THE PINT & PORTAL AUTHOR PODCASTYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pintandportalSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGMgBmH0YQJBdT6Mw9MxKApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-pint-and-portal-author-podcast/id1697315896Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pintandportalpodcast/ 👉 Subscribe for bi-weekly conversations with authors who've built real careers. #indieauthor #selfpublishing #authortube #bookmarketing #writingcommunity #fantasyauthor #authorbusiness #writinglife 🚨🚨🚨 SUPPORT OUR SPONSORSFor all of our affiliate links check out our website at: https://www.pintandportal.com/dealsSupport our sponsors

Michael Michel spent over 20 years building a fantasy world before publishing his first novel. When he finally did, it wasn't ads or algorithms that moved the needle. It was people. In this conversation, Michael breaks down how authentic relationships got him invited on writing retreats with some of the biggest names in indie fantasy, landed him spots in anthologies alongside Robin Hobb and Christopher Paolini, and helped him execute a relaunch that outperformed two years of grinding in just a few months. We also dig into whether newsletter swaps and giveaways are losing their punch, why Amazon's algorithm shift means organic social media matters more than ever, and how Michael is approaching his upcoming Kickstarter special edition featuring cover art by Jeff Brown. This one's packed with actionable perspective, especially if you're the kind of person who'd rather build real friendships than run Facebook ads. Michael's final piece of advice has nothing to do with marketing. It's about acceptance and it might be the most important thing you hear all week. 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with authors who are building careers on their own terms. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:00:00 – The one strategy that will never change00:43 – Meet Michael Michel02:27 – From Warhammer tournaments at age 7 to building a fantasy world06:25 – First launch: what worked and what stalled09:38 – Why no one really has the answers (and what IS in your control)20:31 – Instagram research strategy for finding your exact readers28:27 – Beating the indie echo chamber with multiple product formats40:20 – The Kickstarter special edition breakdown (Jeff Brown, interior art, the works)49:13 – Michael's final advice: the power of acceptance 🔗 CONNECT WITH MICHAEL MICHEL:Instagram: @michaelmichelauthorKickstarter: The Price of Power Deluxe Edition ⭐ Support our SponsorsGreat offers on author related tools and services: pintandportal.com/deals

He built a platform, formed a readership and booked 20+ podcast stops for his debut novel before it was even finished. Here's exactly how he did it. Michael Vadney built his entire author platform from scratch with no book, no audience, and no connections. By launch day, he had a full virtual book tour lined up and a community behind him. In this episode, we break down the strategy debut authors can steal to make sure their first release doesn't disappear into the void. Michael is the host of the Author Adjacent podcast and author of Crown Fall, a new adult noble dark fantasy. Timestamps:0:00 - Why most debut launches fail2:26 - Meet Michael Vadney10:06 - The "platform before book" strategy12:27 - Why he chose podcasting over TikTok17:50 - The 5am routine that makes it all work27:22 - Why he pushed back his launch43:57 - What "noble dark" fantasy means53:57 - How to handle negative reviews as a debut author Connect with Michael:Author Adjacent - https://www.youtube.com/@AuthorAdjacentWebsite - michaelvadney.com Subscribe for (semi) weekly conversations with authors about how they actually build careers from their writing. #authormarketing #debutauthor #booklaunch #authortube #indieauthor

38 flights last year. Zero day job. How Andrew Buckley built an author career by thinking outside the box — and like a business. If you're an author still grinding away, waiting for royalties to pay your bills, you need to hear what Andrew Buckley figured out. After a decade of writing as a side hustle while working 40+ hour weeks, Andrew quit his job in 2022 — and within TWO MONTHS, he had replaced his entire monthly salary. From speaking, teaching, and building a multi-stream author business most writers don't even know is possible. In this episode, we go deep on: How a single accidental school visit turned into a full-time speaking careerWhy "talking about writing" sometimes pays better than writing itselfThe exact audiences (beyond writing conferences) that pay authors to show upHow he went from beet-red, palpitating introvert to chasing crowds of 700+Why book sales spike EVERY time he speaksThe hybrid traditional + self-pub strategy he's using in 2026What most authors get WRONG about marketing in the AI eraIf you've ever felt like writing more books isn't moving the needle, this conversation will completely change how you think about building an author career. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 — "I replaced my salary in 2 months" 01:16 — Meet Andrew Buckley 09:36 — A decade of side hustle before going full-time 14:41 — The pandemic pivot + quitting the day job 17:00 — How the speaking career started (by accident)25:14 — How to land your first paid speaking gigs 36:24 — Introvert to stage-chaser: the transformation 49:36 — Multiple income streams beyond book sales 🔗 FIND ANDREW BUCKLEY Website: andrewbuckleyauthor.com Instagram: @andrewbuckleyauthor Story Centric Podcast: Listen here 🚨 Author Discounts & Promos Check out all of our sponsors at pintandportal.com/deals Sign up for WISE today: Get your free international transfer Herman's Author Site Welcome to The Pint and Portal Author Podcast — where I sit across the table from authors who've built real careers and get them to share the strategies that actually worked. #AuthorLife #WritingCommunity #SelfPublishing #IndieAuthor #WritingPodcast #AuthorIncome #AndrewBuckley #PintAndPortal

Are you wondering how to build your author career from zero to full-time?Aaron Hall lost his job 3 weeks after buying his first home. Instead of panicking, he went all-in on his author career. 18 months later, he's a full-time indie author making a living from book sales, mostly paperbacks and audiobooks.In this episode, Aaron shares the exact social media strategy that took him from selling 100 books a month to over 2,000, how one viral video changed everything, why he prices his paperbacks at $19.99, and the advice he got from Zach (S.D.A. Monte) that forced him to take content seriously.Whether you're trying to go full-time or just want to sell more books, this one's packed with actionable stuff.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ FIND AARON N. HALL Website: https://www.aaronnhall.com Official Store: https://aaronnhall.store The Legend of Uh (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB1GB36R?tag=hermansteuern-20 The Legend of Uh, signed paperback: https://aaronnhall.store/products/the-legend-of-uh-paperback-signed The Second Legend of Uh, signed paperback: https://aaronnhall.store/products/the-second-legend-of-uh-paperback-signed Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronn.hall TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aaronn.hall YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aaronnhallofficial Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaronnhallofficial MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Operation Literacy (the nonprofit Aaron works with): https://www.operationliteracy.org Publisher Rocket : https://publisherrocket.cartknox.com/buy-rocket?aff=442 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━SUPPORT MY NEXT KICKSTARTERhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hermansteuernagel/interdimensional-drink-master?ref=72j627HERMAN'S BOOKS & NEWSLETTERBooks and newsletter signup: https://hermansteuernagel.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ You can also follow the podcast on your favorite app! - https://pod.link/1697315896⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 – Why you should never underprice your indie books2:40 – Aaron's background & publishing journey8:38 – Getting laid off 3 weeks after buying a home12:54 – The social media strategy that changed everything21:18 – The viral video that blew up sales overnight27:48 – How often you actually need to post (less than you think)33:00 – Where his revenue actually comes from37:35 – Why his paperbacks outsell ebooks 3 to 145:34 – Avoiding burnout as a full-time author50:57 – Best advice: diversify everything━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━MEDIA CREDITS🎵 Theme song — Commercial Rock by StudioKolomnahttps://app.envato.com/music/96865697-95b3-4554-866e-6d4ad66a575eSome links may be affiliate links. Using them costs you nothing extra and helps support the show.© Herman Steuernagel — The Pint & Portal Podcast

Most indie authors treat Amazon like the only bookstore that exists. But what if that one income stream disappeared tomorrow? Mark Leslie Lefebvre has been in the publishing industry for over 30 years — as a bookseller, a digital publishing advocate, the creator of Kobo Writing Life, and a representative for Draft2Digital. He literally wrote the book on going wide (Wide for the Win), and in this conversation he breaks down the strategies that wide authors are using to grow sales on platforms most of us have been ignoring. We talk about why Kobo, Apple, and Barnes & Noble reward different behavior than Amazon, how to use built-in promo tools most authors don't even know exist, and why thinking long-term is the key to building an author business that can't be killed by one algorithm change. Whether you're wide-curious or already distributing everywhere, there are actionable strategies in here you can put to work this week. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Marketing isn't selling — it's storytelling 00:04:17 — Mark's background & why wide publishing matters 00:10:28 — What does "wide" actually mean? 00:18:32 — The Draft2Digital controversy explained 00:29:00 — How to boost sales on non-Amazon platforms 00:31:16 — Promo forms you didn't know existed (D2D, Kobo, B&N) 00:33:27 — Coupon codes, BookBub ads & promo stacking strategies 00:42:05 — Why storytelling is the best marketing strategy 📚 LINKS & RESOURCES Wide for the Win community Wide for the Win (book) D2D Promo Form Books2Read (free universal book links) Kobo Writing Life BookFunnel David Gaughran Draft2Digital Mark's Substack Canadian Werewolf Series 🍺 SUPPORT THE SHOW Flour & Forge Special Edition Kickstarter See ALL of our sponsors and promotions My website & book links 🎧 Mentioned in this episode: Katie Cross on Direct Sales (previous episode) If you're an indie author building your business, subscribe for weekly conversations with authors who are making it work.