Pretzel Bites: Top podcasts to enhance the craft
This month's Extra Mustard looks at some resources I've used to enhance my craft and begin my "level up" in the authorpreneur space.
A little more than three weeks into the new year, and I’m exhausted. We weren’t done with the 7-day free trial when the wildfires hit Los Angeles, and a cold spell hit the rest of the country. We have a new President, and the drama … well…
In a few weeks, I’ll share my 2025 phrase, “Level Up. " To inhabit that phrase, I’ve focused more on tools to improve my writing and knowledge of the self-publishing industry. Here are some highlights from January in my Pretzel Bites.
Writing Podcasts
For indie writers who don’t have the publishing experts and professionals from a publisher to help guide their novels through the process, these have been extremely helpful in understanding the industry, the market, and the craft.
Indie Writers Club (Hosted by British indie authors Cara Clare and James Blatch). Episode: Self-Publishing in 2025. Cara and James shared what they learned from 2024, their expectations for 2025, and the trends they see coming our way. Key takeaways: Success is subjective, depending on the author. Indie and traditional publishing are merging in new ways. Engaging the community remains the key tactic to finding success.
Self-Publishing with ALLi. (Produced by the Alliance of Independent Authors). Episodes: Tackling Creative Challenges and Adapting to Change. Key takeaways: Life sometimes eats into our creative goals, but that’s ok. As we move into the new year, we must practice patience and balance creative freedom with our business goals. Profiting from Print. Key Takeaway: Find your niche and maximize the impact. I found this tactic successful with my own novel Friends In Low Places. One caveat: Make sure your targeted niche reads books.
Wish I’d Known Then… (Hosted by Sara Rosett and Jami Albright). This podcast can sometimes feel like you pulled up to the porch and have a glass of lemonade. Episode: Matilda Swift. Key Takeaway. You do you. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into a genre, a release schedule, or a marketing strategy that doesn’t fit who you are.
Indy Author Podcast (Hosted by Matty Dalrymple). Matty has great guests on her podcast who provide practical advice and solutions wherever we are on the journey. Episode: Tapping Into Your Author Voice with Tiffany Yates Martin. How do you create your own author voice? How do you tap into your character’s voice? Great episode on craft.
Other writing podcasts. While listening to indie authors is important to understand the market in which I write, I also love listening to podcasts with superstar writers to understand their process.
The Open Mic: Writers in their Own Words (Hosted by Rich Ehisen). Rich’s focus is on crime fiction, but sometimes he’ll interview crazy indie authors (like me). Rich interviews some of the best present-day authors, and he brings out some of their writing habits, tricks, and hacks that are applicable to anyone.
Books, Beach, and Beyond. (Hosted by Elin Hilderbrand and Tim Ehrenberg.) Listening to this podcast is like sitting in on a lunch between two authors at the top of their games. As host, Hilderbrand brings reliability to her writing as she interviews her guests, ranging from Kevin Kwon (Crazy Rich Asians) to Steven Rowley (The Guncle).
What are your go-to podcasts, and when do you listen to them? I listen at the gym, which isn’t the best when I come across a good idea and I’m doing lunges.
Conferences
Author Nation. I didn’t attend November’s Author Nation in person in Las Vegas, but I did sign up for the digital replay. I’ve only viewed a handful of sessions, but I’ve taken pages and pages of notes that I think will be critical to the “Level Up” in 2025. From discussions on dialogue and character to making your author business sustainable, the sessions were extremely valuable. I won’t be able to attend this Fall, but I think it’s worth looking into it in 2026.
The BookFest: This conference was exclusively online and provided tremendous value. In fact, it’s still available to view. Some of my favorite sessions covered character, story arc, and word building. BookFest has a Spring and Fall session.
Other Online Resources
Master Class: My wife bought a yearly subscription for the two of us. I’ve only taken the Walter Mosley class, but I found it rewarding. It’s a pleasure to hear some of the established masters go deep into their mindset and process. In some cases, these are revelations. Other times, it’s the validation that I’m doing something right.
Books
I read all kinds of books, but I write contemporary fiction, so I focused my reading this month on this genre.
Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano. How does a twelve-year-old boy cope when he’s the miraculous lone survivor of a plane crash that kills his mother, father, and brother, along with hundreds of others? Sometimes depressing, many times heartbreaking, Dear Edward is a realistic view of a boy working through loss at a time when he’s beginning to understand who he is.
The Celebrants, Steven Rowley. Five friends with a pact to hold funerals for each other while they are still alive. Rowley is the author of The Guncle and the Editor. I think this is my favorite of the three. It’s the book I aspire to write: thoughtful, funny, and heartbreaking.
Did you read something juicy this month? Let me know.
Thanks for the great podcast recommendations! Many of these are new to me. A few of my favorites: The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, Write-Minded, The Manuscript Academy, and First Draft.