Episode 045 / Sacha Black, author of young adult fantasy as well as non-fiction for writers, joins us this week to talk about how being your authentic self empowers you. We also delve into practical tips on how authors can achieve financial independence. Then Sacha answers questions from the Facebook group about productivity, rebellion, and how to write great villains.

Intro recap:

Sara’s deep in Direct Sales Land, figuring out the Woocommerce plugin and shipping options for her special edition hardcover with hand-stamped end pages. Jami was sick last week, but she’s recovered and is planning a price promotion, dropping her books to 99 cents. She’ll report back on how the sale goes. 

Come over and say hey to Jami and Sara in the WIKT Facebook group! You can find show notes and links at wishidknownforwriters.com.

In this podcast episode, you’ll discover:

• How blogging and NaNoWriMo helped Sacha return to her first love of writing
• Why Sacha is passionate about financial independence for authors
• How she paid off her debt so she could leave her day job; plus Sacha’s tips for authors who’d like to do the same
• What Sacha wishes she’d known about craft and how she now dissects the books she reads and does forensic breakdowns to find the patterns and tools the authors employ
• Why everything counts in marketing
• Why Sacha’s assumptions about being a full-time author were wrong
• How having multiple streams of income creates financial stability
• How Sacha accidentally created a pen name for herself
• When you shouldn’t listen to your audience
• Sacha’s tips for focus and productivity
• What Sacha sees people doing wrong when they create their villains and how to fix those missteps
• The benefits of Alli (Alliance of Independent Authors) for authors
• The power of authenticity 

Genres discussed include fiction and non-fiction for writers.

Links: 

Sacha Black website: https://sachablack.co.uk

Sacha’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sachablackauthor/

Rebel Author Podcast

Next Level Authors Podcast

9 Things Career Authors Don’t Do: Personal Finance

13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains

Alli - Alliance of Independent Authors

The Big List of Craft and marketing books mentioned on WIKT podcast episodes  

Show Notes Sacha’s Website: https://www.sachablack.co.uk Sacha’s Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebelauthors/ Sacha’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sachablackauthor/

After Jeff gives an update on his Christmas novel and says farewell to The Writer's Well Podcast, the guys welcome Daniel Willcocks and Sacha Black for a round of Q&A. We find out why they write, steps they took to become full time authors and they also share a mistake and a success that they've learned from.

Complete shownotes for episode 58 are at BigGayAuthorPodcast.com.

Author and podcaster Sacha Black joins us to talk about The Anatomy of Prose: 12 Steps to Sensational Sentences, which is the latest book in her Better Writers series. Sacha also discusses what led her to kicking off the series with a book on villains and how she knew she was ready to write non-fiction books.

Complete shownotes for episode 54 are at BigGayAuthorPodcast.com.

In this month’s Fiction & Nonfiction Self-Publishing Salon, Sacha Black and Orna Ross explore the importance of an author platform. They explain how to establish an effective platform in today’s digital publishing environment.

Topics covered include:  

• What is an author platform?
• How platform gives you reach 
• How to grow your platform organically, as part of your work

The topics explored in this session are all about expanding your influence and impact as an author.

Our fiction and nonfiction salon is brought to you by sponsor Izzard Ink.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org.

About the Hosts

Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition-winning author. She writes the popular YA Fantasy Eden East novels and a series of non-fiction books that are designed to help writers develop their craft. Sacha has been a long-time resident writing coach for website Writers Helping Writers. She is also a developmental editor, wife and mum.

Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing”. She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com

WRITE YOUR BEST BOOK PODCAST

Episode 19

How to Write a Kickass Protagonist

One of the key elements to writing your best book is having an amazing, relatable, and likeable protagonist. After all, we’re following this character from the beginning all the way through to the end of the story. But it’s not always easy, and sometimes, we wind up with one-dimensional, flat, underdeveloped characters. I brought on the woman who literally wrote the book on creating kickass protagonists, Sacha Black, to discuss this topic and help us all learn a bit more about how to create a heroine who will stay with readers long after they stop reading.

In this episode, you will:

• Learn what exactly “protagonist” means
• Learn what your protagonist must do to win over readers’ hearts
• Learn how to create protagonists who kick ass
• Learn how to avoid flat, underdeveloped characters

Hosts & Guests

Host – Christina Kaye

Guest Host –  Sacha Black

To Learn More About Sacha:

https://sachablack.co.uk/

To Buy Sacha’s Book, 10 Steps to Hero:

https://amzn.to/2WENDN1

To Contact Christina Kaye:

info@writeyourbestbook.com

www.writeyourbestbook.com

For a Consultation with Christina Kaye

https://calendly.com/writeyourbestbook/freecoachingsession

To Follow Christina Kaye

https://www.facebook.com/writeyourbestbook

https://twitter.com/yourbestbook

https://www.instagram.com/writeyourbestbook/

https://pinterest.com/xtinakayebooks0228

Mark interviews Sacha Black about her role and brand as a Rebel Author, about her writing, her podcast, and about her books for writers on crafting heroes, villains, and prose.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, talking about recent birthday activities, a recent Star Wars parody video he created, and what that type of creation means to him as a writer.

He then shares some comments from recent episodes and a word from this podcast's sponsor, Findaway Voices.

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, Sacha and Mark talk about:

• Where Sacha's "Rebel Author" brand came from, and how she has always been a bit of a rebel
• How, the best way to get Sacha to do something is to ask her not to do it
• The way that being an indie author is a bit rebellious in and of itself
• The thrill of being a little bit naughty
• How people are able to connect when you are being more authentic
• Being on the border of introvert/extrovert and the connection with others that Sacha values from running her podcast
• The appearance of confidence from the outside, and how the indie author community has allowed Sacha to regain some confidence
• Being very intentional about wanting to leave her full time job to become a full time writer, and the planning and staging she worked on to get there
• Sacha's life of being passionate about reading and writing
• How a character Sacha originally wrote when she was 9 years old became the protagonist in her first novel
• The randomness in the way that characters Sacha creates come to her
• The combination of terrible memory and super geek that is part of Sacha's process as a writer
• How she never intended to write non-fiction, but completely fell in love with it
• The way that an overnight 100K of hits on a series of blog posts she wrote about villains led to filling a hole in the market and a path of loving writing non-fiction
• How Sacha's new non-fiction title, The Anatomy of Prose, started off as a labor of love
• The purposeful branding on the covers of these three non-fiction books for writers and how they incorporate three core values
• The process of recording the audiobooks herself
• How Sacha and her wife have negotiated the landscape of raising a six year old and each of them getting their work done
• Katie Forest's book called Time Management for Writers and what she has to say about times of crisis
• How the hardest thing for Sacha in terms of her work-life balance is letting go of the parental guilt
• The challenge of finding books for a young reader whose comprehension for words has surpassed most content meant for people their age
• The fact that if Sacha is terrified of something she is compelled to jump right in
• Using made-up swear words

After the interview, Marks a few reflections about things the chat with Sacha made him think about.

He also shares how listeners can win a signed copy of Sacha's latest book by commenting on this episode. (Opportunity to win ends May 29, 2020 when a random drawing of commenters will take place).

He also thanks Patrons of the show and shares that Patrons will be automatically entered in a chance to win a set of Sacha's three books for writers, just by being patrons. The random draw for that will take place at the same time.

Links of Interest:

• Sacha Black's Website
• Sacha's Podcasts
• Sacha's Facebook Author Profile
• Sacha on Instagram
• Episode 132 - Lauding the Art of Music with Martin Popoff
• Episode 130 - Grace Under Pressure with Kevin J Anderson
• Episode 97 - 10 Tips for Marketing and Making Money off Your Short Fiction
• The Creative Penn - EP 487 - Writing and Selling Short Fiction with Matty Dalrymple
• Findaway Voices
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's Proposal Video (Song "Liz" by Alicia Witt)
• Spud Wars: A New Helplessness (Parody Movie Trailer)
• Stuck in this House here with You (Parody Music Video)

Sacha Black is an author, rebel podcaster, speaker and developmental editor.

She has five obsessions; words, expensive shoes, conspiracy theories, self-improvement, and breaking the rules.

Sacha writes books about people with magical powers and other books about the art of writing.

When she’s not writing, she can be found laughing inappropriately loud, sniffing musty old books, fangirling film and TV soundtracks, or thinking up new ways to break the rules.

She lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her wife and genius, giant of a son.

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

Want to build an engaged mailing list of fans who look forward to receiving your mails? That’s what this week’s AskALLi Fiction & Nonfiction Podcast with Sacha Black and Orna Ross is all about:  How to manage your mailing list to build an engaged readership.

Learn:

• Why you need a mailing list
• How to capture your readers from the start with a welcome sequence 
• What's the best kind of content for you and your list
• When you should mail your list and how often

If you want to build fans and grow a thriving reader group through effective use of your mailing list, this podcast's for you.

Our fiction and nonfiction salon is brought to you by sponsor Izzard Ink.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org.

About the Hosts

Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition-winning author. She writes the popular YA Fantasy Eden East novels and a series of non-fiction books that are designed to help writers develop their craft. Sacha has been a long-time resident writing coach for website Writers Helping Writers. She is also a developmental editor, wife and mum.

Orna Ross launched the Alliance of Independent Authors at the London Book Fair in 2012. Her work for ALLi has seen her named as one of The Bookseller’s “100 top people in publishing”. She also publishes poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is greatly excited by the democratising, empowering potential of author-publishing. For more information about Orna, visit her website: http://www.ornaross.com

There's a point in our lives where we're lost and we don't know what we're doing with our lives anymore! All you want to do is quit your job and do your passion! 

This podcast talks about how Sacha became an independent full-time writer, publisher and producing her own creative works!

Here are some steps she took to get there:

• Get out of debt.
• Build your own platform.
• Prepare your mental transition.
• The importance of multiple steams of income

You will learn how Sacha left her job to pursue her passion and living her dreams!

If you’ve hung around ALLi long enough, you’ll know multiple streams of income are a core principle we follow. But what does it really mean? What do those streams look like? And how can you create those streams around both your fiction and nonfiction books? Join Sacha Black and Adam Croft as they discuss building a sustainable business with multiple streams of income around your books, no matter the genre you write.

Our fiction and nonfiction salon is brought to you by sponsor Izzard Ink.

Find more author advice, tips and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center: https://selfpublishingadvice.org, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts, and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need.

And, if you haven’t already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. You can do that at http://allianceindependentauthors.org.

About the Hosts

Sacha Black is a bestselling and competition-winning author. She writes the popular YA Fantasy Eden East novels and a series of non-fiction books that are designed to help writers develop their craft. Sacha has been a long-time resident writing coach for website Writers Helping Writers. She is also a developmental editor, wife and mum.

With almost two million books sold to date, Adam Croft is one of the most successful independently published authors in the world and one of the biggest selling authors of the past few years, having sold books in over 120 different countries. In February 2017, Only The Truth became a worldwide bestseller, reaching storewide number one at both Amazon US and Amazon UK, making it the bestselling book in the world at that moment in time. The same day, Amazon’s overall Author Rankings placed Adam as the world’s most widely read author, with J.K. Rowling in second place. In March 2018, Adam was conferred as an Honorary Doctor of Arts, the highest academic qualification in the UK, by the University of Bedfordshire in recognition of his services to literature. Visit  his website, The Indie Author Mindset, or find him on Twitter.