Episode 223 – Love, Only Better, with Paulette Stout

In this episode Mark interviews author Paulette Stout about her new novel Love, Only Better.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares a recent comment, a personal update, thanks new patron Jo-Ann Carson, and shares a word and update 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 Paulette talk about:

Why Paulette chose to fictionalize the taboo subject matter of the novelHow this novel can help some women realize that they’re not alone in this experienceTaking a really difficult topic and making it a beach readThe importance of approaching a deeply personal and emotionally difficult topic with humorThe process of deciding to write this novelReaching out to agents with queries for this bookLearning about indie publishing and how it suited this book with what many publishers saw as a taboo topicScribbling at the alter of Joanna PennWriting a prequel as an author newsletter giveawayGetting a BookBub Feature New Release on her first time asking for oneUsing NetGalley and getting more than 300 downloads for the book while it was up for preorderHow initially positioning the book as romance rather than women’s fiction resulted in a few mis-matches on reader expectationsDeciding to change a great cover for a different great cover based on those reader expectationsPaulette’s desire to “up” the level of intimacy within women’s fictionSales so far of the book in print and eBookSegmenting her list into two groups: people who open and people who don’t open her newslettersWorking on Book 2 for NaNoWriMo 2021 so she can get it to editors in December for a spring 2022 releaseAdvice Paulette would offer to beginning writers or writers who want to write a book about a more taboo topicAnd more…

After the conversation Mark reflects on the business decision Paulette made to re-do her covers (see below) and also on how (and why) authors are so hard on and so down on themselves.

Links of Interest:

Paulette Stout’s WebsiteFacebook Author PageTwitterInstagramPR By The BookFindaway VoicesBooks A Million AnnouncementEP 154 – Reflections on T S PaulThe Canadian MountedPatreon for Stark ReflectionsThe Relaxed AuthorBuy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook DirectPublishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark’s Canadian Werewolf BooksThis Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big City

Paula Stout is the fearless author of Love, Only Better, a contemporary novel and bedroom rallying cry for women everywhere.

Born in Manhattan, Paulette is the gold-star wordsmith and owner of her content marketing agency, Media Goddess Inc., where she crafts content for her list of global clients. Prior to MGI, Paulette led content and design teams at several tech companies, and one educational publisher where her elimination of the Oxford comma caused a near riot.

Paulette’s prior career as a media buyer/planner in New York earned her three industry awards, including a MediaWeek All-Star.

She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Cornell University and her MBA in Marketing from the Lubin School of Business, Pace University.

You can usually find Paulette rearranging words into pleasing patterns while wearing grammar t-shirts.

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