Your Mom Talks to James L. Sutter

In today's episode, we discuss (AKA Charlie talks at Caitlyn) newsletters, ARC teams and street teams. A little bit of marketing 101 for trad and indie authors alike.This may or may not have been recorded in March. Whoops.If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

Was this recorded two months ago? Yes. Listen, life happens. ;)Today Caitlyn and Charlie discuss reusing elements in a series, such as the same climax, same villains, and same premises between books. As a side note, Charlie doesn't understand ASMR videos.CHECK OUT CAITLYN'S NEW BOOK HERE. It's finally BIRTHED! (And spicy, be warned.) You can also scope out Charlie's nonfiction on writing magic systems here, and the fourth book of the Whimbrel House series (much less spicy than Caitlyn's, but there is some skinny-dipping) here.If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

Why is it that the most popular, well-loved books are also the most hated? Today Caitlyn and Charlie dig into why people criticize "bad" books and why we love them so much.If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

WE ARE BACK! Not weekly, but we're making an effort. So where have we been and what have we learned? Tune in to find out!Charlie's 25th novel it out today! WIZARD OF MOST WICKED WAYS (Whimbrel House book #4): https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Most-Wicked-Whimbrel-House-ebook/dp/B0D3S73Z8Q(Also Charlie did not edit this podcast. Andy the podcast gremlin did.)If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

We're back for a quick hit commenting on the Penguin Random House trial! If you want more information, please click the links below!Novel Marketing Podcast's "Publishing Secrets Revealed at the Penguin Random House Trial:" https://open.spotify.com/episode/77hqgO67OUCpoDBg2cKBCe?si=9ZQ5bNRrT8ONReG_aZAEVAJane Friedman's "The Hot Sheet:" https://hotsheetpub.com/ If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

SEASON FINALE! Charlie and a very raspy Caitlyn talk about querying first books in a series that can't stand alone, the submission process, theme, and Thomas Astruc's recent series of tweets on fan criticism.Thomas Astruc's Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/Thomas_Astruc/status/1672144706992586753If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

While Charlie frolics through England, author James L. Sutter (Co-creator of Pathfinder) hops on the podcast to talk about his new novel, DARK HEARTS. On the way, he and Caitlyn talk about queer identity, querying (no pun intended), adequacy, and more.Secret: James wrote the podcast jingle for Brian McClellan's Page Break ;)If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

She's actually on vacation. Er, one of them is, but she took the podcast gremlin with her, so while no one is available to edit the podcast, Caitlyn will still be slaving away at her day job and recording next week's episode. Because she loves you the most.Today's away notice brought to you by the gremlin, who was let out of her cage for a whole three minutes to record it.If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

TENSION. Today Caitlyn and Charlie talk tension. How to build it, how to release it, how to layer it, and so on.Your Mom Writes Books will be on vacation Tuesday, 6/20, but we'll return with a new episode the following week!If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).

Burn out. It happens to the best of us. So what do we do when we run out of wick?If you would like to donate to Your Mom Writes Books, please go to charlienholmberg.com/podcast (or check out the link in our Instagram bio @yourmomwritesbooks).