This is a podcast for authors by authors! (And also readers who want the scoop on what authors are REALLY thinking.) Join Valerie Biel and TK (Tracey) Sheffield as we share topics to help our fellow writers as well as fun tidbits on what we’re reading and where we’re roaming. 2024 will have 9 episodes on topics like agent searching (episode 1), indie vs traditional publishing (episode 4), book launch basics, helpful writing conferences (episode 2), why we write what we write (episode 3) and more!
ABOUT US—YOUR PODCAST HOSTS:
Valerie Biel is the author of the award-winning Circle of Nine series as well as a publicity professional who aids other authors with their book launches and marketing. You can find her here on substack at Reading, Writing, & Roaming or at ValerieBiel.com.
Tracey writes stories for readers who want to laugh and escape. She is the author of the award-winning Backyard Model comic culinary cozy mysteries, and other books. She is found at her website, TK Sheffield Writes, and her Instagram, The Backyard Model.
ABOUT EPISODE 5:
NOTE: We talk about some favorite books we’ve been reading for the first part — the main topic starts at 9:39.
There’s been a big kerfuffle about the analysis of the transcript of THE TRIAL (which has been made available in book form.) One such article here on Substack by Elle Griffin entitled “No One Buys Books” ended up gaining so much attention that we thought we ought unpack some of the statistics that mislead readers/authors about the state of the publishing industry. We’re not alone—there were many rebuttal articles. The two we talk about the most in this episode are Lincoln Michel’s “Yes, people do buy books” and Bob Mayer’s article on Medium “Random Brain Cells Firing on ‘no one buys books anymore.”
And here’s another rebuttal article that we didn’t talk about from Brooke Warner, “People Buy Books, Publishing Is Thriving, and Substack Will Never Replace Books.”
How the assertion that "Nobody Buys Books" is not true.