EP 286 - Investment, Compromise, and Evolution with Juliette N. Banks

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews Juliette N. Banks, a bestselling, wide author who writes steamy contemporary and paranormal page-turning romances.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares recent comments, welcomes new patron Dharma Kelleher, and shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In their conversation, Mark and Juliette talk about:

• Juliette always believing that some day she would be a published author, but it was something she never chased
• Juliette's marketing background at a book she wrote in 2012 that was published by Random House in 2013
• The significant and tight Covid related lock-downs in New Zealand
• Juliette's adaptation to reading a lot of eBooks during the pandemic
• The incredibly expensive cost of print books in New Zealand
• Writing an archangel series and a vampire series
• Launching her books and reader magnet in Jan and March of 2021
• Working a full time job squeezed into 4 work days per week while writing all these novels
• The roughly 200 people Juliette was sharing her works with for free before she even published her first book (and how they've maintained their loyalty as readers to this day)
• Launching a new contemporary billionaire romance series at the beginning of 2022
• The parallel between the vampire characters and the billionaire characters
• Training herself to think very American in terms of her largest readership base
• Calculating the value of going to book signings, particular in the cost of flying from New Zealand to somewhere in the US
• The process Juliette works on with editing and publishing
• Having had five BookBubs in 2022
• The steady stream of releases and the stress that comes from that, particularly when illness like Covid occurs to throw a monkey wrench into it
• Where Juliette has been focusing in her initial goal to get to the 5 figures she needed in order to quit her corporate job
• Spending time on learning what she has to do to make her books "BookBub Worthy"
• Why she doesn't separate "indie" and "traditional" - you're competing in a store with suppliers of all sizes
• The pricing strategy that Juliette uses
• How only 10 of her books are creating income right now. The other 10 are things like reader magnets
• The way Juliette plans and maps out her writing business
• The importance of knowing what your skills and abilities and weaknesses are
• The value of professional coaches and taking some action upon those meetings/sessions
• And more...

After the interview, Mark reflects on the investment Juliette made by engaging for a long period and in detail with a group of 200 readers.

Links of Interest:

• Juliette N. Banks Website
  • BookBub Article: How I Maximized my First BookBub Deal
• EP 285 - Written Word Media's Top 10 Publishing Trends for 2023
• EP 284 - Collaborations in AI with Elizabeth Ann West
  • Walk Thru of Sudowrite with Elizabeth Ann West (Patreon)
• EP 280 - J.C. McKenzie & Jo-Ann Carson on the 2023 Jozie Planner for Authors
• Be a guest on the Stark Reflections Podcast
• Superstars Writing Seminars (Save $100 with code: STARKSSWS2023
• Findaway Voices
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Best Book Ever Podcast
• Lovers Moon Podcast
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Juliette N. Banks is a bestselling, wide author who writes steamy contemporary and paranormal page-turning romances with alpha heroes who fall for sassy heroines and a healthy dose of action and suspense.

Juliette has a vast background in consumer marketing and previously published with Random House. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with Tilly, her Maine Coon kitty, and is now a full-time author.

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