SPA Girls Podcast

Be in charge, take action, get results. 🎯 Most of us stay stuck because we’ve never actually decided what we want. Business coach Erin Marcus on working out the outcome, reverse engineering the steps, and putting a date on it. 📅 A classic replay, and all of it still applies. ✨

Her starting point is that most people don’t get what they want because they’ve never decided what it is. Others know, but don’t believe they’re allowed to have it. Either way there’s nothing to reverse engineer from, so the work becomes what Erin calls random acts of marketing.

The fix is a process: Decide. Take action. Look at what came back. Decide again. Erin writes out what she wants every morning because it makes the rest of the day’s decisions easier. She works in specific outcomes rather than feelings, because feelings are vague enough to let you off the hook. Then she asks the question that stops most people: when is it happening? Put it on the calendar, then live by the calendar.

There’s a long stretch for writers in the middle. Trudi once spent an hour with Erin trying to decide whether she wrote urban fantasy or paranormal romance. Erin’s read was that the decision was giving her a reason not to start. Start the book — the genre settles once the book exists. Pick a niche for now rather than forever. And a lot of the subgenre agonising exists because Amazon needs a category to sell ads against, not because readers need one.

In this episode:

Why most people are stuck: they haven’t decided what they want, or don’t believe they can have it

Reverse engineering the steps from the outcome

“Random acts of marketing” and where they come from

Wanting the impossible: if the outcome depends on other people behaving, it isn’t yours to have

Erin’s daily written practice, and why she does it before anything else

Start with what you don’t want, if that’s easier

Specific outcomes beat feelings, because vague language is where we let ourselves off the hook

Be in charge, take action, get results, then decide again

Why self-trust shortens the gap between deciding and doing

Fear and habit: your brain’s job is to keep you alive, not to make you happy

How fear turns up as overwhelm, confusion and distraction

“When is it happening?” — putting it on the calendar and living by it

Debriefing monthly, and after every marketing event

Three or four goes is starting, not trying

Recovery speed over perfection — what used to cost a year now costs a moment

Observing your own behaviour without the judgement

A niche for now, not forever

“I don’t pivot, I iterate” — and the companies that didn’t

Why subgenres matter more to Amazon’s ad categories than to your reader

Reading the physical signal: what a clenched feeling tells you, and what excitement tells you

Inspired action plus infinite possibilities equals inevitable results

Turning away from the problem to find the answer

Being lit up about your work is what gets you marketing it

Your commitment to the outcome has to be bigger than your fear of the thing

Writing the books and growing the business are two different skills

Why none of us can see our own patterns, and who you let tell you the truth

About Erin Marcus

Erin Marcus is a business coach and consultant with more than 25 years of mentoring, training and coaching behind her.

🔗 Find Erin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmarcus/
📌 Erin’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@ErinMarcusUntamedSuccess

📌 Note on this replay: since we recorded this in May 2023, Erin has moved on from Conquer Your Business, so the website mentioned in the episode is out of date. Find her on LinkedIn instead: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinmarcus/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search “SPA Girls Podcast”

❤️ Watch our episode recordings on the SPA Girls Podcast You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast

💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community! ⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

#authortube #SelfPublishing #IndieAuthor #romancewriter

#SelfPublishing #romancewriter #writingpodcast #writingcommunity

J. Gabriel Gates — who writes romantasy as G.J. Gates — has a full-time job he loves and a self-funded publishing business. He opens every book launch with a Kickstarter, and that money becomes his entire advertising budget. In this episode of the SPA Girls Podcast (EP568) he walks us through going indie after traditional publishing, writing a genre he’d never touched, and the ten-second video that reached 1.6 million people.

Whether you’re changing genres, growing a social account from scratch, or working out where an ad budget is going to come from, this one is practical tips packed in: BookTok and Instagram hooks that convert, why the simplest video wins, Amazon ads to train your also-boughts, feeding Kickstarter money straight into Facebook ads, and how Jacob writes seven days a week around a day job he genuinely loves.

About Jacob

J. G. Gates (who also writes as J. Gabriel Gates) is the author of fantasy, horror, and sci-fi books, including the Dragons and Aces, the Luck Gods Series, The Lamplighters, The Sleepwalkers, Blood Zero Sky, and more.

After receiving his B.A. in theater from Florida State University, Gates moved to Los Angeles, where he acted in a dozen national TV commercials and wrote screenplays that were optioned by Hollywood producers. He is an alum of Spalding University’s MFA in writing program, and has taught college writing at Kellogg Community College and Olivet College. He has also worked as a ghostwriter and editor.

Gates is a dad of three and a city council representative in his small Michigan town. When not writing books, he works as the executive director of a prominent regional arts organization. He also enjoys live storytelling and has appeared on stage at The Moth. Some of his other interests include, running, biking, playing music, and making dumb TikTok videos.

https://jgabrielgates.net
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📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com

BookVault (special edition printing): https://bookvault.app

Monica Leonelle: https://monicaleonelle.com

Canva: https://www.canva.com

Authors Review Books (Jacob’s podcast): https://authorsreviewbooks.com

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search “SPA Girls Podcast”

❤️ Watch our episode recordings on the SPA Girls Podcast You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast

💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community! ⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

Burnt out and not writing? Bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author Asa Maria Bradley went two years without finishing much of anything — and it was collaborating with other indie authors that got her writing again. In this episode we dig into anthologies, box sets, shared worlds and author collectives, and exactly how each one works for a self-published author.

Screenwriter and thriller author Thomas Dean Donnelly joins the SPA Girls Podcast to explain Superdraft, his evidence-based approach to the writing process. Learn how to separate your Creator voice from your Critic voice, beat writer’s block and imposter syndrome, use flow states to write faster, and apply the 1-3-2 drafting method to fix a sagging second act. Essential listening for indie authors and self-published writers who struggle to finish a first draft.

In this episode we discuss:

Why the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike pushed a 30-year screenwriter into self-publishing

What screenwriters get wrong when they first write novels (hello, head hopping)

Why there are hundreds of books on writing craft and almost none on writing process

The marathon comparison: 70% of marathon trainees finish, but only 11-12% of NaNoWriMo starters finish a novel

The Creator and the Critic — the two voices in every writer’s head, and why they’re mutually exclusive

Why you have to write the bad words before you can write the good words

Iteration versus inspiration, and why you need both but never at the same time

Which stage of writing belongs to which voice: brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing

Critic Trick #1: research — plus the IOUZ placeholder system and timed research sprints

Critic Trick #2: rereading yesterday’s pages — and the voice memo workaround

Critic Trick #3: the Big Idea that wants you to go back and start over

Manufacturing flow: walking habits, green spaces, blue spaces and the shower effect

The 1-3-2 method — write your first act, then your third act, then your second

Tom’s Malcolm Chaucer spy thriller series and the cozy mysteries he’s writing as a palate cleanser

About Thomas Dean Donnelly

Thomas Dean Donnelly was born in New Jersey but has been living and writing in Los Angeles as a screenwriter for more than 30 years. In that time he has written on projects that have grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. He has adapted the classic works of writers such as Ray Bradbury, Clive Cussler, Stan Lee and Robert E. Howard, and worked on franchises from Voltron to Uncharted, and from Marvel’s Doctor Strange to The Walking Dead. His feature credits include Sahara starring Matthew McConaughey, and Conan the Barbarian.

In 2023 he turned his hand to writing thriller novels, and now has three books in the Malcolm Chaucer series under the pen name T.D. Donnelly, with a fourth arriving in November. His book on the writing process, Superdraft, releases in September 2026.

You can find him early mornings walking the beaches of Southern California, and spending time with his wife, two mostly grown children, and two very demanding guinea pigs.

Find Tom at tddonnelly.com

Resources mentioned

SPS Live London — where Tom has delivered the Superdraft talk

Superdraft: The Art and Science of Better, Faster Writing — releasing September 2026

Year of the Sheep — free prequel novella when you join Tom’s reader group

Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey — Tom worked with Vogler early in his Hollywood career

NaNoWriMo / National Novel Writing Month completion statistics

20Books Vegas / Author Nation — where Tom was first told to write novels

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search “SPA Girls Podcast”

❤️ Watch our episode recordings on the SPA Girls Podcast You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/c/SPAGirlsPodcast

💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community! ⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

#SelfPublishing #romancewriter #writingpodcast #writingcommunity

Is your back matter costing you sales? Bestselling fantasy author Helen B. Scheuerer joins us to break down exactly how to launch a book series — from optimising your back matter for read-through, to pre-order strategy, ARC campaigns, and building a street team that generates real buzz.

In this Classic Replay episode, Helen shares the launch strategies behind her book How To Launch A Successful Series. Whether you’re a new indie author planning your first book launch or a seasoned self-published author looking to level up your release strategy, you’ll walk away with practical tactics: the “rank vs bank” pre-order debate, why buffer time saves your sanity, and how to run a street team on Discord that turns readers into cheerleaders.

👤 ABOUT HELEN B. SCHEUERER:

Helen B. Scheuerer is the bestselling fantasy author of The Oremere Chronicles, Curse of the Cyren Queen, and The Legends of Thezmarr. Her work has been praised for its strong, flawed female characters and action-packed plots. She also publishes advice for authors through her nonfiction series, Books For Career Authors, and has been a full-time author since 2018.

🔗 https://www.helenscheuerer.com

📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

How To Launch A Successful Series by Helen B. Scheuere

How To Write A Successful Series by Helen B. Scheuerer

BookFunnel (for ARC delivery): https://bookfunnel.com

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Listen on your favourite podcast app — search “SPA Girls Podcast”

💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community!

⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

Subscribe so you never miss an episode!

#WritingCommunity #WritingPodcast