The Podcast That Almost Wasn't
This week, I take you behind the scenes and show you what almost stopped last week's podcast episode from airing. Plus, book news of course and some interesting things we discovered.
Welcome back! I hope you had a great week. We had an unexpectedly eventful one. What happened?
A new author whose debut book is coming out in November reached out, and he came on the podcast. That was where the unexpected adventure began.
Little did we know, all was not well on the interwebs. We still don’t know what precisely went wrong.
It all started when my scribe logged into the hosting software she always uses. The guest logged in too, and all seemed well. But it wasn’t.
When Melinda hit record, she got a strange message asking her to try again in 30-60 seconds. So she told the guest and hit record again a minute later.
The same message appeared. Melinda informed the guest again, waited a minute, and tried again.
She repeated that five times before giving up. Since we have Substack, she checked to see if it had a way to record the podcast. It did but the guest had to have a substack to be invited.
The guest for this week’s podcast did not have a substack. So that was out.
This isn’t a surprise but Melinda doesn’t give up. Not ever.
So she went to Spotify, which bought out our old host, to see if it had any recording capabilities. It didn’t but it had an option to record in something called Riverside. So my scribe clicked to try that, and it worked!
After multiple tries, Melinda was finally able to record the episode!
So that’s how we have a podcast episode to tell you about this week, and now you know why it almost didn’t happen.
The New Episode
In this episode, Robert Biehn, joins my scribe to talk about his debut YA fantasy book, The First Stone.
What’s it about?
Cass’s little sister is going to die. He’ll burn the world down to save her.
Cass and his little sister Evelon live beyond the compound walls, hiding because Evelon is the most wanted person in the Prism Spire. With no memories beyond two years ago, they search for answers.
When Evelon falls ill, one mistake forces Cass into a fight with a ruthless Grafter named Felix. Cass faces a fate worse than death when Felix reveals his hidden weapon.
Listen to the episode on YouTube or Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever.
Did you know?
69% of you listen through Apple Podcasts. So that’s why I went and found the direct link to the episode on there. I will include it going forward.
Thank you, Spotify for revamping your analytics so we could see that. Previously, the analytics just said what percentage were listens through Spotify (not many) and then it lumped all other ways to listen into something called downloads. But it didn’t break out those other podcast players, so we didn’t know where you were listening until now!
Imagine our surprise to find out that there was one platform that ruled them all where most of you listen.
Since we know now, we can include the link to episodes where you actually like to listen (Apple Podcasts). More information is always better.
And now, it’s time for the best kind of news.
Book News!
Melinda is still writing Chaos in Chains. She wanted a big battle and I think she’s going to get not 1 or 2 but 3 battles before the end!
That’s how act three is shaping up, and it may need a lot of editing. My scribe likes to write scenes in chronological order but the characters don’t always do things in order, so that makes it tricky. Melinda might have to move some of the characters around but she’ll figure that out when the book ends.
Chaos in Chains hasn’t ended yet but it’s definitely heading toward that big finish she wanted. We don’t know how many more chapters it’ll take to get to it. But this week, Melinda posted chapters 29-32 on Patreon and Substack.
Our books usually have 40-50 chapters with books starring my family at the higher end because we never want the adventure to end.
The Outlier
Yes, I’m ignoring the outlier, Storm the Gates, which ran to 62 chapters because it’s not longer than Curse Breaker Enchanted. It was the second longest book Melinda has written but Curse Breaker Jousts stole that title as it should.
I can’t wait for you to read it. Curse Breaker Jousts pulls together threads from all 11 books that precede it (as it should), and it pushes us into uncharted territory. We’ll start exploring that new stuff in the sequel, and Melinda will write that as soon as Chaos in Chains ends. So that’s why I am eager for it to end. I want to go an adventure!
So the books about my family are still the longest ones Melinda has written, and I work hard to keep it that way.
Who Am I?
This is Ran, Sarn’s son from the Curse Breaker Series. Curse Breaker Enchanted is still free from our shop, but retailers have made it harder to make it free on their stores, so it may not be free everywhere as it should be.
If it’s not free where you wanted to buy it, just hop over to our shop. All ebooks are delivered through BookFunnel so you can easily get Curse Breaker Enchanted onto your favorite reading app or device. It’s an extra step, but retailers have all the power, except on our shop. We control things there.
What’s Next?
So that’s where things are right now. Melinda received two more inquiries about the podcast, one from another debut fantasy author, and one from a book that launched on Kickstarter and racked up 6 figures and hundreds of eager backers. They even got a movie star to narrate their audiobook.
Melinda replied to both with her availability, and we’re waiting to see if they reply. We get a lot of inquiries that go nowhere, so I have to remind my scribe not to get too excited in case they fall through.
We both hope they won’t, but we aren’t a big podcast with a huge following. So sometimes, we don’t get the interview. I wish they wouldn’t email and get my scribe’s hopes up if our podcast isn’t big enough for them.
She’s still a bit sore about one incident from last year where someone reached out about an interview with an author she’s read and admired for years. It fell through, and she hasn’t read anything by them since then.
I get it. Big name authors are busy. But could they only ask if they really want to come on the podcast?
Melinda records the podcast for fun. We make nothing from it, but the time she spends on it is time that my scribe isn’t writing. So there is that, and I do keep track. After all, I need my page time. So I make sure I get it.
That’s it for this week. I hope you have a great week and read a great book! You get bonus points if my family appears in it.
—Ran, son of Sarn, writing on behalf of my scribe, Melinda Kucsera
Book Recommendations & Sales
Don’t forget to follow our campaigns:
Riders of the Apocalypse: Complete Epic Fantasy Book Series
An angel, an ex-god, & a dragon take on the riders of the apocalypse in 4 humorous epic fantasy adventure books. Follow the campaign to get notified when it launches.
Curse Breaker Unleashed: A New Epic Fantasy Book Trilogy
An ancient army awakens and the only man who can stop them is the one who set them free in three new adventures full of heart and hope. Follow the campaign to get notified when it launches in 2027. My scribe will write these books next!!!
