[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello authors. I'm Joanne Morell, children's and young adult fiction writer and author of short nonfiction for authors. Thanks for joining me for the hybrid author podcast, sharing interviews from industry professionals to help you forge a career as a hybrid author, both independently and traditionally publishing your books.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: You can get the show notes for.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Each episode and sign up for your free author pass over at the hybrid author website to discover your writing process, get tips on how to publish productively, and get comfortable promoting your
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[00:00:42] Speaker C: Hello authors. I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast in Happy 2024. And today's interview is with Dr. Nick Courtwright from Atmosphere Press, and we chat what are some of the ways creators can take charge of their creative destiny? How might creatives lower their standards to ignore the haters? And how might they avoid falling into this trap? Nick's advice for creatives to stay on track with their creative destiny throughout the length of their careers hybrid publishing with atmosphere Press, aka the Hybrid podcast's newest sponsor, and much more so on my author adventure this week, I really haven't stopped. It's been the first week of batching podcast episodes, so I've been enjoying connecting with like minded folks and learning a whole lot and super excited about the content. I'll be able to share with you shortly. I've also just appeared on my very first podcast as a sole guest. I have appeared on Sinead Marapodi's writers off the page podcast. Think that was a Christmas episode, so that must have been at the end of 2022. And I wasn't alone. It was like a podcast party. So there was other guests and things like that. Like a panel type thing. So no, this was my very first guest appearance on a podcast, and that will be coming soon. And that is on what used to be the reluctant book marketing podcast, but it's actually called TRBM. It's been shortened, abbreviated, I guess. So yeah, I was talking about my nonfiction books and marketing, and Jodie J. Sperling is an amazing host author creative, and we just really connect and we geek out over marketing and bookish survival and all sorts of fun things. So yeah, I'll share that when that appears. And Jodi also has an upcoming episode with me too, and that's something to look out for on book marketing, of course. So podcast appearances is something I will be doing more of this year, and it's always something that I have wanted to do, but this is the year that I'm actually putting myself out there. I am booked for a couple of podcasts in the coming months, and I'm also planning on doing a lot more in person events. So like author talks and workshopping and things like that. So I put the feelers out for a space to run my workshop that's linked to my short nonfiction book, freelance writing quick tips for fast success. And the workshop is called the four documents you need to set up your freelance writing business for success. And it's about learning the four essential documents that freelance writing startups need in place before they've met with their first client. And this helps them to make them look professional, provide easy processes to run your business, give fast efficiency for working environments, stop miscommunication, cover you both legally and professionally, get you paid in a quick and seamless manner, and set your business up for smooth success. And within the workshops, obviously we work through the four documents, the templates are given revealed, and the attendees also get a copy of my book. So to help them along their way. So stay tuned. If you are in the Perth area and you know of someone that this workshop will be beneficial for, I'm capping it and it's going to be a small, intimate audience, so probably no more than ten people, and I'm hoping to be able to run these in the second last week in January. And there'll be two workshops running out of ECU, Mount Lawley campus and Jundalup campus. So stay tuned for that. I have also been enjoying my Christmas present to myself, which was a subscription to Masterclass. So for those of you who haven't heard of Masterclass, it's like a streaming subscription service that you pay an annual fee for and you get access to. It's mainly a wide variety of celebrities and things, celebrities in the business, health and well being, entertainment writing fields. And yeah, I've just absolutely loved the video format of these lessons and how they've been different for everyone. And so far I've watched the Martha Stewart one, which was just so interesting. Like her story is so interesting. It was like a two part series. And so the first one was taking you through a day in the life of Martha so you could see what that looks like for someone of her caliber. And she says she doesn't really write sleep, and she gets up at like 05:00 and she's got a team of individuals that help her in her day to free her up for what needs to be done, the important stuff. So she obviously has a hair and makeup person. And while she's doing that, she's checking her emails or while that's getting done for her, she's actively doing something that's more vital to her. She's also got a driver. So while she's being driven to her New York office, she is in talks with meetings and things that she's got going on. And. Yes. So she gets up at five, she has her pilates or green juice or cappuccino and all the right things that you're supposed to do because she's in her eighty s and she just looks amazing. And she had some really sound advice. The other one I watched, which I was absolutely so inspired by. And I mean, these are not writing professional well, Martha Stewart, she was a media mogul. And also the other one, I think it's good to watch these things. And I just love business and leadership style stuff, all that motivational. Yeah, I really like it. And so I watched the one. Goodness, I forget the girl's name, but she was the creator of Bumble, which is a dating app. And she used to work at Tinder. And then there was a big thing. And apparently she got some real bad backlash from social media. And that's how she kicked off Bumble, which started off as a different project, but ended up being what it is today. And it's like a women's first dating app that women lead the way. They're the ones that can sort of get in contact with men if they're a match. It's not the other way around. And her business has just gone, I'll say, viral because it's just absolutely blown up there. And her marketing tools that she done was amazing. If you can hear me shuffling around now, it's because I record these intros, outros in my car still. I still do that. And I just had taken some notes from these classes and I thought, I'll just read a couple. She shared her experiences and she's just open about emotions and honesty. And being vulnerable is how she connects with people. And I think that's really important. It's something that I do. I'm very authentic, very honest. I cannot be any other way. And she says, the benefits of being vulnerable, I can't even say it is. One, it elevates the energies of everyone. Two, it makes people feel safe, and three, it makes people feel connected. Four, it makes people feel committed to the business, to the mission and to themselves. And, yeah, I mean, I absolutely agree with that. And especially in the world that we're in, technology, these AI tools coming up where it's like robots and we're going to be conversing with them. To actually have real human emotion to connect with is what you should be focusing on showcasing. Share your trials, share your triumphs, share. Be honest and share what you're struggling with. Share what's working, what's not, not just the good, share the bad, share it all. And if you listen to the last episode that I put out, which was lessons learned in 2023 and what's in store for 2024, I was quite raw and open and honest about my current situation and where I'm at now. And just going forward now, it might not be everyone's style or taste to do this, and that's absolutely fine. Baby steps, baby steps. Fake it till you make it. There is a certain, I get that, I do, and I know it needs to be implied in certain aspects, but it can be really difficult. I find it really difficult to be anyone other than myself, actually. But it's taken me probably quite a long time to feel as comfortable as I do in my skin.
So anyway, master class, check it out if you haven't heard of it before.
It's just where I'm going to be doing a lot of learning this year. And also shonda Rhimes is on there, so she wrote Grey's Anatomy and I think it was called Ghost and all these really cool television shows that I absolutely loved. So I'm really liking that I'm going to get to see her videos. I started watching the guy from Starbucks, but he was so knowledgeable, but he just has so much content and it was just too much. It was blowing me away, like how much information he had. And I think that's even to see how people share information as well. It can be a bit of an overload.
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[00:10:09] Speaker D: Dr. Nick Courtwright is founder and executive editor of Atmosphere Press, recently publishing its 1000th title. Atmosphere Press is a literary hybrid publisher stewarding a team of 40 providing meaningful and rewarding experiences to writers. Nick is also the author of the poetry collections the Forgotten World, let there be light and punchline. His latest book on poetry interpretation is imperfect Silence at the Stars, Walt Whitman and the meaning of poems. Nick's writing's been featured in a plethora of literary magazines, and he was recently named one of LA Weekly's 15 book coaches to watch.
[00:10:48] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:10:49] Speaker D: Welcome to the hybrid author podcast, Nick.
[00:10:51] Speaker E: Thanks for having me.
[00:10:52] Speaker D: We're absolutely thrilled to have you. You've achieved amazing success in your career so far. But why don't you take us back to the start and tell us how did you come to join the writing and publishing worlds?
[00:11:04] Speaker E: Yeah, well, thank you. I think know muddied, know reasonably well over the it one step in Costa Rica, they always say poco, poco like bit by know, you just build the house one piece at a then you know, sometimes you have a place to live then. So yeah, back in the beginning, I was just always a writer, even from when I was a little kid, I caught the sickness early. So I remember even back in fourth grade in Ohio in the United States, staying in on recess with my little girlfriend, writing stories. And I just was always writing, writing little novels when I was in high school about international intrigue. And then eventually poetry got me and that was what I wanted to do. And I remember telling my father like, oh, I'm going to go study poetry. That's what I'm going to pursue with my education. And he was like, couldn't you at least be a novelist? But it's worked out pretty well. And I taught for years creative writing literature, and had a good time doing that. And then ultimately I was a book coach and started working with some authors who needed a publisher. So in 2015, sort of by accident, I started a publishing company called Atmosphere Press and Poco Apoco. Now here we are eight years later, and we have this big team and we're publishing a lot of really great work and it's been sort of amazing, unexpected and really satisfying journey.
[00:12:51] Speaker D: That's absolutely incredible. It sounds like you've obviously done so much in different sort of sides of the industry as well. And I love that you used to obviously write at school when you said with your little girlfriend, I would love to be on a date like that. Writing little stories.
[00:13:06] Speaker E: Yeah, it's good. But writers tend to be tragic people, so that particular relationship wasn't built to last.
[00:13:14] Speaker D: Yeah, it sounds like it. You've had amazing success. 1000 titles. Wow.
I can't even fathom getting my head around that. And to have such a big team as well and kind of accidentally falling into it, although I sort of believe that everyone's lives are mapped out for them. So maybe your path was kind of leading up to this atmosphere. Press and big team eventually.
[00:13:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I think so. Well, as a kid, I was the oldest of six kids, so I think even from a young age, I was used to sort of taking somewhat of a leadership role. So I think that that's helped me as a business owner, which I never thought I was going to be. I never set out to be an entrepreneur or somebody who had a business. That was never a goal of mine. I just wanted to write poems and talk about literature and short stories and novels with people. So it was kind of surprising ultimately becoming a publisher. And it's been really great watching the press grow and slowly but surely building a team. And I think really what's been most significant about atmosphere and sort of how it fits into the whole hybrid idea is just that we've been so author friendly from the start. I just knew right from the get go that I wanted us to sort of stake our claim as a press that was going to support authors. That's what we were going to do. We were going to respect authorial autonomy. We were going to try to provide for them a really great experience and take their vision into account and really just try to give people the type of warm publishing experience that I think a lot of times authors miss out on when they go solely traditional or solely self publishing. So we can kind of thread that needle a little bit and give them something different.
[00:15:08] Speaker D: No, that's amazing. And it's great that we live in these times. That hybrid is such a great thing that we're able to obviously work with traditional publishing houses, but then we can also work with hybrids and do it ourselves. And it's just a really great time to be an author and a publisher as well. And I love that's what one of your values is, or atmosphere press anyway, supporting authors, being there for them, and providing a great experience. That's what we all want, I think, as authors working with publishing houses. So today's topic is on taking charge of your destiny as a creator. And it sounds like you've done just that as going into leadership and entrepreneurial roles, and also with the subtitle, ignore the haters or lower your standards. So we'll come back to that. But first up, what are some of the ways creators can take charge of their own destiny? Because a lot of us feel, I think, as authors, we can be sort of stuck in our own minds and our own heads with our own work and feeling that we need to rely on others to be in charge of our destiny. But as I was saying before, in this day and age, we've got the tools to be able to do it ourselves. So, yeah. What are some of the ways that we could do that?
[00:16:22] Speaker E: Yeah, I think it's really easy to become discouraged as a writer, and I know as a writer myself, there have been points in which I wanted approval. I think that's one thing that authors often want more than anything, is just somebody to be like, it's okay, you've made something. It was fine for you to take these literary experiments or to use your time in this fashion. And we all kind of are yearning for love to some extent, I think. But I think to sort of take charge of your writerly destiny is to sort of stop feeling like you need a gatekeeper. Right. You don't necessarily need the approval of somebody else. It's great to have a team to work with. There's no question about that. But you really can go it alone if you want to go it alone, or you can find a team, if you want to find a team. But I think a big part of it is just being decisive and charting your own path. If you want to pursue traditional publishing, then do that. If you want to self publish, then do that. If you want to work with a hybrid publisher, then chase that down, like write to atmosphere or a different hybrid place. Either way, I think the big opportunity that all writers have in the world today is just to make choices for themselves. You don't just need to sit around and collect rejection letters or not have agents return your calls or anything like that. We have sort of a really golden opportunity in the 21st century to be in control of our destiny and to make it work for ourselves and to find satisfaction with writing and with creating, because it is a really rewarding thing that you can do.
[00:18:16] Speaker D: Absolutely. And I agree with pretty much everything you said there. I can say myself going down the traditional path for children's fiction, and it's a goal of mine, so it's definitely what I want to achieve. But I think in some level I'm looking and seeking for approval, and I have been sort of from the start, but I also do take charge on the nonfiction side, which was books that I wasn't ever going to. They just sort of came about from pursuing career. Would you say, people going after their own creative destiny, if they looking for approval and told you you're good enough, your work is good, do you think that all needs to come back to mindset? And how could they go about getting a bit of self belief that their work is good and they actually could do this going it alone? Yeah.
[00:19:00] Speaker E: Well, I think the thing is, one thing that I always come back to, and this is something that even when I was a creative writing professor, that I always would try to instill in my students, is that everybody's just got to be the writer that they are. Right. You're not going to make everybody happy, right? There's no way. So if you're out there, like, looking for approval, you might just be looking in the wrong places. Because what I found again and again and again is that it really doesn't matter what you're writing. You're going to have your readers, you're going to have people who are sort of, in a sense, buying what you're selling, even if you're giving it away. Right. So there's always out there the opportunity to find approval. I think the thing that's important is to sort of stop looking for it, right. They always say, like, people will find their love when they give up on it, when they stop wanting it so bad, when that sort of the stink of desperation sort of washes off, that's when the magic happens. And I think it's kind of the same way as a writer. When you just forge ahead and you make yourself your audience, then you'll realize that you're not alone, because whatever appeals to you as a reader when you're writing is also going to appeal to somebody else when they're reading. So if you just forge ahead like darn the torpedoes, I'm going to do it, then all of a sudden, you're going to end up having a piece of work that you can build with, and then, sure enough, the readers will come out of the woodwork.
[00:20:38] Speaker D: Yeah, not too true. And also, like you said, if you end up going down a path where you're seeking the approval and you succeed in that path, you're always going to in this line of work, you're always going to have people forming an opinion on you, judging you. That's just the business we're in. So, like you said, everyone's not going to love your work. There'll be some people who don't. Everyone's entitled to an opinion. So, yeah, forging ahead for yourself and believing in yourself is definitely where I'm at at this point in my author adventures, we like to say over journey, as well as obviously taking charge of your creative destiny. How might creatives lower their standards to ignore the haters? What do you kind of mean by that? And how might we avoid falling into this trap?
[00:21:26] Speaker E: Yeah, well, I really love this idea because people always say it's like when people are like, keep your standards high, keep your standards high. But I always think that when it comes to generating content, when it comes to really manifesting who you are as a writer and not worrying about other people, like ignoring the haters. Right. Really, kind of what you need to do is not raise your standards, you need to lower them. And that sounds counterintuitive, but it's actually kind of beautiful if you think about it, because if you stop beating yourself up and trying to uphold some sort of crazy high standard, you're going to be able to write so much more freely, so much more generously. You're going to be able to crank out way more content. You're going to be able to get rid of the anxiety that you have, the fear that you have, the thought that you're not good enough. If you keep your standards nice and low when you're writing, next thing you know, you will have written a lot. And the more that you create, the more likely you are that you're going to find a gem. Right?
It's really quite simple. It's like if you write 100 pages, you only have 100 pages of material to find good stuff in. If you write 300 pages, you have three times as much material to find good content in. So anything that's going to facilitate generating more content and being able to just fulfill yourself as a writer by getting other people out of your mind. And by other people, I also mean getting yourself and that sort of the hater within you out of your mind. Because oftentimes people as a writer themselves, they are their own biggest critic and their own worst enemy. By getting those folks out of the way, that's when you're really going to be able to practice and hone technique and create content and really make a manuscript happen.
[00:23:34] Speaker D: No, well said there, because it's like a roadblock, isn't it? If you've got this really big standard and you're just really laying into yourself. Because each sentence is not the best, or it's not this and that. What did I used to do? I've pulled myself up on it now, so I don't do it anymore, because it just slowed down my process so much. I would kind of reread over my work. So each sentence I was writing, then I would go back to the start of the paragraph and reread. So it all flowed. I can't even say that word flowed together.
[00:24:01] Speaker C: But it took ages.
[00:24:03] Speaker D: It took so long. Rather than now, I stop myself from doing that and just sort of plow ahead. And then I know that I can go back and perfect it to flow and stuff. The point is, just keep going. Just keep writing more. Because it's taken me a hell of a long time to get to even where I am, and I still feel like I'm at the beginning of the author adventure. So, no, absolutely. Good advice there, for sure.
[00:24:28] Speaker E: Yeah. And I really love that thought. It's like, just sort of getting out of your own way. It's like anytime a writer is like, oh, I wrote a sentence, and then I went back and read the sentence I wrote. I was like, don't read it.
You can read it later. I always think that it's like the writer and the editor are two different people, and they never should be in the room together.
[00:24:52] Speaker D: Yeah, it's definitely a block. And then the next session would come to sit down and do the writing, and I'd go back to reread where I was at, and then you'd spend time. It almost felt like editing that part again and not kind of moving forward. So, yeah, it's been a bit of a tweak, for sure, with the process there. But I like what you said as well about yourself being a hater. I haven't ever kind of heard it being put that way, and I think I've definitely been guilty of that for myself. And, yeah, no really good advice about sort of getting out your own way and lowering the standards sounds hard, but this women's fiction book that I've been working on for pretty much the most part of this year, but I've had a big upheaval in my life. Lots of personal stuff going on this work, I've completely sort of changed my process, and I've just been plowing on with the story, and it's the longest work I've ever written, so it's taken me longer, but I'm loving where it's at. But I think in the past, as I said, I've just sort of slaved over the writing, making it to be this perfect whatever, and kind of really focusing on the words rather so much than the story, which I've kind of flipped on its head because I know that I can always. To me, the editing part is the words going back and perfecting the words that way. And the writing part is more the storytelling.
[00:26:10] Speaker E: Yeah, definitely. And just being able to sort of get out of your own way.
[00:26:15] Speaker D: Right.
[00:26:16] Speaker E: I think is really important because it is as a writer. And I feel like with atmosphere press, every author who works with us, we do multiple editorial meetings with them. And I feel like the whole journey through editorial, through proofreading, interior design, through cover design and publication and promotion and the whole thing, there is an element of therapy to the whole endeavor because it is intimate, it is scary, and it can be nerve wracking and sort of like helping people sometimes come to grips with the writer that they are, I think, is a big part of what we do. And I think that's where we differ from some other publishers, because some other publishers, I think, sometimes will want authors to be the type of author that the publisher wants. And I always knew from the very start that I wanted us to be the type of publisher that was going to allow authors to be the type of author that the author wanted and to help them sort of maximize their potential within their own vision. And I think that that's a complicated thing to do, but I think a big part of it is just getting the haters out of there. And that means also quieting the demons in one's own head.
[00:27:43] Speaker D: Absolutely. Writing is really personal. And as you said before, lowering your standards, not to be perfection, but just getting the content out there, writing as much as you can to find all the hidden gems, more so than less, you're going to find your voice. I think the more that you write content and then the voice that you have and the things that you've got to say and your message is going to connect with readers out there, and they're the ones that are going to be your fans over, say, the haters. Obviously, getting yourself as an author out of the way as a hater is good for creative process and things like that. What about haters, say, on the outside of an author, whether that be critique people or people that they're sharing their work with that are telling them certain things, or even a publishing company in the past, I've had my work, as I said, I strive to get my children's and young adult fiction novels published traditionally. And I have had my work critiqued by publishers in the past. And I remember I went to a retreat once and I had this work, it was a middle grade book or something, critiqued by one publisher. And she had suggestions. And I was kind of at the beginning of my author.
I. I took on board what she said, and I changed that. I think my setting was actually in Iowa because it was to do with cornfields and things like that. And they sort of said, well, what's your connection with Iowa? And I was like, well, I don't really have one. Just that this is the story that's presenting to me and that's where I feel it's coming from. They said, well, why don't you? Have you ever thought about it, changing it to be australian? Because that's where we are. And I actually spent a lot of that year rewriting it to be australian, and it just didn't work. And then I went back on this retreat because it was like a yearly children's through squibby thing. And I had it critiqued by a different publisher, and she said something different, and I was like, oh, hang on. And the penny kind of dropped. I thought, well, you're going to say this because you would publish it this way. You're going to say this because you would publish it this way. So I like the fact that you're saying with atmosphere press, you guys support the author on their vision and how they want it to be. Because I think as writers, that's what we do. We put the work out, how we see it and how we want it to be. And then I guess you've got to find that person that agrees with you or else you're going to keep changing it to suit everyone.
[00:30:02] Speaker E: Yeah, exactly. And I would always say it's like, you don't need to make everyone happy. You just need to find your person or find your people. Right. Because in a critique group, for example, you might have ten people in there in a writing workshop or in a writing program or any sort of situation or a class. You might have people in there who just don't like your work. So that's okay. Ignore them. They're not your people. That's all right. I would always say that the goal of any workshop is to find the one or two people in there who get what you're trying to do. Those are the people you listen to. Anybody else, they're like, oh, I think you should change this little bit here. I think you should change this. If they're not understanding your vision, if they're not on the same wavelength, don't listen to them.
And I think that can be tricky, and that could be hard because there's always that pool. Like I said right at the beginning, everybody wants to be loved, right? So it's like there are always going to be those little things that nag at you. You can have a famous writer, for example. They might have 1000 fans lined up at their reading, but they get one person who's like, I think your writing is basic and uninteresting and you're not impressive, and that's going to be the person that sticks in their head and that ruins their night. Right. That's just how we are as people. But they have 1000 fans sitting there, right?
So pay attention to them. Those are the ones you want to listen to, not the haters.
[00:31:41] Speaker D: Yeah. And I think it's hard for sort of aspiring and emerging authors who are part of critique groups or writing groups or things like that. And they maybe not had a lot of experience. So they're probably more the ones that will fall in the trap of taking on that feedback from other people and maybe not having that self belief installed in them at this point. So we have discussed, obviously, taking charge of your creative destiny and getting out of your own way as a hater and an author. What about creatives? So they've decided this is the business for them.
Obviously, they know what they want to write. They've found a publisher, whether it be atmosphere, press or whoever.
Do you have any advice for creatives to stay on track with their creative destiny through the length of their careers? Because obviously with life commitments and other things that can arise.
And again, even though you've published, say, a couple of books and you might be starting to tune into the haters, like reading reviews, if you're getting some not nice reviews or something like that, and you get sidetracked or start self doubting yourself or something like that. Do you have any advice for people to just stick with your goals, stay on track?
Does atmosphere press sort of nurture their authors after each book to continue publishing, or do you wait till the author come to you? Sort of a molded question there.
[00:33:05] Speaker E: Yeah, no, if I was like, no, we want to get rid of them. No, we really try to nurture people along because we view the author publisher relationship, ideally as a lifelong relationship.
It's an intimate partnership. We're working with you on your art.
That is a special relationship. And we want it to really be satisfying for you. We want you to love us, we want to love you. We want it to be something where we're going to work with you a bunch. And we've got a bunch of authors that we're working with them now on like 3rd, 4th, even fifth and 6th books. So it's definitely something that we try to nurture. I'd say that across the board. I'm not somebody who's like, you need to wake up and write 1000 pages every single day before your cup of coffee.
I've never been a real super hardcore. Like, you have to write whether you want to or not. I understand that over the course of people's careers, it can come and go, right?
You write a couple of books and then you're like, you know what, I need to take a break. I'm not going to fault anybody if they need to step away for a minute, take a little bit of time off. But the thing is, go back to it. Always go back because you did it, because you loved it. That was why you wrote. It's fun, right? Sometimes writing a book is like eating vegetables, right? You're like, oh, I got to sort of slog through it. I got to make myself go back to that chapter I left off at. But the thing is that once you get rolling, it is really satisfying. It feels good. You feel fulfilled from having created something. It is a really super rewarding thing to do. So I always just say, it's like if you need to step away for a little while, that's fine, but don't forget that you like this.
[00:35:14] Speaker D: Yeah, that's it.
Yeah. I agree wholeheartedly. When it comes together and it works, there's no sort of better feeling. And I think when it's hard, because it's not incredibly easy sometimes to all the processes that make it up. Like, for me in the beginning, I think I just had to learn how to be even disciplined to finish a long form work, which discipline for me was something I didn't really have. So that was a skill that kind of had to be honed. And I think each work has taught me something, whether it not so much has to be that the story was working or something even just each sort of attribute that makes up an author, like a novelist, to be able to sit down, finish a full length work. Like, there's all different kind of elements that come to it. But I like, yeah, don't forget that you enjoy this. It's meant to be fun as well as a career or rewarding. Because I think some people, if you've never worked in a career that you're passionate about or that you love, you almost feel guilty for thinking that every day could be joyous or whatnot. Isn't work supposed to be a hard slog and everyone hates their job?
[00:36:22] Speaker E: Yeah. And I think it's good. Some days you're really going to feel it, other days you're not. And that's just kind of like how it is with practically everything in life life. But there is something beautiful about the act of creation. And I always think it's like, if you're like, hey, I need to take a minute off of writing my book. Okay, that's fine. Go for a hike in the woods, right? Go paint. Go write a song. Go do something creative, because doing something creative and fulfilling is going to be really valuable for your life, and it's going to give you good content so that when you do feel the muse strike again, you're going to have some good fodder for the page.
[00:37:10] Speaker D: Absolutely. And so, with yourself as an author, are you more the publisher these days? Are you still pumping out the poetry and things like that?
[00:37:21] Speaker E: I still write. It's different. I don't feel I have to write.
I just do it because I enjoy it. I'm not necessarily worried. I do have that book about poetry interpretation that's coming out now. So that one was actually from my doctoral dissertation. So it's like 300 pages about interpreting poetry. It's pretty intense.
But in terms of writing, I still do it, but I do it because I love it. You know, I don't. I don't do it because I'm trying to be a billionaire or trying to be some big bestseller or something like that. It's just for the love of the game. But on the publishing side of things, yeah, that's my daily life.
Literally. Not a single day goes by that I'm not working on atmosphere press, trying to make that a better process, trying to make our contracts and the deals that we give to authors better and better and better and to offer more and more and more and just really make ourselves as dynamic a publisher as there is out there.
[00:38:43] Speaker D: Yeah. So what do you see in the next few years for atmosphere press? Growing in size, taking more authors, or are you going to be branching out into different areas?
[00:38:53] Speaker E: I think we're a pretty good size. We take on 20 books a month, and that's good. I mean, I think we could take a little bit more than that, but we're really dedicated to having a good process and being able to retain that intimacy with authors.
So we have published a decent number of australian based, australia based authors. We'd love to work with more australia based authors. So consider that that's definitely something we'd be looking for because we publish a lot of UK and us based authors and we've published people from about probably close to 30 countries at this point. But that's awesome. Yeah, more in Australia would be good because we've got print locations there, so we're well set up for it. So I definitely see that as something that we'll want to grow and really, I think just providing more value.
We used to not do interviews with our authors on our website as part of our like, oh, we're going to publish an interview with you too, that you can share and use for promotional materials. Now, every single author who we work with, we do an interview with them. We do all sorts of book giveaways and blurb programs, and we do author websites and audiobooks and all this other stuff. And it's all just with this idea of trying to just increase value and just give them more and more and more so that they're really satisfied and that then they come keep working with us.
[00:40:30] Speaker D: Yeah, no, that's great. And do you have like a vetting process or can anyone use your service? Or does it have to be, do you work like a traditional publishing house in that sense that people submit to you? Or is it.
[00:40:42] Speaker E: We do have a submission process,
[email protected]. You'll see on there you can submit a manuscript, but unlike a traditional place, we're going to respond to you quickly. We always respond to people within a couple of weeks. So that's definitely a big difference there. We do have selection standards. We don't just take anything because we're not hardcore self publishing.
So we do have to make sure that it's something that's going to represent the press well.
But obviously we're able to take more work on. We're able to take more risks because of how we work and also just because of our dedication to diverse author visions. So yeah, that's definitely something you can do. And on our website we have book giveaways on there and we actually have one cool thing that your listeners might like to check just because it runs the full spectrum of self publishing to traditional publishing, to everywhere in between is we have a publishing potential quiz on there where it's ten questions and you just answer these questions and then we'll give you very specific advice and insight and tips. And posts to read based specifically on your answers and whether that leads you to working with a place like atmosphere or leads you towards traditional publishing or self publishing or doing a little bit of all, that's totally fine because our mission is always just help authors regardless of what their ultimate publishing destiny is because like we said, we want them to sort of take charge of their destiny, whatever that may be.
[00:42:30] Speaker D: Well that's amazing, Nick, and that's really great that you guys have formed and you're all for the author and are doing such a good job to help everyone in the community and well, thank you. Thank you so much for your time and expertise. You've obviously shared a link for the atmosphere press there. Is there any other links that you want to share so our listeners can discover yourself? Atmosphere press or books and your authors on and offline?
[00:42:53] Speaker E: Yeah, I think atmospherepress.com that gets the job done. There's also my website, nickcourtwright.com. If you're interested know linking up with me, feel free to find me or atmosphere on all of know popular platforms that people find people on today. And if you're ever in Austin, Texas of the United States, feel free to give me a buz. It's a long way from.
[00:43:23] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Hopefully one.
Yeah, yeah, same. If you're ever out of Perth, that would be great. But yeah, no thanks, Nick. That was fantastic.
[00:43:33] Speaker E: Thank you.
[00:43:41] Speaker C: So there you have it folks. Atmosphere press. And as I said once we had this mean, I had this interview with Nick, I reached out to him afterwards to see if they would like to become a sponsor of the hybrid author podcast because I have wanted to have a hybrid publisher on here for a while. But obviously I'm not just going to recommend anybody, just anyone. And I really like what atmosphere press stand for. Nick, in his own right is an author first and is quite well respected in the literary scene. I like what they stand for, that they're author friendly and they put them first and their principles are honesty, transparency, professionalism, kindness and making your book awesome. And I think that's pretty cool. They've also, as I just said in the interview, published pretty much just about 1000 books. Their authors have won dozens of awards. They're just a great bunch. So as I said, they are looking to work with more australian authors. So drop them a
[email protected] and mention the hybrid author podcast and you will get special treatment, I think now that we're collaborating together, next time on the hybrid author podcast we have a multi award winning author of speculative and contemporary fiction, Zena Shatter on earning money with emotion and authorship. I wish you well on your author adventure this next week. That's it for me. Bye for now.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: That's the end for now. Authors, I hope you are further forward in your author adventure after listening, and I hope you'll listen next time. Remember to head on over to the hybrid author
[email protected] dot au to get your free author pass. It's bye for now.
