Episode Transcript
[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. You can get the show notes for 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 books at www.hybridauthor.com au. Let's crack on with the episode.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Hello authors. I hope you're all keeping well in whatever part of the world you reside and listen to the podcast in. Today's interview is with young novelist Mel Torofranca and WeChat, writing from a young age debut publishing in high school. What motivates young people to write inspiring content for motivation? Social media platforms for authors, advice to young novelists, Mel's books, and much more.
So in my author adventure this week, I have been busy with workshops and content and signing up for other people's workshops, so it feels like a bit of a learning kind of week. I've done a session on business development opportunities which provided some great insight into how we can conduct market research for our businesses within our local area or countries. For me, that's being in Australia.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: So on the back of that, I'd.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Like to pose a few questions for you to ponder this week in association with your author career. This is aimed at those who are self publishing their work, but it's still good to think about it from a traditional publishing perspective. Also, because even traditionally published authors will want to help with the sale of their books through their own channels as well. So when you write your books, do you consider who your target market is? Do you do any research into them? What areas they reside within the country? Buying and spending habits do you investigate local demographic around you when looking to workshop or conduct events? So what I mean is your local area. So where I workshop, the freelance writing document workshop that I was doing this week, that local area sort of had to look into the types of people that lived there, the businesses, the buying habits, all that sort of thing, just to see if I was obviously conducting the workshop in the right place. Who are the people you write for? What age are they? What social media platforms are they on? What are their purchasing habits? As part of that session that I'd done, they'd done a case study on young people today, and it was conclusive that they mostly buy online directly in apps rather than in person. So you think about these questions, especially from a hybrid authorship perspective. So if you write across multiple genres.
[00:02:53] Speaker C: Such as myself, you would do this.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Practice for each of those books because the target market is different, obviously going across the board. So you would have a strategic marketing plan in place for each of your books and author brands. So why will conducting all of this research matter to you in your books? Well, if you can determine who you are writing for, where they populate, how they purchase, or in the case of young children, who purchases for them, you can create, as I've just mentioned, a strategic marketing plan for your books and efforts, rather than throwing any content up there for anyone to see and just hoping somebody sees it who's meant to or it sticks. All this is not new information. It might be to you if you've not heard it before. But to myself, I've heard this before and it's a bit of just a reminder. It's information that should be considered before and after you write your book and when you are determining how to sell it. So your book has the best chance of reaching the right readers, either through paid ads, in person events and the like. It can be so easy to get it wrong or try and give up because you aren't achieving the results you want because you haven't taken the time to properly do your market research, sit down and assess who is most likely to want to buy and read and enjoy your products. So yeah, there's just a little bit of marketing research questions to ponder there and it was just felt like a bit of a refresher and something I'm not sure I've done for a while now and something that I'm definitely sitting down to do. So my efforts and time when I'm looking at selling and marketing my books are not wasted in the wrong areas online. So, on women's fiction news, my manuscript is still with my editor who's been giving me lovely positive feedback. And if you're a regular listener of the podcast, you know I plan to self publish and launch this work. Originally it was going to be in Feb. It's now probably most looking likely in March, but I'm starting to get swayed by a fiction competition with a traditional publishing house I would absolutely love to be part of an author for. It is a big five, but I feel like my work would fit. The deadline ends to get the work in by the 31 January and it's announced in May. The winner is announced in May, so I'm contemplating it because it's not too far out from my intended launch, you got March, April, May, so a couple of months difference. If put this in this way and it's not successful, then I can easily just launch it straight after that. So I don't know. I'm in two minds now. Just wondering, what are your thoughts here? Do you think I should stay true and on track to my independent publishing plan? Or do you think I should go for gold and see what happens with this competition? I don't know. So yeah, drop me a line on the website or an email or on social media and tell me what you think I should do. Because, yeah, I'm a little bit unsure at the moment, so I'm also starting to percolate the next project, which for me is a young adult fiction novel and this is actually for a traditional publishing house competition that I want to put it in for. The thing with this work though, is that this competition entry closes in March and it's not announced till October. So effectively I am going to be working on this and then not seeing any sort of return on investment till the end of the year and I'm not sure what will come of that. I'm looking to get the plot done. I'm looking to have the plot of the book. And again, I outline. This is my process now as it was for the women's fiction, using plotting through plotter software and then writing it out in Scrivener. Yeah. Then submitting to this award on time. So yeah, I'm excited to get started with this project. I'm excited because ya, 50,000 words, a little bit less than what I've just done. So looking forward to that. And then the next project after that is even smaller.
[00:06:36] Speaker D: Hello, my name is Nicole Webb and I'm the owner of Nicole Webb Book Publicity. I'm originally a journalist and a news reader with over 30 years experience in the media. My memoir, China Blonde was published in 2020 and I'm now working on a novel set in Singapore. In the past two years, I've completed more than 20 successful author book publicity campaigns. Promoting your book can feel like a daunting task. So if you want help planning your book publicity path, I'd love to help you. If you need a compelling media release and someone to pitch you and your book to the media, or perhaps you want some media training to ensure you're confident when discussing your book, then let's talk. From consultations through to full marketing campaigns, I design tailored strategies to suit your needs and to target your book to its specific audience. You can check out my website, ww nicolwebonline.com for more details.
[00:07:39] Speaker C: Mel Torofranca is a novelist from the San Francisco Bay area now residing in the Jungley mountains of northern Thailand. Her books feature morally grey characters, bold endings, and a pinch of awkward humor. Mel's debut novel is leaving Wishville, and she joins us now. Welcome to the hybrid author podcast, Mel. Hi.
[00:07:58] Speaker E: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:08:00] Speaker C: Oh, we're absolutely honored to have you. Thanks for coming on. We are dying to know, how did you come to join the writing and publishing worlds?
[00:08:07] Speaker E: I started writing when I was really young. I was about seven years old, and I read the book the girl who could fly by Victoria Forrester, and it was the first time I ever read a story that had morally gray characters and darker themes. At the time, the stories I was exposed to in classes were much lighter. And so when I read this, I was thinking, wow, these types of books actually exist. And I was hooked to the idea of writing something similar. I ended up publishing my debut novel, leaving Wishville, when I was around 1716 or 17 in high school, and that was also when I launched my indie publishing house, Lost Island Press, which at the time was just an outlet for my own work. But since then, I've published more books of my own, and I have also published the works of other writers as well.
[00:08:57] Speaker C: Oh my goodness. That's so exciting. And it absolutely blows my mind that you were so young when you found this passion and this love for this industry and put yourself out there because, yeah, it's quite a dedicated industry. I find, and I think as a young person, obviously it came from a love of reading, which is fantastic, and that obviously inspired you as well. But with young authors and this day and age, we have so much fighting for their attention, like with technology and social media and all sorts of things on the outside as well. So I commend you for having the discipline and the passion and drive and dedication to sit down and write, like a full length work leaving Wishville.
Tell us about it. Was it in the young adult genre and how big was the book?
[00:09:53] Speaker E: Yeah, it was in the young adult genre. I started working on it when I was in middle school and in high school I was mainly just editing it. It's a young adult mystery novel about a town where no one leaves, and the main character is kind of questioning what he's being told about the outside world and how dangerous it really is.
[00:10:16] Speaker C: Amazing. Well, that's great. You obviously enjoyed sitting down and writing the story out, and that's probably what kept you going right?
[00:10:25] Speaker E: Yeah. I mean, there's definitely parts about writing that I didn't enjoy as well. And at the time, I didn't know if the book would ever see the light of day. I was not sure how I wanted to go about publishing it.
I think it was the passion that kept me going, though. And as hard as it was at times, it definitely took me a long time to get a version that I was happy with since it was my first book, but I worked on it a lot and I was very committed to finishing it. I feel very lucky that I found something at a young age that I was able to stick to. I've had lots of hobbies growing up, but those were all things that kind of came and went. And writing is just something that for some reason has stuck with me all these years.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: And that's so exciting because I didn't come to writing or taking it seriously until sort of my early thirty s. And I don't think I wish I had found it younger because when I actually cast my mind back, I used to make little stories with a friend when I was younger, and she did the drawings, and it was kind of like on an. A four piece of paper. Yeah, it wasn't anything. And I think there was a sentence for each. And I was a bit of a reader and then got a bit lost through high school and then in my early, like my 20s as well, and kind of picked it back up. So it was kind of always there but taking it serious now, and I never had any discipline when I was younger. So I find it quite funny that I've entered an industry where I need to be disciplined and I need to have all these skills that I don't have, that I've had to learn, which is why I'm so intrigued to talk to you, because you've done this at the age of seven and published in high school at 17. It just absolutely blows my mind. So today's topic, obviously chatting about yourself and your work, is on what motivates young authors to write. So as well as yourself, what are the things you found? Obviously a passion for the stories that you want to tell and your ideas are motivators. But with yourself as well, is there anything else that you find helps you get motivated to write or you know of other young authors? What motivates young kids to want to write and publish books these days?
[00:12:33] Speaker E: I think one thing that's been really helpful is book talk. I actually haven't been on TikTok myself, but I've seen the influence that it has had on the reading community, which has affected the writing community as well. I think that writing is a form of leisure and reading as well, that is not as common, just because other things are so much easier. It's much easier to stream a show on Netflix or to scroll through Instagram or even make Instagram content about what you're eating or. Yep. But I feel like what's happening is because reading and writing has become more of a rare thing. It's started to be seen in a trendy light where it's almost cool to do something different. And I think that's why we're seeing a rise in reading and writing today in young people is due to the fact that it kind of has a cool or intellectual vibe associated with it and people are exploring it who otherwise wouldn't. And I think we can really attribute that to social media and kind of making reading and writing cool again.
[00:13:38] Speaker C: Yeah, well, that's good to know, because from when I was growing up, I think it was looked upon as, and I was born in the. Grew up in the sort of. It was kind of looked upon as the old person with the dusty jackets and the dusty books in the library. But it's always had an intellectual kind of tag on it as well, which I think I've kind of struggled with because I didn't finish high school, and then I went on to study writing at uni later on in life as a mature student. And then I thought, I've had to question myself a lot, thinking, well, who are you to write a book? You didn't even finish school.
So, no, I love hearing that it's cool and it's trendy and it's coming back. I myself haven't quite made it onto TikTok yet, and I feel the reason being is, I guess, because it's coming across as more of a younger demographic. But is that the case for book talk? Is it just a whole wide variety of ages on there, not just young people?
[00:14:37] Speaker E: I'm actually not sure. I haven't been on book talk myself, but I assume there's people of older ages. Although it's definitely a lot of young people on book talk. I have a lot of writer friends who are on the platform.
[00:14:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And how come you haven't ventured over there? I know you've got a YouTube channel. Is it because you're just busy on the YouTube?
[00:14:55] Speaker E: Yeah, it's mainly the YouTube thing. I feel like I should stay focused on one platform for now before branching out. It's a whole nother beast. I assume.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I bet. And tell us about your YouTube channel. What are the things that you do on there, and how's that all going?
[00:15:09] Speaker E: I started my YouTube channel when I was in high school as well, and I didn't expect it to have anything to do with my writing at the time. I made one video which was talking about erasing one of my books from the Internet. I actually published a book before leaving Wishville when I was much younger. That was really awful. And so I went through this journey of erasing it and making sure that it would be gone from existence before publishing future work. So I made a video about that, and that one really took off and grew my channel a lot and helped with attracting readers to my work. And so by the time I published leaving Wishville, I had unexpectedly gathered an audience of young adult readers. So it was really my YouTube channel that started to make me think that writing could be something that was more than a hobby for me and it could be something that I could incorporate into my career. So YouTube has really been a game changer for me along the years, and right now I'm still in a brainstorming process about the type of content that I want to make, and that would be valuable for people. But I do think it's something that I want to continue doing.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: So is it more along the lines of, are you still a big reader as well? Do you want to write the stuff that you read? Mostly, yeah.
[00:16:25] Speaker E: I definitely read in the genre I like to write in, but I do think I read more nonfiction than fiction. I sometimes try to avoid reading too much of the type of stuff that I'm writing because it does influence my writing and I try to kind of keep my own style going as well. So usually during periods of times when I am drafting, so not really the editing process, but when I'm writing the first draft, I be careful about reading only nonfiction and not any fiction because it also can lead to doubt as well. If you're working on a rough first draft that is very messy and not really good writing, then reading other fiction, at least for me, has been kind of demotivating. Like, why doesn't my work sound like that? So I try to avoid reading similar books to what I'm writing when I'm actually drafting that first draft.
[00:17:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I haven't thought about demotivating things, actually. I've always thought about motivating things.
That's interesting. And with your YouTube channel, do you have a lot of your audience? Is it a lot of readers or just aspiring authors? Do they reach out to you to ask your advice on certain things?
[00:17:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I would say it's a mixture. I don't know what the ratio is for sure, but I definitely have a lot of people reaching out to me asking advice for writing. I have some people who have said they've started writing because of my older content, where I had some writing advice videos and writing vlogs. So I have made a few videos with writing advice content. I'm not sure if that's something that I'm going to continue doing, but I'm happy that my content has been inspiring for some writers out there.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it sounds like your content is actually motivating young kids to write, so that's another point, which is good. And your books as well. If there was books, books are a good motivator. Obviously you're saying social media has brought back a trend among young people and book talk and things where it's kind of cool to be doing this, but other works of literature as well. When you read a work and not touches you, I don't like that word that connects with you on a level. There's only been one book in a doubt that you'll maybe have heard of her. She's dead now, actually. She's an irish writer, a woman's fiction, and it's Maeve Binchy.
[00:18:41] Speaker E: Have you ever heard of her?
[00:18:42] Speaker C: I haven't, no, probably not. But her works of fiction, her characters are just amazing and she kind of blends, like small town living and I love all the small town stuff.
[00:18:55] Speaker E: I love that, too.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: Yeah. And how all the characters interact and they're all connected and stuff. There was a book that she wrote in there. I can't even remember the title, which is embarrassing. I think it was called evening class or night class, and I've read that pretty much in one sitting. And I just got the inspiration to write this short story, which I never finished. But to finish a book and then have the motivation to just want to write something and have ideas sparked by it is pretty inspiring as well. So, yeah, that's a good one. So, in terms of advice, if you have people reaching out to you, what is some of your advice for aspiring young authors who dream of writing and publishing a book, but they maybe don't feel that it's something they could do either at their age or they don't feel equipped to do it, or they might have self doubts and things like that. Do you have any advice that you share?
[00:19:48] Speaker E: Yeah, for sure. I think one thing that was really helpful for me growing up is that I had access to the writing community online. I didn't have any friends at the time who were writing, so I didn't know anyone in person who was pursuing the same hobby as me. And I think the fact that we have social media is great for connecting people, especially young writers who look around and can see that there are other people their age who are doing the same thing, and some maybe have already been successful at it and have published their books and know that it's possible for someone their age to do it. We're seeing a lot of teens getting published these days, which is awesome. One of the main pieces of advice that I give young writers who ask me questions is to not overthink the process. The first draft is going to be messy, and it doesn't have to be good. In fact, it should probably be bad. When it comes to the first draft, I force myself not to do any editing. As I go, I just try to vomit out all of the content and not think about whether it sounds good or whether it even makes sense in terms of the plot. And it's during the editing process, when I really go back and refine everything. So I think it's important during the writing process to remind yourself that you're just trying to get the words in and it doesn't have to be good. And another piece of advice is to not take it too seriously. I think there's a lot of writing advice content out there that is very technical, tells you what you should or shouldn't be doing. There's a lot of conflicting opinions of advice that are given from different authors, and so I think writing advice can also be a dangerous territory to get into, and it can lead you to overthinking the process or taking it more seriously than it needs to be when it really should just be something that you find fun. So I try to avoid diving too deep into the Internet rabbit holes about how to make the book good and just focus on having fun with it and writing and then worrying about the more technical parts later on during the editing process.
[00:21:47] Speaker C: Yeah, that's amazing. That's all really good sound advice there. And I agree wholeheartedly that obviously the Internet and just social media and stuff is absolutely swamped with writing and publishing advice. And some of it can be sound and some of it outdated and some of it not so much. And it's really hard because every person I've spoke to in the writing sort of industry, everyone's story is different. Everyone's saying different things, they'll do things differently. So, yeah, it can be a bit crazy with young people. So I take it they're more likely to reach and look for writing and publishing advice online, say through social media and things like that, rather than, would you say, going to in person events or taking short courses and stuff, or do you think it's all much the same?
[00:22:40] Speaker E: Yeah, I think for sure. I have a lot of young writer friends who find advice online, and it's a very small minority of them who actually go to any writing conferences or writing groups in person.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's interesting as.
Yeah. How everybody responds to, I would imagine. So YouTube is your main platform? Yes.
It's almost seen as, what's the word? Not short courses, but I mean, if you want to look up how to do something. Most people go to YouTube these days don't.
[00:23:15] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:16] Speaker C: Like all the how to videos and stuff, like. No, that's, that's really interesting. And also, most of them are interested in learning about writing craft, say, over publishing, I would say, yeah.
So maybe at the start of their journey. Well, you mentioned as well that you had a writing capsule experience as a high schooler. Can you tell us about that? I've only ever sort of heard of capsules, sort of from television and things like that. But how has this experience, has this helped inspire your writing career in any way?
[00:23:48] Speaker E: 100%. I think capsule was probably the launching pad for everything. Leaving Wishville got me a lot of experience. It helped me realize how valuable my YouTube channel could be. But capsule is when I really started taking writing a lot more seriously. So I worked on this book throughout high school after I published leaving Wishville, and I realized at the time that I had a really interesting opportunity because I was going to a public high school, I was a teenager, and I could write a high school teenage story that was probably going to be more accurate to the experience than like a 40 year old kind of looking back on high school so I could write something really fresh and modern. And I really wanted to challenge myself to create a story that could accurately portray the high school experience, or at least what it was like for me. And so capsule, I had really fun throughout the writing process. I had a lot of modern stuff that I injected into it, and I published it soon after I graduated from high school. And the response to capsule was even more unexpected than leaving Wishville. I put a lot of time into having a solid launch plan, but I had no idea how the launch would actually go, and it worked out really well. I had tons of reviews leading up to the release from advanced readers who agreed to read my book early and write reviews online. And I had people sharing about it on social media. And I was very successful in generating a lot of hype around the book, which was something that I had never done before. I kind of had, like, a trickle of interest in leaving Wishville through my YouTube channel, and it kind of felt like this massive explosion on the release day. When it came to this was when I published capsule. This was around the time when my YouTube channel was really starting to grow a lot. And this was also the time when I started to rethink my plans for the future. I was thinking at first of, even though I had my YouTube channel, I had published a book, I was still thinking of going the traditional route and going to college. I've thought about the medical field even. I have no interest in science or medicine or anything, but I thought about that and I thought about business, and I was still planning to go down that path. I was a good student, so it felt like the only option, or it felt like a waste not to. And when this whole capsule experience came around, that was really when everything changed completely. And I decided not to go to college, and I ended up moving out of the country, and now I'm in Thailand. So I would say that that period of life when I published capsule is when the entire trajectory of my career just completely changed.
[00:26:34] Speaker C: Wow. And, yeah, a few questions there, and I've got to apologize, because this is me showing my age, I guess I didn't realize that. Is it called capsule or writing capsule? Yeah, capsule.
[00:26:45] Speaker E: Capsule.
[00:26:46] Speaker C: I didn't realize it was a book of yours. I actually thought that. Have you ever heard of capsules? Like how people used to make capsules and then they buried them in the grass?
[00:26:57] Speaker E: Bury them.
[00:26:58] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. That's what I thought you meant by writing.
[00:27:02] Speaker E: That makes sense. That's totally.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: What is she talking about?
So I must apologize for that mix up there, because I thought maybe your high school put some sort of writing capsule together that made you inspire. But it was a pic, so that makes more.
[00:27:21] Speaker E: You left.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: You left the country. Was that with your family to move to Thailand, or was that you just.
[00:27:26] Speaker E: You decided it was me and my high school best friend, and we were just a little bit wild. Yeah. We decided to take a leap of.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: Faith, and you're obviously still there, so it's worked out.
[00:27:40] Speaker E: Yes, it has. I was only planning to commit to staying here for one year, but I ended up loving it so much. So I'm still here now.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: Wow. Well, there's a book in that as well, if you were going to write about that. And I do absolutely believe that in the past, people, I think especially with books as well, there was always that stereotype that you were the old gray haired writer because you had a story to tell, because you lived a certain life and you had things to talk about. But I think it's really important that we do have younger authors, readers, but authors mainly to tell stories from that perspective. I appreciate that as well because, yeah, I'm 38, and then if I look back at my high school experience, it's so different to the things that kids are sort of involved in today. And it's not all. There is a lot of drama still, but even the tv shows that they had on tv portraying high school back in my day, it was really all about relationships and this and that, and I think everybody's a bit more intelligent.
It's not that much drama and stuff. I think kids kind of care about a bit more. They're probably bit more smarter, I guess, things. So, yeah, I think it's great that you've put a book out from your perspective, for sure. So where are your writing and publishing aspirations now? What have you got planned for the future?
[00:29:10] Speaker E: I am gearing up to publish my third book in a matter of days, actually, I think four days from now.
So I'm very excited. This is the first in a trilogy. It's the first time I've dived into an actual series. So I'm very excited to launch that. I definitely want to continue writing. I want to get faster at it and publish more books. I've been publishing them, rolling them out kind of slowly. So I want to get faster, get better at my craft, and publish as many books as I can in my lifetime, and hopefully more books by other authors as well.
[00:29:46] Speaker C: Wow. So you've got a writer's head on you, but you're interested in, obviously, publishing, like you said, your publishing company, and pursuing that, which is great. How long is it taking you to write the books? Are you working on them? Sort of. Are you someone who works on them sporadically or, like, every day?
[00:30:06] Speaker E: I would say I've been very consistent in writing and editing almost every day. I usually write my first drafts very quickly, so it's usually one to two months that I finish that initial draft, and then I spend ages upon ages editing it. In the case of Nightshade Academy, like, years editing.
So the majority of the work is in the editing process. That's definitely the most time consuming part for me as well. And there are periods of time, especially, I kind of mentally create these milestones for myself of when I need to finish the next draft. And so I set these deadlines and I try to stick to them. And so there are periods of times where I am working much more on my writing projects than my other projects.
But for the most part, I try to work on my projects at least a little bit every day.
[00:31:01] Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's great.
I'm just like, you want to get faster?
What would be faster for you with the process? Like honing down that first draft to like a month and then things like that.
[00:31:18] Speaker E: I think mainly it comes to the editing process. I think I'm kind of an overthinker. And if I get an idea on how I can change the story, I will write it, I will execute, and then I realize later on I should have just kept it the way it was. Then I change it back. So I guess getting better at my decision making when it comes to the editing process and really kind of sitting down and saying, is this change actually good to make before I spend hours making the change. I think that would be a good move to shorten down the editing process.
[00:31:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And then also with the publishing process, I take it your books, are they up on all the platforms for people to.
[00:31:56] Speaker E: Yeah, all the online platforms. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the ebooks ones as well?
[00:32:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
I'll just ask, do you have any aspirations to go with a traditional publisher in the future, or you're happy just with what you're doing right now?
[00:32:11] Speaker E: I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but I doubt that I would want to right now. I'm very pleased with just continuing what I'm doing with the publishing house and learning how to share my work and get it out there on my own.
[00:32:25] Speaker C: Yeah. No, that's amazing. And do you have anything to do with Wattpad? I always heard that that was quite frequented by younger people and authors as well.
[00:32:36] Speaker E: Yeah, I know a lot of writers who got started working on fan fiction on the platform. Personally, growing up, I never used wattpad, but for this book, I experimented with posting a certain amount of chapters on Wattpad for free, and I'm going to see how that goes. But I personally haven't used it that much in the past.
[00:32:55] Speaker C: No, I think I made an account and read a couple of people's works, but I didn't really go much further into it. But I think it's got quite a big following.
[00:33:07] Speaker E: Yeah, it's an interesting model, for sure.
[00:33:09] Speaker C: Yeah, that's it. Well, after talking to you, I feel like I should go over and check out book talk. It's just another thing though, isn't it?
I feel like I'll stick with the podcast for me for now is.
[00:33:21] Speaker E: Yeah, well, I feel the same way.
[00:33:23] Speaker C: Yeah. About your YouTube a bit as, yeah. Planning on getting the podcast across to YouTube. It just feels, oh, exciting. Yeah. How to move this backlist across there. I'm like, oh, is that going to take ages?
But yeah, I'm sure it's worth it because I do go on YouTube really just to listen to audio actually, and I listen to video as well and move around. So I think that's the next sort of step for myself, but. Well, thank you so much for your time and expertise, Mel. I've just absolutely loved talking to you. It's been an eye opener to hear from your perspective and hear about your author adventure and can't wait to watch what wonders you do in the publishing industry. I think we're going to see a lot of good things from you. So can you tell our listeners where can they know your books and your YouTube channel and all, everything and offline for sure?
[00:34:13] Speaker E: Yeah, you can find my books on all of the main online bookseller platforms like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And if you want to see more content from me, the main place I'm at is my YouTube channel and currently lost Island Press. My publishing house is giving away free copies of capsule for a newsletter promo. So if you'd like to check that out, it's at lostallenpress.com. Lovely.
[00:34:34] Speaker C: Well, thanks again, Mel.
[00:34:36] Speaker E: That was wonderful. Yeah, thank you so much. It's been great talking to you.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: So there you have it, folks, the gorgeous musings of Mel Torre Franca. You can go and check out Mel's YouTube channel and books for more. Next time on the hybrid Author podcast, we have a loner sword episode from me, and it's going to be titled Will you or won't you AI. So I'm talking about artificial intelligence, something I'm pretty sure the term will resonate with many of you who you've been listening last year, watching about the rise of AI on the news or across any channels or podcasts that you listen to. It's definitely a hot topic of conversation for many novelists and writers out there. Many are already incorporating it into their business practices. Others are pitchforked against it. And I just wanted to do an episode now that I've learned a bit more about it. And I've also experienced it via platforms that I use and a general chat about that. So I hope you'll join me for that next week, and I wish you well in your author adventure this next week. That's it for me. Bye for now.
[00:35:41] Speaker C: That's the end for now. Authors.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: 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 website at www. Dot hybrid author.com dot au to get your free author pass. It's bye for now.
