Episodios

  • Episode 272: Six Scams Targeting Indie Authors

    Episode 272: Six Scams Targeting Indie Authors
    Oct 13 2025

    In this week's episode, we warn against six different scams targeting indie authors. I also take a look at my advertising results for September 2025.

    This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Wolves, Book #2 in the Cloak Mage series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store:

    WOLVESAUDIO

    The coupon code is valid through October 20, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we’ve got you covered!
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    19 m
  • Episode 271: Creating Character Backstories

    Episode 271: Creating Character Backstories
    Oct 6 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at creating good backstories for characters and how that can advance the plot. We also discuss two articles about the problems of generative AI. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook versions of books in the Sevenfold Sword series at my Payhip store: SEVENBOOKS The coupon code is valid through October 13, 2025. So if you need a new ebook this fall, we’ve got you covered! Here are links to the articles mentioned in the episode. Writer Beware: https://writerbeware.blog/2025/08/01/return-of-the-nigerian-prince-a-new-twist-on-book-marketing-scams/ Ed Zitron: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-gui/ TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 271 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is October 3, 2025, and today we are looking at how to create character backstories. We'll also look at some good articles about the problems created by generative AI technology. If you hear occasional drumming noise in the background, it seems like the elementary school a few blocks from here is practicing their marching band. Hopefully it won't be too disruptive. First off, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook versions of books in the Sevenfold Sword Series in my Payhip store, and that coupon code is SEVENBOOKS. And as always, the coupon code and the link to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes. This coupon code will be valid through October the 13th, 2025. If you need a new ebook for this fall, we have got you covered. Now let's have a progress update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 83,000 words into Cloak of Worlds, which will be the 13th book in the Cloak Mage series. I'm thinking the book will end up about 110,000 words, so hopefully I will finish up the rough draft next week. We'll see how things go. I'm also 8,000 words into Blade of Shadows, which will be the sequel to Blade of Flames from last month, and that will be my main project once Cloak of Worlds is published (hopefully by the end of October, if all goes well). In audiobook news, I'm very pleased to report that recording and all the work is done on Ghost in the Siege (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) and we will actually close out this episode with a preview from that audiobook. It's currently up on my Payhip store and probably Google Play as of this recording, but it should be showing up on all the other stores before too much longer. 00:01:52 Generative AI Now onto our next topic, which is two very good articles about the problems of generative AI I read recently. The first (and I'll have the links to both articles in the show notes) is from Writer Beware, which talks about how generative AI is causing a new round of super targeted scammers. These scammers feed your book into the chatbot, which then generates a highly personalized email praising the book and offering marketing services. I got a ton of these scam emails after Stealth and Spells Online, Ghost in the Siege, and Blade of Flames came out in the past couple months and a bunch more after Malison: The Complete Series did well on BookBub at the end of August. So if you are a writer and you publish a book and a few days later or perhaps even the very same day, you get a very detailed email praising the book with very specific plot points and offering marketing services, beware, it's probably a scam that will give you no value whatsoever for your money. Journalist Edward Zitron wrote a great article explaining in extensive detail why generative AI is a bad idea that's probably going to cause a serious market crash in the next few years. I admit I started out with a mildly negative opinion of LLM based generative AI tools in 2022 and 2023, but I wanted my opinion to be an informed one. I've experimented with them on and off and read a good bit about them and as I've experimented with them, my opinion has moved from mildly negative to highly negative and finally arriving at completely anti-AI this year. I never used AI for any of my books, short stories, or cover images. I experimented a bit with using AI images for Facebook ads, but people generally hated them, so I stopped entirely with that. In fact, Facebook ads have become far less effective this year because of all the AI stuff Meta has crammed into them, but more on that later. So why did I arrive at a highly negative opinion of AI? It's because these tools do not actually do what their advocates promise, they're hideously expensive to run, and the enormous costs and downsides significantly outweigh any benefits. In addition to the problems mentioned in the Zitron article like cost, false promises, economic bubbles, and the companies blatantly lying about their capabilities, I think the fundamental difficulty with generative AI is that it's essentially a cognitive mirror for its users, like a Narcissus Machine like I've ...
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    21 m
  • Episode 270: 6 TikTok Marketing Lessons For Writers

    Episode 270: 6 TikTok Marketing Lessons For Writers
    Sep 29 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at six marketing lessons writers can learn from TikTok. I also answer questions about my new book BLADE OF FLAMES. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Shield of Storms, Book #1 in the Shield War series, (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store: FALLSHIELD50 The coupon code is valid through October 6, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 270 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 26th, 2025, and today we are looking at six trends from TikTok that help with marketing books (even if you're not on TikTok). We'll also answer some questions about my new book, Blade of Flames. Before we get to our main topics, we will do Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Shield of Storms, Book One in the Shield War series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store and that is FALLSHIELD50. And as always, the coupon code and the links to my store will be available in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through October 6, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook to listen to this fall, we have got you covered. Now here is where I'm at with my current writing projects. As I mentioned last week, Blade of Flames is now out and you get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and My Payhip store. Now that it is out and published, my new main project is I'm finally returning to the Nadia series. I am 50,000 words into Cloak of Worlds, which I believe puts me on chapter 10 of 28, though I'll probably split up some of the longer chapters in editing to make them punchier. So hopefully that will be out in October, probably towards the end of October (if all goes well). My secondary project is now Blade of Shadows, which will be the sequel to Blade of Flames and the second book in my Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. And as of this recording, I'm about 4,000 words into it and I'm hoping that'll be out towards the end of November, maybe right before or right after Thanksgiving, depending on how the next couple of weeks go. In audiobook news, Shield of Power is now finally out at all audiobook stores: Audible, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, Chirp, Spotify, and all the others. You can listen to that on a platform of your choosing. Recording is almost done on Ghost in the Siege and I should have some audiobook files to proof for that soon. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, audiobook, and publishing projects. Now, Blade of Flames is the first book in a new epic fantasy series with the first new protagonist I've had since I wrote Rivah in Half-Elven Thief back in 2023. So as you might expect, it has generated more than the usual amount of reader questions. So for convenience, I will answer them all right here on the show. Question #1: Is Blade of Flame set in the world of Andomhaim/Owyllain (from Frostborn Sevenfold Sword, Dragontiarna, Dragonskull, and The Shield War)? Yes, it is set in Owyllain, specifically in the Year of Our Lord 1588, so 88 years after the end of The Shield War. Question #2: Is Ridmark the main character? No, the main character is named Talembur. I've written 43 books with Ridmark as either the protagonist or one of the protagonists, and across those books, Ridmark has gone from an angry young man to a grandfather, so it was time to do something different. The poor man deserves a break after 43 books. Question #3: Is Talembur secretly Ridmark in disguise? No. Question #4: Is Talembur secretly…(various character theories)? No, Talembur's a new character. Question #5: Do you need to read any other books before starting Blade of Flames? No. That was one of my intentions in writing it. You can read Blade of Flames without having bred any of the other Andomhaim books, since all the major characters in Blade of Flames are new and we're in a part of Owyllain we've never visited before. Question #6: Are there any recurring characters in Blade of Flames? Exactly one and that character only has, like three lines. Well, two (technically, depending on how you look at it). Question #7: Will other recurring characters return in future Blades of Ruin books? Yes, but we shall have to read and find out after I write them. Question #8: The opening is very similar to Frostborn: The Gray Knight, isn't it? Yes, for reasons that will become clear. Without any spoilers, let's say that this similarity is a significant plot point. Question #9: Is there a dog in this book? Yes. People like dogs, so there is a dog in the book. Question #10: Does the dog die? He does not. Question #11: Seriously, truly, does the dog die? I promise the dog does not die. Question #12: How many Blades of Ruin books will ...
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    16 m
  • Episode 269: The Personal Curriculum Trend For Writers

    Episode 269: The Personal Curriculum Trend For Writers
    Sep 22 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at the "personal curriculum" social media trend and look at how it can be useful for writers. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book #1 in the Cloak Mage series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: FALLMAGIC50 The coupon code is valid through September 29, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 269 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 19th, 2025, and today I am looking at the idea of a personal curriculum for writers. We also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing projects. So let's start things off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Dragons, Book Number One in the Cloak Mage series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), at my Payhip store. And that coupon code is FALLMAGIC50. And as always, the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code will be valid through September the 29th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook to listen to as we head into fall, we have got you covered. And now for an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report that Blade of Flames is finished and by the time this episode goes live on what should be the 22nd, it should be available at all ebook stores. Initial impressions have been positive so far, so I hope you'll check that out and enjoy it. Now that Blade of Flames is finished and out in the world, my next main project will be Cloak of Worlds. After a year, I am finally getting back to Cloak Mage. I am now 21,000 words into it, and I'm hoping it will be out in October, though it might slip to November because I think this one might be a bit on the longer side. My secondary project is now Blade of Shadows, which is the second book in the Blades of Ruin series and the direct sequel to Blade of Flames. I'm a thousand words into that. In audiobook news, Shield of Power is still in processing and quality assurance at most of the audiobook stores. It is now available at, I think Google Play, Kobo, my own Payhip store, and a few others, but it's still not up on Audible, Apple, or Amazon yet, though hopefully that should be fixed soon. Recording on Ghost in the Siege is finished and we're just waiting on files so we can proof-listen to them. So some new audiobooks will be available before too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:02:18 Personal Curriculum for Writers So let's move on to our main topic this week, the personal curriculum trend for writers. What is a personal curriculum? The trend of creating a personal curriculum has been going around social media for the past month or two. Basically, a personal curriculum uses a structure of an imaginary class to reframe your personal and professional development goals. It can be as simple as creating a set of reading to do in a month or as complex as creating a major project that will take many steps and months to complete. How does this work? Instead of having an undefined goal of wanting to learn how to learn more about how to market your books, you make yourself a course called Marketing Literature with Social Media, with a list of related books, videos, and tasks divided into blocks of time, just like the class would have things that are connected in each session. The key to the personal curriculum trend is having weekly goals and projects just like homework (and of course keeping up with it). Some people create monthly personal curriculum while others keep the more academic framework of quarters, terms, or semesters. Some people create multiple classes, while others focus on one at a time. The amount of detail in the curriculum's development ranges from scrawling a plan on a sheet of notebook paper to creating intricate Notion boards that are essentially a prettier version of an online course system used at universities. The personal curriculum trend is fueled by many things, including nostalgia for the structure of school and its relatively clear paths to success, the desire to spend less time doom scrolling on social media, and the desire to make goal setting more whimsical. Having clear and specific deadlines for completing tasks is one of the most important parts of goal setting, and that is at the center of the trend of creating personal curriculums. Most people spend 14 to 19 years in school (depending on the individual), so it's a structure that's familiar. It also takes an overwhelming and broad goal, such as learning about marketing and gives it focus by defining what is actually being learned and determining how to apply that to real tasks in a manageable way. It transforms the nebulous goal of learning something specific and also gives a ...
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    14 m
  • Episode 268: Does Permafree Still Work For Indie Authors?

    Episode 268: Does Permafree Still Work For Indie Authors?
    Sep 15 2025
    In this week's episode, we take a look at permafree as a marketing strategy for indie authors, and examine if it still works. I also take a look at advertising results for August 2025. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in my Cloak Mage series at my Payhip store: FALLMAGE25 The coupon code is valid through September 22, 2025. So if you need a new ebook this fall, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 268 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 12th, 2025, and today I'm looking at whether or not Permafree is still an effective strategy for indie authors. As a related topic, we'll also take a look at how my ads performed in [August] 2025, and we'll also have a Question of the Week this week. But first, let's start with Coupon of the Week. So for Coupon of the Week to celebrate the fact that I'm working on Cloak Mage again, this coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Cloak Mage series at my Payhip store, and that is FALLMAGE25. And as always, the coupon code and links to my store will be available in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through September 22nd, 2025. So if you need a new ebook for this fall, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. I'm about 82% of the way through the first round of edits for Blade of Flames, the first book in my new epic fantasy series called Blades of Ruin. If all goes well, that will be out before the end of September, and if you want to see what the cover art will look like, it's on my website and my social pages right now. I'm also 12,000 words into Cloak of Worlds, the aforementioned return to the Cloak Mage series, and that will be my main project once Blade of Flames comes out. In audiobook news, recording is done for both Shield of Power (as narrated by Brad Wills) and Ghost in the Siege (as narrated by Hollis McCarthy). They're both going through processing right now. As of this recording, I believe you can get Shield of Power on Google Play, Kobo, and my Payhip Store. The other links and the other links for Ghost in the Siege should be coming up before too much longer, hopefully before the end of the month. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and publishing projects. 00:02:00 Question of the Week [Question of the Week was posted on September 10, 2025] Now It's time for Question of the Week, which is intended for enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, do you dislike guns showing up in fantasy novels? No wrong answers for opinions, obviously. The inspiration for this question was a blog post I saw where the writer was complaining about the increased number of guns in modern fantasy novels and how it shatters her suspension of disbelief, and she also found it an unpleasant topic because the ownership and regulation of firearms in the United States is a contentious topic and has been so for decades. And as you might expect, readers had a variety of opinions on this question. Adrian says: Nope. Fantasy is basically, in my humble opinion, the swords and sorcery type of genre. Yes to old fashioned weapons like bows and arrows, javelins, and trebuchets, et cetera, but definite no to guns (of any type), tanks, airplanes, et cetera. Jonathan D. says: In the right setting, firearms are fine in fantasy books. Men in Arms by Terry Pratchett and the Rigante Series by David Gemmell are great examples of firearms in fantasy done well. Wilson says: It depends on your definition of a gun because an energy rifle powered by a soulstone would be something that would fit into Andomhaim. Though I have to say that is not something I will ever write in an Andomhaim book. Mary says: Steampunk and suchlike genres are developing how to work with technology and fantasy, and I approve when it's done right. I particularly like what Moe Lane's doing in The Fermi Resolution. If you start with the first published book, Frozen Dreams, which is a post-apocalyptic North America high fantasy, hard boiled detective novel, it goes into how every wizard can make your own ammo blow up on you and the consequences. Ioana says: Mrs. World Burner should have lots of guns. #HailToTheHighQueen #SingularitySucks Jason says: Handheld firearms were first used in the West in the 1330s, so they actually predate full plate armor by about a hundred years. That said, the gun shape we're used to came about in the late 1400s. I'm perfectly fine with firearms and fantasy novels provided they’re (more or less) what we expect in a medieval setting. Jesse says: Never bothers me as long as long as the stage of weapon development reasonably lines up with the field of the science in said fantasy world. Someone walking around with laser sights in a medieval hamlet would break it for me a bit. Michael says: I remember much of video games (and at least one famous Dungeons and Dragons scenario, possibly ...
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    16 m
  • Episode 267: Summer Movie Review Roundup

    Episode 267: Summer Movie Review Roundup
    Sep 8 2025
    In this week's episode, I take a look back at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Summer 2025. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book #1 in the Ghost Armor series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: FALLSERPENT50 The coupon code is valid through September 15, 2025 (please note the shorter expiration date). So if you need a new audiobook this fall, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 267 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September 5, 2025 and today I'm doing a review roundup of the movies and streaming shows I saw in Summer 2025. Before we do that, we will have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing and audiobook projects. First up, this week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Serpent, Book One in the Ghost Armor series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store. That is FALLSERPENT50. This coupon code will be valid through September 15th, 2025 (exactly one week). So if you need a new audiobook to listen to as we head into fall, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. I am pleased to report that the rough draft of Blade of Flames, which will be the first book in my new Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series is finished. The rough draft came at about 90,000 words long, which was what I was aiming for. Next up, I will be writing a short story set as sort of a bonus in that plot line called Thunder Hammer and that will be the backstory of one of the characters in Blade of Flames. And when Blade of Flames comes out (which will hopefully be later this September), newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of Thunder Hammer. So this is an excellent time to subscribe to my newsletter. I am also 8,000 words into Cloak of Worlds. At long last, I am coming back to the Cloak Mage series after nearly a year's absence. Longtime listeners will know the reason was that I had five unfinished series and I wanted to spend the summer of 2025 finishing the unfinished ones and focusing up so I will only have three ongoing series at any given time. I'm hoping Blade of Flames will come out before the end of September and Cloak of Worlds before the end of October, and after that I will be able to return to the Rivah series at long last. In audiobook news, recording is finished on Shield of Power. That will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills and hopefully once it gets through processing and quality assurance and everything, it should be showing up on the various audiobook stores before too much longer. Hollis McCarthy is about halfway through the recording of Ghost in the Siege, which was, as you know, the last book in the Ghost Armor series that just came out. And if all goes well, the audiobook should be coming out probably in October once everything is done with recording and quality assurance and all that. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects. 00:02:34 Main Topic: Summer 2025 Movie/TV Roundup So without further ado, let's head into our main topic. The end of summer is nigh, which means this time for my summer movie review roundup. As is usual for the summer, I saw a lot of movies, so this will be one of the longer episodes. For some reason I ended up watching a bunch of westerns. As always, the movies are ranked from least favorite to most favorite. The grades of course are totally subjective and based on nothing more than my own opinions, impressions, and interpretations. Now on to the movies. First up is the Austin Powers trilogy, the three movies of which came out in 1997, 1999, and 2002. The Austin Powers movies came out just as the Internet really got going in terms of mass adoption, which is likewise why so many Austin Powers and Dr. Evil memes are embedded in online culture. Despite that, I had never really seen any of them all the way through. They've been on in the background on TBS or whatever quite a bit when I visited people, but I've never seen them all. But I happened upon a DVD of the trilogy for $0.25 (USD), so I decided for 25 cents I would give it a go. I would say the movies were funny, albeit not particularly good. Obviously the Austin Powers movies are a parody of the James Bond movies. The movies kind of watch like an extended series of Saturday Night Live skits, only loosely connected, like the skit is what if Dr. Evil had a son named Scott who wasn't impressed with him or another skit was what if a British agent from the ‘60s arrives in the ‘90s and experiences culture clash? What if Dr. Evil didn't understand the concept of inflation and demanded only a million dollars from the United Nations? What if Dr. Evil was actually Austin's brother and they went to school together at Spy Academy? Michael Caine was pretty great as Austin's father. Overall, ...
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    33 m
  • Episode 266: Is Writing Fiction Like A Theme Park?

    Episode 266: Is Writing Fiction Like A Theme Park?
    Sep 1 2025
    In this week's episode, I look at what goes into a successful theme park, and compare it to the process of creating a compelling story. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragontiarna series at my Payhip store: FALLDRAGON25 The coupon code is valid through September 8, 2025 (please note the shorter expiration date). So if you need a new ebook this fall, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 266 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller and today is August 29th, 2025, and today we are considering if theme parks are like writing. Before we get into this topic, we'll have Coupon of the Week and then a progress update on my current writing projects. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragontiarna series at my Payhip store, and that coupon code is FALLDRAGON25. And as always, we'll have the coupon code and links in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code is only valid through September 8, 2025. That's only one week, so if you want to use it, act now. And if you need a new ebook for fall, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing projects. I am 63,000 words into Blade of Flames, the first book in my new epic fantasy Blades of Ruin series, and I think 63,000 words puts me about almost two thirds of the way through. I think the book will end up being between 90,000 and 100,000 words, so hopefully we are on track to have that out before the end of September. I'm also 5,000 words into Cloak of Worlds, which will be the 13th book in the Cloak Mage series. And if all goes well, I think that will probably be out in October, towards the end of October, maybe a Halloween book. In audiobook news, recording is still underway for Shield of Power (that will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills); we're coming up on the end of that, so should have some good news on that before too much longer. Recording is underway for Ghost in the Siege, and that will be excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. So that is where I am at with my current writing and audiobook projects. Some good progress this week. 00:01:53 Main Topic: What Epic Universe Can Teach Us About Creating Memorable Characters Now on to our main topic this week: are theme parks like writing and what theme parks can teach us about creating memorable characters and settings. I have to admit, this is an unusual topic for me because I am not really a theme park person. I have several family members who are interested in the history of Disney Corporation, so I've picked up some through osmosis, but that's essentially it. This topic was suggested by my podcast transcriptionist, and it was an interesting idea, so I thought we would go with it. I don't really know all that much about theme parks. As I mentioned, I'm not really in the target audience and I'm not in the sort of demographic where I would watch, for example, someone's four hour live stream through the latest Disney attraction or whatever. Though I did watch the video that Jenny Nicholson put out last summer about her experience with the Star Wars “hotel”, and I think that was interesting as a piece of essentially documentary journalism depicting a tale of sort of corporate greed and cost cutting and how that can lead to inevitable failure. But that is a bit of a tangent from our main topic, which is whether or not writers can learn anything from theme parks. I did pick up enough through osmosis from the history of Disney to know that in the early days before the Disney Corporation became as sort of corporatized and cost cutting as is now, that when they built a new attraction, the attraction had to be able to tell a story, like there was some sort of a story that needed to be told or an essential narrative that needed to be followed through the layout of the attraction so the guests, if they were paying attention, would be told a story. So apparently the big news in the theme park universe this year is that Universal opened a new theme park called Universal Epic Universe in Florida in May 2025. The park is built on a central hub, which then divides out into five intellectual property based lands like Super Nintendo World with all of the Mario characters. What's interesting is that two of the five lands in the theme park are directly based on content that began as book series, the How to Train Your Island- Isle of Berk (which was originally written by Cressida Cowell) and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic, which was originally written by J.K. Rowling. One other land, The Dark Universe, draws heavily on the Frankenstein story, which was originally written by Mary Shelley (among other creatures like Dracula, who as a character originated in Bram Stoker's novel in the 19th century). Now, what does this have to do with writing? I mean, for most writers, the idea of becoming popular enough that people build theme parks ...
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    14 m
  • Episode 265: When Should Writers Change Course?

    Episode 265: When Should Writers Change Course?
    Aug 25 2025
    In the much-delayed final episode of our series on mindset for writers, we take a look at when writers should change course, and talk about the importance of mental flexibility. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Frostborn series at my Payhip store: AUGUSTFROST The coupon code is valid through September 8, 2025. So if you need a new ebook this summer, we’ve got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 265 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is August 22nd, 2025, and today we are considering when a writer should change course. This is a new episode. It's the third and final one in the mindset series that I had hoped to finish in June, but it was a very busy summer, and so I ran quite a few reruns of old episodes over the summer, but today I have time to record a full length episode, so we're going to do that and wrap up this series on mindset that we've been doing this summer. We will also do Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. First up is Coupon of the Week and this week's coupon will get you 25% off ebooks in the Frostborn series at my Payhip store, and that code is AUGUSTFROST. As always, the coupon code and the store links will be available in the show notes for this episode, and this coupon code will be valid through September 8th, 2025. So if you need a new ebook to read as we wrap up summer and head into fall, we have got you covered. Now let's do an update on my current writing projects. I'm pleased to report to that Ghost in the Siege, the sixth and final book of the Ghost Armor series, is out. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Smashwords, and my Payhip store. And with that, my Super Summer of Finishing Things is finally complete because I have finished the Shield War series, the Stealth and Spells trilogy, and now the Ghost Armor series. So now that those three series are done, what is next? Right now my main project is Blade of Flames, the first book in a new epic fantasy series that will be set in the Kingdom of Owyllain from my Sevenfold Sword series and I am 29,000 words into that. My secondary project right now is Cloak of Worlds, the 13th book in the Cloak Mage series, and I am 1,000 words into that. So hopefully we will have Blade of Flames come out towards the end of September and Cloak of Worlds come out towards the end of October, if all goes well. So my plan now that I have only three unfinished series is that the Blades of Ruin series (of which Blade Flames is the first one) will be my flagship series, and I'll do one of those every other month and then the month in between I will alternate between writing a Cloak Mage book and a Half-Elven Thief book. I will continue that schedule until one of those series is completed and then I will start a new one because what I learned through 2024 and the first two thirds here of 2025 is that having five unfinished series at the same time is too many. It's hard to keep up in my head and it makes for a really long wait for the readers between the individual entries in the series. So I'm going to stick to just three from now on and as I said, I'll have a flagship series and then two that I will alternate back and forth between in the months between the releases for the flagship series. So that is probably what I'll be doing for the rest of 2025 and hopefully most of 2026, if all goes well. In audiobook news, recording is underway for Shield of Power, which will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills. I've been listening to some chapters from that. Work has just started by Hollis McCarthy on recording Ghost in the Siege, so that will hopefully be an audiobook before too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing and publishing and audiobook projects. 00:03:29 Main Topic: Mindset Series: Changing Course And now to our main topic, the final episode in our mindset series and we talk about changing course. In previous episodes on this topic, I've talked about some of the practical ways to help with distractions, procrastinating, and managing time wasters. In this episode, I'm going to focus on things that derail writers from a mindset perspective. Today we're going to wrap up this series by talking about mental flexibility, knowing when to change course, and how to make those types of decisions without spiraling out. First, we'll discuss a few reasons why mental flexibility is an important attribute to possess and then provide you with five examples of times it has been important for me in my writing career. First, why is having mental flexibility and the ability to change course important? With how fast things change in publishing, you have to be willing to change strategies or discard a strategy that's not working for you. An example is that many people who are familiar with Amazon ads swear by using Amazon keyword ads. After much ...
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