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Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Auteur(s): Mark Leslie Lefebvre
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 Perspectives and reflections on the writing and publishing life. Mark Leslie Lefebvre, a writer, bookseller, digital publishing advocate, professional speaker, and publishing consultant explores inclusive and collaborative opportunities for writers and book publishing professionals via interviews, discussions, and reflections about the industry. (Mark's personal website is www.markleslie.ca)Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License Art
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  • EP 434 - Held Over Passion Projects with John Gaspard

    EP 434 - Held Over Passion Projects with John Gaspard
    Sep 18 2025
    Mark interviews John Gaspard about his book HELD OVER: HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATER. Prior to the interview Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode's sponsor: This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report. In the interview, Mark and John talk about: John's appreciation for the honesty of the podcast and one of his favorite episodes, and why he liked itJohn's background and the two different cozy mystery series that he has written and publishedThe Eli Mark's "Behind the Page" podcast that John uses to share behind-the-scenes and brilliantly market the books in audio and other formatsA person with a PhD in "shuffling cards" who was a guest on John's podcastHow John approached his deep love and affection for the 1971 movie HAROLD AND MAUDEThe Minneapolis theatre (Westgate) that helped make this movie a cult classicHow John couldn't have written this book 20 years agoJohn's Popcorn Principals booksThe book HELD OVER: HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATERJohn's philosophy of "I'm writing for me."A bit of the history of the Westgate TheaterThe approach to his writing and recognizing that most of the books are likely not to earn much more than making back the initial money invested into themDeciding which researched bits made it into the bookHow Scrivener was a helpful tool in the writing of the book and various research elementsThe design company that John worked with on this bookThe Kickstarter that John ran related to this book and what it did for him (beyond earning a bit of up front money to help with funding the expensive projectWorking with Bookvault on the production of this bookAdvice John would offer to writers who haven't yet pursued that passion projectAnd more... After the interview Mark reflects on passion projects, networking and connecting with other writers, and the advice to pause/hesitate Links of Interest: John Gaspard's WebsiteEP 218 - John Gaspard on Business, Writing, and MagicManuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsMark's YouTube channelMark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the Building The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation John Gaspard is author of the Eli Marks mystery series and the Como Lake Players mystery series. He also has several other stand-alone novels, including “The Greyhound of the Baskervilles,” “A Christmas Carl,” “The Sword & Mr. Stone” and “The Ripperologists.” He hosts: "Behind the Page: The Eli Marks Podcast." In real life, John's not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less - that's no small trick. He's also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, those books made more than the films. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several greyhounds, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies. The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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    1 h et 7 min
  • EP 433 - Affordable Multi-Voice Audiobook Narration from Spoken with Phil Marshall

    EP 433 - Affordable Multi-Voice Audiobook Narration from Spoken with Phil Marshall
    Sep 12 2025
    In this episode Mark interviews Phil Marshall, the author of the recently released science fiction novel Taming the Perilous Skies and the founder of Spoken, a platform that removes numerous audiobook production barriers for indie authors and small publishers. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by ScribeCount (affiliate link). Spend less time logging in to multiple platforms and crunching numbers, and more time writing and marketing your books thanks to ScribeCount’s handy all-in-one interface. In the interview, Mark and Phil talk about: Phil's background with ConversaBeing trained as a surgeon and then switching to product development and technologyThe novel (TAMING THE PERILOUS SKIES) that was baking in his head since 2021Distributing 130 copies of his novel to early readers at a recent WorldConThe market info of "Dan Brown meets Andy Weir"How the novel and Spoken itself were both inspired by the same thingAn explanation of what Spoken is and how it addresses Phil's desire for multi-cast narrationMulti-voice narration being a speciality of SpokenWhy Phil is releasing the novel in multi-cast narration via Spoken for free in chapter by chapter installmentsSpoken having just completed a full year of beta release and is now available as a fully available productA bit of a walk-thru of how Spoken breaks out different character voices in an automated mannerHow ElevenLabs and Hume are the two partners Spoken uses for their character and narrator voicesThe costs involved in producing these audio booksHow there is no cost for listeners who want to check out how things sound on SpokenPhil's message to authors who are nervous/anxious about A.I.And more... After the interview Mark reflects on a couple of things related to the conversation. Links of Interest: SpokenPhil Marshall's WebsitePhil's Book: Taming the Perilous SkiesEP 432 - Creativity, Connection, and Community with Police Officer and Author A.L. WahdelEP 056 - Balance and Counterbalance with Katie CrossKobo Writing Life Podcast EP 78 (March 2017) - Katie Cross: From Full-Time Author to Full-Time MomSPA Girls Podcast Episode 517 (with Mark) YouTubeMain Podcast Link Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsMark's YouTube channelMark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the Building The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Phil Marshall Bio: I build technologies, organizations, and stories that imagine a fantastic future. From my theory of persistence, which sits at the heart of my sci-fi writing, to pioneering conversational AI that transformed the relationships between doctors and patients, to creating groundbreaking tools that are transforming the relationship between authors and their readers, I thrive at the intersection of imagination and execution. My current project is Spoken, bringing authors and readers together around great audio stories that are made possible by technology. Before Spoken, I co-founded Conversa, a platform that connected patients and care teams using conversational AI. Along the way, I’ve built technologies that span personalization (WebMD), collaborative movie-making (JumperCut), ontology-driven knowledge graphs (OntoLogic.ai), and concept-based health record threading (WellMed). The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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    1 h et 9 min
  • EP 432 - Creativity, Connection, and Community with Police Officer and Author A.L. Wahdel

    EP 432 - Creativity, Connection, and Community with Police Officer and Author A.L. Wahdel
    Sep 5 2025
    Mark interviews A.L. Wahdel, a crime thriller writer brings Toronto’s soul to life in his fiction. They talk about his new book TOO DARK FOR THE LIGHT, about his writing, about police work, and about the importance of community, connection, and creativity.\ Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode's sponsor: This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report. In the interview, Mark and Lance talk about: Lance's 20 years of experience in the police force and how he had planned on a completely different career path by studying media arts and graphic designHow people usually ask police officers if they're seen any crazy stuff, but rarely ask if they've seen amazing thingsThe power of community and connecting and communicating with people"Always be in a constant state of create." A philosophy that drives Lance in his life and writingHow any time a person creates something it's a gift to the world and the universeLance's earliest experience writing lyrics and musicBeing a huge comic fan, Batman in particularThe revelation of "write what you know" in creating his first novel TO DARK FOR THE LIGHTFinding his writing community via numerous podcasts, YouTube, and other online resourcesEstablishing a virtual "mastermind" from the shared writing resourcesDeciding to set his novel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada instead of choosing a "more popular" major US cityUsing Toronto's iconic skyline on the cover to ensure the setting for the book was clearDebating over whether or not to begin with Water Kascade's origin storyThe tricky balance of writing an authentic police procedural novel (ie, ignoring those tedious long boring periods of time in the day to day life of law enforcement)The training of always being alert and aware as a police officer and how that benefits Lance as a writerSome of the things that authors get wrong related to police workThe integrity involved in releasing the book under the pseudonym A.L. Wahdel so as not to take advantage of his role and employerAdvice Lance would offer to other authorsAnd more . . . After the interview Mark shares a few reflections about the desire to help others and the value of creativity in giving to the world. Links of Interest: A.L. Wahdel's WebsiteA.L. Wahdel on Substack: A Constant State of CreateCatching up with Dale L. Roberts (Draft2Digital Self-Publishing Insiders)Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsEP 430 - Rambling Reflections from a Lemons to Lemonade Road TripMark's YouTube channelMark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the Building The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation A.L. Wahdel is an exciting new storyteller in the crime thriller genre, blending gripping suspense with a powerful narrative. A.L. Wahdel writes with energy about the city that shaped his identity. With an unwavering love for its style and complexity, he brings Toronto’s soul to life in every story. Choosing his birthplace as the canvas for his crime series was an intentional act—to honour its essence, celebrate its dynamism, and share the stories that only a true Torontonian writer could tell The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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    1 h et 8 min
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