Mark interviews Lydia and David Sherrer about their company Chenoweth Press and the books and games they produce and publish collaboratively. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode is sponsored by the awesome supporters of this podcast who provide their supprt via Patreon and Buy Me A Coffee. With special thanks to Nikki Guerlain for the recent huge BUY ME A COFFEE donation. In the interview, Mark talks to Lydia and David about: How Lydia's role as a writing is part of a biological imperitiveGrowing up reading everything in sight and also being into Lord of the Rings by the time she was five years oldAlways telling herself stories and writing some of them down over the yearsFinding out that what she studied in college wasn't a good career fit and then following her father's example of being an entrepreneurPublishing her first two books around 2012/2013Lydia and David setting a ten-year plan that by then David would be able to quit his full-time jobDavid enjoying playing Magic The Gathering card game when he was youngGetting invited to a gaming store that was in his town and becoming enamored with itOpening up his own gaming store when he graduated from highschoolThe technical engineering background that David had and how he applied those skills to ads and marketingGetting frustrated with his job at about the time that Lydia was starting to earn good money from her writingDeciding that he wanted to turn his gaming hobby into a career by starting with a spreadsheetHow playing cards are one of the easiest and most flexible mediums to make a game inThe game Cat Magic taking roughly twenty minutes of calculations and figuring to get the first draft of the game startedThe catch-phrase for Love, Lies, and MagicBook 8 in that series releasing March 1, 2024How Cat Magic the novel was the best of Lydia's books that had an existing audience for creating the first game of David's game design careerDavid's role in being an alpha reader and providing Lydia with early feedback on her writingThe Kickstarter campaign they ran to get the Cat Magic game off the groundThe important Give 90% of the time, ask 10% of the time rule with communities you are engaged inThe years of behind the scenes hard work and constantly giving and sharing with the community that built up the success seen in recent Kickstarters80% of their sales coming from direct sales versus sales from retailersStoring 15,000 copies of Lydia's books in their basementHiring a college student to help with some of the menial tasks like packaging up books for direct sale ordersThe various logistics of their shipping operationHiring a nanny to keep their kids close and at home, but allowing them the freedom to get their work done during the dayTheir five-year-old discovering capitalism, entrepreneurship, and wanting to become a part of their businessAdvice that David and Lydia would offer to other couples interested in running a business like thisAnd more . . . After the interview, Mark reflects on the concept of building the kind of life that you want as well as the community-giving focus as an authentic way to connect and offer something of value. Links of Interest: Lydia Sherrer's WebsiteChenoweth PressLydia Sherrer's StoreEP 312 - The Dialogue Doctor Will See You NowEP 266 - "Let's Talk Dialogue with Jeff Elkins," He Said ReflectivelyEP 157 - A Conversation with Jeff Elkins The Dialogue DoctorThe Uncollected Anthology Website Uncollected Anthology Live Author Chat (April 10, 2024 - YouTube)There Ain't No Cure For The Winter Wolf Blues 2024 The Write Stuff StoryBundle (Limited Time Offer)WMG Anthology Workshop August 2024Stark Publishing Support for Authors Via Margins AgencyScribeCount (Mark's Affiliate Link)Mark's YouTube ChannelBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark Reflections How to Access Patreon RSS Feeds 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 City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard Lydia Sherrer is an award-winning and USA Today-bestselling author of snark-filled adventures creating stories you love to love, and hate to leave. She is the author of the bestselling urban fantasy Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus universe of books featuring several series, which have sold over half a million copies world-wide. Most recently she has released the TransDimensional Hunter series with NYT bestselling author John Ringo. Lydia subsists on liberal amounts of dark chocolate and tea, and hates sleep because it keeps her from writing (though she ...
