PODCAST · arts
selfpublishingpodcast's podcast
by Johnny B Truant
Stories turn songs into symphonies, events into memories, and lives into legends. In our crowded world "knowing your story" cuts through the noise so you can make your mark -- whether you want to sell more books, increase profits, or just make a difference. At Sterling & Stone, Story is our business. The Story Studio Podcast is where we explore ways to tell our stories better.
Episodes
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Reader comments and questions (The Smarter Artist Show-38 )
In this episode, Dave digs into the YouTube comments and listener emails. The guys tackle everything from direct-to-reader store migrations and messy Amazon backlists to controversial AI thumbnails. Plus, a deep dive into world-building advice for aspiring writers, looking at cause, effect, and...
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Smarter Artist Show: 37 -- Selling Direct to Readers
Are you struggling to sell books at the big online stores? Perhaps it's time to start selling directly to your readers. Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant talk about their experiences doing just that—the pros and the cons. They compare the tradeoffs between Amazon, KU, and direct stores, then…
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The Smarter Artist Show-36 Mastering TV pilots with Spencer Robinson
Writing a great television pilot is one of the most powerful ways to break into the industry and launch a sustainable, multi-season storytelling career. In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show, we sat down with veteran manager Spencer Robinson of Artwork Entertainment to discuss the nuts and...
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The Smarter Artist Show-35: What Makes a Great TV Pilot?
This week David W. Wright, Sean Platt, and Johnny B. Truant talk about what makes a GREAT TV pilot. They talk LOST, Breaking Bad, Friends, and many more of the best pilots and shows. They also announce an upcoming cohort to learn how to turn your book into a TV pilot. For more details, sign up…
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The Smarter Artist Show-34: Alternate Endings "The Endless"
This week, another unreleased episode of Alternate Endings, the podcast where the guys make each other watch movies and TV shows and then they discuss what they liked, didn't like, and… if they'd change anything. This episode was Dave's movie pick and he chose 2017's The Endless by Justin Benson...
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The Smarter Artist Show-33: Alternate Endings--Ratatouille
This week the guys talk about Pixar's Ratatouille, a movie Dave had actually not seen before. Pixar's love letter to creativity is a must-watch for anyone who tells stories or creates art. Sign up for our Dispatch, a weekly column to inspire your creativity at https://smarterartist.net/dispatch
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The Smarter Artist Show-32: Dave Screws Up the Show
This week's Smarter Artist didn't go to plan. It was supposed to be (fittingly enough) a brainstorming episode. But Dave realized partly into it that his concept sucked. So, back to the drawing board. Instead, the guys talked about the subject of last week's Dispatch, which was what you can get…
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The Smarter Artist Show-31: Printer Has "Issue" With Johnny's Book
In this episode Johnny talks about an incident when he was about to get his Kickstarter book, Terminal, printed. Just one problem … the printer had an issue with the content. And you'll never guess why. Then the story gets even weirder. 0:00 — Dave cold open 3:07 — Johnny's censorship story 10:50…
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The Smarter Artist Show-30 (Alternate Endings: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
This week's podcast is another Alternate Endings, a show we recorded in 2021 and never released… until now, where we each make the others watch a movie we loved. Think of it like Oprah's Book Club, if she chose books to piss off the others in the club. This week's pick was from Sean. And it was…
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The Smarter Artist Show-29: What Should I Write?
This week we responded to a recent conversation I had with a struggling writer. Which led me to ask Sean and Johnny what made them start writing, why they chose the books they wrote as their first books, and how do they decide what to write next. Despite knowing one another for 15 years, this is...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 28 - Alternate Endings: Train to Busan
This week we bring you the third episode of Alternate Endings, the show between the Smarter Artist episodes, where we force each other to watch a show or movie and then talk about it. These episodes were recorded in 2021, then promptly hidden in a vault for reasons unknown, never before aired.…
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The Smarter Artist Show 27: Alternate Endings - Gone Girl
Sean's out of town this week, so time to dig into the archives of unreleased episodes of Alternate Endings. This week we talk Gone Girl, what we liked, what we didn't like, and then compare it to another author who attempted to write their own screenplay with wildly different results. Want more...
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The Smarter Artist Show-26: The Future of Story
There's never been a better (or more difficult) time to be a creator it seems. With existential threats of AI, a population that isn't reading as much, and cost cutting at the studios, what does the future of story look like? In today's episode we look at the landscape of books, film, and video...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 25 - Alternate Endings - Tenet (Bonus Podcast)
Remember when Brandon Sanderson revealed a bunch of books he'd written? Well, this is our version of that. We're revealing a podcast we recorded in 2021 or 2022 called Alternate Endings. A show that we recorded a year's worth of episodes! It's a show where Sean, Johnny, and I (Dave) force each...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 24 - The Books We'd Build Different Now
In this episode Sean, Johnny, and Dave go back through four of their own series (Available Darkness, Karma Police, Cursed, and Robot Proletariat) and ask what they'd do differently now. Not with the stories themselves, but the surrounding architecture, to ensure that each series had a better shot...
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The Smarter Artist Show 23: Hypotheticals 2: Electric Boogaloo
In this week's episode of The Smarter Artist Show, Sean, Dave, and Johnny take turns answering Dave's latest batch of hypothetical questions. Dave also talks about how one of the questions inspired a script idea. Join the guys for an assortment of amusing, weird, and intriguing hypothetical...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 22 - 20,000 Covers, One Lesson.
In this episode, Sean, Dave, Johnny, and guest Matt Stone of 100 Covers talk about the number one thing successful books have in common. Spoiler: it has to do with the cover! Stay tuned to the end, or just go to the show notes, for a limited time offer from 100 Covers. **Special Promotion:**...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 21 - The $800 Movie
This week Sean, Dave, and Johnny dig into the indie horror moment happening right now in Hollywood, two breakout films, Obsession and Backrooms, both made by filmmakers who came up on YouTube with almost no budget. They trace the path from Curry Barker's $800 film to a theatrical release that's...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 20 - The Thing We Haven't Written Yet
Dave opens by holding up five completely filled journals to the camera, all devoted to a fantasy novel he's been building in his head for at least five years. That kicks off an hour-long conversation about the creative project you haven't written yet: the idea that's too big, too personal, or too...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 19 - Your Characters Are Assets. Are You Treating Them That Way?
Saul Goodman was supposed to appear in four episodes of Breaking Bad. He was comic relief. Vince Gilligan read the room, changed his mind, and eventually built a six-season prequel around him. Sean, Dave, and Johnny use that as the on-ramp for a longer conversation about what separates a…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 18 - Write to Impress Your Collaborator
SUMMARY Sean, Dave, and Johnny open with Something Cool, including Sean's announcement that he's finished his first album and wants early listeners before it drops publicly next month. Then they get into the real subject: collaboration. How it starts, how it breaks, how it makes you better when…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 17 — How to Write Fast (With or Without Robots)
Dave spent twelve years writing bits and pieces of stories at a gas station. He never finished one. Sean spent three years nagging him to publish his first book. Now they've written more than 60 novels together. In this episode, Dave and Sean dig into the real reasons writers stall, why AI won't...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 16 - Your Back Matter Is Costing You Readers (And You Don't Even Know It)
Sean, Dave, and Johnny dig into one of the most neglected pieces of real estate in any author's catalog: back matter. The highest-leverage moment you have with a reader is the thirty seconds after they finish your book, and most creators waste it with a generic thank-you and a mailing list link...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 15 - The Smarter Artist Method
Sean Platt built a publishing company that shipped hundreds of titles over 14 years. And somewhere in the middle of all that output, he realized the model was broken. In this episode, Sean, Dave, and Johnny introduce The Smarter Artist Method: the idea that most working creators are stacking...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 14 - Writing Tomorrow When Tomorrow Is Already Here
This week we talk about writing science fiction in an age where sci-fi feels more like science fact. How do you write sci-fi while the world feels like it's falling apart? How do advances in AI and robots change our stories? We also talk about classic sci-fi, like Twilight Zone, and how it dealt...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 13 - Claude Interviews Us
In this episode Sean and I decided to experiment and let the AI Claude ask us questions. It was a surprisingly fun conversation, touching on writer's block, and the story we hated most that the other presented or worked on, how we collaborate on writing books, and (fittingly) whether AI will ever...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 12 - Maturing as Storytellers
Note: This isn't the show we'd planned. Our "useful" episodes will be here in two weeks as we take care of some behind-the-scenes website stuff, and put the finishing touches on something we'll show you in 2 weeks. For this week, we talk about how growing older has changed our writing, and what…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 11 - Making Habits as a Writer
In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show, we talk about making and breaking habits. Specifically making and breaking Dave's habits. Dave has never kept a habit up for more than 30 days. So Sean challenges him to pick a habit and stick to it for that long. What habit will he choose? Will he...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 10 - Editing a Movie Script
In this episode Sean and Dave go over a few pages of Sean's corrections on the rough draft of a movie script they're working on. Dave was rusty having been away from scripts for a bit, as he's been working on other things and the podcast. So tune in and hear some of the things he got wrong and…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 9 - Reclaiming Your 1,000 True Fans
In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show we're talking about reclaiming your 1,000 true fans. Additionally, Sean talks about the best/worst story I've written with him! Four words: "____ _____ on Christmas.*" *longtime listeners can fill in the blanks at home! TIMESTAMPS 5:00 — Dave's Christmas...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 8 - Hypothetically Speaking
In this week's episode of The Smarter Artist Show we're answering hypothetical questions. Would we write in just one genre if we were guaranteed success? If we had to swap bodies with one of our co-hosts for just one day, who would we choose and what we do? What book or series would you like to…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 7 - The Creative Mid-Life Crisis
SMARTER ARTIST EPISODE 7: The Creative Mid-life Crisis This episode is about hitting your creative mid-life crisis. You've been at it, you've had success or are still working toward it, but something's missing. You don't feel the magic like you used to. What happened? In this episode we're going…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 6 - Kill Your Darlings
In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show, we talk about killing your darlings. When do you decide enough is enough on a project? When do you call it quits on a series you're writing? The complexity of selling stories. Do creators owe their audience a proper ending? And Dave horrifies us all…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 5 - Indies Growing Up
THE SMARTER ARTIST SHOW #5 — Indies Growing Up In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show, Sean, Johnny, and I (Dave) discuss the evolution of indie publishing and the importance of maturing as creators. Johnny is back from Kevin J. Anderson's Superstars of Writing Seminars and joins us to…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 4 - Creation Evolved
In this week's episode of The Smarter Artist Show, Johnny is missing in action. Which leaves Sean and I to discuss the controversial topic of AI and how it is affecting creativity and creatives. We explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI. Listen or watch at our website:...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 3 - Our Favorite Fictional Worlds
In this episode of the Smarter Artists Show, we talk about some of our favorite fictional worlds, the art of collaboration in writing, and we touch a bit on everyone's favorite controversial topic — AI. Some of the worlds we discuss are Dune, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Matrix. The Smarter...
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 2 - Rise of the Robots
In this episode of The Smarter Artist Show, we (hosts David Wright, Sean Platt, and Johnny B. Truant) discuss the evolving landscape of storytelling in the age of AI. We also talk about how the loss of cheap paperbacks and the lack of e-book adoption among kids and teens affects the market and is…
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The Smarter Artist Show: Episode 1 - The Band is Back Together!
The original hosts of The Self-Publishing Podcast, Sean, Johnny, and Dave, are back! Join us every Friday in their new podcast, The Smarter Artist Show, your invitation to a no-holds barred night out at the bar with your old writer friends. In the first episode we discuss where we've been for the...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Stories turn songs into symphonies, events into memories, and lives into legends. In our crowded world "knowing your story" cuts through the noise so you can make your mark -- whether you want to sell more books, increase profits, or just make a difference. At Sterling & Stone, Story is our business. The Story Studio Podcast is where we explore ways to tell our stories better.
HOSTED BY
Johnny B Truant
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selfpublishingpodcast's podcast currently has 931 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is selfpublishingpodcast's podcast about?
Stories turn songs into symphonies, events into memories, and lives into legends. In our crowded world "knowing your story" cuts through the noise so you can make your mark -- whether you want to sell more books, increase profits, or just make a difference. At Sterling & Stone, Story is our...
How often does selfpublishingpodcast's podcast release new episodes?
selfpublishingpodcast's podcast releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 931 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
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Who hosts selfpublishingpodcast's podcast?
selfpublishingpodcast's podcast is created and hosted by Johnny B Truant.
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