The Episodic w/ Michael Finney

Author J. Kenton Pierce came on the program to discuss the evolution of his writing career and his newest release, Kiss of Damocles, coming out on Raconteur Press.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker

In this session, we discuss the process of starting production on a film project, including obstacles, craft, style, and the wider world you will operate in as a filmmaker.

Author Shami Stovall joins the program to talk about her writing career and talks about her newest releases, "A Superhero Called Doberman" and "The Last Rift Dragon".

In this session, we discuss author websites, including SEO, digital marketing, and how to begin to put these things together.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker.

Graham Bradley returns to the program to discuss how he developed a sizable catalog of releases while navigating a path in the industry that involves agents and publishers. We also talk about his newest release, Heartlanders from 40 North Press.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker at https://michael-finney.com

In this session, Jonna and Sam from Raconteur Press join the program to go over recent developments in the industry, such as books for boys and men, changes to ACX/Audible/Amazon's audiobook royalties in retail versus pool, and the design update to the book distribution platform, Pubshare.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker at https://michael-finney.com

In this session, we provide project updates, including the Relics anthology, and broadly discuss creativity.More Details

In this session, author Wally Waltner joins the program to discuss his creative career, as well as the anthology collection he curated and Fugue of Fire coming out on Raconteur Press.

In this session, we give project updates and discuss Spring work plans as the year kicks into gear.

In this session, we discuss how filmmaking encompasses a range of creative skills and also requires a collection of mentors for different aspects of the process.

In this session, author Sam Robb joins the program to discuss Pittsburgh, his career in writing as well as working with Raconteur Press, and the new release, A Sense of Murder, which is coming out on Selene Press.

In this session, Jason Dean of the Chicago Steampunk Exposition joins the program to talk about curating the event and the culture that goes along with the community in advance of this year's event.

In this episode, author and filmmaker, David Badurina joins the program to discuss his writing career, AI filmmaking, and the anthology collection he curated "Crashed Landings" that is coming out on Raconteur Press.

In this session, the team from Raconteur Press returns along with Alex from Cirsova to discuss changes at Draft2Digital, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon's support for old Kindle devices.

In this session, we give project updates and discuss the release process as it relates to incorporating kickstarter and other crowdfunding campaigns into your marketing efforts.

In this session, writer Rick Cutler joins the program to talk about how his writing career has developed from crafting short stories to issuing his first novel, "Colt Ostergaard: A Man with a Gun", coming out from Raconteur Press.

We continue the workshop series by digging into the idea of frontloading the filmmaking process by considering preproduction efforts and addressing the script.

In this session, we discuss how to put to work articles, blogs, and essays, as well as the intersection of those formats with short stories at the crossroads of storytelling.

In this session, we discuss the controversy around "Shy Girl", the use of AI for developing books, cover art, and even audiobooks.We also give a rundown of Raconteur Press releases for the month of April.

In this session, author Patrick Silken joins the program to discuss developing the Richard Uprising series, how indie books fit in the publishing industry right now, and his newest release, "Safe Spaces".

In this session, Ken Lizzi joins the program to talk about his writing career, influences on his work, and his newest release, Twilight Galaxy: Dekason, which is being released with Raconteur Press.

In this session, we give progress updates on all of our projects, discuss project development, as well as promotions and marketing for your releases.

In this session, we address inspiration, recognizing the call to filmmaking, as well as some basics of entering the industry and establishing an audience.

In this session, author John C. Wright joins the program to discuss his writing career, philosophy on writing, and his most recent release in the Starquest saga.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker at ⁠https://michael-finney.com

In this session, we cover the basic strategies of editing your writing such as developmental, line, and copy edits as well as working with professional editors and even tools like Grammarly or ProWritingAid.

In this session, we break down short stories - the benefits, structure, craft and obstacles.

In this session, Hans Schantz discusses the Based Books Sale, reviewing last year’s performance as well as what is to come in 2026. We also give some airtime to the Relics anthology project that is currently curating submissions. Lastly, he gives us an update on his next installment of Fields & Energy.

In this session, we discuss project updates, marketing and promotional tactics for books, as well as crowdfunding like Kickstarter campaigns.

In this session, we begin a new series of discussions about pursuing the craft of filmmaking from the indie perspective by outlining the basics of production, format, and distribution.

Author John Van Stry joins the podcast to discuss how he pivoted his career from engineering to writing, as well as to talk about his new release, Lock & Load (Valley of Fire Book 3) from Raconteur Press.

In this session, we discuss what makes for a successful continuation to a story in the form of both sequels and prequels, and how they fail...

In this session, we give updates on our personal projects, discuss the art of querying submissions, and announce the "Relics" anthology of short stories we are curating with the Based Book Sale!

Author Robert Dean returns to the program with updates on the last two years of his writing career and to discuss his newest release, "Red Eye" from Anxiety Press.

In this session, we discussed successes and failings in 2025 as well as plans for 2026. It’s a brand new year for writers to make the turn into authors or for established authors to build their catalog and audience.

In this episode, the Raconteur Press team of owner Ian "LawDog" McMurtrie , illustrator Cedar Sanderson, and senior editor Mike Burke join the podcast to discuss the evolution of their indie mission and what we can expect from the publisher through 2026.Connect with the hosting author and filmmaker at ⁠https://michael-finney.com

The final session from 2025. We talk about accomplishments from 2025 and plans for 2026 as well as the state of traditional publishing and how Indie authors can grow.

In this episode, author Bowen Greenwood joins the program to discuss his publishing career, philosophy on writing, and the release of his newest book, "Seer's Blade".

We're counting down the last days of the year, I figured it was time to get this knocked out since it was unlikely that I would get anything else finished before the end of December.

In this episode, author Tim McKay joins the program to discuss his work as a writer and editor, the philosophy on the craft (which he also teaches), and, of course, his book releases that include audiobook renditions he produces himself.

This episode delves into the logistics of distributing paperback books, e-books, and audiobooks for self-publishing.

In this session, going wide, suspension/terminations on KDP and ACX, wrapping up 2025 projects and looking forward to 2026, storytelling and mythology.

Author Isaac Young joins the program to discuss his approach to writing, his creative career and philosophy, and his audio series "The Last Human".

In this session, we discuss working on writing projects in phases, staging marketing and materials, world-building, and the creative well.

In this session, author and designer Rian Stone joins to discuss how aspects like cover design and typography of your book creates a thorough reading experience for your audience.

This session gets into the economics of working with KDP for hardbacks, specifically in regards to releasing Daily Historical Facts. Dealing with laying out a manuscript with a lot of pictures and coordinating audiobook releases.

Author Graham Bradley joins the program to discuss his writing career and new release, Fossil Force, which is out now on Raconteur Press.

This session hits some news, project development across the media spectrum that starts with the written word, and the release program for the remainder of the year.

This workshop has updates on our work and gets into sourcing and applying beta readers and beta listeners to the material we are preparing for release.

We discuss design and formatting, particularly the staging of releases over time including ebooks, paperbacks, hardbacks, and audiobooks.

In this episode, author David W. Berner joins the program to discuss his career in media and how he became an author, as well as the publishing industry and his new release "Garden Tools" (a poetry collection).