EP 218 - John Gaspard on Business, Magic, and Writing

<p>Mark interviews John Gaspard about his mystery novels, his decision to move from traditional publishing to indie publishing, and other behind the scenes business decisions about his life in writing.</p> <p>Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a brief personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.</p> <div class="style-scope ytd-video-secondary-info-renderer"> <p><strong><img alt="" height="159" src="https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/110600/FindawayVoicesLogo.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="318" /></strong>You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.</p> <p>In their conversation Mark and John talk about:</p> <ul> <li>John's journey to traditional publishing and the process of getting his rights back and checking out indie publishing</li> <li>Working with an agent</li> <li>Some of the research John has done to find a publisher</li> <li>What a "right of first refusal" clause in a contract is</li> <li>Offering his publisher money to get out of the contract he was in</li> <li>The writing John was doing as full time work that was NOT writing novels</li> <li>Writing a mystery in novel form compared to writing it for the screen</li> <li>John's early introduction to film making that led to film-making projects through high school</li> <li>The two $30K feature films John worked on in the late 80s</li> <li>The combo book/behind-the-curtains podcast John has created and the plan behind wanting to launch it</li> <li>And more...</li> </ul> <p>After the interview Mark reflects on the business decision and investment John made in himself.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Links of Interest:</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Eli Marks Website</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/eli-marks-podcast" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Eli Marks Podcast</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>John's Books <ul> <li><a href="https://www.fastcheapfilm.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Film Books</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">All of John's Books</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://starkreflections.ca/findaway" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Findaway Voices</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/print-ubl/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Universal Book Links Now Include Print</a> (Announcement) <ul> <li><a href="https://books2read.com/hauntedhospitals" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Haunted Hospitals</a></li> <li><a href="https://books2read.com/therelaxedauthor/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Relaxed Author</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://bit.ly/SelfPubCon2021" rel="noopener" target="_blank">SelfPubCon 2021: The Writing Craft Conference</a> (ALLI) - <a href="https://selfpublishingadviceconference.com/speaker/matty-dalrymple-and-mark-leslie-lefebvre/?wpam_id=2341" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Craft of Writing Short Books</a></li> <li><a href="https://storybundle.com/nano" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The 2021 NaNoWriMo Writing Tools Storybundle</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Patreon for Stark Reflections</a></li> <li><a href="https://books2read.com/relaxedauthor/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Relaxed Author</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://payhip.com/b/w7Gg1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buy eBook Direct</a></li> <li><a href="https://payhip.com/b/QK4ks" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Buy Audiobook Direct</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://books2read.com/b/publishingpitfalls" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Publishing Pitfalls for Authors</a></li> <li><a href="https://books2read.com/b/workingwithlibrariesandbookstores" rel="noopener" target="_blank">An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Wide for the Win</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books</a> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">This Time Around (Short Story)</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">A Canadian Werewolf in New York</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Stowe Away (Novella)</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Fear and Longing in Los Angeles</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.panoramaproject.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Fright Nights, Big City</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong>John Gaspard</strong> is the author of the Eli Marks mystery series as well as four other stand-alone novels, "The Greyhound of the Baskervilles," "A Christmas Carl," "The Sword & Mr. Stone," and "The Ripperologists."</p> <p>He also writes the Como Lake Players mystery series, under the pen name Bobbie Raymond.</p> <p>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, they've made more than the films.</p> <p>John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.</p> <br /> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color" /> <p><em>The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of <a href="https://incompetech.com/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">www.incompetech.com</a></em> <em>and is Licensed under</em> Creative Commons: By <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Attribution 3.0</a></p> </div>