The 5 Minute Author
Welcome to the award-winning 5 Minute Author, the only short form podcast to get you informed about writing and self-publishing. I’m Sonja Dewing, award-winning creative writer, CEO of Women’s Thriller Writers Association, and happy dog mom to giant puppy Bo. Let’s get started.
Episodes
44 episodes
How to Get Started Writing Your Novel
You have an idea in the back of your mind for a book. Great! But how do you get it from idea to paper?Starting a novel is like embarking on a grand adventure. Are you going to write your ugly first draft and then your next draft an...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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6:34
Mastering Amazon Ads: Top Tips for Authors to Boost Book Sales
Welcome to the first episode of a new year. I’m your host, Sonja Dewing, and today I’m diving into the realm of Amazon Ads and sharing the top tips to help you make the most of this powerful marketing tool.With millions of books availabl...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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7:22
An author’s guide to getting on the news
Today I’m going to explore the strategies and tactics that can help you break through the noise and make it onto the news. A lot of public relations people will tell you that in order to get on the news or be interviewed you really ...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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7:45
Marketing 101 for Authors
Today I’m diving into Marketing 101 for authors. Whether you're a seasoned writer or just starting out, understanding the basics of marketing can make a significant difference in getting your book into the hands of the right readers. It’s going...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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6:26
Using AI for Authors
Let’s talk about AI. Tons of people are talking about it and mostly about how AI is going to negatively affect so many people and industries. I’m really relived that organizations like SagAFtra, Writer’s Guild of America, and the Authors Gui...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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5:47
Recognizing Scam Advertisers
Today, I’d like to talk about scam advertisers. Now, when they take your money they will do what they promised. They’re going to put your book on their website, they’re going share your book to their social media. The problem is nobody is lo...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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7:28
Using Setting As Character
Setting can be an antagonist in the story, standing in the way of your main character or characters in getting what they want. It can also have a wealth of tools your protagonist can use. So your setting can live and breath just like any of you...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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5:18
Imposter Syndrome - How to kick it as a writer
Imposter Syndrome and WritersThis last weekend, I played roller derby with my team, Elevated Roller Derby. You want to talk about imposter syndrome? It hits hard when I'm supposed to be a jammer. I've been skating for 6 years a...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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6:19
Persevere as a Writer!
Today, I want to talk about persevering as a writer. I know it can be hard to keep going, so I want to share some stories. I wrote Toy of the Gods in 2010. I knew back then it wasn’t ready for publishing. So I put it through a criti...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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5:33
Common Self Publishing Questions
Here are some common self publishing questions whether you’re publishing it yourself or handing it off to a company that self publishes for you.I know when I took my book back from my publisher I had to take a step back and look at what ...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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5:04
How To Get Your Indie Book Into Bookstores
Getting your book in the book stores doesn’t have to be complicated. But the number one rule as for most things and for being an author is just don’t be a jerk.Bookstores don’t need your book what they need is to get people in the door a...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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5:21
Writing a Prologue
Before I get into the does and don’ts of prologues remember, this is your book, you can have a prologue if you want to. Just make sure you’re using it to the best possible advantage for your story and your reader....
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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4:33
Working with multiple characters in your story
I have a lot of characters in my Idol Maker series. So how did I and how do you keep all of those characters as distinct as possible so that readers don’t get confused. First, I introduced just a few characters in the first chapters...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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5:18
How to Write a Book Description
On Amazon hopefully someone’s clicking on your book cover and going to your book page. That’s where they’ll find your book description. Is it telling them what they need to hear and is it capturing your readers? How in the world do ...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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6:16
Why and How to Use a Pen Name
My friend and fellow author Dita asked me to talk about pen names. What is the process? Is it beneficial to have several pen names for different genres? I’ll share my own experiences, as well as why other others use pen names.
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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4:54
An Author is a Business
An author is a business (author as business; author mindset)_Last night I was at a startup event pitching my business alongside other new businesses. My pitch is about how I help people with their books from start to finish. I had a lot ...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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4:52
Successfully Write a Novel in November (NaNoWriMo)
It’s week two of November and maybe you were thinking of writing a novel this month but you haven’t started or maybe you’ve only written a hundred words. IT’s ok! You’re not the only one. I’m going to share some ideas on how to get ...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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5:30
Getting the Best Book Cover for your Book
Let’s say you opened up Amazon and you’re looking for the perfect next book to read. You narrow it down to your favorite genre and now you’re scrolling through lines of book cover images to pick something.The book covers are about twice ...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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5:03
An ebook from start to finish
My friend and fellow writer Dita wanted to know about writing ebooks, what are the best tools to write them in and platforms to publish on?Let’s say you want to make your life easier and you just want to publish an ebook and not worry ab...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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5:06
Tips for Writing a Page Turning Thriller
There are techniques for creating thriller books that readers just can’t put down. That page-turning story that they’ll stay up all night to read.Here are the tips to do just that: Page turning books are those that create suspe...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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4:33
Why Write Short Stories
Someone once said to me, I could write a short story, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Well, here are some ideas on what to do with and why to write short stories.First, if you are going to write novels, having a short story that ...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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4:54
Use ARC Readers To Hit Best Selling Lists
Wether you’re writing a short story or a novel, having a list of early readers who are going to leave you a review, also known as a group of ARC readers is essential if you want to hit a best selling list.All of my short stories have hit...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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5:04
Why Write a Novel in November and Resources To Get It Done
You might’ve heard me mention a couple times that I write a novel in November. And I’m not the only one. But why is that?I believe it all started with National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you set up the time in that dark boring...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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5:12
Dictation Apps for your Writing Process
Carl Sagan, the voice for Cosmos, and a prolific writer, would dictate his ideas and stories, and later type them up. Luckily, these days we have Star Trek level technology to take our spoken words and turn them into text. My friend...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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4:43