From incorporating popular tropes to social media trends, the SPA Girls have a robust discussion around what they're doing to harness trends to reach more readers and sell more books!

Links mentioned:
Melanie Harlow's Harlot Authors group https://www.facebook.com/groups/630439937160840
The Bestseller Code: Anatomy of the Blockbuster Novel by Jodie Archer and Matthew L Jockers
Theodora Taylor's Substack https://7figurefiction.substack.com/p/better-butter
Lillian Lark https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/spa-girls-podcast-ep510/

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🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

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#WritingCommunity #WritingPodcast

Want to hook your readers from the very first sentence? In this classic replay, story coach Lisa Cron joins the SPA Girls to talk about using brain science to write riveting novels that keep readers turning pages. Lisa is the author of Wired for Story, Story Genius, and Story or Die — all published by Ten Speed Press.

Lisa explains what readers' brains actually crave from a story, why both pantsing and plotting can lead writers astray, and how to build emotional urgency from page one. If you've ever wasted months on pages that go nowhere, this episode will change how you think about story structure.

In this episode we discuss:

• What brain science reveals about why readers keep (or stop) turning pages
• Why plotting and pantsing both fail writers — and what to do instead
• How to build a riveting novel from the inside out
• Creating emotional urgency that hooks readers from the first sentence

About Lisa Cron: Lisa Cron is a story coach, UCLA Extension Writers' Program instructor, and former story consultant for Warner Brothers. Find Lisa and her books at wiredforstory.com

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE SPA GIRLS:

🌐 Website & free self-publishing resources: http://www.SelfPublishingAuthorsPodcast.com

🎧 Subscribe to our weekly episodes on your favourite podcast app — search "SPA Girls Podcast"

💗 This podcast is supported by our amazing Patreon community! ⭐ Join at the $10 tier for access to our private Self-Publishing Mastermind group where we discuss marketing, writing, and answer your burning questions: http://www.patreon.com/spagirlspodcast

#WritingCommunity #WritingPodcast

AI is a hot discussion point in the author community these days, and we're joined again by bestselling author and educator, Alessandra Torre, to help us unpack this topic.

At the outset, we acknowledge that this is a difficult topic to cover. From feeling fear to excitement and everything in between, authors cannot deny the reality of the new technologies arriving (and the "new language" around it which can be confusing.)

So we start by asking how Alessandra approaches AI use from her perspective as an indie author who has written and published more than 35 books over many years, founded Inkers Con and is the CEO of Authors AI. She shares her definition of generative AI, assistive AI and responsibility, and how authors could use it for non-creative assistance.

This is a meaty episode and one we hope listeners will take something from no matter how they feel about the topic and we're grateful to Alessandra for joining us!

About Alessandra
Alessandra Torre is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over 35 novels, and does not use AI to write. However she does have some great ideas for using AI tools to help with the marketing specializing in contemporary romance and domestic suspense, more recently writing as A.R. Torre. She is a prominent hybrid author, speaker, and founder of Inkers Con and the CEO of Authors AI.

https://authors.ai/about/

Resources mentioned:
The Bestseller Code: Anatomy Of The Blockbuster Novel by Jodie Archer and Matthew L Jockers
Fiction Analysis Tool Marlowe AI https://authors.ai/marlowe/
https://www.authorscale.com/

https://app.scribeshadow.com/manage-books

Brave New Bookshelf Podcast https://bravenewbookshelf.com/
Inkers Con https://inkerscon.com/2026-digital-conference/#GetStarted

💗 The SPA Girls podcast is sponsored by everyone who supports us on Patreon. Thank you so much, we love our listeners and our patrons!

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