Bookcast Episode 138: Talking to No One in a Padded Room

I'm back after a week off but I have a  good excuse. 

In this episode I catch up on reading, go down a mystery rabbit hole (including the Lori Loughlin drama and why a series abruptly ended), and share a full breakdown of the Standard of Care soft launch. I also talk about a conversation I had with a longtime reader about why my books have changed, and why I'm writing shorter novels on purpose...and what burnout had to do with all of it.

Books mentioned:

Ms. Lorraine’s Late in Life Love by Taccara Martin

These Heathens by Mia McKenzie

L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood by Anne Soon Choi

Mist and Malice by Rachel Howzell Hall

The Mediator by Robert Bailey

Should We? by Jessica Terry

Sunset Over Napa Valley by Monica Garner

The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton

Bibliotherapy in the Bronx by Emely Rumble LCSW 

Full transcript and show notes: authordlwhite.substack.com

Support the podcast: booksbydlwhite.com/shop | buymeacoffee.com/booksbydlwhite | booksbydlwhite.com/linkinbio

Transcript

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Well,

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hello,

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good people,

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friends,

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Romans,

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countrymen,

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neighbors,

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readers,

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pals,

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friends of the book.

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Welcome back to the book cast where I talk about reading and writing,

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black love,

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and real life as a self-published author of black fiction.

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I have located the podcast studio, aka a closet, in my office.

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Last week, I completely spaced recording the podcast.

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We'll talk about why later, but I'm back.

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I'm here.

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Hi, hello.

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I am DL White.

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I'm an Atlanta-based author, reader, and storyteller.

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If you like this podcast, or the idea of this podcast, if this is your first listen, welcome.

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The best way to support me and people like me is by buying the books.

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Head to booksbydly.com slash shop or you can find a plethora of black fiction novels for your

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Eyes and Ears and Fingers Pleasure.

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So many books there.

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I have lost count.

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I think we're at 25.

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You'll also find print editions on my bookshop.org shelf.

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So if you're supporting indie bookstores and me at the same time,

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you are instantly my favorite person.

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And you get a cookie.

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Like not a real cookie, but like a virtual cookie, like a kudos pat on the back type of thing.

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Because I don't have any cookies for you.

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But

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Today is Sunday, which means it's podcast day.

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It is mid-afternoon, which means it's time to record the podcast.

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I have a refreshing beverage.

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I have a microphone and some... What do they call them?

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Earphones?

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Not earbuds.

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Headphones?

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Headphones, yes.

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I am in my little dark room with my little lamp,

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my cute little cozy setup,

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and I am ready to talk to you about books and other things.

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So let's get going.

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Okay, we are back.

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We are refreshed.

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We are having... Can you hear that?

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A little ice shake thing.

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We are having today...

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It's a little mixture of Minute Maid, Zero Sugar Fruit Punch, ice, and a little peach...

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Clementine Sparkling Beverage.

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The brand is redacted because Beverage Giant doesn't own them,

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but it was delicious and I only wanted to try one and I accidentally bought a case.

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So I have to drink them all.

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It was refreshing and delightful.

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I hope you had something good in your gullet.

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I do have a brief rundown that I'm going to lightly refer to.

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Today may be a bit chaotic,

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but I'm in a good mood,

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and that is just a thing you're going to have to deal with.

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Let's begin with the book report,

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as always,

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because if I'm going to do anything,

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I'm going to do what?

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Read a book.

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I be reading, girl.

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I be reading.

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so my Goodreads goal is to read 150 books in 2026 I am of course going to beat the

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pants off of that goal so once I hit 150 I either raise it or I try to see how far

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above 150 I can get I am 40% toward my goal and we're not at June yet and I'm

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pretty much thinking I might hit 50% by June 1 we'll see June tends to be a bang up

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reader year for me June and September are like

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Crazy, crazy.

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So I have read 60 of 150 books.

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That puts me four books ahead of schedule, 40% toward my goal.

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I am not worried about this at all because your girl be reading.

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So I missed last week and I don't know where I left off in my previous book report.

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So let's just talk about what I have read in March so far.

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So I read Miss Lorraine's Late and Life Love by Takara Martin, otherwise known as T.L.

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Martin, I think.

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Absolutely fabulous.

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Again, her character is 53.

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I just turned 52.

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I don't know about this late in life thing.

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I would be offended, but I really like her.

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So I'm just going to say this is an excellent novel and you should pick it up.

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It is like, it's a nice little bite.

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It is not long at all.

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It's not drawn out.

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There's some spice in it, but really the main character is just a woman doing her darn thing.

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She's got grown kids and she's like, look,

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I am fit I am fine I am in my 50s and I'm just gonna go live and she goes out to

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get herself a little something a little man if you please really excellent you

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should grab it then I read These Heathens by Mia McKenzie because I read Ken and a

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lot of people said this reminds me of These Heathens and I had never read it and so

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I grabbed it

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and I read it and I thoroughly enjoyed it it was it was quite good then I read LA

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Coroner Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood by Ann Soon Choi this was good but

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also it was a little dry it was a little dry I did I did read it for the gossip I

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needed to know the famous people that he had um

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is it worked on is that the term you know Marilyn Monroe RFK and such uh so those

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were good parts um other parts that were like more like bureaucratic and like you

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know politics and them trying to fire him because he'd be telling the truth about

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stuff I was like okay yeah uh more famous people please uh so but I read that that

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was my May read for the 12 lives biography challenge that my good good friend Dr.

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Raymond

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is running.

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And side note,

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Dr.

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Raymond is a host now on the,

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I think it's the New Books Network,

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and he recently interviewed our good,

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good girlfriend,

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Emily Rumble,

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who is a bibliotherapist,

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and her first book is just so delicious.

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The first name, the name of it absolutely escapes me because I wasn't ready to talk about this.

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I'll look it up.

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I'll put it in the show notes.

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But when I tell you

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Dr.

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Raymond be good at this thing like I'm so proud I just listened to him and I'm like

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he's so good at this and um I just I can't wait for him to do more episodes like my

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little brother over there anyway um

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Then I read Mist and Malice, which is Haven No.

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2 by Rachel Housel-Hall, and y'all know how I am about Rachel Housel-Hall.

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If she puts out a book, I'm gonna read it, unless it's fantasy, because I don't read fantasy.

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But all her other thriller-type books, I'm reading them.

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This was really good.

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I really enjoyed this one.

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There's a nice twist in here that I did not see coming, and wow.

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And it kind of makes me wonder, are there more books in this series?

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Because that was quite the twisty-twoo

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Twisty Twoo is not a thing.

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It's just a word that fell out of my mouth.

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And then I listened to The Mediator,

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which is a new series by Robert Bailey,

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Max Ringo,

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book one.

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Let me just tell y'all,

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I have read every book that Robert Bailey has put out,

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even the Bocephus Jones ones that aren't like the best books I've ever read,

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but they're still

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I've read every book Robert Bailey has put out excellent excellent excellent he

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just keeps getting better he is getting on like the Steve Kavanaugh level which I'm

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ready for a new book from Steve Kavanaugh I'm just saying and then I read Should We

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by Jessica Terry I read that yesterday I just really needed to get back into my

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romance bag it was good

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Jessica writes books where I feel like I want to climb in the book and I just want

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to deal with people.

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Remember when I read Disappearing Acts by Terry McMillan and I just wanted to climb

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into the book and just like box everybody?

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Silas and I were having issues.

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Shay and I were having issues.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It was a good read.

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I read it in one afternoon, so it's not a long, drawn-out book with unnecessary

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Filler and Fluff.

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Really, really, really enjoyed it.

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You should grab it.

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You should put it into your face.

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I'm currently reading Sunset Over Napa Valley by Monica Garner.

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This is a women's fiction novel.

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I've actually had an arc of it for forever.

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Totally missed the publishing deadline and page reading it because there's no audio available.

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I absolutely had a temper tantrum about that, but...

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Page Reading It.

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I've got to get that read this week so I can get a review out.

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And then I got an advanced reader copy of a book coming out by Paula Sutton.

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You guys know her from Hill House Vintage.

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We met her on Instagram.

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She's got that beautiful British manor and just gorgeous.

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And she had like a lifestyle book.

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And I didn't realize she was writing like thrillers, like people dying in the books books.

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So I got an advanced reader copy of book two.

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Can't remember the title of it.

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I'll put it in the show notes.

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But I was like, book two?

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I never heard about book one.

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So I went back and I picked up book one,

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which is called The Potting Shed Murder Hill House Vintage Mysteries No.

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1 by Paula Sutton.

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And I'm going to say...

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I have a difficult time when the books are not set in the United States.

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I am annoyingly ethnocentric.

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I have a very difficult time picturing the story when it's not

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when it's not centered in the U.S.,

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particularly when I'm listening to an audiobook and the accent is thick.

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It's just like I want to be interested in it,

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but it is a very animated British person reading it,

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and I just,

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I'm listening so hard to,

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and it's at 1x,

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almost at 0.9,

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and I'm listening so hard to try to

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Capture the meat of the story and it just literally sounds like

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plopsy-wopsy-mipsy-moo,

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mipsy-mopsy-mopsy-moo,

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mommity-moo,

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mommity-mommity-mommity-moo.

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And I was like, I don't, I have no idea what this person is saying.

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So I just, I rewind and then like, now it's saying what?

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And then like, it's kind of slow to get started.

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And I'm either going to page read this one.

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Uh-huh.

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or I am not going to read it because I can't with the audio.

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I just can't get through the accent.

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And I'm sure it's a lovely British accent, but it's so thick, you see.

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It's very thick.

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And I don't know what they're saying.

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I don't know what they're saying.

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So I don't know how book two is gonna go because I can't get through book one.

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I gotta see if book two is narrated by the same person because maybe it's a

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different narrator,

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but the accent is thick and your girl is struggling.

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Yeah, so...

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that is the book report I'm having a ball despite all my rumbling and grumbling I'm

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having a ball so let's talk about what else I am taking in streaming wise TV wise

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so I am big into watching my little mysteries like Hallmark mysteries lifetime

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movie mysteries even like YouTube has caught on to the fact that I love me a

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mystery so they'll like throw in the occasional I don't know TV movie or whatever

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that they show on

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YouTube.

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So last night I was rolling through and this mega church murderer popped up and I

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was like,

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oh,

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this has Malcolm Jamal Warner in it,

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RIP.

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So I pulled it up.

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It's got Malcolm Jamal Warner and Natalie Cole.

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That's how old it is.

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They have flip phones in this movie.

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That's how old it is.

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It is on YouTube.

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It is not the best movie I ever saw, but it was entertaining.

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Like the dude

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Malcolm Jamal Warner plays a pastor that is murdered and his daughter feels like,

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well,

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he dies and his daughter feels like it's a murder.

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He didn't die by accident.

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And,

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like,

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I don't know who wrote this movie,

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but they had,

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like,

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alcohol and cigars in the pastor's house.

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Yeah.

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Pastors don't be doing that.

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I don't know where y'all be going to church, but especially not in the South.

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Pastors don't be drinking and smoking cigars.

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And I know I'm going to get a hundred messages like our pastor does.

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Um...

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that is not a thing that should be happening in a black church I'm just saying and

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then daughter kind of falls apart and she meets a guy and he's like let me help you

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let me guide you through this rough time in life and so they're in front of the

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church doing the do in the backseat of her car and I said

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What kind of church is this?

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What kind of church is these people?

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But she is a pastor's daughter.

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And you know what they say about PKs.

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We are wild or mild.

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I was of the mild variety.

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Very, very quite mild.

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I was not wild at all.

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But I knew some wild ones.

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I knew some wild ones.

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Anyhow, so that was an interesting watch.

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So if like a movie pops up on YouTube and it's like 90 minutes and it's a thriller

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or mystery,

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I'm going to watch it because of

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Why not?

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So another thing I found was this little movie series called Garage Sale Mystery

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and it was a series on Hallmark that started in like 2017 with one movie and then

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they just like kept making like little other movies in the series and

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They made 16 of them,

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and I have somehow watched them all,

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and then I went to find more,

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and the show,

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they don't make them anymore.

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They star Lori Loughlin as Jennifer Shannon.

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She's an antique dealer, and she's an amateur sleuth.

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Now,

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this is my little beef with cozies,

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is that I don't believe that an amateur knows more than a trained detective,

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but also...

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Sometimes the police don't be knowing what they're doing.

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So maybe an amateur could solve a murder.

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But like, I'm also, I'm done with podcasters solving murders.

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I can't do it anymore.

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Anyway,

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so this series was canceled abruptly in 2019 when Lori Loughlin was fired from

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Hallmark after she and her husband were charged with paying money in bribes to get

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their daughters into USC.

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she pleaded guilty she served two months in prison she paid a fine she did

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community service I guess she was like one week away from filming movie 17 when

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everything collapsed the movie never finished it never aired the series didn't

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really get an ending Hallmark pretty much cut ties with her

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and so that was like really the end of that little movie series.

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She has returned to Hallmark in a different series called When Calls the Heart

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which I think is airing in 2027 and fans apparently on Reddit are asking very

(00:15:49):
loudly if Garage Sale Mysteries could come back.

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No word but

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Hallmark has been running marathons of the series,

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which is interesting,

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but like a lot of stuff that's on Hallmark is basically coming from 2013,

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2015,

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2017.

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Everything I'm looking at like on video on demand is like really, really old stuff.

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So anyway...

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So on top of that,

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she and her husband separated,

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you know,

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just a lot of stuff going on that I think Hallmark doesn't want to be attached to.

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I did find the entire film collection is on Amazon Prime I've seen all of them so I

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don't know that it's worth it to me to subscribe to keep re-watching them

(00:16:35):
considering I've been watching them on YouTube forever I've literally seen all of

(00:16:39):
them on YouTube but it did have there are also two other series movie series I

(00:16:45):
guess

(00:16:46):
in the same universe, Fixer Upper Mysteries and Chronicle Mysteries.

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So I'm going to look those up and maybe get my fix there.

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It seems like Hallmark kind of hits its stride with like six or eight of these 90

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minute quote episodes,

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which is like it's a it's like a feature length film,

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but it's a continuing story,

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which I think is a really neat idea.

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But then they dump it like after like 10 of them, which is frustrating because

(00:17:14):
because I'm finding them many years later and trying to get interested in them.

(00:17:19):
So Garage Sale Mysteries is based on a series, which I looked up on Amazon.

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It doesn't look like a series I really want to read,

(00:17:25):
but it's author Susie Weiner created Jennifer Shannon based on her own experiences

(00:17:30):
attending garage sales.

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She would discover merchandise at the sales,

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usually came with unexpected stories,

(00:17:36):
and then she built a whole mystery series around it.

(00:17:39):
So there's four books in that series.

(00:17:41):
and they based their initial movie off of those books and the movie was based off

(00:17:49):
of those four books and then there is a series that spun off of the movies.

(00:17:54):
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say.

(00:17:55):
I've also been watching Mystery 101, which is another Hallmark mystery series.

(00:17:59):
Along the same vein, Mystery 101 is a professor that teaches...

(00:18:04):
basically how to write mysteries it just kind of goes back to the classics and

(00:18:09):
teaches like all like the basics of writing writing a mystery tips and and

(00:18:16):
techniques and her father is a mystery writer and a former mystery professor also a

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great series that sort of ended in a cliffhanger it ended in like 2017-ish and

(00:18:29):
Hallmark canceled it and so very frustrating so both shows

(00:18:34):
have me realizing how little I have actually read in the mystery vein.

(00:18:39):
Like I haven't read any of the old, like the Agatha Christie's and the Arthur Conan Doyle.

(00:18:45):
I don't, I don't, I don't,

(00:18:47):
Arthur Conan Doyle is...

(00:18:49):
I can't get Shakespeare out of my head.

(00:18:50):
It's not Shakespeare.

(00:18:51):
It is Sherlock.

(00:18:53):
He's Sherlock, right?

(00:18:54):
I'm not looking that up.

(00:18:55):
I haven't read any of the old classic mysteries that I think a lot of current

(00:19:01):
mystery writers base their books off of,

(00:19:04):
but mysteries have tropes.

(00:19:07):
There's canon.

(00:19:08):
There's...

(00:19:09):
I mean, there's just stuff I have...

(00:19:11):
never touched.

(00:19:12):
Am I interested in reading Agatha Christie?

(00:19:15):
Not really,

(00:19:15):
but I also would like to watch a mystery and be like,

(00:19:19):
okay,

(00:19:20):
yeah,

(00:19:21):
that's a classic spinoff of blah,

(00:19:26):
blah,

(00:19:26):
and I just right now have no idea.

(00:19:29):
I'm just sitting down and writing random mysteries because I read a lot of mysteries and

(00:19:36):
Thrillers, domestic suspense, psychological suspense, thrillers, etc.

(00:19:43):
And I'm trying to emulate what I'm seeing on the page and what interests me as a

(00:19:48):
mystery reader,

(00:19:49):
much like I did with romance without reading a whole lot of romance classics.

(00:19:54):
I did remedy some of that,

(00:19:55):
and so I feel like I need to maybe go back and do that mystery-wise,

(00:19:58):
and perhaps I have given myself a summer project.

(00:20:02):
Honestly,

(00:20:04):
All of this mystery consumption, it's not really comfort TV.

(00:20:09):
I mean, it is because I find it interesting.

(00:20:12):
I would rather, you know, watch a mystery movie than watch a romance movie, to be honest.

(00:20:17):
But it's also research.

(00:20:19):
The next Young Investigations novel is coming probably in the fall and studying how

(00:20:25):
mystery plots are structured.

(00:20:27):
What the tropes are,

(00:20:28):
how these stories move is exactly the kind of prep work that I need to be getting

(00:20:33):
into.

(00:20:34):
I'm getting involved with that.

(00:20:35):
I'm getting involved, as Ryan Coogler would say.

(00:20:38):
So calling that what it is,

(00:20:40):
we're just going to call it research and then immerse ourselves in things and get

(00:20:44):
addicted to them.

(00:20:45):
My current faves are winding down for the season.

(00:20:49):
Tracker, which is a Sunday night favorite.

(00:20:52):
I'm all about Tracker.

(00:20:56):
Sheriff Country which airs on Friday night I tried to get into Fire Country and as

(00:21:00):
much as I love Fire and Backdrop I just cannot get into that show I just it is not

(00:21:04):
interesting to me at all but I love Sheriff Country and then Elsbeth I am all

(00:21:08):
caught up shows I felt behind on I just kind of lost interest in but I might

(00:21:15):
Finish them up over the summer or before the new seasons start in the fall.

(00:21:19):
The Pit, I'm like four episodes, three or four episodes behind on The Pit.

(00:21:24):
I never watched the season finale.

(00:21:26):
It just comes on so late on Thursday night.

(00:21:28):
Is it nine or ten?

(00:21:29):
I think it comes on at nine, and by nine I'm nodding.

(00:21:32):
And then I try to set aside one day on the weekend to catch up on everything, but...

(00:21:42):
I just have so much going on over here I'm getting a text nobody talks to me until

(00:21:48):
the mic comes on so nobody has talked to me all day and I've got two texts after I

(00:21:55):
turn this mic on The Pit,

(00:21:56):
Will Trent,

(00:21:57):
Matlock they're not gone just parked I'm gonna binge them I still never finished

(00:22:02):
Reasonable Doubt like I have

(00:22:04):
I got a lot in the hopper,

(00:22:05):
so I am never bored I always have something in the hopper I can jump to So that's

(00:22:11):
that for TV So let's get into the meat of the story Our writing and our publishing

(00:22:17):
update I'm not writing anything I'm not editing anything I'm not recording any

(00:22:22):
books,

(00:22:23):
finally And so the focus really has been entirely on Standard of Care launch And

(00:22:29):
this is basically coming into pieces for me

(00:22:33):
Here's a full breakdown.

(00:22:36):
For the timeline, I wanted to write something new for Black Romance Book Fest.

(00:22:41):
Sometimes I don't even apply for a book convention because I don't have anything new to sell.

(00:22:49):
I get to a point,

(00:22:50):
if it's been more than two years since I published,

(00:22:52):
I figure everybody who is going to buy my books has already bought them and I don't

(00:22:56):
want to be standing there

(00:22:58):
not selling anything while everybody else is selling out.

(00:23:01):
I'm very self-conscious about that.

(00:23:03):
So I also thought it would be fun to have something new to sell.

(00:23:07):
I got this idea in like January and then I was like, yeah, let's do it.

(00:23:11):
Or maybe December.

(00:23:12):
I think it was like late,

(00:23:14):
late 2025 after I read the Love and Scrubs series and I wanted more and I asked for

(00:23:21):
more and basically people say,

(00:23:22):
do it yourself.

(00:23:23):
And I was like, what?

(00:23:25):
Fine.

(00:23:25):
Okay.

(00:23:27):
So I wrote one.

(00:23:28):
So I spent like last fall-ish kind of planning and thinking about it.

(00:23:32):
And then in January,

(00:23:33):
just kind of jumped into really planning it out because I would not have a lot of

(00:23:37):
time to write it.

(00:23:39):
So wrote,

(00:23:40):
wrote,

(00:23:41):
wrote,

(00:23:42):
got through it,

(00:23:44):
did a really quick session of beta reads,

(00:23:47):
like literally only send it to like five people for betas.

(00:23:50):
Just like, is this dumb or do you like it?

(00:23:53):
Does it make sense?

(00:23:54):
So it went to betas like end of March-ish,

(00:23:57):
mid to end of March,

(00:23:59):
and then it went to the editor in early April.

(00:24:02):
We did two rounds of edits.

(00:24:05):
I added a little bit here, a little bit there, some clarifying from my betas.

(00:24:10):
Like this is just at breakneck speed because I needed it back by May 1 so I could

(00:24:15):
finish my edits.

(00:24:17):
and get it up on my website and have a final copy so I could start recording the

(00:24:23):
audio,

(00:24:24):
which I also decided I wanted to drop on May 15th,

(00:24:29):
which was my soft launch date,

(00:24:32):
which is the date it's live on my website.

(00:24:36):
So I also did review copies because I knew I didn't have time for ARCs, advanced reader copies.

(00:24:43):
I just did review copies and I offered that to my

(00:24:47):
Newsletter mainly and then I opened it up to like close friends on Instagram

(00:24:52):
because I decided I only wanted to send out 50 and I figured that would give me

(00:24:57):
like a good head start to get some people to read it post some reviews between now

(00:25:02):
and like June 15th and like just give it a good head start I think that's something

(00:25:07):
that I haven't really done in the past is like really open the floodgates and just

(00:25:13):
like give out so many

(00:25:17):
Free copies of the book and ask people, if you like it, please leave a review.

(00:25:21):
Reviews do help other readers decide whether or not they want to read the book.

(00:25:25):
So I did that.

(00:25:26):
Those went out actually right before soft launch.

(00:25:30):
And then I have the retail launch scheduled for May 29th.

(00:25:34):
So the book is already loaded up on the major retail sites,

(00:25:38):
Barnes & Noble,

(00:25:39):
Kobo,

(00:25:40):
Apple Books,

(00:25:41):
Google Play,

(00:25:42):
Everand,

(00:25:44):
and Amazon and so sort of in between the time that I was I had the like the final

(00:25:51):
draft and I was like just making like itty bitty changes here and there and I had

(00:25:57):
the draft I was ready to send out for review copies the draft I was ready to send

(00:26:01):
out for the soft launch which happened on Friday the 15th I decided I was gonna go

(00:26:07):
ahead and start recording the audiobook and I think

(00:26:11):
I recorded,

(00:26:12):
I started like maybe on a Friday afternoon and I finished the following Wednesday

(00:26:21):
night So it's 15 chapters plus front matter and back matter Your front matter is

(00:26:28):
going to be your introduction,

(00:26:31):
your content warnings,

(00:26:33):
your author's notes

(00:26:36):
Dedication, etc.

(00:26:38):
And then your back matter is going to be your acknowledgments and anything that

(00:26:43):
comes,

(00:26:44):
you know,

(00:26:44):
you're closing,

(00:26:45):
you're opening.

(00:26:46):
This has been standard of care produced by DL White, your copyright and all that stuff.

(00:26:52):
So it was like 22 files that I recorded and

(00:26:57):
I record in Audacity I actually just went through this entire process for a friend

(00:27:02):
of mine because she was asking my like what equipment do I have and what process do

(00:27:08):
I go through and I was like okay I've been doing too much but so I record in

(00:27:12):
Audacity export and save all those and then I send it through a program called

(00:27:17):
Authonic A-U-P-H-O-N-I-C

(00:27:21):
which kind of cleans the audio it removes background noise like right now my air

(00:27:26):
conditioning just turned on but it's gonna clean that sound so I send it through a

(00:27:33):
phonic it takes everything off except for music and voice for the most part like I

(00:27:43):
think in standard of care you can still hear like

(00:27:47):
my neighbor on a four-wheeler revving up and down the street.

(00:27:51):
But I was like,

(00:27:52):
I'm not rerecording these because I'm tired and I don't have time and this takes a

(00:27:56):
lot of effort.

(00:27:57):
So I do aphonic and then I picked up this new program that I am testing that I'm

(00:28:02):
probably going to buy called Isotrope RX 11,

(00:28:07):
I think,

(00:28:08):
which is kind of my new best friend because it cleans the audio even more.

(00:28:14):
It bumps up the

(00:28:16):
warmth in the sound and it gives you,

(00:28:19):
if you send it through the repair assistant,

(00:28:21):
it gives you suggestions on what should raise and what should lower.

(00:28:25):
I first send it through mouth declick because I am a person where mouth sounds will

(00:28:30):
make me rage.

(00:28:32):
So when I hear myself getting sounds,

(00:28:35):
I want to cut those out and I can't listen to every second of the audio.

(00:28:40):
So it will listen and it will eliminate most of the mouth clicks, mouth sounds, smacking.

(00:28:46):
etc so it's got a really great program you can bump up the threshold to catch most

(00:28:51):
of that and then I send it through the repair assistant and it's like you know it

(00:28:55):
makes this warmer and this cooler and I just I need audio to sound I need it to

(00:29:04):
sound like an audiobook and not like a woman

(00:29:08):
in an empty room in front of a microphone.

(00:29:11):
Like this,

(00:29:11):
you know,

(00:29:11):
this room is padded,

(00:29:13):
but,

(00:29:14):
you know,

(00:29:14):
and of course I could do a better job with that,

(00:29:16):
but also I can use technology to my advantage to manipulate the audio so that it

(00:29:23):
has like a really warm,

(00:29:25):
intimate sound.

(00:29:26):
So send it through both those programs.

(00:29:29):
And then I spent Thursday basically listening to all of them.

(00:29:34):
Then I'll throw it back in Audacity and

(00:29:36):
Remove Certain Things Like Breaths That Are Annoying Really Long Pauses I Know I

(00:29:41):
Didn't Catch All Of Them But I Caught Most Of Them And Then I Added My Intro And

(00:29:47):
Outro Music And Saved Everything And Then I You Have To Save It At Like 192

(00:29:56):
Something Something BPM Not BPM Something 192 Something

(00:30:02):
for BookFunnel to be able to take it.

(00:30:04):
So I had to send everything back through so it could be saved at $192, whatever.

(00:30:10):
I don't know.

(00:30:11):
I can't remember.

(00:30:12):
So I do not submit my books to Audible because they don't pay worth a crap and I

(00:30:19):
got tired of it.

(00:30:20):
And I know most people listen through Audible, but I'm just not doing it anymore.

(00:30:25):
I just, I can't.

(00:30:27):
Plus, their QC process is impossible and I just wasn't going to spend

(00:30:32):
hours trying to manipulate these files so that they would pass Audible slash ACX QC standards.

(00:30:41):
So if it passes BookFunnel, we are good to go.

(00:30:45):
So it passed BookFunnel, got it all up there.

(00:30:48):
That meant I could send it out to people and people could buy it direct.

(00:30:53):
That is fine with me.

(00:30:55):
And then

(00:30:57):
Then once it has past BookFunnel, it's pretty much smooth sailing.

(00:31:01):
I put it up at Voices by InAudio,

(00:31:05):
which is formerly Findaway Voices,

(00:31:07):
but they got bought by Spotify,

(00:31:09):
so they spun all that off so they weren't competing with themselves.

(00:31:13):
And then once you load it up there, you tell it where you want to distribute

(00:31:19):
to all the other audio networks, including Audible and ACX, if that's where you want it there.

(00:31:25):
And so it's now beginning to show up in all of the places.

(00:31:29):
Kobo, I think I named them all earlier.

(00:31:33):
It's on Kobo, Lero.fm, Sherp, Nook, Everand.

(00:31:40):
It's out there.

(00:31:41):
It's out there.

(00:31:42):
So

(00:31:43):
That's kind of like what I've been doing and last week I got so caught up in

(00:31:48):
getting the audio recorded and edited and saved and I meant to do the podcast but

(00:31:55):
because I had been in the booth all day I kind of felt like I had already done the

(00:31:58):
podcast I'd been recording all day and I just I was like laying in bed got all my

(00:32:02):
stuff sat out in the garbage took a shower washed my hair twisted it up

(00:32:08):
I am laying in bed I am watching something random And I'm like,

(00:32:12):
wasn't I supposed to do something today?

(00:32:14):
I forgot I think I,

(00:32:15):
like,

(00:32:15):
I got everything done The garbage is out And dishwasher's empty What was it?

(00:32:21):
What was it?

(00:32:21):
What was it?

(00:32:22):
And then,

(00:32:22):
like,

(00:32:23):
9-0-8 I was like,

(00:32:25):
oh,

(00:32:25):
crap I didn't do the podcast Oh,

(00:32:30):
well So,

(00:32:31):
um So,

(00:32:33):
here we are So,

(00:32:34):
that is my long...

(00:32:38):
drawn out intro to like this whole process of me doing too much.

(00:32:43):
So anyway,

(00:32:44):
I sent 42 copies of the book to my mailing list subscribers who opted in for a free

(00:32:50):
copy in exchange for a review.

(00:32:52):
I also opened it up to my close friends on IG.

(00:32:54):
I did not do a traditional art process.

(00:32:58):
There just wasn't time.

(00:32:59):
This approach actually seemed to work fine.

(00:33:02):
Got my audio voiced, recorded, edited, uploaded.

(00:33:09):
Sometimes I really do call myself lazy,

(00:33:12):
but also I do things like record and edit and QC and master an audiobook in like a

(00:33:21):
week and get it up for sale.

(00:33:25):
Sometimes I do things like in November decide I'm going to write a new book to be

(00:33:31):
out before Black Romance Book Fest.

(00:33:32):
Also, by the way, cross your fingers that my print copies make it.

(00:33:36):
They're currently printing

(00:33:38):
so I do hope to have a few print copies of Standard of Care at Black Romance Book

(00:33:44):
Fest so cross your fingers and pray real hard light a candle to your favorite deity

(00:33:49):
that they arrived to me in time you know I just sometimes I gotta put things in

(00:33:54):
perspective and also if I wanted to I would I wanted to and sometimes I don't want

(00:34:02):
to so I don't

(00:34:04):
Also, during launch week, we had a Stuff Your Airbuzz event.

(00:34:08):
I gave away Calculated Risk, which is another author-narrated audiobook.

(00:34:15):
I gave away 764 copies of that book.

(00:34:19):
Imagine if those were actual sales.

(00:34:21):
Just imagine.

(00:34:23):
And then I had two book funnel events running alongside the launch.

(00:34:29):
I gave away copies of, I think, Brunch at Rubies and Drinks at Minx.

(00:34:34):
And then I also gave away a copy of one other book.

(00:34:38):
Was it Missing Persons?

(00:34:39):
I think there was like a mystery romance giveaway.

(00:34:43):
And so I'm busy, busy.

(00:34:45):
So May sales so far...

(00:34:47):
are a little inflated than normal because I had a lot going on.

(00:34:52):
I got a new book out.

(00:34:53):
I gave away some stuff,

(00:34:55):
which we always hope will interest new readers in our material and they will come

(00:35:01):
back and buy other things.

(00:35:03):
I have sold so far 20 copies of the e-book of Standard of Care, three copies of the audio.

(00:35:11):
Of course, I gave away 764 free downloads of Calculated Risk, and then I moved

(00:35:17):
Leslie's Carlin Dye, which is perma-free in e-book and audio.

(00:35:20):
If you don't have it, you should grab it.

(00:35:22):
And then Olympia's on King Street, which is my gift to people who sign up for my newsletter.

(00:35:30):
And then Anonymous, which is also, it's perma-free.

(00:35:34):
It's just a free exclusive that I offer.

(00:35:37):
I'm also noticing a lot of people picking up fan fiction through BookFunnel.

(00:35:43):
I have links on my website.

(00:35:44):
under freebies a fanfiction site like Kate same time next week um Celebrity you

(00:35:52):
guys have all been picking up copies of my fanfiction which I pulled from the

(00:35:57):
actual fanfiction site and formatted them for ebooks you could add them to your

(00:36:01):
Kindle or whatever and read them at your leisure and so um

(00:36:06):
Interesting.

(00:36:08):
I'm actually very pleased at that because that's why they're available so people

(00:36:12):
can read them if they just want more of things I write when I'm not writing black

(00:36:18):
romance.

(00:36:19):
Also, so let's see, May revenue across my total catalog is $122.95.

(00:36:24):
Okay.

(00:36:27):
I don't have any ads been reflected yet I did just start ads I have two like five

(00:36:33):
dollar a day ads running and they're gonna add for run for like maybe the next 10

(00:36:36):
days so we'll see how much I spend versus how much I make I am so far okay I feel

(00:36:47):
like people really think that I'm more popular than I am that I make more than I do

(00:36:56):
But also this is the soft launch and the book is only available at my website,

(00:37:01):
which means you have to buy it and get it through BookFunnel and send it to your

(00:37:04):
Kindle and your notes don't save and etc.

(00:37:08):
and so on.

(00:37:09):
We'll see what sales look like once we have the retail launch on May 29th,

(00:37:15):
which is also day one of Black Romance Book Fest.

(00:37:19):
I won't have a podcast that weekend,

(00:37:21):
but I will come back and sort of recap Book Fest and then we can talk about sales

(00:37:27):
overall.

(00:37:28):
I am actually almost ready for Black Romance Book Fest and went through my pre-orders yesterday.

(00:37:33):
the books aren't signed or anything yet but I did kind of separate those out and so

(00:37:37):
now I can go through and load up my square site with the number of books that I

(00:37:42):
will have at the table again cross your fingers pray that my copies of Standard of

(00:37:49):
Care arrive on time

(00:37:51):
So I am going to have mostly my standalones.

(00:37:55):
The series don't really move when I do an event like this.

(00:38:01):
I am going to take some extra copies because there are some people that said,

(00:38:04):
hey,

(00:38:04):
I want this book,

(00:38:06):
but I missed your preorder,

(00:38:07):
whatever.

(00:38:08):
So I'm going to have those sort of in the cut, but not on the table.

(00:38:13):
I am going to be pushing my standalones a lot and my more recent novels and of

(00:38:19):
course The Neverless which is like my baby flagship and The Rubies because I did

(00:38:27):
just order some more hard copies of those like Brunch at Rubies is like a staple

(00:38:32):
for me I'm never not going to be selling Brunch at Rubies

(00:38:35):
Dinner at Sam's, Drinks at Minx.

(00:38:38):
So I'm ready and I'm very,

(00:38:40):
very excited for Black Romance Book Fest and I have Wine with Writers.

(00:38:45):
And then I have another event coming in September that I still haven't been announced for yet.

(00:38:49):
And then I am looking at doing,

(00:38:51):
I might do Stelville Book Festival in the fall,

(00:38:55):
but that hasn't,

(00:38:56):
they haven't even started setting up for that.

(00:38:58):
So lots of stuff going on over here.

(00:39:01):
Busy, busy, busy.

(00:39:03):
So here's

(00:39:06):
is a thing I am thinking about lately.

(00:39:10):
I had a chat with a friend of mine,

(00:39:14):
and I hope she does not mind me sharing about this conversation.

(00:39:17):
I'm just going to share bits and pieces,

(00:39:19):
but she's a longtime reader,

(00:39:21):
really one of my most ardent readers.

(00:39:26):
She has read everything I have written, and my first 10 books were expansive, like long.

(00:39:35):
Like 97,000 words,

(00:39:37):
80,000 words Brunch at Rubies is 120,000,

(00:39:41):
like 119,000 words A Thin Line is 97,000 words I think Curl and Die is like

(00:39:47):
80-something thousand words The Never List is 90-something,

(00:39:52):
92,000 words I think that after I wrote The Never List,

(00:39:57):
I kind of fell into some burnout And I just got tired

(00:40:05):
because, not to have comparisonitis, but I'm just watching other people absolutely take off.

(00:40:12):
And I don't think it's for lack of talent,

(00:40:16):
but I'm not writing the same books that they are,

(00:40:20):
and I'm not catching the same eyes,

(00:40:25):
and I'm just not in the same caliber as they are.

(00:40:29):
I'm not

(00:40:31):
I'm not doing as much work as they are but also they're not doing as much work as I

(00:40:36):
am like really like just to catch eyes and like just to be out here you know

(00:40:42):
releasing books I just felt like I was putting forth a lot of effort and not seeing

(00:40:50):
a return on my effort and my investment and I got really burnt out mostly by

(00:40:57):
because it was the height of the pandemic and my roommate had cancer and my dad had

(00:41:01):
cancer and I just could not do everything all at once.

(00:41:04):
And it was two years before I published another book.

(00:41:07):
And then I put out Hey Lover at the very, very, very end of 2022.

(00:41:11):
And it felt good to just write something short and fun and sort of loose

(00:41:19):
expectation of writing a long,

(00:41:22):
drawn out,

(00:41:23):
sprawling Southern...

(00:41:27):
drama.

(00:41:29):
I just liked the feeling of writing something that's like 60, 65,000 words.

(00:41:34):
I'm not setting anything up for a new series.

(00:41:37):
It's just like fun.

(00:41:38):
I just wanted to do something fun and different.

(00:41:41):
I had never written a nerd before.

(00:41:44):
And so my friend was asking,

(00:41:47):
hey,

(00:41:47):
you know,

(00:41:48):
first of all,

(00:41:49):
do you think that if you ever got a contract with a big publisher,

(00:41:53):
would you take it?

(00:41:54):
And I was like, I don't know.

(00:41:55):
It would depend on the contract.

(00:41:56):
there's a lot of crap happening with TradPub right now I think it would have to be

(00:42:01):
the right kind of deal for the right kind of money and the right kind of

(00:42:07):
stipulation like I would have to still be able to write indie because and not write

(00:42:12):
indie but publish indie because there's certain books that I want to be able to

(00:42:17):
write and put out under my name and my own power with my cover in my own timing I

(00:42:24):
don't want to wait

(00:42:25):
a year and a half for something to come out.

(00:42:28):
Giving up that kind of control over my writing career would be difficult for me,

(00:42:34):
and so it would definitely have to be the right deal.

(00:42:38):
I do have an author friend that's always asking me when I'm going to submit, and I don't know.

(00:42:43):
It's just not a thing that I'm burning inside to do.

(00:42:48):
I also look at things from their perspective of

(00:42:55):
Would I Sign Me If I Were Them?

(00:42:57):
And I look at my sales and I look at my reach and I look at the number of people

(00:43:04):
that pay attention when I release a book and it's low.

(00:43:09):
It's low and I'm the type of person that I have to be realistic.

(00:43:13):
I can't really be delusional about

(00:43:15):
things like that I can't hype myself up to be like yeah um they'll love my work and

(00:43:21):
they should take me I think I'm a talented writer I don't think I'm the best I

(00:43:27):
don't think I'm the best thing out there I'm not the type of person like you can't

(00:43:31):
tell me nothing about my work I am so good like every time I publish a book I start

(00:43:37):
second guessing like should I put more there and

(00:43:41):
Should I,

(00:43:41):
you know,

(00:43:42):
should I have added a couple chapters here and,

(00:43:44):
you know,

(00:43:44):
maybe there should be,

(00:43:45):
you know,

(00:43:45):
more like I love,

(00:43:47):
love,

(00:43:47):
love Standard of Care.

(00:43:49):
But if I were publishing this in August instead of May, this book would look much different.

(00:43:55):
It would be longer and it would be, you know, more expansive.

(00:43:59):
I did the very best I could to get this book out before Black Romance Book Fest so

(00:44:06):
I could have something new on the table.

(00:44:08):
And I am happy with how it came out and

(00:44:11):
If I had the chance to revise this book and add it,

(00:44:13):
I don't know what I would add,

(00:44:14):
but I do know that this book would look much different if I was still writing it

(00:44:18):
and if it was coming out in September as opposed to May.

(00:44:22):
I don't know.

(00:44:23):
I have to be realistic when it comes to that.

(00:44:25):
I'm not querying.

(00:44:28):
I almost feel like it would have to be a situation where it fell in my lap.

(00:44:33):
you know and not that like I'm just sitting around waiting for a miracle to happen

(00:44:37):
but I just feel like if it was meant for me it would be chasing after me it's not a

(00:44:42):
thing that's chasing after me right now it's not like like I know people who know

(00:44:46):
editors I know editors and agents and it's you know they read me and they're like

(00:44:52):
okay it's not it is

(00:44:58):
I don't feel like I publish books that grab that kind of attention.

(00:45:03):
They are good.

(00:45:04):
I have great readers.

(00:45:06):
I have people that snatch my books up on day one,

(00:45:09):
and I am so super,

(00:45:11):
super grateful,

(00:45:12):
but I haven't broken containment,

(00:45:15):
I don't think.

(00:45:15):
And until that happens for me, I don't see me chasing something like that.

(00:45:22):
She also just mentioned that

(00:45:24):
You know,

(00:45:24):
my past novels have really been more sprawling and more detailed and more side

(00:45:31):
characters and,

(00:45:32):
you know,

(00:45:32):
more backstory.

(00:45:34):
And I feel that.

(00:45:36):
I feel that.

(00:45:37):
And, you know, maybe at some point I will have a more sprawling book.

(00:45:41):
I feel like, you know, I've been trying to write Powder Lake 4 for some time.

(00:45:46):
And I'm just tired.

(00:45:50):
I'm really, I'm tired.

(00:45:52):
And

(00:45:53):
I'm trying to avoid burning out I'm trying to keep publishing so that readers don't

(00:45:59):
forget my name and my face and my books out here and right now I am having a load

(00:46:05):
of fun writing new stuff in new sub-genres like mystery like medical and I just

(00:46:13):
feel like I don't want to put so much effort into a different sub-genre

(00:46:21):
I don't want to put 97,000 words into a mystery,

(00:46:24):
97,000 words into a medical romance for it to flop.

(00:46:27):
It's different like when the stakes are low and it's only standard of care is like

(00:46:32):
62,

(00:46:33):
63,000 words.

(00:46:34):
That's fine.

(00:46:35):
You know, it's doing fine for, you know, a novel of this caliber.

(00:46:42):
It does have a lot.

(00:46:43):
It has a lot going on.

(00:46:44):
There's a lot of professional ethics and Boston.

(00:46:48):
Employee Dynamics and two people who work for a hospital that absolutely should not

(00:46:54):
date but can't resist each other and somebody is trying to get somebody else fired

(00:46:59):
and,

(00:47:00):
you know,

(00:47:01):
a very rich person that's trying to exert influence over the powers that be at this

(00:47:06):
hospital and everybody is like basically licking boots and,

(00:47:15):
you know,

(00:47:15):
I had a lot of fun doing it.

(00:47:17):
And I just want to keep having fun writing these novels And if they have to be

(00:47:23):
60,000 to 70,000 words for me to keep having fun and keep putting them out,

(00:47:28):
that's what they're going to be So,

(00:47:30):
like,

(00:47:31):
can I be conscious of hearing from a longtime reader that they feel like my books

(00:47:36):
have changed?

(00:47:37):
Absolutely Absolutely I know they've changed But also,

(00:47:44):
I'm also cognizant of what's going on inside my brain

(00:47:48):
and inside my body and knowing that I work a full-time job where things are being

(00:47:52):
added to my plate daily.

(00:47:55):
My reading and my writing are what I do when I am not at Beverage Giant.

(00:48:00):
They are what I do to decompress.

(00:48:02):
They are what I do to de-stress.

(00:48:04):
They are what I do to exercise those demons.

(00:48:08):
The stuff that's happening right now in politics,

(00:48:11):
you never know what might come out in a novel because...

(00:48:15):
I be putting it out there when they cut off DEI and I wrote Grumpy Valentine and

(00:48:21):
the heroine in my novel is writing like a DEI platform because how dare you like

(00:48:29):
that is how I exercise those demons that is how I kind of push out my frustrations

(00:48:37):
about things that are happening in Leslie's Curl and Die Kate decides to run for

(00:48:43):
mayor despite

(00:48:45):
not having any political experience at all.

(00:48:47):
He's an ex-NBA player.

(00:48:49):
And there's a part in the book where Leslie's like, you are going to run for mayor?

(00:48:53):
And he's like, our current president has never been in politics before.

(00:48:57):
If he can do it, why can't I?

(00:48:59):
And that was during his first term.

(00:49:04):
So I've been doing that for a while.

(00:49:08):
You know, that's kind of how I push out those feelings.

(00:49:12):
This is my therapy.

(00:49:13):
This is my way to

(00:49:15):
Get my words out and get my feelings out and get my frustrations out.

(00:49:18):
And it always has.

(00:49:20):
I started writing fan fiction because I needed a place to put my grief about losing my brother.

(00:49:25):
So I need to find a balancing act between bringing myself back to what I love about

(00:49:34):
writing books and bringing stories to your ears and to your faces and to your

(00:49:42):
fingers and taking care of me.

(00:49:45):
Taking care of my mental health,

(00:49:47):
my physical health,

(00:49:49):
making sure that I can keep doing this for the long term.

(00:49:53):
The plan is to keep writing books until I retire and then write full time, you know?

(00:49:58):
So I just,

(00:49:59):
I really need to keep building up my backlist and keep promoting my backlist and

(00:50:06):
keep giving readers what they want to see and what they want to hear

(00:50:12):
so long as it falls within the parameters of what I want to be doing with my writing career.

(00:50:17):
So that's kind of where my brain is kind of shifting.

(00:50:25):
Genre expansion, not being locked into one lane anymore.

(00:50:28):
That's a deliberate choice.

(00:50:30):
Shorter books,

(00:50:32):
I'm just not dropping a 97,000-word novel,

(00:50:35):
especially since I pay for editing now.

(00:50:39):
Yeah, we don't need to be quite so verbose.

(00:50:43):
You know what I'm saying?

(00:50:44):
Even though Standard of Care came back very clean, my editor said, very clean.

(00:50:49):
And so I make sure I edit and edit and edit and edit because...

(00:50:55):
You pay per word when you pay for line editing.

(00:50:58):
So let's be a little bit more concise and succinct in our word usage.

(00:51:06):
So, you know, burnout is real.

(00:51:09):
We're just trying to avoid it now.

(00:51:11):
I think I've rambled enough.

(00:51:14):
So thank you for listening.

(00:51:15):
I am so interested in thoughts on all of that ramblage.

(00:51:21):
I didn't take notes on any of that.

(00:51:22):
I'm just basically...

(00:51:24):
Staring at the padded wall in this closet and talking into this microphone.

(00:51:28):
So if it made sense to you, good on you.

(00:51:33):
Appreciate you for listening.

(00:51:37):
Anyhow, thank you so much for spending time with me today.

(00:51:40):
If you enjoyed this episode,

(00:51:41):
please share it,

(00:51:43):
rate it,

(00:51:43):
leave a comment wherever you're listening.

(00:51:45):
Apple, Spotify, Substack, YouTube.

(00:51:47):
I am so thankful that you are here.

(00:51:50):
and that you continue to come back, if that is indeed what you do.

(00:51:55):
Full show notes,

(00:51:56):
transcripts,

(00:51:57):
and links will be at booksbydlwhite.com slash bookcast slash 138,

(00:52:02):
also on my Substack and also at Buzzsprout,

(00:52:05):
authordlwhite.substack.com or bookcast.buzzsprout.com.

(00:52:10):
You can support me and this podcast by shopping the books at booksbydlwhite.com slash shop.

(00:52:16):
You can buy me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com slash booksbydlwhite and don't forget

(00:52:20):
you can find links to everything related to Books by DL White at booksbydlwhite.com

(00:52:27):
slash link in bio Thank you,

(00:52:29):
thank you,

(00:52:29):
thank you so much to my monthly supporters and everyone who sent coffee or who has

(00:52:33):
made a donation into the offering plate at Buzzsprout You keep this mic turned on

(00:52:39):
and I could not be more grateful for you The book cast is written,

(00:52:43):
produced,

(00:52:43):
and edited by me

(00:52:45):
theme music and sound effects are from Pixabay I should be back next week we can

(00:52:50):
talk about Black Romance Book Fest and how ready I am for that let us pray that my

(00:52:55):
books are here by next week they're printing I don't know when they move to

(00:53:00):
shipping I will dance a little jig find something good to read put it into your

(00:53:05):
face or your ears until then be well read something good I'll talk to you soon

(00:53:10):
bye-bye