Art Business The Art & Business of Writing Review

Arts Business The Art and Business of Writing Review
Timothy: Your listening to find a podcast about
thank you for hitting play. I'm your host, Timothy Kimo Brien. And I bring my experience with podcasting since 2006 as a listener and a podcast. I am here to help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. Here's how the show works. I comb the millions of podcasts currently available for free on various platforms.
And then I come back to you with what I've found. Sure. You can use search engines for recommendations from many podcasts. But I feel that getting a personal recommendation from a real live breathing person is still the best way to find the gems that are out there. The show is broken up into three halves.
Yup. You guessed it. I'm a huge fan of CarTalk bear with me. The first half of the show is the stats. This gives you all the details about where to find the show, how many episodes who's hosting the shows. Basically this is for those that just want the stats. The second half of the show, I dig deeper into the show that I'm reviewing and let you know how well the hosts interact.
Talk about their audio quality and let you know what I think about this. Now that last half of the show is where I talk about why the show is binge-worthy where to start your journey. And I'll be reaching out to the hosts to see if they would like to discuss their show a little bit and talk about their podcasting journey.
So let's get going on this episode
in this episode. I will be talking about the art and business of writing. Now, this podcast is run by Chris Jones and the website is Chris Jones, Inc com and you can reach out to him by his contact page. Chris Jones, Inc com slash pound content. At links are going to be in the show notes. So you don't have to write that down.
The first episode dropped in July of 2015 and there were over 90 episodes. Averaging about 33 minutes in length. The category of this podcast is arts and business, and the frequency is not set in stone. The show does have a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page, which again is going to be in the show notes there for you.
And the main way to support the show is to sign up for coaching by Chris for writing and publishing. Unfortunately. Listen notes, didn't have a ranking for this podcast. And that could be for several reasons. Now, here are a few things you need to know about the podcast when searching for it. Most of the old episodes are in Chris's website and I reviewed episodes early in his catalog and a few recent episodes also when searching for the art and business of writing, use the ampersand.
Versus the word. And I know it's a weird thing, but that's the way I search for it. And Google podcasts and goo and good pods. Now, Chris doesn't have a set schedule for releasing episodes as he's a one man show and running his control consulting business. And he's also a writer for local and regional magazines and newspapers.
He's also. Dependent on him on the schedule of his guests availability. So that can affect his schedule output. Now, according to apple podcast, Chris describes the show as Chris Jones, teaching authors to think like publishers and promote like markers each week, he highlights a different facet of the writing and self-publishing business.
His goal is to equip authors and writers with the tools they need to get the recognition they deserve. Past guests have included Joanna Penn, John David Mann, Toby Neil JV Crum, the third Nathan Chan and mark mannered.
Are you happy with your podcast? I know hard question to answer. Well, let me ask you this. Does your app allow you to rate the podcast? You're listening to great if it does, but does it allow you to rate each and every episode that you listened to, does your app allow you to join a community of other listeners and share and comment on your favorite podcasts?
Now, if you're a podcast. Does the app that your listeners are using, give you a tip jar so that, that way they can support your show directly instead of paying fees to someone else. Well, good pods allows you as a listener and as a podcast or to rate and review all of the episodes of a podcast, as well as joining a community of other podcasts, enthusiasts to discuss that thing.
We all know. Podcasts, give it a shot. You may not go back to your old app and you might find a community that is engaged and excited about the same things you are. Grab it on Google play and the apple app store.
How I got acquainted with this podcast is quite a remarkable story. You know, I was attending a book festival. Here in Fredericksburg, Virginia in about 2016 and how was revamping my format and turning my old podcast into what it is today, which is create art podcast. I also had a few books of self published poetry to sell, and I thought, Hey, this would be a fantastic way to relaunch the podcast and sell some books, maybe network with like-minded folks.
And when I reached out to the organizers of the event, I ran into Chris Jones, who at the time already had a podcast. And the one that we're reviewing here today called the business the art and business of writing. Now he allowed me to walk around and talk with other writers and offer interviews. And at that time I started listening to his show because at that time I was getting serious about podcasting and I wanted to get serious about writing.
Now I have had Chris on my old podcast and just recently I was on his podcast talking about creative. Now Chris has graciously forwarded me a few leads that lead to interviews for my old podcast. So let's break down what to expect from a typical episode of the art and business of writing. Now, putting on my pod-casters ear, let's tackle the sound quality overall.
The quality is good. There are some interviewees who sound a little like a phone call, but for the most part, the sound of the show is good enough to listen to. And I got to say, this is one of the Banes of podcasting, getting the sound right for the interviewee. As a podcast host, we don't always have much control over what equipment the guest uses, but Chris has the ability to improve the sound quality enough.
So it's not district. And the content that comes through is well worth the price of admission. I got to tell you, the content comes through each and every time. One of the things I really enjoy about the podcast is the passion that Chris brings in each episode as a listener and a podcaster. I can usually tell when a host is phoning it in, but that's not the case with.
He wants every one who has a passion for writing to get excited about the not so sexy aspects of, of the business side of writing. 
Chris: That very thing. He just says, Hey, it's about being passionate. He said, people are going to gravitate to the person. Who's the most passionate. They may not be the best writer per se.
They, but if they have the expertise. And the energy people are going to gravitate towards that person because that's what they see. And that's what 
they want. 
Timothy: He even brings out his passion in his guests and relates it to his audience. Now, the clip you just heard was from Chris's interview with Vidal Cisneros Jr.
And you can hear the passion. The guest has to not only write their work. But to encourage others to get excited about their own work. Now, every guest Chris brings on shares their passion for helping writers realize their work in a professional. And another interview with candy as a Zukowski both Chris and candy share the importance of sharing your work with the world.
You actually used the word that's most important there, and that is unique. Everyone may have spoken on the topic, but they have not told their story. So that particular unique story has not yet. Communicated, and I don't care who you are. You deserve to share your story. Your story is important to be shared and to be heard, if you have a message that you feel passionate about and that you want others to know, then you deserve to be heard something else I really enjoy about this podcast or the ideas that Chris and his guests give.
And it's always actionable advice. On how to improve your writing. 
Kinja: What I helped tell the children. I say, if you kind of mixed up at night, right before you go to bed, just write the heading. What did I learn about myself? That's one of the best ways to start the journal process. And as you get into the habit of doing that and start really analyzing your feelings, your emotions, and one of the best ways to create a winner's brain is to have self-awareness. I'm actually getting a course studying the brain right now. So one of the number one ways to create a widow's brain is to have self-aware. 
Chris: Just listening to you. All I hear is self-discipline self-discipline self-discipline, you know, and it's, it's such a, it's such a critical part to being successful, whether you're, you know, like you said, whether you're in sales, whether you're a writer having to kind of sit down and write your books or write whatever it is, you're writing, just being able to be disciplined and make the right choices. So I really appreciate you sharing that. 
Timothy: The first clip is from Chris's interview with Kinja Dixon whom I have interviewed on my other podcast. And I can tell you, I was exhausted after talking with Kinja because of all the energy that he brings to an interview. Also, I can attest to Chris's self-discipline after seeing him in person many times during the independent writers book festival here in Fredericksburg, Chris does have a strong hustle game and he makes every episode worth the time invested in showing his audience how to succeed in their writing practice.
Now, before I go onto the third half of this show, I just want to comment on something that most people don't really think about with regards to podcast. And that's staying on topic and the reverence of the episodes to the overall theme of the show. Now, Chris does allow his guests to go on some tangents, but he always, always reels them back in and ensures that the content they provide.
To the topic of the episode, it takes someone who has a strong interview skill to give their guests enough leeway, to tell their story, and then help them relate it to the topic being discussed. Chris always gives his guests a great intro and then lets them jump into how they came into writing and then swings the conversation back to the top.
Now each episode builds onto the overall theme of the show, which is to help writers learn and overcome obstacles. They may face while publishing or seeking out publishing for their writings.
If you like what you heard so far, then I'd like to ask you to reach out. You can email me directly, Timothy. Find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z, or leave me a voicemail at the website. Find a podcast about X, Y, Z. I want to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast. And if you want me to find a you a podcast in any category that you're interested in, let me know.
Now, if you're a podcaster and feel that your podcast would be served by appearing on the show, I want to talk to you. Is. Use the same methods to reach out. Now I'm on Twitter at find a podcast, Facebook at find a podcast about another thing I'd like to ask is if you found value in this podcast, pass it along to a friend.
Lastly, doing this podcast is a labor of love, but loving. So consider donating to my, buy me a coffee fund, right on the website, or go to buy me a coffee.com/find a podcast about each episode takes about five to seven hours of research and about two to three hours of production time, about 10 hours reach episode.
Let me tell you that's a lot of coffee. And like I said, the best recommendation comes from a real person. Bill my coffee cup and I'll help you out smart the algorithm.
And now here's where I turn you from a listener to this show, to a listener of the art and business of writing. This podcast is aimed at those who are interested in publishing their writing, but don't currently have the knowledge on how to traverse the landscape of publishing. That's not to say it's not for everyone else, but that's the main thrust of this show.
Now, a person who's good at editing or marketing could get a lot out of this podcast as well to find the pain points that writers have and offer their services to writers, to fill that knowledge gap by learning the steps required to publish your writing. You can avoid many of the mistakes that other people have done in the past and probably saved yourself a lot of money.
Now, there are two things that I can think of that would make this podcast better. The first is acknowledging newcomers in the podcast by letting listeners know who Chris is and why he's an expert in what he does. Now. I know Chris in person as well as online, and I know he's an expert at what he does and is deeply passionate, but if I was a new listener, I wouldn't know that at the first list.
Another aspect that I feel could be improved is for Chris to advertise his consulting business in the podcast and provide a page where listeners could support his podcasting by using something like, I know I'll buy me a coffee or a Patriot on site. Now this is not my podcast, but it's just a few tweaks that I think.
Would be good for this podcast to keep on succeeding like it is right now. Now maybe you're not a writer, but you're interested in the craft of writing. I believe you can still get something out of this podcast. Now for me, I like listening to the stories of writers and how they got started and what struggles they overcame to get to this.
Also, it's a way to find new writers that I may be interested in. In fact, one of the interviews that Chris did was with Dawn Brotherton. Who's a writer and a publisher. Now I had her as a guest on my other podcast, create our podcast. And when I really listened to the interview with Chris and Dawn, she mentioned a military writers community that I was unaware of.
When I heard this, I immediately stopped the playback and looked up the writers community. And if joined, because I'm a writer and a veteran, and I am always interested in reading about the lives of other veterans now without the art and business of writing podcast, I'm not sure I would have known about that online group.
And this just goes to show you that Chris's content is on point and it's not only bingeable, but it's. New listens in case you miss something now, where should you start your journey with the art and business of writing? I think if you look through the show titles and read the descriptions, you're going to find a lot of gems in there.
But I would say start with Vidal Sassoon, narrow juniors episode, and that's up so 20, because his story is truly amazing. Or if you need a good pick me up like a strong cup of. Listen to the one with KinjaDixon, because that guy has enough energy to inspire 20 people. Let me know which episode you started with by email.
Timothy at find a podcast about.xyz. I'd love to hear from you and talk about this podcast.
All right. Thank you everyone for joining us here on find a podcast about where we're talking with the inevitable Chris Jones of the. And business of writing, Chris, how are you doing this fine day? Doing 
Chris: great, Tim. All's good, man. It's a beautiful day and I'm excited to be. Good. 
Timothy: Good. It seems like we just talked, I don't know, last month on your show.
Chris: Yeah, no, we absolutely did. That was, that was a very fun episode. I love talking creativity, love talking shop and 
Timothy: good deal. Good deal. Well, I brought you on here because I went ahead and reviewed your show and I kind of want to give you the, the last word on it. You know, with find a podcast about we're here to turn our listeners into.
Of the shows that we review. So, Chris, I was wondering if you could talk to me a little bit about your podcast journey from when you started until, you know, here today. So, 
Chris: so I started the art and business of writing in 2015. I I've been kicking around the idea most of the year of putting a podcast together and I kinda got caught up in the whole, I need to be perfect.
Everything has to be right before I launch and a. My good friend, Jason, he had launched his podcast and he had checked in on me one day, said, Hey man, how's everything coming with the podcast? And I said, oh, you know, I'm just trying to work out the kinks and get everything right. And he said, dude, he said, man, he's a progress is greater than perfection.
He did just, just launched a podcast and get better as you go. He said, it doesn't matter if the audio is a hundred percent or whatever you're doing. He said from week over week, you'll eventually get better. So you should just put the show out there. And if the information is good, people will. And so, you know, it was summer of 2015, I believe on July 15th, I launched my first episode and, you know, kind of went on from there.
 For the next couple of years that took a little bit of a hiatus between 18 and 19. Then I came back in 2020 and have been going pretty, pretty full stream ever since. The entire premise of the podcast is that it's designed for for, for people who are writers, writers, and authors who want to hear from other writers, their experiences in the writing space.
And then also learn from people who support writers. So it's like book designers and publishers and agents, people who help writers improve on their craft. We're hoping to advance this raid and who helped them invariably become what they want to become in the writing community. 
Timothy: Perfect. Perfect. And your show definitely does that.
I caught on. After we met at the the the independent book writers conference here in Fredericksburg, Virginia. And as soon as I knew that you did podcasting, I was like, I got to listen to this podcast. What has been the hardest part of your journey with, with podcasts? 
Chris: I mean, I think the hardest part about podcasting is just sometimes it's just finding time to get it done.
 You know, I've got a family, I work, you know, I have a business, so I work all day. I've got my family to take care of in the evening. I got three children or wife, so finding time to do it, I still, you know, I have tried many ways to do it. I think batching is probably the way to go, but sometimes it doesn't happen that way.
 That's the hardest thing is just staying consistent, being in there, getting it done week over week. I've always found it to be one of the more difficult things to do. So that's something that this year I'm really trying to get uh, get in, get into control is making sure that every week I've got an episode out there.
And I didn't really understand until recently that it's okay to rebroadcast. I feel a lot of podcasts who will take a break during the holidays. And then what they'll do is a rebroadcast previous episodes just to keep their podcasts live and going from. And I was like, oh wow. I could have been doing this this entire time.
Whenever I needed to take a short break or whatever, for whatever circumstances I was in, I could just be rebroadcast them. These old shows that new listeners may not have gotten to yet. So learning new things as I go. But yeah, being consistent, it's like anything else in life, man? It's just, it's just the cake.
It's the big ticket. 
Timothy: Absolutely. And I think, you know, it takes himself discipline, just like it does to be a writer because while we're both right. So, and that's one of the things that I really dig about your show is that, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're talking about the art of writing, but then it's that business aspect that a lot of artists, a lot of writers don't really think about.
 And by listening to your, to your show with your interviews, people really come away with all the tools that they need. Except for the self-discipline. Cause that's all onto ourselves. But people come away with the tools that they can be successful in this business. Who is your ideal audience for this show?
I mean, you talked about it a little bit, but you know, when, when we're talking, like having an avatar for your show, what does that person look like to you? 
Chris: The avatar for my show, as someone who is an independent author or someone who has. Starting the journey of becoming an independent author. So maybe they've got a full-time day job they're writing in the evening time or at night or whenever they can squeeze some writing in you know, writing is sort of a passion of their, so they're, they're checking out podcasts, they're reading books about their, their, their genre or how to write or other re you know, learning about the craft itself.
 You know, it's, it's something that drives them. And so that's who my avatar is. It's that person who really just wants it, but doesn't really It doesn't know how to, to put it all together. So the goal of the podcast is to help them put it all together to show them the road. Well, where to begin with this, that and the third.
 And we really, like I said, we really hone in on the, do it yourself aspect. Even when I interview people who can be great service partners for people. I often have them talk about the, do it yourself aspect because sometimes, you know, we can be low on ideas and creativity and short on cash as creative.
And so it's, it's like that thing were okay. Well, I can't afford to hire this type of person to do this sort of service. So how can I do it myself? And so I have those experts also teach the, do it yourself aspects of the writer doesn't feel like they're lost in the woods and they can't get it. 
Timothy: Where do you see this podcast in the next five years?
Because you've already been doing it since 2015. And it's come from episode one to episode. I believe you're on 93 or 92 right now. What does episode 180 look like? 
Chris: So my goal for this podcast is to be the number one podcast for writers, period. Like I really want to eclipse that space because I'm there a lot of great ones and I'm not diminishing anybody's podcasts, but I can sit down.
I feel like I bring a different element to the table because I. The art side of writing, but it also met Mary very well with the business side. And I really want people to be holistic writers all the way around the board. So it's not just about how to be a great writer. Cause I feel like a lot of people believe that they're good writers and a lot of people are good writers in their own.
Right. But then it's just marrying that marketing part that they dread so much. So I really want to be the number one podcast for writers in that regard where I teach them both sides so they can play offense. And 
Timothy: defense sounds good. Sounds. Now Chris, I have a little inside information just cause I know you so well so this next question should be kind of easy for you here.
Do you have any new projects coming up or any new books coming? 
Chris: I do I do. So I'm currently next week. Well, sorry, this week I'm going to be releasing my first book, the art and business of writing. I've I've done some updates to it. Got rid of some of the antiquated information. And so it's now a much more evergreen book, so I'll be releasing that.
 And then I'm working on putting together a book proposal for an entirely different book and nonfiction book. And I want to actually shop that one to see if I can get a publisher to pick that one up. Cause I think it would be a great challenge to see if I can do that one and two. I think it's a book on a completely different level of something I haven't written before.
So that's, that's, what's in the pipeline right now for me. 
Timothy: One idea that you want our listeners to take away when they're listening to the art in business. I really 
Chris: want authors to know that they can be skilled marketers, that you know that no, one's going to love your book. Like you love your. No, one's going to love your words.
Like you love your words. No, one's going to champion your platform like you champion your platform. And so it's mission critical for you to understand how the marketing side works so that you can benefit that way. You're not writing books and they're just sitting on Amazon and you're hoping that Amazon does something for you or changes an algorithm, or you're not just posting them haphazardly on social media, hoping that somebody buys it, but the.
More control over your marketing, that you understand who your target market, your target market is. You understand how to put it out there and you understand you know, how to promote yourself, how to get yourself out there so that people can find you so that your audience can gravitate towards you and get into your 
Timothy: orbit.
Well, Chris, I want to thank you again for showing up here for find a podcast about where we help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. Everyone. Check Chris out at the art and. Of writing and make sure you don't use the word and use the ampersand. Thanks Chris.

Chris: Thanks Tim.

Timothy: So that's the episode I want to thank you again for taking a listen. And if you want to outsmart the algorithm and have me review a podcast, email me timothy@findapodcastabout.xyz or go to the website. Find a podcast about dot X, Y, Z, where you can listen to the other episodes and leave me voicemail. I'm here to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast.
Thank you for listening to find a podcast about which is a production of gastropod east studios at get-go pod. We have been helping creatives tell their story through podcasting since 2017. Look us up@gagglepod.com and see all the network shows there and reach out to us so we can help you tell your story to the world. .