{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/6888dda8e0a86cc3ab36f742/6a7c90d551319a521da0ec95?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Why Readers Follow the Story, Not the Author, Across a New Series with HELEN SCHEUERER","description":"<p>A Big Five editor once called Helen Scheuerer to say she loved her manuscript and wanted to pass it up the chain — but it would take four to eight weeks just to hear back. Helen was already close to self-publishing. She said thank you, and walked away. That single moment of arithmetic — weighing months of waiting against the creative control she already had — is the clearest snapshot of a mindset shift that took her from a traditionally-trained literary fiction writer to a full-time, methodical, bestselling indie fantasy author.</p><p><br></p><p>Helen Scheuerer is the YA fantasy author of the bestselling Oremere Chronicles and Curse of the Siren Queen series. Her work has been praised for its strong, flawed female characters and action-packed plots. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Writing and a Masters of Publishing, and now writes full-time from central Otago, New Zealand.</p><p><br></p><p>We get into how a frustrating small-press deal for a literary fiction manuscript she wrote to please academic gatekeepers pushed her toward NaNoWriMo and, eventually, indie fantasy. We talk through the granular, 400-email outreach campaign that helped launch her debut, Heart of Mist, to breakout success in 2017 — and the very different, much slower ramp-up she experienced launching a second series in the same universe. We also dig into her outlining process, her word-count tracking, and how she structures a writing day around mornings, 30-minute sprints, and deliberately staying off email until the words are down.</p><p><br></p><p>🎙️ What we get into:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Why she walked away from a Big Five offer over an eight-week response window</li><li>How a frustrating small-press deal for her literary fiction manuscript pushed her to start writing fantasy for fun instead</li><li>The 400-email, reverse-engineered book blogger outreach campaign that helped launch Heart of Mist</li><li>Why a sequel series set in the same world as her breakout hit still had to build momentum from scratch</li><li>How switching from a loose outline to a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene structure solved recurring plot problems</li><li>Her actual morning writing routine: tea, 30-minute sprints, and outline on one screen, manuscript on the other</li><li>Why she tracks word count in a basic spreadsheet to identify her most productive hours</li><li>The financial and emotional risk of continuing a series that launched softer than expected</li><li>Why she believes indie publishing rarely comes up in university creative writing or publishing programs, despite how directly relevant it is</li><li>How living with a partner (versus living alone) changed her ability to switch off from work</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Links &amp; Resources:</p><p>Helen Scheuerer: https://helenscheuerer.com/</p><p><br></p><p>Subscribe to The Writer's Chair</p><p>If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.</p><p>📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor</p><p>🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468</p><p>🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair</p><p><br></p><p>📚 About Helen Scheuerer</p><p>Helen Scheuerer is the Sunday Times bestselling author best known for her romantasy series, The Legends of Thezmarr and The Ashes of Thezmarr. Her work has been highly praised for its strong, flawed female characters and its action-packed plots. She also publishes advice for authors with her nonfiction series, Books For Career Authors.</p>","author_name":"Daniel Willcocks"}