True Crime Inspirations with Jode Millman, Ep 189
Jodé is the author of the best-selling SEATS: NEW YORK Theatre guidebooks, and her debut thriller novel, “The Midnight Call,” will released by Immortal Works Publishing on June 18, 2019. The unpublished manuscript of “The Midnight Call” was short-listed for the 2014 Clue Award and received the First Place Blue Ribbon as “Best Police Procedural” by Chantireviews.com.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW!
THIS WEEK'S NEWS:
Written World Podcast launch - https://writtenworld.us
B&N Posts a Profit in Fiscal 2019 Despite Sales Decline - https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/80499-b-n-posts-a-profit-in-fiscal-2019-despite-sales-decline.html
START AN ACORNS ACCOUNT AND GET FREE MONEY!
VISIT KEVINTUMLINSON.COM/ACORNS
DID I MENTION?
Cover your nakedness and your shame with a Written World Tee, now with 100% more Kevin words! http://bit.ly/writtenworld-tees
New to Wordslinger Press, pick up Writing a Better Book Description
Pick up a copy of Kevin Tumlinson's newest Dan Kotler archaeological thriller at https://kevintumlinson.com/books
CONNECT ONLINE:
Website:: www.jodesusanmillman.com
Amazon Author page:: amazon.com/author/jodemillman
Books2Read Author Page:: books2read.com/u/bxYB0k
Facebook:: JodeSusanMillmanAuthor
How can listeners join your mailing list?: They can sign up at www.jodesusanmillman.com
--
THIS EPISODE OF THE WORDSLINGER PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY:
Draft2Digital—Convert, publish, and distribute your book worldwide, with support the whole way. https://draft2digital.com/wordslinger
Wordslinger Press—This is your chance to start your indie author career right. Pick up books and other products to help you build and grow a successful writing career. Start growing at http://wordslingerpodcast.com
Support this show: Subscribe and share!
Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/wordslingerpodcast
Pick something up to read that will be tough to put down—Archeological Thrillers, Science Fiction, YA Fantasy and more, at https://kevintumlinson.com/books
TRANSCRIPT
Read the full transcript below. If you’d like to read and follow along while listening to the podcast, click here.
If you’d like to help improve the transcripts, email me!
Kevin: 00:01 Hey slingers, welcome back to another week of the Wordslinger Podcast and interview episode with Jody Millman. She's going to be talking about how she was inspired by true crime. So stick around. Hey, you looking for a jump on your own indie author career, but kind of confused about where to start. I got the place for you. Check out draft two digital. That's where you're going to be able to convert your manuscript, distributed worldwide, online, and get help. The hallway from the best author support there is. Trust me on this one. So go check out draft to digital@drafteddigital.com slash words slinger.
Announcer: 00:37 It's the Wordslinger Podcast, where story matters. Build your brand. Write your book. Redefine who you are. It's all about the story here. What's yours? Now here's the guy who invented pants optional ... Kevin Tumlinson, the Wordslinger!
Kevin: 01:00 Well I am Kevin Tumlinson, the Wordslinger, and uh, I'm hanging out here,
Kevin: 01:08 uh, on a, uh, early on a Friday morning, just, just tooling around, man. I got some big stuff, uh, happening right now. Something a really interesting, I'm going to talk to you about in the news segment after the interview. That's right. It's official. We got a whole new segment. We've got a whole a refill, reformat it, a new format, we'll say just it format. And some of it's sort of a return to a popular thing that I had cut out because it was just too much work when I was doing video. So someday I'll come back around to that Sunday. Uh, today we're talking to Jody Millman and uh, she is, uh, she's gonna be talking about how she was inspired by a true life crime event in her hometown, uh, to write her first. This is her debut novel. Um, so we're talking about that.
Kevin: 02:01 The book's called the midnight call. Uh, very interesting. Got a female protagonist who is a with child, a pregnant female protagonist attorney defending someone for a murder, uh, that, uh, has a few twists and turns and a just to sort of thing you be, you would expect for a thriller like this. So I'm intrigued. I have the book, I have not yet gotten to read the book, uh, because this is happening in a very compressed time frame, but I wanted to make sure that this episode went live because Jody is actually going to be making some appearances, a, she's going to be here in the Houston area at, um, murdered by the book. Uh, and I believe that is June 27th. So, uh, if you're in the Houston area, uh, make sure you go check that out. I am going to try to go, um, although I am, I have some things happening that may take me out of town. We'll see. Uh, that's just the way that goes. So anyway, a one throw that in there and a stick around. After the interview, I've got a couple of news items. Uh, one in particular is just very much focused on me, but, uh, I think you're going to dig it anyway.
Kevin: 03:14 And, uh, that's it. So let's jump into this interview with Jody Millman and I'll see you on the other side. Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in to the worst thing, your podcast another week, another interview. Uh, on the words on your podcast this week,
Kevin: 03:28 we're talking to Jody Millman. She's going to be talking about her new book and a couple other cool things. I know you're going to want to all hear about this, but first, let's welcome Jody to the show. Hi Jody. Thanks.
Jode: 03:39 Nice to meet you. How are you doing?
New Speaker: 03:41 I'm good. Um,
Kevin: 03:42 it is a million degrees in Houston right now. So, uh, I don't know what it's like where you are. We have to get the weather talk out of the way first.
Jode: 03:50 Okay. Well, I'm in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is halfway between New York City and Albany. So it's snowing because all of a sudden there's no about, uh, New York instead knows 24, seven and sunny and 72. So we're good deal. Oh, we had a glitch. Oh boy. Okay. Okay, we're back. We're back. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it's going to do that folks. I'm sorry. I'll try to cut around it. Uh, but, uh, we'll, we'll make do so sunny and beautiful 72 degrees. I did catch that. So good. Congratulations on that. So, uh, let's talk about the new book first. Let's, uh, let's jump right into that because that's, that's the most important thing right now. Um, the, uh, and I had the title, I had the title right in front of me and then I bumped the screen. So the midnight call at midnight call? Yes. Well, first of all, it's my debut debut novel and it's a thriller.
Jode: 04:57 And the story is about a pregnant attorney who she receives a telephone call in the middle of the night from her mentor, her friend Terrance Butterfield, saying, I think I've killed someone and asking for help. So the story takes off their Jesse's life of course, circles down the drain once she makes that initial midnight call to go and help Terrance with his, uh, with his problem, his immediate problem. Okay. Is his tiny little problem, tiny little problem that no one else in the world can help him with. Yes, I'm very John Grisham. It sounds like a very jack Grisham kind of. Is it sort of is, is that, what is a, is Grisham one of your literary heroes at all? Actually, maybe when the firm came out many years ago, but not really. Yes, there had been some left turns, you know, he really is the king of legal and, and it's, it's tough to not have a comparison to him, but my book is totally different if you're the first Jody built Millman.
Jode: 06:05 That's right. That's right. And you know what, she's a pregnant attorney. How many books can you say a written about pregnant attorneys? Yeah, I don't think I, I don't think I can recall a single one. So that's, and this is based on a true story. Yes, it is. It's based upon, and I grew up here in Poughkeepsie, New York, and in 1969, of course I'm dating myself. I had a junior high school teacher history teacher. And then, um, I mean he was one of the most popular guys. He loved the students. He was the kind of teacher that, you know, you'd go back to visit after you graduated because you dug them so much. So, um, he was very popular. Everybody loved him. He would, he would, um, if we were doing a topic on India, we'd throw great big Indian banquet. I mean, he really engage the students.
Jode: 06:52 Everybody really liked him. Yeah. Well, fast forward 10 years and in 1979 come home from Gretsch, just graduated from law school, opened up the Poughkeepsie Journal and the paper says teacher held in teenagers shooting death. And below it is a picture of my house, my high school history teacher, Alpert Fentress. And it was unfortunately, it was a really brutal story. And the story really struck home to me because I knew the teacher, obviously I'd been as one of the students. I'd been, um, I knew the family of the victim. I knew all the attorneys involved, I knew all the judges. So that was the story that nagged me and nagged me from 1979 up until I started writing the story in 2010. Yeah. So it's really, it's, it's inspired by that murder and the murder is the teacher. Um, one night a teenager is trespassing through his yard and the teacher kind of goes Berserk and kills him. I mean, it was just totally random murder. Yeah. And so with something like that happens in a small community like ours, it really drives the point home. If you think about it.
Jode: 08:02 I grew up in a small town. We had, we had a couple of interesting murders that made national news. Uh, so I get that vibe, maybe books, those books. Um, well, you know, and when I, the story kind of as I said, this story Nag me, but I knew I wanted to take that and create a whole world of characters of my own. I wanted a female protagonist. I'm an I'm an attorney myself. So of course you write what you know. Right. So, um, and then I just started to build the whole world around this particular murder. And honestly, we know from the first line that this, uh, the antagonist thinks he killed. So one question is, why did he do it? What were his motivations and how does the whole story unfold? Yeah. So,
Kevin: 08:55 okay, now you made some choices in this story that I'm curious about. Ah, now I get, I get making her a female attorney because you are yourself female attorney, but you made or a pregnant female attorney. That's really interesting. And it does set or does set this book apart. Uh, but I'm, I'm wondering what made you land on that? Did you have a similar experience or is this, this would be brilliant.
Jode: 09:19 You know, what was, what was interesting as I was attending a workshop in New York City at Nyu and I was, it was a very, very beginning of the process and we were workshopping the first 50 pages of the book. And I knew that I wanted Jesse to have a child because I felt that putting, putting her in danger and having the child be a steak was really important to the novel. And we were talking about in the more we talked about it, the highest stake that a woman can really have is being pregnant and having that pregnancy be threatened by the outward experiences of her life. Yeah. So That's interesting. So that's really where that came from because people have said to me, Oh, is this your first child? Was this your second child? No, it wasn't me. Wasn't me at all. I played in a sense
Kevin: 10:08 not based like specifically on to world events.
Jode: 10:11 Right, right. Exactly. Yes.
Kevin: 10:15 Um, so I was, I was trying to think of other stories I knew that had a pregnant, um, protagonist, I think Fargo may have had a pregnant person.
Jode: 10:24 Yes. Yes. I think your story. Yes, I think so. Yes.
Kevin: 10:30 Oh, but there you go. There's proof of concept. Um, well that's very cool. So I'm sorry, go ahead. Go ahead. I was going to say, just raises the stakes. It does raise the stakes in it. And I'm, I cannot personally think of a faster way to get the reader, you know, on the edge of their seat than worrying about this baby, this mother and her baby. Uh, so yeah, that's, that's fantastic. So, okay, this is, now, this is your debut novel. What made, cause you've written some things before. Um, what was the, you wrote, uh, seats New York, that's in my reading that right?
Jode: 11:06 Yes. And that's what it is. It's a, it's actually a theater guy to all the Broadway theaters and concert halls in stadiums. So I actually inherited it because my father wrote the book in 1998. And what it has is all the seating charts to all the theaters, how to get cheap tickets, how to get free tickets, transportation, parking. It's, it's really like, um, your ultimate guide to the savvy theater goer. Feel Great. It was really a great book. And so in 1998, the book comes out, unfortunately, my father passed away of a heart attack in 1999, right when the book was released. So the publishing company came to me and they said, look, would you like to be his ambassador? Would you like to go on tour? And you know, talk about the book. Sure. So I did that. The book became a bestseller. So how Leonard, who is the publisher for the book said to me, look, you know, do you, would you like to, to follow and continue the series?
Jode: 12:06 So I wrote two additional additions of seats in New York. We did one in Chicago and it's really, I have to, I have to compare writing fiction to writing nonfiction really, as you probably know, it's apples and oranges. So it was really an exciting experience because I got to go to every single Broadway theater. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Really cool. Very cool. Well that's go. Cool. So I heard you were saying that these are the experiences where apple and oranges, um, what, was there anything that you learned in, in writing those books that aided you in the fiction? Um, I'm going to have to say absolutely not. Okay. Are you doing other way except maybe the publishing process and how the publishing process itself worked. But I can tell you that being a lawyer and more to do with contributing to writing and the craft of writing than writing nonfiction, right?
Jode: 13:08 Cause when you're a lawyer, you learning how to plot and you're learning how to research your learning, how to write, you're learning vocabulary. And those are, those are key skills that translate over really, really well to writing fiction. Except when you're a lawyer, they don't teach you how to be brief. I'm going to say brief, get it legal brief lawyers have a tendency to overwrite, let me put it that way. The novelist. Yeah, it is exactly. Except when your editor says you've got to cut that out, you gotta cut that out. Why is that in there? Yeah.
Jode: 13:48 That's cool. Yeah. And so you're, yeah. You know, I've talked to quite a few. What is it about lawyers becoming novelists, thriller writers specifically? You guys must just sit around like when this law thing doesn't work out. Well, some have actually, some of the greatest writers in American history have been lawyers or have studied the law. If you look at Mark Twain, he was a lawyer. Um, if you look at Kafka, he was a lawyer. A lot of very famous, uh, James Fenimore Cooper was a lawyer. And I think it's because we're natural storytellers. You know, we go before a judge, we go before a jury. It's a hard job to tell our client's story. Actual transition. I mean it's, we are natural storytellers. So you are researchers. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I think that has a lot to do with it. And you know, at night, worst, you know, when you come home from a day's work and you've been dealing with murders and divorces and all of crazy things you're thinking about, you know, truth is really stranger than fiction. And I got a, I got a lot of stuff here that would make some really good reading.
Kevin: 15:00 And so drew, I know you drew this from a true life new story. Uh, did you draw on your lawyer experience for this story as well?
Jode: 15:11 So I'd have to say yes, that a lot of the procedure that you see in their books or things that I actually experienced by myself, I know how the legal system work, you know, get the behind the scenes view of what the legal system is like. They're going to get it when they read my book. This isn't made up.
Kevin: 15:28 That's a, those are always my favorite stories. The ones that have this little hook of, you know, Real World Ism, uh, built into them. So. Okay. Um, okay. I, I have to ask them, are you, are you already working on another book? You plan and more of these?
Jode: 15:43 Yeah. Well, you know, the kipsy is one of these places that has, um, I call it a hotbed of bizarre crimes. We've had serial killers. And so my next book is based upon a serial killer, um, who is, who is responsible for the mysterious disappearances of eight prostitutes over a period of eight years, or actually two years. And that also strikes home because when I first started practicing law partner and I bought a building and we were having trouble because there were, there were hookers who are standing outside of our building, soliciting our, our clients as they were coming in and we kept calling the police and saying, look, can you help us out with this? And gradually the girls were disappearing and it turns out that this serial killer was stopping outside of our office. Wow. These girls, and then taking them to the highway and the byway. So yeah, that's that. Wow. Can I next? That's my next story. It's called Hooker Avenue. Okay. You go right for them. I go right for a very dark, very dark. Wow.
Kevin: 16:56 No, that's pretty dark. You know, not only that, but that's a little scary. I mean, you guys were in that building, so
Jode: 17:01 yes. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. He was the guy who was a, um, he was a janitor, one of the local middle schools he attended. He was a local guy and everybody knew him. And so like, even my secretary's daughter, you know, knew him from the middle school. I mean, everybody knew him in the community, just like everybody knew this teacher who is the basis of the midnight call. I mean, everybody, you know, it was, the community is so small. We have maybe 35, 40,000 people in the community. Everybody knows everybody.
Kevin: 17:38 Do you work that element into the stories? Like this idea of the, the shock of the community?
Jode: 17:44 Yes. How everyone knew them. Yeah. Yeah. And also what I've tried to do is we've actual locations into the book so that if you're familiar with the community, you know that it's a real place and also you have something that you can relate to as a reader. Um, but yeah, the shock of the shock of the community and the ripple effect is really the story behind the midnight call. Because when a murder happens, it doesn't just affect the victim, it affects all of the people at the victim, the victim's family, and affects all of the people that live in the community.
Kevin: 18:21 So, okay, now you've got, so you've got a second book in, in a process, it sounds like you got plenty of material to work from. So only no additional research. I mean, do you know how research intensive are these?
Jode: 18:37 Um, each book is extremely research intensive for for the midnight call and was able to go into the court records and so I could get an idea as to what motivates a killer, um, again, how the legal system works in this particular case because believe it or not, the case behind the midnight call is a precedent setting case with regard to the insanity plea in New York state. So, I mean, it's a really interesting case. Um, with the serial killer, I was able to attend the sentencing, so I was able to actually sit in the courtroom, see the killer, and here the family's address him and make their plea to the court and the other. Yeah, I mean, so to me, I like to be hands on because that way I think that I can relate the actual story and the real feeling to the reader, which is really what every writer wants to do.
Kevin: 19:30 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I'd say, wow. That I'm, I'm impressed by all that. I feel a woefully inadequate now, my thrillers involved. So like historical research and then, uh, everything else is made up. And Santa, frankly, some of the historical research ends up being made up to is asterik. Right, right, right. Yeah. Based on true events. Right. Uh, that very cool. So you've got, I mean, why are you, I assume you're still, you're still practicing as an attorney, so this is a full time
Jode: 20:07 actually. Um, I would say that writing is really my, my full time occupation at this way. Yeah. Cause I write at least half the day. I mean, because not, not only am I writing fiction, but I write, I have a column in the, um, in the sisters in crime quarterly, which is called in sync on publishing law. So I have that and I'm, I'm writing bad. Um, in addition, I'm blogging, but also I'm involved in the philanthropy world as well, which is really important to me. And I think kind of ties in with my interest in books and literacy.
Kevin: 20:44 Yeah. Talk, talk a little about that. Uh, because you, you, you, you brought this up and I, yeah, I'm always interested in philanthropic work. So what, how's it
Jode: 20:54 really cool thing that I've organized? Okay. We have a railroad bridge that was built in 19 1898 and it was the first bridge that really connected, it was over the Hudson River that connected the west to the east. So they were able to call and they were able to ship timber back and forth to the, from the west coast and east coast in the late night in the late seventies, the bridge caught on fire. So someone came up with an idea, let's build a walkway. So in 2010 years ago, the longest pedestrian walkway in the world was constructed on this bridge. So you can literally walk across the Hudson River, which is absolutely incredible. It's like an a mile and a half walk. So I was involved with the family foundation called the Dyson foundation, which was instrumental in funding and creating this, this project. Um, and I thought, okay, we have a beautiful park right at the bottom of this amazing attraction.
Jode: 21:55 Um, and I created a movie series, so we call it movies under the walkway. We have it every summer where we show five free movies to the public. And this year we're like, we're doing, I call it our superhero summer, we're doing Mary Poppins returns and spider verse and, um, how to train your dragon and Captain Marvel and she, Sam. And we get between 700 and a thousand people, which is absolutely incredible, is absolutely free. I mean, we're with the local library to bring in, they bring in all kinds of activities for the kids at this beautiful park right on the Hudson River. So that's, that's spectacular. Very cool. And that all isn't that cool? Yeah, that is. I mean, it's really, really cool. And it just was an idea. My husband, I were walking in the park one day, I said, you know what? Let's try and get this thing off the ground. And we did. And we have, we've had tremendous support from the community, from Ibm, from our utilities, from, I mean just local businesses have come out, you know, to really help local radio stations is very, very cool.
Kevin: 22:54 That's it. Yeah, I did that a lot. I might have to sneak up there and try to try that out.
Jode: 23:00 Yeah. Yes. So that's uh, one of the things. Then I also, I work, I manage a small family foundation, which we started in 2001 and we've given away over half a million dollars to local charities in the past 1515 years. So I mean, being involved with books and literacy and the library's really important, especially as a writer of libraries. Where will we be?
Kevin: 23:28 I was gonna I was even going to ask like, do you see a tie in between your writing career and you know, this philanthropic work?
Jode: 23:36 Absolutely. Because it's all, it's all based on literacy. If you think about it. I mean, if we don't, if we don't have libraries, especially if making them free and accessible to people. And one of the things that I was a champion was about a bookmobile was helping the library raise money so that people who couldn't get into the library, that they now have outreach where the bookmobile we'll be able to go out into the community and bring books and activities to the kids. But you know, as writers I think we have a responsibility to spread the word, not only about our works but about the works of, of Kevin Tumlinson and you know, other authors. It's really important.
Kevin: 24:17 That is important. Ed's a big part of my life and career. So yeah, reach out, reach new readers and that's where they, but also helping leaders, just like you're saying, like it's, we sometimes we forget as authors that there is this group out there that isn't just a customer. Like we're changing their lives with, uh, our, our books. Uh, so it's important to look after them.
Jode: 24:41 That is true. We are Cha. I mean we are changing lives. Maybe one little life at a time, you know, maybe some little girl will read my book and say, you know, maybe I want to be a lawyer now.
Kevin: 24:51 Right. You never know. Yeah, exactly. Right. I mean, you know. Yeah, exactly. Right. All right. Um, we'll look, it's been a rough, it's been a rough broadcast to I realize with the glitches and everything. Uh, but I'm a, I think, uh, I'm real pleased with how this has gone because I, I'm fascinated by your book. I'm going to make sure I'm supposed to be receiving a copy from your PR folks. So, uh, that didn't come in yet, but it will, I'm sure it will, but I'll just go buy a cup. I'll go prayer. I appreciate that. And everybody out there. So you're, this is on preorder. Well, by the time this airs, it will probably be released June 18th. Is, is the release date. Right? Right.
Jode: 25:33 Okay. All right. People can go to my website, which is Jody, Susan [inaudible] Dot Com. I'm on Facebook at Jody Millman author, and I'm also on Instagram at, at Jody Millman author. So people can find me. I'm all over the place. I love to hear from people. If I hear from people, I will, you know, we reciprocate.
Kevin: 25:54 Okay. Um, same way. I love hearing from everybody and I always respond back. So, uh, well just in case, do your listener, if you did not catch any of those URLs, the girl, every single one of these is going to be available on the show notes for this episode@wordsonyourpodcast.com. Jody, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. This has been a fantastic, I, I, I'm going to go, I'm going to go make a special trip just to walk across the Hudson River and maybe watch a movie.
Jode: 26:24 He'll be walking on air and you know what? I'm going to come visit you. And uh, on June 26th and 27th, that murder by the book,
Kevin: 26:31 they right here in Houston, Texas is so everybody who is in the Houston, the greater Houston area, and I know that's a, that's a long way. So, but if you're the greater Houston area, if you happen to be in the rice village area where a murder by the book is come by and say hi to Jodi and tell her the word slinger Ya. Yes, please. That'll be great. I'm going to try to see you too. Hopefully I'm in town, right? Yeah. I think I may actually be fine out of town around that time. I always miss everybody who comes here, one people from this show or in Houston. It's inevitable that I'm in, you know, Poughkeepsie or are on the walkway right from the walkway. So. All right, well everybody, uh, right now
Kevin: 27:15 you're probably hearing the groovy breathe. Use a flu made dancing place at all. And if you stick around a, I bet I have something to whispering you. Yeah, yeah, the side. So Hi, we'll see you then. And Jody, thanks again. Hey, how are you doing on money? I know it's a touchy subject, but uh, I got some that may help you out. See, I'm using an APP called acorns and it helps me manage some investing. Uh, put some money back, get a little interest. It's kind of Nice to watch my money grow. So I want to share that with you. Go to Kevin Tumlinson Dotcom, slash acorns and you'll get some free money. See you there. Hey, I hope you enjoyed that interview with Joey Millman. Um, I, I love the whole idea. I love true crime. My wife and I watch a ton of true crime shows.
Kevin: 28:10 You've probably watched a few of them yourself on Netflix, Hulu, etc. So I follow a lot of that. Um, it inspires a lot of elements in my books. It's so, it's a great source for writers, um, if you are looking for inspiration. So, uh, and definitely, I mean, uh, Jodi Jodi's work dips into that. She's got the perspective of someone who, uh, works in the field and that does help. Um, okay, so right now let's get into this week's a news and announcements. Um, first up I'll tell you about the, uh, Barnes and nobles back in the news again, bar being in posts a profit in fiscal 2019, despite sales decline, uh, this is coming from publishers weekly. And, uh, you know, we follow Barnes and noble because, uh, right now, so it's really tied in to um, the way the traditional industry looks at the world, how they perceive how things are going.
Kevin: 29:11 Um, and it has some impact on indies for right now. But, uh, just from this story on a, and you can find his own publishers weekly and then I'll have a link to this in the show notes, so go check that out. But Barnes and noble managed to post net income of three point $8 million for the fiscal year ended April 27th, 2017 compared to a loss of a 125 point $5 million in fiscal 2018 the improvement came despite a 3% revenue decline to fiscal 2018 was sales falling to 3.5 $5 billion. In fiscal 2019, the improved profit picture was due in part to a $50 million reduction in expenses. Same store sales for the year declined 1.9%. Um, that's just an excerpt from the article. You may want to go check out the entire article, uh, for yourself. There's a little bit more information. Yeah, it goes on a little bit longer.
Kevin: 30:05 But Da, this is interesting because, um, Barnes noble is in flux right now and Barnes and noble actually determines a lot of what happens in the publishing world. Uh, sales from sales, from the storefronts themselves can, can, uh, influence decisions made by the publishing houses. A lot of people are vying for positions on those shelves. Um, so, you know, we've been, we always watch barns and all of that, see what happens. So it's interesting, uh, to see that they're doing better fiscally, but, uh, that, that growth seems to be coming from, um, well reducing costs. And when we talk about reducing costs in the retail world, we generally mean, uh, layoffs. And I think that's where this is coming from. We, I know they had a couple of really big layoffs over the past two or three years, um, which was, you know, as led to some sad news stories actually.
Kevin: 31:02 So, uh, I'm anxious to see what's going to happen now that they've gotten to investors, courting them. Uh, they, those guys have plans. Who knows what's going to happen there. But, uh, it'll be interesting to see what shakes out over time. I do want to see Barnes and noble continue to succeed. I'd like to see them grow and become a little better than they are. So hopefully, you know, here's, here's hoping. Um, okay, in other news, and this is more of an announcement, but I just launched a brand new podcast called written world podcast. And, uh, I am really thrilled about this. This is a reader facing podcasts. This is meant to draw readers into, uh, my universe as it were, uh, aimed adds, uh, you know, people who would like the kind of stories I tell the history of the corky history stuff. Now, uh, if you're interested in that, I would be thrilled if you'd go check it out.
Kevin: 31:59 Uh, go to written world.us. That's the domain I've, uh, I've allotted picked out. Uh, but if you, if you hop on over there, you can actually check out, I've got three episodes live right now. Um, they are starting to go live on all the various plot podcast platforms. And what I would really love is to see this hit new and notable on iTunes. I know that the a iTunes is going away, but right now it's still a active, the podcast APP. Is there a separate, so if you're on Ios you can still, uh, check that out on windows. I don't know how that's going to work. I'm sure there's going to be a way to listen to apple podcasts on windows devices, android devices, maybe not. Maybe there is no way. Um, but you stitcher, use Spotify. I'm using Spotify Lailey. Uh, and it's been great.
Kevin: 32:59 Actually. I love it, but not all podcasts are on it yet, but I can tell you written world podcast is so go, uh, go. Uh, in fact I spent a lot of time yesterday, uh, submitting the podcast who is many different places as I could find. So go check that out. Um, search for written world podcasts that are bringing up, I was listening to it on stitcher idea, has gone live on stitcher for sure. Uh, other, other platforms. Maybe not so much. But yeah, I've been getting notifications saying that it's been accepted. A Google play, uh, sent me one, I believe apple sent me one a. In fact they did a, so it'll be on all the majors and uh, hopefully a few miners to so, uh, but written world.us check that out. It is going to be a, this a lot of, it's been a lot of fun to pull these together.
Kevin: 33:51 Now this is the culmination of something I've been talking about for months, uh, which is that I started these as emails to my mailing list, little essays, um, and uh, you know, they're based on the research for my book. So it, the progression goes research book, write an essay or write the book. Well, let's put book in their research a book, write the book, write an essay, send the essay to my email list, um, and then record myself reading that essay. Uh, get some original music from Nick thacker@sonataandscribe.com. Definitely check that out. And then, um, posts the essay and the podcast on my website. So now I get some SEO benefit from the text of the thing. I'm going to share those, those posts on medium. Uh, so they get even more reach the podcast. Uh, if I can make the podcast hit new and notable on iTunes and their podcast app, then a, it'll get even more reach.
Kevin: 35:03 And then the idea is people who check this out as, and these are like 15 minute episodes, there's a really short, um, but if the people who check these out, if they like them, they're probably going to be the right audience for my books. And I do put a call to action to go check out my books in each episode and on the site where the blog is. Um, I've got a cool cover art for that podcast by the way. Very cool. I mean, it was, it's simple. It's very simple, but it looks so great and I, it's something I didn't like, you know, literally like three minutes and just first try just came out exactly the way I had hoped it would. Uh, so, uh, let me know what you think of that. There was nothing fancy about it at all. It's just text on a gradient background.
Kevin: 35:49 But the way the treatment is something I liked. So, um, but this is all moving towards a grander plan folks. This is all a written world is going to be a big thing. My, my plan for written world, uh, is going to be a big thing in the world, in the universe, uh, going forward. So this isn't, this has been a great opportunity to us. Get that off to the right start. I went ahead and posted all three of the current episodes I have recorded and I'm going to record the more, uh, and I'm probably going to do a cadence, tried to do a cadence of like once a week with these guys. Um, it may have to be stretched a little more, it just depends. Production on this is a little different than word slinger podcasts. So it all kind of really comes down to a few factors.
Kevin: 36:36 One of those is the music. Uh, nick has done an amazing job with the music for the first three episodes. You definitely want to hear that. If you are on the fence at all about hiring him to do your, uh, to do a soundtrack for your book, to do a score like a almost a film score is not just almost, it's very much like a film score for your book. If you're on the fence at all, if you've been thinking about I am done it yet, um, it is worth it. Just go, go over to Sonata and scribe.com and check that out. Reach out to them, let them know, actually go to sonata inscribed.com/word written world, so not to inscribe.com/written world. That's the sort of, that's the tag that's at the end of the episodes, uh, on written world podcast right now. So if you can't find the podcast on your favorite podcast player right now, you can find it@writtenworld.us.
Kevin: 37:32 Uh, but that's my big announcement. That's my news for today. Um, this, this Friday. I don't want to date it. I don't want to date it. Um, anyway, I hope you enjoyed the everything. I hope you enjoyed the interview. I hope you enjoyed the news segment. Uh, I hope you do enjoy written world, uh, that that's going to be an amazing thing. I'm just really excited about it. And let me know what you think. There are comments. You can leave comments on that each of the episodes on the site. Um, you can go to kevintumlinson.com By the way, and just find it. It's, it's there. I even have it on the homepage. Um, and uh, just uh, you know, let me know. You can email me from the site or you can, uh, tag me on social media, but do me a favor and go share that foreign why get people listening to that in as many regions as possible, all of the world, uh, especially encourage them to go find it on Itunes, apple podcasts.
Kevin: 38:33 Cause that's where I'm going to get the biggest kick and the most traction, so much appreciate it. So that is it for this week's, uh, word slinger podcast interview. Uh, I am breaking these up now and I'm going to have a little something going with each one. It's really been kind of fun to do this. Actually. I like the solo episodes, I think quite a bit and people seem to be racking really well to those. So that is it. A, I've got a whole lot of cool stuff I've got to hop into next. But a, and you'll be hearing about some of this, some of this is related to how you can work at your books. It's going to be fun and exciting and uh, and lucrative. So take care of yourselves out there. God bless you. Thank you so much for empowering me the way you have a, and I hope that I am empowering you and return, uh, you know, you supporting this show has been a fantastic, uh, this is really a labor of love for me. Uh, so far
Kevin: 39:34 I'm trying to monetize it a little better now, mostly because I just feel like I'm, I'm leaving money on the table if I don't, but I'm trying to monetize it in ways that don't come directly out of your pocket, you know? Uh, so I hope that, uh, I hope that you get something really useful out of this show. God bless you. I'll see you all next time.
