At The Coalface with Writer Cat Connor

LD80: At the Coalface with Cat Connor New Zealand crime and spy thriller writer Cat Connor joins Mark to explain how she went from traditional publishing to running her own imprint. Her first novel, Killerbyte, sold to a publisher that went bankrupt a week before release. Her next publisher, Rebel, put her early books at the top of the charts, but its sales dropped after the company was sold to American owners. She then led a group of about 35 authors in getting their rights, covers and edited manuscripts back, and she now publishes all 27 of her books through 9mm Press. Cat explains why a new author can self-publish for almost nothing: free ISBNs from KDP or Draft2Digital, no business registration needed, interiors formatted in Apple Pages, and covers built in Canva over KDP’s cover template. She describes her editing chain from beta reader to editor to proofreader, and how she tests an editor before hiring one. She also covers launching at her local library, the marketing that actually sells books (Facebook ads, press releases and an email newsletter), audiobooks narrated by AI voices, and why she doesn’t fear AI copying an author’s voice. Her rule for all of it: it has to be fun, and if it isn’t, pay someone else to do it. A note on copyright for US listeners: Cat is right that copyright exists once a work is written down, and New Zealand has no registration system at all. In the United States, though, a work has to be registered with the US Copyright Office before you can sue for infringement. Statutory damages and attorney’s fees are only available if you registered before the infringement or within three months of publication. Registration is optional but cheap, and it’s done online. See the Copyright Office’s Copyright Basics (Circular 1) and its registration portal. This is general information, not legal advice. Cat Connor catconnor.com: the FBI-Byte series, the Veronica Tracey Spy/PI series, the Fates Entwined trilogy, and the upcoming Indigo Delta Kilo The Big Thrill: “Yeah Noir”, an overview of Cat’s series and New Zealand noir The Big Thrill: Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra The Big Thrill: Up Close with Cat Connor, on the end of the Byte series ISBNs and distribution KDP ISBN help: Amazon’s free ISBN for print books Draft2Digital: free ISBNs and wide distribution beyond Amazon Bowker / MyIdentifiers: buying your own ISBNs in the US Authors Guild on KDP’s three-titles-per-day limit Editing and formatting Apple Intelligence Writing Tools: the proofreading tool Cat uses in Pages Grammarly Vellum and Atticus: dedicated formatting software, which Cat says you don’t need Covers Canva KDP paperback cover template and calculator Audiobooks ACX: royalty-share narration with professional voice actors, which isn’t open to New Zealand authors KDP Virtual Voice: Amazon’s AI-narrated audiobooks Apple Books digital narration, which Cat used for the Byte series through Draft2Digital Marketing and launch Mailchimp: Cat’s newsletter platform Substack National Pen: merch and pens PledgeMe: New Zealand crowdfunding Sources: catconnor.com US Copyright Office Circular 1 Authors Guild Publishers Weekly Apple Authors KDP Help Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.