The Pulp Writer Show

By: Jonathan Moeller
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  • Summary

  • Hosted by Jonathan Moeller (author of the FROSTBORN and SEVENFOLD SWORD fantasy series and the SILENT ORDER scifi series), the Pulp Writer Show discusses how to write, format, publish, and sell your novel. Sometimes there are jokes.
    Copyright Jonathan Moeller
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Art Economics Leadership Literary History & Criticism Management & Leadership
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Episodes
  • Episode 240: Escaping The Prestige Trap For Writers, Part I - MFA Degrees & Literary Agents

    Episode 240: Escaping The Prestige Trap For Writers, Part I - MFA Degrees & Literary Agents
    Feb 24 2025
    In this week's behavior, we discuss how seeking prestige can be dangerous for writers, specifically in the form of MFA degrees and literary agents. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire, Book #1 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: SQUIRE50 The coupon code is valid through March 14, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 240 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February the 20th, 2025, and today we are discussing how to escape the trap of prestige that can sometimes catch writers, specifically in the form of MFA degrees and literary agents. Before we get into greater detail with that, we will start with Coupon of the Week and then an update on my current writing projects and then also a Question of the Week before we get to the main topic. But first, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire, Book One of the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. And that coupon code is SQUIRE50. The coupon code is valid through March 14th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook as we head into spring, we have got you covered. Now let's have an update on current writing projects. I am 94,000 words into Ghost in the Assembly. I had two 10,000 word days this week, which really moved the needle forward. We'll talk about those a little bit more later. I'm on Chapter 18 of 21, I believe, and if all goes well, I should hopefully finish the rough draft before the end of the month because I would like to get editing on that as soon as possible. For my next book, that will be Shield of Battle and I am 8,000 words into that and I'm hoping that'll come out in April. Ghost in the Assembly will be in March, if all goes well. In audiobook news, recording for Cloak of Dragonfire (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is finished and also recording on Orc-Hoard, the fourth book of the Half-Elven Thief series (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward). Both of those should be coming out sometime in March, if all goes well. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects. 00:01:45 Question of the Week And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question, if you have off work or school because of a snow day or extreme cold or other intense weather, what do you do with the day? No wrong answers. We had a number of responses to this. Surabhi says: Ha, jokes on you! It never snows where I live. We do sometimes bunk school on rainy days, though. What I mostly do then is catching up on homework or listening to the rain. Justin says: We're having a snow day here; schools and many businesses are closed. So Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movie marathon! Popcorn popped, hot cocoa and cold soda prepped. I have to admit, that seems like a very good idea. Mary says: Read, write, watch the snow fall, try to exercise inside. Michael says: That hasn't happened to me since about 1985, but I seem to recall it was on my birthday and boy was I happy to miss school on my birthday! I think I read fantasy books, drank tea, and played video games. Juana says: curl up with a book and hot chocolate or tea. John says: Haven't had a snow day since I was a child, but I did either play in the snow or read a book (at that age, Andre Norton, Lester del Rey, or Ben Bova). I'm relocating later this year back to colder climes, but since I now only work remotely and have for the past six years, sadly my days change very little. Jenny says: Usually shovel snow, make a pot of warm food, more snow removal, watch movies or shows. Bob says: I'm retired now, so probably not much different than any other day, but when I was working, I'd probably be out shoveling snow so I can get to work whenever the roads were clear. Of course, that necessitated more shoveling when the snowplow dumped its load across the end of my driveway and that's why I moved south, where I rarely see snow. Yes, if you live in a colder climes and you have a driveway, you know that you'll shovel the driveway and then immediately when you're done, these snowplow will come and block up the end of the driveway. Finally, Dan says: For myself, I enjoy a free day. However, soon the home duties encroach on this free time. For myself, the answer is clearly that I write 10,000 words on the first snow day and then again on the second day because I just had two days in a row where it was too cold to leave the house. So what I did was stay home and wrote 20,000 words of Ghost in the Assembly. 00:03:54 Main Topic: Escaping the Trap of Prestige, Part I Now onto our main topic of ...
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    22 mins
  • Episode 239: Frozen Pizza Review Roundup

    Episode 239: Frozen Pizza Review Roundup
    Feb 17 2025
    In this week's episode, I discuss eating frozen pizza after a decade-long hiatus, and rate my favorite brands and styles of frozen pizza. 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 239 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February the 14th, 2025 and today we are rating the different brands of frozen pizza I tried over the last several months. I know that is an odd topic for a writing podcast, but it's my podcast and I like frozen pizza, so we're going to talk about frozen pizza this week. Before we do that, we will have Coupon of the Week and an update on my current writing projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the eBooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That is all nine ebooks and this coupon code will get you 25% off any of them. That is DRAGONBOOK25. We'll have the links and the coupon code in the show notes. Someone pointed out that I've only been giving away coupon codes for audiobooks instead of ebooks, which is a fair argument, so that's why we're doing this. The coupon code will be valid through March 7th, 2025. So if you need a new series to read for spring, we have got you covered. Now an update on my current writing projects. As of this recording, I am 67,000 words into Ghost in the Assembly, which puts me on Chapter 13 of 21. I think this book will be in the Hundred Thousand Words Club, maybe a little less, maybe a little more, we'll see. I'm still hoping to have it out in March, if all goes well. My secondary project right now is Shield of Battle, the fifth of six books in The Shield War series, and I'm 5,000 words into that. Once Ghost in the Assembly is complete, it will be full speed ahead on Shield of Battle. In audiobook news, recording for Orc-Hoard (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) and recording for Cloak of Dragonfire (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) are both done and those should be showing up on audiobook stores soon. They haven't quite gotten through processing yet, but it is close. In regards to Cloak Mage and Half-Elven Thief, I am planning to work on those in the second half of 2025 once Ghost Armor and The Shield War are done, since there are only two books left in Shield War and I'm just about through the fourth book of six for the Ghost Armor series, that won't be too much longer. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects and let's move on now to Question of the Week. 00:02:22 Question of the Week Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what is your favorite kind of frozen pizza? No wrong answers, obviously. The inspiration for this question is that it's the topic of the episode, so here are the answers we got from people. Justin says: We do the Walmart Great Value rising crust frozen pizzas at my house. I add eight ounces of shredded cheese and sprinkle Italian herb mix on top. I've found that's a good idea myself. If you buy some of the cheaper frozen pizzas, you can add extra pepperoni, oregano, or whatever you want to it and that will enhance the flavor. John says: Trader Joe's. They have an Italian-made margherita that's quite good. Scott says: Red Baron Classic Crust, either Supreme or Four Meats. MW says: The one they sell in my country, brand name Dr. Oetker Ristorante with salami, mozzarella cheese, and green pesto. I often top it up with some goat’s cheese. Doug says: Digiorno’s Supreme. Juana says: Half pepperoni, half Canadian Bacon. Brooks says: Depends on the mood. We typically don't eat frozen pizza. If we do, it's usually Digiorno’s, although when I'm craving something junk food-ish and pizza at the same time, I will totally go for Totino’s. Plus the story behind that brand and how it revolutionized the frozen pizza business in general is amazing. Brandy says: I don't have a full size oven at the moment, so Totino's is my favorite because I like cheese pizza and it fits in my toaster oven. Otherwise, I make my own. Gary says: Generally a smaller local brand-they seem to be a little fresher with higher quality ingredients than larger brands. Parker says: Totino's, hands down-my favorite junk food. JT says: I either eat 7-Eleven pizzas or eat Totino's. Otherwise, my pizzas are almost as fresh as the day Adam and Eve were introduced to the concept in Eden. For myself, my answer will be the main topic of this episode, which we're going to get to right now. 00:04:15 Main Topic: Winter 2024/2025 Frozen Pizza Roundup I used to joke that if I lived long enough and could afford to retire, I wanted to start a YouTube channel that consisted entirely of different reviews of frozen pizza. The idea came from the sitcom Community. I always enjoyed the show since it's about a community college. I used to work in higher ed, so I could definitely relate to most of the ...
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    18 mins
  • Episode 238: Winter 2024/2025 Movie Roundup

    Episode 238: Winter 2024/2025 Movie Roundup
    Feb 10 2025
    In this week's episode, I take a look at the movies and streaming shows I watched in winter 2024/2025, and share my opinions on them. I also take a look at my ebook advertising results from January 2025. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Orc Paladin, Book #3 in the Half-Elven Thief series, (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store: PALADIN50 The coupon code is valid through February 28, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for the bad February weather, we’ve got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 238 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 7, 2025 and today we are discussing the movies and streaming shows I watched in Winter 2024 and 2025. Before that, we will do Coupon of the Week, an update on my current writing projects, Question of the Week, and my ad results from January 2025. First, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Half-Orc Paladin, Book Three in the Half-Elven Thief Series (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is PALADIN50. This coupon code will be valid through February the 28th, 2025, so if you need a new audiobook to get you through the bad February weather, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and audiobook projects. As I mentioned last week, Shield of Deception is now out and you can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords and my Payhip store. It is doing quite well. Thank you all for that. I hope you enjoy the book and I've been hearing good things about it from people who read it. Now that Shield of Deception is done, my main project is now Ghost in the Assembly and I am 36,000 words into it as of this recording, which puts me almost on Chapter 8 of 21. So I'm about one third of the way through the rough draft, give or take. If all goes well. I'm hoping that book will be out in March. My secondary project is Shield of Battle, which is the sequel to Shield of Deception and I am about 2,000 words into that. I'm also 50,000 words into what will be the third and final Stealth and Spells book, Stealth and Spells Online: Final Quest. It was originally named Reactant, but I decided to change the name to Final Quest because that sounds better and if all goes well, that will probably be out in the middle of the year, give or take. In audiobook news, Cloak of Masks (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is now out at all audio stores, including Audible, so you can listen to that there. Work is almost done on Cloak of Dragonfire. It's being proof-listened to as I record this and hopefully that should be out before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects. 00:02:19 Question of the Week Next up is Question of the Week, which is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's topic, which ties into our main topic: what was the favorite movie you saw in 2024? No wrong answers, obviously (including “I hate everything I saw in 2024”). We have a few responses for this. JD says: It was either Transformers One or Deadpool and Wolverine. Mary says: I didn't see any movies in 2024. Doug says: Dune was one of the books I read in the ‘70s. Like your books, I never got enough back then. I was buying Hardcovers. I still have six of them. I have seen the two versions of the books. Can't wait to see this version of the books. I have seen the first movies. Hope to see more. David says: Godzilla versus Kong was pretty much the only one from last year I saw. I just bought Gladiator 2 but haven't watched it yet. Davette says: I enjoyed both Dune 2 and The Fall Guy and Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine. My favorite was Wicked, mainly because I've been waiting on that movie for years. Bonnie says: I haven't seen any movies or watched TV in years. For myself, I think it would be a tie for my favorite movie of 2024 for between Dune 2 and The Fall Guy. The two Dune movies, for all the stuff they changed from the book, are probably the most faithful adaptation it was possible to make with that very dense and very weird book. I thought The Fall Guy was just hilarious and I had no idea it was based on TV series from the ‘80s until I read up about it on the Internet after I saw the movie. It was interesting that we didn't have very many responses to this question the week and of those responses, one third of them was “I didn't see any movies in 2024.” So if the movie industry is wondering why it's in so much trouble, I think we might have just found the answer here in that nobody wants to go to see movies in the theater anymore. 00:04:09 Ad Results for January 2025 Now onto our next topic, how my ads performed in January 2025. Now as usual for my books in January, I used...
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    27 mins

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