EP 434 - Held Over Passion Projects with John Gaspard

Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

Mark interviews John Gaspard about his book HELD OVER: HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATER.

Prior to the interview Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode's sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report.

In the interview, Mark and John talk about:

• John's appreciation for the honesty of the podcast and one of his favorite episodes, and why he liked it
• John's background and the two different cozy mystery series that he has written and published
• The Eli Mark's "Behind the Page" podcast that John uses to share behind-the-scenes and brilliantly market the books in audio and other formats
• A person with a PhD in "shuffling cards" who was a guest on John's podcast
• How John approached his deep love and affection for the 1971 movie HAROLD AND MAUDE
• The Minneapolis theatre (Westgate) that helped make this movie a cult classic
• How John couldn't have written this book 20 years ago
• John's Popcorn Principals books
• The book HELD OVER: HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATER
• John's philosophy of "I'm writing for me."
• A bit of the history of the Westgate Theater
• The approach to his writing and recognizing that most of the books are likely not to earn much more than making back the initial money invested into them
• Deciding which researched bits made it into the book
• How Scrivener was a helpful tool in the writing of the book and various research elements
• The design company that John worked with on this book
• The Kickstarter that John ran related to this book and what it did for him (beyond earning a bit of up front money to help with funding the expensive project
• Working with Bookvault on the production of this book
• Advice John would offer to writers who haven't yet pursued that passion project
• And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on passion projects, networking and connecting with other writers, and the advice to pause/hesitate

Links of Interest:

• John Gaspard's Website
• EP 218 - John Gaspard on Business, Writing, and Magic
• Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link)
• Buy Mark a Coffee
• Patreon for Stark Reflections
• Mark's YouTube channel
• Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)
• An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and Libraries
• The Relaxed Author
  • Buy eBook Direct
  • Buy Audiobook Direct
• Publishing Pitfalls for Authors
• An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores
• Wide for the Win
• Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books
  • This Time Around (Short Story)
  • A Canadian Werewolf in New York
  • Stowe Away (Novella)
  • Fear and Longing in Los Angeles
  • Fright Nights, Big City
  • Lover's Moon
  • Hex and the City
  • Only Monsters in the Building
• The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
• Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard
• Merry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

John Gaspard is author of the Eli Marks mystery series and the Como Lake Players mystery series. He also has several other stand-alone novels, including “The Greyhound of the Baskervilles,” “A Christmas Carl,” “The Sword & Mr. Stone” and “The Ripperologists.”

He hosts: "Behind the Page: The Eli Marks Podcast."

In real life, John's not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less - that's no small trick. He's also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, those books made more than the films.

John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several greyhounds, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0