Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It all started with grabbing a coffee with her at Cafe Diaden in Amsterdam. Hannah, I have a story that I really want to tell.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: You know, you just said for me, like the crucial element. You said, how did she go from. Hannah, I've got this great idea to.
You have a book in your hand. Hi, Hannah Huber.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hi, Bradley.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Great to see you again.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Good to see you too.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: We have.
I'm going to jump right into it because I was just asking you, first of all, I can' believe it's already February. And that's going to be March. And March is next month because that means that your next event is coming up.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: That's right. I know. I can't believe it either. Time is flying. March 20th.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Yeah, March 20th in Amsterdam.
And you know what? I'm just gonna have you.
What.
What's going on? It's. And it's different from last year, right?
[00:00:54] Speaker A: It is, yes. Stories unfold. We had our first edition last year, which you were part of, which was a full day conference. So we had breakout sessions, workshops, keynotes, and we took the entire day for that, which was great. This year we're switching up a little bit. We're making it an evening program. So we've decided to have more workshops and webinars spread throughout the year and then just have the celebration of coming together on Friday night, March 20, at the Amsterdam Public Library, which is also the venue that we had the first edition.
And the idea is to celebrate all the stories that have unfolded this past year, which many have.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: So it's going to be a different vibe, but we do it on a Friday for the sole purpose that people who are from out of town can also make a whole weekend in Amsterdam out of it.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: Okay. Oh, great.
Thank you, Al.
So it's in Amsterdam and this is the library that's right near Central Station. Walking distance from Central Station, right?
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Yes. Super easy to reach. About a five minute walk from Central Station. There's a parking garage right underneath with discounted parking. There's a bike garage.
So. Yeah. And a beautiful view over Amsterdam as well. And we're in the theater Zao this year, the theater room.
So we have great sound stage.
And one of the reasons we're doing that is because we also have live music this year. Because. Music.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: And so we're super excited to have VAY there. It's three female artists, indie folk music, and they are actually have a debut album coming out and they're playing at Paradiso in June.
So for them we're lucky that we get them first at the public library and I've heard their band before and it gives me goosebumps. I know it's going to give everyone goosebumps. So it's, I'm happy they're joining us. And that's just a little bit of musical relief amongst all of the panel discussions that we have happening and book signings and networking drinks.
So it's a fun night out.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Okay, so speaking of book signings and panel discussions, what is the content of the eating? What is, what's happening? What's going on? Why would, like, who would want to come? What type of person would want to come to this and why, why do they want to come?
[00:03:14] Speaker A: This is really for any writers, creators, people curious about storytelling. So we have traditionally published authors, but also self published authors, people considering writing a book, or just people that appreciate books in general.
So that's really who it's for. And most of the speakers are either traditionally or self published authors themselves.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Okay.
And there are, there's panel discussions.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: There are, there's two sets of panel discussions.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Do you know the topics already or.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: I do, yes. The one, the first one we're going to do is celebrating unexpected gifts of which you were part of.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: So this was an anthology we put out last summer, last June, a collection of short stories from mostly midlifers. And it's about inflection points in midlife. And the beauty about personal essay is it's a great way to get your story out into the world and share with other people.
So we're actually going to be talking about that. Just the process for these particular authors. A couple of them will be on stage, several will be in the audience. But just the beauty of getting your work out there. You don't have to write a whole novel. You can also just write a personal essay, which can be very powerful. So we'll be talking about the importance of storytelling in that sense. And then we'll have a break in between.
And then we're featuring all the books that came out this past year. We have welcome Home Amsterdam with Talia Stone.
Beautiful stories, short stories about Amsterdam, the city that we love so much. Here's the Skinny bridge. Beautiful Illustration by Cheetah McGouven in there. Who's on story? Houseworks team.
[00:04:56] Speaker B: Nice. Oh, real illustrations. Cool.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Real illustrations.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Just back, back up a sec.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Just a sec.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Because you said we're celebrating the books that came out, so how, how, how do you envision that? What do you, what do you mean celebrating the books?
[00:05:11] Speaker A: What's going to celebrate the books. Well, we're going to talk to each one of the authors about their whole self publishing journey, the process, and talk about how book sales are going, but also just pay honor to them or celebrate the fact that they did this amazing feat by bringing a book out into the world.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Since our first edition last March in 2025.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: So I mean, it's just such a huge undertaking to begin with and how do you even start? So it's also meant to be inspirational for those attending because they get to find out, how did this person even do it? How did Talia even come up with the idea, get the stories, produce this beautiful book that she now managed to get into Central Station, Schiphol Airport, loads of bookstores throughout the city.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: What? Really?
[00:06:00] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: So Central Station in the airport.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Yes, yes. She. She broke in.
Yeah. So I think it's handy for people to know or learn how these self published authors do it because it can be a lonely process. And yeah, it's. I think the best way to learn is just to hear from other people how they did it.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is really interesting. So me, I'm an experienced author and that leads me to the question of, whoa, how did. That's why I'm like, wow, how did you get into Central Station in Schiphol Airport? Because I know as an author that's very difficult. And so that would be a question I could imagine asking to such a panel member is that it's like, wow, how does that work? Because if I'm a beginner author and I think clueless about the entire process, brand new, don't know how any of this stuff works, but you have this dream of, oh, I want to be in the airport. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, slow down there, buttercup.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Right, right, right.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: As easy as it sounds. So that's really cool to have someone there on stage who has gone through that process and can tell us.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. And we also have, for example, Nicholeen von Slingeland with her beautiful book, the Gymsicle Guide to a Creative Life.
And she worked with her own illustrator and designer from Belgium, Vicki Bochert from the Untold. And it's just such a beautiful book, the way it's put together. So she also just talking about the design process and choosing a printer and things like that, but also the power of creativity. She has a wonderful formula in here, the four P's. So she's going to tell us more about that, especially in the day and age that we live in now with all the distractions around us. It's super important to pause, which is one of the P's, and just pay attention what's around you. And I think that's a big part of being a writer is just paying attention.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Putting your iPhone down, taking a walk, listening to nature, watching people in the train. That's a huge part of being creative.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: So we're going to touch on that.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Okay. Colin, because again, I have the experienced author questions. Right. Because I saw that book a few weeks ago when we had our.
Your quarterly cafe bottle and I. Or no, no, I saw it. Yeah, I saw it then. And that book. Can you show a few more pages? Because I know as someone who has published books, what she has done there with that design and some of. Like that.
Yeah, really difficult. And that is gorgeous. And that takes some real planning and not to mention design expertise. Wow, that is so nice.
I would love to hear.
So that is the kind of stuff. Wow. That's the kind of stuff that I would like to like. That'd be my question. Right? Like whoa. Like there's the full spread, the two page spread of design. That's. I know how to do it and it's really difficult. So I'd love to hear more about that process too. So.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. Lots to learn without giving too much away, but lots to learn that night. And then another great book that we have and he actually has his book launch event at ABC in the Hague next week on March 5th is Henry Wilde, that's his pen name.
It's a political thriller, also about with the future in AI and what that means for democracy.
So super relevant book and a lot of fun to read.
So he'll be there as well to talk to us about inspiration for his story. And we actually met in a writing workshop years ago, character development writing workshop. And they had the story idea. And so it's really fun for me to see a fellow writer from my workshop, you know, self publishes book and it turned out fantastic.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: You know, I know you just glanced at a couple pages, but what a different book. Right. Because you.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: You flipped open some pages like massive text. And that it's. What a different process. What a different example of a book. And these can both be books, right?
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Text, text, text. And this one is.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: And the fiction.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. That's really cool to see that difference.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's our focus too at Story House Works is we focus on the nonfiction books like, like Nicolines, but also fiction, political thrillers.
We also have A beautiful.
Well, it's, it's genre wise, it's a historical fiction, I guess you could count it as, because it's following Van Gogh. This also came out since last summer with Storyhouse works from Taya, so she'll also be on the stage with us.
And this is another beautiful book where she has a beautiful forge going on here and there's actually a map.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Gorgeous.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: That Cheetah Monarch team created to show the travels that Van Gogh took in France.
But it's also like a murder mystery type of thing. Or not. Sorry. An art heist thriller.
So no murder. No. Not in this one, at least. Well, I know I'm sure now I'm confusing it with another story. But in any case, it's a.
A beautiful, beautifully laid out novel also by Lisa on our team. And I think it's will be a lot of fun for the audience to hear about Taya's whole journey, self publishing journey, because it all started with grabbing a coffee with her at Cafe Diaden in Amsterdam. Hannah, I have a story that I really want to tell. In the meantime, she moved back to Croatia and then back to Harlem, now in the Netherlands. So it's just, you know, life happens as we're writing and making books. And I think that's important to realize is with all of these, someone has an idea for a story. And how do you go from that idea in your head to an actual book in your hand and everything in between with life happening in between as well?
So I think it's in that sense an event that's going to be comforting for writers and authors to attend, to hear these stories from these authors that made it happen.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: To talk about their stories and their journey and to do some networking. At the end, all these authors will be there signing their books because we have ABC there with their books.
And we also have some sponsors that'll be joining us.
Kobo Writing Life will be there. Ingram Spark. So it's nice to have these platforms that support authors in many ways there to talk to people.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, you just said for me, like the crucial element you said, how did she go from. Hannah, I've got this great idea to.
You have a book in your hand, get the real thing published. Gorgeous cover.
It's finished, it's done, it exists. And it started with in a cafe. Hannah, I've got this great idea that to me is sort of the, like the good stuff.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Exactly. And that's, that's, that's what I love to just see and follow and how it Works out for people. And then I think it'll be good to also hear, okay, then what next? So you have the book in your hand and what comes next? So I think it's important for people to discuss that aspect as well. Um, yeah.
And it'll be good to have these exhibitors there as well to help with book promotion. And, and how do you carry it further.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: Into the world and get more eyes on your book.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Because the nasty little secret of the author world is the book. The book writing is the easy part.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I find, I find writing the most difficult part at times. But. But, yeah, but true.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: Slightly exaggerating, but yeah, it's published now what? Now I'm done. Right.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: That's true. Yeah. And also for traditionally published authors as well, to.
The promotion part always remains the most challenging.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, and then there's, of course, if you want to sell books, right. If the goal of your, of your experience was to get. Have the book in your hand and you don't care if you sell any, well, then that's an awesome goal as well, and that's fine.
And you could, you could call it a day and that would be no judgment. That would be amazing. It would already be more than, you know, 98% of the population in the world. Right. Who has never published a book.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's actually came up last night at the Writer's Night at abc.
Just what you said. It's, you know, you have to ask yourself, why am I writing a book? What's the goal? What's the purpose? Because it might be that you want to put that book in your best friend's hand who's dying. I mean, to be a bit more. But you know, that's a very valid reason. Or is it to gain more visibility for your business. And maybe you've had a business for 10 years and this is a way to share the theories and practices that you've been doing. And I mean, there's so many reasons to, to get your work out there.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And there's so many blockages which we can. Which either are real or reinvent to prevent it from happening. They say, I just heard this interview with somebody who, he. He talked to a whole bunch of people who were on their deathbed speaking of morbid. And they, it's, it's the typical thing. They didn't regret what they did, but regret what they didn't do.
And, and it's exactly like this. I mean, this is honestly how I started writing my first Book because my dad passed away and. And I thought, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. It doesn't happen to me and my family. No, no, no, no, no. Like, oh, wait a minute. I seriously felt like, wait a minute, we're mortal, we're going to die someday. Whoa, whoa. What?
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Right?
[00:15:46] Speaker B: I thought, oh, well, this dream of being a writer that I've had for so long, well, it's just been a dream and I haven't actually taken action to make it really happen. And my only. My only regret is I wish I had done sooner.
Yeah, the only one. But thankfully I've done it, so.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
And I think that that's. That's just it. Things happen in our lives that really push us towards fulfilling that dream as writers, you know, or something major like the pandemic, which was my case. But I think there's always something that pushes us in that direction. Like you said, the only regret then is not having done it sooner.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
Can you tell us just briefly, a little bit more about Story houseworks? So you're hosting this event and what do you offer for.
For experienced authors or brand new authors or people with. Hey, Hannah, I have a great idea.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: It's really for everyone. So Story houseworks is a self publishing platform or boutique indie publishing house. You could call it a Hither or.
And I work with a team of freelancers that I trust and have worked with for a while now, so I know that I can reach them on the phone, which I think is really important this day and age.
And we help guide authors through the process. So we've had everything from people that have already been traditionally published that get the rights back to the book and they just want to take it, do a new version of it. But we also get people, you know, like Taya, that said in a book book or a cafe, I have a book idea.
I don't even know where to start.
So we also have a whole team of editors, ghost writers, writing coaches, developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, proofreaders, you know, and we define all those different types of editing because it's also a sea of like, which one do I need? And, yeah, so figuring out, okay, where are you with your writing stage? What could you. And we usually ask for a writing sample, if they have one, and even a manuscript assessment service we have.
So really guiding people through the most important part, which is the writing and getting as polished as possible. Because our goal is to rid this bad rep that self publishing got over the years where people just throw things onto Amazon with covers that don't look great, have material that hasn't been edited. We want to change that, have well edited work, covers that look great and also just help people through that process because there's so many micro decisions, everything from how big my margins be and what font am I going to use and am I doing hardcover, am I doing audiobook, am I doing ebook? How does the ebook work? How do I distribute all those?
And there's loads, luckily today, of platforms out there that can address each of these steps. But it's nice to have the hand holding for people that want that and just guide them through the process and be your cheerleader and just really help you along the way and give you the confidence when imposter syndrome or perfectionism comes into play, which it often does.
We have these time. Yeah, always. And we have these timelines because I think that's also important. You know, you can, if you're in it on your own, it's very easy to keep pushing back.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: The deadline.
Whereas if you're working with the team of people and you have your timeline that you can touch upon to make it through to publication, it's important.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: You know, you also mentioned the. These trusted freelancers you work with.
And I mean, I know you, Hannah, and I know Storyhouse works. You've been around a few years because I just read a post from a friend who. Or a friend of a friend who was just scammed out of $8,000 or whatever for some basically.
I mean, I think they kind of maybe sort of published a book. Ish. But it was just such a weaselly, scammy situation.
And then they wanted to get out of it and they wouldn't. They give their money back and they wouldn't even give them their rights back. And it's just a mess.
And then people in the comment are like, oh, we went with that company. Oh yeah, it's a scam.
Like, oh, and the, and the, and the guy, the guy's like, oh, well, I wish I had asked this sooner. Right. And the other people, you know, get snarky comments online, but they're like, yeah, you should have. And it just sucked.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: But it's not easy. It's hard to tell what's real and it's. And you're just trying to find what works and with your budget. And I also spoke to a couple of people last night, same thing. They were scammed and so they decided to take it in their own.
And it's just such a shame to hear that. It is. And people take advantage of that. And that's the other thing with Story House Works. Like, we don't have any copywriter rights over the book. We've set all the accounts up in the author's name. It's just a service platform. So whatever the author wants, service wise, that's what they get. We make a package for them and then everything, all rights are theirs. We don't get royalties even. We're not even a hybrid publisher in that sense. So all the royalties go to the author. We're just there to help them get on their merry way and help them promote. And we have an author website.
Yes. Yeah, but it is, it does really break my heart to hear that people get taken advantage of. And because you are very vulnerable as a writer and as an author, you're putting your story out there. It's just one of the most vulnerable things, actually.
So, yeah, I think it's really important to work with people you can trust.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: You know, there's this.
More commenters, they said, well, you know, it's so easy. Why don't you just do it yourself? You can do everything on your own these days.
But yeah, it's sort of like, you know, yeah, it's easy if you know what to do.
[00:21:27] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: If you know the steps. And like you said, there's so many micro decisions and if you talk to somebody experienced like you and your team, then you can say, oh, oh, Hannah, I have options A, B or C. What do I do? Oh, well, in your case, I do see. Oh, well, why? Well, because I've been doing this for years and that's probably. I can explain why if you want, but I would do that because of whatever.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: Right. That's the thing we learn from every single book project. We learn loads. And I think that's the other huge part of Story housework. So the biggest benefit is the community aspect.
We have a whole member platform, people can become members and we have this WhatsApp group where people share tips and tricks or, you know, questions. And we also get together, like you mentioned, with the bottles in person and online events and webinars. Yeah, we just had a webinar on how to write a press release for your book.
We had a webinar with Maven Publishing about how they operate and with a literary agent. So you're constantly learning from each other and from this community and most of them are also self published authors. So you can ask, okay, which printing house do you. Did you use? Or which marketplace on Amazon or how does a wholesale discount work? You know? Yeah, all these Things.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Well, I'm thankful you're doing this. And I hope people watching this can at least feel my trust in you and experience. Because those scammer things, they're scary. Also with AI, it's just getting harder and harder to tell, like, what's real and what's not, who's a scammer, who's not. And you know, oh, I'll go read the reviews. Well, are the reviews even real? It's just. It's hard.
And if you have no idea and you're just getting started in this world, I mean, I've been doing this for 10 years. I. I know the. I know what to do. I know all the steps, just like you, and so I know what to avoid. But when you're just a beginner, it's so just this big, giant, scary world.
So, yeah, it's so thankful that you're out there, Hannah. Helping. Helping people avoid scams and go from, hey, Hannah, I've got a great idea to you're holding that book in your hand. That's really awesome.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: Yeah. And I hope people will come to Stories Unfold to learn more.
So that's also probably worth mentioning with on our websites, storyhouseworks.com if you go to the well, even actually at the top, we just have a tab that Stories Unfold and you can just click on there, see the full program, who's speaking.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: We even have a cookbook author who was handed a camera when he was 12 by his mom and made these beautiful photographs for his own cookbook and talking about the importance of food and storytelling. So he'll be there as well.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Oh, no way. Oh, that's cool.
[00:24:07] Speaker A: Yes. And Sue Deagle, who you've met before, but she's an author from Do Books Do Publishing in the uk. She's flying over from the States. She has her due boss book launched right before that. But she's also speaking on our stage.
So loads on offer this night. I think it's a great way for international authors, Dutch and international, to come together in Amsterdam on the 20th of March.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Okay, so people, they need to sign up, right? They need to sign up. And there's an entry cost, right?
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yes, General admission is €25, so we cut the cost low this year to make it accessible to everyone. I mean, €25 includes a great night out, live music, drink, snacks, and making all these connections with authors.
And then we also have a Discount for students €10 and members of the public library and the American Book center. And Storyhouse works have half price tickets. So 1250.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: All right. And so they can find all of this and they people should go to storyhouseworks.com storyhouseworks.com and then click on the
[00:25:09] Speaker A: top at Stories Unfold and bring you right to the program page.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Okay. And it's on Friday, March 20th.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: 20th.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Yes. Doors open at 7. Program starts at 7:30 and it'll end
[00:25:24] Speaker B: by roughly what time?
[00:25:26] Speaker A: 9:30. Yeah, we'll probably have to start sweeping the crowd at quarter to 10. The library closes at 10pm but people can have the whole city of Amsterdam. They can go to after party if they want.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: And it's on a Friday evening so they could have if they're not in Amsterdam or nearby, they can go have a weekend in Amsterdam.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Yeah, it's perfect. Spring is in the air and it's perfect time to come to the city anyway.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Yeah, great. All right. I'm looking forward to it, Hannah, and I hope you watching and listening you want to come check it out on March 20, Friday, March 20 in Amsterdam. Story Houseworks Putting on stories Unfold and we just talked a whole bunch about what the, what the content's going to be for the night and all the benefits for potential authors or existing authors and all the content and speakers is going to be that night. So I'm really looking forward to it, Hannah.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: Me too. Thank you, Bradley. Thanks for the interview. I appreciate it.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Yeah, my pleasure. All right, bye for now.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: All right, bye.
