294: Self-Publishing a Middle Grade Series — Interview with H.R. Hobbs

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hey there word nerds!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing H.R. Hobbs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">H.R. Hobbs (or Heather Hobbs, as I know her) is the Amazon-bestselling author of a series of compassionate and empowering stories for middle-grade readers. Set in a typical middle school, her books address the topics of belonging, friendship, and bullying.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A lifelong learner and teacher, Heather started writing in 2015 as a retirement project. Recently, she began taking art lessons with the hopes of illustrating her own children’s books in the future.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Heather is the mother to three grown sons and grandmother to three little darlings. She lives with her husband in the small prairie town where she was born and raised.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also, Heather and I have been part of the same mastermind group for just about two years (shoutout to our third group member Angelica!). For those who don’t know, a mastermind group is basically like a critique group but instead of giving feedback on each other’s writing, we brainstorm around each other’s careers and business plans.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Heather and I first met, she was still teaching and she was juggling her writing alongside a busy teaching schedule. In the years since, she has doubled down on her writing and built a strong career as a self-published author (in a niche that isn’t necessarily easy to break into with self-publishing).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I have had the benefit of hearing Heather’s insights pretty much every other week for two years and I am beyond thrilled to have her on the show so she can share her insights with the word nerd community.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode Heather and I discuss:</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span sty