Turning Witches and Mysteries into a Small Business

🎙️ Episode 23: Writing Urban Fantasy Full-Time — A Conversation with P.L. Matthews (Paola)

Paola writes cosy urban-fantasy murder mysteries set in Sydney (witches, vampires, gargoyles… plus an actual mystery solved with smarts, not spellwork).

But the part that hooked me wasn’t the genre magic — it was the honesty:

She made “every mistake” at the start and kept going anyway

She didn’t tell anyone she was writing… until she hit 60,000 words

She ran ads, started selling, panicked, stopped… then rebuilt confidence and kept marketing

She translates her books (with human proofing) and built an international readership

She treats this like a small business because that’s what it is

If you’re writing, publishing, or trying to make this work without waiting for permission, this article will hit.

Read it on Substack: Episode 23 show notes + highlights + pull-out quotes (perfect for any writer who needs a kick forward).

https://open.substack.com/pub/amrasarmchairanecdotes/p/turning-witches-and-mysteries-into?r=i0jxk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true