KWL Live Q&A: Music, Love and Storytelling with Xio Axelrod 02/27/2025

KWL Live Q&A: Music, Love and Storytelling with Xio Axelrod
description
The Kobo Writing Life team invites you to join us on February 27th from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST for a new Live Q&A.  KWL director Tara and KWL author engagement manager Laura will chat to bestselling author Xio Axelrod.
uniform resource locator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziAHLKI6wzU

video

Xio Axelrod
https://xioaxelrod.com/

MY TRANSCRIPT

00:02:00 Tara: how did music industry help you in the publishing? Xio: Her dad is a successful songwriter. She loves rock, her father is in rhythm and blues. Brought guerilla marketing tactics from indie music publishing into literary publishing industry. 00:04:00 Tara: What specifically did you bring from the music industry? Xio: She felt literary publishing was ahead of music space. In the music industry indie artist didn't have as much success at the time.  She feels things like Boom going into indie writers backlist, and feels that may occur in the music industry. Both have many similarities. 00:06:00  Laura: What has been different in the industries? Xio: In music industry , not alot of peer support. You usually don't see musicians saying i like that album too but you see it in literature 00:07:00  Tara: what was challenges when you started? Xio: A huge learning curve to getting book out there. I needed cover art. She did her own covers/editing, what you tell new authors not to do. She was building her website and merch. Hardest part was reaching out to other people. She spent about a year, she thought it would be a side gig, watching other indie authors do what they did, cross promotion marketing. 00:09:00  Tara: What did you think of with pen names and website Xio: She had her pen name and website before she started. She interviewed authors on her blog and promoting her work. And she had authors saying you shouldn't do that.  00:10:00  Tara from Mauritzio Do you have any advice for an author who has published his first book, especially for promotion? Xio: Promoting others will get you known, and then when it is your turn , they will help.  She told another author Bluesky is where it is at. Cross promotion matters. Good luck out there. Laura: I think cross promotion with authors who do the same genre as you  00:12:00 Laura: can you explain what a hybrid author is? Xio: She made eight books as an author before she signed a contract. she wanted to expand out, she spent her money on events, not advertisements. Source books approached her. She knew when you signed a traditional contract you have to give up some things. She thinks she is just finding it now. From the pandemic doing event after event, it is busier with success while still writing. She hasn't released a full indie in a few years. For her it is taking the time to write the book. 00:15:00 Tara: Did she think she will have influence once signed? Xio: Growing up, she knew, that  a record label deal was not wise, from various people in the industry. But when she hit the wall, you can't get into bookshelves, or this or that store, you need to sign a contract. IF she can get someone where she can do what she wants while also signed . She is fortunate. 00:17:00  Tara: Readers don't follow the books Xio: She tells readers the more recent books are not her first. She has to get some old books back to print.  00:18:00  Tara: Can you walk us through your writing process?  Xio: She does a lot of daydreaming. Xiovision. All of her characters live with her all the time. The scene will play over and over in her head and then she will write. She knows authors who get up is four in the morning and then they write to six. She does it day to day. Some days marketing, other days writing. She always consumes content. If she is on deadline, she turns off the phone on certain days. Surrounds herself with the art that helps her. Everyone has their own process. Her's is haphazard, no day is like the day before. 00:20:00 Tara: YOu do alot of events, do you write on the road? Xio: No , at an event she goes to an event mode. She thinks how many stickers she has for the table. Until the pandemic, she didn't know what process she needs. Her husband took over her office. The girl with stars in her eyes, was the hardest book. She knows now, if she wants to write, no package, no deliveries, so she can sink into her story. 00:22:00  Laura: What is your favorite film score to write to? Xio: JAne Eyre. She likes the soundtrack from the Piano. Any music with lyrics she can't use. But if love scene or fighting scene, she has five hundred sounds on her playlist. She writes playlist for every book she writes.  00:24:00 Laura: What are your thoughts to audiobooks, does she have any? Xio: She does. 2015 she thinks she should do this audio thing. She looked at catalog but not alot of romance. And she put up the money and it earned out. She encourages people to do audio, if you can get someone else to pay for it better, but she listens to audio exclusively now.  Laura: her standards in audio are higher for background in music? Xio: She finds authors through the narrators. She asked who can she afford, in the beginning. And then she started writing characters for various voices.  Girls with Bad Reputations, the characters were written with those voice authors in mind. A bad audio performance can ruin a book for her.  00:27:00  Laura: how do you approach genre blending? Xio: Write the book you want to read? She was reading anne rice, she didn't read romance into she actually wrote one. In "girl's with bad reputations" she wrote a scene that was a little wild, the editor questioned, but she said, it is alright. But throwing all the tropes and things she love in the blender, she can do it. it took nine months and two hundred chapters on my blog and it happened 00:29:00 LAura: what are your favorite tropes? Xio: Rivals to lovers. She doesn't approach books with tropes in mind? She had a book with many . Microtropes is having a big moment. Microtropes is the lifesblood of fan fiction 00:30:00 Tara: Your favorite microtrope? Xio: hue falls, she was a fanfic panel. Someone on the panel said she knows Xio writes fanfiction cause she manages the buffy fanfic lbrary. 00:32:00 Tara: Did you build this with your publisher? Xio: Initially the Lilly was one book in her head. When they approached about writing a series she can write a book for each girl. She was into this show called SKAN. It was very addictive, they had clips , like messages between characters. I can't do that with a book, but she can make similar. They have their own websites, book, esocial sites, the Lilyverse.  00:34:00 Tara: Do you write the esocial of the various characters? Xio: Yes, she does, she doesn't sleep. If she let someone else control, they would have more content. But it helps to write them to get inside their head. 00:35:00  Tara: would you let others try to work in the universe? Xio: We will see what source says. It has huge potential but we will see, and she owns her earlier work that someone did something from. We will see.  00:36:00 Tara: Would you need to compile a Lillyverse wiki Xio: She was thinking about having a series bible. A series bible will help but she will need to sit down. 00:37:00 Tara: Do you worry about easter eggs with having the various characters social? Xio: I don't think she has posted anything that isn't outside the story.  00:38:00 Tara: Any merchandise you have or most memorable? Xio: For the lilly series I have stickers. But she knew she would have alot of merch for the lilies with shirts for the concerts, album covers. She will sell shirts at Philadlephia convention. She gets giddy when fans love the lilies. She gets bracelets with the characters names and she gets magnets. She tells authors to find another point of contact with readers. Find a way to connect to another level 00:40:00 Tara: Do you take advice from readers on how to write? Xio: No, she likes feedback from the fanfic times but don't like all the people telling you what to do. Fans killed her passion for a story with their demands or desires on where it should go. She wants the lilies to be from where she wants. The training ground of fanfiction teaches you to stray away from fans desires to the future.  00:42:00 Laura: Any advice to indies for marketing their books Xio: She knows many indie authors do good work with advertisements but she likes events especially reader events. Everything is so tied to social media, and you never know what channel will work best. Figure out what is going on behind the scene and in romance authors are not averse to share information. She belongs to the authors guild as well. Marketing is tough, algorithm suppress what isn't paid for.  00:44:00 Tara: Do you focus on newsletters Xio: It is a chore for her to do a newsletter. Whenever she sits down to do a newsletter it sounds like corporate speak. She turned the newsletter over to her publishers. Get started early with newsletter. She tries to make the Lillies to independent. They have their own page on facebook. A fan said they would go to a place, that wasn't real. The temptation is to make it real. Sheet music exists on the back of the books. She can't wait to see people make covers, of the lilies work.  00:47:00 Tara: you mentioned the tenth anniversary of her book the callum Xio: She has always struggled with imposter syndrome. You can feel a failure when others are celebrating huge deals. She wished she learned early on to celebrate the wins of publishing a book and having others read her work. Work with your emotions and then get back to work. Be healthy emotionally. She wished she had learned early. It is great to have authors around you, have author friends. They will celebrate you and if they don't they are not your friends. People had said you did this or that and she had forgotten. And she remembered for her tenth anniversary 00:51:00 Tara: What was fans reaction to the series? Xio: Fans were happy. Her neighbor was one of her first readers. She got all teary with new stuff. She hopes fans of the lilly series, and she hopes they entertain her revisited book. 00:52:00  Laura: any upcoming projects Xio: Double deadline , writing tiff's story, the base player. Follow up to love on the Byeline, comes out later this year. It isn't quite as heavy. It will be interesting to continue this story of two friends.  00:53:00 Tara: any events in the future Xio: A polycon in April, doing romancecon this year, She will be quite a few places. She will be traveling not as much as last year. She is doing London and Vancouver. In book three the Lillies will be doing their first world tour so she will do research.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FROM ME
SI she pusblished internationally, has any of her books been translated ?
Have you considered a character dying in the books and how would you handle their esocial?

Xio Axelrod website [ https://xioaxelrod.com/ ]
Xio Axelrod on Kobo [ https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/search?query=xio+axelrod&fclanguages=en ]
Xio Axelrod merch [ https://xioverse-merch.creator-spring.com/ ] 
Xio Axelrod book [ https://xioaxelrod.com/books ] 
Xio Axelrod appearances [ https://xioaxelrod.com/appearances ]