# SPA Girls Podcast

> Four full-time New Zealand fiction authors share weekly indie publishing tactics, direct sales strategy, and peer-tested advice — running since 2015.

Source: https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/podcasts/spa-girls-podcast
Website: https://selfpublishingauthorspodcast.com/
Category: Podcasts (https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/podcasts)
Pricing: free — $0
AI-powered: no
Tags: fiction, romance, marketing, direct-sales, community, craft, genre-fiction, new-zealand
Last verified: 2026-05-14
Best For: Romance and genre fiction authors who want peer-tested marketing and direct sales tactics from full-time indie authors
Episode Count: 552
Frequency: weekly
Host: Trudi Jaye, Cheryl Phipps, Wendy Vella, Shar Barratt
Topic: marketing, author-lifestyle

The SPA Girls Podcast (SPA = Self Publishing Authors) has run weekly since 2015 — one of the longest-running indie author podcasts still producing original content with its original hosts. All four co-hosts are full-time fiction authors based in New Zealand: Wendy Vella (Amazon bestseller, 2+ million books sold, 40+ published novels), Cheryl Phipps (USA Today and Amazon bestselling author, publishes cozy mysteries as C.A. Phipps), Shar Barratt, and Trudi Jaye. Together they've published 140+ books and operate active publishing businesses while producing the show weekly.

## What You Get

- **Peer advice from working authors:** All four hosts run active publishing businesses — success stories and struggles reflect current experience, not coaching theory or platform positioning.
- **Fiction-focused episodes:** Topics include direct sales setup, reader engagement, genre marketing, cover design, craft, and author mindset — oriented toward romance and genre fiction rather than nonfiction.
- **Guest interviews:** The show brings in USA Today and NYT bestselling authors, successful indie authors, and genre specialists spanning romance, paranormal, science fiction, and contemporary fiction.
- **Four-host dynamic:** The conversational multi-host format creates natural debate and varying perspectives that solo-host shows cannot replicate.

## Who It's For

- **Genre fiction authors:** Romance, paranormal, thriller, and fantasy authors will find the most directly applicable advice, given the hosts' publishing backgrounds and guest roster.
- **Direct sales explorers:** The SPA Girls have covered direct-to-reader sales strategy (Shopify, Payhip, reader funnels) extensively as the trend has grown among fiction authors.
- **Authors who want community warmth:** The show has cultivated a loyal listener base with consistent audience interaction, functioning as a community touchpoint rather than a passive content feed.

**Pricing:** Free. A Patreon membership ($10/month tier) unlocks access to a private mastermind group for authors and bonus community content.

## Strengths

- **Ten years of consistent weekly output:** 552+ episodes since 2015 with the same hosting team — EP#520 commemorated the 10-year milestone in October 2025 — represents a rarity in the indie podcast landscape, where most shows end within two years.
- **Apple Podcasts rating of 4.7/5 (106 ratings):** Consistently high listener ratings with a review count well above the indie author podcast norm, reflecting durable trust in peer-based practical advice.
- **Deep direct sales coverage:** As author-direct sales have grown, the SPA Girls have stayed ahead of the curve with how-tos and results reporting rather than surface-level overviews.

## Limitations

- **Fiction-only focus:** Nonfiction, memoir, and business-book authors will find limited relevance. The hosts' expertise and guest selection are firmly grounded in genre fiction.
- **New Zealand perspective:** All hosts are based in New Zealand, which occasionally creates framing differences around US or UK market-specific platforms and reader behavior.
- **Less granular on paid ads:** While the show covers advertising topics, it is less detailed on Amazon Ads and Facebook Ads mechanics than dedicated marketing shows.

## Alternatives

For a craft-only fiction focus without marketing content, *Helping Writers Become Authors* (K.M. Weiland) covers story structure in depth. For a broader international indie author base with cross-platform coverage, the *Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast* reaches beyond the New Zealand fiction community. *Sell More Books Show* offers more Amazon Ads depth for genre fiction authors focused on that platform.