How an Indie Author Landed in Time Square: ft. Jourdana Webber (Pt. 1)

In this episode, we’re raising a glass (literally) to indie author success with bestselling author Jourdana Webber, whose debut novel Unconventionally, Elle has taken the indie publishing world by storm.

Jourdana joins us to talk about her journey from corporate life to writing swoony, heartfelt contemporary romance, and how she built her author career by learning the business side of publishing. From producing her own audiobook to cold-emailing bookstores and building industry relationships, Jourdana shares the strategies that helped her break through as an independent author.

We also celebrate a massive milestone: Unconventionally, Elle appearing in Times Square, proving that indie authors absolutely belong on the biggest stages in publishing.

To celebrate the moment, Jourdana is releasing a limited Times Square special edition with sprayed edges, available now in an extremely limited run.

👉 Order the Times Square Special Edition:
https://jourdanawebber.com/products/times-square-special-edition-sprayed-edges-unconventionally-elle

If you’re an aspiring author—or just love behind-the-scenes conversations about the publishing world—this episode is packed with honest advice, hilarious moments, and plenty of margarita-fueled encouragement.

In This Episode

• How Jourdana went from corporate burnout to bestselling author
• The truth about indie vs traditional publishing
• Why audiobooks can be a game changer for indie authors
• How asking the right questions (and sending cold emails) can open doors
• What it actually takes to market your book outside of social media
• Why building your own publishing company and retaining rights matters
• The mindset shift that helps authors keep going after rejection
• Celebrating Jourdana’s Times Square feature for Unconventionally, Elle

About Jourdana Webber

Jourdana Webber is the bestselling author of Unconventionally, Elle, a heartfelt contemporary romance about ambition, love, and redefining success. Her stories blend humor, vulnerability, and the messy magic of real relationships while celebrating women’s voices, resilience, and found family. 

She lives in New Orleans with her husband and four dogs and is known for crafting emotionally resonant romances that remind readers happily-ever-afters still exist—even when life doesn’t go as planned. 

About the Book

Unconventionally, Elle

Elle Watson climbed the corporate ladder and achieved everything she thought she wanted—until burnout and betrayal force her to rethink everything. As she leaves the corporate world behind to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, Elle finds herself caught between a new love and the past she thought she left behind. 

Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Carley Fortune, Abby Jimenez, and Sophie Kinsella, the novel blends romance, humor, and emotional depth with themes of ambition, love, and building an unconventional life. 

Follow Jourdana

Instagram: @authorjourdanawebber
Website: https://jourdanawebber.com

Follow Margs & Manuscripts

Instagram: @margsandmanuscripts

Listen If You Love

• Emily Henry
• Abby Jimenez
• Carley Fortune
• Sophie Kinsella
• Contemporary romance with humor, heart, and real-life chaos 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow, rate, and share the podcast with a fellow writer or book lover.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:00

Today I have Prosecco because we're celebrating.

Speaker 0:05

Yes.

Speaker 2 0:06

We're celebrating. And I have um an entire shrimp cocktail to myself.

Speaker 0:10

Oh yeah. Welcome. Thank you, thank you. I was about to say I almost had my margarita in a coffee mug. Because I knew you guys did that too. But I was like, oh, the pink ball.

Speaker 1 0:27

We're non-discriminatory about our margarita vessel. Exactly. I hear you.

Speaker 2 0:31

So yeah, we are we're celebrating today because Jourdana's here and Elle is the ultimate party girl. I have to start this episode. Well, I'll I I gotta interview, but yeah, we we gotta do that thing. But but I have to start by saying we have an idea of what we want to talk about today, but this is like, and we don't always script episodes. We have like talking points we like to hit, but we usually have some sort of theme for each episode where we're like, hey, we're gonna invite this person and we're gonna talk about this. I just feel like we're gonna have so much fun together. This is gonna be a great conversation. Um, but welcome to Mars and Manuscripts, Jourdana Weber, best-selling author.

Speaker 1:12

It was it was a surprise. It was a cool. I'll never forget that. Like, so I was sitting, we were about to go get sushi, my husband and I, and it was release day. And I'm sitting there and I'm like looking at like the book on Amazon, like watching it trend um like higher in the best-selling whatever, whatever. And I click on the audio book and it says number one contemporary fiction, like new release. And I like screamed, and my husband's like, what the fuck just happened? Like, are you okay? And I'm like, And instead of talking to my husband, I call my best friend and I'm like, check Amazon. Do you see this? Is this real? And she looks, she goes, it's fucking real.

Speaker 2 1:49

And I'm like, oh my God. What I love about that is that that is such a big, huge, wide genre. Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:56

Oh my gosh, so many books, so many titles.

Speaker 1:59

And it was like for the audio. I I don't know how Amazon does all their shit, but it was like, I think it was for like audible whatever. And it was number one because I was like, I'm screenshotting this. This happened, it existed. And that's now your best. That's that's yeah.

unknown 2:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:16

Now you got the badge forever. Because I feel like people will play the game, like, oh, I'm gonna become a bestseller because even like my book, I was like, I was like, I should be like, okay, my first genre will be contemporary women's fiction. And then I'll go to like cultural friendship fiction, and maybe I'll get number one in that. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:35

No, no, I did that same shit. I was like, love triangle romance. Hell yeah, that's that is boom. And I did get really high in that one too. And then I was like, um, humor fiction. It's funny.

Speaker 2 2:49

How many books could there be today in humor fiction coming?

Speaker 2:53

But I will warn you like, are you guys gonna have your books on KDP? I will, yeah. Okay, so like you'll go through all this research and you'll put your categories, and then you're gonna look at your book and it's gonna say number whatever in British humor fiction. You're like, I did not put British humor fiction, but roll with it. And so, like, they kind of do their own shit too. And and you're just like, and you can email support 10 years later, they'll email you back and be like, no, it's what you said is there, and you're like, but okay. Yeah. So you just roll with it with Amazon, you're just like, whatever.

Speaker 1 3:27

Amazon, I swear, has its like own, its own take on the world of like what matters in the world in that moment. I'm like, 100%.

Speaker 2 3:37

We have a lot of indie authors that listen. A lot of people who are are thinking about becoming an indie author. And something that's so intimidating is thinking about the marketing. I'm not talking about like social media marketing. Or we did an episode on that. I'm talking about like the stuff you don't know about to actual readers because we're all on social media, we all are trying to do this thing, but all of I mean, for me, like I'm just really active, like in our community. And like that's all my marketing is like authors, Bookstagram, you know, like aspiring writer, like like stuff like that. So, like to think of like actually marketing out in the world to like libraries and and sellers, yeah, actual readings is so intimidating to think of. And it's like this whole other thing that is it is like weighing down on me personally. And I think that's something you are murdering the game in. I just want to talk more on that and just kind of like your journey in like how how did you who taught you?

Speaker 1 4:40

How did you start?

Speaker 2 4:41

How did you know what to do?

Speaker 4:42

Okay, so like straight up, the real, real shit is my ego is definitely a factor in this. I wanted to be traditionally published, and I've read some traditional books. I've been like, my book's fucking better than that. And but yet nobody chose me, nobody, you know, and and that's fine. Um, you know, there's always the future. But I try to mirror agents listening to me that's like, oh god. I try to mirror, I mean, traditional publishing already kind of developed the wheel. And so I was like, what are they doing that I have access to? Because a big difference, I think, in the two types of publishing is just access. I mean, their PR marketing teams are gonna, you know, I know somebody at People magazine, but maybe I'll fucking meet someone at People Magazine. I don't know. But I guess what I did is like, what are they doing? Where am I seeing books and just cold calling and reaching out, like reaching out to Barnes and Noble and like different booksellers? I mean, it wasn't like it was really just figuring it out. I'll ask a wall a question. And so, like, if you just if you just ask people to like, you know, talk about my book or whatnot. But I will say major credit goes to Dreamscape, uh Dreamscape. They actually handle distribution for my audiobook, and I'm in their indie arm called Dreamscape Select. And so I still produce my audiobook. I do it with lyric audio, and like I take the product and give it to Dreamscape, and they just put it out there in the world. Most of my library sales um are all because of my audiobook and because of the access that Dreamscape has to like all those different things. I find that a lot of booksellers don't want to deal with Amazon, and so that's where Ingram comes into play. Um, and then just getting reviews. I was like literally asking Google, like, what reviews can indie authors get? Like, where can I submit? And like you can get Kirkus, you can get publishers weekly. It just depends on like if they accept you. And when your review gets published or approved, then that goes out to like libraries and people. But honestly, word of mouth has been like the biggest thing for me. Uh, people like it and then they post about it, and then it just kind of like they find it. I mean, it's not book talk famous or anything yet, but um yeah, honestly, the audio like partnering with somebody, it's it's a lot about who you partner with. I don't know if that made any sense. I feel like I was rambling.

Speaker 1 7:13

No, that was lovely. That was great. So explain to me like the like you were publishing your own or not publishing, producing your own audiobook.

Speaker 7:22

Yes. Whoa. But what did I do? Yeah. Okay, so actually, Jenna, you're gonna love this. I know you've read Quicksilver. Now, have you um listened to Quicksilver?

Speaker 1 7:34

I've listened to Quicksilver.

Speaker 7:36

Stella Bloom is my narrator for L. And I love Stella. I heard her voice and I was like, Wow. You can hire anybody you want. You can hire big five editors, you can hire narrators. Like, these people don't just work for like publishers, they they work for the money. And so I emailed Stella directly and I was like, hey girl, you know, like, will you um you just go to their websites and you can also so what I did, what I did, step one, I went to Audible and I listened to a bunch of female narrators. And I was like, who do I like? Like, who's my vibe? And I found Stella and like a few others, and so I emailed them just straight up, like, hey, this is my book, gave them a blurb, whatever. Well, Stella emailed me back and said, Great, many of them have the ability to self-produce, but with romance, there's a few different like little um production houses, if you will, that they will produce your audiobook for you and it's exceptional. I use lyric audio. There is um one night stand audio is phenomenal. Uh, and then God, I can't think of the other one. It has a dog, a dog is the thing, but the mascot. But anyway, so I she was like, reach out to one of them and then they'll contact me and we'll get this all done. I was like, okay. And so when I reached out to Lyric, they, you know, they they kind of like have a Zoom call with you, touch base, see if you fit their vibe. Their book does. And then they took me on and they paired me with a producer, which okay, my brain's going on a tangent. I have something fun to tell you about for book two. And so that producer was like, there's different ways to do this, but if you have someone in mind already, then we don't need to do auditions. I was like, Yes, I want Stella Bloom. And so she reached out to Stella and they just said it all like they handle everything and then they give you the files at the end. And then you you can, I mean, I don't, I don't know how Audible works. I know some people will like exclusively do stuff with them. My biggest thing, um, and honestly, I am a huge Swifty. I look up to Taylor Swift a ton with like this kind of thing. She wants her rights to her things. And since I'm not traditionally published, I want my rights. And so I did not give my rights to production or to Dreamscape. I kept them. So I paid for production of the audiobook. However, if money is an issue, you can say, like, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like five years. It depends on who you use. They have the rights for it, but you get royalties after you earn out or something like that. It's very yeah. I can't speak to it entirely because I didn't do that route. I was like, I'm keeping my rights. So then I paid for the audiobook and then I took it to Dreamscape, which you have to like. I reached out to them. Uh, and then they kind of like, I can't think of the word, but they're they zoom call you and they're like, Are you a good fit? And I was, and so they took it and I doing an audiobook was the single best decision. Uh, my husband was like, You're gonna pay six thousand dollars and you have no proof of market, you have no da-da-da-da-da-da. I was like, I want an audiobook. Like, I'm gonna do an audiobook. I have that money. Like, I like and I don't mean that in like a bougie ass way, like, oh, I have that money, but like I, if I can do it, I'm gonna do it. And that is where, like, in my first month alone, what it was between it was a little over a thousand sales just in audiobooks, like units. And so the audiobook market is really, really hot. Like, that's that's if you have the abil if you have the ability to do an audiobook in one way or the other, even if you do have to give your rights to like get it paid for to do it, like do it. Do it. Because most people, I'm an audiobook reader.

Speaker 1 11:23

Oh my gosh, yeah. Like, that's how I consume half of my books.

Speaker 11:28

Yeah. Same.

Speaker 1 11:29

Like, these are just trophies up here.

Speaker 11:31

Like, they're not exactly all of it, like these are trophies. Like, I will never open them. Like, I am I will do like my e-reader if I have to, but other than that, like audiobook all the way.

Speaker 2 11:42

The audiobook is like so fascinating to me. And you definitely like you're the first person I've talked to who's done an audiobook as an indie author. Um, and so that's when I was like, because I wasn't planning on doing it right away, but I mean literally like neither. Yeah, like I was like, um I need it, and then you told me that, and then I was like, John, we need to set some time aside and do this kind of because you're an actor, right? I'm an actor, and he owns a recording studio. Yeah. Um so it would be we could do it when the kids go to bed, like it would be pretty easy. But what what I love about like what everything that you're saying, um, and it's something that we don't think about, I think we just take for granted is like just the power of asking. Cause we I think we get embarrassed, and like a lot of us are not used to being in the driver's seat. You know, like I like I'm not used to using my resources, and I don't even know, like I've never even thought about what resources I have available to me, like or asking people for some, you know, and like putting myself out there in that way. So I think like you do such a great job at that.

Speaker 1 12:51

Like this goes along perfectly, like with our idea of why like we even made the podcast and why like we have our social platforms the way that we do is that we don't gatekeep. You ask, and I will tell you. Like, yeah, yeah, you ask, and if you say like, hey, can you like share this in your stories? Like, I'm like my novels like coming out on Friday. We're like, Yes, absolutely. Like you're part of our community, like, of course. Yeah. And even just like to have the and I love that everyone that we are engaging with, like, has like the ten it's it if doesn't, if they don't inherently have the tenacity, like they're growing into it. And you can see it in their journeys, and it's like one of like the most beautiful things ever. And then it makes you like on your really like crappy days, you're like, ah shit, they're doing it and I need to do better.

Speaker 13:45

I actually okay, this is crazy, and I'm gonna shout her out because we're good friends. There's another Jourdana, she's a romance author, she is also Jewish, she is also from New Jersey, and so we connected on Instagram. I don't, it was crazy. And she goes, You're gonna find that there's always someone that you're gonna be like looking up to and be like, I wanna be like that person, but then there's always someone else who's like, I wanna be like you. And so it's like a really interesting perception of like, you don't think you're getting far, you don't think you've accomplished a lot, but there's someone who hasn't gotten there yet who's like, I wanna do what they're doing.

Speaker 2 14:22

That's a nice like so book two, where are you at? What's the deal? Yeah, I want the tea, I want the scoop on book two. I want, I love when we get a good scoop.

Speaker 14:31

Okay, so book two, do you want like the blurb of like what it is? Or do you just want to like anything? Okay, so book two is about Addy, who's like a sunshine Broadway actress, and Gray, who is a poet trapped in the body of some finance guy, you know. And so she made a bet with her or a pact with her best friend, who is Gray's younger brother, that by the time they're 30, if they're not married, they're gonna marry each other. The catch is they both prefer men. And so obviously it won't work out in the end. So she goes on this trip, a birthday trip with his brother. And of course, they hit it off because it's romance and it's really fun. I just, I just submitted my developmental edits, like my big structural edits back to my editor. And right now she's doing line edits and like any other little things. And I have my copy editing set up, like everything is kind of ducks in a row, and she's moving along. And I'm so like, I have character art, I have a cover, all because this is actually delayed a year. CSW, it's could have, should've, would have, actually. That's the name. It was supposed to be out this year. Um, but I was a caregiver for my grandfather before he passed away, and like things got bad. So I had to postpone everything by like a year. And so it comes out April 13th, 2027. You've heard it here.

Speaker 2 15:55

Amazing.

Speaker 15:56

And so yeah, I just it's it's like killing me because I can't keep a secret. And so I'm like, I want to share my cover now. And everybody on my team, like mark everything, they're like, no, like five months max. And I'm like, uh, and so but yeah, I have it.

Speaker 1 16:11

I want, I want to, I like that.

Speaker 16:13

I want to like talk about it. Like, I love Gray so much. He's such a wife guy, and Addy is like a bad bitch that I want, like I want to be doing ballet and have a Tony Award and like all that shit. And it's just, it was so fun to write that I'm actually I'm uh like everything in my brain. I just want to tell you everything. And it's just like, what do I say first? Um, book three is actually already basically outlined. And so I'm about to start working on like I'm working on the first draft. It's due December 1st, uh, while I'm editing the other one. And I was trying to figure out, I was like, how the hell do people come out with like two or three books a year? Like what, like how? And then I don't know.

Speaker 1 16:53

I don't know.

Speaker 16:54

I figured kind of it out. It's because traditionally, like I'm talking about traditional authors, indie authors, God bless them. I don't know how they do it. Cause the thing is we do everything. We don't just write it. We, you know, we have to hire the people to help us get it to where it is and formatting and ISBNs and copy. Literally, the list goes on and on and on. And that takes time. And so if you're traditionally published, I'm assuming you write, you send it to your editor, and you write, you send it to your editor, like you're not the one out there making sure it's formatted and like people just give that to you. And I might be talking out of my ass. Like, if someone's traditionally published, like that's not how it works, cool. Like, I that's what I thought. And so it's like timeline so much longer, too.

Speaker 2 17:38

Like, they're like, my book's gonna be out in a year and a half, two years from like finish. I feel like.

Speaker 17:44

And so I was like, how can I, like, without burning myself out, publish multiple books? Like, what's I'm still trying to figure out what the secret sauce is, but right now I'm like working on a first draft while I'm editing a different one, and I'm giving myself, I think, like an 18-month timeline between because there's so much that you have to do and be like paying attention to through the process.

Speaker 2 18:05

I love the thought of like having multiple, as an indie author, especially having I mean, it's like going into a bakery and there's one thing you can buy. Yeah, you know, like you have you're gonna have three books on your shelf and so many different sources of like things you can pitch and like income and like yeah, just just things to sell. And like I think that's so cool. And what we should strive for as in the authors is like just do more.

Speaker 18:33

Like well, and I think it comes down to like what are your goals and like what is this is a big part of L, as you know, like what is success to you? And it's not gonna be the same as like what it is for me. For me, it was holding my finished book. If I sold 10 copies, great, a thousand, I don't not that I don't give a shit, but like that wasn't the point. I would love, I'm a career author, like I have a whole plan, but to hold something in my hands that I created that is gonna be whatever legacy when I am no longer here, that has always been my dream, my goal, my passion. And so the reason I'm so adamant, my husband's like, You left corporate America. Why are you doing this so corporate like? Why I'm like, has nothing to do with corporate America. It's the fact that I want to hold my books in like a bundle and be like, look at my babies in all bright colors, like Emily Henry. Like as nothing, you know.

Speaker 2 19:28

But you have to think about it as a business. Like it's a it's a business.

Speaker 19:31

It is at the end of the day, like you're a publishing company. That's another thing I did. I actually created my own publishing company. And I learned about this. Um, I went to the San Francisco's San Francisco Writers Conference two years ago. Oh shit, what's time? And I went to like different seminars, and they were like, at that point, I was like, I'm not, I'm not self-publishing. Like, I'm not gonna do that. Like, I'm gonna get a deal, I'm gonna get an agent, it's gonna be great and dandy. And um, but I did hear this one thing, and it was like, if you're self-publishing, make an LLC and then make like a publishing company, like DBA or whatever, doing business as. Because if you're not pitching, I guess it's different now because everything's all online. Like if you want a bookstore to carry your book and stuff like that, they're not, it's more so like, is your book available on Amazon? You know, that kind of a thing. But back then it was like if it had a publishing company, it's not just self-published. It was like it had a little bit of a different caliber, even though it was just a name. And honestly, that's what I've learned about with this whole process, perception is everything. Like everything is an illusion. Someone can be selling X amount of books. And like, was I a New York Times bestseller? Was I a USA Today? No, but I was still best selling. So then with Amazon, if you say best-selling author, first of all, if you say I'm an author, oh my God. And why does everybody ask, well, who's your publisher? You don't even fucking know who the publishers are. Why are you asking me who the publishers are?

Speaker 1 21:04

Like, but like you say that people is that you attempting to vet me? Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 21:10

And I'm like, and I so I'll be like, it's everwhile publishing. Like, oh, so cool. I'm like, and so yeah, like I created my own publishing company, and I mean, not that I plan to ever do anything really with it, but that's who owns all the rights to my books, is my company. So Baller, such good advice. Uh it was that one, that one little session. I was like, okay, good to know, good to know.

Speaker 2 21:32

I mean, that's what happened to us. Yeah, we were at a WA session with this woman who indie published, and she, yeah, she I had never thought about it before that session. After a one one hour session, I walked out and I was like, I think I'm doing it.

unknown 21:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:48

Doing it. She just made it a viable path. And that's what we say all the time on this is like a viable path that you don't consider.

Speaker 21:55

And so I think publishing is gonna keep evolving. I think being self published or indie. Isn't gonna have the stigma that it still kind of has. Um, I've experienced readers don't care. Readers don't give a shit, they can't even tell. Like they they have no idea. I I wanted people to read my story. I thought that she had, I mean, I knew she had an audience and I knew how to market her. I knew what to do for my book. Honestly, I kept getting like I got a few fools requests and none of it really went anywhere. And it was like, oh, well, I just don't know how to market it at this time without my I do.

Speaker 2 22:32

Oh, I thought those exact words on those podcasts. You have said that exact those exact words. Because you're just like, okay, well, I do. I believe in it. So maybe I'll just do it. Yeah. Um, can I tell them about Friday? Because this is this is gonna air after Friday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I have the thing.

Speaker 22:50

I have the thing to show. And yeah, yeah, for sure. Showing. I'm gonna let you say it.

Speaker 2 22:56

I'm gonna let you say it. You say.

Speaker 22:58

Oh, okay. Okay, well that's Friday.

Speaker 2 23:00

Why am I drinking for second and celebrating for you?

Speaker 23:03

So Elle was chosen to be in Times Square. And so I know. Like, can you freaking believe it? And so I it's it's this Friday, Friday the 13th, and I am flying up to New York, and then Kate is taking this out of the group chat, and she's gonna come meet me in New York.

Speaker 1 23:24

Yeah.

Speaker 23:25

And we're gonna like celebrate in Times Square. I actually like I'm because it's such like a big deal, and it's like my debut and all that stuff. I actually, my friend knows a person who's a photographer, and so he's gonna come do like a photo shoot. And I like anybody who's there, like take pictures, and it's a huge freaking deal. It because of this whole thing that happened, I actually on that day, so when this releases, on the 17th, will open up a live link for a special edition to my book. We said we got the scoop. This is here live, well, pre-live. But it's time. So it's it's the Times Square special edition for Unconventionally L, and it's gonna have the sprayed edges. Um, and there's an extremely limited, extremely limited run. Um yeah. So it's so cute. It's literally so cute. Thanks. So when this airs, she'll be available and it's first come first, sir. I'll send you the link so that you could like link it in however you link it in podcasts. So it can go. Yeah, we'll link it in the show notes.

Speaker 1 24:32

There it goes.

Speaker 24:33

Show notes post. It'll be it'll be my website, but well, cheers, man.

Speaker 2 24:39

That's amazing. Cheers on International Women's Day. Can you bring it up? And the authors can do it too.