Building Books In Colombia; Selling Stories To The World

Richard McColl is a British writer, publisher, and podcaster who built something entirely his own in Colombia, and the lessons he's learned apply wherever you're trying to get your work into the world.

In this conversation, we dig into Fuller Vigil, his boutique indie press publishing English-language books about Colombia with tight prose, lived experience, and beautiful design. 

You can watch the Video Interview here. 

Richard breaks down the actual business of independent publishing, printing locally, stocking the shops where readers actually buy, using KDP strategically for reach, and measuring success by community and events rather than vanity metrics. Distribution is expanding to the UK, with the US next. It's a masterclass in building small and building smart.

Colombia Calling, his weekly podcast, is part of the same ecosystem — pairing a rigorous ten-minute news brief with in-depth interviews, sustained by a Patreon community that gets early access, explainers, and book discounts. Richard talks about what it really takes to build an audience that trusts you, and why that trust is the foundation on which everything else runs.

We also get into the writing itself,  how place shapes story, how to go beyond the obvious narrative everyone expects, and what it means to publish books that represent a country on its own terms rather than through someone else's lens.

He closes with advice every writer needs to hear: don't quit the day job too soon, collect contacts like currency, evolve your plan, grow thick skin, and make peace with the fact that you won't switch off. 

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