EP451: Scarlett Brade — “Take Those First Steps”
Scarlett Brade was born in London, but as a child she spent her summers in Toronto where she fell in love with reading. She self-published her first novel aged twenty-three, but then decided to experience life a little more before returning with her amazing new thriller The Hive, about a chilling murder live-streamed on Instagram. […]
Continue readingEP450: Deep Dive — Knowing your Readers
Kelly Weekes answers listener questions on discovering who your readers are in a conversation that takes in social media, comparable authors, visualising your readers, writing to market, goals, pain points, and why authors should think of themselves as CEOs of their own business. Kelly has worked in the marketing departments of the biggest UK publishers, and on […]
Continue readingEP449: Sue Watson — “You’re Looking for the Answers”
Sue Watson was BBC TV producer until she wrote her first novel and was hooked. Now she’s a USA Today bestselling author and has sold over a million copies, but that success came as a second act in a writing career where she switched from romcoms to thrillers. Sue tells about that pivotal change, her […]
Continue readingEP448: Jonathan Whitelaw — “Turn The Idea on its Head.”
Jonathan Whitelaw started out as a journalist, writing darkly satirical fiction on his commute to work. Jonathan tells us how he went from thinking that he could never write a crime novel, to creating a new cosy crime series with The Bingo Hall Detectives and The Village Hall Vendetta featuring a son-in-law and mother-in-law crime solving […]
Continue readingEP447: Jessie Keane — “Don’t Be Afraid.”
Jessie Keane has Romany heritage and her Gran — who had ’the sight’ — foretold that that Jesse would not only write, but be famous for it. 6.5 million copies later and with each book becoming a Sunday Times top ten bestseller, that prediction has come true. Jesse celebrates fifteen years since her debut novel, […]
Continue readingEP446: Katy Brent — “Doing Something Meaningful”
Katy Brent is an award-winning journalist whose debut novel How To Kill Men and Get Away With It is perfect for fans of How To Kill Your Family and Killing Eve. Katy tells us how the novel evolved from a fun idea to something that drew on the Me Too movement to and the anger […]
Continue readingEP445: Amita Parikh — “Don’t Be a Victim.”
Amita Parikh’s debut novel The Circus Train took six years to write and has been earning praise worldwide, but it might never had happened if she hadn’t found herself lost in London, asking for directions. Amita tells us how she bounced back from rejection, why sport is the best way to train for writing, and […]
Continue readingEP444: Deep Dive — Experiments with ChatGPT with Jeevani Charika
Jeevani Charika is the author of Playing for Love, Picture Perfect and more, but she’s also a scientist and has been experimenting with ChatGPT to discover if writers should fear our AI Overlords or embrace them. We discuss: The impact AI might have on writers Using AI ethically in your writing What ChatGPT IS good […]
Continue readingEP443: JS Monroe — “Weird Alchemy”
JS Monroe worked as a foreign correspondent in Delhi, becoming a full-time writer. His psychological thriller Find Me became a bestseller in 2017, and, under the name Jon Stock, he is also the author of five spy thrillers. Warner Brothers bought the film rights to the Dead Spy Running trilogy hiring Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, […]
Continue readingEP442: Deep Dive — Bookouture with Jenny Geras
In this special deep dive episode we speak to Jenny Geras, Managing Director at Bookouture. Jenny tell us what it is that makes this innovative digital first publisher so different, and she answers our listener questions on submissions, the difference in trends with digital and physical books, and if it pays to be prolific. . […]
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