Mark Stay got a part-time Christmas job at Waterstones in the 90s and, despite being working class and quite lippy, somehow ended up working in publishing for over 25 years. He wrote in his spare time and sometimes those writings got turned into books and films, including the Witches of Woodville series from Simon & Schuster, and the 2023 Warner Br…

In this episode I take you through a project manager's way of approaching self-publishing, sharing different elements that you need to consider up to the point of publishing. Full disclosure, I am not an expert in self-publishing, but I am an expert in project management, having managed projects since the late 1980s. Support the show Join me on Sub…

This week we have a panel of authors talking about self-publishing. JM Simpson, Jo, is in a 1-2-1 interview in episode 47. Her Debut novel Sea State is set in Castleby, a fictional town in Wales (based on Tenby). It's a suspense thriller set against the backdrop of a lifeboat crew. There are now 6 books in the series which has progressed into crime…

Lucy Jane Wood is a 33 year old content creator from the Wirral, living in London with her partner Adam and cat Flo. She's been making lifestyle and book content on YouTube and Instagram for ten years or so, and previously worked as a freelance writer before social media took over as her job in around 2018. You can usually find her with a giant cof…

Ever doubt yourself as a writer or author because things are not happening for you the way that they are for others? In October's Mindset Memo, the first of this new series of the Monthly Mindset Memo, I share some reality checks that will help you experience the world of writing and publishing in a more realistic way. I cover writing what we know,…

Ashley is a sci-fi and fantasy author and professional astronomer. When she isn’t studying the intricacies of galaxy evolution and artificial intelligence, she’s plotting out and writing character driven speculative fiction at the intersections of queerness and neurodiversity. Ashley enjoys picking up and putting down heavy objects at the gym, play…

Welcome to Season 3 - listen in to this short trailer to find out what's coming in this new season. Changes are afoot! Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can subscribe to get access to much more from me, including workshops and coaching. If you wou…

A new feature on the podcast is a quarterly chat with Bookaholic Bex (@BexBookaholic on TwiX) about books, more books, and even more books. In this episode, Bex talks about 3 books she's read, and 1 that's coming, and I add in a couple more for good measure too. Listen in to find out what books Bex thinks everyone should be reading - or adding to t…

Zen Cho writes fantasy and romance. Her fiction has won the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards, and the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize. Her newest novel, The Friend Zone Experiment, is a contemporary romance set in London. Born and raised in Malaysia, Zen now lives in the UK. The Friend Zone Experiment, which is contemporary romance, came out i…

With a degree in English and American Literature, Julie Haworth worked as an English teacher for a number of years, specialising in working with learners with literacy difficulties, before launching her own freelance copywriting business. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and her debut novel, Always By Your Side, which she wro…

Dan Malakin has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and his debut novel, The Regret, was a Kindle bestseller. He is also the author of The Box and The Wreckage of Us. When not writing thrillers, Dan works as a data security consultant, teaching corporations how to protect themselves from hackers. He lives in North London with his wife an…

Ania Card lives in Brighton but was born and grew up in Poland. She started writing in English when she arrived at Cardiff University, getting involved with the student cultural magazine 'Quench', where she became part of the editing team and headed the LGBTQ+ section. With a background in film theory and production, she has published film and musi…

Emma Cowell lives in Falmouth Cornwall with her husband, Tony, and their fur baby, a Russian Blue called Papoushka. A former actress and BBC presenter Emma is currently Head of Philanthropy for national children’s palliative care charity, Together for Short Lives. Her first two novels were bestsellers and have been published in seven languages to d…

Ellery Lloyd is the pen name for husband and wife writers, Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. They are the authors of Richard and Judy pick People Like Her and Reese Witherspoon pick The Club, and their new mystery, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby which was out June 20th which is available here - https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-final-act-of-…

For this episode I am joined by two wonderful guest hosts who are chatting with me about my debut novel, Garden of Her Heart, which launched on 20th June. My two guest hosts are Jennie Godfrey who wrote The List of Suspicious Things, and Bookaholic Bex, who won a mini competition on TwiX for a book reviewer to join us as a host - Bex is a book blog…

Tonight, as this episode goes live, is the pre-launch event for my novel, Garden of Her Heart. Next week is the launch event. Am I ready? In this episode I do a dive into how we can know when we're ready - be that ready to write, to edit, to query agents, to call ourselves a writer, an author ... whatever your ready is. Support the show Join me on …

Kate Foster is a journalist and author. Her debut novel, The Maiden, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 and won theBloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023. Her latest novel, The Kings Witches, is out now. She has been ajournalist for 25 years and began fiction-writing in lockdown as a means of escaping the world. Kate can be…

I regularly talk about how much support I have received on my writing journey from Jericho Writers, and so today's conversation is with Sophie Flynn, and author in her own right, and also the MD of Jericho Writers. Sophie is a Cotswolds-based psychological thriller author with an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. Her debut novel ALL MY LI…

Lily Samson studied English at Oxford University and works in publishing. She divides her time between London and Paris, where her French partner resides. In her spare time she enjoys watching Hitchcock movies and moonlighting as a freelance artist. Her debut novel, The Switch, is out now - it is a dark, sexy thriller that hooks the reader from the…

Hearing about someone having their novel published is really exciting, isn't it? But what's it really like for the author? In this episode I share the ups and the downs of the lead in to publication date for Garden of Her Heart on 20th June 2024. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as we…

Lecturer, producer, Flâneur and novelist, John ‘JP’ Maxwell is the purveyor of nefarious historical antics in his Water Street series of novels. He lives in Liverpool and drinks only good coffee. Water Street, historical thriller and Western, published by BK Fiction in July 2023 - you can read or listen to WATER Street here: amzn.to/43yZ3Tr The Ame…

Have you noticed how some novels get a lot of media attention and others don't? In most cases, it's likely to be because a publicist is working with the author, and one who knows the right people and how to get the right message out there. In this episode, I talk to my own publicist, Karen Stretch, who is supporting me through UCLan Publishing. Kar…

Ashleigh Nugent’s debut novel, LOCKS, was published by Picador Books in 2023 to rave reviews including 4/5 stars in the Daily Telegraph. LOCKS recently secured a TV deal with 2LE Media. Ashleigh has also written for theatres, academic journals, poetry anthologies and magazines. Ashleigh was Liverpool City Region’s Artist of the Year in 2021. He is …

Chronic illness is something that impacts on a lot of writers, and I've been asked a few times to do an episode on what sufferers can do - and so I invited Ellie Johnson (Ellie J Wellness) to come and chat to me. Ellie is the host of The Wellness Girly podcast, and can be found on Instagram as @elliejwellness. Ellie has personal experience of livin…

Frances Quinn is the author of historical novels The Smallest Man, That Bonesetter Woman and The Lost Passenger (to be published Feb 2025). Previously a journalist, she’d dreamed of writing books since she was seven years old and finally saw the dream come true when her first novel was published at the age of 57. She lives in Hove with her husband …

In the last of the mini series on Writing Neurodiverse Characters, I chat with Sarah Ziegel who has lived experience as a mother of 4 boys with autism and other ND traits. Sarah has written and self-published 2 books, her latest of which won her an award. This is a memoir called Marching to a Different Beat, and is an invaluable book for understand…

Natali Simmonds is a multi-genre fiction author. Her thriller,Good Girls Die Last,is being adapted for TV, and the last book of her fantasy trilogy,Children of Shadows,was shortlisted for an RNA Fantasy Award. She also co-writes paranormal romance as Caedis Knight. Originally from London, she now divides her time between the UK, Spain, and the Neth…

In the third in the series on Writing Neurodiverse Characters we dive into being authentic, bringing together what ND is, and what the most obvious traits are. This episode explores a series of questions that help to write an ND character with authenticity, and it ends with 3 short exercises that will help you write your ND characters. Support the …

Rebecca Thorne is the author of the Tomes & Tea cozy fantasy series, as well as several self-published novels. She loves fantasy, romance, and dragons. Rebecca's latest book is Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, which is cozy fantasy (and you can find out more about this on the podcast), and it is out on 7th May (US) & 9th May (UK). This book follows…

In the second of the mini series on writing neurodivergent characters we dive into a high level overview of ND traits - this is not a definitive list, but gives you a sense of how to go beyond the stereotypes of describing a neurodiverse character. Next week we delve into how to bring the ND context into character building and characterisation. Sup…

Emma-Claire Wilson is an author of emotional commercial and book club fiction. She writes ‘to make sense of the world’, and loves nothing more than tackling tough subjects and issues that affect her readers on a daily basis. When she is not writing fiction, she enjoys exercising her brain muscles with freelance copywriting, coaching other writers o…

Neurodiversity is becoming more of a thing in character development since Eleanor Oliphant appeared in May 2017. Since then I've read a few books that have handled neurodivergent characters well - and many that have not. Even with my level of expertise I would still say that I don't fully know neurodiversity - because the reality is, there are many…

Alexandra Potter is the bestselling author of numerous romantic comedy fiction novels in the UK, including One Good Thing and Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, one of the bestselling books of 2022 and the basis of a major TV series. These titles have sold in twenty-five territories and achieved worldwide sales of more than one million copie…

What is an author's voice? And is it the same as a character's voice? In this episode I describe both types of voice, and I offer some tips on how to help develop your voice - one important thing to remember, though, our voice evolves over time. It can't be forced, and once we've found it, it's unlikely to be fixed. Support the show Join me on Subs…

Triona Campbell is a two-time Emmy-nominated TV producer. Triona has a Master’s in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin, and is the writer of the award-winning podcast drama Adventures of a Young Pirate Queen. She is an award winning writer and her new book The Traitor In The Game is out now. She is passionate about creating teen content (…

Part of the reality of being rejected - or not hearing anything from agents - is that we compare ourselves to others. It's natural to do that. We might also find ourselves getting a little envious of others and their successes. In this episode we delve into this very real, and yet seldom talked about, topic of the rejection experience. As you'd exp…

Laura Ramnarace lives in rural southwestern New Mexico, USA, in the traditional territory of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache people, where she works as a mediator, facilitator and educator. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution. Her other creative endeavours include beadwork, tile mosaics, crochet, soap making and cooking. Other…

In the third of The Rejection Series we get into what to do when you get rejections, with combination of tips that you can try to find what works best for you. It might be that all of the tips are worth doing, or you might find a favourite and stick with that. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being pu…

Nicola Gill lives in London with her husband and two sons. At the age of five, when all of the other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, she decided she wanted to be an author. Her ballet teacher was very relieved. Nicola has written three published novels, the latest of which is Swimming For Beginners. This tells the story of Loretta who has…

In the second of The Rejection Series we delve into four reasons why a novel might be rejected by agents. It's not great being rejected by agents, and it can feel very disheartening, but you'll hear that one of the first things to do is to accept the it's not personal. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and…

B.P. Walter is the Sunday Times bestselling author of six thrillers including The Dinner Guest, The Locked Attic and Notes on a Murder. He was born and raised in Essex, worked in bookshops during his teens, then went to the University of Southampton to study Film and English. He is also an alumnus of the Faber Academy. Since then he has previously …

Over the next few weeks, the Friday episodes will be devoted to rejections - something that the world of trad publishing requires us to become quickly acquainted with. In this first in the series, I talk about expectations, with practical tips on what you can do to set your expectations in a way that works for you. I also share some figures that he…

Originally from Yorkshire, Lisa now lives in London with her husband and two teenage daughters. She started her career teaching English and Drama and has written three family drama novels under her own name, filled with devastating secrets and explosive revelations. In February, she published her first Book Club novel, The Memory Library, under the…

Do you ever find yourself thinking negatively about your writing? In this episode I share an approach for catching yourself out, understanding your limiting believes, and how to play with an alternative way of thinking to turn things around for yourself. I mention a book that I believe it worth reading - The Big Leap by Gaye Hendricks. It's a book …

Louise Morrish is a historical fiction writer and librarian from Hampshire. She writes stories inspired by the lives of women in the past, who achieved extraordinary things, but whom history has forgotten. Her debut novel, Operation Moonlight, won the Penguin Random House First Novel competition in 2019, and was published by Penguin Michael Joseph …

First up, I'm not an expert on social media, so please do seek advice from someone with much more expertise in this area than me. Having said that, I do know a fair bit about how to use social media and how to make it work for you at a lower scale than most experts push. In this bonus episode of Putting Yourself Out There As An Author, I take you t…

Louise writes historical fiction, focussed around unheard voices or from unusual perspectives. Her internationally bestselling debut novel, People Like Us (Daughter of the Reich in the US edition) published 2020, was translated into 12 languages and is set in 1930’s Leipzig. Her second novel, The Hidden Child, about the eugenics movement in 1920’s …

This is the longest 'short' episode I've done, but believe me, it's worth it! I've invited my dear friend, Emma-Claire Wilson to join me, but not as an author, rather as a journalist. She shares her expertise with us about how to be featured, and there are real nuggets in this episode. So forgive me a long 'short' on this occasion, but I know you'l…

Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. Jennie is from a mill-working family, but as the first of the generation born after the mills closed, she went to university and built a career in the corporate world. In 2020 she left and began to write. …

Apparently the greatest fear we have is not spiders - or in my case, daddy long legs (crane flies). It's public speaking, so it's no wonder that people get nervous when it comes to putting ourselves out there as an author. This episode is all about being nervous - and no, that's not a typo. It is all about BEING nervous. The truth is, you will be n…