Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 275 - Samantha M. Bailey on Unreliable Narrators and Unrelenting Authorship

Nov 4, 2022

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Mark interviews Samantha M. Bailey, the author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, a USA TODAY and #1 national bestseller, and WATCH OUT FOR HER, an instant #1 national bestseller about her twenty-year writing journey.

Prior to the main segment, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their conversation, Mark and Samantha talk about:

How long Mark and Samantha have known one another and how long it has been since they've chatted, and Samantha's previous guest spot on this podcast
Samantha's latest thriller WATCH OUT FOR HER and the 13 weeks it spent on the Globe and Mail bestseller list in Canada
The book's presence on numerous indie and chain bookstores as well as non-bookstore locations across Canada including Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart, and Costco, where it was a buyer's pick
How everyone in the retail space was so good to Samantha
The twenty years Samantha worked at writing before this huge wave of success
Her previous book (Woman on the Edge) being released just prior to the pandemic starting
Samantha's rock star agent, Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency and how Samantha found her twenty years earlier
Nita Prose, author of The Maid, a New York Times bestseller, who is the editor of both Samantha's novels
Getting her first rejection for a story that she wrote and submitted to a publisher at the age of ten
Being able to wallpaper her house with the amount of rejections she has received for her books over the years
Why Samantha never gave up after collecting enough rejection slips to wallpaper her entire neighborhood
The common "yellow raincoat" motif that appears on both of her books despite them being stand-alone novels completely unrelated by anything except the genre and the author
Why Samantha loves the concept of an unreliable narrator
How, when reading a thriller, Samantha never trusts anyone at all, ever
The two performers who read the audiobook version of WATCH OUT FOR HER
Being a very visual person, particularly as a reader
What Samantha tries to do with every book she writes, and a little bit about the book she is working on now
Advice Samantha would have given to her younger self
The various genres and types of book she has loved reading and writing over the years
Taking all the risks in writing while taking very few risks in life
And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on the concept of unreliable narrators and the idea of letting fear hold you back.

Links of Interest:

Samantha M. Bailey is the author of WOMAN ON THE EDGE, a USA TODAY and #1 national bestseller; her second novel, WATCH OUT FOR HER, was an instant #1 national bestseller. Her books have sold in eleven countries to date. Samantha is a journalist and freelance editor; her writing has appeared in NOW MAGAZINE, THE VILLAGE POST, THE THRILL BEGINS, and THE CRIME HUB, among other publications. She lives in Toronto, where she can usually be found tapping away at her computer or curled up on her couch with a book.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0