Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM (with Rebecca Giblin), a nonfiction book about monopoly and creative labor markets. His latest novel is ATTACK SURFACE, a standalone adult sequel to LITTLE BROTHER. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Rebecca Giblin is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor at Melbourne Law School, and the Director of the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia. She is director of Untapped: the Australian Literary Heritage Project, which has rescued over 160 culturally important Australian books and made them available for retail sale and for access via libraries.We loved talking with Cory and Rebecca about the issues that are so important to them and every writer. They tell us how the rights of creators have been eroded and what each of as creators can do to try and wrest them back. We also discuss both the advantages and disadvantages that companies like Amazon have created for writers, as well as discussing when ideas are best explored in fiction or non-fiction.Links:Buy Chokepoint CapitalismBuy Cory's other booksBuy Rebecca's booksVisit UntappedPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A former professional cake baker, Jenny Bayliss is the author of The Twelve Dates of Christmas, A Season for Second Chances, and, most recently, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. Under the name Jenni Jennings she has also written the middle grade Malice in Underland books.We had great fun chatting with Jenny and hearing about how long it took for her to find an agent, only for her first book to go to a bidding auction! We talk about becoming known as a "Christmas" writer, writing scenes out of order and why middle grade fiction can still tell powerful stories that everyone should read.Links:Buy Jenny's adult booksBuy Jenny's Middle Grade booksFollow Jenny on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karen Swan is the Sunday Times top three bestselling author of twenty books and her novels sell all over the world. She writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Previous summer titles include The Spanish Promise, The Hidden Beach and The Secret Path and for winter, Christmas at Tiffany’s, The Christmas Secret and Together by Christmas. Her latest Christmas book is The Christmas Postcards.We had a really interesting chat with Karen, hearing how she only started writing fiction after a suggestion from an agent, and discussing how she keeps to her prolific schedule of two books a year. We also discussed how she generates her ideas for her Christmas books and how her journalism has helped with her writing discipline.Links:Buy Karen's books on AmazonFollow Karen on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kirsty Eyre is the winner of the inaugural Comedy Women in Print award (2019). Her debut novel, Cow Girl was released in Summer 2020 and was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Association's debut novel award. In addition, she has written two books under her pseudonym, Ginger Jones, with the latest being holiday romcom You Had Me At Halloumi.We had great fun chatting with Kirsty and hearing how she began her writing career by writing pantos on the Eurostar. That gave her the bug, and soon she was putting on comedy plays at the Edinburgh Fringe before she turned her hand to writing novels. We hear how it felt to win the inaugural Comedy Women in Print Award in 2019 (and the rather surprising invite approach from the organisers!), talk about the subjectiveness of comedy writing and hear why she writes some books under a pseudonym. Plus, we talk food-based puns as novel titles and much more!Links:Buy Kirsty's books on AmazonBuy her Ginger Jones booksFollow Kirsty on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard Swan is a former commercial litigator and now a bestselling author. Between 2015 and 2018, Richard self-published The Art of War Trilogy, a sequence of epic space opera novels, as well as a prequel (Hadan's Reach) and two spinoff mil-sci-fi novellas (VIPER One and VIPER One: Countervalue, the latter co-authored with George Lockett). Richard's debut fantasy Empire of the Wolf trilogy sold to Orbit Books, with the first instalment, The Justice of Kings, coming out in February 2022 and hitting the Sunday Time bestseller list.We had great fun chatting with Richard and hearing how his love of sci fi led to a serious writing habit from when he was a teenager. We talk about his self-published SF books and discuss whether they impacted his later success as a "debut" author with the brilliant The Justice of Kings. We also discuss the verisimilitude that occurs when bringing in your own experiences into your writing and much more!Links:Buy Richard's booksFollow Richard on TwitterVisit Richard's websitePage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott Lynch was born in St.Paul, Minnesota in 1978. He sold his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2004. In addition to his writing, he also has a background in game design and firefighting. Scott currently lives in Massachusetts with his wife, award-winning SF/F novelist Elizabeth Bear. He is currently hard at work on the next stories in the world of Locke Lamora.Having been huge fans of Locke Lamora for years, we loved having the opportunity to chat with Scott and to hear about how he got his break into the writing world and how he came up with the idea for Locke and the world of Camorr. We chat about the help and hinderance TTRPG experience can be in creating fictional worlds, talk about his writing inspirations, hear about the mental health struggles he has had for the past decade and why things are now improving, and also get the latest on the next stories in the world of Camorr.Links:Buy Scott's books nowVisit Scott's websiteFollow Scott on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukpageone/Follow us on Mastodon: https://writing.exchange/@PageOnePod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it hereBob Bookman is a Hollywood manager and literary agent who has worked with some of the biggest authors in the world and helped turn their novels into award-winning movies. He has represented Michael Crichton, Tom Stoppard, Bill Broyles, John Irving, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Peter Moffat along with many others and has been responsible for bringing movies such as Jurassic Park and Hannibal to the big screen.We had a fascinating and fun chat with Bob, learning all about how Hollywood works and what role he plays in many authors' dreams of turning their novel into a huge Hollywood movie. We loved hearing his many Hollywood tales, including how he made the biggest ever book-to-film deal for Michael Crichton's Airframe, and also the role he played in getting The Silence of the Lambs to the big screen.Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: @ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: @ukPageOne Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it hereThis week, our series of industry insider episodes continues with a talk with David Downing, a freelance developmental editor who has worked with authors such as Mark Edwards and our very own Tariq Ashkanani, helping them polish their manuscripts and turn them into the brilliant books they now are. Since turning to it full-time in 2012, David has edited more than 300 books—lots of mysteries/thrillers and historical fiction, as well as literary fiction, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, and even a couple of science fiction titles and a memoir. He works primarily for publishers, but also for individual clients looking for a developmental/substantive editor who can help take their manuscript to the next level.We had a really interesting chat with David about exactly what a developmental editor does and heard about how he works with his clients to try and make their story the best it can be. Plus we ask about whether he ever gets pushback from authors and more!Links:Visit David's website, Maxwellian Editorial ServicesPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: @ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: @ukPageOne Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it hereOur series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Karen Sullivan, founder and publishing director of Orenda Books. Orenda Books was founded by publisher Karen Sullivan in 2014. In 2016, Karen was a Bookseller Rising Star, and Orenda Books was shortlisted for the IPG Nick Robinson Newcomer Award in 2015 and 2016. They won the CWA Crime & Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger in 2020 and were a regional finalist for the Small Press of the Year Award in the British Book Awards in 2021. They currently publish authors such as Will Carver, Doug Johnstone and Sarah Sultoon.We loved chatting with Karen and hearing how she founded Orenda, discussing what she looks for in books, chatting about open submissions vs agent submissions and much more!Links:Visit Orenda Books websiteFollow Karen on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: @ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: @ukPageOne Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it hereThis week, our series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Miranda Jewess, Publishing Director of Viper Books, the crime and thriller imprint of Serpent's Tail, which I launched in November 2019. Viper Books are the publishers of the award-winning (and previous podcast guests) Janice Hallett and Catriona Ward, alongside acclaimed books such as Five Minds from Guy Morpuss.We loved chatting with Miranda and hearing about how she became an editor and then Publishing Director at Viper, and what she looks for when she is commissioning books. We also talk about the importance of marketing, what qualifies as a "success" insofar as a publisher is concerned, and much more!Links:Visit Viper Books websiteFollow Miranda on TwitterPage One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-oneFollow us on Twitter: @ukPageOneFollow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ukPageOneFollow us on Instagram: @ukPageOne Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.