The Bestseller Experiment

Patricia Gibney has sold over 2 million copies of her Detective Lottie Parker books, and readers worldwide love her stories, but her career started at a very tough time in her life. Patricia left her job of thirty years and was able to work through grief and reignite her love of writing through journaling and drawing. And, post-interview, the Two Marks discuss being brave enough to ask stupid questions. Which they’re both very good at.

Joanne Harris returns to the podcast with her gripping page-turning thriller A Narrow Door. Joanne answers our listener questions, tells us the importance of human interaction to her writing, why she doesn’t see a distinction between plotting and pantsing, and why ideas are like planets in a solar system. And the Two Marks discuss a chicken-writer analogy that has to be heard to be believed...

Ian Skewis’s debut novel A Murder of Crows became a no.1 bestseller and was long listed for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. Ian tells us how it all began with a traumatic incident from his childhood, how he developed the story in different media for many years before writing the novel.   Please note that suicide is discussed in our interview with Ian. If you don’t to hear about that, please skip the first seven minutes of our conversation.

We welcome the wonderful Angela Marsons back to the podcast. Angela is the multi-million bestselling author of the DI Kim Stone series. And she’s back with Six Graves, the 16th book in the series. Despite her mega sales (five million and counting) and a 12-book contract, Angela tells us why she doesn’t take a single book for granted, and why every one she starts feels like the first. She also answers our listener questions and the two Marks discuss the pros and cons of being prolific.

Ian W Sainsbury is the award-winning author of the Jimmy Blue series of thrillers. Ian has just started editing the fourth book in the series and he was kind enough to let us get a sneak peek at his editing process. He fires up ProWriting Aid and shares his screen with us as he gets forensic with his edit.

Louise Hare’s debut This Lovely City was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and Louise was selected for the Observer’s top 10 best debut novelists. She returns with Miss Aldridge Regrets, a murder mystery set aboard the Queen Mary in 1936. Louise discusses how she built the novel up from a short story, and how creating her own routine has helped her hit targets, deadlines and finish her books. “It’s hard to find the discipline when you’ve got all the time in the world…” And the two Marks discuss reader surveys, sleeping habits and what speed people listen back to the podcast at!

In a special mid-week episode, we speak to Andrew Chapman. Andrew is the author of horror novels like Jack’s Game, and he’s been a long-time supporter of the podcast on Patreon. A few weeks ago, he declared that he was going to write a novel in a day. His target was 50,000 words in 24 hours. He chose to do it on his birthday, 12th May 2022. And he was going to take a screenplay called THE MASK COLLECTOR that he’d written a few years ago and adapt that into a novel. Andrew takes us through the highs and lows of his 24 hours, what he learned, and whether he would try it again...

Simon McCleave’s first indie novel The Snowdonia Killings sold over 200,000 copies after its release in 2020. He is astonishingly prolific and all his novels since have been Amazon bestsellers. His new novel, The Dark Tide, kicks off a new series, and now he’s being published by HarperCollins. He reveals the things he learned in TV and film that helped him become so prolific, and why he always starts with the twist. And the two Marks discuss productivity tips and the pros and cons of physical books and ebooks.

Eva Leigh is a USA Today bestselling historical romance author who combines female empowerment, whip-smart heroines, dashing rakes and sex positive stories. Eva takes us through her influences and writing process, including Han Solo, Duran Duran and baking… and she tells us why sometimes the best motivation for writing is spite.

Rachael Blok is the bestselling author of the DCI Maarten Jansen novels and she tells us how each book works as a standalone, but the character is still developing with each story. Rachael also gives us great tips on plotting, writing the ending, character, finding your voice, and research. And the two Marks discuss how writing can help with mental health issues.