The Bestseller Experiment

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... In this episode you will discover…  What does a commission editor do? It’s not just correcting your spelling! What’s changed in publishing? And how you can make the most of these opportunities. The most common mistakes by writers: And how you can avoid them. Don’t cheat your reader: And how to have a longer career as a writer.

In the first of an occasional series where we dive into specific genres, we look at science fiction with Hannu Rajaniemi, award-winning author of The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince, The Causal Angel, Summerland and more. We answer listener questions on defining the genre, keeping up on scientific developments, world building, how to generate story ideas, and why we would love to read an Ian M Banks Star Wars novel. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

LJ Ross has long refused to play by other people’s rules and when she didn’t like the look of a publishing contract she struck out on her own. Over four million copies of her books have been sold to date and she’s still going strong. She answers our listener questions on marketing, pricing, Kindle and she tells us why she’s launching her own imprint and a prize for authors. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... As we begin our epic quest to write and chart a book in one year, we need to discover what kind of person buys bestselling books. We turn to Hachette Book Group consumer insight expert Vics Tranter, who shares her experience and wisdom with us and we discover just who will be reading our book… and it’s a bit of a shock, to be frank.

In this special episode, we speak to writer and producer David Whiteley about his Star Wars documentary The Galaxy Britain Built. David takes us through the journey of building a documentary idea into a feature-length documentary and an accompanying book. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Number one bestselling author Caroline Mitchell recently Tweeted that she had sold a million copies of her books since first getting published in 2013. Writing on her commute, Caroline started out by setting herself daily goals and moved from never having written before, to self-publishing, to awards and deals with Bookouture and Thomas & Mercer. It’s an inspiring story and it all started… with an exorcism. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

When Robyn Sarty set up her own publisher, Belwood Publishing, she approached Sage Gordon-Davis about writing a series of sweet romance novels. In the first of a series we’ll be following Robyn and Sage through the year as they develop the books and prepare them for publication. They tell us how the idea came about, the nitty gritty of contracts, agreements, budgets and royalties. This is essential listening for any writer thinking of self-publishing.

It’s 2020 and the BXP2020 challenge is off to an amazing start with over 118.5 million words pledged already! We've been overwhelmed by messages from listeners telling us it’s transformed the way they write. In this special live show, we share listener tips for making the most of the challenge and how you can get involved. The podcast also get crashed by author and Youtuber Claire Burgess who is taking on the challenge!

Author A.Y. Chao tells us how she funded her debut novel Soul Affinity on Kickstarter in just 4 days! If you’ve never tried Kickstarter before, but always wanted to give it a try, this is a great episode to see just how it works and what strategies you could use to make your novel a reality. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Scott Pack will inspire you with his tips on writing, editing, submission and publishing. Scott Pack celebrates 20 years in publishing in 2020, having worked as head of buying for Waterstones, and as a publisher at HarperCollins, Unbound, Eye and Lightning Books and more. His new book Tips from a Publisher is crammed with advice for writers at all levels and is essential reading. Scott will inspire you with his tips on writing, editing, submission and publishing. Get 30% off Scott’s book here using the code bestsellerxp:  Get 20% off the How To Get Published event