The Bestseller Experiment

Kate Harrison returns to the podcast with a Deep Dive special where she takes a look at blurbs from our listeners’ books and gives tips on how to make them stand out and convert browsers to readers. Kate’s forthcoming book Pitch Power gives authors ????

Garth Nix is a global bestselling author with over 5 million copies sold. He takes us through his extraordinary career from working in publishing, to being told he was a “one book wonder”, and his surefire solution to solving those big writing problems... To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Awais Khan is the author In The Company of Strangers. After studying at the University of Western Ontario and Durham University he returned to Lahore to write his debut novel and enrolled in the six month novel writing course at Faber academy online course. Awais takes us through his experience on the course and how it gave him the confidence to take his writing to agents and publishers (and he also tells us why every author should check their junk mail on a daily basis!). To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

We welcome RJ Barker back to the podcast who triumphantly returns with his new book The Bone Ships. Starting a new series is never easy and RJ talks honestly about the self-doubt that all writers experience and he gives us a quick masterclass in pitching a series to a publisher. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

In the fourth of a series of Deep Dives into the business side of dealing with publishers and agents we speak to Phoebe Morgan, author and publisher. Phoebe takes us through the essentials of how a publisher chooses the books it publishes, and the common misconceptions that debut authors might have. We also discuss cover art, marketing spend, building an author’s career, the relationship between agents and editors, digital first publishing, and whether authors ask enough questions of their publishers.

We welcome RJ Barker back to the podcast who triumphantly returns with his new book The Bone Ships. Starting a new series is never easy and RJ talks honestly about the self-doubt that all writers experience and he gives us a quick masterclass in pitching a series to a publisher. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

In the third of a series of Deep Dives into the business side of dealing with publishers and agents we speak to Paul Bulos, Contracts Director at the Orion Publishing Group and Hachette Children’s Books. Paul gives us a publisher’s perspective on book deals and he demystifies some of the terms used and talks about how deals are changing to meet the expectations of an ever-changing industry. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

We celebrate three years of the podcast with a packed live episode in which we continue our conversation with our listeners about writers and mental health. This is a very special episode where our listeners share some of the ways they cope with anxiety, depression and more. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

In the second of a series of Deep Dives into the business side of dealing with publishers and agents we welcome Ed Wilson back to the podcast and we talk about contracts, negotiations, rights and how the industry is changing in an age of digital-first publishers. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Keith published his first book as part of a drunken bet. There was no big plan and, by his own admission, he knew nothing of publishing and broke all the rules and made every mistake. And yet, just three years later, he has sold over 100,000 copies of his books and regularly tops the bestseller lists. Keith takes us through his extraordinary career so far and tells us why marketing books is like selling Victoria Sponges... To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality