In this interview, Fareeda provides an inside look at marketing in the publishing world and discusses how she got started in marketing, her favorite part and least favorite part of her job, finding the right audience for each book, measuring the success of her efforts, and much more.
In this interview, Tiffany, Leon, and I discuss It's Not Just Cookies, the fact that this is the first time that they are publishing any of their recipes, telling their story and sharing about the business and how much it has grown, why they decided to write the book now, sone of their favorite "Wa…
In this interview, Landis and I discuss Deadly Declarations, the Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence, setting the series in a retirement community, his Charlotte Readers Podcast, using letters written between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, crafting an Author's Note, and much more.
In this interview, Bonnie and I discuss Lessons in Chemistry, the event that inspired the story, why Elizabeth Zott is resonating with everyone, how the title came about, her amazing publishing journey, having Brie Larson star in the screen adaptation, creating the Spotify playlist for the book, an…
For this special episode, Carol Ann Tack of Top Shelf at Merrick Library and I interview Kathleen West together. We talk about her new book Home or Away, the intensity of youth sports, the book's title, writing about #metoo, and so much more.
Tony and I discuss The White Girl, crafting strong female characters, the two sections of the book that were the hardest for him to write, why he created the fictional town of Deane, the strong sense of place in his writing, the importance of the bath tub on the cover, and much more.
Azar and I discuss Read Dangerously, how she selected the authors to include in this book, the reemergence of book banning, coming up with the format she used for the book, how curiosity leads to empathy, the importance of fiction in our lives, and much more.
Rosie and I discuss The Love of My Life, having her book selected as a GMA Book Club pick, the obituary writing business, the tortuous process she went through when writing this book, how book covers are selected and the way covers vary by country, and much more.
David and I discuss What's So Funny? A Cartoonist's Memoir, how he started creating cartoons for The New Yorker, using cartoons to process his emotions, how writing this book was cathartic and helped him better understand his parents, trying to connect to people through feelings, creating the cover…
Simone and I discuss The Book of Cold Cases, creating an accused female serial killer, how swapping the gender roles changes every aspect of the story, the true crime phenomenon, the recent discovery by a reader of the actual motel sign used for The Sun Down Motel cover, and much more.
Peng and I discuss The Cartographers, the true story about an event with a gas station map in the early 1900s that inspired a portion of this story, phantom settlements and how they have fallen out of favor now that people have moved to relying on electronic maps, how the use of maps changed once o…
Peter and I discuss Nine Lives, writing his take on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, why Agatha Christie has stayed so popular and relevant, his writing process, pacing in thrillers, and much more.
Libbie and I discuss The Prophet's Wife, working with two publishers simultaneously, basing her book on the true events surrounding the creation and early years of the Mormon church, the Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon", the difficulty in creating a cover for this book, and much more.
Elise and I discuss Angels of the Pacific, writing about the Pacific arena during World War 2, her research trip and snorkeling around a World War 2 war ship, how different the war in the Pacific was from what was happening in Europe, restoring her great-grandmother's dollhouse, and much more.
Rebecca and I discuss One Italian Summer, exploring the dialogue between fate and free will, including a bit of magical realism in her stories, how the inspiration for her stories comes from what she is personally working through at the time, the hardest character for her to write in One Italian Su…
Caroline and I discuss her role as an audiobook narrator, how she got started, the process for getting hired to narrate a particular book, the way she prepares to record, the biggest challenges she faces as a narrator, protecting her voice, AI narrators, and much more.
Erika and I discuss Sisters of Night and Fog, how one of her characters appeared in her dreams asking for Erika to tell her story, creating a poll so readers could help select the book's title, her Author's Note, writing about Ravensbruck, grief, and much more.
Louise and I discuss The Heights, including her own phobia in the novel, how she created the format for this one including writing a book within a book, building a story based on the lengths parents will go to for their children, which character she voiced in the audiobook, and much more.
Jennifer and I discuss The Unsinkable Greta James, writing a love story about Greta and her music, exploring what it is like to live a creative life, the effects of living in such a connected and public world, how working in the publishing industry impacts her work, and much more.
Adele and I discuss The Tobacco Wives, the dangers the tobacco companies knowingly ignored and covered up, her stunning cover, the role marketing and advertising plays in shaping public perception, her favorite character to write in the book, and much more.
Brit and I discuss The Vanishing Half, why writing her sophomore novel was more difficult, what she loves to hear from her readers, balancing research and writing, her paperback release, and much more.
Lisa and I discuss Woman on Fire, the 2013 event that inspire this book, how the ownership of certain pieces of art is one of the only remaining issues left from World War 2, her favorite and least favorite characters to write, creating her Carpool Care-Aoki series on Instagram, the book's stunning…
Lyn and I discuss Red Thread of Fate, how this book is a more personal story for her, wanting to make sure she had the adoption details exactly right, the difficulty of writing a shy/reserved character, found families, and much more.
Deanna and I discuss The Impossible Imposter, the inspiration for Veronica and Stoker, crowdsourcing information about her previous books on her Twitter feed, how much fun it is to create this series, her beautiful covers and the Easter eggs hidden within them, and much more.
