Write, Damn It! with Zoe Richards

Bookaholic Bex gives us a rundown of her selection of books that we all must read, and oh my, she's picked some great ones - listen in to find out what she picked as well as to hear the books I went and added, too. Oh dear, your TBR is going to be growing and we're not even far into the year yet! Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being publi...

Phillipa Ashley is a Sunday Times, Amazon and Audible best-selling author of uplifting romantic fiction. After studying English at Oxford university, she worked as a copywriter and journalist before turning her hand to writing novels. since then, her novels have sold well over a million copies and have been translated into numerous languages. Phillipa lives in an English village with her husband,...

Jenni Bayliss lives on the Kent coast with her husband, their children having flown the nest. After writing stories for many years while raising her children and working as a baker, she enrolled part time on a Creative and Professional Writing degree course at Canterbury Christchurch University when she was 39, to see if she could make a go of this writing malarkey. Her debut novel was published i...

It's no mean feat to self-publish, so in today's episode I ask the question 'do you have the right mindset to do it?' Listen to the end to hear a tip for going into bookshops and asking the question about whether they will stock your book. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can...

Mark Stay got a part-time Christmas job at Waterstones in the 90s and, despite being working class and quite lippy, somehow ended up working in publishing for over 25 years. He  wrote in his spare time and sometimes those writings got turned into books and films, including the Witches of Woodville series from Simon & Schuster, and the 2023 Warner Bros. horror movie Unwelcome. Nautilus, the #1...

In this episode I take you through a project manager's way of approaching self-publishing, sharing different elements that you need to consider up to the point of publishing. Full disclosure, I am not an expert in self-publishing, but I am an expert in project management, having managed projects since the late 1980s. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing...

This week we have a panel of authors talking about self-publishing. JM Simpson, Jo, is in a 1-2-1 interview in episode 47 . Her Debut novel Sea State is set in Castleby, a fictional town in Wales (based on Tenby). It's a suspense thriller set against the backdrop of a lifeboat crew. There are now 6 books in the series which has progressed into crime and thriller territory and despite a number...

Lucy Jane Wood is a 33 year old content creator from the Wirral, living in London with her partner Adam and cat Flo. She's been making lifestyle and book content on YouTube and Instagram for ten years or so, and previously worked as a freelance writer before social media took over as her job in around 2018. You can usually find her with a giant coffee, her ridiculous cat and a good book in ha...

Ever doubt yourself as a writer or author because things are not happening for you the way that they are for others? In October's Mindset Memo, the first of this new series of the Monthly Mindset Memo, I share some reality checks that will help you experience the world of writing and publishing in a more realistic way. I cover writing what we know, first drafts, six figure book deals, making...

Ashley is a sci-fi and fantasy author and professional astronomer. When she isn’t studying the intricacies of galaxy evolution and artificial intelligence, she’s plotting out and writing character driven speculative fiction at the intersections of queerness and neurodiversity. Ashley enjoys picking up and putting down heavy objects at the gym, playing table-top RPGs, and she developed a taste for...

Welcome to Season 3 - listen in to this short trailer to find out what's coming in this new season. Changes are afoot! Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can subscribe to get access to much more from me, including workshops and coaching. If you would like to show your love for the podcast, pl...

A new feature on the podcast is a quarterly chat with Bookaholic Bex (@BexBookaholic on TwiX) about books, more books, and even more books. In this episode, Bex talks about 3 books she's read, and 1 that's coming, and I add in a couple more for good measure too. Listen in to find out what books Bex thinks everyone should be reading - or adding to the Christmas present list. Support the s...

Zen Cho writes fantasy and romance. Her fiction has won the Hugo, Crawford and British Fantasy Awards, and the LA Times Ray Bradbury Prize. Her newest novel, The Friend Zone Experiment , is a contemporary romance set in London. Born and raised in Malaysia, Zen now lives in the UK. The Friend Zone Experiment, which is contemporary romance, came out in August 2024, and you can go to Zen's websi...

With a degree in English and American Literature, Julie Haworth worked as an English teacher for a number of years, specialising in working with learners with literacy difficulties, before launching her own freelance copywriting business. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and her debut novel, Always By Your Side , which she wrote whilst recovering from Covid in 2020, won the...

Dan Malakin has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and his debut novel, The Regret , was a Kindle bestseller. He is also the author of The Box and The Wreckage of Us . When not writing thrillers, Dan works as a data security consultant, teaching corporations how to protect themselves from hackers. He lives in North London with his wife and daughter. Support the show Join me on Substack...

Ania Card lives in Brighton but was born and grew up in Poland. She started writing in English when she arrived at Cardiff University, getting involved with the student cultural magazine 'Quench', where she became part of the editing team and headed the LGBTQ+ section. With a background in film theory and production, she has published film and music essays and reviews on independent plat...

Emma Cowell lives in Falmouth Cornwall with her husband, Tony, and their fur baby, a Russian Blue called Papoushka. A former actress and BBC presenter Emma is currently Head of Philanthropy for national children’s palliative care charity, Together for Short Lives. Her first two novels were bestsellers and have been published in seven languages to date. Outside of work, Emma is a keen angler and is...

Ellery Lloyd is the pen name for husband and wife writers, Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos. They are the authors of Richard and Judy pick People Like Her and Reese Witherspoon pick The Club, and their new mystery, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby which was out June 20th which is available here - https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-final-act-of-juliette-willoughby/ellery-lloyd/9781035020805 Col...

For this episode I am joined by two wonderful guest hosts who are chatting with me about my debut novel, Garden of Her Heart, which launched on 20th June. My two guest hosts are Jennie Godfrey who wrote The List of Suspicious Things, and Bookaholic Bex, who won a mini competition on TwiX for a book reviewer to join us as a host - Bex is a book blogger and book reviewer who is well loved in the wri...

Tonight, as this episode goes live, is the pre-launch event for my novel, Garden of Her Heart. Next week is the launch event. Am I ready? In this episode I do a dive into how we can know when we're ready - be that ready to write, to edit, to query agents, to call ourselves a writer, an author ... whatever your ready is. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writ...

Kate Foster is a journalist and author. Her debut novel, The Maiden, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 and won theBloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023. Her latest novel, The Kings Witches, is out now. She has been ajournalist for 25 years and began fiction-writing in lockdown as a means of escaping the world. Kate can be found on social media - TwiX @katefostermedia and...

I regularly talk about how much support I have received on my writing journey from Jericho Writers, and so today's conversation is with Sophie Flynn, and author in her own right, and also the MD of Jericho Writers. Sophie is a Cotswolds-based psychological thriller author with an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. Her debut novel ALL MY LIES was published by Simon & Schuster in A...

Lily Samson studied English at Oxford University and works in publishing. She divides her time between London and Paris, where her French partner resides. In her spare time she enjoys watching Hitchcock movies and moonlighting as a freelance artist.  Her debut novel, The Switch, is out now - it is a dark, sexy thriller that hooks the reader from the first page. Support the show Join me on Substack...

Hearing about someone having their novel published is really exciting, isn't it? But what's it really like for the author? In this episode I share the ups and the downs of the lead in to publication date for Garden of Her Heart on 20th June 2024. Support the show Join me on Substack - here - for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can su...

Lecturer, producer, Flâneur and novelist, John ‘JP’ Maxwell is the purveyor of nefarious historical antics in his Water Street series of novels. He lives in Liverpool and drinks only good coffee. Water Street, historical thriller and Western, published by BK Fiction in July 2023 - you can read or listen to WATER Street here: amzn.to/43yZ3Tr The Americans of Abercromby Square, sequel, out late 2024...