Kobo Writing Life Podcast

In this episode, Stephanie and Cristina sit down with Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books . Sarah is a writer, blogger and podcaster and chats to us about running her successful romance book blog and podcast. She delves into the workshops she runs on topics such as "Digital Promotion" and "How to Put a Review in Your Rearview Mirror" and, of course, we ask for her romance recommendations.

In this episode, Chrissy Munroe interviews award-winning author and creative writing instructor, Maxwell Alexander Drake. Drake, best known for his fantasy series, The Genesis of Oblivion Saga , chats to us about his writing career, the creation of DrakeU and how he generated a reputation for giving brutal writing advice to aspiring authors. He also discusses being in rebuild mode at this stage in...

In this episode, Stephanie McGrath interviews popular YouTuber Ariel Bissett. Ariel gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into the life of a BookTuber and the community behind it. She offers advice on getting your book into the hands of YouTubers, tips for aspiring vloggers and podcasters, and also gives us the low-down on YouTube sponsorships.

Bestselling romance author Julia Kent came to Kobo HQ and chatted to Chrissy Munroe about her incredibly successful publishing and writing career.

Join Chrissy Munroe as she interviews best-selling science-fiction author, Kevin J. Anderson. KJA gives listeners a peek into his life as he juggles writing, editing, and running his own publishing company, Wordfire Press. All while working towards completing his Master's degree.

In this episode, co-host Stephanie McGrath interviews USA Today Bestselling and RITA award winning author Sarina Bowen. We ask her about running a successful publishing business, collaborating with other authors and important lessons she's learned about craft through the years. We are also joined by two Sarina fans, Laura Granger and Cristina Mendes, as we discuss Sarina's post on the KWL blog, "R...

Joni Di Placido interviews Charlotte Leonetti, a high school senior who wrote and self-published her YA novel Heartshire High . Her novel is a modern-day retelling of Alice In Wonderland and Charlotte describes it as a book for teens, by a teen. What's it like to publish a debut novel while a senior in high school?

For our 100th episode, we decided to give our listeners a behind the scenes look into Kobo Writing Life and the magic that goes into publishing a new title on Kobo. We follow Sarah Woodbury's upcoming release The Favored Son , as it makes its way onto the Kobo store and into the libraries of our customers. We also introduce an exciting edition to the KWL podcast, Chrissy Munroe's newest co-host, S...

Launched in 2012, BookBub has become the essential marketing platform for authors and publishers to promote their eBooks to millions of power readers around the world. We jumped at the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at BookBub, how they select eBooks for their daily emails, and what you can do as an author to make the most of this incredible marketing tool. You don't want to miss a minute...

Rachel Amphlett, bestselling crime and thriller writer from Brisbane, Australia, was at Kobo HQ earlier this fall as part of an international author tour. Rachel spoke to Mark Lefebvre about: Rachel's re-introduction to writing after a long lapse and the underlying concept for a story that just wouldn't let go The wonderfully inspirational Christmas gift from Rachel's husband Nick and his keen wor...

Mark Lefebvre interviews James Alan Gardner and Spider Robinson, co-editors of the Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela anthology.  Compostela means "field of stars" and is most commonly known from the Santiago de Compostela, which, for more than 1,000 years, has attracted pilgrims to walk to the cathedral that holds St. James the apostle's relics. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the...

It's day 8 of National Novel Writing Month - perfect timing to listen to some excellent inspiration from Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. He just published a nonfiction book, Pep Talks for Writers, and Christine Munroe chatted with him about how to stay dedicated to daily creativity, in November and beyond. https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/pep-talks-for-writers

KWL Director Mark Lefebvre interviews bestselling author M.L. Buchman ("Matt") about his non-fiction title specifically targeted for writers and other creators , Estate Planning for Authors: Your Final Letter (and why you need to write it now) , a step by step guide on how authors can make sure their legacy remains profitable for decades for their heirs after they are gone. During the interview, M...

Heather Tucker, author of The Clay Girl , had an entire career as a nurse, teacher, bereavement counselor, and professional writer, before she discovered that "playing with words is more fun than working with them." What is it like to publish a debut novel at age 62? She kept an emotional journal from a young age to age 50. She was going on a big trip to Asia and taped a note on the boxes that sai...

Episode 93 includes a series of short interviews that KWL Director, Mark Lefebvre conducted at the 2017 When Words Collide conference in Calgary, Alberta. Mark speaks with authors Robert J. Sawyer and C.C. Humphreys as well as marketing consultant Mickey Mikkelson about digital publishing, global eBook pricing, author promotion strategies and successful author readings.   Robert J. Sawyer Robert J...

In Episode 92, Mark Lefebvre interviews Charles de Lint, who is the author of more than seventy books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, Charles is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns an...

KWL Episode 90 is a special episode featuring the announcement of the launch of Kobo Audiobooks, narrated by Jim Dale. Let me tell you a story. Do you remember when you first fell in love with reading? Well you weren't really reading, were you? No, your passion for books began quite another way. It was listening, wasn't it? To a story. Yes; your love of reading got started when you were being read...

Episode 90 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast features an interview with Dennis Weichman, (AKA, Mr. W.), a retired math teacher who has brought his passion for teaching and tutoring into the digital realm with YouTube channel and study guides published to Kobo . Mr W. is interviewed by KWL Director Mark Lefebvre. In the interview, they discuss: How, after he retired in 1998, Dennis began tutoring st...

Episode 89 of the KWL Podcast includes on location interviews with 7 different authors conducted by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Author Relations at Kobo during the 2017 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference. Barbara Freethy Sharing the enjoyment she gets connecting with fellow writers at RWA, Barbara also shares info about a new romantic suspense series (a spin-off of her Storm trilogy...

Episode 88 of the Kobo Writing Life Podcast isn't the more typical interview, but rather, KWL's Director, Mark Lefebvre, outlining five strategies that successful authors use to build their sales, raise their author profile and get readers to sign up their author mailing lists with Free eBooks. First, Mark talks about the updates to FREE tracking. If you've been paying attention to the updates in...

  Episode 87 of the Kobo Writing Life podcast features a keynote address from When Words Collide's 2016 Guest of Honour, Eve Silver . She is a national bestselling author of books for adults and teens, has won the Ontario Library Association's "Forest of Reading White Pine Award" and has been praised for her "edgy, steamy, action-packed" books, darkly sexy heroes and take-charge heroines. Eve is i...

Episode 86 features an interview with international bestselling author Catherine Coulter, about one of her most recent titles, Insidious .   In the interview, Mark and Catherine talk about: The question Catherine's sister asked her at a family reunion back in the 1990's that inspired the her first romantic suspense novel, The Cove (which became the first book in her FBI series) The devious nature...

Episode 85 of the KWL Podcast contains an interview with Scacchi Koul conducted by Johanna Schneller about Scacchi's new book One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter . Please note that this interview contains adult language which might not be appropriate for all listening audiences. In the interview, Johanna and Scaachi talk about: The story behind Scacchi's Twitter profile picture...

Episode 84 contains the third and final installment of interviews that took place at RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers Convention in Atlanta this year. This time the interviews are from Sinead McElhinney, PR Coordinator for Kobo, who was interacting with dozens of authors and romance readers at the conference. Featured interviews include chats with the two authors who write under the name Christina L...

This episode continues from where episode 82 left off with KWL's recent live interviews with attendees from RT Booklovers Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in early May 2017. RT (Romantic Times) Booklovers brings more than 3,500 fans and between 600 to 800 authors together for a celebration of romance novels. Mark Lefebvre, Director of Kobo Writing Life, interviewed authors and industry folks about v...