Behind the Debut

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In today’s episode, the final one of this current series, I’m delighted to welcome Mona Tebyanian, whose debut novel The Queen of Sands, a tale that blends elements of history, myth, and human longing, was published in September this year. In our conversation, you’ll hear: How Mona...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In today’s episode I’m delighted to welcome Nicole Annbury, a writer of dark fiction in the thriller, psychological suspense, and mystery genre. Her debut novel, THE FINAL SENTENCE, was self-published in June this year. In our conversation, which was recorded before her book was pu...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode I’m delighted to welcome Libby Tanner, author of the debut novel ‘Better Than Gelato’ which came out under City Owl Press in August 2025. Libby grew up in a small town in California but a love of travel (and food!) led her to live abroad in Italy and Chile and indee...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In today’s episode I’m delighted to welcome Michelle J, a fantasy author from upstate New York. Her young adult fantasy debut novel, The Divide That Binds Us , came out in May of this year. In our conversation, which was recorded before her book was published, you’ll hear: - How th...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode, I chat with Rocio Carranza - a multi-genre writer, spent most of her youth with a book in her hand, consuming stories of fantasy and horror as if her life depended on it. She is now the author of dark fantasy novel Blood of the Blackthorn. In our conversation, you’...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode, I chat with a brand new young writer and poet from Pakistan, Sarah Ali. Sarah published her first English short story in January this year through Draft to Digital after struggling to self-publish in English in her home country. I was so enchanted with Sarah’s stor...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode, I chat with M.A. Batten - a neurodiverse screenwriter and award-winning author of fantasy, scifi and dark fiction including his debut: Dark and the boy in the hole . In our conversation, you’ll hear: - Why M.A. Batten’s 25 year background in advertising left him wa...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In today’s slightly different episode, I’m delighted to welcome Kate Tremills. Kate is an author, speaker, and creativity expert with a background in the film industry. She is a fantasy & urban fantasy novelist and an inspirational writer. Her non-fiction book,  Joyful Creating , i...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Nikolas Allen, a lifelong creative with a background in art, music, and video production, and the author of two non-fiction marketing books. His first fiction novel, Juniper Falls , came out in January 2025. In our conversation, you’ll hear...

Welcome back to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their journey to publication. In this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Sal Gallahar, Sydney-based author of Secrets In The Lakes, a romance suspense novel that delves into the themes of friendships, small town secrets, a mysterious death and a young woman’s journey towards love and self-discovery. In our conve...

In this episode, I chat with WJR Pollard, who shares his varied journey from the army, construction and maximum security prison guard to writing and self-publishing his debut book - Chosen - the first in his norse-inspired epic series, Chronicles of Orn. In our conversation you’ll hear: - Why creating a map was Will’s first step in planning his book and his favourite tool for doing that - The bigg...

In this episode of Behind the Debut I chat with Bronek Carr about his debut non-fiction book: “Master Notion” a practical roadmap to transforming my favourite productivity app - Notion - from a simple note-taking tool into a powerful personal and professional workspace. In our conversation you’ll hear: How Bronek's debut book wasn’t originally planned to be a book! The tool that he definitely woul...

Welcome to the first episode of the Behind the Debut podcast! Today I chat with Christine aka C.W. Rose about her debut romance novel Ocean Song. In our conversation you’ll hear tons of behind the scenes details including: * Christine’s great tips on how to deal with critiques from others (including beta readers and even industry professionals) * How she stayed motivated while writing after taking...

Welcome to Behind The Debut , a podcast to shine a light on first-time authors and their incredible journeys to publication. I’m your host, Michelle Reeves, a traditionally and self-published author myself, and I love chatting with other writers. If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a book, wondered how authors make it happen, or just love hearing the behind-the-scenes stories of debut writers, then...