Kobo Writing Life Podcast

Liv Albert, host of the popular podcast Let's Talk About Myths, Baby, joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her new book Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook. Liv talks to us about her podcast and how it came into fruition, she tells us what her research and production process is like, and she tells how her podcast led to a book deal and what it was like writing her fir...

Ricardo Fayet, the head of marketing and one of the founders of Reedsy, joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his book How to Market a Book: Overperform in a Crowded Market . Ricardo uses his wealth of marketing experience to give advice and share some best practices for finding your target audience, discovering new readers on different retailers, and converting page views to book sales. Le...

Debut author and certified clinical hypnosis practitioner Shauna Cummins joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her book Wishcraft. Shauna has been a hypnotherapist for almost a decade and she talks to us about finding creativity during difficult times, her creative process and the experience of writing her first book, and she shares a simple technique authors can start using today to retrai...

Kobo Writing Life's very own Shayna Krishnasamy joins us on the podcast this week to discuss all things promotions. Shayna is the Author Relations and Promotions Strategist for KWL, and she not only manages our promotions tab, but she also helped create it! Shayna tells us how the promo tab came to be, how authors can best utilize the promos we run, and what authors should do if they're rejected f...

Author and writing teacher Sacha Black returns to the podcast this week to discuss her book The Anatomy of Prose and crafting fully-realized characters. Sacha talks to us about her experience as an editor and how that's affected her reading habits, and she gives some great insight into creating effective character emotions, embodying your characters' personalities, and creating layered description...

Bestselling paranormal author Steff Green (AKA Steffanie Holmes) joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her unique writing process of using Skeleton Drafts. Steff also talks to us about her writing community, Rage Against the Manuscript, revitalizing her blacklist, and what it's like navigating the publishing world as a legally blind author.  Learn more about this epis...

We are joined by three editing professionals on the podcast this week: Kristina Stanley, the creator of Fictionary, JoEllen Nordstrom, the founder of First Editing, and Lisa Lepki, head of marketing for ProWritingAid. Kristina, JoEllen, and Lisa walk us through the editing process, from story editing to proofreading, and discuss everything an author needs to know to make their book the best it can...

New York Times bestselling author Courtney Milan joins us on the podcast this week. Courtney's book The Duke Who Didn't was on New York Times' most notable books of 2020, and she tells us about her writing career, why she loves writing historical romances, and how to build a strong, engaged readership. Courtney is also a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in publishing, and she talks to u...

USA Toda y bestselling romance author Kelly Jamieson talks to us about her newest series with Penguin Random House, Bears Hockey. She also discusses why self care is vital for authors, and why celebrity heroes are so popular among readers! Join the platform that's fast, free and easy. www.kobo.com/writinglife

New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti is on the podcast this week to discuss her writing process and what her experience has been like as a hybrid author. Rebecca talks to us about her decision to try indie publishing and why she chose to self-publish her most recent series, The Anna Albertini Files, she discusses the challenges of juggling multiple publishing contracts as well as her...

Actress, artist, and writer Irene Tsu joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her debut memoir, A Water Color Dream : The Many Lives of Irene Tsu . Irene tells us about her life and career as an actor, from a child dreaming of becoming a ballerina to becoming one of the first working Asian-American actors in Hollywood, appearing in films alongside legends such as Elvis, Bette Midler, and Jeff...

We are kicking off 2021 with a delightful conversation with Kobo's Chief Content Officer Pieter Swinkels. Pieter has worked for Kobo for almost a decade and previously worked as a publisher in the Netherlands, giving him a wealth of experience in the publishing industry which he was kind of enough to share with us. Pieter discusses the differences in publishing in North America and Europe, the evo...

Author Tara L. Roí joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and how she combined her love of writing with her passion for fighting climate change. Tara writes "steamy romance in a heating world", and she talks to us about her path from screenwriter to journalist to romance author, what her writing process looks like and how it has evolved, and how she became passionate about the fig...

Brad West, the co-creator Vellum, joins us on the podcast this week to answer our questions about his ePub creating software. Brad tells us how Vellum its start, how the software works, what users can expect from Vellum in the future, and he talks to us about what he's learned during his time as a small business owner.  Learn more about this episode !

Author and winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction Zalika Reid-Benta joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her award winning debut title Frying Plantain . Zalika tells us about the book's road to publication, from high school writing project to finished work, she tells us about her writing process and how it has evolved over time, and she gives some great advice for wr...

Librarian Jaclyn Derlatka sits down with Steph and Joni this week to discuss her role as the department head for children's and adult fiction at Whitby Public Library, and how she curates the library's collection. Jaclyn talks to us about using Overdrive and Hoopla to build the digital library, what publishing trends she's noticed recently, and how the pandemic has affected libraries. Learn more a...

Author consultant Kate Tilton joins us on the podcast this week to discuss figuring out your goals as an indie author and what practices to implement in order to reach them. Kate started out in the publishing industry as an author's assistant, and she talks to us about what prompted her to start her own business, why authenticity is key when it comes to social media, and why avoiding burnout as an...

Please enjoy this preview of Season 3 of Kobo in Conversation! Eden Robinson joined us to talk about how she outfoxed her inner editor to write  the Trickster trilogy  -- including  Return of the Trickster , coming in 2021 -- and explained why it's a bad idea to follow her on twitter if you enjoy popular TV shows. And we learned how many narrators she tried for the Trickster story before landing a...

Bestselling author Talia Hibbert joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career, her writing process, and her newest Kobo Original, Wrapped Up in You . Talia writes sexy, diverse romance and she talks about how indie publishing is more accessible for diverse authors. We also discuss how she works from the initial story idea to the finished product and where she thinks indie publishing is...

Author and co-host of the Six Figure Authors podcast Lindsay Buroker joins us on the podcast this week. Lindsay has been an indie author for almost a decade and she talks to us about how the industry has changed over that time, where she thinks it's going next, and she tells us about her Patreon and how she utilizes the platform to distribute ARCs and reward her fans.  Learn more about this episod...

New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her career and what makes a great crime novel. Karin tells us how she plots both her novels and her long-running series, what her research process is like, and the double standards imposed on female crime writers. Karin also tells us about her non-profit, Save the Libraries , and she gives some great adv...

Debut author Vanessa Åsell Tsuruga joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her novel Förgätmigej för alltid ( Forget-me-not Forever) , and how she went about translating her book into English. Vanessa tells us how she found the right translator for her novel, what the translation workflow was like, and how she fits writing into her busy work and home life.  Learn more about this episode !

Bestselling author Gail Carriger joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing career and her new non-fiction book, The Heroine's Journey . Gail started out as a traditionally published author, but once she got a taste of indie publishing she absolutely loved it. Her newest book, The Heroine's Journey , takes a look at the storytelling device by the same name and how it appears througho...

Bestselling mother-daughter author duo, PC Cast and Kristin Cast, join us on the podcast this week. PC and Kristin tell us how they got their start writing and what prompted them to start working together, what their co-writing process looks like and how their individual writing practices differ, and they discuss the evolution of YA as a genre and where they see publishing going next.  Learn more...

Award winning author Brooke Adams Law joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her writing method, embodied writing, which aims to explore emotions and experiences through the physical body. Brooke also talks to us about her MFA experience, and the journey from idea to publication for her award winning debut novel, Catchlight. Learn more about this episode !