Page One - The Writer's Podcast

Watch as a full video on YouTube We're back! On this week's episode, we discuss the show everyone is talking about - The Traitors! With crime author Harriet Tyce's appearance, we chat about the impact it has had on her book sales, and also wonder which reality show we would choose to go on to boost our publicity (there is also some spoiler discussion about this season of the UK Traitors, so be car...

Watch as a full video episode now on YouTube We are joined by three brilliant returning guests for our bumper-length festive special to mark the end of the year! Fiona Cummins, Cally (C.L.) Taylor and Ed James return to tell us all about their year in writing, what they are looking forward to writing-wise in 2026, and what their favourite reads and watches of the year have been. Plus - our Between...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube Joe Hill is a Sunday Times bestseller and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box, The Fireman , and Full Throttle . He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long-running comic book series, Locke & Key , co-created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Much of his work has been adapted for movies and television. His s...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube A good ending can stay with you long after you've finished a book or a film, but a bad one can ruin everything that came before. On this week's episode of Drafting Notes, we talk about what makes a good ending, and talk about some of the ways to think about crafting that ending to try and give a satisfying conclusion to your stories. Plus, we t...

Watch this episode a full video episode Kesia Lupo is the commissioning editor at MacMillan Children's Books, as well as being a former agent and author of three YA books. We had a great chat with Kesia, learning about how she first got started in the publishing industry, and the differences between working for a smaller and larger publisher, and the impact that has on acquisition decisions. Plus,...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube You only have one chance to make a first impression, so you better make sure you offer your prospective agent/editor/reader the best you can! On this week's episode, we chat about what makes a good opening compared to bad and why it matters. Plus, we discuss some of our favourite openings — as well as some not-so-good ones... Drafting Notes is...

Jenny Brown established Jenny Brown Associates in 2002. She was previously Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council, presenter of book programmes for Scottish Television, and founder Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. She was shortlisted in 2014 and2020 for Agent of the Year Award. She is former Chair of the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival (201...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube Richard Swan is a critically acclaimed British genre writer. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Empire of the Wolf and Great Silence trilogies, the Decurion Saga (2026), and various short fiction for Black Library and Grimdark Magazine. His work has been translated into nine languages. We enjoyed having Richard back on the podcast, catching up...

Watch this as a full video episode on YouTube On this week's episode of Drafting Notes we are discussing that thing every writer hates: The Synopsis! Nobody enjoys them, but how do you write them? What should you include? What should you leave out? We discuss all this and even talk about why synopses can help you find the heart of your story. Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-winning w...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on YouTube Phoebe Morgan is the Executive Fiction Publisher at Simon & Schuster, with a career spanning major publishing houses including HarperCollins, Orion, Octopus Books, and Hodder & Stoughton. Specialising in crime fiction while also working across general and book club fiction as well as romantasy, she has published numerous Sunday Times...

Watch as a full video interview on YouTube now! Francesca T. Barbini is an award-winning editor, translator, and founder of Luna Press Publishing, the acclaimed independent press specialising in speculative fiction and academia. Born in Rome and now based in Edinburgh, her work has earned multiple British Fantasy and British Science Fiction Awards. She also supports the Tolkien Society and designs...

David Headley is the Managing Director and co-founder of Goldsboro Books, one of the UK’s leading independent booksellers, and founder of the D H H Literary Agency. Originally from York, David studied theology before building a 25-year career at the heart of the publishing industry. Through Goldsboro, he created the UK’s largest collectors’ book club and became a major influence in hardback fictio...

Watch as a full video episode on YouTube! Self-publishing has become a serious and viable route for many authors who can't or don't want to find a traditional publisher. But can it work for everyone? We discuss why some genres are more suited than others, and also talk about all the extra work that is needed to make a real success of self-publishing. Drafting Notes is a series in which one award-w...

Watch this episode as a full video episode on YouTube Ed Wilson is an agent and director of Johnson & Alcock, representing a vibrant list of fiction and non-fiction, from new voices to established, bestselling and award-winning authors, including RJ Barker, Shauna Lawless and Sam Holland. We had great fun chatting with Ed about all things agent-related. He tells us about how he first got into...

Watch as a full video on YouTube On this week's episode, we discuss Ireland's UBI experiment for artists and writers, and why we would love to see other countries follow suit (but aren't holding our breath). Plus, we look at why indie presses are pressing the panic button, and discuss the latest BookTok marketing scheme - theme-scented books (a topic Tariq gets very excited about!) 00:00 Intro 01:...

Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel. Liza DeBlock began her publishing career as an assistant at Eccles Fisher Associates in 2018, where she gained a deep understanding of the international book market. After moving into literary agenting and working with Robert Caskie and Silé Edwards, she honed her skills selling rights for bestselling authors including Richard Os...

Watch this as a full video episode on our YouTube channel We all know that querying is the main method for finding an agent, but are there other ways? Many of the guests on Page One have spoken about different experiences in how they finally found an agent, and we ourselves have also tried things like competitions and so on. On this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of some of these alternativ...

Watch as a full video on YouTube On this week's episode, we are talking about a scarcity of books for the Booker Prize and wondering if that is due to poor books or too narrow a category for prizes. Plus, we join the Alchemised train and wonder if fanfic turned to publishing gold shows publishers are unwilling to gamble on new stories, and more generally discuss how risk-averse the industry can be...

Watch as a full video on YouTube On this week's episode we share some exciting awards news involving Tariq and Marco (both winners at the recent Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival!), Nadine reveals a new cover (check her instagram to see it!), plus we discuss the latest in the Anthropic settlement, wonder about whether cosy crime is a reductive term, and in the wake of the Evelyn Clark author...

We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon! In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with MW Craven! Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts Adventures in Publishing-land in Spotify Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.patreon...

We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon! In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with Elvin James Mensah! Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts Adventures in Publishing-land in Spotify Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://ww...

We are taking a short break, but don't despair, we will be back with some exciting new episodes soon! In the meantime, enjoy this chat that our STET Podcasts colleague Nadine Matheson had with Louise Minchin! Adventures in Publishing-land on Apple Podcasts Adventures in Publishing-land in Spotify Adventures in Publishing-land on YouTube Support us on Patreon and get great benefits!: https://www.pa...

Watch as a video episode on YouTube! Ideas are like gold dust, they say. But are they? Should you hold some back to put in future books, or should you put everything you have into the one you are writing now? We discuss the common pitfalls that some new writers can make. Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-publis...

Watch as a full video interview instead! Elodie Harper is a bestselling author whose Wolf Den trilogy has won wide acclaim. The first book The Wolf Den, was a book of the month for both Waterstones and Barnes & Noble, won the Glass Bell Award and was shortlisted for Page turner of the year at the British Book Awards. The second in the series, The House with the Golden Door, was...

Watch as a video episode on YouTube! You've finished your book and you're ready to send it off - but what should you include in the query letter? And perhaps more importantly, what shouldn't you include? We discuss it all on today's Drafting Notes! Drafting Notes is a new series of podcast episodes in which one award-winning writer (Tariq) and one hopefully soon-to-be-published writer (Marco) disc...