The Bestseller Experiment

We scrambled to put this episode together in which we try and put some positive vibes out into the world. We celebrate some of our listeners' recent triumphs, we answer listener questions, discuss creativity, strategies for working from home, how to make the most of your day and why writing is so important. Sit back and forget the world's woes for just a short while... Sign up to the BXP2020 Chall...

Karen Inglis is a bestselling indie children's author based in the UK. Her books have sold over 100,000 copies and in this Deep Dive episode she answers our listener questions on finding illustrators, printing, marketing, blurbs, age-ranging, the craft of writing children's books and tips on running great school events. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To R...

We're delighted to welcome back Orion Publisher (and Editor of the Year nominee!) Emad Akhtar to critique our latest round of One Page Punch-Ups. These are pages sent in by our Chart Topper Patreons. We read them and critique them and all learn a little something that we can use in our writing.

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... Best known for her novel Chocolat, which sold well over a million copies and was made into a movie starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche, Joanne has written over twenty books, including Runemarks and Gospel of Loki, which were based on Norse legend. We spoke with her about writing, aspiration and sheds.

BA Paris is the bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, and with her new novel The Dilemma she takes a simple idea and digs deep with gripping effect. It's this writing style that has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and made her an international bestseller. In a delightfully unassuming interview, she tells us how it all started when her daughters told her to do something for herself...

The Romantic Novelists' Association celebrated their diamond anniversary last week with a glitzy award ceremony where four — FOUR! — of our listeners were nominated for awards. We spoke to them about the role the RNA has played in their careers, we bumped into our old friend Rowan Coleman, and we end with a very special interview with Milly Johnson, the evening's recipient of the RNA Outstanding A...

Steff Green has written over 30 books since 2015. Her career started with a near-miss with a major publisher, but she struck out on her own and now she's an award-winner, a USA Today bestseller, and passionate about her storytelling. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Ahead of our main episode with James Swallow in a few weeks, we have this exclusive Q&A with James where he answers our listener questions on working in rooms with other writers on series like The Black Library, and he gives us great tips on pace, characterisation, balancing realism and the fantastic, writing for games, and how you can make your world tell the story for you. To support the show go...

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... From farrier to million-selling indie author, USA Today bestseller, and writing machine, Shannon bestows wisdom, inspiration, and a quote that we want on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Bec Evans was previously a guest on a Deep Dive (ep199, discussing her book How to Have a Happy Hustle), but since then she has surveyed over 3,500 authors about their writing habits and discovered some incredibly useful data on how writing little and often can improve your productivity and creativity as a writer. In this special live show, she reveals great tips for writers on toggling, tiny habi...

In this exclusive Deep Dive episode for our Patreons, Barbara Poelle is a New York literary agent and author of Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Publishing Industry — and she answers our listener questions on trends, genre, slush piles, getting an agent, and generally de-mistifying the publishing industry. This is essential listening for authors wh...

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... In this episode you will discover…  What does a commission editor do? It's not just correcting your spelling! What's changed in publishing? And how you can make the most of these opportunities. The most common mistakes by writers: And how you can avoid them. Don't cheat your reader: And how to have a longer career as a writer.

In the first of an occasional series where we dive into specific genres, we look at science fiction with Hannu Rajaniemi, award-winning author of The Quantum Thief, The Fractal Prince, The Causal Angel, Summerland and more. We answer listener questions on defining the genre, keeping up on scientific developments, world building, how to generate story ideas, and why we would love to read an Ian M B...

LJ Ross has long refused to play by other people's rules and when she didn't like the look of a publishing contract she struck out on her own. Over four million copies of her books have been sold to date and she's still going strong. She answers our listener questions on marketing, pricing, Kindle and she tells us why she's launching her own imprint and a prize for authors. To support the show go...

In this week's episode from the BXP Archives... As we begin our epic quest to write and chart a book in one year, we need to discover what kind of person buys bestselling books. We turn to Hachette Book Group consumer insight expert Vics Tranter, who shares her experience and wisdom with us and we discover just who will be reading our book… and it's a bit of a shock, to be frank.

In this special episode, we speak to writer and producer David Whiteley about his Star Wars documentary The Galaxy Britain Built. David takes us through the journey of building a documentary idea into a feature-length documentary and an accompanying book. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Number one bestselling author Caroline Mitchell recently Tweeted that she had sold a million copies of her books since first getting published in 2013. Writing on her commute, Caroline started out by setting herself daily goals and moved from never having written before, to self-publishing, to awards and deals with Bookouture and Thomas & Mercer. It's an inspiring story and it all started… with an...

When Robyn Sarty set up her own publisher, Belwood Publishing, she approached Sage Gordon-Davis about writing a series of sweet romance novels. In the first of a series we'll be following Robyn and Sage through the year as they develop the books and prepare them for publication. They tell us how the idea came about, the nitty gritty of contracts, agreements, budgets and royalties. This is essentia...

It's 2020 and the BXP2020 challenge is off to an amazing start with over 118.5 million words pledged already! We've been overwhelmed by messages from listeners telling us it's transformed the way they write. In this special live show, we share listener tips for making the most of the challenge and how you can get involved. The podcast also get crashed by author and Youtuber Claire Burgess who is t...

Author A.Y. Chao tells us how she funded her debut novel Soul Affinity on Kickstarter in just 4 days! If you've never tried Kickstarter before, but always wanted to give it a try, this is a great episode to see just how it works and what strategies you could use to make your novel a reality. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellere...

Scott Pack will inspire you with his tips on writing, editing, submission and publishing. Scott Pack celebrates 20 years in publishing in 2020, having worked as head of buying for Waterstones, and as a publisher at HarperCollins, Unbound, Eye and Lightning Books and more. His new book Tips from a Publisher is crammed with advice for writers at all levels and is essential reading. Scott will inspir...

We take stock of the year so far and read out some of the messages we've had from our amazing listeners. And we look forward to 2020 and the BXP2020 Challenge. And yes, it's that time of year when Mr. Stay wheels out his terrible Santa impression for the sponsor message… and we announce the winner of the Garth Nix giveaway! To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back...

As we approach the end of the year, we contemplate hibernating after NanoWriMo before gearing up for the BXP2020 challenge in the New Year. We answer our listener FAQs about the 2020 Challenge and Mr. D reveals the experiments that he's been running on our listeners. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreali...

We are delighted to welcome back Orion Publisher Emad Akhtar to critique our latest round of One Page Punch-Ups. These are pages sent in by our Chart Topper Patreons. We read them and critique them and all learn a little something that we can use in our writing. To support the show go to bestsellerexperiment.com/support Our novel Back To Reality is out now bestsellerexperiment.com/backtoreality

Another one of our listeners is an award winner! Kirsty Eyre won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print "Unpublished" award for her novel Cow Girl this year. We speak to Kirsty, Harper Fiction editor Martha Ashby and comedy legend Helen Lederer about the award and how you can get involved along with great tips on writing comedy and for entering the competition.