The First Time

Oh we go so many places in this ep: starting new projects, Kryall Castle school holiday plans, The Little Mermaid, how to land an ending on a tv series, great books, and old school video stores. Our Featured Book this week is Untethered by debut novelist, Ayesha Inoon. This segment is brought to you by Harper Collins. Ayesha Inoon is a Sri Lankan-Australian writer with a unique cultural perspectiv...

In this Masters Series interview, Katherine talks to best selling author, television writer and podcast host, RA Spratt. RA Spratt is Katherine's kids' favourite author. They LOVE her books and series: Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes, Peski Kids and Shockingly Good Stories (in that order).   R.A. Spratt has also written for dozens of different television shows.  In recent years she has specialized ma...

Today's ep is another awkward convo - one we've been looking forward to for awhile! We talk about endorsements - aka praise, puffs and blurbs. How do you ask for an endorsement, what do authors think about the 'endorsement machine', how many are too many and can we do without them? We chat about 'Fool's Gold' - a Sydney Review of Books article by Catriona Menzies Pike and Kate has sought comment f...

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to captu...

This episode our featured book is brought to you by Text Publishing and we’re so excited to talk to TARA CALABY about her debut novel HOUSE OF LONGING. Tara Calaby lives in Gippsland with her wife and far too many books. She is currently a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, researching the social worlds of women in Victorian lunatic asylums. Her speculative and historical short stories have app...

Katherine drops some very exciting news! And Kate and Katherine catch up on reading recommendations, more on authors and money and how they feel about AI.   Our Featured Book this week is The Rush by Michelle Prak and the segment is brought to you by Simon & Schuster.     Michelle Prak (known to some of you on socials as Prakky !) is a professional communicator with a thirty-year career in cor...

We are thrilled to present this conversation with Australian literary legend - Tim Winton. This is a conversation Kate has been hoping to have since...well, since she was sixteen years old. The interview covers Winton's latest project - the television documentary Ningaloo - along with his writing life and environmental advocacy.  Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children,...

Kate's been wanting to speak to New York Times and internationally bestselling author Amie Kaufman for ages! Not only has her multi-award winning work been translated into nearly thirty languages, and is in development for film and TV, but Amie is incredibly experienced in talking and teaching about writing and the strange world of BEING a writer. Raised in Australia and Ireland, Amie has degrees...

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to captu...

After last episode's recording fail, there's a lot to discuss! Kate's dipping her toe into TIKTOK, Katherine's reading a LOT of uplifting fiction/non-fiction, plus the hosts talk debut author experiences -- have things changed since their books came out?  This episode the featured book is brought to you by BFredericksPR and Gregory Ladner.  Gregory Ladner is one of Australia’s most enduring fashio...

Look, we're all about vulnerability and awkward, so it's a delight to have shared our recording fail on insta this week and for Kate to publicly accept responsibility for her failure to press record. We promise that next week we'll re-record ALL of our recommendations and discussion on the industry and get it to you ears. Our Featured Segment this week is brought to you by Brio Books and we are de...

Kate and Katherine catch up in the aftermath of Kate's trip to Newcastle Writers Festival, in which she managed to lose (and ultimately find) both her laptop and her luggage. The discuss festival etiquette and recommends things to read, including everything by Kevin Wilson (check out last week's episode !!). This episode our featured book segment is brought to you by Allen and Unwin and we’re talk...

Kevin Wilson has been on Katherine's interview wishlist oh about forever and FINALLY she got to speak to him. The discuss weirdness, including how Kevin writes about it with such tenderness, and talk a lot about art -- it's creation, secrecy vs publicness. Also, how often Kevin writes (answer: not very often). Kevin Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Now is Not the Time...

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to captu...

The words 'author headshot' can strike fear into the hearts of the toughest writers. Kate and Katherine recently toughened up: Kate wanted new headshots ahead of the new book coming out and the podcast needed some updating from 2018. In this episode they talk through past photoshoot experiences, what they've learned over time and what worked in their last excellent shoot with Gemma Carr.  As part...

This episode Kate and Katherine catch up on what they've been reading and listening to including: The Publishing Rodeo podcast - specifically this episode ' Anatomy of a Best Seller (Part 2) '  ' My mentor John Hughes taught me how to write. Then he plagiarised my work ' by Joseph Earp  Reasons Not to Worry by Brigid Delaney Catriona Menzies Pike on blurbing in SRB Dress Rehearsals by Madison Godf...

Kate (finally!) has some book news! And responds to a listener question on defining the stages of the editing process. Our featured book segment is brought to you by Affirm Press and we are delighted to be talking to Pip Williams about her second novel, THE BOOKBINDER OF JERICHO. Pip Williams was born in London, grew up in Sydney, and now lives in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia with her fam...

Kate travelled to Castlemaine to record this interview in person with Cate Kennedy in her beautiful home amongst overflowing bookshelves. Kate attempted to edit down this episode, she really did, but Cate Kennedy just shares so much writing wisdom it was hard not to just give you the uncut super long version! Settle in with a cuppa if you can. Cate Kennedy has published several collections of both...

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience. One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to captu...

This episode the hosts talk money. They discuss the writing incomes, the podcast's  'money story' and how it's changed over time, including the move to having some paid content. Also -- the difference between publicity and marketing, which FINALLY the two of them seem to be across.  Our Featured Book is brought to you by Hachette and we are delighted to be talking to Eleanor Shearer about her debu...

This season we are returning to our first-time roots! We hear all the time from listeners who’ve gone from thinking about writing a book to starting to write a book to having their own debut author experience.  One of the things that these new authors say is that they’ve gone back and listened to the episodes that cover off the various milestones. So this year we’re going back too. We want to capt...

Oh it’s exciting to be back. It’s a typically BIG ep as we kick off Season Six and we go lots of places: summer fishing, social media blackouts, teeth, horoscopes, childhood confessions, exciting 2023 news (which we can’t actually tell you…yet) and a bunch of things we’ve been reading, watching and listening to. Our Featured Segment, brought to you by Harper Collins, is with debut novellist Jo Dix...

In the twelfth episode of our summer series Katherine speaks to Dervla McTiernan how her writing life began, the importance of setting in crime writing, good vs bad, and all the stuff -- from Plottr to Scrivener and Goodnotes -- she uses to write. Enjoy!    Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction. Her books have gar...

In our eleventh episode of our Summer Series, Katherine speaks with multi-award winning author Kim Scott about history, identity, culture and language, particularly of his ancestors the Noongar people.   Kim Scott grew up on the south coast of Western Australia. As a descendant of those who first created human society along that edge of ocean, he is proud to be one among those who call themselves...

In the tenth episode of our Summer Series, Kate speaks with Australian Fiction Queen, Liane Moriarty in a wide ranging conversation about her career, writing process and dealing with Hollywood. Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally bestselling novels, Three Wishes , The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story and the number one New York Times bests...