Thriving Authors Podcast

A.H. Ann Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. as a young child. She was educated at Harvard College and Berkeley Law School, where she was an editor of the California Law Review . She is a practicing attorney and has served as chief of staff to the CEO and head of investor relations at a Fortune 200 company. A.H. Kim is the proud mother of two sons, a longtime cancer survi...

Gabi Justice is the author of Dog Girl , her young adult contemporary romance debut which just released on November 17, 2020. She is the mom to three dogs and one stray cat named Luna Buna. She lives in Florida with her husband and children. You’d be hard-pressed to find a tennis court in the state that she hasn’t visited, having three competitive junior players in the family. Gabi spent most of h...

Shana Lynn Schmidt is the author of the award-winning memoir Over Our Hearts: a mother's journey learning to listen in , about her experience listening in to her heart during teen daughter's pregnancy and beyond. She is a licensed counselor, parenting coach, infant & early childhood mental health specialist, Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor, writer, and Nana. She lives in a small Kans...

Hope Bolinger is the author of the modern-day Daniel retelling trilogy, Blaze , Den , and Vision (releasing in August 2021). The YA superhero romance she co-wrote with Alyssa Roat, Dear Hero , just released from INtense Publications in September 2020. The sequel Dear Henchman is set to release in April 2021. Hope is a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. and a graduate of Taylor University's professional wr...

Samantha Vitale has an insatiable hunger for two things: big challenges and amazing stories. When not working at her highly technical day job, she can be found devouring books or writing new ones of her own. She lives in Virginia with her husband and their two small humans. She is the author of the debut YA novel THE LADY ALCHEMIST.  https://www.sdvitale.com/

E.K. has been writing poetry ever since she was very young. She published her first book, A Collection of Poems , when she was 10 years old. Her second collection, Down the Road , was released only a few years later in 2018. E.K. has published work in Stone Soup Magazine and is a staff writer for Youth MENSAN Magazine. Her poetry has placed in several competitions, including but not limited to the...

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez is the author of two middle grade book series, each published by HarperCollins Children's Books, THE GUARDIAN HERD (a quartet) and RIDERS OF THE REALM (a trilogy). Before this, she self-published a middle grade fantasy called THE PET WASHER.  She received a B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to literature, she studied philosophy an...

Karen Strong is the author of the critically acclaimed middle grade novel  Just South of Home,  which was selected for several Best of Year lists including Kirkus Reviews Best Books, CCBC Choices, and Bank Street Best Books .  Her short fiction appears in From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back and A Phoenix First Must Burn. Born and raised in the rural South, she is a...

Lisa Moore Ramée was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in the Northern California, with her husband, two kids, two obnoxious cats and more yard than she can control. She earned a BA in Speech Communications from San Francisco State and a MA in English Literature (focusing on Creative Writing) from Cal State East Bay. She worked for several years in publishing for the Walt Disn...

Caitlin Horrocks is author of the novel The Vexations , named one of the Ten Best Books of 2019 by the Wall Street Journal . Her story collection This Is Not Your City was a New York Times Book Review  Editor’s Choice and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. Another story collection, Life Among the Terranauts , is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2021. Her stories and ess...

C. Hope Clark is the Editor of FundsforWriters , named one of the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 10 years. She is also a prolific author of The Carolina Slade Mysteries and The Edisto Island Mysteries. As a freelance writer, she’s published in The Writer Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Guide to Literary Agents, Writer’s Market, Chicken Soup, and many other trade and online p...

I'm excited to share this very special episode! My debut YA novel, The Best Week That Never Happened , was published on April 21st by Month9Books and Blackstone Audio. It is such a thrill to have it out in the world and to hear from readers who are connecting with the storyline and the characters! I held a Virtual Book Launch on April 26 and was joined by my friends Tobie Easton and Jennieke Cohen...

Morris Ardoin earned a bachelor’s in journalism from Louisiana State University and a master’s in communication from the University of Louisiana. A public relations practitioner, his work has appeared in regional, national, and international media. His blog, Parenthetically Speaking , can be found at www.morrisardoin.com. His memoir STONE MOTEL: MEMOIRS OF A CAJUN BOY is now available. He divides...

Natalie Lund is the author of the young adult novels, We Speak in Storms and The Sky Above Us (forthcoming Nov. ’20). She is a former middle and high school teacher and a graduate of Purdue University’s MFA program. Natalie is a member of SCBWI and is represented by Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency . She lives in Chicago with her spouse and a very talkative cat. You can follow her on Ins...

After a career in undergraduate counseling, Laura Sibson pursued an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. When she’s not writing in a local coffee shop, you can find her running the neighborhood streets or hiking with her dog. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons. Her debut YA novel, THE ART OF BREAKING THINGS, has received wide acclaim and was one of my favorite books of...

Farrah Penn was born and raised in a suburb in Texas that’s far from the big city, but close enough to Whataburger. She now resides in Los Angeles, CA with her gremlin dog and succulents. When she’s not writing books, she can be found writing things for BuzzFeed and sending texts that contain too many emojis. 12 STEPS TO NORMAL is her first novel.

Mark Gottlieb is a highly ranked literary agent both in overall deals and other individual categories. Using that same initiative and insight for identifying talented writers, he is actively building his own client list of authors. Mark Gottlieb is excited to work directly with authors, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources that are available at book publishing’...

Tara Lynn Masih has won multiple book awards in her role as editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction and The Chalk Circle: Intercultural Prizewinning Essays . She is also author of Where the Dog Star Never Glows: Stories and Founding Series Editor for The Best Small Fictions annual anthology. Her award-winning fiction, poetry, and prose has been heavily anthologized. Her...

In this special episode to celebrate the cover reveal for my novel The Best Week That Never Happened ( check it out + read an exclusive excerpt at The Nerd Daily !) we are diving into a behind-the-scenes look at book covers. In addition to chatting about my book cover process, I also talked with Danielle Doolittle, Art & Design Projects Coordinator at Month9Books, and author N. R. Bergeson.&nb...

Kelly Jensen is a former teen librarian who worked in several public libraries before pursuing a full-time career in writing and editing. Her current position is with Book Riot ( bookriot.com ), where she focuses on talking about young adult literature. Her books include  Here We Are: Feminism for The Real World  and  (Don’t) Call Me Crazy , a collection of art, essays, and words to...

Nathan Leslie won the 2019 Washington Writers' Publishing House prize for fiction for his collection of short stories, Hurry Up and Relax . Nathan’s nine previous books of fiction include Three Men , Root and Shoot , Sibs , and The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice . He is also the author of a collection of poems, Night Sweat . Nathan is currently the series editor for Best Small Fictions , the founder and...

Julie Hoag lives in Minnesota with her husband and three sons. Before becoming a writer, she worked as a scientist at the University of Minnesota, as a pediatric nurse, and as a stay-at-home mom. After her youngest entered school, she revisited her interest in writing by starting a Family, Lifestyle and Food Blog at juliehoagwriter.com . She began submitting non-fiction articles across the interne...

Parker Peevyhouse is the author of the YA science fiction thrillers Where Futures End, The Echo Room – which Kirkus called “a thrilling ride” in a starred review -- and Strange Exit, which was just published by Tor Teen. Parker is likely trying to solve a puzzle at this very moment, probably while enjoying In-N-Out fries, admiring redwood trees, and quoting movies about sentient robots. She l...

Stephanie Kuehn is a psychologist and an author. She has written five novels for teens, including Charm & Strange , which won the ALA’s 2014 William C. Morris Award for best debut young adult novel. Her second novel, Complicit, was named to YALSA’s 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults list, and her third, Delicate Monsters , won the 2016 Northern California Book Award. In 2015, Stephanie was awa...

Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl are a husband-and-wife team who write novels and stories of mystery and adventure from their rustic cabin in the Rocky Mountains. They regularly speak at writers conferences, universities and high schools to help others achieve their writing dreams. Their debut YA novel, MERGED , received a starred review from Kirkus as well as other rave reviews. The science-fiction stor...