In this first of two episodes with New York based author Michael Colon we discuss his brand new debut novel ‘The Gift From Aelius’ which is a futuristic sci-fi about the interaction between A.I. robots and humans. Mike delves into the inspirations behind his novel and how he uses the main character, a robot named A191, to convey important themes about humanity and where he sees us heading as a species. He breaks down the motivations behind his writing and how his ideas spawn from concept to completed storyline. Mike explains his journey to publication which leads to a discussion about the broader publishing landscape and the potential impacts of artificial intelligence.

In this second episode with USA Today bestselling author Carter Wilson, he chats with Jack Roney and Harry Colfer about his podcast MAKING IT UP where he interviews authors and delves into their journeys. We also discuss the publishing landscape and options available for authors to publish their work.

Carter Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of ten critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a five-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Additionally, he is the host of the Making It Up podcast and founder of the Unbound Writer company, which provides coaching services, writing retreats, and online classes. Carter lives in Erie, Colorado in a Victorian house that is spooky but isn’t haunted…yet.

In this episode, Jack and Harry chat with Carter about his publishing journey and inspirations for his writing. Stay tuned for episode 2.

In part 2 our of chat with author Heidi Catherine, we take a deep dive into her experiences and specific advice to help increase your chances of success when submitting to agents or publishers.

In this episode we chat with author Heidi Catherine about her learnings, successes and setbacks when submitting manuscripts to agents and publishers.

Introducing our guest for this episode, Heidi Catherine. Heidi is a Melbourne author who’s debut novel, The Soulweaver won the Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Pro award. This was followed up by her epic fantasy series The Kingdoms of Evernow which was a finalist in both the Australian Romance Readers Association and RONE awards. Heidi also co-authored over twenty young adult dystopian novels with USA Today best-selling author, Tamar Sloan. After being named as a highly commended author in The Hope Prize, Heidi's story, The Extra Piece, was published by Simon & Schuster. Heidi also won second place in The Scarlet Stiletto Awards for crime fiction and was a finalist four times in RWA’s Little Gems short story competition.

In this second and final episode with Jessica Mudditt, we chat about the evolution of Hembury Books and how it has grown from a publisher of non-fiction and memoir to now publishing fiction. We take a deep dive into what topics authors should know about, including royalties, book distribution, and vanity publishing.

A great episode for authors who are considering publishing options.

Jessica Mudditt is the author of two memoirs, podcaster and the founder of Hembury Books, a Sydney based hybrid publisher. Her first book was self-published in 2021 and is called Our Home in Myanmar – Four Years in Yangon. Her second book is Once Around the Sun – From Cambodia to Tibet. It’s a two-part series, with Kathmandu to the Khyber Pass coming in 2025.

In this episode, Jessica chats with Rack Roney and Harry Colfer about her publication journey to the creation of her own publishing company, Hembury Books.

In episode 2 of 2, author Mary-Clare Terrill discusses the following writing tips:

1. writing is rewriting 2. getting the right kind of feedback and who to seek feedback from 3. resilience & getting comfortable with 'rejection' 4. time away from your project will give you perspective 5. when is your manuscript ready? 6. appreciating the process – trust in and have faith in your own process 7. calling yourself a ‘writer’ and seeing your writing as your ‘work’ 8. remember why you write 9. let joy be at the centre of everything you do / stay the course despite the prospects of getting published – self doubt vs joy.