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Ian W Sainsbury is the award-winning author of the Jimmy Blue series of thrillers. Ian has just started editing the fourth book in the series and he was kind enough to let us get a sneak peek at his editing process. He fires up ProWriting Aid and shares his screen with us as he gets […] The post EP386: Deep Dive — Editing a Draft with Ian W Sainsbury appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Louise Hare’s debut This Lovely City was shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and Louise was selected for the Observer’s top 10 best debut novelists. She returns with Miss Aldridge Regrets, a murder mystery set aboard the Queen Mary in 1936. Louise discusses how she built the novel up from a short story, and how […] The post EP385: Louise Hare — Find the Discipline appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

In a special mid-week episode, we speak to Andrew Chapman. Andrew is the author of horror novels like Jack’s Game, and he’s been a long-time supporter of the podcast on Patreon. A few weeks ago, he declared that he was going to write a novel in a day. His target was 50,000 words in 24 […] The post EP384: Andrew Chapman — How To Write a Bestseller in a Day appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Simon McCleave’s first indie novel The Snowdonia Killings sold over 200,000 copies after its release in 2020. He is astonishingly prolific and all his novels since have been Amazon bestsellers. His new novel, The Dark Tide, kicks off a new series, and now he’s being published by HarperCollins. He reveals the things he learned in […] The post EP383: Simon McCleave — Start with the Twist appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Eva Leigh is a USA Today bestselling historical romance author who combines female empowerment, whip-smart heroines, dashing rakes and sex positive stories. Eva takes us through her influences and writing process, including Han Solo, Duran Duran and baking… and she tells us why sometimes the best motivation for writing is spite. . In this episode […] The post EP382: Eva Leigh — Romancing the Scoundrels appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Rachael Blok is the bestselling author of the DCI Maarten Jansen novels and she tells us how each book works as a standalone, but the character is still developing with each story. Rachael also gives us great tips on plotting, writing the ending, character, finding your voice, and research. And the two Marks discuss how […] The post EP381: Rachael Blok — Follow Your Character appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Rebecca Collins and Adrian Hobart combined their experience in publishing and broadcasting to create Hobeck Books, a publisher dedicated to a family ethos, merging the best of traditional publishing standards and indie marketing techniques. We talk through the steps they took to start a publisher from the ground up and how to keep it running […] The post EP380: Deep Dive — How to Start a Publisher with Hobeck Books appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

International bestselling author Deon Meyer returns to the podcast with his latest thriller The Dark Flood. Deon tells us how his journalistic hunger for fascinating stories has never gone away. And how he fuses two seemingly unrelated ideas, creating a chemical reaction, that results in great stories. We also discuss writing for cultures other than […] The post EP379: Deon Meyer — It’s a Chemical Reaction. appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Tim Sullivan is a critically-acclaimed screenwriter who turned his back on Hollywood to self-publish thrillers. 250,000 downloads later Tim became a self-publishing phenomenon whose new DS Cross thriller The Patient is published by Head of Zeus. Tim takes us through his extraordinary career, the research he undertook to write a character with autism, and the role that […] The post EP378: Tim Sullivan — Character is more Important than the Crime appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

FMA Dixon’s debut novel The Little House on Everywhere Street was awarded the inaugural Acheven Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction and is charming readers the world over. He tells us how he developed his craft and voice through short stories, and by creating a special gift for his daughter. . . In this episode […] The post EP377: FMA Dixon — Finding Your Voice appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Martin Latham has been a bookseller for over thirty-five years and is proud to be responsible for the biggest petty-cash claim in Waterstones’ history. He’s also an author and his latest book The Bookseller’s Tale is a wonderful celebration of books and bookshops. Martin is an endless source of bookselling anecdotes and, as you’ll hear, he is […] The post EP376: Martin Latham — A Bookseller’s Tale appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Bestselling author Manda Scott tells us about Thrutopia, an extraordinary project designed to challenge writers to rethink how they write in order to rebuild the future. It begins with the Thrutopia masterclasses that dive into idea generation, narrative incubation and the power of community. Links: Discover more about Thrutopia here: https://thrutopia.life/ Here’s the coupon code to […] The post EP375: Deep Dive — Creating Thrutopia with Manda Scott appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Nina De Gramont takes on her most ambitious book yet with The Christie Affair, which explores what might have happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared for 11 days in 1926. Nina takes us through the process of taking a real-life mystery and creating a fiction around it, mixing drama with research, and writing for […] The post EP374: Nina De Gramont — Searching for Agatha Christie appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

The amazing Erica James returns to the podcast with her latest bestseller Mothers and Daughters. She tells us the key question she asks of her characters, why she wants a dark cloud on the covers of her books, and how events in the real world might affect our writing. Oh, and the two Marks ponder […] The post EP373: Erica James — What happens next? appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Veronica Henry returns to the podcast with her latest bestseller The Impulse Purchase, where a mother, daughter and grandmother run a pub together. Veronica talks about writing across the generations, whether or not to include Covid in her novel, and — after over twenty novels — if she’s getting the hang of writing yet. . […] The post EP372: Veronica Henry — It’s not supposed to be easy appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Cathy Bramley is a bestselling author of romantic comedies and her new novel The Summer That Changed Us is delighting readers all over the world. Cathy started by self-publishing her first novel with a launch party in a phone box, and she used her expertise in marketing and PR to carve out a career as […] The post EP371: Cathy Bramley — Launch in a Phone Box appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Lizzie Pook is a long-time listener of the podcast and Patreon supporter whose debut novel Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter was inspired by her time in north-western Australia researching the pearl-diving industry. The novel is being published by three major publishers on three continents with three very different covers, but the road to publication was a long slog, […] The post EP370: Lizzie Pook — A Long Old Slog to Publication appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Bethany Clift and Peter Handford take us through the making of their 2012 independent horror movie HERETIC, from the first spark of the idea, to financing, pre-production, filming, post-production and how they got the DVD in the supermarket bestsellers and the lessons they’ve learned. This is fascinating and honest breakdown of just how challenging it is […] The post EP369: Deep Dive — Making an Independent Horror Movie with Bethany Clift and Peter Handford appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Bethany Clift’s debut novel The Last One at the Party is hilarious, moving, cathartic and set in an utterly terrifying pandemic. She tells us how writing and reading horror is great for mental health, how seeing E.T. at an impressionable age inspired her, and how writing a novel with only one living character allowed her […] The post EP368: Bethany Clift — Feeling Fine at the End of the World appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.

Jeevani Charika (aka Rhoda Baxter) is an award-nominated author of women’s fiction with heroines of colour. Her latest novel, Playing for Love, is set in the world of online gaming, giving the classic mistaken identity romcom story a fresh makeover. We discuss how to write a convincing rom com, and why 2022 could be her […] The post EP367: Jeevani Charika — The “Aah” Factor appeared first on The Bestseller Experiment.