Books, Banter, & Beyond

It's release day! Host Donna R. Madden sits down with Nashville author Julee Batson, whose debut psychological thriller He Didn't Miss is out on October 27, 2026.

Julee never set out to write a book. Late last year she started therapeutic journaling, putting a few thoughts on paper in the evenings. The writing became a release, then a habit, then a story she realized might give hope to someone facing something similar. Less than a year later, that story is a novel loosely based on true events.

Donna and Julee talk about what it takes to write while working full time (spoiler: you put it on the calendar like everything else), the show-don't-tell lesson that changed Julee's writing, and how she built her characters from a mix of real people. Julee introduces Elizabeth, a fierce mom and protector trying to move on from her past; Les, the entitled ex-husband who won't let her go; and Will, the new husband readers are going to root for. Is there romance? Donna, a romance author herself, helps sort out where the line falls between a thriller with love in it and an actual romance.

Authors, stay for Julee's practical advice on getting your book into indie bookstores: why a concise sales sheet matters, how to follow up without pestering, and why timing your outreach to your Ingram listing makes all the difference. She also shares where you can find her book locally in Middle Tennessee, including her upcoming signing at Common Ground Coffee and Books.

He Didn't Miss — The first round was a warning shot.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share. It helps more readers and writers find the show. Books, Banter, & Beyond is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.

Books, Banter, & Beyond is intended for audiences 18+.

#BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #BookPodcast #AuthorInterview #PsychologicalThriller #ThrillerBooks #DebutThriller #DomesticThriller #BasedOnTrueEvents #JuleeBatson #HeDidntMiss #ReleaseDay #NewRelease #DebutAuthor

Romance with bite! 🐺🔥 This week on Books, Banter, & Beyond, Donna R. Madden sits down with Franklin, Tennessee author Beth DeWeese, who writes spicy, small-town shifter and paranormal romance with heart, humor, and a whole lot of escapism.

Beth breaks down what makes a shifter different from a werewolf, why her Howling Forest Shifters world has fated mates discovered at age 25 (thank you, perimenopause), and where her books land on the spice scale. She shares her favorite money-saving cover tip for new authors, explains exactly how Patreon works for both readers and writers, and talks about what "cozy" really means in paranormal romance.

Then it's all about Kickstarter. Beth's new book, Penned by Fate, Book 1 in her Spelled Inkwell spin-off series, follows a witch who owns a small-town fountain pen shop. The campaign funded in just 10 minutes! Beth shares how crowdfunding let her recoup production costs before launch, partner with local Tennessee creatives on exclusive rewards, and connect directly with her readers, plus the one piece of advice every author should hear before they hit "launch."

Whether you're a reader looking for your next shifter fix or an indie author thinking about Kickstarter or Patreon, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical tips.

Books & Series Mentioned

Howling Forest Shifters (complete; available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited)

• Searching for Sabine (Book 1)
• Rescuing the Red Feather (Book 3, June 2026)
• Prequel novella: FREE when you join Beth's newsletter

Love and Other Curses (multi-author collaboration)

• Hexton Hopeful

Standalone (wide; Amazon, Kobo/Kobo Plus & Draft2Digital retailers)

• Bidding on the Tracker

Spelled Inkwell (new spin-off series)

• Penned by Fate (Book 1): live on Kickstarter through November 2, 2026

Connect with Beth DeWeese

🌐 Website: https://bethdeweese.com 📧 Newsletter (free prequel!): https://bethdeweese.com/newsletter 📸 Instagram: @delightfullydeweese 🎨 Patreon: search "Beth DeWeese" (18+ content; check your account settings) 🚀 Kickstarter: search "Penned by Fate" or "Beth DeWeese"

Connect with Donna R. Madden

🌐 Website: https://donnarmadden.com ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BooksBanterAndBeyond

Can a book be faith-filled and real? Emily Camp thinks so, and she's been proving it for 13 years.

This week on Books, Banter & Beyond, Donna sits down with Emily Camp, a TikTok friend and indie author of young adult and new adult mysteries and romances. She has 28 published books, and every one of them is fade to black. Emily talks about why her teen characters with real faith and real problems didn't fit at a traditional publisher, Christian or secular. She also shares the story of a novel she wrote in high school, inspired by The Outsiders, which still sits in the folder she handed her freshman English teacher 33 years ago.

Donna and Emily also get honest about the ups and downs of TikTok Live, why your editor needs to be brutally honest with you, and the snack Emily can't live without. (Bring her blue Jolly Ranchers at your next signing.)

In this episode:

Why Emily chose indie publishing for gritty, faith-based teen fiction

Young adult vs. new adult, and keeping romance closed door

Where to start with her 28 books: the Canbrook series, What Is Hidden, Torn Apart, and the Falling series

Her favorite of her own books, and her most popular one, Obsessed

TikTok Live as her main marketing tool, and why YouTube Shorts get her more views than TikTok

Her writing process: pantsing, writing a "purge on the page" draft, and drafting each book in both first and third person

The best advice she's ever gotten: you can't edit a blank page

Books, Banter & Beyond is where indie authors, readers, and book lovers come together to talk stories, writing life, and everything in between. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!#BooksBanterAndBeyond #IndieAuthor #AuthorInterview #BookTok #YoungAdultBooks #NewAdultRomance #ChristianFiction #FadeToBlack #CleanRomance #YAMystery #TikTokLive #AuthorPodcast #IndieAuthorLife #WritingCommunity

In this episode, Donna R. Madden sits down with author Leslie Crowne, who also writes as Renee Regent, for a candid conversation about pen names, indie publishing, romance, fantasy, book marketing, tropes, and the realities of building an author career.

Leslie has been publishing as Renee Regent since 2016, writing contemporary romance and supernatural romantic suspense. When she decided to step into fantasy romance and fairy-tale retellings, she created the Leslie Crowne pen name — and discovered that managing two author identities wasn't quite as overwhelming as she'd feared.

Donna and Leslie dig into one of the questions many authors wrestle with: Do you really need a pen name when you change genres?

They talk about separating audiences, Amazon algorithms, reader expectations, spicy versus closed-door romance, newsletters, social media, author branding, and how Leslie successfully promotes both names without pretending they're two different people.

They also get into:

✨ Why Leslie chose indie publishing over traditional publishing ✨ Writing and marketing under two pen names ✨ How genre expectations affect the stories authors write ✨ Fairy-tale retellings, romantasy, and putting a new spin on familiar stories ✨ Why tropes have always existed — even before BookTok started naming all of them ✨ Reverse age-gap romance and writing from personal experience ✨ Why Leslie usually finds the tropes AFTER she writes the story ✨ Writing characters and experiences you've never personally lived ✨ The danger of chasing publishing trends ✨ Why authors should learn their genre and understand what readers expect ✨ Building and maintaining a newsletter with thousands of subscribers ✨ BookFunnel, StoryOrigin, influencer marketing, bookstores, and author events ✨ Why in-person book sales are currently working especially well for Leslie ✨ The marketing strategy every indie author needs to remember: keep pivoting

One of Leslie's biggest pieces of advice for writers is also one of the simplest:

Write what you want to write.

Trends change. Algorithms change. Marketing strategies change. But loving the story you're writing is what gets you through the difficult parts of an author career.

If you're an indie author, aspiring writer, romance reader, romantasy fan, or you've ever wondered whether you should create a second pen name, this conversation is packed with practical insight from someone who has actually done it.

📚 Find Leslie Crowne / Renee Regent: reneeregent.com

There you'll find both pen names, Leslie's books, upcoming appearances, newsletter signup, and more.

💬 Join the conversation: Would you use a second pen name if you started writing in a completely different genre? Tell us in the comments!

👍 If you enjoyed the conversation, like the video, subscribe, and share it with another author or book lover.

#IndieAuthor #SelfPublishing #AuthorPodcast #WritingCommunity #RomanceAuthor #Romantasy #PenName #BookMarketing #WritingTips #IndiePublishing #AuthorLife #FairyTaleRetelling #BookTalk #AmWriting #AuthorMarketing

Author, ghostwriter, podcaster, and audio drama producer Leani Lopez joins Donna for a conversation about what happens when you refuse to pick just one creative lane.

Leani (spelled L-E-A-N-I) is a Puerto Rican author who left her full-time job in 2018 to write full-time — and has since ghostwritten more than twenty romance novels, released two books under her own name, produced two full-cast audio dramas, and built a podcast for writers. In this episode she pulls back the curtain on all of it: what a ghostwriter actually does, why she stopped checking whether her ghostwritten books hit bestseller lists, and how she wrote, directed, acted in, and edited a ten-episode fantasy audio drama from a microphone in her basement.

In this episode:

• The difference between an audio drama and an audiobook — full-cast scripts, sound effects, and music vs. a single narrator
• To Court Death and Battle Cry — her two audio dramas, and why season one of Battle Cry took nearly three years from script to release
• Casting 17 speaking roles, recording every actor one at a time, and hitting 10,000 listens in the first year
• What ghostwriting really looks like: lump-sum payment, no editing, no marketing, and handing the book off for good
• Why she stopped tracking her ghostwritten titles — and the time one showed up on her own Instagram feed and she didn't recognize the story
• Setting boundaries as a ghostwriter, vetting clients, and why she left a ghostwriting company
• Her own books: Slip of the Hand (mafia/crime thriller romance) and Lost in the Dark (dystopian romance novella)
• Phoenix's Call — her newly drafted 130K-word queer pirate romance, first in a planned five-book series
• Notebooks first, then Spotify playlists — including individual playlists for major characters
• Outlines as guidelines, not gospel, and the characters who walk out of the shadows uninvited
• Literary archetypes, and why the reluctant hero who rejects the call is her favorite to write
• The best writing advice she ever received: let each character's word choice tell the reader who's speaking
• Writing story through dialogue alone — and cutting a beloved line because it didn't work in the edit
• Her podcast I Got Nothing: A Podcast for Exhausted Writers, and why she now spotlights indie authors

FIND LEANI LOPEZ

🌐 Website: LeaniLopez.com 📚

FIND DONNA R. MADDEN

🌐 Website: donnarmadden.com 📺 YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCxwABIo9y8BWvn0BGtlftLQ 🎧 Listen to Books, Banter, & Beyond on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts 📖 Small town romance — interconnected standalones, including No One But You

⚠️ This podcast is rated 18+.

#BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #BookPodcast #AuthorInterview #WritingPodcast #BookishPodcast #LeaniLopez #BattleCry #ToCourtDeath #PhoenixsCall #SlipOfTheHand #LostInTheDark #AudioDrama #AudioFiction #FictionPodcast #FullCastAudio #AudioDramaProducer #ScriptedPodcast #RadioDrama #Ghostwriter #Ghostwriting #WritingCraft #WritingAdvice #WritingProcess #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #CharacterDevelopment #LiteraryArchetypes #WritingDialogue #OutliningVsPantsing #Romance #RomanceBooks #RomanceAuthor #SpicyRomance #QueerFantasy #QueerRomance #LGBTQBooks #SapphicRomance #FantasyRomance #PirateRomance #DystopianRomance #MafiaRomance #IndieAuthor #IndiePublishing #SelfPublished #IndieBooks #AuthorLife BookTube #Bookstagram #BookLovers #ReadersOfYouTube #PuertoRicanAuthor #LatinaAuthor #QueerAuthor #OwnVoices

Meredith Shelton has been a registered nurse for 31 years — and dreaming of owning a bookstore since she was 12. This month, that dream opens its doors. Donna sits down with Meredith just weeks before the grand opening of Common Ground Coffee and Books in Lebanon, Tennessee, to talk about jumping in with both feet, building a business outside your wheelhouse, and creating a place where a community can actually sit down together again.

The name says everything about the mission: you can find common ground with almost anyone over coffee and books — regardless of background, beliefs, or politics. Meredith shares how a casual conversation with a friend turned into a 1944 house on Hill Street, how a community book drive brought in over a thousand donated books, and why she's dedicating a shelf right inside the front door to local authors.

In this episode:

• Business Model: Common Ground is an indie bookstore that offers new books, used books, a children’s section, manga, and a free lending library.

• Business Origin: Meredith transitioned from organ transplant nursing to indie bookstore ownership after a conversation about having too many books.

• Community Engagement: The bookstore hosts a book club, offers a reading nook, and plans to add international-language titles.

GRAND OPENING DETAILS

Common Ground Coffee and Books 304 Hill Street, Lebanon, Tennessee (across from the Nashville Star train station)

Soft opening week: Week of August 24 — limited hours and limited menu

Grand opening: Saturday, August 29

Author signing: Susanna Lewis, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM on grand opening day

Coming in September: Book signing with thriller author A.G. Mock (What Big Lies You Have)

CONNECT WITH MEREDITH & COMMON GROUND

Facebook: Common Ground Coffee and Books

Instagram: @commongroundcoffeetn

Website: commongroundcoffeetn.com (launching soon)

TikTok: coming soon

Mentioned in this episode:

Susanna Lewis — woesusana.com | Instagram & Facebook: Susanna Lewis

A.G. Mock — What Big Lies You Have

Reading Rock Books — Dickson, TN (Angela & Thomas)

Bookshop.org and Libro.fm

CONNECT WITH DONNA R. MADDEN

Website: donnarmadden.com

YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCxwABIo9y8BWvn0BGtlftLQ

Now available: No One But You

Next book in the series: coming November

Books, Banter, & Beyond is a podcast for readers, writers, and book lovers — conversations about books, the indie author journey, and the people building the storytelling community.

If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you never miss a conversation.

#BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #BookPodcast #BookishPodcast #IndieBookstore #IndependentBookstore #ShopIndie #BookstoreOwner #NewBookstore #ShopLocal #SupportLocalBookstores #Bookshop #CommonGroundCoffeeAndBooks #LebanonTN #WilsonCounty #MiddleTennessee #NashvilleArea #TennesseeBookstore #Bookstagram #BookLovers #BookCommunity #Booktok #AmReading

Host Donna R. Madden sits down with contemporary romance author Jessica Everly for a warm, tip-packed conversation about writing closed-door love stories, surviving the query trenches, and finding a home in the indie author community.

Jessica is a former speech-language pathologist and stay-at-home mom of three (with a fourth on the way) who put "write a book" on her bucket list for years before her husband told her to take it seriously for one year and see what happened. Four years later, she has two published books and an award to show for it.

In this episode, Jessica talks about her debut, Roses in Rome — a dual-timeline story that moves between Chicago and Rome as her heroine Sienna recovers from a painful past and uncovers a family secret — which took second place in the book category at the Catholic Media Awards. She also shares the story behind Lyrics and Love Letters, a second-chance, fake-dating romance about an up-and-coming country songwriter named Boone and the aspiring romance writer who helps him find better words. It's the first book in her new Pearl Lake series, set on a fictional lake in Tennessee — which Donna is quick to point out means it's destined for greatness.

Donna and Jessica also dig into the difference between "closed door" and "clean" romance, why predictability is the point in a good love story, and the long, honest road from querying agents to hitting publish herself.

What we cover:

• Trading a speech pathology career for a writing career

• Roses in Rome, the dual-timeline structure, and how two names from a church inspired the whole book

• Winning second place at the Catholic Media Awards with a debut novel

• Lyrics and Love Letters, Boone the country songwriter, and the Instagram post that sparked the story

• Closed door vs. clean vs. Christian romance — what the labels actually mean

• Querying 13 agents, then 50 more: rejection, a developmental editor, and the advice that changed everything

• Why Jessica chose indie publishing and how the indie community lifted her up along the way

• Pantser or plotter? Why a self-described Type A organizer writes by the seat of her pants

• Her daily word count goal, and why Stephen King’s On Writing is her top recommendation for beginners

• The editing trick that catches what your eyes can’t: read it out loud twice

• Donna’s hard-won series tips — track your characters’ eye colors, name your files carefully, and beware of babies in epilogues

• Getting e-books into libraries, IngramSpark, and expanding beyond Amazon

• Jessica’s book club strategy: 12 book clubs in 12 months, complete with signed copies, swag, and author Q&As

• Book recommendations: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Whether you're drafting your first manuscript, sitting in the rejection pile, or just looking for your next closed-door romance, this one's for you.

FIND JESSICA EVERLY 🌐 Website: jessicaeverlybooks.com 📸 Instagram: @jessicaeverlybooks 📚 Books available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited 📬 Newsletter sign-up available on her website

FIND DONNA R. MADDEN 🌐 Website: donnarmadden.com 🎙️ Books, Banter, & Beyond — available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen

Books, Banter, & Beyond spotlights indie authors, indie bookstores, and everyone doing bookish things. If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share it with a reader friend.

#JessicaEverly #ContemporaryRomance #CleanRomance #SweetRomance #RomanceBooks #RomanceAuthor #SecondChanceRomance #SmallTownRomance #BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #BookPodcast #AuthorInterview #BookishPodcast

Donna sits down with horror author Zachariah Chamberlin — a former firefighter and paramedic turned self-published-then-hybrid author — for a deep dive into a genre Donna herself has never been able to stomach on the page. By the end of the conversation, Zach might just have talked her into it.

In this episode:

Zach traces his love of horror back to childhood nights watching Friday Fright Night with his mom, and his first film (An American Werewolf in London) at age six.

Donna and Zach unpack the surprising overlap between horror and romance readers, and why "dark romantasy" fans often cross over into horror.

A breakdown of horror's subgenres — cosmic/Lovecraftian horror, slasher, body horror, demonic horror, and splatterpunk — with movie touchstones like The Thing, In the Mouth of Madness, and Hellraiser.

Why writing horror is about visceral, felt experience rather than just description — and how Zach's background in theater and film shapes his "cinematic" prose.

The story behind his debut novel, We Come Bearing Curses — the first book in The Curse Bearers trilogy — an extreme cosmic horror set in a fictional, isolated Midwest town, following two brothers pulled into a prophecy against a cult of Old One worshippers.

How the trilogy's themes of trauma and recovery are drawing directly from Zach's own healing process after his career as a first responder, and what that means for book two, We Are Broken Curses.

His upcoming short story in the anthology Dead Avenue Volume 2 (out this September), a haunted-house tale following a reporter who gets more than he bargained for.

The reality of being a "hybrid published" author, and an audiobook of his debut currently in the works for a Halloween release.

A candid conversation about dyslexia, ADHD, and audiobooks as real reading — a topic close to Donna's heart as the mom of three boys with dyslexia.

A sweet detour into My Daddy Eats Monsters, the bedtime horror story Zach wrote for his own kids.

Where to find Zachariah Chamberlin:

We Come Bearing Curses — available everywhere books are sold, and free with Kindle Unlimited.

Catch him in person at Crypticon Kansas City, August 14–16, at the Kansas City Book Beats booth.

Grab a free short story featuring the main character of We Come Bearing Curses — link below.

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/6d3d71ced3.html

Find him on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads: @ZachariahChamberlin

🎧 Subscribe to Books, Banter, & Beyond for more conversations with authors, readers, and everyone who loves a good story.

Want to be on the podcast? Contact Donna here: https://www.donnarmadden.com/contact-donna-r-madden/

#BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #ZachariahChamberlin #CosmicHorror #HorrorBooks #HorrorAuthor #Lovecraftian #DarkRomantasy #HorrorCommunity #IndieHorror #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #WeComeBearingCurses #TheCurseBearers #IndieAuthor #HybridAuthor #BookTube #Bookstagram #AudiobooksAreReading #DyslexiaAwareness #Crypticon #KCBookBeats #WritingCommunity #ReadersOfYouTube #DeadAvenueAnthology

This week on Books, Banter, and Beyond, the tables turn! Tonia takes the host seat to interview romance author Donna R. Madden about her books, her writing process, and everything happening in the world of Orlando Valley. (Also featuring: alien eyeball headbands, a very vocal dog, and brand-new microphones we barely know how to use.)

Grab a coffee and settle in — we cover a LOT.

In this episode:

Donna's two series: the Short & Sweet / More Than Enough collection and the small-town Orlando Valley series

Meet the men of Orlando Valley — Kai, Jameson, Rowan, Lance, and Trevor

Why contemporary romance and dark romance should NOT share a spice scale (a hill we will die on)

"Guys who fall first and sassy women" — Donna's signature

Book 5, Nowhere But Here (Trevor & Gianna) — out in November, available for pre-order now!

The rock-music novella collab You Give Rum a Bad Name — coming in September

A Christmas novella on the way in December

Real talk on the writing craft: developmental editors, beta readers, and what "head hopping" actually is

Indie vs. traditional vs. hybrid publishing — explained simply

Why cover art matters (and the stress that comes with it)

Book review: The Golden Hour by Deanna K. Fields — a sweet, clean Shepherd's Grove small-town romance

Find Donna R. Madden:

🌐 Website: DonnaRMadden.com

📚 All books available on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited (Orlando Valley box set on KU)

📱 TikTok • Instagram • Facebook — @DonnaRMadden (don't forget the R!)

Catch us in person — Indiana in two weeks and Kentucky in September!

New episode every Tuesday. New Tuesdays with Tonia the last Tuesday of every month. 💜 Happy reading!

#BooksBanterAndBeyond #DonnaRMadden #SmallTownRomance #ContemporaryRomance #IndieAuthor #BookTok #RomanceBooks #OrlandoValley #TuesdaysWithTonia

What does it actually take to go from zero to 16 books as a full-time indie author? In this episode of Books, Banter & Beyond, Donna sits down with thriller and cozy mystery author Sara Ennis for one of the most packed, honest conversations yet. Sara is the author of The Dollhouse and many other titles, and she has the kind of hard-won publishing knowledge that most authors spend years trying to find.

This one covers a lot of ground. Sara opens up about becoming a full-time writer, managing two pen names, and why marketing is the hardest part of this job, even when your background is literally in marketing. Donna and Sara also dig into practical strategies like BookBub, e-book bundling, and how to think about your brand before launching a second pen name.

And if you've been on the fence about reading The Dollhouse? Sara shares the reader story that will push you right over the edge.

Books, Banter & Beyond: where indie authors, readers, and book lovers come together to talk all things books.

#IndieAuthor #IndieAuthorCommunity #BooksBanterAndBeyond #ThrillerBooks #CozyMystery #IndiePublishing #AuthorInterview #WritingCommunity #BookMarketing #AuthorLife #TheDollhouse #WritingTips #KindleUnlimited #BookBub #AuthorMarketing #saraennis