We had such a great time chatting to Rachael Treasure on episode 10 of this season that we thought, heyyyyy - let’s ask her back! And we also wanted to have her back because in that first chat we barely scratched the surface of the richness of Rachael T’s life and endeavours.

In this episode we catch up on Rachael T’s latest daring adventures, as well as talk about what we’ll be reading over the Christmas break [NB: we recorded the ep in late November as it was the only time the three of us were available before Christmas], and we answer a question that author Nina Kenwood posed to Rach and me a few weeks ago, about our predictions and thoughts on the book industry and where it’s going in 2025 and beyond. She also asked us for our thoughts on the state of romance/women’s fiction in Australia. So we give that a go. Mostly we chat to Rachael T, who is a brilliant writer and brilliant human. More about her below in case you’re not familiar. 

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Rachael Treasure is a best-selling author, regenerative agriculturalist, and mother who grew up and still lives in Tasmania. A graduate of universities in Orange and Bathurst, Rachael uses story to empower women and change mindsets towards healthier food systems.

Drawing on her experience working on a Queensland cattle station, Rachael published her first novel Jillaroo, in 2002.

In the two decades since its release, Jillaroo has cemented itself as an iconic work of contemporary fiction, changing the face of Australian publishing and opening the floodgates to a plethora of novels in the ‘rural lit’ genre.

She is co-founder of Ripple Farm Landscape Healing Hub, a 100-acre regenerative farm in Southern Tasmania that showcases Natural Sequence Farming, soil health principles, ecological restoration, and holistic farming. The farm sells meat, eggs and other produce directly to conscious consumers via Open Food Networks – an online system offering an alternative to major supermarkets.

Rachael has travelled widely, writing wherever she goes. She has worked a number of jobs as a jillaroo, professional wool classer, veterinary nurse, rural journalist, stock camp cook, high country cattle drover, truffle sniffer dog handler and family farm manager.

Her eighth novel Milking Time was published this year. She is also the author of the memoir Down the Dirt Roads and some short story collections. 

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For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Rach and Soph discuss the Booker Prize-winning novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey and also delve into whether or not we usually read award-winning books and why/why not. We’d love to know if you read them or do not, and why, so please let us know in the comments!

Also for the comments: an answer to a question Sophie poses near the start … about the title of her 2025 novel. It was to be called one thing - a title she gave it at inception - but now it’s not. There are some options. Which should she choose? Let us know!

Plus we talk about our Christmas-themed reading and viewing. Spoiler alert: Rach has a TBR stack of festive novels! And she will be covering them in her Substack this coming week. You can find that at https://rachaeljohnsauthor.substack.com

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Editor by Sara B Franklin

The Naughty List by Jade West

The Christmas Countdown by Holly Cassidy

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

The article Soph mentions about Hallmark Christmas movies was in Vogue (not New York magazine, which is what she says on the pod) and you can find that here: https://www.vogue.com/article/what-i-learned-visiting-the-set-of-a-hallmark-christmas-movie

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For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

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From time to time on this pod and elsewhere Rachael Johns mentions her virtual assistant, Annie Bucknall. Through her business Well Creative Annie helps Rach with her social media, website and newsletter, and recently moved that newsletter to Substack.

Rach and Soph have been talking about Substack, especially about the fact that there’s a lot of book coverage on there at a time when book coverage is disappearing from mainstream media. We have read some opinion pieces (on Substack) about how traditional media should no longer be the focus for book promotion. As authors who have books recently released and due for release next year, we have to think about these things, as our publishers will do some promotion but can’t do it all, and while some authors will say that they ‘just want to write’, it has never been the case, really, that authors can just write. If we believe in our books we want them to reach readers and we need to give them the best chance of doing so.

However, there’s plenty authors don’t know about book promotion and don’t have time to do or learn. That’s where someone like Annie comes in. Rach has always raved about Annie, so we thought we’d talk to her about what she does for her author clients, why social media is important for authors, and also whether Substack is the right platform for newsletters. 

While we’re talking about Annie’s business, this is not sponsored content - we are talking about it because we want to. And thanks to this chat Soph became a client of Annie’s because there are some things she just doesn’t have time for either!

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Subscribe on Spotify 

Subscribe on Apple

Subscribe on YouTube

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We like to have a subject to speak about on this podcast, even when we have a guest. Rach raised the idea of ‘do you read your own reviews?’ and said she had one guest in mind: Sally Hepworth. Sally not only reads reviews of her books but is especially fond of the one-star reviews, as she talks about in this episode. Indeed, she is very fond of one-star reviews. And she and Rach both very much do not like three-star reviews. You’ll have to listen to find out whether or not Soph pays attention to reviews.

This was the first time Soph had met Sally, although of course she was very much aware of her as the author of international bestsellers such as THE SOULMATE and THE YOUNGER WIFE. Sally is delightful - so interesting and funny - so we loved having this chat with her. Sally’s latest book is THE DARLING GIRLS. 

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Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to do with writing? We’d love to be your writing agony aunts.

Readers - we would love to hear from you too! You can ask us questions about our books … and we’d also be happy to be YOUR agony aunts. We may not have professional qualifications but we sort out problems for our characters all the time, so if you’d like to get something off your chest/ask for some input/just see what we think about something, let us know.

If you have a question for us, please email [email protected] and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.

And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BookTok is now an entrenched part of bookselling and publishing - it is not a temporary glitch, as it may have appeared to be during the pandemic when readers were looking for escapism. The genres that are at the core of BookTok - romance and romantasy - remain popular, and may have been said to have increased in popularity. Certainly TikTok isn’t going away and nor is #booktok.

Rach and Soph wanted to find out more about the phenomenon from someone who has been involved in it for a while: Sophie's colleague Claudia, who works in book marketing. Claudia was a BookToker before she started working in publishing and she is still a reader of books that are popular on BookTok, as well as making content for that audience. Therefore she is eminently qualified to talk to us about the phenomenon: what it is, what it means, who it’s for and more besides.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Sophie:

I met Rachael Treasure for the first time in the middle of this year on the Gold Coast, as we were both attending authors at Rachael Johns's Readers Retreat. I've read Rachael T's books, including her now-classic Jillaroo, which can be said to be the first ever rural romance (even though she wouldn't necessarily classify it as that).

To say that Rachael T is a delightful human being is to seriously undersell her. She is whimsical, hilarious, astute, generous and hugely warm hearted, as well as being a (r)evolutionary in agriculture. We have some things in common - she practises yoga (indeed, she came to the yoga class I taught during the retreat) and she loves country music, and has even written some songs with fellow Tasmanians The Wolfe Brothers - but I don't like her because she's like me. I like her because she's a terrific person and a brilliant writer. Rachael J is also very fond of her, so it seemed like a very logical thing to have Rachael T on the podcast.

About Rachael Treasure

Rachael Treasure is a best-selling author, regenerative agriculturalist, and mother who grew up and still lives in Tasmania. A graduate of universities in Orange and Bathurst, Rachael uses story to empower women and change mindsets towards healthier food systems.

Drawing on her experience working on a Queensland cattle station, Rachael published her first novel Jillaroo, in 2002.

In the two decades since its release, Jillaroo has cemented itself as an iconic work of contemporary fiction, changing the face of Australian publishing and opening the floodgates to a plethora of novels in the ‘rural lit’ genre.

She is co-founder of Ripple Farm Landscape Healing Hub, a 100-acre regenerative farm in Southern Tasmania that showcases Natural Sequence Farming, soil health principles, ecological restoration, and holistic farming. The farm sells meat, eggs and other produce directly to conscious consumers via Open Food Networks – an online system offering an alternative to major supermarkets.

Rachael has travelled widely, writing wherever she goes. She has worked a number of jobs as a jillaroo, professional wool classer, veterinary nurse, rural journalist, stock camp cook, high country cattle drover, truffle sniffer dog handler and family farm manager.

Her eighth novel Milking Time was published this year. She is also the author of the memoir Down the Dirt Roads and some short story collections.

***

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thanks to lovely reader Elaine in New Zealand, whom Rach and Soph both met at the RJ Book Club Readers Retreat on the Gold Coast this year, for this question that Rach and I answer in this week’s episode:

‘Which has been the book you've written that you've most enjoyed writing, and did reader feedback reflect your own feelings?’

There’s a bit in there about the one time Soph drew heavily on her own near-death experience to for a chapter in THE SHELLY BAY LADIES SWIMMING CIRCLE and then subsequently forgets details about a character in that novel (hey, it happens!) so please enjoy her correcting herself …

At the start of the episode Rach talks about attending the recent Festival of Fiction in Perth, organised by @tesswoods. As the Perth Writers Festival is not taking place next year, perhaps this festival can return! Do let us know if you went to it and, if so, what you thought - and if you agree with the attendee who thought there should be ‘more memoir’ in a fiction festival …!

Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to do with writing? We’d love to be your writing agony aunts.

Readers - we would love to hear from you too! You can ask us questions about our books … and we’d also be happy to be YOUR agony aunts. We may not have professional qualifications but we sort out problems for our characters all the time, so if you’d like to get something off your chest/ask for some input/just see what we think about something, let us know.

If you have a question for us, please email [email protected] and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.

And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes Rachael Johns and I wonder if we have any listeners/viewers (well, not really - I can see the stats so I know you're out there, and thank you for listening/watching!). Then a question or two comes in and, lo, we are reassured that there are, indeed, listeners/viewers. Such is the case with this week's episode, in which Rach answers a question from Nina Kenwood about community building and we both answer a question from a listener who wished to remain anonymous. That question is about lack of support from a spouse for writing, and we are blunt in our answers but hopeful that, with that, the writer who contacted us can find something helpful in it. Rach and I are probably both too long in the tooth to not be blunt these days, and I've personally found that addressing hard things head-on is better than trying to dance around them.

***

Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to do with writing? We’d love to be your writing agony aunts.

Readers - we would love to hear from you too! You can ask us questions about our books … and we’d also be happy to be YOUR agony aunts. We may not have professional qualifications but we sort out problems for our characters all the time, so if you’d like to get something off your chest/ask for some input/just see what we think about something, let us know.

If you have a question for us, please email [email protected] and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.

And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget (2024)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk about writing craft books. Rach loves them - indeed, she collects them, and if you watch this episode on video you’ll see the collection. She’s also read a lot of them. Soph have not read too many but likes what she's read thus far. 

Possibly the most important information we could convey in this post is the list of books mentioned in the episode, and this is it in the order of mentioning:

Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

Pride and Prejudice: The Story Grid Edition by Jane Austen, Shawn Coyne

Into the Woods by John Yorke

Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes

The Complete Writers Guide to Heroes and Heroines: 16 Master Archetypes by Tami D Cowden, Carolyn LaFever, Sue Viders

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

Ten Things About Writing by Joanne Harris

Bestseller by Celia Bradfield

Story Trumps Structure by Steven James

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Writing into the Dark by Dean Wesley Smith

The Pocket Guide to Pantsing by M.L. Ronn

The Bestseller Code by Jodie Archer and Matthew L Jockers

Should we start a ‘craft book’ club? Rach already has her online book club which is for reading fiction, mainly, but if you’re a writer and you’d be interested in a craft book club, let one of us know in the comments or by DM or whatever means works for you. 

***

Writers - do you have a challenge or conundrum, or a question about process, how to get started, or anything at all to do with writing? We’d love to be your writing agony aunts.

Readers - we would love to hear from you too! You can ask us questions about our books … and we’d also be happy to be YOUR agony aunts. We may not have professional qualifications but we sort out problems for our characters all the time, so if you’d like to get something off your chest/ask for some input/just see what we think about something, let us know.

If you have a question for us, please email [email protected] and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.

And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget

Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (published in August 2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dear Rach & Soph - podcast

Hosted by bestselling Australian novelists Rachael Johns and Sophie Green

Rach is currently writing a book about twins who are adopted. As can happen for an author, she needed to do some research. Which is where Soph comes in … she's adopted. It’s not something you’ll find in her author bio because for her it’s a mundane fact. She's always known. But it is out of the ordinary, and it is complex, and there is often heartbreak on at least one side of it, and there can be confusion and problems on the other. 

So here’s almost an hour of Rach asking Soph questions about adoption, and what makes this an episode that is still about writing is that you’re watching Rach at work, essentially. This is her work as a writer doing research. This is Soph not being a writer but, rather, an adoptee. She doesn't get the chance to talk about it often because the people who know she's adopted are past the point of asking me questions about it! 

And in this episode we refer to the fact that we are both the products of affairs - something we covered in our second episode of season 1, in case you’re inclined to go back and listen.

For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.com

Rachael's latest book is The Other Bridget

Her next book is The Work Wife (to be published in January 2025)

For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.com

Sophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (published in August 2024)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.