This week my guest Erin Young and I peel back the curtain on the publishing world's highs and lows, sharing the tenacity required to navigate rejection and the emotional fortitude to absorb critiques even after topping the charts. From embracing a tough exterior to the strategic shifts like adopting a pen name for different genres, we explore the nuanced decisions that shape an author's career, especially when crossing from the world of historical fiction to contemporary thrillers.
 
Erin Young is the author of the Riley Fisher series and lives and writes in Brighton, UK. Her debut contemporary  thriller novel, The Fields, was  inspired by an article in 'The Guardian'  about the menacing power of Big Agriculture on rural communities in Iowa and drew comparisons with Mare of Easttown and True Detective.  Her second novel,  Original Sins has been described as 'Bold, gritty and deeply immersive.'

However, Erin Young is no stranger to the publishing world. Erin Young is the pseudonym of acclaimed historical novelist, Robyn Young, author of eight internationally bestselling novels. She has been published in 20 languages in 23 countries, selling over two million books worldwide.

Original Sins
It's a brutal winter in Des Moines, Iowa, and the city is gripped by fear. A serial attacker known as the Sin Eater is stalking women and has just struck again. It's a tough time and a tough place for Riley Fisher, a former small-town sergeant, to be reporting for duty as an FBI agent on her first assignment.

Teamed with a man she's not sure she can trust and struggling to prove herself - while fighting the pull of her old life and family dramas - Riley is tasked with investigating a vicious death threat against the newly elected female state governor. Gradually, she traces a disturbing connection between this case and the hunt for the Sin Eater. Through snow, ice, violence and lies, Riley Fisher is drawn towards a terrifying revelation.

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