Christy Mandin is a New York Times bestselling children's book author and illustrator. She grew up in rural Georgia and credits her country life of solitude as an only child for much of her love of books and nature. You'll find this love of nature along with nostalgia, magic, and whimsy woven into the fabric of her art. When she isn't drawing she can be found gardening, beekeeping, or cozied up with a cup of coffee and the latest period drama on BBC or PBS. Christy currently lives in Georgia with her husband, 4 children, and a menagerie of animals and insects.

Order her incredible books here:

• Bittersweet: Based on the True Tale of the Berlin Candy Bombers
• Millie Fleur's Poison Garden
• Millie Fleur Saves the Night
• Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem

What are preorders? Why do they matter? What can readers do to pay attention to preorders? Claire and Sierra discuss this and what they mean for both authors, booksellers, AND readers!

Sierra surprises Claire with a ROMANCE AUTHOR MYSTERY GUEST (Alicia), and Claire tries hard to guess who it is. It's Alicia Thompson! She is the author of four hit novels, and graciously discusses author newsletters, her path to publishing, and how to break into publishing romance books.

Buy her books:

• Love in the Time of Serial Killers
• With Love, from Cold World
• The Art of Catching Feelings
• Never Been Shipped
• In Every Possible Way (Preorder!!)

We were delighted to welcome the cover artist behind books like BK Borison's First Time Caller, Myriam Strasbourg! She is an incredibly talented artist and you can see her work at @peaches.obviously on Instagram. She talks about how she got started in cover design, going from indie to becoming a very in-demand designer by Big 5 publishers.

https://www.myriamstrasbourg.com/

We talked to the incredible NYT bestselling author and Reese pick, Andrea Bartz, about her career trajectory including pandemic setbacks and what's next. We also touch on the landmark case, Bartz v. Anthropic.

Buy Andrea's books!

• The Last Ferry Out
• The Spare Room
• We Were Never Here
• The Herd
• The Lost Night

Claire and Sierra talk about the recent Threads discussion among writers that suggested readers want shorter novels; Sierra brings the pacing and writing perspective while Claire brings the "what's selling" POV. We also talked to author Christina Dotson, whose novel Love You To Death is a dynamite, fast-paced thriller with Thelma and Louise vibes.

Buy it:

• Love You To Death by Christina Dotson

We welcomed back our first return author guest - Liz Parker! Her new book, The Witches of Honeysuckle House, has special preorder goodies (order ahead of its October 21, 2025 pub date). We talk PR boxes, laugh a lot, and discuss why Claire isn't on the group chat!!

Order Liz's books:

• The Witches of Honeysuckle House
• In the Shadow Garden
• The Other March Sisters

Claire and Sierra discuss author PR boxes, and talk to Gretchen Schaffer and Nicole Meier from Bookworks, a boutique author branding firm with a ton of great ideas for every author at any stage of their career. Bookworks helps writers of all genres build an authentic author presence that gets their stories noticed. Combining book coaching and branding insight, they guide writers to expand their creative community and connect with ideal readers.

Find Bookworks at bookworks.co, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bookworks.co/

and https://bookworksgretchenandnicole.substack.com/.

We talked to Mark Waddell, author of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World!

Mark Waddell grew up on the cold, windswept prairies of western Canada and later earned a Ph.D. in the history of science, medicine, and technology from the Johns Hopkins University. After teaching at Michigan State University for fifteen years, he and his husband moved to Vancouver Island. When not writing, he plays the viola in the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, walks his dogs on the beach, and slays fearsome monsters in Dungeons & Dragons.

Buy:

• Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
• The Body in the Back Garden

On this special SILVER ANNIVERSARY 25th episode, Sierra and Claire talk about their season, take listener questions, and talk a little about their process bookselling (Claire, obvs), and writing and publishing (Sierra, obvs).

We'll be back in the fall and we can't thank you enough for listening, enjoying, and supporting us. Please leave a review if you can, feel free to send in questions to [email protected], and give us a rating on whatever podcast platform you use.

Thank you!!!