She went viral overnight, landed a Penguin deal, and is somehow doing it all as a brand new mum.

Lauren Jackson is a Gold Coast romance author and BookTok creator whose path to publishing is one of the most exciting stories in Australian romance right now. She started by self-publishing, built a devoted readership one book at a time, and when Tierney Page featured her work on TikTok — everything changed.

In this episode, Lauren and I talk about her journey from self-published author to Penguin Books, what it was like to go viral and have the industry suddenly come knocking, how she's built such a genuine and loyal community online, and what life looks like now that she's navigating a creative career with a newborn in the mix.

This is a conversation about persistence, timing, and what happens when the right person discovers your book at the right moment.