Bestselling novelist Adele Parks on her writing life, routines and techniques, character work, and creative strategies that have kept her stories fresh and her readership devoted for over two decades.

You'll learn:

• How Adele moved from imitating other writers to trusting her own voice and background.
• How loss and adversity can shape resilience and urgency in writing.
• Why Adele treats discipline as a secret weapon and uses daily word targets to deliver a book a year.
• How to test ideas and use character interviews to build stories.
• How Adele outlines chapters, tracks point of view balance, and keeps multiple narrators emotionally coherent.
• The truth about plot in commercial fiction and what to do if you feel like “nothing happens” in your writing.
• How to handle criticism and reviews while still writing primarily to fulfil yourself.
• Why Adele writes to connect with readers, what “adding to the sum of happiness” means to her, and how she stays grounded around money and success.
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑 Interview Transcript
• Adele in Platinum Magazine
• Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes 
• Our Beautiful Mess by Adele Parks
• Playing Away by Adele Parks 
• Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks 
• Adele’s Instagram 
   

About Adele Parks

Adele Parks is the author of 25 bestselling novels, including the Sunday Times number one hits Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck; over six million English editions of her books have been sold, and her work has been translated into 31 languages. She is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency in the UK, and in 2022 she was awarded an MBE for services to literature.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Self-published authors Anne Ditmeyer and Martin Lake share what it really takes to go indie, from choosing platforms and budgeting for editing, design, and ISBNs to redefining success, avoiding scams, and playing the long game of finding readers and building a sustainable writing life.  

You'll learn:

• Why Anne and Martin chose self-publishing over traditional routes and how they framed readers as their gatekeepers.
• How both authors define success beyond bestseller lists, from “book as business card” to improving the craft across 25 books.
• The real timelines of an indie career, including slow early sales, backlist effects, and why self-publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.
• What a realistic budget looks like for editing, design, typesetting, audiobooks, and print on demand, plus where they chose to DIY or outsource.
• How they use platforms such as Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and Shopify, and why most sales still come through Amazon.
• Practical approaches to marketing that do not require a huge following, including series, mailing lists, events, workshops, and using your existing communities.
• The role of ISBNs, imprints, metadata, and print on demand for getting into libraries and bookstores, and why in-store placement is harder than it looks.
• Red flags to watch for with third-party “publishing services” and why due diligence can save you thousands in fees and frustration.  
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• Martin Lake’s Author Page
• Override by Anne Ditmeyer
• Reedsy
• Lulu 
• Fiverr
• Blurb 
• Bookshop.org
• Ingram Spark
• Anne Ditmeyer Resources
   

About the panelists:

Martin Lake is a historical novelist who discovered his love of history and writing early in life and later combined those interests after careers as a teacher, college lecturer, conference planner, and business owner. He has written 25 novels and several short story collections set from ancient Minoan times to the present day, earning around $275,000 in royalties, most of it from self-published ebooks, and now focuses on writing series fiction, running writing groups, and sharing what he has learned about the indie long game. 

Anne Ditmeyer is a Paris-based designer turned writer, creative coach, and workshop facilitator who is American by birth and French by “hard work.” She runs global creative workshops such as Write Your Own Rules and Mapping Your Path, is known for her playful “banana mapping” exercises, and in 2024 self-published her first book, Override: What if there was another way? A pocket playbook for possibility, using platforms like Lulu, IngramSpark, and Amazon to distribute a small-format book that doubles as a business card for her workshops and speaking. 

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Anna Davis, novelist, agent, and founder of Curtis Brown Creative, shares how to turn a messy first draft into a strong, market-ready novel through diagnostic editing, practical rewriting tools, and a clear understanding of what agents actually look for.

You'll learn:

• Why every writer’s process is different (and why messy drafts are fine).
• How to diagnose problems mid-novel and bring a manuscript back to life.
• The Rewrite Doctor method: creating distance, interrogating your story, and planning the edit.
• How to stress-test structure, plot, and pacing without relying on rigid templates.
• Using prompts and “play” to loosen up when you’re stuck.
• How to choose between competing novel ideas and know which has real legs.
• What agents are truly looking for and how to make your submission stand out.
• Common myths about publishing (and what actually happens behind the scenes).
   

Resources and Links:

• Curtis Brown Creative Courses
• CBC Editorial Services 
• Friend Request by Laura Marshall  
• The Rewrite Doctor Course
• Edit and Pitch Your Novel 
• Book a consultation with Curtis Brown Creative
• Writers’ Hour 
   

About Anna Davis

Anna Davis is the founder and Director of Curtis Brown Creative, a leading UK writing school she launched in 2011. She’s the author of five novels published in twenty languages, a former journalist and Guardian columnist, and previously worked as a literary agent at Curtis Brown and a creative-writing lecturer at the University of Manchester.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Literary agent and author Kate McKean shares how to pitch like a human, read rejection letters usefully, and protect your joy so you can build a durable writing life. 

You'll learn:

• How to build a clear 1–2 line pitch others can repeat and sell.
• How to read rejection letters, spot strong notes, and decide when to revise.
• Query etiquette and timelines: when to follow up and how resubmissions work.
• Fixing weak nonfiction proposals with clearer scope, audience, and takeaway.
• Write for the reader: comp titles, positioning, and a useful synopsis.
• US vs UK agenting models and what that means for money and process.
• Why agents don’t steal ideas and why execution is what matters.
• Self-publishing realities: expectations, track records, and when it helps the book.
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑 Interview Transcript
• Agents & Books Substack
• Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
• Write Through It 
• Howard Morhaim Literary Agency 
   

About Kate McKean

Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, author of Write Through It, and the writer of the Agents & Books newsletter; she represents a wide range of fiction and nonfiction and fields hundreds of queries each month.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Debut novelist Carys Shannon on how to stay true to your voice through submissions and agent feedback, why an editorially led indie press was the right home for her book, and the craft that brought it to life.

We discuss:

• How to decide what your book wants to be and center its emotional life.
• Submission strategy after competitions: reading agent feedback without losing your vision.
• Indie presses 101: editorially led models, scale, and alignment.
• Contracts with a small press: advances, rights splits, and what to expect.
• Publicity with an indie: bespoke support and realistic reach.
• Craft choices that unlocked the book: first-person present vs close third, “killing your darlings.”
• Landscape as character.
• Redefining success through integrity of voice.
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• Truth Like Water
• Cree 
• Hummingbird by Tristan Hughes 
• Mslexia Indie Press Guide
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert 
   

About Carys Shannon

Carys Shannon is a Welsh writer whose debut novel Truth Like Water (Parthian Books) was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and the Mslexia Novel Award, shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award, and winner of the Jericho Writers Festival of Writing Prize. Her short fiction has appeared with Honno Press, Parthian Books, and Mslexia Magazine, with work broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She’s originally from North Gower, Swansea, and divides her time between Wales and the Spanish Pyrenees.
 

About Parthian Books

Parthian is an independent, editorially led publisher based in Cardigan, Wales. Founded in 1993, it champions debut and regional voices across contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, and literature in translation.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Head of Books at the Madeleine Milburn Agency, Liv Maidment, shares how literary agents read, evaluate, and champion submissions (from pitches and comps to strategy, timelines, and today’s AI-driven market), helping writers pitch their work clearly and confidently.

You'll learn:

• How to build a snappy 1–2 line elevator pitch that helps everyone down the chain sell your book (“the art of summing something up in one or two sentences”).
• Tips for writing comp titles and using them smartly.
• Blurbs vs synopses: how the pitch sells your book while the synopsis tells your book.
• What strong synopses and author bios must include: how much to reveal, and why they matter.
• Why agent editorial and development with an agent still matter.
• Today’s submission etiquette: realistic timelines, when to chase, and how resubmissions work.
• Market and positioning: genres currently on the rise, platform and geography demystified (do you need social media, does location matter).
• Implications of AI in today's publishing landscape: contracts, transparency, and more.
• More exclusive insight and advice for writers from an expert on the other side of the publishing industry.
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• Madeleine Milburn Website
• Submission FAQs
   

About Liv Maidment

Liv Maidment is Head of Books at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, representing a prizewinning list of literary, upmarket, and book club fiction. She previously worked at The Blair Partnership and United Agents and has brokered major UK and North American deals, guiding debut and established authors throughout their careers. 

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Indyana Schneider—international opera singer and novelist—shares practical ways to write rhythm and desire on the page, craft scene-level tension, and shape compressed-time narratives; plus lessons from drafting her debut on the Tube. 
 

You'll learn:

• How to build sentence-level cadence: vary lengths and read aloud to tune flow.
• A simple spine for short-timeframe novels: day-by-day beats, rising stakes, a final choice.
• Where to start and stop scenes so pages move (start late, leave early).
• Writing desire without cliché: stay in character voice; revise for rhythm and clarity.
• Turning musical training into prose: sensory sequencing that guides attention.
• When to query (and what “ready” looked like) plus handling editorial feedback.
• Smart ways to measure success beyond sales and keep momentum across careers.
   

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• Since the World is Ending by Indyana Schneider
• 28 Questions by Indyana Schneider
• If the World Was Ending by JP Saxe ft Julia Michaels
• What Makes a Bestseller? | Jonny Geller | TEDxOxford 
• ReaderBank
• One Day by David Nicholls
• Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
• So Thrilled for You by Holly Bourne
• The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
• Love in Exile by Shon Faye
• I Love You, I Love You, I Love You by Laura Dockrill
• Indy’s Instagram 

About Indyana Schneider

Indyana Schneider is an international opera singer and novelist from Sydney. She studied Music at Oxford and Opera in Hanover, completed training at the Zurich Opera studio, and now performs across the UK, Europe, and Australia. She is the author of 28 Questions and Since the World Is Ending, a novel set over a sweltering weekend in Vienna, steeped in music, desire, and consequence.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Natalie Lue, bestselling author and writer (Baggage Reclaim) shares how she shaped her mini-memoirs Let Go (Family & Friction) with The Pound Project, why intention is your best editor, and the inner tools that helped her write through grief, illness, and complicated family ties — without turning her life into content.

You’ll learn

• How to decide if you’re writing from the scar or the wound.
• Practical ways to protect yourself on the page: boundaries, pauses, and purpose.
• A simple test for what stays in your memoir and what gets cut.
• Why journaling and “scrap-paper noodling” reveal patterns you can’t see in real time.
• How a small, focused publisher like The Pound Project co-builds a project — and what they look for in pitches.
• The mindset shift of “hold it lightly” when outcomes are uncertain.
• Gratitude for your past self as a creative survival skill.

Natalie’s reflection prompts:

• What am I pretending not to already know?
• What am I clinging to — and what would it mean to let it go?
• Who will I become if I let go? Who will I keep being if I don’t?
• What pattern keeps replaying in my journals — and what’s it trying to teach me?
• What do I need to feel safe enough to tell the truth?

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• The Baggage Reclaim Sessions
• The Pound Project
• Email for The Pound Project - [email protected]
• Let Go by Natalie Lue

About Natalie Lue:

Natalie is a writer, speaker, and host of The Baggage Reclaim Sessions, a podcast with 3M+ downloads across 140+ countries. Her books include The Joy of Saying No (Harper Horizon) and self-published titles such as Mr Unavailable and the Fallback Girl. In Let Go (The Pound Project), she explores a decade marked by estrangement, loss, illness, and publishing, showing how releasing what no longer serves can restore creative power and clarity.

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Sarah Hall—twice Booker Prize–nominated author and the only writer to win the BBC National Short Story Award twice—on crafting fiction that is both lush and uncompromising, and how to captivate readers on the sentence level while staying true to creative freedom.

We discuss:

• Her early reading life in the countryside and the characters who first sparked her imagination
• Lessons learned from an “unpublishable” first novel and how Haweswater found its true form
• The discipline and intuition behind her writing process and when to share drafts
• Why handwriting first drafts rekindled a sense of play and sharpened her editing
• How to build short stories that hold “the world on a pin” and reverberate beyond the page
• Giving voice to Britain’s only named wind in Helm and weaving folklore, climate themes, and playfulness
• Discerning a story’s ending and sustaining joy in the writing process
   

About Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall is one of Britain’s most acclaimed contemporary authors. Twice nominated for the Booker Prize and the first and only writer to win the BBC National Short Story Award twice, she is the author of ten acclaimed novels and short story collections, including Haweswater, The Electric Michelangelo, The Carhullan Army, and Burntcoat. Her latest novel, Helm, blends myth, climate anxiety, and playful storytelling to bring Britain’s only named wind to life.

Resources and Links:

• 📑Interview Transcript
• Helm
• The Helm Wind, the only named wind in Britain - the Met Office
• Sarah’s Website
• Sarah’s books
  • Haweswater
  • The Electric Michelangelo
  • How to Paint a Dead Man
  • The Carhullan Army
  • Burntcoat
• “The Grotesques” - BBC National Short Story Award Winner
• Interview with Sarah Hall in The Guardian
• Faber & Faber - Sarah’s publisher
• Lee Brackstone - Sarah’s editor
• Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien
• Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan
• Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
• Light Years by James Salter
• Hilary Mantel’s Website

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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Nicolas Cole—digital writer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Ship 30 for 30, Premium Ghostwriting Academy, Typeshare, and Write With AI—on building a portfolio of writing businesses, ghostwriting as a path for writers, and how to balance art and commerce. 
 

We discuss:

• How poetry kept him creatively grounded while building businesses
• Why every piece of writing answers a question 
• Career paths to making money as a writer today
• The power of ghostwriting for skill and income
• How AI changes (and doesn’t change) the job of a writer
• Building consistent writing systems and habits
• How to focus when you have too many ideas + other mindset shifts to scale businesses and find creative clarity
   

About Nicolas Cole

Nicolas Cole is a digital writer, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Ship 30 for 30, Premium Ghostwriting Academy, Typeshare, and Write With AI. He first rose to prominence as the #1 most-read writer on Quora, later writing a popular column for Inc Magazine. He has ghostwritten for hundreds of entrepreneurs, artists, and authors, and is the author of The Art & Business of Online Writing and The Art & Business of Ghostwriting. Today, he helps writers build sustainable careers by mastering both the art and the business of writing.


Resources and Links:

• 📑 Interview Transcript
• nicolascole.com
• Premium Ghostwriting Academy
• Ship30for30
• Commercial Fiction Club 
   

For show notes, transcripts and to attend our live podcasts visit: podcast.londonwriterssalon.com.

For free writing sessions, join free Writers’ Hours: writershour.com.

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