Richard Swan is a former commercial litigator and now a bestselling author. Between 2015 and 2018, Richard self-published The Art of War Trilogy, a sequence of epic space opera novels, as well as a prequel (Hadan's Reach) and two spinoff mil-sci-fi novellas (VIPER One and VIPER One: Countervalue, the latter co-authored with George Lockett). Richard's debut fantasy Empire of the Wolf trilogy sold to Orbit Books, with the first instalment, The Justice of Kings, coming out in February 2022 and hitting the Sunday Time bestseller list.

We had great fun chatting with Richard and hearing how his love of sci fi led to a serious writing habit from when he was a teenager. We talk about his self-published SF books and discuss whether they impacted his later success as a "debut" author with the brilliant The Justice of Kings. We also discuss the verisimilitude that occurs when bringing in your own experiences into your writing and much more!

Links:

Buy Richard's books

Follow Richard on Twitter

Visit Richard's website

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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Scott Lynch was born in St.Paul, Minnesota in 1978. He sold his first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, in 2004. In addition to his writing, he also has a background in game design and firefighting. Scott currently lives in Massachusetts with his wife, award-winning SF/F novelist Elizabeth Bear. He is currently hard at work on the next stories in the world of Locke Lamora.

Having been huge fans of Locke Lamora for years, we loved having the opportunity to chat with Scott and to hear about how he got his break into the writing world and how he came up with the idea for Locke and the world of Camorr. We chat about the help and hinderance TTRPG experience can be in creating fictional worlds, talk about his writing inspirations, hear about the mental health struggles he has had for the past decade and why things are now improving, and also get the latest on the next stories in the world of Camorr.

Links:

Buy Scott's books now

Visit Scott's website

Follow Scott on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ukPageOne

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

Bob Bookman is a Hollywood manager and literary agent who has worked with some of the biggest authors in the world and helped turn their novels into award-winning movies. He has represented Michael Crichton, Tom Stoppard, Bill Broyles, John Irving, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Peter Moffat along with many others and has been responsible for bringing movies such as Jurassic Park and Hannibal to the big screen.

We had a fascinating and fun chat with Bob, learning all about how Hollywood works and what role he plays in many authors' dreams of turning their novel into a huge Hollywood movie. We loved hearing his many Hollywood tales, including how he made the biggest ever book-to-film deal for Michael Crichton's Airframe, and also the role he played in getting The Silence of the Lambs to the big screen.

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

This week, our series of industry insider episodes continues with a talk with David Downing, a freelance developmental editor who has worked with authors such as Mark Edwards and our very own Tariq Ashkanani, helping them polish their manuscripts and turn them into the brilliant books they now are. Since turning to it full-time in 2012, David has edited more than 300 books—lots of mysteries/thrillers and historical fiction, as well as literary fiction, women’s fiction, romantic suspense, and even a couple of science fiction titles and a memoir. He works primarily for publishers, but also for individual clients looking for a developmental/substantive editor who can help take their manuscript to the next level.

We had a really interesting chat with David about exactly what a developmental editor does and heard about how he works with his clients to try and make their story the best it can be. Plus we ask about whether he ever gets pushback from authors and more!

Links:

Visit David's website, Maxwellian Editorial Services

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

Our series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Karen Sullivan, founder and publishing director of Orenda Books. Orenda Books was founded by publisher Karen Sullivan in 2014. In 2016, Karen was a Bookseller Rising Star, and Orenda Books was shortlisted for the IPG Nick Robinson Newcomer Award in 2015 and 2016. They won the CWA Crime & Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger in 2020 and were a regional finalist for the Small Press of the Year Award in the British Book Awards in 2021. They currently publish authors such as Will Carver, Doug Johnstone and Sarah Sultoon.

We loved chatting with Karen and hearing how she founded Orenda, discussing what she looks for in books, chatting about open submissions vs agent submissions and much more!

Links:

Visit Orenda Books website

Follow Karen on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

This week, our series of industry episodes continues as we chat with Miranda Jewess, Publishing Director of Viper Books, the crime and thriller imprint of Serpent's Tail, which I launched in November 2019. Viper Books are the publishers of the award-winning (and previous podcast guests) Janice Hallett and Catriona Ward, alongside acclaimed books such as Five Minds from Guy Morpuss.

We loved chatting with Miranda and hearing about how she became an editor and then Publishing Director at Viper, and what she looks for when she is commissioning books. We also talk about the importance of marketing, what qualifies as a "success" insofar as a publisher is concerned, and much more!

Links:

Visit Viper Books website

Follow Miranda on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

Our series of industry episodes continues as we talk with leading literary agent Jamie Cowen. Jamie has worked in publishing for 18 years. Before joining Ampersand literary agency in 2013 he was a commissioning editor at HarperCollins, and prior to that he worked in legal and contracts departments at HC and the Hachette Group. Jamie’s clients at Ampersand include Tendai Huchu (The Library of the Dead, Tor UK and US), Adrian Selby (Snakewood, The Winter Road and Brother Red; Orbit), Mark Hill (His First Lie, It Was Her, The Bad Place and The Woman in the Wood; Sphere and Head of Zeus), and even our very own Tariq Ashkanani!

We had great fun chatting to Jamie, learning how he became an agent, what he looks for when receiving queries and hearing him explain how he uses a synopsis when assessing a query. We also hear whether he will take on a manuscript that needs some work, how important the agent/editor relationship is and much more!

Links:

Visit Ampersand Agency

Follow Jamie on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

Our special series of episodes chatting with leading figures in the publishing industry to find out how to get your book published continues this week with the amazing Eric Smith. Eric is a Young Adult author and literary agent with P.S. Literary living in Philadelphia. As an agent represents brilliant authors such as Alison Stine and Mike Chen. On the writing front, his latest book, Jagged Little Pill: The Novel, a collaboration with Alanis Morissette, Academy award-winner Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard, is an adaptation of the Grammy and Tony award winning musical.

We loved chatting with Eric and hearing about what looks for in queries (both for fiction and non-fiction), discussing the importance (or not) of comp titles, finding out how he works with his authors and get other hints and tips for those of you who are querying now or are about to! We also chat about his own writing and hear how he came to write the novelisation of Jagged Little Pill with Alanis Morissette and Diablo Cody.

Links:

Visit PS Literary

Follow Eric on Twitter

Visit Eric's website

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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This episode is also available on our YouTube channel as a full video episode! Watch it here

In the first of a special series of industry episodes following a books journey from being picked up by an agent all the way to Hollywood, we chat with superstar literary agent, Juliet Mushens! Juliet started her publishing career in 2008 at HarperCollins, and became an agent in 2011. She has been shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year four times and is currently the number 1 ranked UK fiction dealmaker on Publishers’ Marketplace. In 2021 she was picked as one of the 150 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller and The Times ran a piece recognising her as the first agent to represent the number 1, 2 and 3 UK bestsellers in the same week: ‘Star literary agent first to top the charts three times’. More than a dozen of her clients are Sunday Times bestsellers and four hit number 1 in 2022 alone. Her clients include million-copy no. 1 bestseller Jessie Burton, multi-million copy NY Times bestseller Taran Matharu, record-breaking multi-million copy no. 1 bestseller Richard Osman. Her guide to YA creative writing was published by Hodder in 2015.

We loved speaking to Juliet about how she became an agent, and talking with her about what she looks for in a query letter (including some very important dos and don'ts!) Plus, we hear how she works with authors that she represents, and chat about how she secures such brilliant deals for her clients.

Links:

Visit Mushens Entertainment

Follow Juliet on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

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Adam Hamdy is a Sunday Times and international bestselling author and screenwriter who writes topical, thought-provoking novels, often inspired by real events. His latest novel, The Other Side of Night is out now.

We had great fun chatting with Adam, hearing about how he moved from being a strategy consultant to writer - thanks in part to an idea he had for a screenplay involving 80s actor, Judge Reinhold! We also hear about his process, why he needs to frontload his planning, and why The Other Side of Night took five years to write.

Links:

Buy The Other Side of Night and Adam's other novels now!

Visit Adam's website

Follow Adam on Twitter

Page One - The Writer's Podcast is brought to you by Write Gear, creators of Page One - the Writer's Notebook. Learn more and order yours now: https://www.writegear.co.uk/page-one

Follow us on Twitter: @ukPageOne

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