Karen and Irma chat about the challenges of being able to accept praise. 

Then Irma talks with Katherine Collette about how co-hosting The First Time podcast was life-changing, her most excruciating experience with the podcast, the excitement of overseas deals for her debut novel and the huge low that followed, how the US market differs from the ANZ market, the secrecy around book sales, the challenges in moving from writing books for adults to writing for kids, how to write humour on the page, how to navigate the emotional headspace of writing, the best and worst advice she’s received, the odd liminal space that unpublished writers can exist in for years when they are ‘not quite there yet’, the key things debut authors commonly don’t understand when they enter the publishing process, and why she doesn’t think social media promo makes much difference to sales. 

About Katherine

Katherine Collette has written two novels for adults, The Helpline and The Competition. She has also written and illustrated Out of Bounds, the first in the children’s book series The Too Tall Tales of Alma T Best, and was co-host of The First Time podcast. She is a former engineer and current writing coach.