In this episode I interview Sean Lusk; a fiction author from the UK with some wonderful insights about writing and generating ideas. Described in his school report as a dilettante, Sean took the description seriously, failing his exams and traveling to Pakistan, India, Egypt, and on through Africa. Along the way, he has had jobs as a gardener, immigration officer, speechwriter, teacher, strategist, diplomatic official and conference organizer. He began writing seriously in 2000, winning prizes with his unsettling, darkly humorous, and intriguing short stories. After writing and later burning a novel set in the mountains of Pakistan and another set entirely in the small ads column of a local newspaper, he returned to work for the British Government, focusing on teaching officials to think strategically and plan for the future. He wrote an academic book on the subject in 2014, having observed that running exercises on pandemic planning or climate change seemed to have the effect of absolving everyone from the need to take any action, much as confessing one’s sins to a priest does little to stop sinning. The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is his debut novel, a celebration of fluttering birds, clockwork, travel, eighteenth-century spymasters, and love in all its forms. Sean has recently moved from rural Greece to the Scottish Highlands where he lives with his wife Sally and is in the process of acquiring chickens, dogs, cats, tartan carpets and, he prays, some llamas.

You can access full show notes here.

Sarah Russo is a publishing professional with twenty years of experience working across the spectrum of publicity, communications, traditional marketing, social media marketing, branding, and business development. Sarah has worked in-house for Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, and Oxford University Press, and as a consultant for organizations and companies like the National Book Critics Circle, the Association of University Presses, the American Booksellers Association, Scribd, Curtis Brown, Ltd., The Oxford American, Europa Editions, And Other Stories, Coffee House Press, and with authors too numerous to count but that include Simon Winchester, Jeffrey Sachs, Nadine Strossen, Benjamin Moser, Diane Cook, Kathleen Hall Jamison, Valeria Luiselli, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Amartya Sen, Harvey J. Kaye, and David Kilcullen.

Most recently, Sarah was the Global Head of Audience Engagement, Publicity, and Social Media for Oxford University Press, the largest not-for-profit publisher of trade and academic books in the world. She was also the Global Head of Trade Marketing from 2016–2018. Her work at OUP spanned trade books, the dictionaries program, journals, and online products as well as major launches for publications like the AIA Guide to the City of New York, Greater Gotham by Mike Wallace, the 80th anniversary celebration of the Oxford English Dictionary, and programming the annual Bryant Park Oxford World’s Classics Book Club. She currently serves on the Board of And Other Stories and on the Lit Council for the Brooklyn Book Festival. In tandem with Suzanne Williams, she is the pro bono publicist for the National Book Critics Circle.

Sarah is a regular speaker at conferences, book festivals, and universities. She has been a speaker at Social Media Week, the Association of American Historians and the Organization of American Historians, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Louisiana Book Festival, Johns Hopkins University, The New School, Adelphi University, Pace University, and many others. You can connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

You can access full show notes here.

Christopher Allen is Managing Editor of SmokeLong Quarterly, a very successful short fiction journal. He has also been teaching for almost 30 years. These days he mainly leads workshops on writing compelling flash narratives (stories under 1000 words). His own work has been published, most recently, in The Best Small Fictions 2019, Booth, Split Lip Magazine, and Gone Lawn as well as in over a hundred other journals and anthologies. His debut collection of flash fiction--Other Household Toxins (Matter Press)--came out in 2018. 

He’s been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, The Best Small Fictions, Million Writers Award and others. His flash fictions and short stories have won or placed in numerous competitions. 

As well as all that he’s judged the Cambridge Prize for Flash Fiction, the Bath Flash Fiction Award, and Micro Madness and has guest edited for journals such as Lighthouse Literary Journal, Ellipsis Journal, Flash Frontier and others.

In this episode we discuss Christopher's writing approach, his insights about what it takes to write winning flash fiction pieces, SmokeLong Quarterly and much much more.

You can access episode notes here.

This is NOT a normal episode of The Chris Roberts Show. I thought I'd do something a little different and field an open question to independent publishers and let them submit responses to me.

The question I asked them was simply: What is your top tip for writing killer stories and novels that they would want to publish?

Listen to this short episode to see what nuggets of wisdom they gave.

Below are some details about the independent publishing houses that submitted responses for this episode.

A huge thanks to all who participated.

You can access full show notes here.

Robert Ottone is an author, teacher, and cigar enthusiast from East Islip, New York. He owns Spooky House Press, a small independent publisher of fiction. He has roots in journalism and true crime writing and he is the host of the Voices of Gilgo Project. He can be found online, or on Instagram and Twitter. His collections Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares and People: A Horror Anthology about Love, Loss, Life & Things That Go Bump in the Night are available now wherever books are sold.

This is a great episode. We had a lot of fun recording it and Robert brings some excellent advice and ideas to the table. If you are an aspiring writer then I fully recommend listening to this episode.

You can access full show notes and further details about Robert Ottone here.

This episode is a little different to normal. This is the first time I’ve interviewed two authors at once. In this episode, I talk with dark fiction authors Ruthann Jagge and Erik Hanson.

You can access full show notes and further details about Ruthann and Erik here.

J.D. Horn is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Witching Savannah series (The Line, The Source, The Void, and Jilo), the Witches of New Orleans Trilogy (The King of Bones and Ashes, The Book of the Unwinding, The Final Days of Magic), and the standalone Southern Gothic horror tale Shivaree. J.D. is also founder and owner of Curious Blue Press, a small publishing concern originally founded during the Coronavirus pandemic. Curious Blue Press has just published Good Southern Witches, a collection of short spooky fiction. A world traveler and student of French and Russian literature, Horn also has an MBA in international business and formerly held a career as a financial analyst before turning his talent to crafting chilling stories and unforgettable characters. His novels have received global attention and have been translated into Turkish, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Italian, German, and French. Originally from Tennessee, he currently lives in California with his spouse, Rich, and their rescue Chihuahua, Kirby Seamus.

This is another brilliant episode! In this conversation, we discuss J.D.’s writing, his method, his experience with traditional publishing. We also discuss his independent publishing company, Curious Blue Press, and how this has given him a new perspective.

You can access full show notes and further details about J.D. here.

Michael Heppell (@MichaelHeppell) is an international best-selling author of 7 books, including ‘How to Be Brilliant’. His books have been translated into 27 languages and include the Sunday Times No.1 Best Seller ‘Flip It’. His latest, ’17 – the little way to get a lot done’ was launched in September 2020. His passion is presenting. He has been described as ‘one of the top 3 professional speakers in the world.’ He works with individuals and organisations who are dissatisfied with being good and have a desire to be brilliant. Through his events and coaching Michael has worked with everyone from Category B prisoners to business leaders; from Premiership footballers to TV personalities. Davina McCall credits Michael as ‘the person who, in one hour, changed my life’. Michael works with his wife and business partner Christine, and in 2001 they set a goal ‘to positively influence 1 million lives’. Through presentations, training, books, audio programmes, and coaching they hit this target several years ago and now have the goal to positively influence everyone they connect with.

This is a fantastic episode! I highly recommend you listen to it. In this conversation, we discuss a wide range of topics including approaching successful people for endorsement, how to build and pre-build an audience for your book, developing and drawing out your core message, how to handle negative reviews, finding and working with the very best coaches and mentors, the impact of limiting beliefs and the good work Michael is doing with his 'Write That Book Challenge' which aims to support 1000 people to write 1000 books in 1000 days.

You can access full show notes and further details about Michael here.

Laura Besley (@laurabesley) is an established short fiction writer, particularly in flash fiction and micro-fiction. She has two collections of flash fiction published already (The Almost Mothers and 100neHundred) and more on the way. She has been listed as one of the top fifty British and Irish flash fiction writers by TSS Publishing and has been nominated for Best Micro-Fiction. Laura has been published in multiple literary journals including Fictive Dream, Spelk, EllipsisZIne, and a number of anthologies and print magazines. She also reads for Fractured Lit and a number of writing competitions.

In this conversation, we discuss flash fiction in general, her work to date, using writing as a form of personal therapy, connecting with readers on a deeper level, what it takes to write a powerful piece of flash fiction, and her writing processes. I highly recommend you listen to it if you are interested in flash fiction.

You can access full show notes and further details about Laura here.

Jude Higgins (@judehwriter) is the founder and organiser of several flash fiction awards and events including the Bath Flash Fiction Award, Bath Novella In Flash Award and Flash Fiction Festivals UK. She is also involved with the Bath Short Story Competition and a number of other groups and initiatives centred around short fiction. As well as all this, Jude teaches and mentors writers and organises various workshops related to the subject.

In this conversation, we discuss flash fiction in general, the various flash fiction competitions and events she is involved with, what makes an award-winning piece of flash fiction and advice for people looking to write their own flash fiction and get published. This is a great episode, packed with useful advice and insights from Jude. I highly recommend you listen to it if you are interested in flash fiction.

You can access full show notes and further details about Jude here.