Write Or Die Podcast

We talk about the financial reality of becoming a writer/author and how writing full-time might not be right for everyone. Then we interview Victoria Lee, the author of The Fever King and The Electric Heir. We discuss what it was like to be traditionally published at a new kind of publisher and what it felt like working with Amazon.

BIO:

Victoria Lee grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where they spent twelve ascetic years as a vegetarian before discovering spicy chicken wings are, in fact, a delicacy. They’ve been a state finalist competitive pianist, a hitchhiker, a pizza connoisseur, an EMT, an expat in China and Sweden, and a science doctoral student. They’re also a bit of a snob about fancy whisky.

Victoria writes early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day trying to impress their border collie puppy and make their experiments work.

They are represented by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.

Mentions:

A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it

Follow Victoria: Twitter | Website

Victoria’s Books: http://victorialeewrites.com/books/

In this episode we discuss the dangers of comparison in publishing and we interview the amazing NYT Bestselling author, Marie Rutkoski, about her new book The Midnight Lie and what it feels like writing a book in the same world as a previous series but with a very personal aspect.

Bio:

Marie Rutkoski is a New York Times bestselling author of several novels for children and young adults. She grew up in Illinois as the oldest of four children, and has lived in Moscow, Prague, and Paris.

She holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Harvard University, and is now a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Shakespeare, children’s literature, and fiction writing. She lives in Brooklyn with her family and two cats, Cloud and Firefly.

Mentions:

Follow Marie: Twitter | Instagram | Website

Holly Black Write or Die Episode

The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

The economic concept of The Winner’s Curse

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

Malinda Lo

Katherine Locke

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Pre-Order GHOST SQUAD

Add GHOST SQUAD on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter| Instagram | YouTube

Order Kat’s debut, WICKED FOX!

Pre-Order VICIOUS SPIRITS

www.katchowrites.com

Write or Die Podcast Website

We answer some more AMA’s including how authors do their own promo and outside insight about Street Teams. Then Kat & Claribel interview Nafiza Azad, the author of Morris Award Finalist Novel, Candle and the Flame. We talk about her experience learning creative writing in school, getting her agent, and what it felt like to […]

Bio: Nafiza Azad was born in Fiji and spent the first seventeen years of her life as a self-styled Pacific Islander. Now she identifies as an Indo-Fijian Muslim Canadian, which means she is often navigating multiple identities. Nafiza has a love for languages and currently speaks four. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Children's Literature from the University of British Columbia and co-runs The Book Wars (thebookwars.ca), a website dedicated to all things children's literature. Nafiza currently lives in British Columbia with her family.

Mentions:

Follow Nafiza: Twitter | Instagram

YALSA announces 2020 William C. Morris Award finalists

Morris Award Finalists

Kat and Claribel discuss what it’s like to work on multiple projects at a time and how to meet multiple deadlines. They also interview author Karuna Riazi about debuting with a book packager, querying after you’ve already debuted, and why she decided to go to an MFA program!

Bio: Karuna Riazi is a born and raised New Yorker, with a loving, large extended family and the rather trying experience of being the eldest sibling in her particular clan.Besides pursuing a BA in English literature from Hofstra University, she is an online diversity advocate, blogger, and publishing intern.Karuna is fond of tea, baking new delectable treats for friends and family to relish, Korean dramas, and writing about tough girls forging their own paths toward their destinies. She is the author of The Gauntlet and The Battle.

Mentions:

Follow Karuna: Twitter | Website

#yesallwomen

Salaam Reads

Hamline MFAC

The Gauntlet

The Battle

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

Write or Die Podcast Website

Join our WorDie community! 

Claribel and Kat answer some AMA’s (including talking about their skincare routine!) They also interview the amazingly funny literary agent Barbara Poelle about her past as a stand-up comic, her life as a literary agent, how to live life with humility and humor, and rage push-ups.

Follow Barbara: Website | Twitter

Mentions:

WBP Questions to ask Agents

Cerave

Cetaphil

Klairs Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum

Innisfree Orchid line

Mamonde Rose Water Toner

Ole Henriksen C-Rush™ Brightening Double Crème

Missha Sunstick

The Face Shop Sunstick

Klairs Supple Preparation Toner

Writer’s Block Party Blog post about making writing friends part 1 and part 2

Funny You Should Ask: Mostly Serious Answers to Mostly Serious Questions About the Publishing Industry

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Claribel and Kat discuss current events including conversations around American Dirt. They also interview Literary Agent Quressa Robinson about her path to becoming an agent, what she thinks the industry should do to provide support to POC, and her MSWL!

Follow Quressa: Twitter | Website

Mentions:

https://blog.leeandlow.com/2020/01/28/2019diversitybaselinesurvey/

Original ‘American Dirt’ review by Myriam Gurba

NPR interview about American Dirt

‘American Dirt’ Isn’t Just Bad — Its Best Parts Are Cribbed From Latino Writers by David J Schmidt (Huffington Post)

Cummin’s Non-Mexican Crap by David Bowles (Medium)

Novels by Mexican and Latinx Authors to read:

Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

Across the Wire by Luis Alberto Urrea

By the Lake of Sleeping Children by Luis Alberto Urrea

A Cup of Water Under My Bed by Daisy Hernandez

Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

SCBWI events/workshops

Nelson Literary Agency

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

Write or Die Podcast Website

Join our WorDie community! 

Kat & Claribel talk about what *not* to do when you get a bad review. Ronni Davis joins us to talk about her publishing journey, how publishing has changed in the past decade, how publishing is part of the entertainment industry, and writing black girls who get to be the romantic lead getting their Happily Ever After.

Mslexia link: www.exacteditions.com/mslexia

Use code WRITEORDIE20 at checkout for 20% off!

Bio:

Ronni Davis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she tried her best to fit in—and failed miserably.

Now she lives in Chicago with her husband Adam and her son Aidan. By day she copy edits everything from TV commercials to billboards, and by night she writes contemporary teen novels about brown girls falling in love. When she’s not writing, you can catch her playing the Sims, eating too much candy, or planning her next trip to Disney World.

Her debut novel, WHEN THE STARS LEAD TO YOU, is out with Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Follow Ronni Davis: Website | Twitter | Instagram

Mentions:

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon 

We Need Diverse Books 

Cambion Chronicles

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

Write or Die Podcast Website

Join our WorDie community! 

Claribel and Kat talk about New Year’s Resolutions and Claribel explains her postcard method! Plus we talk to Amanda Foody about her publishing journey, having multiple agents and her thoughts about debuting with a Middle Grade after writing multiple books in Young Adult.

About Amanda Foody:

Amanda Foody has always considered imagination to be our best attempt at magic. After a double life as an accountant preparing taxes for multinational corporations, she now spends her free time brewing and fermenting foods much more easily obtained at her local grocery store. She lives in Boston, MA with a hoard of books guarded by the most vicious of feline companions, Jelly Bean.

Her books include Daughter of the Burning City, Ace of Shades and King of Fools. The next installment of The Shadow Game series, Queen of Volts, releases on September 1, 2020. Her Middle Grade debut The Accidental Apprentice (the first in her new Wilderlore series) comes out Spring 2021 Margaret K McElderry Books at Simon & Schuster!

Follow Amanda Foody online : Website | Instagram | Twitter

Podcast Mentions:

DivBookFest

DivBookFest GoFundMe

Daughter of the Burning City

Ace of Shades

Queen of Volts

The Accidental Apprentice

Boston Teen Author Festival

“Anything that matters to you, you can make it matter again even after you’ve shelved it. You can always come back to something.” — Amanda Foody

Mslexia link: www.exacteditions.com/mslexia

Use code WRITEORDIE20 at checkout for 20% off!

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

In this holiday special episode we talk about end of the year reflections, the dreaded end of the year blues, look back on where the podcast started and read emails from listeners about Write or Die!

Podcast Mentions:  The Write Stuff Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-write-stuff/id1113762043

88 Cups of Tea Podcast http://88cupsoftea.com/

Minorities in Publishing Podcast https://minoritiesinpublishing.tumblr.com/

Pubcrawl Podcast https://www.publishingcrawl.com/category/pubcrawl-podcast/

Frizzy Graphic Novel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47906920-rizos

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram 

Write or Die Podcast Website

Join our WorDie community! 

This week, Kat & Claribel discuss social anxiety at book events plus we bring back Ryan La Sala to talk about what’s changed in his life since he’s announced his book deal and how he uses videos, fashion, and bedazzled eggs to build his social media presence!

Bio:

Ryan La Sala is a fantasy writer rooted in the northeast United States. His first book, REVERIE, is a YA fantasy due for publication with Sourcebooks FIRE on December 3, 2019. It’s about what happens when your dreams chase you back, and yes it has a drag queen sorceress as the villain.

You can find out more about REVERIE on Ryan’s site here (including where to order!), or you can check out reviews/info on Goodreads, here.

Follow Ryan La Sala

Twitter | Instagram

http://www.ryanlasala.com/reverie/

Podcast Mentions:

Beth Phelan https://twitter.com/beth_phelan

#Dvpit http://www.dvpit.com/

https://www.thenerddaily.com/ryan-la-sala-author-interview/

The Right to Bear Arms, a Betsy DeVos Fanfiction

Follow Claribel Ortega online: Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Order GHOST SQUAD

Add FRIZZY on Goodreads

www.claribelortega.com

Follow Kat Cho online: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

Order WICKED FOX!

Order VICIOUS SPIRITS (sequel to WICKED FOX)

Add ONCE UPON A K-PROM on Goodreads

www.katchowrites.com

Follow Write or Die online: Twitter | Instagram