Episodes
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Today's guest is Sara Jafari, British-Iranian author of THE MISMATCH and her latest novel, PEOPLE CHANGE. We speak about second book syndrome: the difference between writing the first book and second book, the lead times and the difference in marketing of the second book. We also speak about the importance of discipline over inspiration and whether we should read our own reviews. Sara is frank and honest about the industry and how attention is spread over debut novelists in comparison to mid-list authors.
Sara's work has been longlisted for Spread the Word's Life Writing Prize and published in gal-dem and The Good Journal. She is a contributor to I Will Not Be Erased and the upcoming romance anthology Who's Loving You. Sara also runs TOKEN Magazine, which showcases writing and artwork by underrepresented writers and artists
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Follow Emma on Twitter @sarajafari
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
WRITERS SCHEME, Spread the Word
NaNoWriMo
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Today's guest is award-winning cover designer Micaela Alcaino. Micaela moved to London in 2013. She moved without a job in hand and applied for (200) design jobs before she landed her first role with Transworld Publishing. You would recognise her cover on books such as THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIOUS SANCHO by Paterson Joseph, Jennifer Saint’s ATLANTA, ELEKTRA and ARIADNE, THE DICTIONARY OF LOST WORDS by Pip Williams and the hardcover for BELOW DECK by Sophie Hardcastle.
We talk about the importance of sharing knowledge, mentorship and persistence. She herself is wildly persistent and is encouraged by the challenges put in front of her. It’s no surprise that’s he’s won numerous awards and in 2021 was The Bookseller's Rising Star and this year, won Designer of The Year at The British Book Awards.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Follow Micaela on Twitter @micaelaalcaino
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
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Missing episodes?
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Today's guest is our very first children's author, Emma Norry. We talk about topics that most people in the industry shy away from - M O N E Y. We also speak about the need to stay flexible in order to find out what you love writing about and lastly we speak about Emma's untraditional path to publishing and how slow and steady can work just as well as the splashy debut. We talk about writing craft and share some mutual appreciation for children's stories versus adult fiction. Emma has a wealth of books already to her name and focuses on writing stories that she feels are important to place into a world where she never saw herself in books.
In June 2023, Emma will release Fablehouse through Bloomsbury. I hope you are loved by the tenacity of this woman, as I was.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Follow Emma on Twitter @elnorry_writer
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
HOW EM NORRY FOUND HOPE IN BOOKS, Booktrust
STORYMIX, The Inclusive Fiction Studio
CREATIVE WRITING COURSE, Writers HQ
DANSE MACABRE, Stephen King
DEAR LIFE STORIES, Alice Munro
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Today's guest is Tallulah Lyons, Assistant Editor at #Merky Books. We talk about the things I've never asked other editors. What actually goes on in coveted acquisition meetings, what happens to books that are liked but not loved by the team and what does it take for a book to be published.
#Merky Books is an award-winning imprint launched in 2018 by Stormzy and PRH UK. It’s a fantastic imprint that already boasts an enviable list of non-fiction and fiction titles with Keisha The Sket by Jade LB, We are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan, winner of the inaugural #Merky Books New Writers Prize, set up in 201. Tomorrow #Merky will be publishing BAFTA award winning, OBE, Children’s Laureate and most recently 2022 PEN Pinter Prize winner, Malorie Blackman’s, autobiography - My Life in Words.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
NEW WRITERS' PRIZE, #Merky Books
KEISHA THE SKET, by Jade LB
WE ARE ALL BIRDS OF UGADANDA, Hafsa Zayyan
MY LIFE IN WORDS, Malorie Blackman OBE
SITUATIONSHIP, by Taylor-Dior Rumble (August 2023)
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Today's guest is Margaux Vialleron, Foreign Rights Agent at David Higham Associates. She speaks to us about her love for bringing stories to different parts of the world. It's an area of the industry that I don't know much about but was excited to learn from one of the best. We speak about what is required to do well in this role and what interested might give you longevity in this area of the industry as it's quite a varied role from sales, to networking to admin-centred tasks. I hope you enjoy Margaux's infectious attitude to language and the aim to enable different stories to travel around the world.
She also debuted her own novel this year, THE YELLOW KITCHEN. Link is below.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
THE YELLOW KITCHEN - by Margaux Vialleron
THE QUEENS OF SARMIENTO PARK - by Camila Sosa Villada, Translated by Kit Maude
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We've switched things up and are going live with weekly episodes. Today we speak to the refreshingly honest, Chloe Timms, author of THE SEAWOMEN, podcast host, disability rights activist and Zoom Writing Club. We speak about impostor syndrome, the importance of identifying yourself as a writer no matter what stage of the process you're in, as well as giving in to things that you can't control. We touch on her views of disability representation and what she hopes to see for the future.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Follow Chloe on Twitter @clotimms (DM for an invitation to the Thursday Zoom club)
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
THE SEAWOMEN - by Chloe Timms.
STOP TELLING WOMEN THEY HAVE IMPOSTER SYNDROME - Harvard Business Review.
CONFESSIONS OF A DEBUT NOVELIST - Chloe's Podcast.
NANOWRIMO - FREE, nonprofit organisation that helps keep track of your writing, connect to other writers, and offers events to help finish your novel.
PENGUIN WRITENOW - Penguin's Programme designed to give writers the tools, information and access to navigate the publishing industry.
FABER ACADEMY WRITING COURSE - London and Online Courses
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We're back and I'm so happy to speak to Rhea Kurien from Orion for our first episode, who is possibly one of the kindest people in publishing I have come across. This episode is filled with lots of her sage advice on entering the industry without any connections yet forging and cementing genuine connections with her peers and colleagues. We talk about all the normal woes of rejection but also the ways in which it can at times, lead you somewhere better. We also talk about building your brand (from a publisher's perspective) and how that can be done quite simply - if that is of importance to you as a writer, publishing hopeful of publishing professional.
I hope you enjoy this episode and as always, rate and review wherever you listen to this podcast. Every little bit helps.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Music: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
CREATIVE ACCESS - Enables underrepresented communities in the creative industries to access careers, progress and reach leadership.
ARTS EMERGENCY - Mentoring Charity and Support Network
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We're back and I thought it was worth reminding listeners why this podcast started in the first place!
The podcast was always designed for (and will continue to) focus on building transparency within an industry that often feels exclusionary to those from historically underrepresented backgrounds. To that end, I aim to speak to authors who are marginalised within the publishing industry due to their sexual orientation, gender, economic status, geography, ethnicity, religion, displacement, conflict or disability.
Additionally, I also aim to speak to publishing professionals within the industry, from all backgrounds to help create a more complete picture of where we are at this moment in time. This season we speak to Editors, Foreign Rights Agents, Cover Designers, and the stars in marketing and PR to help find a way to create more conversation and discussion around what this industry does well and what moves need to be made to impact change and further representation.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our past episodes featuring authors, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, Kasim Ali, Jessica George, Preti Taneja as well as Editor, Amy Baxter. Publishers Valerie Brandes and Agents, Nelle Andrew and hope you enjoy the guests that are soon to come.
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Today's episode is with Preti Taneja, award-winning author of debut novel WE THAT ARE YOUNG and her current release, AFTERMATH. This book contends with the pain of unspeakable loss set against public tragedy, as Preti draws on history, memory, and powerful poetic predecessors to reckon with the systemic nature of atrocity. She cites political; historical and social context as well as writings from other respected authors in order to build this world for us. AFTERMATH has been described by Max Porter as a "major landmark in British narrative non-fiction. It is fearless in the way it shows its agonised workings as it unfolds into a complex map of grief".
Preti and I dive into how she lost her trust in language in the depths of trauma and terror as well as the critical response the book has had from mainstream media in comparison to the often unbiased and supportive grassroots publications and organisations. We talk about the blurring of form and structure and the ability for Preti to convey all she did through her feminist use of citation and contextual references.
Preti is a lover of language, you can see this in the way she speaks through her experiences and appreciation for storytelling. AFTERMATH was surely not an easy book to write but also not an easy one to speak about so I am grateful for all that I was able to journey through with Preti during our frank and honest conversation together.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
AFTERMATH, Preti Taneja
UNDELIVERED LECTURES, Transit Books
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Today's guest is Valerie Brandes. A force of nature and a woman who has worked tirelessly and with such determination to create a publishing house that thrives on amplifying and uplifting diverse voices and thought. In 2020, Jacaranda introduced the initiative #Twentyin2020 an unprecedented initiative to publish 20 titles by 20 Black British writers in a single year. In 2021 Jacaranda formed a historic partnership with Hachette UK, expanding their sales and distribution to support the flourishing global market for readers of books by diverse voices. As Valerie says, it allowed them to grow without losing their framework to work as an Indie publisher. In 2022, Jacaranda introduced a non-fiction series names A Quick Ting On, which focuses on various elements of Black British Culture.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
FASHION AFRICA, Jacqueline Shaw
LOTE, Shola von Reinhold
THE BOOKSELLER'S BLACK ISSUE 2022: "JACARANDA TURNS 10, A DECADE OF PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE.", The Bookseller
TRADE FACING INDUSTRY WIDE BURN-OUT, The Bookseller
#TWENTYIN2020: BLACK WRITERS, BRITISH VOICES, Jacaranda Books
A QUICK TING ON, Jacaranda Books (Non-fiction Series)
AUTHOR BERNICE L. MCFADDEN, Jacaranda Books
REST IN POWER: THE ENDURING LIFE OF TRAYVON MARTIN, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin
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We're back with podcast regular Kasim Ali. Today we speak about his role as Assistant Editor at Cornerstone, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Kasim is honest and frank in today's conversation as we discuss how books are taken from submission into acquisition and also the multiple reason why manuscripts can be turned down. We also touch on the larger fight that non-white authors have to write something they purely love and for that not to be politicised. Kasim also enlightens us to the realities of publishing roles and their salaries, taking time to compare that of his peers in other industries and what he earns as an Assistant Editor.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
GOOD INTENTIONS, Kasim Ali
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Today's episode is with Amy Baxter, EIC and owner of Bad Form Review and Assistant Editor for Dialogue Books and a few other Hachette imprints. We talk frankly about the industry as it is and Amy's drive to change the things she finds issue with.
Amy offers practical advice for those wanting to make their start in publishing as well as those wanting to shift the problems and realities seen within the industry. She has had her fair share of failures and rejection but with a constant sense of wanting to do better, she has already reached a position that many aspire to. We talk about what it's like to balance working for a publisher in a mainly admin-centred role whilst also leading an innovative literary magazine trying to challenge the status quo. I hope you learn as much as I did from Amy. She's one to watch!
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
PUBLISHING SEEKS TO ADDRESS THE INDUSTRY'S LACK OF DIVERSTY, The Bookseller (2016 article)
TRADE FACING INDUSTRY-WIDE BURNOUT, The Bookseller (2022)
THE SCHEME, The Penguin Random House 6-month paid traineeship scheme, open to people who identify as one, or both of the following:
Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic groupFrom a lower socio-economic backgroundTHE DATING PLAN, Sara Desai
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Today's episode features a frank, honest and at times hilarious discussion with Nelle Andrew on the state of publishing. We speak about her persistence in this field and where her drive stemmed from as she entered rooms that were filled predominantly by others who had found themselves there through connections and networks.
Nelle represents an array of internationally bestselling and award-winning authors across both fiction and non-fiction. Among those on her list are Lizzie Damilola Blackburn, Sara Collins (winner of the Costa Debut fiction award), Jing-Jing Lee (a longlistee for the Women’s Fiction Prize and Walter Scott prize), Beth Underdown (HWA Goldsboro Award winner). Nelle was crowned Literary Agent of the Year in 2021 at the Nibbies - The Bookseller Awards; the most prestigious accolade for a literary agent in the UK. We speak about what this meant to her and what she loves about being an agent.
Nelle is so generous in her assessment of publishing and of what her role currently is in this space, she was an absolute joy to speak to and I wish we could have gone for much longer.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
NELLE ANDREW IS CRAFTING A NEW NARRATIVE IN PUBLISHING, Coffee Bookshelves
DIVERSITY NOT DIVISION, The Bookseller by Nelle Andrew
HOW AGENTS AND WRITERS WORK TOGETHER WITH NELLE ANDREW, Words Away
BROWN GIRLS, Daphne Palasi Andreades
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Today's episode features the ray of light that is, Jessica George. Her infections laughter and spirit help us understand how she came to write her compelling debut novel MAAME, using her diary entries, following the passing of her father. She shares how she was able to write such a tender and witty novel on a topic that is so close to home, how she understands the editing process to be an enriching experience for both herself and her characters as well as when she knew she had to break up from her first agent. MAAME is Jess' sixth novel that she wrote but the first to be published. She shares how she knew the other five were not it and why her sixth would be the one to land her the book deal! Pre-order link below.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
MAAME (Pre-Order), Jessica George
ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT, Stephen King
THE WORST CLASS IN THE WORLD, Joanna Nadin & Rikin Parekh
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*BONUS CONTENT* from my two-hour long conversation with Kasim Ali, author of Good Intentions. We touch on his US and UK book covers, how he decided to write from the point of view of Nur and not Yasmina, as well as the pretty obvious origin of her name that he only came to realise once his mother learned the book was going to be published. Kasim speaks about the importance of writing about an interracial couple and anti-blackness in the South Asian community. Carrying on from the second episode, we talk more about his mastering of dialogue and his moment of imposter syndrome after the book was bought by UK and US editors. We talk about rejection (we can't stop!); how he made sense of it while working as an Assistant Editor at the same time and his take on the publishing industry and why books can be rejected for a myriad of reasons.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
WHY YOU SHOULD AIM FOR 100 REJECTIONS A YEAR, Lit Hub Essay by Kim Liao
MO SIEWCHARRAN PRIZE
GOOD INTENTIONS (UK), GOOD INTENTIONS (US), by Kasim Ali
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Sureka speaks with British-Pakistani author Kasim Ali whose debut novel GOOD INTENTIONS is a heart wrenching novel about love; family obligation and anti-blackness within the South-Asian community. We speak about the multiple manuscripts and multiple rejections Kasim had to get through and the one that made him stop writing for a while. He shares how he picked himself up again and what he suggests other writers ask themselves when trying to build resilience to rejection within the industry. We also touch on the editing process and his tips for being a better writer by reading and writing constantly. We also speak about his beautiful dedication to his grandparents and the meaning behind it all.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
WHITE TEETH, Zadie Smith
THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, Mohsin Hamid
ORDINARY PEOPLE, Diana Evans
A LITTLE LIFE, Hanya Yanagihara
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Sureka speaks with British-Nigerian author, Lizzie Damilola Blackburn whose debut novel YINKA, WHERE IS YOUR HUZBAND? is set to be an era defining debut. We speak about her goal of writing the stories that her and her friends never saw in books and film, the use of sensitivity readers. Lizzie helps make sense the editing process when you have US and and UK editors, tackling the Marketing and PR side as an introvert. Lizzie also helps to make sense of second book syndrome and what she does to overcome it to keep writing.
Follow us on Twitter @mimspod
Podcast Artwork: Coline Tinevez
Sound Design: Jane Arnison
RELATED LINKS:
LIZZIE'S PUBLISHING JOURNEY in The Bookseller
STORY ENGINEERING by Larry Brooks
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It's here! A new podcast for writers and publishing hopefuls to make sense of an industry that is less than transparent. Every week, I will be joined by an author from historically excluded backgrounds, in order to learn how they made sense of the process. I'll also be joined by agents, editors and other professionals from the industry to help paint a more complete picture of publishing.
Follow Us on Twitter @mimspod
Artwork by Coline Tinevez
Sound Design By Jane Arnison
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
