The Long Road to Publishing with Eva Langston

The Rejection Challenge & Winning the AWP Award

After racking up an impressive number of rejections, Chital Mehta’s manuscript won the AWP Novel Prize (judged by R.O. Kwon) and was published by University of Nebraska P

Debut #2 and Blending Literary with Commercial

Tara Goedjen has had three agents and has pivoted three times in her writing career. She had her YA debut in 2017, and now she’s getting to debut again with her adult got

Finding the Heart & Getting Unstuck

This episode with Irish author Oran Doyle is the most emotional and tear-filled so far! Oran Doyle started out in screenwriting and script-editing before writing middle

The Truth About Negotiating Your Own Contract

Amy True negotiated the contracts for her first two books (and explains why she wouldn’t recommend that!). We also discuss her long publishing journey over four different

Creative Writing Degrees & a Decade to Debut

Lisa Lee got both an MFA and a PhD in creative writing! Now, after many, many years (and many revisions!) her debut literary novel, AMERICAN HAN, is receiving oodles of a

Freshman Rush and a Sophomore Slump

Kathleen Barber’s bestselling debut, TRUTH BE TOLD, was turned into a TV series with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine company. Her sophomore novel… didn’t do so well. B

Editors & Co-Authors Writing in Many Genres

David Griffin Brown and Michelle Barker have both been on long journeys to publishing their novels. Now, in addition to being editors at The Darling Axe, they are success

An Agent Miracle & Curveballs to Come

Journalist Mimi Montgomery signed with the first agent she queried (!!), and is using her dog as part of the guerrilla marketing campaign for her debut novel, MURDER BITE

Premise-palooza & Writing Hitchcock for Kids

After brainstorming over 100 ideas, Amy Tern came up with a Hitchcock-inspired premise for a middle grade novel… and finally landed both an agent and a book deal with Hol

The Case of the Accidental Self-Publisher

When former FBI agent Jerri’s crime novel died on submission, she “accidentally” started self-publishing. And after a long and emotional road (and some work as a TV consu

Her 20th Book, But It Felt Like Her First

Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau started out writing books for teens in French for a French publisher. She now writes in English, and has had four novels published in the US: two Y

99 Books and Checking Every Box

Bestselling author Eliza Knight self-publishes romance novels and traditionally publishes historical fiction and contemporary thrillers. Her latest novel TRADWIFE, coming

A Wild Path to Publishing Weird Books

Lawyer and bestselling author Emily Jane has penned an incredible pile of genre-bending manuscripts, and her publishing journey is just as unconventional as her books. 

Kidlit Author Gets Her Place in the Sun

Moniza Hossain had FOUR middle grade novels die on submission before landing two picture book deals. Now she also has a middle grade horror novel coming out. After a brut

X-treme Research & Writing YA Thrillers

April Henry goes to extreme lengths to research her mystery/thriller novels, like allowing herself to get kidnapped!  She has published 31 mysteries and thrillers for te

Scoring a Three-Book Deal

Tara Sexton landed a 3-book deal with her sports romance series... but it didn’t come easy! She had a 10-year marathon of close calls, TONS of unpublished manuscripts, an

How an Architect Designs a Novel

After Amin Ahmad lost his agent and his editor, his crime novel series was cut short. But now he’s back in the game with a brand-new thriller called A KILLER IN THE FAMIL

Following the Magic in Novels & Screenplays

Ruth Knafo Setton was told there was “no chance” her book would get published, but after parting ways with her agent, she sold the book on her own and won some awards for

How to "Bee" A Professional Author

Beekeeper and kidlit author Shanna Upchurch got orphaned by her editor and dumped by her agent within a 48-hour period. But she kept things professional and a few weeks l

Long Story Short

Darien Gee experienced many years of ups and downs with writing and publishing novels before getting her MFA (at the age of 50) and discovering a love for micro-prose, po