Kobo Writing Life Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode, we spoke with science fiction, fantasy, and young adult fiction author Nicki Pau Preto! Nicki is a Sunday Times best-selling author of six books across these genres in both the middle grade and young adult fiction categories. Her latest YA fantasy release is Ghostsmith, the sequel to Bonesmith! These two books make up the House of the Dead duology, a “dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.”

We spoke to Nicki about her publishing journey, her writing inspirations, writing YA and middle grade titles, the House of the Dead duology, fantasy world-building, developing the history of a fantasy world, and much more! This interview was full of great advice and inspiration for fantasy writers of all genres and age groups – be sure to listen if you’re looking for an illuminating look into the mind and writing process of an amazing fantasy author.

To learn more, visit Nicki’s website and find her on Instagram.

In this episode, we are joined by Renee Rose and Lee Savino, best-selling authors who have written over 20 titles together! The best-selling Bad Boy Alpha series is the result of their collaborative effort to write spicy wolf-shifter books. Their collaboration goes all the way back to 2015, when they first met at a writing conference and became fast friends. Lee and Renee had so much great advice regarding indie publishing, collaborative writing and thinking abundantly that we could have recorded for twice as long!

We also discussed Lee and Renee’s writing careers, how they got into indie publishing, their views on marketing books, advice for writing and rewriting, what makes a great co-writing relationship, how having an abundance and exponential growth mindset can help your writing career, trends in the indie publishing industry, and much more!

To learn more, visit Lee’s website and Renee’s website.

In this episode, we are joined by author Alison Cochrun, writer of the best-selling romance novels The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once For Me. Her latest work, Here We Go Again, is a “new queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.” Here We Go Again is available now from Simon & Schuster Canada!

We had a great time hearing about Alison’s journey to becoming an author after being a full-time high school English teacher, the ups and downs of publishing, being inspired to write a story based on personal experience, how Alison incorporates humour into her books, how she writes queer characters with varying experiences of being queer, and so much more! Be sure to also check out Alison’s other titles, The Charm Offensive (one of Laura’s fave reads!) and Kiss Her Once For Me, both available from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Learn more on Alison’s website, and follow Alison on Instagram!

Ramesh Mantha, Kobo’s VP of product for devices, joins us on the podcast this week to tell us about Kobo’s newest eReader: the Kobo Elipsa. Ramesh walks us through the research and development behind the Elipsa, the challenges his team faced launching a new device during a pandemic, and he answers all of our questions about the technology behind eReaders. 

Learn more about this episode!

Author and writing coach J. Thorn is on the podcast this week to talk about his book, Three Story Method, and to share some of his advice for new writers and established authors alike. J. has been an indie author for over a decade and he tells us how the indie publishing industry has changed throughout his career and why he believes this is the best time to be an indie author. 

Learn more about this episode!

In our 250th episode, bestselling author Lisa Taddeo joins us on the podcast to discuss her writing career and her first novel, Animal. Lisa is also the author of the runaway nonfiction hit, Three Women, and she talks to us about the writing process for both of her books, her career as a journalist, and why she enjoys exploring the decisions people make in her writing. 

Learn more about this episode!

Debut author Zakiya Dalila Harris joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her novel, The Other Black Girl. Before becoming an author, Zakiya worked as an editorial assistant at a publishing house and she tells us what real life experiences influenced her book and what it was like being on the other side of the author-editor relationship. She also talks to us about her experience getting an MFA, the television adaptation of The Other Black Girl, and what changes in the publishing industry she’s seeing now and hopes to see in the future.

Learn more about this episode!

Author and professional stylist Heather Newberger joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her first book, How to Date Your Wardrobe: And Other Ways to Revive, Revitalize, and Reinvigorate Your Style. We speak to Heather about her career path as a stylist, her road to publication and the bumps that were caused by the pandemic, what post-pandemic fashion will look like, and we talk about using fashion and visual cues to help build in-depth characters and layered storytelling.

Debut author Jessica Hamilton joins us on the podcast this week to discuss her recently released thriller, What You Never Knew. Jessica talks to us about her journey to publication, how she plots her thriller novels, and what it was like publishing her first book during a pandemic.

Learn more about this episode!

We are joined by Kobo’s Siobhan Padgett on the podcast this week. Siobhan is the Senior Vendor Manager for the US and Canada, working with hundreds of publishers across both territories, and she talks to us about her role at Kobo, what elements successful titles have in common, and what indie publishers and traditional publishers can learn from one another. Siobhan has worked in the publishing industry for over two decades and she shares what changes she has seen within the industry, where she hopes the industry will go in the future, and she shares some fun insider stories with us. 

Learn more about this episode!