A deep dive into the habits, mindsets, tools, craft secrets and creative practices bestselling writers use to write novels, plays, poetry, and articles. Hosted by the co-founders of the London Writers' Salon, Matt & Parul.
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#214: Emma Gannon — Finding Your Creative Compass, Letting Go of People-Pleasing, Redefining Success, and Owning Your Work Through Self-Publishing
Épisode 214
samedi 3 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:03:10
Sunday Times bestselling author Emma Gannon on healing burnout through play and joy, trusting your creative intuition over people-pleasing, and what she's learned from self-publishing alongside traditional publishing.
You'll learn
Why burnout might be healed through play and joy rather than by pushing harder.
How some books arrive in a month while others take years, and why there's no single right way to write one.
The case against selling a book before it's written.
A squirrel-inspired method for gathering raw material and letting a book's themes reveal themselves.
What to remember when you're tempted to talk yourself out of writing a book.
When people-pleasing quietly drowns out your creative intuition, and how to hear it again.
How small, everyday acts of creativity keep the spark alive between big projects.
What to do on bleak days, and why your younger self might hold the answer.
Self-publishing from the inside, including the numbers behind one book.
How judging a major literary prize can stretch you as a reader.
If you're self-publishing a book, Lulu now offers a Direct Buy Button that enables you to sell direct to your reader through a simple code. There's no cost to using it and it makes it easier to sell books directly from anywhere: your newsletter, social profile, website or podcast - and you don't have to worry about shipping or taxes. For more information head to lulu.com.
In Partnership with Discoveries 2027
This episode was recorded in partnership with Discoveries 2027, the Women's Prize Trust's writer development programme for unagented and unpublished women writers. Discoveries is designed to empower new voices, unlock potential, build confidence, and increase writers' skills and knowledge.
Submissions for Discoveries 2027 opened Tuesday, September 15. Submit here.
About Emma Gannon
Emma Gannon is the Sunday Times bestselling author of nine books, including A Year of Nothing and OLIVE, which was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel, Table for One (2025), was selected as People magazine's 'Fiction of the Week.'
Emma also writes one of the UK's most popular Substack newsletters, The Hyphen, which has thousands of paid subscribers. In addition to her writing, she hosts creativity retreats around the world and served as a judge for the 2025 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Her latest book is A Creative Compass: Finding Your Way to a Creative Life.
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#213: Anthony Anaxagorou — Thinking Like a Poet, Pushing Past Self-Doubt, and Treating Rejection as Part of the Job (From The Vault)
Épisode 213
vendredi 25 septembre 2026 • Durée 51:19
Poet, publisher, and educator Anthony Anaxagorou on treating rejection as part of the job, pushing an idea to its edge without losing the reader, and ending a poem where it can keep travelling — a re-release of episode #012.
You'll learn:
Why walking away from writing for years doesn't necessarily mean you ever left it.
How to treat rejection as part of the job rather than a verdict on your worth.
What happens to your work when one stamp of validation starts to feel like an entitlement.
How a restless, never-satisfied mind can become a creative engine.
A morning listening exercise, borrowed from Lydia Davis, that can hand you the first line of a poem.
What to do when you're stuck on a line and the answer is sitting on your bookshelf.
Why “accessible” is one of the most loaded words in poetry.
How far to push an idea before you lose the reader.
Two ways to take a flat, literal line and make it tell the truth slant.
Why your poem probably starts later and ends earlier than you think, and what the reader does with the space you leave.
#212: Marti Leimbach — The Art of Writing a Novel, Why Self-Doubt Is a Good Sign, Revising Without Losing Heart, and Surviving the Highs and Lows of Publishing (From The Vault)
Épisode 212
dimanche 20 septembre 2026 • Durée 46:53
Bestselling novelist Marti Leimbach on the art of writing a novel, surviving early success and the long career that follows, and turning lived experience into fiction — a remastered version of episode #016.
You'll learn
Why your relationship to the page has to outrank every other voice in writing and publishing.
How to tell apart the voice that says you're no good and the voice that says you're not finished.
The case for admitting you're not up to the task before you sit down to write.
What a genuinely good writing day looks like, and why a single sentence can count as one.
Why no novel is ever perfect, and what Picasso understood about original work.
How enormous early success actually lands on a writer, and what the morning after looks like.
A way of finding the real story inside a draft that has grown far too big.
When self-doubt is a sign of talent rather than a lack of it.
Why some books have to be written as fiction rather than memoir.
The trick of convincing yourself you have unlimited time when you clearly don't.
Marti Leimbach is known for her bestsellers, Dying Young, made into a film starring Julia Roberts, and Daniel Isn't Talking. She is interested in neurodiversity and has shared the stage with young inventors at the Human Genome Project (Toronto), the National Autistic Society, and the University of Oxford. Her interest in science influenced her YA thriller, Dragonfly Girl.
#211: Laura Palmer & Jessie Sullivan — How to Market Your Book, from the Founders of Digital-First Publisher Pellerin Books, Finding the Readers Who Will Love Your Book, and Why the Best Book Still Wins
Épisode 211
samedi 12 septembre 2026 • Durée 50:10
Pellerin Books founders Laura Palmer and Jessie Sullivan on how readers discover books now, where to put your marketing money, and why the quality of the book still decides everything.
You'll learn
The rule that quietly decides which authors get a publisher’s time, budget and attention.
Why the first question about marketing a book is never “how?”
How to research your readers and your market without paying for a single tool.
The metric that makes an ad campaign look like it is working when nothing is.
What a cover and a developmental edit should cost, and the one place never to skimp.
Why raising your ad budget too fast makes it perform worse, not better.
How subscription reading changed what a sagging middle chapter costs a writer.
Whether a publisher actually cares how many followers you have.
Three books on writing that between them cover almost everything, and the two-word rule that keeps readers turning pages.
Why you cannot keyword your way into a reader’s life in the age of AI search.
#210: Lily King — Emotional Arc, Women and Literary Ambition, Silencing the Inner Critic, and Why Patience Is a Writer's Real Craft
Épisode 210
dimanche 6 septembre 2026 • Durée 56:17
Award-winning novelist Lily King on finding the emotional arc of a novel, writing the scene you keep avoiding, and making peace with ambition, self-criticism and the long road to a first book.
You'll learn
Why the scene you most want to avoid is usually the one your book needs.
How a small change in the final pages of one section can rebuild an entire novel.
What it means to think in emotional arc rather than theme.
The difference between being hard on yourself about writing and being hard on yourself while you write.
Why giving yourself permission to write about your own life can unlock everything that follows.
When a middle section goes flat, and how to find the engine it's missing.
How ambition shows up differently for women writers, and the shame that can come with it.
A notebook method built on margins, timelines, and a daily writing log.
Why a bad review can be more useful than praise.
What nine years on a first novel teaches you about patience.
#209: Literary Agent Rachel Mann — What Makes an Agent Say Yes, Navigating the Submissions Process, and the Tension Between Art and Commerce
Épisode 209
dimanche 30 août 2026 • Durée 50:49
CAA literary agent Rachel Mann on what makes her say yes to a manuscript, how to navigate the submissions process without losing control of your career, and why cutting is the work that makes prose land.
You'll learn
Why the recognition an agent needs is physical rather than analytical.
What to do when you're not sure your manuscript is ready to send out.
How to buy more time after a full manuscript request without killing the momentum.
Why telling other agents about your requests works in your favour, even if it feels grubby.
The realistic rhythm for chasing an agent who has gone quiet.
Whether refusing to use social media can cost a writer representation.
A question worth answering before you sign with anyone, and why the answer shapes the edit.
The edit most manuscripts need before submission, and why it rarely means adding.
How poetry's distillation applies to prose, whatever you write.
What still gives an agent hope in a market where people are reading less.
#208: What Keeps Us Writing? Memoirist Deepa Paul, Essayist Gina Beach, and Novelist Daisy Buchanan on Finishing a Book an Hour at a Time, Writing in Community, and Taking Yourself Less Seriously
Épisode 208
dimanche 23 août 2026 • Durée 45:13
In this special episode we go behind the scenes with memoirist Deepa Paul, essayist, cookbook author Gina Beach, and novelist Daisy Buchanan and talk about the two things that keep them going: the passion behind the work, and the practice that makes the work possible.
From an essay that no editor wanted to a Women's Prize-longlisted memoir, a personal research rabbit hole that became a four-year book project, and the journey from idea to novel, this is a personal conversation with three writers about about why they write the things they write — and what kept them going.
You'll learn
Why an essay no editor wanted a decade ago turned out not to be an essay at all.
How to break a book into tasks small enough to finish inside a single hour.
The case for treating your own interior life as seriously as any grand subject.
How a rabbit hole of personal research turned into a four-year book project.
Why the hardest part of self-publishing has nothing to do with production.
When procrastination is doing useful work, and when it's just filling the gaps.
What changes in your writing once you stop trying to get it right.
A reason to stop measuring a writing session by its word count.
How sitting alongside other writers quietly rearranges your sense of your own work.
The tidal metaphor that makes a bad writing day easier to let go of.
#207: Writing Bestselling Middle-Grade Fiction — Jasmine Richards (Storymix), Natalie Doherty (Puffin and HarperCollins), Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) on Standing Out on the Shelf and Writing Unputdownable Voice | Compilation
Épisode 207
dimanche 16 août 2026 • Durée 32:24
Children’s fiction studio founder Jasmine Richards (Storymix), publisher Natalie Doherty (Puffin and HarperCollins Children’s Books), and bestselling author Soman Chainani (The School for Good and Evil) on shaping an idea commercial enough to sell, what makes a children’s book impossible to put down, and trusting the unconscious to write it.
You’ll learn
Why the most commercial idea is the one that centres its reader from the very first thought.
How a single pithy log line can carry a book all the way from the slush pile to the playground.
The counterintuitive trick of starting your story at chapter three.
How to read what children are reading now so your pacing keeps up with theirs.
What a publisher is really looking for when a manuscript lands on the desk — and why voice comes before plot.
How the categories from early readers to YA actually break down on the bookshop shelf.
The difference between weaving in a message and writing a book that feels worthy.
The case for never self-censoring in a first draft, and saving the negotiation for later.
How tiring out your conscious mind can unlock a freer, more instinctive way to draft.
Why the goal of writing should be the writing itself, not the bestseller list.
#205: Casper ter Kuile — Sacred Writing, Turning Routine into Ritual, Rest as Creative Fuel, Moving Past Self-Doubt (From The Vault)
Épisode 205
dimanche 2 août 2026 • Durée 46:55
Author Casper ter Kuile on transforming everyday writing into a sacred ritual, drawing on rest and reflection to fuel creativity, and moving past self-doubt to write as a gift for others.
You'll learn
Why the point of the work week might be the rest, not the other way around.
How to turn an ordinary daily habit into a ritual using three simple ingredients.
What a weekly tech sabbath can unlock in your most creative thinking.
The reframe that turns a dreadful first draft into something you can build on.
A piece of advice from a mentor that dissolves the pressure to say something new.
How reading writers you love can quietly refill the tank when you're stuck.
Why treating your writing as a gift changes the way you handle criticism.
The practice for staying humble and kind toward yourself in equal measure.
What sacred reading traditions can teach you about going deeper into any text.
Why the smallest groups, not the biggest audiences, are where meaning actually forms.
Anthony Anaxagorou FRSL is a British-born Cypriot poet, fiction writer, essayist, publisher and poetry educator. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, New Statesman, Granta, and elsewhere.
His third collection, Heritage Aesthetics (Granta Poetry, 2022), won the 2023 RSL Ondaatje Prize. His second collection, After the Formalities, was shortlisted for the 2019 T.S. Eliot Prize and called a poetry book of the year by the Telegraph and Guardian. He was awarded the 2019 H-100 Award for writing and publishing, and the 2015 Groucho Maverick Award for his poetry and fiction, and in 2023 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2012 Anthony set up one of London's leading poetry nights, Out-Spoken, a monthly poetry and music night now held at London's Southbank Centre, and established Out-Spoken Press – a publishing house that looks to challenge the lack of diversity in British poetry publishing.
His craft book, How to Write It, was published by Penguin's #Merky Books in 2020.
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She teaches on the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Dragonfly Girl is her eighth novel, but her first for young adults.
Pellerin Books is a new independent publisher of popular fiction, built for the way readers discover and fall in love with books today. It publishes immersive, emotionally engaging stories readers can’t put down – from thrillers to romance, historical fiction to science fiction, saga to fantasy and everything in between. It is a digital-focus publisher, which means ebooks and audiobooks are at the heart of what it does, although all its titles are available in paperback for readers who love to hold a book in their hands.
At Pellerin, we believe deeply in good books and the difference they can make. We became publishers because we believe in the craft of storytelling, the power to create living worlds and characters that reach beyond the page. Making books, for us, is a way to be part of that strange magic that binds reader and author when the right book gets into the right hands.
About Laura Palmer & Jessie Sullivan
Laura’s love of storytelling drew her into the publishing industry in 2007 as an assistant at Quercus Books, where she was part of the team that discovered and published Stieg Larsson. In 2010, she joined Corvus, where she rode the ebook boom, delivering sales previously unheard of for new authors, and was shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn prize for women in publishing. In 2012, she co-founded Head of Zeus, alongside publishing veterans Anthony and Nicolas Cheetham. As executive director and fiction publisher, Laura ran three imprints and published more than a hundred authors at Head of Zeus. Bestselling authors she has worked with include Dani Atkins, JP Delaney, Dan Jones, Graham Masterton and Amanda Prowse.
Jessie Sullivan has spent her career at the intersection of publishing and performance-led marketing. She is one of the most commercially effective marketers in modern publishing, with over £8 million in directly attributed revenue and more than £10 million in total marketing impact.
Lily King is the award-winning author of six novels. Her most recent novel, Heart the Lover, was published on September 30th, 2025. She has also published a collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter. Her 2020 novel, Writers & Lovers, won the New England Society Book Awards and was a New York Times Notable Book and chosen as a top-ten best book of 2020 by The Washington Post, NPR, People Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Prize, the New England Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon's Best Books of 2014.
To Query CAA: Email ukbooksubmissions@caa.com. To submit, please send a cover email, one-page synopsis and the first three chapters of your work, or the rough equivalent.
About Rachel Mann
Rachel Mann is a Literary Agent at CAA and represents a broad range of work – largely fiction, with some non-fiction — from commercial to literary, in adult, young adult, and middle-grade markets.
Her clients include Eliza Clark, Caleb Femi, Jade LB and Aisling Rawle, and have won and been listed for major prizes, including the Granta Best Young British Novelist, the Forward Prize for Poetry, the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Jhalak Prize, the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, The Bookseller Discover Prize, and the Carnegie Medal.
She spent ten years editing and commissioning fiction for young people at houses including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, and was global publishing director at the Roald Dahl Story Company. She became an agent in 2018 and joined CAA in 2023.
Deepa Paul is a Filipina-Indian author living in Amsterdam. Her writing explores the balance between being a mother, wife, girlfriend, daughter, adventurer, and herself – all at the same time. Her debut, Ask Me: A Memoir of Daring to Love Differently, was longlisted for the Women's Prize.
Regina Beach is a disabled poet and essayist. Originally from the American midwest, she now calls the Welsh Valleys home. Her writing has appeared in Global Poemic, Boldly Mental, The Rail, Haiku by You, Five Minutes, Visual Verse, The Horror Tree, and Disoriented among others. She is the founder of the literary magazine Lesions | Art + Words, which features the work of people living with chronic health conditions. Her book is Nurture: Oil-Free, Plant-Based Cooking for Health.
Daisy Buchanan is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author of Insatiable (longlisted for the CWIP prize), Careering (as heard on BBC Sounds), Limelight and Pity Party, and the non-fiction titles How to Be A Grown Up, The Sisterhood and Read Yourself Happy. She writes for major newspapers and magazines from the Guardian to Grazia, and is host of the chart-topping podcast You're Booked. Her latest book is All Grown Up: A hilarious and heartwarming new novel inspired by Little Women.
Jasmine Richards is the author of over a dozen children’s books, ranging from picture books to teen fiction. Her most recent novel, Keeper of Myths, was published by HarperCollins. She has over 15 years of experience as an editor, including roles at Hamish Hamilton, Puffin, and Dutton Books in New York. Jasmine is the founder of Storymix, a children’s fiction studio, where she uses her unique experiences to develop new voices and inclusive stories.
Natalie Doherty is a Publisher at Puffin, although during this interview she was at HarperCollins Children’s Books. She’s worked with award-winning and bestselling authors, including Tom Fletcher, Robin Stevens, R. J. Palacio, Tamzin Merchant, and Nazneen Ahmed Pathak. Before moving into editorial in 2010, she worked in Contracts and Rights at Hachette and holds a BA in Modern European Languages and an MA in Translation. Her recent middle-grade acquisitions include Simon Stephenson’s The Snowman Code and Philippa Leathley’s Inkbound.
Soman Chainani’s debut series, The School for Good and Evil, has sold more than 3 million copies, been translated into 30 languages across 6 continents, and became a major motion picture from Netflix starring Charlize Theron, Laurence Fishburne, Kerry Washington, and Michelle Yeoh, with Chainani as an executive producer. Each of the six books in the series — The School for Good and Evil, A World Without Princes, The Last Ever After, Quests for Glory, A Crystal of Time, and One True King — debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. A graduate of Harvard University, Soman created his own fairy-tale major before going on to an MFA in film at Columbia University. He has made films that have played all over the world, and his writing awards include honors from Big Bear Lake, the CAPE Foundation, and the Sun Valley Writers’ Fellowship. In Beasts & Beauty: Dangerous Tales, Soman reimagines old stories into fresh fairy tales for a new era.
Maya C. Popa is a Romanian American poet. She holds a PhD on the role of wonder in poetry from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she was a recipient of a department bursary for exceptional merit, and previous degrees from Oxford University, New York University, and Barnard College.
Popa is the author of If You Love That Lady (W. W. Norton, 2026); Wound Is the Origin of Wonder (W. W. Norton, 2022), named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of Poetry; and American Faith (Sarabande, 2019), a runner-up for the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, judged by Ocean Vuong, and winner of the North American Book Prize in 2020. She has also received awards from the Poetry Foundation and the Oxford Poetry Society.
Popa is the poetry reviews editor at Publishers Weekly and is the founder of Conscious Writers Collective, where she teaches and oversees all literary programming for poets and prose writers. She lives in New York City.
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About Casper ter Kuile
Casper ter Kuile is the author of The Power of Ritual and the co-founder of The Nearness: a space to explore life's big questions with like-hearted others. Casper holds Masters in Public Policy and Divinity from Harvard University, is the former cohost of popular podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, and loves harmony singing, the London Review of Books, and arriving at the pub after a long country walk. He lives with his husband in Brooklyn, NY.
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