I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest on the Authorized Podcast a few times now, but this novelisation of the 1969 WWII movie Play Dirty has been the most fascinating. The film stars Michael Caine*, was directed by Andre de Toth, with a screenplay co-written by Melvyn Bragg. The novelisation is by the mysterious Zeno, and we do some digging to discover who he really was. I have to explain Melvyn Bragg to Americans, and we spend about ten minutes getting confused about the difference between a ‘presenter’ and a ‘host’. And it’s all fun! Enjoy…
*It’s his 91st birthday, today, 14th March. Happy birthday, Sir Michael!
It’s always a treat to go on the Authorized Podcast, but this was a different and extra special episode for two reasons: instead of film novelisation, we were discussing a choose-your-own-adventure book called Indiana Jones and the Cup of the Vampire, and secondly because my son George joined for this episode. To discover why you’ll just have to tune in (not that people actually ‘tune in’ to podcasts, but you get what I mean) and you will also be rewarded with some excellent insight to the Club Penguin phenomenon…
In a follow-up to last week’s Romancing the Stone podcast, I was invited back by the Authorized Podcast gang to discuss the sequel The Jewel of the Nile. The film itself was off to a bad start in that the original screenwriter and creator of these characters, Diane Thomas, was not involved. At first she was working on Spielberg’s Always, then an Indiana Jones sequel, before tragically passing away in a car crash. This meant the film was scripted by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner who would later go on to write one of my favourite Star Trek movies, The Undiscovered Country, but they only had a couple of credits to their name on this one, and from digging into to making of this film it seems there was interference from all sides, so I guess they were hobbled from the beginning. So anyway, this is my long way of saying we weren’t fans of this one. I feel for the novelist Catherine Lanigan who did her best to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Have a listen here…
I was delighted to be asked to return as a guest on the Authorized Podcast to discuss the novelisation of Romancing the Stone, which is credited to the film’s protagonist Joan Wilder (played by the incredible Kathleen Turner), but is in fact written by the romance author Catherine Lanigan. What surprised us all was just how hot and saucy this book gets! Definitely rated R for Raunchy, as is the podcast. Enjoy and I’ll be back with them next week for The Jewel of the Nile…
… is more than a podcast. It’s rapidly become a sacred depository of rock history. Every week, musicians Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt speak to a legend of rock and it’s never dull. What’s great is that Gary and Guy have been there and done that and can talk with the greatest musicians as peers, but they’re also fans and remember to ask the geeky questions that we’ve always wanted the answers to. Their guests have included Nick Mason, Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher, but in many ways it’s a bit like Desert Island Discs in that the episodes that feature artists that you’re less familiar with can be the most entertaining and will have you rushing to your music streamer to download everything they’ve done. This episode with The Anchoress is a case in point…
… comes from Joel Morris, one half of the brilliant Rule of Three podcast, and this offers a similar insight to the things we love and bring us comfort, but its remit goes beyond comedy and has included Raiders of the Lost Ark, Animal Crossing, Curvy Brides Boutique and The Hairy Bikers. And even if you don’t hold these things with the same affection as the guests you’ll always come away with a new appreciation for them. This is another good podcast for writers as Joel Morris has a gentle genius for breaking down why things work so well. I always learn something new.
… does exactly what it says on the tin. Hosted by writer and broadcaster, Matt Brown and Stephen Murray, senior lecturer at Teeside University, it celebrates all the weird and wonderful robots in film and TV history. From the glory of Maria in Metropolis, to Metal Mickey, and Tobor the Great, this will (eventually) cover them all. I was lucky enough to appear on a recent episode discussing Disney’s The Black Hole and that mind-bending ending with Maximilian…
When I last posted about my favourite podcasts, Film Stories was two episodes old. Now it’s established as one of the go-to pods for great tales of films somehow getting made (it’s really hard to get a film made… really, really hard) and celebrates them all. And the presenter Simon Brew also has occasional special episodes where he interviews filmmakers about their career so far. Here’s a recent one with m’colleague Jon Wright where I was delighted to get a fanboy mention…
A brilliantly simple concept: take the things we thing we know about and challenge those assumptions to reveal the deeper story. So far episodes have included The Donner Party, Tom Cruise on Oprah’s Couch, OJ Simpson’s Trial, Tonya Harding, and The Satanic Panic. A ton of research goes into each episode and it really shows. The only caveat for Brits: the presenters and guests use the word ‘like’ like a, like, comma, and it can, like, get a little, like, annoying… But if you can filter that out (and you should: get over yourself) it’s a really rewarding listen. This episode on Beanie Babies is a real treat…
One of the few podcasts I’m still listening to all these years later, and it’s still one of the best for writers of scripts out there. The big difference is that Craig Mazin has gone from being that guy who wrote comedies, to the uber genius who wrote Chernobyl and The Last of Us, and the insights that he and John August offer are simply unmissable. The episode I always point listeners to is this untypical solo show from Craig discussing theme. This actually changed the way I write and I’ve never looked back…
Honorable mentions…
I listen to Word in Your Ear every week, which features the wonderful Mark Ellen and David Hepworth discussing music. It can get a little too grumpy old men at times, but it’s always a good laugh. I’m catching up with the Richard Herring podcast, which is often filthy and hilarious. Films to be Buried With with Brett Goldstein is always thought-provoking and made me realise that the film character that I most relate to is Kevin from Time Bandits, and Adam Buxton still gets more of out of his guests that almost any other interviewer.
Oh, and of course there’s The Bestseller Experiment. We’re still going strong after six-and-a-half years and no sign of stopping. We’ve recently started adding more additional content for our supporters on Patreon and in the Academy, and it can be over half an hour of extra material per episode sometimes, and we also have over 130 Deep Dive episodes on subjects like marketing, writing blurbs, police procedurals, forensics, beta readers and much more, so if you want that good stuff then you can get your hands on it here.
Here’s a recent episode with the brilliant Delilah S Dawson…
And that’s that for the moment. My apologies to anyone I’ve missed out, especially if I’ve been a guest on your podcast… But why not bung a link in the comments and let’s get people listening…
There’s something about chatting with bestselling thriller author and podcaster Nadine Matheson that made me all confessional! We talk about all sorts, including being made redundant, dealing with Amazon, being skint, being old and going for job interviews, why I insisted on getting a proper lunch break and much, much more! This is one of my favourite new podcasts, and I was honoured to be a guest. It’s available on all the usual podcast providers, or you can click on the link below…
I’d had such a great time discussing the novelisation of Rogue One and its prequel Catalyst, that it was real treat to be invited back onto the Authorized Podcast to discuss my favourite TV series of the year ANDOR!
We discuss all our favourite moments and characters and I ask the key questions: How many parents will be using ‘On Program!’ on their own children? How long before we see Judi Dench flying the Millennium Falcon? And why is there a frog man hopping around Ferrix?
I had a blast chatting with the Authorized Podcast gang about Alexander Freed’s excellent novelisation of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We discuss capes, Andor, Tony Gilroy, whether George Lucas ever expected to make a sequel to Star Wars, and the novel’s wonderfully catty memos between Krennic, Tarkin and Galen Erso…
So what do you think happened after E.T. went home? Turns out he was spurned by everyone he knew, got demoted, drugged a whole bunch of his aliens friends and stole a turnip spaceship. Yes. Really.
It’s not much of a spoiler to say that we didn’t make it. However, if failure is a teacher then we learned an awful lot. Here were the big lessons for me…
Write a series – It’s much more difficult to sell a standalone book using advertising tools (Amazon Merchandising Services, Facebook Ads, Bookbub, Publisher Rocket) that are best designed to sell more than one product. So guess what I’m writing next…?
Not being able to use AMS in the UK hurt our chances of success. Yes, I know some authors have managed to use loopholes to run ads in the UK, but that wasn’t available when we signed up. I did ask Kindle’s Darren Hardy at the London Book Fair when it might be available and he said it was coming soon, but couldn’t give a fixed date. I’m not holding my breath. Back to Reality is very British in its humour and tone — and it’s been great to get such a wonderful reaction from readers all over the world — but it would have been great to sell more effectively to our Amazon readers in the UK.
It might just be that I’m bad at marketing. This is very likely my biggest issue… I did the Mark Dawson course, I read the David Gaughran books, I did everything I was supposed to… but marketing is a skillset you have to develop over years, and I was hardly going to master it in a few months.
Genre and readers are key. Back to Reality is a little bit of humour, a little bit contemporary fiction, a little bit science fiction, and a little bit rock n roll, so pinning down one genre was nigh-on impossible. And it’s tricky trying to identify just who your readers are, especially when your “also boughts” on Amazon are mostly for non-fiction “How to write” books (a byproduct of the podcast: our first readers were our listeners who are all writers). Compared to straight-down-the-line thrillers or romance, our novel wasn’t quite as straightforward.
But I’m not complaining!
It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (I guess that makes every author insane). With that in mind, I’m going to repeat this experiment with The End of Magic, but I intend to make ALL NEW MISTAKES!
We’ve long banged on about writers making public declarations on the podcast. They put a fire under your bum and, combined with a firm deadline, can spur you on to great things.
I can only do this in the USA… Unbound have the UK rights and I have no visibility on sales other than the twice yearly statements.
I’m going to stick with Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
I’ll be counting both Kindle and Paperback sales.
Wish me luck! I’ll chronicle my progress here on the blog and in my newsletter. I’ve already started with a couple of AMS ads and Bookbub newsletter ads. I’ll let you know how they get on. Current sales are zero. The only way is up…
If you want to help, why not buy a copy right now? It’s right here.
Mark Stay Writes 