I was delighted to be asked to go on MIC’s Podcast Club to talk about how the Bestseller Experiment won an Independent Podcast Award last year (that’s me above with Esther Manito, host of the Independent Podcast Awards, 2023). We talk about starting and running a podcast, making your entry stand out if you’re applying this year, and how the Bestseller Experiment’s greatest strength is the community of writers that’s grown up around it. It’s a great hour-long chat, but if you want to go straight to my bit it’s around 39 minutes in…
Category: The Bestseller Experiment
Jacqueline O’Mahony – Sheer Determination: My Last Interview on the Bestseller Experiment
This is it! The last author interview I did for The Bestseller Experiment podcast has been released and it’s with the brilliant Jacqueline O’Mahony and we discuss stuff like coming up with the title before the book, writing about ‘intangible things’, writing about tragedies like the Great Famine, winning awards at a young age, and the excellent advice, “Keep writing and something will come.” Enjoy!
Speedy First Drafts with Rachel Lynch
I recorded this fun interview with bestselling author Rachel Lynch before I left the podcast at the end of 2023 (I think there’s one more in the vaults to be released!). We chat about how she can bang out a first draft in six weeks, writing gripping openings, making characters relatable, researching PTSD, writing about the super rich and a ton more…
Lying with Shari Lapena on the Bestseller Experiment
Yes, I left the Bestseller Experiment podcast at the end of 2023, but there are still a few of my author interviews to come and here’s the first of them with the wonderful Shari Lapena, author of the new thriller Everyone Here is Lying. We talk about switching from literary fiction to commercial thrillers, changing agents, coming up with titles and more…
My Last Ever Episode of the Bestseller Experiment Podcast
Merry Christmas! That’s if you celebrate, if not then Happy Monday! Mondays have been ‘New Podcast Day’ for the last seven and a bit years, and today marks the release of my last ever episode of The Bestseller Experiment as co-presenter. Why am I leaving? I explain myself in full here. And rest assured that this isn’t the end of the podcast: Mr D will continue and it’s going to be amazing.
What will I be up to in the meantime? Well, stand by for an update in the New Year. Until then, here’s our special Christmas episode where I share some of my favourite moments, outtakes, and we get a visit from a very special elf…
LM Chilton Swipes Right for a Chat
It’s always great to have a guest on the podcast who was a listener who got a book deal, and Luke Chilton described himself as a “hardcore fan” when he dropped us a line pitching to come on the show. How can we turn down a request like that? Also, I had the pleasure of giving Luke feedback of an early draft of his debut novel ‘Don’t Swipe Right’ when it was called ‘Ex’. It’s a cracking read, a thriller with heart and humour and the rights have been sold in over ten countries and Luke has had the most amazing reviews.
Here’s the episode with our chat, and also enjoy the moment where I make a very inappropriate joke about the Joy of Sex with Mr D…
I’m Leaving the Bestseller Experiment Podcast
Yup. After seven years, 480+ episodes, 500+ authors and countless hours of award-winning waffle I’ve decided to hang up my podcasting headphones. Why would I do such a thing? Well, I need to spend more time focusing on my writing. The podcast can take up to half of my working week, and I’ve currently got four big writing projects on the go with more on the horizon and I need every spare minute I can get.
I’ve tried to pre-empt what questions listeners might have and answered them below, but if you have any other questions then do please pop them in the comments section below…
When am I leaving? The last episode I’m recording is the Christmas Day special. I have recorded a few author interviews that will go live in January, so you’ll hear those, but I won’t be recording the usual before and after chat with Mr D.
Will the podcast continue? You betcha! Mr D has some very exciting plans for the Bestseller Experiment. I have no doubt that it’ll be bigger and better than ever.
Are you leaving the Bestseller Academy? Yes. But again, there are hours and hours of my pearls of wisdom (aka writerly waffle) in the academy archive and my courses are still there. And, like the podcast, Mr D has some great plans for the academy going forward. I’ll leave it to him to reveal them in his own time, but it’s still a great place to find a wonderful writing community.
Will you start your own podcast? I don’t have any immediate plans to do so, but I love speaking with authors and who knows what the future holds. I won’t rule it out, but it won’t be happening soon. I might even take a wee step back from social media for a bit. But I’ll always be here on the blog.
Have you and Mr D had a falling out? Is this like the break up of the Beatles!? Definitely not! I love that man and wish him only happiness. Chatting with him every week has been a delight. Though I should make it clear that we don’t live together like Morecambe and Wise or Bert and Ernie…
What if I want advice on writing? Can you still look at my novel and script? Definitely! Just drop me a line here and we can get the ball rolling.
The podcast has been a huge part of my life these last seven years and I’ve loved every minute of it. It’s been a privilege speaking to so many amazing authors and publishing folk, and there’s no question that it’s made me a better writer. There’s a wonderful cliche in storytelling that the real prize is the friends we made along the way, and that’s never been truer than with the podcast: Mr D, and all the members of the BXP Group and the Academy, I now have the honour of calling my friends. It’s been a joy getting to know them all and see their writing blossom in so many different ways. And I will always look back on the podcast with a huge sense of pride and joy. It’s goodbye from Mark Two…
Jake Lamar Makes Words Sing
As if getting notes from an editor wasn’t stressful enough, this week’s podcast guest Jake Lamar recounts a time when he got his edit notes while recovering from a heart operation in an intensive care unit. He tells me that during recovery he found that writing was ‘Even more of a solace.’ And he’s right. Even as I’m typing this I’ve just had some notes come through on a project, and while it make me groan and think, ‘Here we go again…’ this thing we do is still better than spending a fortune commuting on a delayed train to an office that’s designed to grind me into submission. So I’ll take these notes on the chin and get on with it. It’s a privilege that I’m all too aware of.
We discuss all sorts in this week’s episode, including jazz, making your writing sing, and I recount that time I was in a minibus from London to Manchester with Joe Hill, Joe Abercrombie, Joanne Harris, Brandon Sanderson and more…
Soft Linkage with Graham Hurley
Soft Linkage sounds vaguely filthy (or that just might be my warped mind), but it’s a concept that the brilliant Graham Hurley — author of 49 books and counting — came up with when pitching his series of Second World War thrillers to his publisher. They naturally wanted a central character that the reader could follow through the war, but Graham wanted to tell the stories that fascinated him without having to shoehorn the same protagonist into every novel. And it really works. His latest novel, The Blood of Others, is well into the series but anyone could pick it up and if you love WWII thrillers you definitely should.
We also discuss the benefits of long publisher lunches, searching for the Titanic (yes, really) and writing in a genre you’re not a fan of. Full disclosure: I used to sell Graham’s books when I worked at Orion so there’s a little bit of nostalgia in here too. Enjoy!
Fight for your Rights with Fiona Valpy
A surprising number of traditionally-published authors don’t realise that their publisher only owns the rights to their novel for a set period of time. It’s usually five years, and yes there are caveats in contracts meaning that they can retain the rights for longer if the book is still “in print”, and print on demand technology can complicate this arrangement, but… there’s a good chance that one day you’ll get the rights back to your book. It happened recently with me and The End of Magic and opened the door for me to write a sequel.
Fiona Valpy discusses this and much more in this week’s episode of The Bestseller Experiment!
And in the extended version for Academy members and podcast Patrons, me and Mr D discuss reissuing books with new titles, why you should think of your books as lifetime assets, research when you can’t travel, and much more! If you want to support the podcast and keep us going click on this here link.
Mark Stay Writes 