I had the best time discussing the classic novelisation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Vonda N McIntyre with the Authorized podcast gang. I discuss my relationship with the film and the book and how both have inspired me as a writer…
Tag: novels
Join Nicola May on the Creative Differences livestream
We kick off 2025 with a brilliant special guest! Nicola May is a hugely successful bestselling author renowned for her heartwarming and humorous …
Join Nicola May on the Creative Differences livestream
What’s the best social media platform for marketing books?
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals his preferred social media platforms for marketing his books…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: Marketing wise, which platform do you find the most successful for your books?
GB RALPH: I presume you mean, like, social media platform? All sort of have different purposes.
My Instagram is sort of… I’ve inherited friends and family who are very lovely. There’s only so many times you can sell the same book to your friends and family. Then Facebook. I’ve picked up a lot of readers who I wouldn’t have expected. TikTok was really fun. It comes in waves where I get enthusiasm to do some videos and then it drops off again. But that is… because TikTok shows your stuff to a lot of people who don’t follow you. So I think that has been really interesting to pick up people who’ve never heard of me because my videos have been shown to them or whereas on the other platforms a lot of it is your stuff getting shown to a subset of your own followers who already know you. I don’t know. Probably the most engagement is through my mailing list actually, because that’s the most reliable. It gets sent out and I can see roughly how many people open it. That’s where it starts. And then it’s sort of like, okay, I have the content now, I need to now I can recycle that to the social medias.
GB Ralph on Starting a First Draft
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals when he’s ready to start writing a draft…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: What’s the thing that makes you think you’re ready to start writing on a project?
GB RALPH: When I back-calculate from my deadline and find that I’m already behind schedule. (laughs) I don’t know, where is even the start line? Is it jotting down ideas, sketching them out? Plotting? Is it start writing, ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’? I’m ready to start drafting my next book now. Like, as in, chapter one, scene one as of this week. I have a victim. I have a handful of suspects, each with their potential motives, and that’s about it. But I have I have about two novels’ worth of content and that I want to fit into one novel. So we’re bursting at the seams, and I need to start writing to see what ideas are actually smaller than I thought they were. Ones that don’t fit in at all. Ones that are maybe bigger than I had originally thought and will spark more ideas.
Or watch the whole show on Youtube…
I Get Nostalgic on Chris Deacy’s Nostalgia Podcast
I’ve done a fair few podcast interviews, but I’m in a strangely reflective mood in this one. I’m interviewed by the excellent Chris Deacy, and in lieu of finding a studio to record in we did this in my car (hence the occasional gentle whoosh of passing motors) and it was recorded the night before the US election. My favourite bit is my thesis that nostalgia is a slippery slope to fascism… Yes, I was in one of those moods! Do please enjoy…
210: Stephen Willoughby – Nostalgia Interviews with Chris Deacy
My guest this week is Stephen Willoughby, who studied Theology at Lampeter between 1984 and 1987. After university, Stephen’s path took a technical turn – he became a computer operator and later completed an MSc in Computer Science at Aberystwyth, a journey that reflects a broadening of Stephen’s skills.
Stephen now works in quality assurance and holds a PhD in a related field. Originally from Orpington in Kent, he now lives in Derbyshire.
Stephen has had a lifelong passion for radio, sparked on his 7th birthday when he received his first radio set. He was captivated early on by classical music and Radio 3, but it was Radio 2 in the 1980s that gave him a window into the wider world. He's steeped in the station's history and recalls listening to Alan Dell on Sunday afternoons, including the public reaction when there was talk of Dell leaving the airwaves.
We discuss the magic of live radio, the days when Radios 1 and 2 shared the FM frequency, and the role of DJs like David Hamilton—who used to include the pop charts in his Tuesday afternoon Radio 2 shows.
Stephen also shares which stations he listens to today, including Boom Radio, and reflects on whether he’s more of a looking back or a forward-looking person.
GB Ralph on Deadlines and Pre-Orders
This month’s special guest GB Ralph reveals the importance of deadlines, and why he sets up a book for pre-order before it’s even written…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: What small thing has made a big difference to your writing process?
GB RALPH: A small thing that has made a big difference in my creative process is having a deadline. No deadline, nothing happens. Deadline: Let’s go. I work well to a deadline, which is something I learned back in school. But as an indie author, there’s not really such a thing as a deadline, so I had to create one myself, which is… the main one is setting up a preorder for the next book, which forces me to get going through that, don’t you?
MARK: Because if you get that wrong, certain online retailers get very upset with the authors.
GB RALPH: Oh yeah. I know, I know which is is motivating. It can be stressful, but I think it’s a good kind of stress, the motivating kind, not the debilitating kind. It’s still deadline. It can be a year away, which is forever. And I need to constantly remind myself that I need to make little deadlines along the way. Ones that have consequences. Otherwise, I’ll pull a Douglas Adams and enjoy the wooshing sound as deadlines go by.
Mike Shackle on Deadlines
This month’s special guest Mike Shackle reveals the importance of deadlines, why releasing each book is like a pay rise, and whether he’ll ever retire…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: How do you know when you’re done?
MIKE: Deadlines, deadlines. Basically, every time I release a book, I. It’s like giving myself a pay rise each month of $1,500. So, yeah, it starts a big pay rise each each time over a year
and things like that. So if I was being really cynical about my career, I would just be writing
the next detective book and putting out… I had a discussion with this Sebastien de Castell, because he was talking about, you know, when do we know we’re going to retire? I mean, but, I need I know the, the money I like and I need to live on, but I have to make this stuff. I have to tell these stories. Even if it was just me doing it. And that desire to do that is only got greater as the years have gone
on, I probably end up in a loony bin, dribbling in a corner, talking about Simon Wise and, you know, everything else…
MARK: Reserve a space for me…
Or watch it on Youtube…
MIKE SHACKLE on the Importance of Notebooks (and ambition)
This month’s special guest Mike Shackle reveals how he knows when to start working on a project…
TRANSCRIPT
MARK: What’s the thing that makes you think you’re ready to start writing on a project?
MIKE: I have lists of ideas that I want to write that go back years. I write a Witchfinder, I write a Michael Dylan book. Right now it’s the Witchfinder. I should be writing a fantasy
for the next couple of months. It’s like a little production line, but I have all these notebooks everywhere with different things that I’m working on, just so I can keep the ideas straight in my head. With the books that I write, my ambitions, and what I want to write. I they push me on and they’re the devil on my back, but they’re also the cheerleader saying, you can do it.
Or watch it on Youtube…
Write, Damn It!
In a sort of podcast exchange scheme, I was delighted to be invited on Zoë Richards’ Write, Damn It! podcast (she, of course, came on my Creative Differences podcast last month).
We discuss self-publishing and the quirks of traditional publishing and… I also sound quite maudlin at points as I was in something of a low point when we recorded this as you’ll hear (though chatting with Zoë cheered me up no end). So if you want to hear me to sound a little bit like Marvin the Paranoid Android, then do check it out…
Episode 130 Author Confidential with Mark Stay – Write, Damn It! with Zoe Richards
Mark Stay got a part-time Christmas job at Waterstones in the 90s and, despite being working class and quite lippy, somehow ended up working in publishing for over 25 years. He wrote in his spare time and sometimes those writings got turned into books and films, including the Witches of Woodville series from Simon & Schuster, and the 2023 Warner Bros. horror movie Unwelcome. Nautilus, the #1 Amazon Prime TV series, was based on his treatment.Mark was also co-presenter of the award-winning Bestseller Experiment podcast, which has inspired writers all over the world to finish and publish their books. Born in London, he lives in Kent with Youtube gardener and writer Claire Burgess and a declining assortment of retired chickens.You can find Mark here: https://markstaywrites.com/all-the-links/The Green Room can be found here: https://markstaywrites.com/the-green-room/And Creative Differences podcast can be found here: https://markstaywrites.com/the-creative-differences-podcast/His books: SF&F and horror: https://markstaywrites.com/books/ Robot Overlords, Gollancz, 2015The End of Magic, Unbound, 2019The End of Dragons, Unusually Tall Stories, 2024The End of Gods, Unusually Tall Stories, coming 2025The Crow Folk, The Witches of Woodville I, Simon & Schuster, 2021Babes in the Wood, The Witches of Woodville II, Simon & Schuster, 2021The Ghost of Ivy Barn, The Witches of Woodville III, Simon & Schuster, 2022The Holly King, The Witches of Woodville IV, Simon & Schuster, 2023The Corn Bride, The Witches of Woodville V, Simon & Schuster, coming 2025Film & TV:Robot Overlords, 2014, Tempo/BFI: https://markstaywrites.com/robot-overlords/Unwelcome, 2023, Warner Bros: https://markstaywrites.com/unwelcome/Nautilus, 2024, Moonriver, Disney, Amazon Prime and AMC (based on my treatment): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15286302/ Support the showJoin me on Substack – here – for more insights into writing and being published, as well as mindset tips and tools. You can subscribe to get access to much more from me, including workshops and coaching.If you would like to show your love for the podcast, please consider buying me a coffee through BuyMeACoffee.com. This gives you an opportunity to make a small, one-off donation – you are not committed to regular payments. Making the podcast earns me no money, and in fact costs me a fair bit, but I do it for the love, and because I have such fun talking with wonderful authors. Even if you can't afford to buy me a coffee, simply letting me know that you love the podcast means a lot to me. Please take a moment to leave a star rating, write a review, or share the episode with others you know who will benefit from listening in, or you can tag me in social media when you share an episode that you love with your followers.My website is http://www.zoerichards.co.uk where you can discover how you can work with me, and you can find me on TwiX and Instagram as @zoerichardsukAnd finally my debut novel, Garden of Her Heart, is out now and you can buy your copy here.Happy writing, and may the wo…
And don’t forget, you can watch my Creative Differences interview with Zoë here…
Or…
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…
Mark Stay Writes 