Fremantle Press launches a new podcast aimed at helping authors get to grips with the business side of a writing career

Hot on the heels of releasing the book she co-wrote with Deborah Hunn, How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia, Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter has launched a new podcast and Facebook group aimed at making the Australian publishing industry more accessible to new writers.

Richter said the podcast was based on the idea that if writers could understand more about some of the key roles in the publishing industry, they’d be better placed to understand what to do to make the most of the opportunities they get or, better still, to create their own opportunities.

Richter said, ‘Fremantle Press has had a particular focus on new and emerging writers since its establishment 44 years ago. We thought it would be beneficial to take the kinds of conversations we have every day with our writers and share them with a broader audience.’

Co-hosted by marketing and communications manager Claire Miller, the podcast includes guests like book designer Nada Backovic, Good Reading Magazine editor Rowena Morcom, Curtin University lecturer in creative writing Deborah Hunn, Readings children’s and YA specialist Leanne Hall, Penguin Random House account managers Gavin Burbidge and Jane Parkhill, and The Literature Centre director Lesley Reece. There are also tips from writers Amanda Curtin, Meg McKinlay, Holden Sheppard, Brendan Ritchie, Sasha Wasley and Anne-Louise Willoughby, and a regular editorial quiz from the Comma Chameleon, aka editor Armelle Davies.

Richter said, ‘We chose our guests on the basis of their passion for the industry. Everyone we’ve interviewed has been generous in sharing their expertise, which is considerable.’

Richter said there were some challenges in recording during a pandemic. ‘With nobody allowed into our state, much less our studio, we recorded most of the podcast over Zoom, so you get cameos from lunch-making spouses, flatmates, pets, paper rustlers and squeaking chairs. But that is a familiar soundtrack right now in people’s lives.’

The first episode, featuring book designer Nada Backovic and author Meg McKinlay, is out now. Subscribe on your favourite podcast apps such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud, or use the players provided on the Fremantle Press podcast page.