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Georgia and Claire are joined by Rowena Morcom, Publisher and Editor of Good Reading Magazine, SpineOut and PK Mag, for a chat about what makes a good author interview and how authors make their way under the covers of her well-thumbed glossy pages for book lovers.

Rowena dishes up a hot and greasy story about the things writers shouldn’t do, and Claire and Georgia discuss using books in self-defence. Writer and journalist Anne-Louise Willoughby shares why resarch is vital and the Comma Chameleon shows how substandard Gen X is when it comes to choosing the right emoji.

Topics discussed
Emojis
Pitching to the media
Research for writers
Staying authentic and thinking about your audience
The importance of preparing for interviews
What makes a good Fogarty Literary Award entry

The How to Be an Author editions of the Fremantle Press podcast are an informal series of chats between publishing industry professionals. Co-hosted by marketing and communications manager Claire Miller and publisher Georgia Richter, it features regular guest appearances by editor Armelle Davies, as the Comma Chameleon, special publishing industry guests and top tips from contributors to the book How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia.

Show notes

Extend your podcast

How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia by Georgia Richter and Deborah Hunn is available in all good bookstores and online. Between its pages you’ll find everything you need to know about the business of being a writer from people who live and breathe books.

Connect with Georgia Richter and many of the contributors to the book and podcast in the Facebook group.

The Good Reading podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Guests

Rowena Morcom is the publisher and editor of Good Reading mag, SpineOut, a magazine for creative young adults and PK mag, for primary kids. She’s a dog lover, book lover and home body.

Anne-Louise Willoughby worked as a journalist in a career that spanned thirty years in Western Australia, first training as a newspaper cadet in the 1970s before moving to magazine publishing with Australian Consolidated Press. As a freelance journalist, she was a feature writer for Australian newspapers and contributing WA editor to Belle Magazine. Anne-Louise has worked as a lecturer and tutor in creative writing at the University of Western Australia with a particular interest in memoir and biography. She lives in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Books and authors discussed

Jeffery Archer

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Bob Carr

Jacques Derrida

Stephen Donaldson

David Eddings

Raymond Feist

A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville

The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James

Bluebird by Malcolm Knox

Death Leaves the Station by Alexander Thorpe

Spring Clean for the Peach Queen by Sasha Wasley

Nora Heysen: A Portrait by Anne-Louise Willoughby

Bookstores, newspapers and websites discussed

Angus & Robertson

Booktopia

Collins Booksellers

Indigemoji

Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian

Original music
Title Music and Comma Chameleon Theme by Mo Wilson (copyright 2021)

Sound engineering
Aidan D’Adhemar, Fremantle PA Hire

Editing
Claire Miller

Produced by
Tiffany Ko, Claire Miller and Chloe Walton, Fremantle Press Marketing and Communications

This podcast was produced in Walyalup in Whadjuk Boodja, on the lands of the Noongar people.