The Hobcast Book Show

122: Sci-fi and sword play - with Jude Austin

We've linked up with Japan this week to speak to our guest, sci-fi author Jude Austin. As Jude tells us, her dreams of becoming an actress ended when a bad knee injury forced her to abandon her training at a Japanese film school, where physical challenges and combat classes were a key part of the curriculum. Jude has since turned her creative passions towards sci-fi and fan fiction, and she has a passion for map-making as part of that creative world-building process.
Also this week, we reflect on the shock waves reverberating around the UK crime fiction community following events at Crimefest '23, where comments made at the festival's gala dinner have caused uproar on social media. As Adrian explains, the polarised nature of the debate has opened up some very personal scars for him.

121: Broadway dreams and debut novels - with Rachel Corsini

It's always a delight to share launch week with a debut novelist on The Hobcast Book Show. Rachel Corsini once dreamed of Broadway and ballet success, especially during her teenage years as a student at one of Manhattan's famed performing arts high schools. While she watched friends and contemporaries reach their dreams, Rachel's path to creative success was far longer and tougher. It was an aunt who suggested she express herself as writer instead, and the result is her debut novel, Sushi and Sea Lions, which launches on Tuesday 16th May. This is a delightful and inspiring interview.
Also this week, we present the show from Crimefest 2023 in Bristol, where concerns about the impact of AI dominated discussions.
Rachel Corsini - Writer

120: Crowdfunding and cyberpunk - with Matt Adcock

Crowdfunding is becoming a  growing factor in independent publishing. You have a book you would like to publish, but need funds to cover the editing, production and promotion. The solution? Ask your readers for support. Our guest this week, Matt Adcock has taken this route to support some of his writing projects, converting his cyberpunk novel Complete Darkness into a graphic novel version, and developing his own comics. It's just one of the topics we cover in this fascinating interview.
Also this week, we discuss how the Coronation has made an impact on the UK book charts, and reveal a huge change in independent publishing thanks to a new approach to printing and distributing books.

119: From women’s weeklies to full-scale fiction - with Jude Hayland

It's one of the sadder realities of modern publishing: the traditional market for well-told short stories is drying up with the closure of magazines all over the world. That's certainly the case in the UK, where a host of household name titles have closed down in recent years. Jude Hayland cut her teeth as an author for women's weekly magazines, enjoying a steady income and much of her work being translated for the wider world market. But that's all changed now, and Jude moved to writing full novels, with three published to date and another in the pipeline. So how do you move from writing to a 3000 words limit to full-length fiction? Jude's journey is a fascinating one, not least because she also teaches English too.
Also this week, Rebecca reveals how the organisers of London Book Fair are defending the lack of chairs at this year's event, and we discuss just what should first-time authors expect from their publishers?
Jude Hayland - Writer and Tutor

118: An extraordinary journey to publication - with Amer Anwar

We're all storytellers at heart in the fiction publishing world, right? Our guest this week, thriller author Amer Anwar's personal story though is truly astonishing. Brought up in Southall in West London, Amer always assumed that someone from his background could never become a writer, until he won the coveted CWA Debut Dagger award for the opening 3000 words of a novel he'd begun writing at a creative writing workshop. Agents immediately clamoured for his signature. The only issue was, those 3000 words were all he had to offer. It would take him a further five years to finish that novel. His agent stuck by him, but couldn't find a traditional publisher to take it. So Amer published it himself, using every trick he could think of to promote the novel. It paid off, and that first book, Brothers in Blood, was picked out by both The Guardian and The Times newspapers as one of their books of the year. This is an interview you will not want to miss.
Also this week, Rebecca reflects on a busy day at the London Book Fair, and there's news of Hobeck Books new approach to judging submissions...
Amer Anwar | Author | Writing and Random Stuff

117: Glasgow grit and a dentist’s dilemma - with Heleen Kist

Our guest this week is no stranger to awards recognition. Heleen Kist is the author of three published psychological thrillers, the first two of which were shortlisted for a host of major international awards. Drawing on her surroundings in her adopted home of Glasgow, and inspired by the experiences of friends, her latest novel, What I Hid From You, features Radha, a dentist whose addiction to valium drags her into the orbit of one of the city's drug gangs. As Heleen explains, the scenario is all too real.
Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca draw inspiration from a visit to Birmingham, the home of the world's longest-running continuing drama serial, The Archers ...
Heleen Kist (author) - Home

116: From the outside in - with Louise Mangos

If there's one genre that has dominated the mystery and suspense market in recent years, it is psychological suspense and thrillers. Our guest this week, Louise Mangos, has built a strong reputation in the genre, with three novels published to date. Louise is, like no less than four of our own Hobeck authors, a graduate of the Crime Fiction MA at the University of East Anglia. That gave her the foundations of her writing craft, but her inspiration often strikes her while she takes advantage of the fabulous scenery around her in Switzerland. If Louise isn't writing, she can be found kayaking, skiing, running, open-water swimming or cycling around the lakes and mountains nearby. 
Also this week, we lament the latest cutbacks at Amazon to impact on the book trade, and how one publisher found themselves unwittingly at the centre of an identity theft scam.
https://louisemangos.com/

115: Write what you know - with Nick Edmunds

It's probably the number one piece of advice handed out to all aspirant authors - "write what you know." Our guest this week has perhaps drawn on this advice in two key regards: write where you know, and write when you knew. Nick Edmunds, writing as N J Edmunds, is the author of Miles Away - a dark psychological mystery novel set in 1970s Scotland, and draws on Nick's own experiences of the period and locations, as well as his career as a GP. In this revealing interview, Nick reveals he's always been fascinated in the way the mind works, even inspiring him to become a hypnotherapist.
Also this week, we discuss the contribution made by the late Peter Usborne, founder of Usborne Books, and we admire the growing portfolio of publishing companies acquired by fellow UK independent publishers, Joffe Books.
www.njedmunds.eu

114: Bringing a business book to life - with Bryn Thompson and Steve Lowndes

We wear many hats at Hobeck Books. We're editors, cover designers, proof-readers, marketeers and audiobook creators to name but a few of our roles. We recently decided to combine these skills with a new arm of the company, Arch Publishing Services - helping clients to get their books from concept to finished product. This week we speak to our first clients, Bryn Thompson and Steve Lowndes of New World Selling, a consultancy offering world-class sales training for the business-to-business sector. They'd first considered writing a book together twelve years ago, but it wasn't until the Covid lockdowns that they actually made real progress with their manuscript. We became involved a year ago, and their debut book Transformational Selling was published two weeks ago to considerable acclaim. This may not be traditional Hobcast interview territory, but we're sure you'll learn a great deal about the new way to do business in this rapidly changing world.
Also this week, we discuss Penguin Random House's decision to limit their internships to candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds and ask if that will work, plus there's another classic author being put through the  modern sensitivity reader mangle. Is Agatha Christie really that offensive to contemporary audiences?
HOME | Newworldselling

113: Exploring Transmedia Storytelling - with Colin Harvey

There are so many potential avenues to pursue for the gifted writer. In recent episodes we've touched on poetry and writing plays, but have you ever considered the key role writers play in creating video games? Our guest this week, Colin Harvey, is a published fiction, non-fiction, and comic author in his own right, but it's his expertise in transmedia storytelling that we focus on in this interview. Colin was first drawn to the potential of writing in the digital space as a boy when he won an Atari home computer in the 80s. He's now Principal Writer with Saber Interactive, having been lead writer with Sony's PlayStation London Studio. It's a fascinating insight into a world many writers have no idea exists for them to explore working in.
Also this week, Adrian is concerned about more changes to the way that audiobook distributor Findaway Voices works, and Rebecca reflects on a positive return to Exeter University to inspire students to explore publishing.
https://www.colinbharvey.com/