The Book Deal

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You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
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Kayte Nunn is the bestselling author of nine novels, including The Botanist’s Daughter, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant, The Silk House and The Last Reunion. Kayte grew up in England and the US, before moving to Australia. She has had a diverse career working in publishing, editing, and magazines, including as the former editor of Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine.
Madeleine chats with Kayte about writing the book that calls to you, how to be disciplined and resilient, switching lanes and genres (even when you are a bestseller and have a 'brand', and lots of tips for good routines and writing. And of course we discuss Kayte's latest twisty new novel, The Yacht,  a page-turning crime thriller set on a superyacht in Mallorca.
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THE YACHT
A man on the edge.
A woman hell-bent on revenge.
A cheating husband.
A desperate wife.
A property empire on the brink of collapse.
A family at loggerheads.
A predator hiding in plain sight.
Who will sink and who will swim?
Three generations of a billionaire family are taking their new superyacht on its maiden voyage. But when the yacht sinks, each of them has a different part to play, in this addictive, twist-filled thriller.
Check out The Yacht here.
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Kayte recommends reading The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface by Donald Maass. 
Our Debut in the Spotlight this week is The Picasso Ransom by A.T Prewett.
Thank you to HarperCollins Australia for sponsoring this episode.
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
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Tina Strachan interviews author Sarah Clutton about her new novel ‘The Bookshop of Buried Pasts’. Clutton outlines the story of antiquarian book dealer Phyllida Banks, who disappears and leaves her granddaughter Lottie to run their Southern Highlands bookshop and find a man named Francis, leading to a Cambridgeshire mystery tied to an unsolved 50-year-old crime, family secrets, spirituality, and threads of witches and Celtic mythology across 1960s–70s timelines. She discusses the setting’s inspiration from Berrima and Australia’s first “book town” region, the showstopping cover design, and the title’s evolution. Clutton shares research experiences, including a death doula course and travel to English manor houses, Devon’s Clovelly, Scotland, and Shetland, and offers advice to aspiring authors: take craft courses and become open to critique.
 
00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Sarah Clutton
01:39 New Book Overview
03:38 Southern Highlands Setting
06:10 Book Town Inspiration
06:49 Cover Art Breakdown
10:47 Title Origins
14:10 Death Doula Research
21:06 Phyllida Character Themes
22:54 Stalking Idea Process
24:33 Trusting the Draft
26:05 Travel As Research
27:03 Themes Of Agency
28:41 Hunting Manor Houses
29:44 Clovelly Village Magic
33:33 Scotland Estate Access
35:08 Mythology DNA Witchcraft
38:32 Daily Writing Reality
39:43 Drafting Through Discomfort
44:30 Tips For Aspiring Authors
46:27 Late Start Publishing Journey
51:17 Wrap Up And Farewell 
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
Madeleine: Subscribe here...

Tina, Madeleine and Natasha catch up and discuss:
Natasha's successful workshop on creativity and the nervous system, and how to get the most from creative flow. 
Natasha's title of her second book (!)
All things small business: accounting, expenses, BAS, GST, mileage, super, income averaging, receipts. We go into the nitty gritty of running your own author business.
Please do your research and always seek professional financial advice. Our listeners recommended the below specialist accountants for writers:
Real Thiel
Kylie Thompson at Sorrento Strategic
Matthew Tucker from Creative Crunchers
This week's Debut in the Spotlight is Disgraceful (Simon & Schuster, 2026) by Rachel Fox McLeod.
00:56 We catch up
01:39 Natasha's workshop chat
11:08 Tina is tinkering
18:19 Natasha reveals her second book title!
27:17 Debut in the Spotlight
28:24 The business behind the books
31:26 Accounting
35:26 Recording travel
42:48 GST, BAS And invoicing
46:27 Income Averaging and ABNs
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
Madeleine: Subscribe here...

Natasha Rai interviews author Emily Maguire about her Queensland Literary Award–winning, Prime Minister’s Literary Award–shortlisted novel Rapture, inspired by a 1,000-year-old legend of a woman disguising herself as a man, rising through monastic ranks, and becoming pope. Maguire contrasts nonfiction research—structured around a topic and intended conclusions—with fiction research driven by deep point of view and character questions, and describes collecting sparks like art and journaled observations. She recounts early discouragement from a teacher, her first publication journey via mailed submissions and an ASA mentorship, and how international rights sales launched her career despite poor local reviews. Maguire discusses navigating tough edits, learning that “a novel is made in the rewriting,” choosing trusted readers, teaching writing without gatekeeping craft jargon, and practical realities of sustaining an Australian writing life amid industry pressures, including AI, while emphasizing writing regularly and revising deeply.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Emily Maguire
02:27 Elevator Pitch Rapture
03:28 Research Fiction vs Nonfiction
06:03 Finding Story Sparks
08:36 A Life of Reading
09:43 Becoming a Writer
12:32 First Publication Journey
16:55 Persistence and Doubt
20:55 Handling Editorial Feedback
25:55 Learning Deep Revision
30:55 When to Share Drafts
31:52 Trusted Reader Process
33:16 When a Draft Fails
34:49 Finding Trusted Readers
35:53 Feedback That Helps
40:59 Teaching Through Dialogue
43:55 Craft Terms Dont Matter
47:28 Market Identity Anxiety
51:08 Sustaining Writing Career
56:14 Write Then Revise
58:14 Podcast Wrap Up
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
Madeleine: Subscribe here...