The Book Deal

Natasha Rai interviews author Ashley Kalagian Blunt about her thriller Like, Follow, Die. Blunt shares an elevator pitch: a Sydney mother, known as “the most hated woman in Australia,” faces a homicide detective at her door as three narratives (mother, cop, and son ages 12–19) converge around whether she reveals secrets about her teenage son. She discusses the novel’s origin as an Audible Original, how removing a key twist reshaped the story, and why this book was easier to draft than Cold Truth, for which she discarded a full manuscript. Blunt also describes researching the manosphere and education for boys, her move from genocide-focused nonfiction to crime for strategic and creative reasons, her path to publication and agents, and tips for writers: maintain momentum (even one word a day), join a strong writers group, and prioritize structure.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Ashley Blunt
02:00 Like Follow Die Pitch
03:24 Building The Detective
05:00 Audible Origin Story
07:17 Writing Process And POVs
10:13 Manosphere And Policy
13:16 Schools And Respect Crisis
15:12 Staying Sane In Dark Research
17:50 From Memoir To Crime
25:35 Early Writing And Ego
29:08 Illness And Finding Craft
32:21 First Publishing Contract
36:16 Novella Becomes Debut Book
39:54 Switching Publishers
42:50 Rejection and Resilience
44:01 Affirm Press Breakthrough
45:53 Going Agented
49:14 US Subagent Reality Check
53:41 Two Book Deal
57:35 Writing With Chronic Illness
01:02:55 Momentum Writers Groups Structure
01:08:40 Why Structure Is Rarely Taught
01:13:35 Final Thanks and Wrap
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
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Brooke Michie is a lifelong reader and passionate supporter of Australian authors. She works in public libraries and loves nothing more than matching readers with their perfect book. As one of Australia’s most influential Bookstagrammers she reads and reviews hundreds of books every year and spends much of her time attending author events and raving about her favourite reads. 
Make sure you follow Brooke for all her recommendations on Instagram at @bmichie31. 
Madeleine chats with Brooke about how she first started her Instagram seven years ago and is now one of Australia's most influential Bookstagrammers. Find out how Brooke reads 20-25 books each month and how authors can work with Bookstagrammers! Brooke recommends:
Sasha Wasley’s The Society of Literary Marauders
Leearna Shaw’s A Farm in Golden Clouds, and
Mark Mupotsa-Russell’s A Wolf Who Cried Boy.
Our Debut in the Spotlight is Lorena Otes, with her memoir, Solo Mum by Choice (Hawkeye Publishing, May 2026). 
00:56 Brooke Michie
03:23 What Is Bookstagram
09:24 Reading 25 Books Monthly
10:29 Social Media Focus Struggles
11:43 Choosing books to read
15:31 Honest Reviews 
18:03 Author-Bookstagrammer Etiquette
25:03 Paid Review Scams
27:34 Debut Crew Support
29:04 Aussie Books 
30:50 Author Social Media
33:41 Content Burnout
35:02 Book Events 
37:38 Bookstagram Community
39:30 Book Recommends
42:49 Top Tip 
44:19 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
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Tina Strachan interviews bestselling children’s author Jacqueline Harvey about her 20+ year publishing career, including nearly 70 books, 40 audiobooks, and Alice-Miranda adaptations. Harvey discusses her latest middle-grade series, The Girl and the Ghost, inspired by meeting a prince in a Singapore bookshop and research at Versailles that led her to make Louis XVII the story’s ghost. She explains how travel sparks ideas across her series, how Alice-Miranda took off after years of rejections and a publisher change, and why she values testing manuscripts with young readers. Harvey shares practical advice on celebrating releases, planning while allowing story surprises, using simple tools (notebooks, whiteboard, Word), building loyal relationships with publishers and booksellers, being generous on social media, managing burnout through scheduling and saying no, and not quitting a day job too soon.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Jacqueline Harvey
02:21 New Release Spotlight
02:53 Prince in the Bookshop
07:40 Travel Sparks Stories
10:35 Celebrating Book Launches
12:37 From Teacher to Author
15:27 Rejections and Ugly Covers
19:28 Backing Alice Miranda
22:37 Kid Readers as Testers
22:58 Kid Feedback Before Print
23:39 Editors Over Beta Readers
24:35 One Publisher Loyalty
27:10 Plotter Meets Pantser
30:01 Tools Word Notebooks Whiteboard
31:46 Marketing Teamwork Reality
32:31 Bookshops And Booksellers
35:00 Social Media Generosity
38:30 Avoiding Burnout Planning
42:49 Top Tips 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
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Hosts Tina Strachan, Madeleine Cleary, and Natasha Rai reconnect after a busy few months. Natasha begins major structural edits on a 120,000-word second novel with tight timelines and a tip to rewrite editorial notes in her own words. Madeleine describes how edits revealed deeper issues, advises asking for deadline extensions, and discusses proactively visiting bookshops, introducing yourself to booksellers, and signing stock to boost visibility and sales. Tina reports starting an exciting new project after a beach break, discusses “stalking ideas” from the Jack Heath interview, and suggests naps can help solve plot problems. Cassie Stroud introduces her debut novel Iluka, about siblings uncovering letters from their missing mother.
00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Hosts Catch Up
07:44 Natasha Structural Edits
12:02 Editing Tips and Mindset
15:47 Madeleine Deadline Extension
20:20 Tina New Story Spark
26:32 Stalking Ideas Discussion
28:00 Story Idea Sparks
28:35 Channeling the Muse
29:37 Naps and Liminal Breakthroughs
32:04 Cassie Stroud Iluka
33:30 Jack Interview Takeaways
36:15 Write for Publishers
42:54 Author Marketing Reality
46:52 Bookseller Hand Selling
53:46 Cold Calls and Signings
56:52 Top Tips and Wrap

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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Natasha Rai interviews award-winning author Jack Heath (49 novels, published in 10 languages) about his YA thriller 'I Know What You’re Hiding'. Heath gives an elevator pitch: after a house fire kills one sister, survivor Jamie receives a blood-written note saying “I know what you’re hiding,” and teen true-crime podcaster Zoe investigates the blackmail. Heath discusses writing for ages 12–16, the book’s long development from an earlier pitch that spun into the 'Liars' series, and why Zoe returned after 'If You Tell Anyone You’re Next'. He explains lessons about series vs sequels, selling manuscripts to publishers, balancing promotion with writing, his daily process and project management, outlining, differences between adult and kids fiction, idea “odd sock drawer” blending, embracing negative feedback, and joining nonprofit writing groups. The Debut Spotlight features Lisa Moule’s debut 'The Mother of All Calamities'.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:42 Meet Jack Heath
01:44 Elevator Pitch
03:28 Writing Dark YA
05:42 Origins of the Novel
10:04 Odd Sock Ideas
11:35 Series Lessons
14:15 Selling to Publishers
18:28 Promotion Pressures
21:43 Writing Routine
25:45 Word Count Planning
27:45 Editing and Reading Style
30:12 Editing Versus Drafting
31:44 Guest Introduction
32:15 Outlining To Sell Books
36:41 Adult Versus Kids Writing
45:44 Ideas And Book Mashups
50:33 Sustainable Career Lessons
54:04 Embracing Negative Feedback
58:47 Advice And Writing Communities
01:01:25 Wrap Up And Credits
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...