#350 – Writing Young Adult Fantasy Novels with Nicki Pau Preto

In this episode, we spoke to award-winning women’s fiction and romance author Anna Gomez, whose publications (and accolades) are many! She has written numerous romance novels under the pen name Christine Brae, and is one half of the best-selling series co-authored with Kristoffer Poloha, From Kona with Love. This swoon-worthy series is in development for film and television and has been mentioned in People Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Home & Family, and Publishers Weekly. We spoke to Anna about her new release with Kobo Originals, Somewhere Along the Way, her writing career, her experience working in finance as well as authoring her many books, how travelling inspires her writing, her personal connections to her main characters, writing under a pen name, and more! We had a wonderful time talking to Anna and can’t wait to share Somewhere Along the Way with long-time fans and new readers alike. Learn more on Anna’s website, and follow Anna on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter.

In this episode of the KWL Podcast, we were joined by Hanna Wheeler, translator and copywriter who has worked on translating several Kobo Originals titles (check out Iris Visser’s books)! Hanna grew up in a bilingual family and is fluent in both English and Dutch, and has translated a variety of titles, from biographies to children’s pictures and more! Her work is expansive; some of her previous clients include MTV, Greenpeace, Sony Pictures, and more.   Hanna had a lot to tell us about her experience as a translator, her reading habits, her foray into freelancing, how she got started as a translator for Kobo Originals, freelancing advice, her thoughts on AI and translation, and much more! If you’re interested in learning more about the life of a translator, listen in! Learn more on Hanna’s website, and be sure to follow Hanna on Instagram and LinkedIn.

In this episode, we spoke with science fiction, fantasy, and young adult fiction author Nicki Pau Preto! Nicki is a Sunday Times best-selling author of six books across these genres in both the middle grade and young adult fiction categories. Her latest YA fantasy release is Ghostsmith, the sequel to Bonesmith! These two books make up the House of the Dead duology, a “dark young adult fantasy about a disgraced ghost-fighting warrior who must journey into a haunted wasteland to rescue a kidnapped prince.” We spoke to Nicki about her publishing journey, her writing inspirations, writing YA and middle grade titles, the House of the Dead duology, fantasy world-building, developing the history of a fantasy world, and much more! This interview was full of great advice and inspiration for fantasy writers of all genres and age groups – be sure to listen if you’re looking for an illuminating look into the mind and writing process of an amazing fantasy author. To learn more, visit Nicki’s website and find her on Instagram.

In this episode, we are joined by Renee Rose and Lee Savino, best-selling authors who have written over 20 titles together! The best-selling Bad Boy Alpha series is the result of their collaborative effort to write spicy wolf-shifter books. Their collaboration goes all the way back to 2015, when they first met at a writing conference and became fast friends. Lee and Renee had so much great advice regarding indie publishing, collaborative writing and thinking abundantly that we could have recorded for twice as long! We also discussed Lee and Renee’s writing careers, how they got into indie publishing, their views on marketing books, advice for writing and rewriting, what makes a great co-writing relationship, how having an abundance and exponential growth mindset can help your writing career, trends in the indie publishing industry, and much more! To learn more, visit Lee’s website and Renee’s website.

In this episode, we are joined by Clayton Noblit, senior book marketing manager at Written Word Media. Clayton has been a voracious reader his whole life and, after working in financial start-ups, moved to Written Word Media and has been there ever since. Clayton loves working with indie books and indie authors and has a lot of great advice to offer the community! As an expert in digital marketing, he had a lot to share with us. We talked about Clayton’s start in the indie author community, learned more about Written Word Media’s services, discussed strategies around promo stacking, and got lots of great marketing advice for authors. If you’re curious about improving your promo strategies and skills, don’t miss this great episode. Learn more about Written Word Media, check out Written Word Media on TikTok, and be sure to sign up for Written Word Media’s newsletter!

In this episode, we are joined by Nora Decter, writing instructor and author of How Far We Go and How Fast, her debut YA novel that won the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2019. Nora’s latest book, What’s Not Mine, is described as an "absorbing, darkly funny story of family, addiction, and survival." We spoke to Nora about her writing career, writing YA before transitioning to writing adult fiction, what it was like winning the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, what books and authors inspired her, reading and writing "voice-y" novels, balancing humour with difficult subject matter, and more! Nora had many great insights into writing (and thinking about writing), especially when it comes to first drafts. Emerging writers, take note! Learn more about Nora on her website. Content note: This episode contains discussions of the impact of the fentanyl crisis in North America. Please listen with caution and care if you are sensitive to this subject matter.  

In this episode, we spoke to indie author, writing craft expert, podcaster, and all-around talented rebel author Sacha Black! Sacha is the author of several writing craft books, host of The Rebel Author Podcast, and writer of adult sapphic fantasy fiction under the pen name Ruby Roe. Sacha is also a regular speaker at author conferences around the world, and offers writing craft courses with the goal of helping authors improve their descriptive writing, craft compelling villains, write amazing side characters, and more. We had such a great time chatting with Sacha about her career as an author, what being a rebel means to her, writing non-fiction, YA series, and, most recently, a spicy sapphic romantasy series, her podcast, her pen name, how she balances two author brands and much, much more! Be sure to listen to Sacha’s podcast, The Rebel Author Podcast, and learn more about her exciting new sapphic fantasy romance series, the Kingdom of Immortal Lovers Trilogy, written as Ruby Roe. Find Sacha Black on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, and be sure to follow Ruby Roe on TikTok!

In this episode, we are joined by Malorie Cooper, author and co-founder of The Writing Wives, where Malorie and her wife Jill offer author coaching and author marketing services! Mal writes science fiction titles under M.D. Cooper and non-fiction titles under Mal Cooper, with a focus on Facebook advertising and helping indie authors market their books for the better. Check out Malorie and Jill’s marketing book series, Help! I’m An Author for more. We had a great chat with Malorie about everything from her writing career, writing a series that consists of over 120 books, co-writing with her wife Jill, developing the Writing Wives together with Jill, her best marketing advice, all about Facebook ads, and much more! If you’re interested in learning more about advertising and marketing, be sure to listen to this episode. To learn more, visit The Writing Wives' website or check out Mal's expansive sci-fi series, Aeon 14!  

In this episode, we are joined by author, conference organizer, and ghostwriter Jessie Kwak to discuss all things writing and publishing! Jessie is the author of over fifteen books, including series like The Nanshe Chronicles and The Bulari Saga, as well as standalone thrillers such as From Earth and Bone. Jessie’s expansive career has encompassed so many aspects of publishing and she had lots of amazing advice and insights to offer us. We chatted with Jessie about ghostwriting, writing sci-fi and paranormal thrillers, time management as an author, and what inspired her to start an author conference, as well as learned more about her career as an author and her experience being involved in multiple aspects of the publishing world. This was a great conversation (and Rachel got so many sci-fi book recs to add to her TBR) – don’t miss this listen! To learn more, visit Jessie's website and follow her on Instagram.

In this episode, we are joined by Vancouver-based Bal Khabra, debut author of hockey romance novel Collide! Bal started out as an avid reader of romance and reviewer of romance titles, and after reading over 150 romance novels in one year, decided she was ready to write one! That novel, Collide, was picked up and published by Penguin Random House after starting out as a self-published work. We can’t wait to see what Bal writes next! We talked about Bal’s writing journey, her beginnings on Wattpad, how she utilizes social media and what happened when her book went viral on TikTok, advice for using social media to market books, reader vs. author spaces, her interest in hockey (and found family, and friendship) and how these subjects fit into her novel, and much more! Learn more on Bal’s website, and follow her on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter/X.