My current favourite podcasts for authors
Ah podcasts! What did we do without them? How did I ever motivate myself to clean the house before they existed? It feels as though they came out of nowhere and now there are tons of them and not enough time in the day (or cleaning chores) to get me through them all. I love them, and so I thought it might be interesting to share my current favourites today.
I am always looking for recommendations myself too, so please do shout if there are any you enjoy that I haven’t talked about below.
I think with writing podcasts, people often look for different things. Personally I like podcasts that talk about what it’s like to be a writer, rather than ones that talk about the craft of writing, or review books.
As you’ve probably worked out if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I don’t talk about the process of writing here at all.
I feel as though my method for writing novels is so indefinable and insane that I don’t have any wisdom to impart on that topic whatsoever.
However, I am deeply, deeply interested in what it’s like making a career as a writer. It’s such a challenging job with so many ups and downs, and I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that’s withheld from us by the publishing industry, so I literally devour any insights from behind the scenes.
On that note - please could someone in the publishing industry set up a podcast to talk about what it’s like working in publishing PLEASE?
Fill us in on all the stuff that we don’t know, I’m begging you!
The only thing I’ve found that comes close is Phoebe Morgan’s blog. Phoebe is a hugely successful crime editor, but also a published novelist herself, and she has written some really useful and interesting posts all about the publishing industry, that you can read here →
Right so without any more waffle, here are my current favourite podcasts for writers…
Publishing Rodeo
It feels as though this one came out of nowhere earlier this year and really blew up! I’m not sure how long it’s been going for but it’s the first podcast I’ve listened to that really felt as though the people in it were being completely honest about what it’s like to be published by a traditional publisher.
I’ve heard lots of interviews with authors who SAY they’re being honest about their life as a writer but who are still clearly holding tons back.
No judgment on this - it’s a precarious career and the powers-that-be prefer us to stay silent - but it’s really refreshing to listen to a podcast where you feel the hosts are truly opening up about their experience of being published.
Hosted by Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford, who both debuted in 2022 with the same publisher, they share their experiences and their VERY different publishing journeys (Sunyi’s book was a bestseller, whereas Scott’s wasn’t).
It’s a fascinating and very brave podcast, and the guests they have on each week are great, even though they are mostly from a fantasy/sci-fi background, which is obviously different from mine.
I have been recommending it to everyone I know. If you’re published by a traditional publisher or if you want to be, then I highly recommend you listen too.
The Creative Penn
I’m sure you’re already well aware of this one.
I think Joanna Penn’s podcast is one of the original writing podcasts out there, and I’m not sure there’s anything writing-related that she hasn’t covered at some point.
It’s a huge goldmine of information on all-things publishing. I tend to use it to search for specific topics or things I’m interested in rather than listening to each new post, but it’s both hugely inspiring and incredibly informative for writers at any stage of their career.
In Suspense
I’m a bit biased here but I love this podcast because it’s run by my friends, it’s specifically focused on my genre (suspense fiction) and I know pretty much everyone who’s been on it.
And I’ve been on it myself too - to chat about author websites, natch. You can listen to my episode here →
If you write suspense fiction too, then it’s absolutely a must-listen. We are so often lumped under the ‘crime’ banner, but somehow seen as slightly inferior, so it’s great to have a space just for us and our genre.
Write-Off
This podcast seems to be having a hiatus which is a shame because it’s brilliant. Francesca Steele is a journalist and writer who’s honest about not having achieved her own writing goals yet, and she interviews some very eminent authors on their experience of failure and rejection as a writer.
She’s a brilliant interviewer, which makes the podcast so much more compelling. I highly recommend it.
Writer’s Routine
I love this podcast (not least because they once mentioned one of my books on it in passing which felt like a true mark of achievement! 😆) but also because I just love how bonkers writers are.
Host Dan Simpson interviews authors about their writing routine - how they write, where they write, even what font they write in. I particularly like the bit where he asks authors to describe what they can see when they sit down to write. It’s just a really interesting and original insight into the mind and ways of a writer.
Read and Buried
A bit of a biased entry here because I was just interviewed on this podcast, alongside my good friend and fellow crime author Lizzy Barber, but the hosts Sarah and Frankie are honestly just bloody brilliant at interviewing.
They chat to crime authors each week, asking them some very amusing questions as well as the standard ones about their writing processes etc.
I have been on several podcasts as a guest now and have come to realise that there’s a true skill in interviewing (this is why I would never set up my own podcast - as I always say to people, I’m a writer not a talker!) and Sarah and Frankie really put us at ease and we had a super fun chat with them.
I’m really enjoying going through all their back episodes.
Diary of a CEO
OK, so not strictly a podcast for writers and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the host (and he definitely needs to get more women on the show!) but the insights from his guests are absolutely fascinating.
I feel like the name of this podcast is a bit of a misnomer as Steven Bartlett interviews all sorts of people from a variety of different careers / backgrounds, but he really does focus a lot on psychology, health and mental wellness and mindset in particular, and I’ve come away with a ton of knowledge and information about things I had never considered before, all of which I genuinely think have helped me with my writing.
There’s a few celebrity fluff interviews in there too, but if you seek out the ones with experts in their fields, there’s lots of interesting stuff to absorb from some of the world’s most brilliant minds.
So that’s my current list of favourites!
How about you? Would love to hear your favourite writing podcasts - do drop me a comment on Twitter!
FUN STUFF FOR WRITERS 🤩
