Blondie and the Brit

Join us this week on Blondie and the Brit as we delve into a comedic mystery adventure with a culinary flair. Author Ellie Alexander leads us through her unique process of creating The Bakeshop Mysteries series that includes not only writing the story but creating the menu as a layer of the plot, Learn how she cultivates a unique book launch with elements of the story while bringing the community into the mix. Ellie shares some really clever book promoting ideas and a great antidote of how she once stood in for famed writer Lee Childs.

This week on Blondie and the Brit we bring you hybrid author Kerry Schafer. Kerry calls herself the Queen of Misfit Books and writes women's fiction, paranormal, fantasy, and mystery genres. She shares with us her experience using Kickstarter to self-publish one of her books and how another book was acquired by Lake Union Publishing. A highly entertaining interview covering a lot of aspects of the writing and publishing process.

South African author, Ian MacKenzie, joins us this week for a conversation about one of the unsavory aspects of being Indie author -- dealing with unscrupulous publishers. He also discusses his first book, Clouds in the Wind, rich with South African wildlife and history. 

This week on Blondie and the Brit we bring you the second half of the interview with social media superstar Rachel Thompson. Finally, we have answers for all of our Google plus questions. Rachel gives us an in-depth insight into what spurs her to write about and support victims of trauma and abuse. We were eager to hear about the books in her publishing path and her journey from Rachel in the OC blogger to Huffington Post contributor. You are not going to want to miss this podcast.

Camille Di Maio takes us on a journey from Real Estate Agent to her dream job as an author published by Amazon's Lake Union. Her debut novel The Memory of Us was inspired by the #Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. Camille shares the incredible story of when Sir Paul McCartney honored The Memory of Us in front of a live audience.

We are really excited to bring to you Joey Pinkney this week. Joey is an award-winning short story author and social media expert. He talks in depth about the process of developing short stories and the extras he adds in including the author's note. Joey also runs an author promotion service called Joey Tweets and provides some great insights into how to get the most out of twitter. 

This week on Blondie and the Brit we welcome Young Adult Author, Caragh O'Brien, who dreamed of quitting her high school English teaching position to become a full-time writer. Caragh's dream was realized after writing and shopping her first novel, The BirthMarked Trilogy, that was inspired by a drive across the US during the drought of 2008. 

In this intriguing interview, Caragh shares her journey that began with the spark of the novel idea and continued to her agent query and three book offer from Roaring Brook Press.

This week we are thrilled to present our very own Blondie, K J Waters, the charming American half of Blondie and the Brit. A successful Amazon bestselling author, KJ shares her ten-year journey to publishing her first novel, Stealing Time, and a short story called Blow to bridge the gap between full-length novels. The interview covers everything from tips on being creative while raising a family to why an author needs a platform to succeed. You don't want to miss this delightful and informative interview.

Emily Drake Carpenter, author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, is our guest this week. This charming and endearing writer talks about her journey from Guiding Light and As the World Turns to Hollywood screenwriter, and now the release her debut novel by Lake Union this month.

This week we are joined by social media expert and author Rachel Thompson. Rachel is known for starting #Mondayblogs as well as running her very successful BadRedhead Media, a social media book marketing service for authors. There are so many great tips on making the most of your social media platform on this podcast you won't want to miss a minute of it. Rachel talks about hashtags, Facebook advertising, twitter management, google rankings, and more. Sharpen your pencils, she has a lot to tell, so much, in fact we had to split this one into two separate podcasts. Stay tuned for part two at a later date.