We’re celebrating nearly five years since the launch of the 200 Word Challenge—a project that has helped countless writers finish their books with over 40 million words banked so far. The project grew out of research that showed many aspiring authors struggle with finding time to write (83% according to our survey), as well as […] The post Ep503 – …

In Part 1 of this new series, Mark Desvaux takes you on a deep dive into the habits of bestseller authors, distilled from seven and a half years of deep interviews and analysis. Drawn from over 500 conversations with top writers, this series offers possibly the most comprehensive exploration of what it takes to reach […] The post Ep502 – Mark Desva…

We caught up with fantasy bestselling author and super nice dude Brandon Sanderson and in a jam-packed episode he answered our listeners’ questions and let us in on some of his inspirational top tips for productive writing… In this interview, you will learn: Listen Love the show? Support the podcast today and become a patron […] The post Ep501 – Br…

We’ve reached a monumental episode – the 500th – on the Bestseller Experiment podcast! To celebrate, Mark Desvaux goes deeper than ever to uncover and countdown the most important, life-changing reasons why we write, drawn from seven and a half years and over 600 hours of interviews with bestselling authors. In this interview, you will […] The post…

Michael Connelly is one of the most successful crime authors in the world with over 60m book sales. Having just released his new Harry Bosch thriller, he shares secrets about developing characters & writing book series – in the back of a London cab! Listen Love the show? Support the podcast today and become a patron to […] The post Ep499 – Michael …

Karen Storey’s name has become synonymous with success in short story writing. With an impressive one-in-three win rate out of over 40 competitions last year, Karen exemplifies what it means to blend passion with strategy in writing. In this episode, Karen shares the secrets of her success, including the importance of great endings. In a […] The po…

Ben Aaronovitch started writing for Doctor Who and became the author of the bestselling Peter Grant series that started with Rivers Of London in 2011 and has been hugely successful, regularly hitting the Sunday Times bestseller Top 10 list. Listen in as the Two Marks get a roasting by Ben over their outline in a conversation […] The post Ep497 – Be…

Jacqueline O’Mahony was named Young Irish Writer of the Year by the Irish Examiner when she was fourteen. After a BA, MA and PhD she worked at Condé Nast, Vogue and Associated Newspapers as an arts editor. Her debut novel, A River in the Trees, was nominated for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award […] The post Ep496 – Jacqueline O’Mahony – “Sh…

Photo Credit: Lou Abercrombie Joe burst onto the fantasy scene in 2003 with his debut The Blade Itself. His books have climbed high up the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and he had some unusual advice for writers when we spoke to him at GollanczFest. Joe is best known for the First Law […] The post Ep495 – Joe Abercrombie – “The Best W…

In this episode, we dive into the world of Rachel Lynch. Rachel Lynch is a renowned crime fiction author whose work has captivated over a million readers. Rachel is best known for her gripping Kelly Porter series of 12 books, set against the picturesque backdrop of the Lake District. She began writing full time in […] The post Ep494 – Rachel Lynch …

Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston tells us about his life and new bestselling memoir, A Life In Parts. Oscar-nominated, with two Golden Globes, two Tony Awards and 6 time Emmy winner, he’s best known for roles in Malcolm in the Middle, Seinfeld and most famously, Walter White. Few people know that he is also an accomplished […] The post Ep493 – Bryan C…

In this interview, listen in as Mark Desvaux pitches his forthcoming book Pacivida to NY literary agent Lucinda Halpern, who has been securing book deals with all major publishers over the last 15 years. Lucinda represents a range of New York Times and internationally bestselling authors in nonfiction or fiction, and her new book “Get […] The post …

Lucinda Halpern is a literary agent with over 15 years’ experience securing book deals and working with all major publishers. She represents a range of New York Times and internationally bestselling authors in business, health, lifestyle, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction. Lucinda worked for HarperCollins on New Yo…

SHARI LAPENA is the #1 internationally bestselling author of seven suspense novels including A Stranger in the House and The Couple Next Door, her debut which was a runaway global bestseller, with 4 million sales worldwide. It was WHSmith’s “Book of the Year” in 2016 and the #1 Adult Fiction Title in the UK for […] The post Ep490 – Shari Lapena – “…

Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman, Heart-Shaped Box, and Strange Weather. Joe, son of Stephen King, is a powerhouse storyteller from an incredible family of writers. Much of his work has been adapted for film and television. His second novel, Horns, was made into a cult horror-comedy starring […] The post Ep489 – J…

Amy Newmark is Editor-in-Chief of Chicken Soup for the Soul, publishing over 20,000 stories in the last 15 years, launching the careers of many New York Times bestselling authors. Celebrating over half a billion book sales, the Chicken Soup anthology stands as a literary giant, rivalled only by Harry Potter. In Part 2 of this […] The post Ep488 – A…

Mark Desvaux delves into Part 1 of a fascinating conversation with Amy Newmark, the powerhouse Editor-in-Chief behind Chicken Soup for the Soul. Celebrating over half a billion book sales, the Chicken Soup anthology stands as a literary giant, rivalled only by Harry Potter. Amy unveils how it launched the careers of New York Times bestselling […] T…

Welcome to a New Year’s special of the Bestseller Experiment podcast, where we dive into your inner game as a writer. In this episode, Mark Desvaux shares his personal journey and challenges listeners to make bold dream declarations for their writing goals. Episode Highlights: Inspiration & Ambition: Mark encourages writers to set ambitious […] The…

Mr Stay’s final episode as a co-presenter! The Two Marks celebrate Christmas by looking back at some of Mr Stay’s favourite moments of the podcast before he rides off into the sunset. But don’t worry! The podcast will continue and Mr D gives a few hints at what’s coming, but first we start with a […] The post Ep485 — Christmas Special 2023 appeared…

Mike Gayle joins us to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Sunday Times top ten bestseller debut novel My Legendary Girlfriend and the release of his 18th novel A Song of Me and You, a story of mid-life crisis inspired by a quote from Jim Carrey. Mike takes us from Birmingham to London and his […] The post Ep484 — Mike Gayle — “Always be Entertai…

L.M. Chilton worked as a journalist for The Times, The Mirror and Metro and TV shows like This Morning, The One Show and Loose Women. His debut novel Don’t Swipe Right was inspired by years of online dating (the dating part of the story, we hasten to add, not the serial killing bits…) and having […] The post Ep483 — LM Chilton — “Be a Bit Cheeky.” …

Tracy Wolff is the New York Times, and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty novels from Austin Texas, Nina Croft is an incredibly prolific author from the UK now living in Spain and they have collaborated on Star Bringer, a new adult romance novel billed as Firefly meets the Breakfast Club. Tracy and Nina […] The post Ep482 — Tracy Wolff & Ni…

Jake Lamar developed his latest work Viper’s Dream as both a radio play and a novel. Jake tells us what he learned working for Time magazine, gives us a crucial tip for writing about real figures from recent history, and how he learned to make his writing sing… And in the extended version for Academy […] The post Ep481 — Jake Lamar — “Make it Sing.…

The author of 49 books and counting, Graham Hurley returns with his latest WWII thriller The Blood of Others. He takes us through his extraordinary career and discusses writing in a genre that he wasn’t a fan of, writing a series without a recurring lead character and the benefits of long publisher lunches. And in […] The post Ep480 — Graham Hurley…

Fiona is an acclaimed bestselling author, whose books have sold millions of copies and been translated into more than thirty different languages worldwide. Her latest novel is The Cypress Maze, set in Tuscany and is the perfect book for these long winter nights. Fiona has a degree in Geography, has worked as an IT systems […] The post Ep479 — Fiona…

Mira V Shah is a British-African-Indian author and legal writer who lives in North London with her husband, three good dogs and one mediocre cat. She studied History at the University of Warwick before practising as a City lawyer. During the pandemic, Mira wrote her first ever novel, HER, a psychological drama, which explores themes […] The post Ep…

Hailing from Scotland’s wet and wild west coast, Michael writes sweeping and epic fantasy and since 2018 has sold over 330,000 books topping Amazon and Audible charts along the way. He’s also worked for Bloomsbury publishing, and is the co-founder of digital publisher Portal Books. He’s written The Dragon’s Blade trilogy and now returns with […] Th…

Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Malaysia and is a multi-award winning author. Her latest novel The American Boyfriend was longlisted for the Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction Writers of Colour 2022. Ivy is a musician, she’s also written non-fiction cookery books, diet books, interior design books, she sells tie-in merch […]…

We celebrate seven years of the podcast with the amazing Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which has sold over 6 million copies worldwide. She returns with a new novel, Sisters Under The Rising Sun, which transports the reader to the women in Japanese POW camps in WWII and is another incredibly powerful […] The post Ep475 — Heat…

Mountain Ash Press is the brainchild of authors Andi Cumbo-Floyd and Caroline Topperman who wanted to bring a combination of writer services and publication experience to create a new kind of Hybrid publisher. They talk about the challenges of being an independent publisher and what they can offer to authors. Links Discover more about Mountain […] …

Julie Owen Moylan is a novelist and filmmaker. Her graduation short film ‘BabyCakes’ scooped Best Film awards at the Swansea Film Festival where Ken Russell was a judge! And Julie has written two novels, THAT GREEN EYED GIRL and 73 DOVE STREET, which was released just this summer. Julie talks about how she knows when […] The post EP473: Julie Owen …

The award-winning Gareth L. Powell returns to the podcast with Descendant Machine his new science fiction epic. He also tells about working with Peter F Hamilton, how starting a commercial thriller led him to writing his most personal book, how he wrote a book on writing almost by accident, and he gives us some insight […] The post EP472: Gareth L …

Jesse Sutanto is the award-winning, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers and I’m Not Done With You Yet. Jesse tells how she learned about human behaviour through real estate and weddings, why she doesn’t dwell on projects that are on submission, and why she writes in 15 minute […] The post EP471: Je…

We are delighted to welcome back Suzie Edge for this special episode of the podcast! Suzie is a phenomenon on TikTok and after her smash hit debut book Mortal Monarchs she returns with Vital Organs, a wonderful dissection of history’s strangest body parts. Suzie takes us through her incredible career so far and reveals the […] The post EP470: Suzie…

Harriet Muncaster is an award-winning author and illustrator. Her Isadora Moon books have sold over two million copies worldwide. And in 2020, Muncaster also published Bad and Glittering, the first part of her middle-grade series Victoria Stitch. And now she’s here with the latest Victoria Stitch book Dark & Sparkling. Harriet reveals how she devel…

Sarah Moorhead returns to the podcast with The Treatment, her extraordinary new novel that tackles issues of justice and revenge with compassion and heart. She reveals how she got back into writing after being dropped by her publisher and agent, and how being an idealist fuels her desire to keep telling great stories whatever it […] The post EP468:…

In this very special episode, international bestselling author Linwood Barclay returns to the podcast to tease us with details of his new thriller The Lie Maker. He gives us tips aplenty for writers, reveals how a correspondence with Ross Macdonald changed his career, why he loves collaborating with editors, and if he’ll ever co-write with […] The …

Teresa Driscoll is a former BBC TV news presenter whose psychological thrillers have sold over two million copies across the world. Her first thriller I Am Watching You hit Kindle Number 1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has sold more than a million copies in English alone. For decades, Teresa was a journalist […] The post EP466: Teresa Driscoll —…

Damian Dibben is an acclaimed British author whose novels have been translated into twenty-seven languages and published in over forty countries. His series The History Keepers was an international publishing phenomenon. Dibben originally trained as an artist and scenic designer before becoming an actor and screenwriter. The Colour Storm is his sec…

AJ Pearce’s debut novel Dear Mrs Bird was a Sunday Times Bestseller and she returns with the third in the Emmy Lake series, Mrs Porter Calling. AJ tells us how writing started as a hobby, how it all very nearly went wrong with a plotless romcom, and how the Emmy Lake books were inspired by […] The post EP464: AJ Pearce — “Passion, patience & persis…

Jeremy Szal is the author of the Common trilogy from Gollancz, which includes Stormblood, Blindspace, and Wolfskin and he’s the author of over fifty science-fiction short stories, translated into six languages. He has a new novella, SCREAM IN BLUE, set in the same world of The Common, and he’s also one of a number of […] The post EP463: Jeremy Szal…

Antony Johnston is a New York Times bestselling author and the creator of Atomic Blonde, the comic book originally published as The Coldest City that was adapted into the movie starring Charlize Theron. For over twenty years he’s written books, graphic novels, video games, film, and more… And now he’s back with something a bit […] The post EP462: A…

Freya Berry’s writing career began as a journalist at Reuters. After a stint in New York reporting on the 2016 US election she left to write her acclaimed first novel, The Dictator’s Wife. With her new novel, The Birdcage Library, Freya has ended up creating a love story and a detective mystery, two things she […] The post EP461: Freya Berry — “Be …

Heide Goody and Iain Grant have been writing together since 2011 and are best known for their Clovenhoof series, where Satan is made redundant from Hell and sent to live in Birmingham. They tell us how their collaborative process has evolved and how they took everything they’ve learned over the years to launch their new […] The post EP460: Heide Go…

Paul Austin Ardoin is the USA TODAY Bestselling Author of The Fenway Stevenson Mysteries and the Woodhead & Becker Mysteries. And now Paul has a new non-fiction book: From Zero to Four Figures: Making $1000 a Month Self-Publishing Fiction, which brilliantly demystifies the process of making money as an indie author. If you’ve published one or more …

Katherine Faulkner’s second thriller The Other Mothers takes us into the school playground and makes it a terrifying place with dark cliques and murderous secrets. Katherine tells us how finding structure and accountability helped her write her debut and how she discovered that the most important person in any novel is the reader. And in […] The po…

Sunday Times bestselling author Katie Fforde brings us her latest novel One Enchanted Evening, which was inspired by a cookery course. Katie has sold over 4.5 million copies in the UK alone and credits the Romantic Novelists’ Association with launching her career and she received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Katie tells us how […] The …

JD Kirk is the pen name multi-award-winning author, screenwriter, and writer of comics, Barry Hutchison. When he was nine, a kindly librarian wrote his name on the spine of a notebook in which he’d written a terrible short story, and put it on the shelf changing his life. Barry talks about writing over 200 books in 10 […] The post EP456: JD Kirk — …

Tim Lott is the multi award winning author of ten novels and a memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses, and has been teaching writing for the last ten years, as a lecturer, teacher and mentor. With his new book, Yes! No! But Wait...!: The One Thing You Need to Know To Write a Novel, Tim has produced […] The post EP455: Deep Dive — How to Write a Novel wit…

Andrea Dunlop began her career in publishing as a publicist for the likes of Doubleday before becoming an author and consultant based in Seattle. Her latest novel, Women Are The Fiercest Creatures, is the story of three women written out of a successful tech startup’s history. Andrea worked for over 15 years in publishing and […] The post EP454: An…