Margs & Manuscripts

“Henry just wanted to bang the next girl.” That’s A. L. Sinclair’s summary of the Boleyn downfall, and honestly, she’s not wrong.

This week, we finally sit down with A. L. Sinclair, author of The Witch Queen’s Gambit, a dark historical fantasy that asks what would happen if Anne Boleyn were a witch whose rise to power changed the world. A. L. isn’t here to promote a book that’s already out. She’s on submission, waiting with the rest of us, and she gives an honest look at what that stage is really like. (Spoiler: if you thought querying was slow, wait until you hear about the other side.)

She tells us how a short story she wrote to distract herself from the query trenches grew into an epic, how giving away the first three chapters brought in 700 ARC sign-ups in three weeks, and how that hype led to signing with her agent. We also dig into building your author brand before you have anything to sell, why mislabeling a book as romantasy loses you the readers who’d love it most, and what it means to channel your characters. Plus, a peek at her next project, which includes a murder mystery, a matchmaker witch, and a man in slutty glasses.

In This Episode

• Life on submission and why editors are just as buried as agents right now
• Why George Boleyn deserves way more credit than history gives him
• Giving away your first three chapters through BookFunnel to build hype and protect your IP
• Email funnels and the business side of being an author, even if you’re going trad
• Finding your reader personas, and why your book isn’t for everyone
• Why not every fantasy with romance is a romantasy
• Channeling characters, trusting the story, and what writer’s block might really be
• Daisy Darling, her dark comedy WIP about a matchmaker witch in Edinburgh whose exes keep turning up murdered
• Bluey, bin chickens, and why our kids speak better Australian than we do

Join Us Live: Margs, Manuscripts, and Misbehaving Women

Bold books, complicated women, and conversations that refuse to behave. On Thursday, November 12, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. CST, we’re hosting a live virtual panel with authors Amy W. Vogel, Katie Jung, and Audrey Goldberg, plus our own Cait Waynelovich. We’ll talk honestly about power, rage, reputation, identity, and feminine expression, with short readings, book recs, digital reader bonuses, and a giveaway of signed books, ebooks, and M&M merch. You don’t need to read anything beforehand.

Tickets

• VIP Live Experience ($35): Live Zoom admission, the audience Q&A, one month of replay access, all digital bonuses, an exclusive “Last Call” M&M episode, and a VIP giveaway entry
• General Replay Pass ($15): Replay within 24 hours with 7 days of access, digital bonuses, and a general giveaway entry

Get your tickets: https://www.margsandmanuscripts.com/live-event-2026

Listen If You Love

• Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar
• Kate Forsyth
• Juliet Marillier
• Witchy historical fantasy with a dark and twisty edge

Follow A. L. Sinclair

Read the first three chapters of The Witch Queen’s Gambit: https://www.alsinclairauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a.l.sinclairauthor

Mentioned in This Episode

Writing Away Refuge

Follow Margs & Manuscripts

Instagram: @margsandmanuscripts

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

Support the show

Orin Steele joins us to talk about By Blood, Shadow, and Fire, the first book in her dark romantasy trilogy, and the choices that got it (and her) here. We’re fresh off the book and we cannot stop thinking about that ending.

Orin spent nearly a decade running her own branding agency, and it shows. We dig into how she brought a fully formed cover vision to Emrae Publishing, how a Friday night spot at her local Portland brewery led her to illustrator Santiago, and why she wanted a cover that looked like art instead of a book cover.

We also get real about the other side of building an author platform: posting about bad days instead of curated wins, 80+ agent rejections, and why she queried an indie publisher directly. Orin opens up about scrapping 75,000 words of book two, stepping back from social media, and protecting the two things she won’t put down: the quality of her books and time with her daughter.

Then we get into the book itself. Orin shares how a D&D character sparked the series, how her own personal journey shaped Islyn’s story of becoming what she was taught to fear, and what’s coming in book two (spoiler: it picks up minutes after book one ends).

In this episode:

• Designing a cover that looks like art, from the illustration to the foil and overlays
• Why the most relatable content is the honest kind
• Querying an indie publisher directly and becoming their first “non-friend” signing
• Why traditional publishing keeps waiting for indie authors to prove themselves first
• R.F. Kuang’s advice: spend less time convincing people to read your book and more time making it better
• Underworld meets Shadow and Bone, morally gray characters, and inconvenient love stories
• The Lee Pace and Heath Ledger inspiration behind her characters
• What to expect in book two

Orin’s favorite reminder: “You can fix bad writing. You can’t fix a blank page.”

Connect with Orin:

• Website: https://orinsteele.com/
• Instagram: @actuallyorin
• TikTok: @actuallyorin
• Order By Blood, Shadow, and Fire: Emrae Publishing

Connect with Margs & Manuscripts:

• Instagram: @margsandmanuscripts
• Website: https://margsandmanuscripts.com

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

Support the show

When something hungry wakes in the pines, Aunna must protect the woman she loves before it devours them both.

Beth Carlberg joins us to talk Firewatcher, her dark fantasy folk horror where magic doesn’t sparkle. It costs you. Aunna is the first woman Firewatcher in generations. She can hear the dead speak through flame, and every bit of that power leaves a mark. When the Temnylf crawl out of the woods hungry for the magic buried in human bones, she has to decide how much she’s willing to burn.

We get into why fairy tales were always folk horror, how a short story grew into a full novel (with about 50,000 words left on the cutting room floor), and why Beth never tells herself no in a first draft. Then it gets delightfully woo: tarot, writing as a vessel, and the real toll of spending your workday in dark places. Fair warning, she rated Firewatcher an eleven on our dark and twisty scale.

In this episode:

• The Dolly Parton school of author branding: you are the brand
• Building a magic system where every spell has a price
• Growing up on Robin McKinley and Tolkien, and why the original fairy tales are horrifying
• Why Beth stays out of reader review spaces
• One hand, two color schemes: the story behind the hardcover and paperback covers
• From short story to novella to novel, with help from a developmental editor and The Heroine’s Journey
• The difference between what you write and what you sell
• Tarot as the thing you already know but don’t want to hear
• Writing dark without becoming dark, and the Snow White retelling she shelved for good
• How a second pen name and a lovers-to-enemies romantasy let her write outside horror authentically
• Leaving readers with complex feelings in a hot-take world
• Climbing out of the bog: noise-cancelling headphones, lo-fi jazz, and touching grass
• What’s next: Chokecherry, an 80s lesbian horror coming September 2027

Connect with Beth:

• Website: https://www.bethcarlberg.net
• Buy Firewatcher direct: https://www.bethcarlberg.net/firewatcher
• Firewatcher at all retailers: https://books2read.com/links/ubl/3JaxGg
• Newsletter: https://www.bethcarlberg.net/newsletter
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beth.carlberg
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bethcarlberg

Connect with M&M:

• Website: https://margsandmanuscripts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/margsandmanuscripts

Lime Light is our author spotlight series, created to give indie authors an affordable way to get their books in front of new readers. Beth is a featured Lime Light author, and this episode is a paid feature. Want your book in the Lime Light? Reach out at https://margsandmanuscripts.com.

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What if Death Becomes Her ditched the man and let the two women kiss? That’s the pitch for Vengefully Matched, Audrey Goldberg’s sapphic, witchy rom-com about a runaway bride, a prim council president, a prank war gone too far, and a fake relationship that gets very real.

Audrey, a high school English teacher by day, joins Jenna and Cait to talk about the cover inspo board (Taste, Wicked, Agatha All Along, and more), why she writes with a soundtrack in her head, and why Vermont is the perfect place for secret witches. She also shares honest, encouraging advice on writing intimacy, why messy drafts beat writer’s block, and the story behind a very spicy water bottle scene that didn’t make the final cut. Plus: a pitch for a Hanukkah-Christmas-Halloween holiday novella, a glitter bomb, and the greatest mayonnaise prank of all time.

Vengefully Matched is the second interconnected standalone in the Hallowcross series, following Hopelessly Teavoted. Audrey’s YA debut, Personal Space Issues, arrives March 23, 2027.

In this episode

• Sapphic, witchy rom-coms and late-in-life bisexual representation
• Fake dating, prank wars, and age-gap dynamics
• Cover design and pulling inspiration from pop culture
• Writing visually with soundtracks and internal narration
• Building an interconnected standalone series
• Vermont lore and spooky small-town settings
• Writing intimacy, confronting shame, and practicing on the page
• Cut scenes and trusting your editor
• Finding the right amount of spice for the story
• Using tropes to play with reader expectations
• Holiday romance ideas beyond Christmas
• Pranks as character growth
• Balancing teaching and writing

Get the book

• Vengefully Matched
• Order from Park Books

Find Audrey

• Website: https://audreygoldbergauthor.com/
• Instagram: @audreygoldbergruoff
• TikTok: @audreygoldbergruoff
• Newsletter: Just Your Cup of Tea
• Writing playlist: Spotify

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

Support the show

This week on the Lime Light, debut author Lizzete S. Tupas joins Jenna and Cait to talk about her novel, Always on a Tuesday. Loren Thomas has built a life on competence. At work she is the one everyone trusts, and at home she is the one everyone depends on. Then Tuesdays start cracking it all open. First comes an unexplained mistake, then a phone call she can't forget, then quiet fractures that refuse to stay hidden. It is a psychologically rich literary novel about identity, resilience, and the hidden cost of competence. We get into:

• the therapy homework assignment that started it all
• why Lizzete turned her story into fiction instead of a memoir
• founding her own imprint to publish voices that deserve to be heard
• the beta reader intervention that changed her title
• the post-it cover she designed herself

In This Episode

• (00:19) The homework assignment from her therapist, and why she chose fiction over memoir
• (03:25) Jenna on becoming a new mom and not having it all together for the first time
• (04:24) Going from writing the story to publishing it, and founding Studio LT Press to publish stories that deserve to be heard
• (07:30) How learning every step of publishing made her a stronger writer (except marketing)
• (08:39) The ultimate homework assignment, and what her therapist will say when Lizzete hands her the book
• (09:38) The beta reader intervention, and finding a new title over sushi with her nephew
• (11:42) Rewriting the first three chapters, and the DIY cover made from a post-it and a Notes app scribble
• (14:31) Stumbling into your best ideas and trusting your instincts as an indie author
• (16:26) Why she is celebrating with a private dinner instead of a big launch party
• (18:25) Wrapping up

Get the book

Always on a Tuesday is out now from Studio LT Press in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and a special Lotus Edition. Book clubs, Lizzete has a free discussion guide ready for you.

• Buy: https://www.amazon.com/Always-Tuesday-Lizzete-S-Tupas-ebook/dp/B0HC53SD9P
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256109987-always-on-a-tuesday
• Book Club Guide: https://www.lizzetetupas.com/_files/ugd/5b61a0_700531798ed948a18d3b9c4b271b58a4.pdf

Connect with Lizzete

• Website: https://www.lizzetetupas.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzetetupas
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lizzetetupas
• Studio LT Press: https://www.studioltpress.com

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Ten finished manuscripts. One titanium ankle. One perfectly timed book deal.

This week, Amanda Gayle joins us to talk about her debut romance, Once, Again, Always (Avon/HarperCollins), and the long, honest road that got her there. She shares what it was like to quit her job to write, query, land an agent, and go on submission twice. She also explains why a shelved manuscript isn't dead, just waiting for the market to catch up. Plus, we hear about the backyard fire pit conversation that sparked the story, the ending she never outlined, and her trip to Germany for her international launch.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why getting published comes down to timing as much as talent
• Building a back catalog so you're ready when your moment comes
• What submission looks like when it works, and when it doesn't
• Promoting one book while editing the next
• Choosing traditional publishing and knowing your strengths
• Keeping the faith when it feels like your turn will never come

About Once, Again, Always
Molly Graham wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the last six years. Then she finds out she's married to Aster Bishop, her infuriating boarding school rival. Amanda calls it a heartbreaking but hopeful second-chance romance about who we are when we're missing our own context. It's out October 6 from Avon.

Join the Margs & Manuscripts Book Drop
Want more indie books in your life? For $10 a month, Book Drop members get at least three indie ebooks every month, plus discount codes for physical copies. Every time an indie author's Limelight episode comes out, we pay that author $2 for every active member. The podcast and the Substack stay free. Book Drop is how we put real money behind indie authors.

Join here: https://margsandmanuscritspod.substack.com/p/its-here-the-margs-and-manuscripts

Links

• Margs & Manuscripts on Substack: https://margsandmanuscritspod.substack.com/
• Amanda Gayle on instagram
• Pick up Once, Again, Always

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

Support the show

Spicy romance meets CSI. Allison Bettes joins Jenna and Cait to celebrate the release of Rogue Wave, book three in her Cupid Meets Crime Scene series. A sunshiny marine biologist, a grumpy sheriff next door who writes her tickets for everything, and a beach that washes up a lot more than sand dollars.

We talk about writing women in STEM whose expertise actually cracks the case, the very random research behind axolotls and escape-artist octopuses, and why Allison's animals are never just pets (one is basically a matchmaker). Plus her first special editions, a bedazzling habit measured in thousands of beads, the shift from shirtless-guy covers to bright symbolic ones, and how a side character named after a street team member ended up launching a whole new series.

In this episode:

• Rogue Wave and the Cupid Meets Crime Scene series (and why you can start with any book)
• Women in STEM solving the crime, inspired by Allison's day job as a scientist
• Research rabbit holes: axolotls, octopuses, and a probable FBI watch list
• Special editions with sprayed edges, a town map, and science jokes at the top of every chapter
• The 27-hour bedazzled event copy that is not for sale
• Partnering with indie bookstore Shelf Love for pre-orders and book boxes
• The cover glow-up with designer Kay Jasperson
• What's next: Gail's book in January and a Vivi and Dougie spin-off series

Get Rogue Wave (out October 1)
Special editions: Allison's Website(free shipping)
Special editions and book boxes: Shelf Love
Pre-orders placed by Saturday, October 3 get personalized.

Connect with Allison: @authorallisonbettes
Connect with M&M: @margsandmanuscripts

Support the show

We hit almost 500 downloads in a single week, and we're marking the milestone with an episode that turned into a full-circle moment for our own indie publishing journeys. Dakoda Mazzii, author of the dark fantasy trilogy The Fate of Astoran, joins us to talk about querying, signing with a literary agent, and ultimately walking away to self-publish on her own terms. Since then she's released Chasm of Dreams and Summoner of Chaos seven months apart, sold thousands of copies, and built a devoted readership from scratch.

We get into how she grew her fanbase as an indie author (hint: human-made artwork, newsletters, and a lot of giving books away), why she refuses to write to market, and why she's giving herself zero deadline for book three. Plus some honest talk about day jobs, health insurance, and the reality of chasing a creative dream without betting your whole life on it.

In this episode:

• Why Dakoda left the trad pipeline after a year of waiting and uncertainty
• Releasing two epic fantasy books in seven months (and why book three gets all the time it needs)
• Investing in human artists over AI art to draw readers in
• Newsletters, giveaways, and the self-sacrificial side of indie marketing
• Why "writing to market" isn't the answer
• Every author has their own journey, and your craft grows with every book
• A reminder for the online author community: we're all on the same team

About Chasm of Dreams:
A character-driven, fast-paced, Lord of the Rings-coded fantasy about a dream walker and her found family taking on the fallen angel who has conquered their world. Expect prophecy, revolution, a medium-burn romance with zero brooding animosity, and a story about honor, compassion, and humanity reclaiming its footing.

Chapters:
00:00 Almost 500 downloads in one week
02:14 Meet Dakoda and Chasm of Dreams
05:16 The Fate of Astoran series
07:49 Querying, landing an agent, and walking away
13:28 Choosing indie and letting book three breathe
17:11 How she built her readership
23:07 Every author has their own journey
28:13 Leaving the query trenches and ignoring the market
31:44 Day jobs, health insurance, and real talk about risk
33:18 Be nice, we're on the same team

Find Dakoda:
Instagram: @dakodamazziiauthor

Find us:
Instagram: @margsandmanuscripts

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This week on the Limelight, debut author Elizabeth Gillman joins Jenna and Cait to talk about her novel, Maybe, Maybe Not. Annie has learned to live well with her OCD, but travel has always been off the table, and she has never left her little Gulf Coast community. When her boss offers to sell her the boutique she has worked in since she was a teenager, Annie finally decides to face travel with her fearless best friend Kat by her side. Then Kat dies unexpectedly, leaving behind a list of offbeat places to scatter her ashes and a surly little brother to help get it done. It is funny, it is tender, and it is full of road trip energy. We get into why OCD is not the antagonist of this story, the deeply personal reason Elizabeth wrote it, the octopus hiding on her gorgeous cover, and her ten-year road to publication.

Her OCD is an octopus. Her best friend's last wishes are a road trip. If you love Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and The Road to Tender Hearts, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• (00:00) How long Elizabeth has been working on this book, and meeting Cait at the Alexandria retreat
• (00:48) ARC reader reception and trying (and failing) not to read reviews
• (02:09) The pitch, the premise, and the comp titles
• (04:41) Why OCD is not the antagonist
• (05:59) The heart of the story: writing hope for her daughter and for the parents who love kids with OCD
• (10:19) The cover journey, letting the designer take the wheel, and the octopus you can't unsee
• (14:37) Elizabeth's ten-year publishing journey, from a 134,000-word first draft to finding her first critique partner
• (21:25) Writing this one for her daughter, setting a querying deadline, and choosing to go indie
• (23:40) Building a publishing team, from dev editor to audiobook narrator
• (25:05) Wrapping up

If you liked these, you'll like Maybe, Maybe Not:

• The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
• Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
• After Annie by Anna Quindlen

Get the book:
Maybe, Maybe Not comes out September 26 from 20 Knots Press and is available for preorder now. Keep an eye out for two more books from Elizabeth coming soon.

• Preorder: https://books2read.com/u/bPqqlR
• Website: https://elizabethgillman.squarespace.com/

Find Elizabeth:

• Website: https://elizabethgillman.squarespace.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethgillmanwrites

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Katie Jung joins us to talk about her debut romance, You're the One That I Haunt, and the surprisingly hard rules of writing a love interest who can't be touched. We dig into how Trip became a ghost in the first place, the logic she had to build so the "rules" of a paranormal romance actually hold up (turns out you don't need to explain everything, sometimes a ghost is just an octopus), and why every bit of magic in a story needs to earn its place in the plot. Katie also walks us through her whirlwind path to publication, from a mentorship program to an agent to a two book deal in under a year, and gives us the details on her launch week, including a haunted wine bar and a joint event with fellow author Mackenzie Reed.

In this episode:

• How Trip became a ghost, and why Katie almost changed her mind more than once
• Building consistent rules for a paranormal romance without overexplaining the magic (the "static electricity, not a chill" fix)
• Why every magical element needs to serve the character arc, not just solve a plot problem
• Jenna's trick of personifying a magic system as its own character to find its "why"
• The Smooch Pit mentorship program, her mentor Audrey Goldberg Rueff, and the agent showcase that led to her offer
• Her timeline from agent signing in March to book deal in June to publication in September, all inside one year
• What's next: book two is a new contemporary romance with a magical element, same vibe, and yes, this time they can touch
• Launch week plans, including her haunted-wine-bar release party and a joint event with Mackenzie Reed

About Katie Jung

Katie Jung writes romance about the messy parts of being human and what it means to build your own happy ending. You're the One That I Haunt is her debut novel, publishing September 22, 2026 from Penguin Random House. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and three kids, and she's already at work on book two.

Where to find Katie:

• You're the One That I Haunt — launch event in Syracuse, NY
• Joint event with Mackenzie Reed (I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell) at The Ripped Bodice, Sept 24
• Instagram: @katiejungwrites

Book Break: Maybe, Maybe Not by Elizabeth Gillman

It's taken decades, but Annie Reeves has learned to coexist with her OCD. Travel's still out of the question, but her moss-draped historic Florida town holds everyone she loves, including her fearless best friend Kat and the boutique she's managed for years. When Kat dies unexpectedly, Annie learns Kat wanted her ashes scattered far and wide, with Kat's wayward brother Evans by her side. To honor that wish, Annie has to face everything that triggers her and decide whether to let her heart lead the way.

Available 9.26.26 https://books2read.com/b/bPqqlR

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What happens when the story you need to tell won't let you write it until you're ready? This week Jenna and Cait sit down with Kathy Sherbrooke (Katherine A. Sherbrooke), author of the new novel This Much Is True, out September 17th. It's a conversation about elapsed time, trusting your subconscious, and making the case for protagonists who have some real life experience behind them.

Kathy first had the premise for This Much Is True more than a decade ago, then set it down twice to write two works of historical fiction before she finally found her way through it. We get into why that ten-year wait made the book better, what it means to write a woman reckoning at 58 with something that happened 40 years earlier, and her craft choice to tell one timeline in first person and the other in close third.

We also talk about GrubStreet, the Boston writing center Kathy chaired for a decade, and why community is the thing that turns one novel into four. Plus the writing-as-channeling conversation, a little Big Magic, the trouble with the "women's fiction" label, and why this is a book Kathy hopes men will read too.

In this episode:

• The value of elapsed time and letting an idea percolate instead of chasing a word count
• Writing an older protagonist with real history, and why that felt so refreshing
• First person vs. close third, and how point of view shapes distance
• GrubStreet, writing groups, and the case for community
• Historical fiction rooted in real women, from Lucy Stone to a 1940s Hollywood runway model
• Getting past the "women's fiction" shelf and inviting everyone into the conversation

About the book: On her 58th birthday, veterinarian Veronica Harmon has a full life and a newly engaged daughter, until a face from her past reappears as her daughter's future father-in-law and forces a decades-old reckoning. This Much Is True is a story about survivorship, shame, and the choices that are ours to make.

Content note: this episode and the book touch on sexual assault.

Kathy's other books: Leaving Coy's Hill, Fill the Sky, and The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly.

Book launch: Thursday, September 17th at 6:00 PM at GrubStreet in Boston's Seaport.

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

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Episode Summary
What happens when a sous vide nerd falls hard for a war college full of dragons? You get a cookbook. This week we sit down with Chelsea Cole, the mind behind A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant, the (unofficial) Fourth Wing cookbook that is embossed, spot glossed, and frankly prettier than most things in our houses. We get into how you build a recipe out of four passing food mentions, why aesthetic is the entire point, and how she turns a book launch into a full night at Basgiath (axe throwing, a maker's market, and a marketplace throne included). Come hungry. Leave manifesting Rebecca Yarros's phone number.

In This Episode

• How a cookbook actually gets made, from 30 recipe testers to chapter intros to dragon scale cover textures
• Writing recipes when the source material only mentions food four times
• Picking a whole flavor world (hello, Southern European Navarre) to make a fan cookbook feel cohesive
• Fan lore as an ingredient: Jesinia's margin notes, Segale's chardonnay, Broccoli the kitten
• Turning launches into immersive events that actually sell out
• The working author-parent reality: 5am writing, meal planning a month at a time, and treating it like a business, not a hobby
• Why fan-first beats source-accurate every time (the rabbit stew is beef, sorry)

About Chelsea Cole
Chelsea Cole is a cookbook author, food blogger, and photographer who has been running her sous vide site A Duck's Oven for over a decade. She wrote Everyday Sous Vide and Sous Vide Meal Prep, and she teaches other writers how to make cookbooks through her course, The Cookbook Lab. A devoted Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros fan, she has turned her fandoms into a growing shelf of unofficial fan cookbooks, the newest being A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant, a 60-recipe tribute to the Empyrean series (Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm) from Simon & Schuster. She lives outside Portland, Oregon, where she develops recipes before sunrise and raises two very small humans.

Links

• Get A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant: https://a.co/d/0byRi0Ka
• Chelsea on Instagram: @chel.seacole
• A Duck's Oven: aducksoven.com
• The makers from Chelsea's launch market (ceramics, embroidery, hand-forged daggers, and more):
@brujos_brewing
@elviejonpdx
@domestic_science
@saltandstemware
@stephiepredmore
@faithhead99
@lindsaystrannigan

Follow Along
Loved this one? Send it to the friend whose TBR is 90% romantasy. Then do us a favor and follow Margs & Manuscripts on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. It genuinely moves the needle on who finds the show.

• Website: margsandmanuscripts.com
• Instagram: @margsandmanuscripts

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

Keywords
Fourth Wing cookbook, Chelsea Cole, A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant, Rebecca Yarros, The Empyrean, Iron Flame, Onyx Storm, Basgiath, romantasy, fan cookbook, unofficial cookbook, cookbook author, cookbook writing, sous vide, book launch, self-publishing, indie author, bookish podcast, books and writing podcast, A Court of Thorns and Roses

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What happens when your book dies on submission? For author Elizabeth Richardson, the answer turned into one of the best decisions she's ever made. This week we dig into her viral serialization of Trad, the novel she serialized on Substack after it didn't sell, and how she built an audience of 800+ subscribers in a single summer.

We get into the highs and lows of querying and going on sub, why toxic positivity runs rampant in publishing, and how the "no rules anymore" era of indie publishing is opening doors that used to be firmly shut. Elizabeth also shares her surprisingly simple serialization strategy (hint: it started with fanfiction), why she treats every release like a debut, and the hustle behind getting yourself heard.

Whether you're querying, on sub, or just Substack-curious, this one's for you.

In this episode:

• Why Elizabeth dragged her feet on Substack, then went all in
• What it really feels like when a book dies on sub
• Celebrating the wins without the toxic positivity
• The fanfiction-inspired cadence that built her audience
• Why not every book (or genre) is right for Substack
• Serialization, tension, and the "Netflix binge" model for books
• Treating your release like a debut, and pitching like you mean it

The Trad pitch: a woman named Hannah pretends to be a trad wife online, goes viral, and unravels her life one bad decision at a time.

Subscribe to Trad and catch up before the final chapter drops.

Follow Elizabeth: https://substack.com/@elizabethrichardsonbooks
Follow Margs & Manuscripts: @margsandmanuscripts

This episode is brought to you by: Andrew Loftesnes' book The Emperor's Cabin

Buy on amazon or wherever books are sold: https://a.co/d/0gXUhiSu

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This week on the Limelight, debut author Emily joins Jenna and Cait to talk about her first novel, The Care and Feeding of Dead Mothers. A disgraced author named Margot Hale flees Manhattan for the Wisconsin Northwoods after fraudulent accusations blow up her career, and five years later she is a recluse trying to piece her writing life back together when her estranged, shapeshifting sister comes crawling back into the picture. It is dark, it is twisty, and the buried trauma does not stay buried. We get into Emily's very Wisconsin murder research, her writing-coach-guided path to indie publishing, and the wildly ambitious meta-project she has planned for the world of Margot Hale.

Margot's career is unraveling. So is her mind. If you love Sharp Objects and anything by Alice Feeney, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Meet Margot Hale and the premise behind Dead Mothers
• (03:00) Where the story came from, and how Emily's husband Michael talks her through plot logic
• (04:40) The research rabbit hole: augers, flowages, and the best time of year to drown a body in Wisconsin
• (10:00) How the book actually came together during pregnancy
• (11:00) The publishing journey and finding the right writing coach
• (16:15) Comp titles and read-alikes
• (20:50) Launch details, personalized book boxes, and supporting indie authors
• (23:40) Book two, and the Stephen King style twist of bringing Margot Hale to life as a real author
• (29:00) Wrapping up

If you liked these, you'll like Dead Mothers:

• You Killed Me First by John Marrs
• Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
• One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole
• His & Hers by Alice Feeney
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
• Anything by Lucy Foley or Alice Feeney

Get the book:
Launch week runs August 24 through 30, with a 99-cent ebook deal. Find it on Amazon, or order a personalized signed copy with book box extras directly from Emily's website. Local to Sun Prairie? Grab it at Prairie Pages.

• Buy on Amazon: https://a.co/d/057SNwdY
• Order direct from Emily: https://elkaltenbergwrites.com/

Find Emily:

• Website: https://elkaltenbergwrites.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writing_kaltenberg

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This week we're joined by travel rom-com author Kat Mackenzie to talk about her latest release, Experiments in Offline Dating (Avon), out today. Set in County Clare, Ireland, the book is built around a real-life Irish matchmaking festival, and Kat did the research the only way she knows how: she went. She lived in Galway, traveled all over Ireland, went to the actual festival in Lisdoonvarna, and signed up with a real third-generation matchmaker, Willie Daly, complete with his generations-old leather-bound book of dating magic.

We get into all of it: why every pub, shop, and plate of fish and chips in the book is a place Kat has actually been, how she nailed the Irish dialect, her Cajun life in Louisiana with six rescue dogs, and the baby lamb author photo she refuses to give up. Then the conversation turns to the honest stuff, Kat's winding path from indie to a trad deal with Avon, why traditional publishing keeps so many secrets, and the real differences between going indie and going trad.

Also, Kat believes her true literary legacy is the perfectly crafted insult. After this episode, we're inclined to agree.

Plus: our brand-new segment, The Book Break, kicks off with Liar Liar by Lucy Lee, a steamy fake-dating rom-com you'll want on your TBR.

Pour a margarita or a Guinness and settle in.

In this episode:

• Six rescue dogs, wildlife rehab, and the baby lamb that started it all
• The real Irish matchmaking festival in County Clare
• Meeting world-famous matchmaker Willie Daly
• Writing authentic Irish dialect (and one very memorable curse word)
• The art of the insult
• Kat's journey from indie to a trad deal with Avon
• Trad vs indie publishing: control, transparency, and why trad keeps secrets

Links:

• Grab Experiments in Offline Dating by Kat Mackenzie
• Follow Kat on Instagram
• Subscribe to our Substack and e-newsletter
• Loved the episode? Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It's the easiest way to support the show.

This episode's book break:

Liar, Liar by Lucy Lee, a steamy fake-dating debut romance from a Florida sister duo. Broke, jobless, and accidentally the winner of a $100k love-story contest, Lena talks her favorite banter buddy into fake-dating her to claim the prize. Fake dating, forced proximity, secret pining, roughly three chili peppers. Content notes for mental health, food insecurity, and references to abuse and loss.
Grab it: https://books2read.com/u/mVEQg2

Margs & Manuscripts is hosted by Jenna G. Judith and Cait Waynelovich.

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Some people dream of writing a book their whole lives. Marissa Malson wrote her first three chapters in her phone's Notes app after a yoga class and never looked back. This week we sit down with the author behind the cozy-adjacent Average Jane PI series to talk about writing on instinct, building an author business from scratch, and why indie publishing is so much more than finishing the manuscript.

Marissa's debut, The Not So Average Life of Average Jane, introduced Jane Smith, a private investigator whose greatest asset is being completely forgettable. Book two, The Consultants, is out now and sends Jane and her team to Spain to crack a cold case. Think Ocean's Eleven meets Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, with a mostly female cast and a whole lot of twists.

In this episode:

• How a book she never planned to write became a series (with a third now in progress)
• Starting Just A Good Book Publishing with her cover-designer sister, Nicolle
• What she wishes she'd known before her first launch, from finding editors to building an ARC team
• Why author events and curated markets became her secret weapon (101 books sold in a single day)
• Free writing vs. plotting, and where her best ideas actually strike
• The bonus wine pairings, recipes, and book club kits she builds for every book

About Marissa: Marissa Malson is a marketer turned mystery author and the owner of Just A Good Book Publishing, where she helps indie authors learn to self-publish and market their work. She also writes the Plot Twist newsletter on Substack, sharing practical marketing ideas for authors.

Find Marissa:

• Instagram: @marissamalsonauthor
• Website: justagoodbook.com
• Substack: Plot Twist https://substack.com/@marissamalson
• Books: The Not So Average Life of Average Jane and The Consultants

Books featured on the podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

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Cait has been trying to get Cara Alwill in a room with us for ages, and she finally said yes. This one is a masterclass in building your own universe instead of waiting for one of the Big Five to hand you a key.

Cara is the 10-book author behind Girl Code, the founder of Pink Ink Press, and the host of Cara Says It All. She started blogging into the void in 2008, wrote for MTV News for free at 5am before her day job, got rejected by 19 publishers, self-published anyway, sold close to 100,000 copies of Girl Code on her own, signed the Penguin Random House deal she'd always dreamed of, and then walked away from all of it to build something better.

We get into the real math of a traditional book deal (spoiler: you pay the advance back, and then some), why "getting picked" is a trap, the ethics of writing memoir about people you actually dated, how literary salons are quietly changing publishing, and the moment that gave this episode its name. If you are an indie author, a memoirist, a Substack writer, or anyone sitting on a book you keep not writing, this is the pep talk and the reality check.

What we get into:

How one line in an email from author Marianna Pease sparked Pink Ink Press three days later. The MTV News origin story Cara says she's never told on a podcast (yes, she was in the pit at that VMAs). Why she started her Substack, House of Her, to hide in plain sight and write unhinged dating stories. The case for keeping 100% of your rights and 100% of your royalties. And how being seen means being willing to be misunderstood.

Timestamps:

00:00 The intro that turned into a millennials-don't-wait TED talk
04:30 Finally meeting Cara + the law of attraction of cool people
06:40 Blogging into the void in 2008 (RIP The Champagne Diet)
07:20 The MTV years, writing for free, and a front-row seat to VMAs history
11:00 Blog to book, 19 rejections, and going indie
17:10 Literary salons and The Tortured Bloggers Department
19:55 The ethics of writing memoir about the men you dated
28:00 Visibility, personal brand, and learning to talk about your art
32:30 Handling the haters and letting go of people-pleasing
34:20 Book break: Liar, Liar by Lucy Lee
35:20 Pink Ink, the name she's had since 17, and Girl Code blowing up
36:10 The Penguin deal and why trad publishing broke her heart
40:50 Mentorship and what Pink Ink actually gives authors
42:40 Indie vs trad, and why you shouldn't give it all away to get "chosen"
50:40 "I'm the magic here" (put it on a sweatshirt)

Find Cara:
Substack (House of Her): caraalwill.substack.com
Website + podcast (Cara Says It All): carasaysitall.com
Pink Ink Press: her boutique publishing imprint for bold, feminine, rebellious storytelling
Books: Girl Code, Like She Owns the Place, The Champagne Diet, and Don't Do Anything I Would Do
Instagram: @caraalwill

This episode's book break:
Liar, Liar by Lucy Lee, a steamy fake-dating debut romance from a Florida sister duo. Broke, jobless, and accidentally the winner of a $100k love-story contest, Lena talks her favorite banter buddy into fake-dating her to claim the prize. Fake dating, forced proximity, secret pining, roughly three chili peppers. Content notes for mental health, food insecurity, and references to abuse and loss.
Grab it: https://books2read.com/u/mVEQg2

Send this to the writer friend who keeps saying "someday" about their book.

Books featured on this podcast are sometimes provided free by publishers or authors.

#indieauthor #selfpublishing #writingcommunity #bookpodcast

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Featured Guest:

Jasmine Smith

Jasmine Smith is the author of Death Card, a witchy YA fantasy set in New Orleans. A former English major with a love of women's and gender studies, Jasmine writes stories that put teen readers first while quietly threading in tarot, generational family bonds, and the politics of the world her characters actually live in.

What does it take to sell a debut on just ten chapters?

This week, we sit down with debut author Jasmine Smith to talk about Death Card, her New Orleans-set YA fantasy, and the three-year road from first chapters to release week. From writing on deadline for a book packager to bracing for a banned books list, Jasmine shares an honest look at what it means to build a home in a genre she loves.

Jasmine Smith didn't set out to write Death Card.

The idea came from a book packager, and she had to earn it with a writing sample and the first ten chapters.

In this episode, Jasmine joins Jenna and Cait to talk about how that proposal sold to editors, why the finished book reads nothing like a first novel, and how tarot, gentrification, and a grandmother's love all found their way onto the page. The conversation covers the difference between IP and work-for-hire, why her YA contemporary "book of her heart" stalled while Death Card flew, and where she thinks the genre is headed.

For writers, this episode is a candid look at deadlines, developmental edits, and what it actually takes to keep a complex timeline from falling apart.

For readers, it's a behind-the-scenes tour of a debut with gold foil, sprayed edges, and a whole lot to say.

In This Episode

• How Death Card sold on proposal, based on only the first ten chapters
• What writing IP really means, and how it differs from a flat-fee deal
• Why her YA contemporary novel stalled on submission while Death Card sold
• Writing the full manuscript in three months, then three rounds of developmental edits
• The New Orleans-rooted mother and grandmother relationships at the story's heart
• Why she writes for teens first, and where she thinks YA is going
• Tarot, spooky season, and reading for the vibes
• The cover reveal: Helena Elias, Caitlin Yang, gold foil, and a surprise sprayed-edges email
• Why paperback-first releases are becoming the norm in YA
• Bracing for a banned books list, and the AI-inspired idea already in her notes app

The Book

Death Card by Jasmine Smith

In this witchy YA fantasy set in New Orleans, a young practicing witch navigates tarot, demons, and a city being reshaped by tourism and gentrification, all while confronting loss, love, and the female generational bonds that hold her family together. Grounded, current, and unafraid of its own politics, Death Card announces a debut voice that reads like anything but a first book. Out now in paperback. Audiobook narrated by Andia Winslow.

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Welcome to The Extra Shot, our bonus episodes where it's just Cait and Jenna, no guest, and the inside thoughts fully become outside thoughts.

This one started with an Amy Poehler Good Hang clip about TV writing and spiraled into our whole theory of everything: talent is a dime a dozen, so the thing that actually sets you apart is being someone people want in the room. Easy to work with. Cool. Chill. A good hang. We talk about why that's true for authors, editors, podcasters, honestly anyone in the arts, and why we'll bump a book to the top of our TBR the second we fall in love with the human who wrote it (hi, Julie Murphy).

We also get into:

• The good hang thesis, and why moderate talent plus kindness beats brilliance plus bad vibes
• Limelight and Book Break episodes: what they are, why they're booking up fast, and how to grab a spot (yes, they can be about your editing, PR, cover design, or illustration services too, not just books)
• Trad vs indie, and why you're allowed to do both. Cait's querying this fall AND indie publishing the next one. Diversify the portfolio, figuratively and literally
• The great editing debate: dev edit vs copy edit, when a manuscript is actually ready to hand off, and why a high-expectations genre like fantasy might call for a developmental editor from the start
• Our ever-growing TBR guilt, reading on 2x speed, and the impossible task of finding time to read for fun when every book we feature is genuinely that good

Whether you went trad and came back to indie, or went indie and are eyeing trad, we want the tea. Slide into our DMs.

Booking a Limelight or Book Break is also, apparently, how you get Jenna to make your content. That's the whole secret.

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What if the happy ending is where the real story begins?

This week, we sit down with debut author Lavanya Lakshmi to talk about Leave and Come Back, the rom-com that had us wanting to book a flight to an Indian wedding. Lavanya joins Jenna and Cait to talk about the book's central hook: instead of a will-they-won't-they, this is a how-do-they, opening on a couple who's already together and has to figure out the harder part.

We get into her genuinely wild backstory (an Eloise-style childhood living in hotels, over a decade inside Penguin Random House, and a fanfiction origin that connected her to close friend and fellow author Jessica Joyce), why she built the whole book around her favorite Bollywood movie, and how she layered in Easter eggs that reward superfans without leaving newcomers behind. We also talk green flag men, writing every side character like the lead of their own novel, and why the specificity of a story is what makes it feel authentic.

For romance readers, this is a look behind one of the summer's most refreshing debuts, full of color, sass, and a groom you'll want at your own wedding. For writers, it's an honest conversation about elasticity in the genre, trusting a niche obsession for two and a half years, and the discipline it takes to finally finish the book.

In This Episode

• Why the book starts where most romances end, and the "how do they" trope we coined live
• Lavanya's Eloise-style childhood living in luxury hotels in Beijing
• 13 years inside Penguin Random House and working on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library
• Her Twilight fanfiction origin story, and why fanfiction was the real training ground
• Building an entire novel around a beloved Bollywood movie without over-explaining it
• The cover art Easter eggs, and the iconic DDLJ scene hidden in plain sight
• Why writing green flag men felt a little revolutionary
• Treating every side character like the main character of their own book
• Why specificity is what actually makes a story feel authentic
• What's next: a book centered on female friendship

Featured Guest: Lavanya Lakshmi

Lavanya Lakshmi spent 13 years on the business side of book publishing at Penguin Random House, working in sales and business development and on special projects like the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, before making the leap to author herself. Born in India and raised largely in luxury hotels across Beijing thanks to her dad's job in hospitality, she got her master's in publishing from NYU and cut her teeth writing Twilight fanfiction long before her debut. [Book Title] is her first novel: a warm, joyful, DDLJ-loving rom-com about family, an Indian wedding, and two people who start where most romances end.

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