Podcast - Maggie Smith

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If you’re an aspiring author and want insights into what’s involved in launching a book into the world, this is the podcast for you. Maggie Smith, author and blogger, interviews debut novelists from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association discussing not only the inspiration behind their book, but also their insights into the writing process, the best advice they ever got, and the joys and sometimes pitfalls they encountered on their path to publication.

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Our guest this week is Kelley McNeil (A Day Like This, Lake Union, November 2021). We discuss how her book was one of several released during the pandemic which examines how our lives might be different if we’d chosen a different path, with some readers calling it a self-help book in fiction form. Kelley also takes us behind the scenes of what it’s like to publish through the women’s fiction imprint of Amazon with the full weight of their advertising power behind you, including media exposure, Kindle Unlimited and other promotional vehicles, which led to her currently sitting with over 26,000 online reviews. Kelley is one of three finalists for the 2022 WFWA Star Award for Debut Fiction which will be awarded at the annual convention in Albuquerque at the end of September.

Kelley McNeil is an author whose debut novel, A Day Like This, spent seven weeks topping the Amazon charts in the US and UK and is now available in print and audio in numerous countries and translations. It is currently a finalist for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Outstanding Debut. A lifelong writer, Kelley’s path first took her into the entertainment industry where she promoted concert tours and theatrical events for more than a decade before returning her attention to writing. She loves telling stories with a good pen and good music on hand, often with her two daughters bopping along nearby. A native of Pittsburgh, you can find Kelley living in South Florida most of the time, and in London the rest of the time.

To learn more about Kelley, click here.