Claim OwnershipWriters, Ink: Your backstage pass to the world's most prolific authors
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© J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle
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What does it take to succeed as a writer? Join host J.D. Barker and a panel of industry experts as they pull back the curtain and offer rare insights from the household names found on bookshelves worldwide.
340 Episodes
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Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about BookTok, book output topping four million, and Tracy Wolff. Then, stick around for a chat with Karen Robards!
Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than fifty books and one novella. Karen published her first novel at age 24 and has won multiple awards throughout her career, including six Silver Pens for favorite author. Karen was described by The Daily Mail as one of the most reliable thriller....writers in the world." Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, JP Rindfleisch, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Amazon categories, Spotify, and Simon & Schuster's new CEO. Then, stick around for a chat with J.R. Thornton!
J.R. Thornton is a writer and the author of two novels, Beautiful Country, and Lucien. Born in London, UK, J. R. graduated from Harvard College in 2014, where he studied history, English, and Chinese. An internationally ranked junior tennis player, he later competed for Harvard and on the men’s professional circuit. Shortly after graduating from Harvard, J. R. published his first novel, Beautiful Country, loosely inspired by experiences he had living in Beijing as a teenager. The novel became a best-seller in China, and the film rights were subsequently purchased by WME/IMG. J. R. returned to China in 2016 as a member of the inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars, earning an M.A. from Tsinghua University. He speaks Chinese and Italian, and lives in Milan, where he works for AC Milan. Lucien is his second novel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about all-male book clubs, literature discovered through pop music, and scams. Then, stick around for a chat with Kat Rosenfield!
Kat Rosenfield is a freelance pop culture and political writer, and the author of five books, including the Edgar-nominated No One Will Miss Her. A former reporter for MTV News, her work has appeared in outlets including Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy, Reason, The New York Times, and Unherd, where she is a regular columnist. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Ingram, Spotify, Topps, and scams. Then, stick around for a chat with Lyla Lane!
Lyla Lane is the pen name for author Sonia Hartl whose books have received starred reviews from BookPage and Booklist, and earned nominations for the Georgia Peach Book Award, YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, ALA’s Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, and ALA’s Rainbow Booklist, and was named an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Young Adult. When she’s not writing she enjoys board games with her family, attempting to keep her garden alive, or looking up craft projects she’ll never get around to completing on Pinterest. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and JP Rindfleisch as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about bookfluencers, Audible, and DNF shelves. Then, stick around for a chat with Ian McGuire!
Ian McGuire co-founded the Centre for New Writing with John McAuliffe in 2007 and co-directed the Centre with John until 2017. He is the author of Incredible Bodies (2006), The North Water (2016) The Abstainer (2020) and White River Crossing (2026) and one critical monograph, Richard Ford and the Ends of Realism (2015). The North Water won the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award, was long-listed for the Man Booker prize and has been made into a BBC television mini-series starring Colin Farrell and Jack O’Connell. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Draft2Digital, Bookshop DRM, Harper's Bazaar Short Story Contest, and AI Slop books. Then, stick around for a chat with Benjamin Hale!Benjamin Hale is the author of the novel The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore (Twelve, 2011), the short fiction collection The Fat Artist and Other Stories (Simon & Schuster, 2016), and the nonfiction book Cave Mountain: A Disappearance and a Reckoning in the Ozarks (HarperCollins, 2026). He has received the Bard Fiction Prize, a Michener-Copernicus Award, and nominations for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award. His writing has appeared, among other places, in Conjunctions, Harper's Magazine, the Paris Review, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Dissent and the LA Review of Books Quarterly, and has been anthologized in Best American Science and Nature Writing. He is a senior editor at Conjunctions, teaches at Bard College and Columbia University, and lives in a small town in New York's Hudson Valley. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, JP Rindfleisch, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about ProWritingAid's Novel Beginnings, the Washington Post, bookshop.org, and bookstreaming. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Anthropic, IPG, and what's happening in the book market. Then, stick around for a chat with Oliver Evensen!Oliver Evensen: For nearly four years, Oliver has been helping writers thrive. He tests tools, strategies, and systems to save you time and share what actually works. Whether you’re starting out or leveling up, his goal is to give you the confidence and resources to focus on what matters—your writing.Join us live on Feb 5 @ 1pm ET! https://bit.ly/WIPLive226Meeting ID: 867 0031 3844 | Passcode: 851563 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, JP Rindfleisch, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Substack TV, Spotify, and a £50,000 ‘reader-led’ writing prize. Then, stick around for a chat with Samantha Sotto Yambao!Samantha Sotto Yambao is a professional daydreamer, aspiring time traveler, and speculative fiction writer based in Manila. She is the Sunday Times, USA Today, and Indie List Bestselling author of Water Moon, Before Ever After, Love and Gravity, A Dream of Trees, and The Beginning of Always. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about a new bestseller list, Matthew McConaughey, and how artists can reclaim foreign rights. Then, stick around for a chat with Bekah Brinkmeier!Bekah Brinkmeier is a USA Today Bestselling author and ghostwriter of more than 90 novels. She works with AutoCrit as an instructor and author coach, leading Team Plantser in the Novel 90 Writing Challenge. She loves helping writers untangle their ideas, build confidence, and turn rough drafts into finished books. When she’s not coaching or writing, she speaks at conferences and on podcasts about writing with ADHD, strategy, full-time author life, and book marketing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Audible, Robert Munsch, and 2026 social media trends. Then, stick around for a chat with Amy Suto!Amy Suto: I’ve devoted my life to the art of storytelling. I graduated from USC’s presitigious film school with a BFA in Writing for Screen and Television. I worked my way up the ranks from agency assistant to being able to write my own episode of TV, fully immersing myself in the art of writing fast-paced thrillers for global audiences. In my spare time, I also created a live events company (Kingdom of Pavement) that I would pivot to a scripted podcast company when the pandemic hit.In 2021, I started traveling the world with friends and leaned even further into my work as a freelance memoir ghostwriter.These days, I balance my freelance work with my own career as a romantasy author. I’ve published three books so far: my how-to book Six-Figure Freelance Writer: A Holistic Guide on Finding Freedom in Freelancing, The Nomad Detective: Volume I, and my debut romantasy novel The Ash Trials. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about best-selling books and genres, and cultural works becoming public domain in 2026. Then, stick around for a chat with Christopher Locke!Christopher Locke is the Director of Membership & Member Services at IBPA. He assists the more than 3,000 IBPA members as they travel along their publishing journeys. Major projects include managing the member benefits to curate the most advantageous services for independent publishers and author publishers; managing the Innovative Voices Program that supports publishers from marginalized communities; and hosting the IBPA podcast, “Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA).” He’s also passionate about indie publishing, because he’s an author publisher himself, having published two novels so far in his YA trilogy, The Enlightenment Adventures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about a 70-year-old debut novelist, new names on fiction bestseller lists, and why certain contract clauses are scary. Then, stick around for a chat with Mark Gottlieb!Mark Owen Gottlieb is an executive vice president and highly ranked literary agent in overall deals and other individual categories. He is actively building his client list of authors using that same initiative and insight for identifying talented writers. Mark Gottlieb is excited to work directly with authors, helping to manage and grow their careers with all of the unique resources available at book publishing’s leading literary agency, Trident Media Group. Mark Gottlieb continues to represent numerous New York Times bestselling and prominent award-winning authors through his work at Trident Media Group. He has optioned and sold books to film and TV production companies. Following his time at Penguin Books, he previously ran the agency’s audiobook department and worked in international rights. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Kindle, Audible, TikTok, and Barnes & Noble. Then, stick around for a chat with Jenna Blum!Jenna Blum is the New York Times and # 1 internationally bestselling author of novels Those Who Save Us, The Stormchasers, and The Lost Family; memoir Woodrow on the Bench; audiocourse “The Author at Work: The Art of Writing Fiction” and WWII podcast The Key of Love. Jenna’s fifth book and first psychological thriller, Murder Your Darlings, will be published by HarperCollins in January 2026. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Netflix, Entangled, and Kindle. Then, stick around for a chat with Magen Mintchev!Magen Mintchev helps businesses and leaders grow their online influence through Instagram strategy, LinkedIn executive management, content development, and analytics-driven social media support. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, JP Rindfleisch, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Smashwords, Edelweiss, and the word of the year. Then, stick around for a chat with Mark Tavani!Mark Tavani started his publishing career in 2000 with Ballantine Books and spent over 23 years with Penguin Random House, Bantam, Del Rey, and G.P. Putnam's Sons. He edited bestsellers and award-winners across numerous categories of fiction and nonfiction, including books by Jim Abbott, Steve Berry, C.J. Box, Robert Crais, Justin Cronin, Clive and Dirk Cussler, Jeffery Deaver, George Dohrmann, Lisa Gardner, Jack McCallum, Lisa Scottoline, Bill Simmons, and R.L. Stine. He represents both fiction and nonfiction. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about B&T, James Patterson, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble. Then, stick around for a chat with Bob Lingle!Bob Lingle: https://www.instagram.com/bookstorebob/Bob Lingle: "I’ve owned Good Neighbor Bookstore since 2018, and despite everything else going on in the world. It’s been the best years of my life. My three kids have the opportunity to grow up in a bookstore. And collectively we have learned about the power and importance of community, and having a place where we’ve curated stories for people to enjoy, to learn from, to foster empathy, and maybe even change their life." - https://boldjourney.com/meet-bob-lingle/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Shein, Sourcebooks, and Anthropic. Then, stick around for a chat with Richard Kirshenbaum!Richard Kirshenbaum is CEO of NSG/SWAT, a high-profile boutique branding agency. He has lectured at Harvard Business School, appeared on 20/20, was named to Crain's New York Business's "40 under 40" list, and has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. He is the author of Under the Radar, Closing the Deal, Madboy, andIsn't That Rich? and the New York Observer's "Isn't That Rich?" column. He lives in New York City with his wife and three children. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Kindle Translate and Spotify's audiobook recaps. Then, stick around for a chat with James Patterson!James Patterson is the most popular storyteller of our time and the creator of such unforgettable characters and series as Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Jane Smith, and Maximum Ride. He has coauthored #1 bestselling novels withBill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Michael Crichton, as well as collaborated on #1 bestselling nonfiction, including The Idaho Four, Walk in My Combat Boots, and Filthy Rich. Patterson has told the story of his own life in the #1 bestselling autobiography James Patterson by James Patterson. He is the recipient ofan Edgar Award, ten Emmy Awards, the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation, and the National Humanities Medal. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, JP Rindfleisch, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about a $50 million fund, Tertulia, and second-hand book threats. Then, stick around for a chat with J. Luke Bennecke!
J. Luke Bennecke is a veteran civil engineer with a well-spent career helping people by improving Southern California roadways. He has a civil engineering degree, an MBA, and a private pilot’s certificate.
Luke is the bestselling and award-winning author of three published novels, Civil Terror: Gridlock, Waterborne and Echo From a Bayou, and has written several other novels and screenplays, a creative process he thoroughly enjoys. He is currently pitching the third Jake Bendel thriller and writing his seventh novel.
Luke resides in Southern California with his wife of 34 years and three spunky cats. In his leisure time he enjoys philanthropy, traveling, playing golf, making videos, and voiceover acting. Bennecke is a member of International Thriller Writers and looks forward to attending ThrillerFest every year in New York. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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