Katherine Collette is a writing coach and mentor who helps writers who want to get published, and writers who are about to be published, know what to do, what to expect and how to think, to give their work (and themselves) the best possible chance of success.

She is basically the person she wishes she’d had when she was first trying to get published!

In this episode, Katherine has given us a mini-coaching session so we can level up our writing for 2025. She shares great advice and so many fantastic tips:

The four phases writers go through on their way to being published, and how to short circuit some of them

The benefits and pitfalls of writing courses and writing groups

How she built a profile as a debut author (it didn’t involve social media!) and how she’d build a profile if she was starting again now

The difference between verbal and written pitches and her unusual but effective approach to pitching

What writers can do to increase their chances of publication 

The top three mistakes unpublished authors make

How to get unstuck when you’re ‘looping’ in your writing (are you stuck, moving the commas around?!)

Getting that first draft done

ABOUT KATHERINE COLLETTE

Katherine Collette is the author of two novels for adults, The Helpline and The Competition. The Helpline was published in Australia, the UK, the US, Italy and Germany and long listed for the Indie Book award for debut fiction. Katherine co-hosts popular writing podcast The First Time and its recent spin-off The Next Step. She coaches writers and authors on writing and publishing, and her cartoons have appeared in Griffith Review.

The Too-Tall Tales of Alma T. Best are her first middle-grade books.

Website: https://katherinecollette.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherinecollettewriter/

Buy The Too-Tall Tales of Alma T. Best by Katherine Collette here.

REFERENCES MENTIONED BY KATHERINE COLLETTE

GET PUBLISHED! group coaching course with Katherine Collette

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Reasons Not to Worry by Brigid Delaney

Watch Katherine’s video pitch (it got her a two book deal!)

The 90-Day Novel: Unlock the Story Within by Alan Watt

Michael Hauge Story Structure

To Be Magnetic (manifestation course)

BUILD AN AUTHOR WEBSITE COURSE

To receive notifications about course dates, the free author website workshop and early bird discounts, sign up here - https://www.freshwebdesign.com.au/course 

This podcast is recorded on the beautiful, unceded lands of the Garigal people of the Eora nation.

Full show notes available at writersbookclubpodcast.com