The Book Deal

Madeleine interviews Tasmania-based ABC journalist and digital editor Rebecca Armitage about her debut novel, The Heir Apparent (December 2025, HarperCollins Australia).
One might think Rebecca’s journey to publication was a bit of a fairytale, with simultaneous releases in multiple territories, pre-empts, a Reese’s Book Club pick and even a TV deal! But her journey to publication was not without its challenges, and Rebecca has some fabulous advice about creating good writing habits, finding resilience when dealing with multiples rejections and some great tips for when your book hits the shelves. 
She details early rejections, pitching through the Australian Society of Authors, getting the 'yes', landing a HarperCollins pr-eempt and major US/UK deals, feels after being selected for Reese’s Book Club - and prompting a pub date shift, TV deals and more. She has some wonderful advice for emerging and debut authors on habit-setting, writing and pitching.
Our Debut in the Spotlight is Leearna Shaw, whose debut novel is A Farm in Golden Clouds (March 2026, Allen & Unwin).
00:56 Introduction to Rebecca Armitage
01:39 Heir Apparent Elevator Pitch
04:00 Journalism and Fiction
06:08 Inspiration
10:11 Research
15:14 Plotter or Pantser
17:40 Writing Habits and Targets
21:56 Draft to Submission
23:21 Pitching and Finding an Agent
26:27 First Yes Moment
26:58 Rejection Resilience
28:35 HarperCollins Preempt
30:11 Global Deal Whirlwind
36:16 Reese Book Club Pick
40:44 TV Adaptation Plans
44:11 Launch Advice for Debuts
47:06 Tassie Reading Recommends 
49:25 Final Writing Top Tip

Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
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You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
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Tina Strachan interviews author and CYA Conference coordinator Tina Clark about how the CYA writers and illustrators conference helps aspiring and emerging creators secure publication through competitions, bootcamps, and agent/editor/publisher assessments. Clark explains her motivation to centralize trustworthy industry information and protect writers from predatory services, and she outlines CYA’s hybrid format, including online bootcamps, in-person July sessions, and a rooftop networking event at the Pullman Hotel. She details how bootcamps work in small groups with editors, how competitions provide two sets of blind-judged feedback and shortlist entries for a final publisher/editor decision, and gives practical submission tips like strictly following guidelines and formatting headers/footers. She advises not to argue with editors in assessments and emphasizes her top tip: finish the book—“bum in chair” writing. 
The Debut Spotlight for this week is Katie Hoskins and her debut novel 'When the Party's Over'.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Tina Clark
06:38 CYA Origins
08:06 Shadows of Africa
12:20 Why She Champions Writers
16:15 CYA Overview
16:46 Bootcamps Breakdown
24:21 Debut Spotlight: Katie Hoskins
25:36 CYA Competition Dates
28:09 Judging Process
33:29 Prizes And Growth
35:24 Publisher Feedback Limits
35:46 Follow Submission Guidelines
37:35 Formatting Pitfalls
39:42 Why Assessments Matter
43:01 Submit the Opening Pages
45:49 Networking Not Pitching
46:58 Never Argue With Editors
48:50 Success Stories And Notes
55:26 Conference Day Options
57:07 Panels And Program Highlights
01:02:00 Rooftop Networking Night
01:03:14 Bum In Chair Finale
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
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The Writing Deal: Natasha, Madeleine and Tina on being a 'good literary citizen'.
Tina Strachan, Madeleine Cleary, and Natasha Rai share their updates in March: somatic therapy training, writing and editing in the snatches, immersion time, journalling, book research and more. Plus they brainstorm what their promo boxes look like and chat about what they are reading.
They reflect on advice from HarperCollins Australia Head of Fiction, Catherine Milne, about 'bailing-up' publishers at events, the art/commerce balance, comparison titles. They also discuss what being a 'good literary citizen' actually means. 
00:00 Podcast intro
00:56 Monthly catch up
02:43 Writing in snatches
04:34 Structural edits crunch
11:11 Promo boxes!
14:55 Tina's self-care journal
18:57 Workshops and events
20:05 Spiritualist church book research
22:53 Publisher Pitch Reflections
24:20 Art Meets Commerce
29:31 Being a Good Literary Citizen
37:39 What We Are Reading
41:56 Wrap Up And Support
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
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Natasha Rai interviews author Bridie Blake days before her rom-com debut The Boyfriend Clause releases. Blake pitches the novel: café owner Sabrina Fogarty enters a fake-dating deal with her broody neighbor, bestselling author Adam Whitaker, which escalates when he joins her family holiday to the UK. Blake discusses becoming a rom-com reader during the pandemic, her earlier years writing dark YA and suspense, and years of rejections, including a two-year US submission during COVID after signing a US agent. She explains developing The Boyfriend Clause from a “white lie,” outlining with a pitch and detailed plan, and choosing to publish in Australia so her dad could see it in bookstores. Text Publishing acquired it quickly, and Blake has submitted book two and is drafting book three.

00:00 Podcast Intro
00:56 Meet Bridie and Launch Day
02:34 Release Nerves and Social Media
04:08 Elevator Pitch The Boyfriend Clause
05:27 Why Romcoms Feel Good
08:59 From YA Darkness to Romcom
10:08 Writing Since Childhood
11:48 Resilience Through Rejection
14:51 Querying and US Agent Journey
18:28 Pandemic Submission Heartbreak
20:14 Switching Genres to Adult Romcom
20:49 Origin of The Boyfriend Clause
25:38 Pitch First Then Outline
30:04 Drafting Timeline and Agent Edits
31:37 Making It Australian
32:34 Americanize The Manuscript
33:18 US Submission Reality Check
34:55 Choosing Australia First
38:39 Dream Publisher Submission
41:18 Full Request To Offer
47:29 Editing And Next Books
52:48 US Vs Australia Publishing
54:36 Routine Craft And Feedback
59:33 Final Advice And Wrap
Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
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The Publishing Deal: Catherine Milne, Head of Fiction at HarperCollins, on Success, Bestsellers and Writing from the Heart
Catherine Milne has worked in publishing for many years, including with Penguin Books, Allen & Unwin, and since 2012, with HarperCollins, where she has been Head of Fiction since 2017.  Her list is eclectic, ranging across fiction and non-fiction, but consistently award-winning and bestselling. It includes such successes as Trent Dalton, Julia Baird, Holly Ringland, Meg Mason, Jacqueline Maley, Alli Parker, Rebecca Armitage, Jacinta Parsons, Stan Grant, Rick Morton and Ben Crowe.
For more information about The Australian Fiction Prize, see here.
The Debut in the Spotlight this week is Sophie Stern, with her debut novel What is Left For Us (Penguin, March 2026). 
00:00 Welcome to Book Deal
01:50 Catherine's start in publishing
06:12 The slush pile
08:35 Approaching publishers
10:21 Pitching
17:22 Inside Acquisitions Meetings
22:30 Second Book Pressure
25:48 Writing for Love
26:55 Debut in the Spotlight: Sophie Stern
28:11 Defining Success
29:44 Advances
33:26 Marketing Myths Breakouts
36:23 Case Study Sorrow & Bliss
41:20 State of the industry
47:54 The Australian Fiction Prize
52:49 Final Tip

Join our Patreon community for less than the cost of a coffee per month and support the pod! Your contribution will go to directly paying our sound producer, Brogan, and to help us bring you the conversations with industry professionals you love.
Follow The Book Deal podcast on Instagram The Book Deal podcast (@the_book_deal_podcast) • Instagram photos and videos

You can find out more about Tina, Madeleine and Natasha and follow their journeys here:
Tina Strachan (@td_strachan) • Instagram photos and videos
Tina Strachan children's book author
Madeleine Cleary (@madeleineclearywrites) • Instagram photos and videos
Madeleine Cleary | Author
Natasha Rai (@raiwriting) • Instagram photos and videos
Natasha Rai | Author | Mentor
If you want to stay in the know, sign up to Madeleine, Tina and Natasha's newsletters for the latest news first.
Madeleine: Subscribe here...