The Writers Chair

A Big Five editor once called Helen Scheuerer to say she loved her manuscript and wanted to pass it up the chain — but it would take four to eight weeks just to hear back. Helen was already close to self-publishing. She said thank you, and walked away. That single moment of arithmetic — weighing months of waiting against the creative control she already had — is the clearest snapshot of a mindset shift that took her from a traditionally-trained literary fiction writer to a full-time, methodical, bestselling indie fantasy author.Helen Scheuerer is the YA fantasy author of the bestselling Oremere Chronicles and Curse of the Siren Queen series. Her work has been praised for its strong, flawed female characters and action-packed plots. She holds a Bachelor of Creative Writing and a Masters of Publishing, and now writes full-time from central Otago, New Zealand.We get into how a frustrating small-press deal for a literary fiction manuscript she wrote to please academic gatekeepers pushed her toward NaNoWriMo and, eventually, indie fantasy. We talk through the granular, 400-email outreach campaign that helped launch her debut, Heart of Mist, to breakout success in 2017 — and the very different, much slower ramp-up she experienced launching a second series in the same universe. We also dig into her outlining process, her word-count tracking, and how she structures a writing day around mornings, 30-minute sprints, and deliberately staying off email until the words are down.🎙️ What we get into:Why she walked away from a Big Five offer over an eight-week response windowHow a frustrating small-press deal for her literary fiction manuscript pushed her to start writing fantasy for fun insteadThe 400-email, reverse-engineered book blogger outreach campaign that helped launch Heart of MistWhy a sequel series set in the same world as her breakout hit still had to build momentum from scratchHow switching from a loose outline to a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene structure solved recurring plot problemsHer actual morning writing routine: tea, 30-minute sprints, and outline on one screen, manuscript on the otherWhy she tracks word count in a basic spreadsheet to identify her most productive hoursThe financial and emotional risk of continuing a series that launched softer than expectedWhy she believes indie publishing rarely comes up in university creative writing or publishing programs, despite how directly relevant it isHow living with a partner (versus living alone) changed her ability to switch off from workLinks & Resources:Helen Scheuerer: https://helenscheuerer.com/Subscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Helen ScheuererHelen Scheuerer is the Sunday Times bestselling author best known for her romantasy series, The Legends of Thezmarr and The Ashes of Thezmarr. Her work has been highly praised for its strong, flawed female characters and its action-packed plots. She also publishes advice for authors with her nonfiction series, Books For Career Authors.

Rachael Herron's editor once gave her a note that's stuck with her ever since: "less feely, more stabby." She'd written a thriller with too much heart in it, and had to go back through and strip warmth out in favour of terror. It's a small, funny detail — but it points at something bigger this episode digs into: the tension between writing what sells and writing what you actually love, and what happens to a career when you finally stop chasing the market.Rachael Herron is the international and USA Today bestselling author of more than two dozen books spanning fantasy, thrillers (written as R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She holds an MFA from Mills College and has taught writing extension workshops at UC Berkeley and Stanford. A dual Kiwi-American citizen, she now lives in Wellington, New Zealand, five years after relocating from the US with her wife during the pandemic.We get into the fantasy novel she wrote purely for herself — with no market strategy at all — that became her first USA Today bestseller, why she now makes more money from an unpromoted self-published backlist than from actively marketed new releases, and why she believes chasing sales math ("if I can write this much in two hours...") is a trap that destroys writers. We also talk candidly about jealousy versus insecurity among peers, why she hates every promotional email she's ever sent, and how running her podcast for years has quietly become the thing that keeps her from ever fully quitting writing.🎙️ What we get into:Why she wrote a fantasy novel with zero market strategy — and how it became her first USA Today bestsellerThe "less feely, more stabby" editorial note that forced her to rewrite the emotional register of a thrillerWhy she believes she makes more money self-publishing an unpromoted backlist than actively marketing new trad-published booksHer honest breakdown of writing in "seasons" rather than a fixed daily routineWhy doing the math on your writing speed ("if I can do this in two hours...") is dangerous and misleadingThe real difference between jealousy and insecurity when a student's book outperforms your ownWhy she believes readers follow an author's voice across genres more readily than most writers assumeHow she balances teaching, coaching, and writing without letting one cannibalize the othersWhy she still hates every promotional email she sends — and buries the ask in the P.S. to make it feel less pushyWhat she'd do differently if she woke up tomorrow with no backlist and no name recognition: write in one series, in one genre, long enough for readers to expect the next bookLinks & Resources:Horror Halloween Promotion: https://devilsrockbooks.com/partnersRachael Herron: https://rachaelherron.comRachael Herron's writer email list: https://rachaelherron.com/writeSubscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Rachael HerronRachael Herron is the international and USA Today bestselling author of more than two dozen books, including fantasy, thrillers (under R.H. Herron), mainstream fiction, romance, memoir, and nonfiction about writing. She received her MFA in writing from Mills College, Oakland, and she’s taught writing extension workshops at both UC Berkeley and Stanford. A dual New Zealand and American citizen, she lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her banjo-playing wife and brick-eating dog.

In February 2023, Clare Sager was filling out day job applications. Her income had tanked after the post-lockdown "Great Correction," her savings were gone, and going back to full-time employment felt less like a setback and more like a personal failure. That same month, her book A Kiss of Iron came out — and instead of the usual spike-then-crash of an indie release, the sales kept climbing. By March, she'd earned more in a month than she used to make in a year at her day job.Clare Sager is the Sunday Times bestselling author of darkly addictive romantasy, full of slow-burn steam, gut-wrenching conflict, and morally grey everybody. Dubbed the "Queen of Edging" by readers, she's built the Saberverse — a connected universe of series and standalones — and has gone on to sign a UK deal with Transworld's Fairyloot imprint and a US deal with Forever for her novel King of Ravens, all while staying primarily indie.We get into the real, unfiltered version of watching a career collapse and rebuild in the same year, why she turned down several traditional publishing offers before finding the right one, and how deliberately leaning into genre tropes — rather than chasing originality — is what made A Kiss of Iron take off. We also talk about what romantasy actually is, why she abandoned her early instinct to "Tolkien" every detail of her world before writing a single scene, and how diversifying across audiobooks, translations, and subscription boxes protects her from any one platform's next policy change.🎙️ What we get into:* The month she was applying for day jobs while her breakout book was quietly climbing the charts* Why the post-lockdown "Great Correction" gutted her income after finally going full-time as a writer* Her framework for evaluating trad publishing offers: what a deal gives you versus what you're already generating on your own* Why she deliberately diversifies across KU, audiobooks, translations, and subscription boxes rather than relying on any one platform* How the Fairyloot and Transworld deal for King of Ravens actually came together, almost by accident* Why she stopped trying to fully "Tolkien" her world before writing, and started dropping worldbuilding seeds as she goes* What romantasy actually is, its contested definition, and why she thinks reader expectation of a happy ending is now essentially non-negotiable* The craft lesson from Dr. Jennifer Lynn Barnes — "storytelling is a pleasure technology" — that changed how she approaches tropes and originality* Why she thinks leaning harder into what worked in her Beneath Black Sails series is what made A Kiss of Iron break out* Her honest take on authors chasing romantasy as a trend without actually reading or respecting the genreLinks & Resources:FREE 7 Day Course: https://danielwillcocks.com/finishWebsite Design: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/author-websites/Halloween Promotion: https://devilsrockbooks.com/partnersClare Sager: https://claresager.comClare Sager on Instagram: @claresagerSubscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Clare SagerClare Sager is the Sunday Times bestselling author of darkly addictive romantasy full of slow-burn steam, gut-wrenching conflict and morally grey everybody. Dubbed the Queen of Edging by readers, she takes no responsibility for lost sleep or therapy bills.When she's not breaking hearts with her books, Clare can usually be found drinking coffee, lifting weights or impulse-buying stationery. She lives in Nottingham, Robin Hood country, so it's no surprise she writes about characters who don't always play by the rules.

For a while, Johnny B. Truant wrote 1.5 million words a year — the equivalent of the full Harry Potter series, plus another half, sitting on a shelf every twelve months. Then it stopped. Not from burnout, but from a slow drift away from the industry itself. When he tried to come back, he found the stories just petered out. This episode is about what it actually takes to restart a stalled creative engine — and why he's now deliberately choosing a smaller, slower, more human way of selling books.Johnny B. Truant writes smart books for smart readers. He's the author of Fat Vampire — the book that became Syfy's Reginald the Vampire, starring Jacob Batalon — plus over 150 books across most genres. He co-wrote the indie-publishing touchstone Write. Publish. Repeat. and co-founded the Self-Publishing Podcast, work that unintentionally became the founding text of the "rapid release" movement. His most recent book, The Artist and Author, argues for the opposite: earning ten true fans instead of chasing ten thousand copies.We get into why "knowing too much" about story structure once broke his process, why he's walking away from Kindle Unlimited and Amazon algorithm chasing entirely, and the exact difference in buying behavior between comic-con buyers and street-festival buyers. We also talk about restarting a three-year-dormant writing habit, why he refuses to use pen names despite writing in a dozen genres, and why he recently — reluctantly — joined Instagram after years off social media.🎙️ What we get into:Why he wrote 1.5 million words a year for over a decade, and what actually caused that engine to stall for three yearsHow learning "real" story structure temporarily broke his ability to write instinctivelyHis entire sales philosophy in one line: the right offer, in front of the right reader, in the right way, at the right timeWhy he's raising his own prices on Amazon rather than chasing algorithmic reachThe real behavioral difference between comic-con book buyers and street-festival book buyersWhy he never adopted a pen name despite writing across a dozen genres — and why he thinks his reasoning doesn't apply to everyoneWhat finally convinced him to open an Instagram account after years of deliberately avoiding social mediaHow collecting emails at live events pays off — not through between-convention sales, but through repeat visitsThe conversation with Joanna Penn that helped him choose quality of reader relationships over raw sales volumeWhy unboxing his first real box of paperbacks made him feel like "a real author" for the first timeLinks & Resources:Finish Your Damn Draft (course) https://danielwillcocks.com/finish Johnny B. Truant: https://johnnybtruant.comFat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant (adapted as Syfy's Reginald the Vampire)The Artist and Author by Johnny B. TruantWrite. Publish. Repeat. by Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt, and David WrightKevin Kelly's "1,000 True Fans" https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Johnny B. TruantJohnny B. Truant writes smart books for smart readers. He's the author of Fat Vampire, the book that became Syfy's Reginald the Vampire starring Jacob Batalon, plus over 150 books across most genres. His books are layered, intelligent, and often funny. Johnny loves what he does, never cuts corners, and would rather earn ten true fans than sell ten thousand copies.

She once deleted a character she genuinely loved — a warm, likeable hippie who was lovely in every scene — because "lovely" was all he ever did. His lines worked better coming out of someone else's mouth, so out he went. It's the kind of ruthless edit that separates a hobbyist from someone with fifteen-plus years and dozens of books behind them, and it's exactly the mindset this week's guest brings to every draft.Catherine Cavendish writes suspense fiction steeped in the supernatural, paranormal, and gothic — ghost stories that make you check the locks twice. Her new novel, Ghost of Chantelands, arrives via Flame Tree Press on 18th August 2026, joining a catalogue that includes Dark Observation, The Haunting of Henderson Close, and her Nemesis of the Gods trilogy through Crossroad Press. Her path started with typewriters, carbon paper, and parcels of manuscripts posted off to publishers decades ago — and she's still hitting a 2,000-word daily target on first drafts today.We get into her no-outline "pantser" process (where the first draft runs to 70–80,000 words and functions as her actual outline), the real otters and a Country Life property listing that became the seed for Ghost of Chantelands, and why she believes a good ghost story needs the haunted place to function as a character in its own right. We also talk about her decades-long relationship with editor Don D'Auria, why she refuses to write happy endings, and her genuine, unfiltered love of Rosemary's Baby.🎙️ What we get into:Her one-novel-a-year publishing cycle, and the research, drafting, and beta-reading process behind itWhy she still hits a firm 2,000-word daily target on first drafts — and cuts thousands of words without hesitation when a scene doesn't earn its placeCutting a character she loved because he was "lovely" and did nothing for the plotHow two real otters at a wildlife centre and a Country Life magazine property listing became the haunted house at the centre of her new novelHer "pantser" approach — no outline, no chapter notes, just character and setting, then typing to keep up with the storyThe stone tape theory, and why she believes the best ghost stories treat the haunted location as a characterHer four-decade publishing journey — from typewritten submissions in the 1970s to Sam Hain Publishing, Don D'Auria, and Flame Tree PressWhy she deliberately avoids gore in favour of atmosphere, suspense, and dreadAdvice for her earlier self on staying in the game for the long haul, including her old English teacher's mantra: "be positive, even if you're wrong, be wrong positively"Her love of Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby and how it shaped her sense of a faithful book-to-film adaptationLinks & Resources:Catherine Cavendish: https://catherinecavendish.comFlame Tree PressllRosemary's Baby by Ira LevinCreature by Hunter SheaLitopia https://litopia.com/Subscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Catherine CavendishCatherine Cavendish writes suspense fiction steeped in the supernatural, paranormal, and Gothic — the kind of ghost stories that make you check the locks twice.Her new novel, Ghosts of Chanterlands, lands via Flame Tree Press 18 August 2026, joining a haunting catalogue that includes Dark Observation, The Haunting of Henderson Close, and her Nemesis of the Gods trilogy, published through Crossroad Press.When she's not writing, Catherine wanders Neolithic stone circles and explores old haunted houses — research that clearly bleeds into her fiction. She lives with a long-suffering husband and a black cat who still expects to be worshipped.

He finished a 90,000-word manuscript, typed "the end," read it back, and thought: that's shit. Then he threw the laptop to the end of the bed, walked away for a few weeks, and started the entire novel from scratch — no notes, no rescue job, just a clean slate. That book, The Devil's Tree, is now the one he's proudest of. This week's guest doesn't write in a quiet office with a closed door. He writes in the living room, next to the kitchen, with the washing machine running and kids walking through — and he's finished four novels that way.Axl Malton is an award-winning UK-based author of dark fiction exploring the darker side of human nature, known for psychological tension and unsettling narratives. He started writing in lockdown with no publishing background at all, taught himself the industry through rejection letters and Stephen King's On Writing, and has since published with Wicked House. His new novel, Caelum's Lake, is out July 21st — a departure from his previous full-on horror, this time a psychological thriller about a grieving writer who discovers a lake that may be a doorway to the afterlife.We get into how he decides a draft isn't working and has the nerve to bin it, why rejection eventually becomes "water off a duck's back," and how Caelum's Lake was written in hospital waiting rooms while his wife underwent cancer treatment. We also talk convention tables, why he still doesn't trust himself to self-publish, and the real-world lake mythology that inspired the book's central idea.🎙️ What we get into:Why he scrapped a finished 90,000-word manuscript and rewrote it from nothingHow writing in constant household chaos stopped bothering him — and what he'd tell parents who think they don't have the time or space to writeThe mindset shift that turned daily rejection into "water off a duck's back"Why his most recent novel took just 50 days to write, and what made it come out "fully formed"Writing Caelum's Lake from hospital waiting rooms during his wife's cancer treatment, and using fiction to process real traumaThe real-world folklore of earthly doorways to the afterlife — Lake Avernus in Italy and similar sites — that shaped the book's central conceptWhy he still won't self-publish, and the specific kind of validation he says he needsWhat a publisher (Wicked House) actually does for marketing versus what's left to the authorThe convention table trick that gets people to stop walking past your booksWhat's next: Here Lies the Devil, a companion novel to The Devil's Tree, and his approach to writing an "un-vampire" vampireLinks & Resources:

There's a difference between scaring a reader and haunting one — and most horror writers never stop to think about which they're actually doing. Scaring is a jump on page 40. Haunting is the thing that's still in your head three weeks later. This week's guest has built his whole approach around chasing the second one, and it's changed how he writes, drafts, and even decides which books to write next.Alex Hunter is a British horror author whose debut novel, The Harvest shot to #1 in free horror on Amazon. His new novel, The House That Screamed — a dual-timeline, found-footage haunted house story — released this week, and his third, a folk horror titled The Forest Remembers, is due in 2027. He's been querying and signing with small presses since the start, and has very deliberately never self-published.We get into why he cut a two-thousand-word "clever" prologue to actually finish his first manuscript, how he went from a two-year, seven-draft slog to a twelve-week drafting process, and why hitting #1 on a free Amazon promo taught him to stop chasing downloads. He also walks through exactly how he cold-emailed an author for a blurb (and got a reply in ten minutes), and lays out the specific red flags that mean a small press is about to take your money instead of publish your book.🎙️ What we get into:Why cutting a 2,000-word "literary" prologue was the thing that got him to the finish lineHis shift from a two-year, seven-draft first novel to a twelve-week drafting processThe placeholder trick he uses to keep moving when a scene isn't working ("Chapter 10: something happens here")Why a #1 free Amazon promo taught him that quality beats quantityThe deliberate trope-stacking technique he used to subvert haunted house clichés in The House That ScreamedHow he restructured a multi-timeline manuscript (news articles, scripts, emails) to plant breadcrumbs without cheating the readerThe exact, low-key message that landed him a blurb from Bram Stoker Award winner Clay McLeod ChapmanWhy he's never self-published, and what he wanted from traditional validation insteadRed flags in small press contracts — "author's contributions," rights grabs, and being charged to fix a typoWriting The Forest Remembers through grief, and why a brutal beta-reader response felt like a complimentLinks & Resources:Alex Hunter: https://alexhunterhorror.comAlex Hunter on Instagram: @AlexHunterWritesClay McLeod Chapman (Bram Stoker Award–winning author)Subscribe to The Writer's ChairIf you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer.📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair📚 About Alex HunterThe first child in his school year to be granted an adult library card, Alex Hunter borrowed The Rats by James Herbert and began dreaming of giving other people nightmares.His debut novel, The Harvest, was published in 2025. His latest novel, The House That Screamed, explores how trauma can be packaged, commodified, and consumed. His third novel, The Forest Remembers, will be published in 2027.Alex spends his time writing in the company of too many books and not enough daylight.

Four years of ebooks, Amazon ads, and feeding the algorithm — and Dan is done with it. Not dramatically. Just honestly. In this behind-the-scenes episode, Daniel and his co-writer R.P. Howley take stock of where Devil's Rock Publishing actually is in 2026: four Twisted Tales novellas out, a charity anthology closing submissions, and a growing suspicion that the readers they've been chasing are actually paperback collectors who'd rather buy at a convention than click an ad.This is a different kind of episode. No formal interview, no guest credentials. Just two people who talk daily, finally sitting down on camera to work through what's going well, what isn't, and what they're going to try instead. Rob is a marketing manager at a dementia charity, studying for his mortgage advisor qualification, waking up at 4am — and still co-publishing horror novellas. Dan is re-editing The Self-Publishing Blueprint for its 2026 update and relaunching The Writer's Room. This is what the indie author life actually looks like.💀 What we get into:* Why posting every day doesn't mean your followers are seeing it — and what to do instead* How marketing a book and marketing a charity use exactly the same core principles* The brutal economics of ebooks vs. paperbacks at events (and why in-person sales now make more sense)* Why they accidentally built a series for paperback collectors while spending all their time on digital platforms* The Hatching Season charity anthology — what they've learned from running submissions, and what "100+ entries" actually means for two people with no time* Rob's testimony: what he got from writing sprints before he ever knew Dan properly* The Twisted Tales series update: where books five and six are right now* Why "can you just" are the two most irritating words in any marketing meeting* The philosophy of not asking "what do I want?" but "what does the reader want?"* What premium in-person experiences might look like — earrings, wax seals, experience boxes, and why none of it is happening right nowLinks & Resources:R.P. Howley: @rphowleyauthor (Instagram and Facebook)Twisted Tales books: https://twistedtalesbooks.comDevil's Rock Publishing: https://devilsrockbooks.comHatching Season submissions: https://devilsrockbooks.com/submissionsThe Writer's Room: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewritersroomDaniel's writer resources: https://danielwillcocks.com/writersAbout Rob:Robyn Howley has three requirements to function; black coffee in the morning, red wine in the evening, and writing in between.He has the imagination of a six-year-old, the soul of a retiree, and dreams of one day making a full time income as a multi-passionate creative.He currently lives in Southampton, England, and when he’s not writing, he’s nestled on his favourite reading chair, wine in hand, consuming books; podcasts and YouTube tutorials on all aspects of writing, publishing and entrepreneurship.