April 14, 2026 • 42 mins
This week, Danielle is joined by Alex Aster, the prolific, Romantasy Queen of Booktok. Coming out of 2025, in which she published four novels, Alex is back with Starside, her first foray into adult fiction – and, later this year, Barbie: Dreamscape, a YA retelling of the beloved Mattel doll. Alex and Danielle talk perseverance in publishing, the power of storytelling, and which romantasy tropes give Alex the ick (spoiler: hardly any of them do).
BOOKS MENTIONED:
A Guide to Literary Agents by Robert Lee Brewer
Lightlark Series by Alex Aster
Starside by Alex Aster
Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster
Curse of the Forgotten City by Alex Aster
Summer in the City by Alex Aster
Barbie Dreamscape by Alex Aster
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club.
You know something that this week's guest said during our
interview has really been sticking with me. That behind every
picture of a successful person is years and years of
(00:23):
hard work and probably hundreds of rejections. Alex Astor's rise
to authorship is full of lore, okay. In twenty twenty one,
she posted a TikTok video laying out the plot of
her Romanticy Ya book, and she asked if people would
even want to read it. While that video it went viral,
(00:43):
Alex got a book deal and the rest is history.
She's become one of the most followed authors on social
media and hasn't stopped writing since. And I mean that
kind of literally. She published four books in just twenty
twenty five alone. Her latest, the adult romanticy novel Stars,
hit shelves on March thirty first. But Alex is far
(01:04):
from an overnight sensation, and the real story behind her
success is so so inspiring. So if you've ever felt
like a dream of yours is out of reach, you're
in the right place. Trust me. Let's turn the page
with Alex Astor. Alex Astor, Welcome to the club.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I'm so excited. We're so excited to have you here.
And you know, I always feel a little reflective around
this time of year, as we move out of winter
and finally into spring, I always get the impulse to
shake things up. And I was thinking, that's exactly what
you've done in your career. Last year, in twenty twenty five,
you published four books. Girl.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, kind of wild. I definitely have not slept in
a long time. But I'm very happy and I'm really
excited for this next.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
One, so I can't complain. I'm so curious what your
skied it looks like, Alex, Like, give me your day
to day, give me all the details. What time do
you wake up?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I wake up at around six am, and then I
make a latte, which I have to have every single day,
and then I try to start writing around six thirty am.
And then six thirty am to noon is like my
golden time for writing. Like that is when I get
the most done. Because no one's emailing me, I'm able
to put my phone in a different room, nothing's happening.
(02:27):
I'm not one of those writers who can write for
just fifteen minutes in between meetings. I have to really
have many hours to get absorbed into the store and
just like let it swallow me whole. So six thirty
to noon, and then I'll take a break to eat
and then walk around if I'm healthy, like get some
fresh air, and then come back and usually from two
(02:49):
pm to sometimes past midnight if I'm on a really
tough deadline, and then I wake up next day dude,
all over again. Alex, you're kidding, No, And I do
that ye seven days a week too, Yeah, I mean,
and I honestly I love to write. I've been wanting
to be an author since I was twelve. I've been
writing books since then. So this is really when I'm happiest.
(03:11):
But obviously it's not a very sustainable schedule. But the
last few years of deadlines, it's just what's been necessary
to publish this many books a year. And it doesn't
feel like burnout because you have so much passion behind it,
is what I'm hearing. Yes, I definitely have gotten burned
out before. It's usually after I come back from tor
and I love going on tour. Meeting my readers is
(03:33):
the best part of all of this, because I do.
I write all these books for them, and I am
very grateful they changed my entire career. But I'm an introvert,
and so going and traveling and being around people, I
really do get tired and a little burnt out. And
then when I'm not writing a lot, you know, is
when I'm you know, kind of lose my energy. So
(03:55):
I definitely have had burnout periods, and then I'll just
take a day or two where I do nothing, and
then I'm always itching to go back to writing. It
is my passion. I love it so much. I truly
wake up every single day so excited to dive into
these worlds. So yeah, for now, I'm really happy to
do it. But I know that one day I just
won't be able to maintain this schedule, and that'll be
(04:17):
fine too.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But you know what I'm hearing from you too, is
like this this excitement because you didn't always get to
do this. You actually have quite a lure behind your
writing career. And for anybody who's on book talk or
follows you on Instagram, which I've been doing for years,
really yes, we actually DMed years ago because I saw
(04:39):
you on the Kelly Clarkson Show and I was like,
who is this young woman who is so accomplished. I
was taken by you, and I just remember writing you
just a note of encouragement because you're very inspirational to
a lot of young writers in particular who are wanting
to do this, like you really made it happen for
(04:59):
your How old were you when you actually started writing
books professionally?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Oh, first of all, that's so nice, thank you, But
I was twelve year olds not professionally, but I was
twelve years old when I first wrote my book that
was around four hundred pages. It was really bad. I
was not some sort of prodigy. But that's when I
started trying to get an agent. So I thought, okay, cool,
I'll see it in Barnes and Noble the next day.
I had no idea how the industry worked, so I
(05:25):
actually went to Barnes and Noble and got a book
called Guide to Literary Agents. And it was so long
ago that it actually just had a directory of addresses,
like physical addresses to mail you're printed out manuscript to.
And so that was how I learned. Okay, the first
step is I need a literary agent. And what felt
so magical to me as a kid was I'm twelve
years old. No one knows I'm writing books. Obviously, I
(05:48):
don't know anyone in publishing. I don't know anyone who
has published a book at twelve years old. So it
felt really magical to me that I could just send
an email hypothetically and be published. And that's really how
it works. It's an industry where there are obviously gatekeepers,
but anyone can send that email and get in the
slush pile. And that's how I got my agents, That's
how all my friends got their agents. So it really
(06:08):
is something that is possible. But what happens when you
have an industry that has so much access like that
is you have thousands of people trying to get agents
at the same time, and so the rejection rates are
super high. Like every agent probably has like ten thousand
emails a year and they only take on one or
two clients. So as a twelve year old, it was
very tough to just be rejected by everyone, and I
(06:28):
deserve to be rejected again.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
The book was really bad.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I was twelve years old, but I just wrote another book,
another book, another books. I wrote different books through middle school,
high school. I remember going to the computer lab and
checking my email to get query rejections and just see
them all. But I just had so much hope because
I knew that it was possible and that other authors
had done that. So I kept writing books. In college,
(06:52):
I went to pen and I studied English. I wrote
a book for my senior thesis, my honors thesis, and
I queried that and that was the first book that
got me my first agent. It was actually an adult thriller,
so it wasn't a fantasy at all.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And I want to interrupt you for one second, yeah,
to say two things, because you're using all these amazing
literary words. So a slush pile is a stack of
unsolicited manuscripts that have been sent to a publishing company
for consideration. What is Can you explain what a query is?
Of course?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So a query is basically, if you pick up a
book and you look on the back or the jacket flap,
you see a small summary of the book. A query
is just an intro. Hi, my name is this. I'm
querrying an one hundred thousand word romanticy that is, you know,
Bridgerton meets blah blah blah, and then you have two
or three paragraphs of a pitch for your book, and
(07:42):
you have to make it really compelling because agents, obviously
they go through thousands of them. And then you might
have a little bio if you're like I, you know,
wrote this short story that got published here, and that's
a query. And then sometimes you can look at every
agent's website and they have their directions for acquerying them,
and some people will ask for the first time pages.
Some people ask you to attach the whole book, but
(08:03):
basically it is just you can cold email an agent
and get published that way.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
That's how it worked. And so you are an English
major at PEN and I can tell even just talking
to you now, your mind runs a million miles a minute, definitely,
So I can imagine that you must feel different than
some of the other teenagers or people that are majoring
in English at PEN at the time. What did you
(08:29):
feel being in class with all of these people who
had a very similar goal to you. Did you feel
that you were similar to them or did you feel
like your mind was running differently?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So I will say the classes that really helped me
the most for what I do. Now are the workshops.
So as an English major, you could choose to specialize
in different things. I specialized in creative writing, and the
writing workshops were great because you would just write a
few pages and you would turn it in and the
whole class would read it and critique it. It's such
a kind of raw experience to put your everything on
(09:01):
a page and then have it critiques. And so that
really taught me to not be so precious with my writing,
like people are going to give you feedback and you
either listen to it or you don't, but it's good
to get that. That really just taught me that the
people who get published, it's really about like how long
can you go getting rejected every single day? How long
can you survive that and really keep going for what
(09:23):
feels at many times an impossible dream. And so I
would write query letters during my enclosed classes. I would
you write my manuscripts during these classes. So you're writing
these queries. How many times were you rejected? Oh gosh,
I was rejected by every single agent at least I
want to say five times. And it's tough because obviously,
(09:44):
when I was twelve, there was no chance, and the
books were really bad. And I always say the best
practice for writing a book is writing a book, and
so that was the way I learned before I went
to college was I would write another book, and then
I would write another book, and then I would rewrite it.
And I really taught my.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Self my voice.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So I was rejected many times. Then when I got
to college, I felt like, Okay, maybe I have more
of a chance. I'm getting a few requests, a few
people may be interested. And that was really the hardest
part because it feels like you get so close. I
had a few agents say I want to sign you.
Let's get on a call, and then at the last
(10:22):
minute it would just be like, you know what, this
market is so competitive or this isn't what I'm looking for.
I just signed something just like this, and so it
really felt like you were so close. And then when
that happens, you have to go back and write another book.
So it's not like you can try again tomorrow. You
have to really want to get rejected by everyone, go
back to the drawing board and write another book, and
(10:42):
then start quaring either months or years later. So it
really felt like this cycle where you get so close
and then suddenly you're back at the bottom again.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
What made someone finally say yes? Do you think? I think?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I was twenty one when I got my first agent,
and I had a few offers of representation, which was
really wild because I had never had that before. I
had gotten closed, and I actually skipped my college graduation
because that was the day I needed to make the
decision and I wanted to get on all these calls
and that was what I had been working to for
(11:21):
towards for what felt like my entire life. So I
was like, I don't need to go to my graduation.
This is the beginning of my entire career. So I
skipped my graduation. I talked to all these agents, I
signed with one. We edited it all summer, and then
it didn't sell to publishers, and then at that point
then I didn't have an agent anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And you start back at zero again, and you just
mentioned with what happened? Yeah, for anybody who doesn't know
the story, it's a pretty epic story. Like I when
at the beginning, I said, you have lore, you really
do tell everybody what happened.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So I had a book published, and again, like there
were so many moments where you just feel like it
was so difficult, so many reductions, so many nots, and
finally you have someone that believes in you, you get
a book deal. And my first book came out during
the pandemic, so all the bookstores were closed. No one
was discovering new authors in the same way that they
were before. It was a terrible time to debut, so
(12:17):
had I did not have good book sales. And then
I didn't have an agent anymore because the agent I
was with didn't think that the book that I was
working on would sell. And that book was called Lightlark,
And so at that moment, I was crying, and I
was so sad because again, like I'm I think twenty
three at this time, and you feel like you just
went backwards again. I'm twelve years old, I don't have
(12:38):
an agent anymore. None of this, you know, was worth it.
And I took the worst picture that existed me of
just puffy and crying, and I told myself, I am
going to make myself a promise that this is going
to be the best thing that ever happened to me,
and so I went back. I took six months to
rewrite Lightlark from the beginning totally new manuscript, and then
(12:59):
I agents, and then I got an agent and it
was great, and then I was going on submission, and
then it started happening again. All these rejections were coming in,
and it just feels like jajavu, like I've been here before.
And I think when you write for so long and
you're a reader yourself, you really do think is there
no one else out there that would like this? Like?
Am I really writing something that no one would like?
(13:21):
And there are so many gatekeepers and they're the ones
telling you, no, we don't think this should be published,
which really translates to we don't think anyone would buy
this book. And so I decided to make a video
basically pitching my book to the internet, to TikTok saying
would you read a book about this? And so I
pitched my book. I said, it's about an island that
appears once a three hundred years to host a deadly game.
(13:43):
And I posted it and nothing happened. It did no views.
I almost deleted it because I was like, oh my gosh,
I'm proving these publishers right. No one wants to read
this book. But I truly had nothing to lose at
that point, so I left it up. In the next morning,
I was just like in a parking lot and I
looked at my phone and it had over a million views,
which was wild at the time. Book talk I don't
(14:06):
even know if it was really a thing at that point.
This was back in twenty twenty one, so it was
just kind of starting and it went viral and had
thousands and thousands of comments from readers saying I would
love a book like this, Please publish it.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I need to read this.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And that really helped me get the book deal, because
even though there were people interested, they didn't really know
if they could give me a chance because my sales
track was so low. And that's unfortunately what happens is
if you are published, they can see how many books
you've sold, and if you haven't sold that many, they're thinking,
why would we give this person a chance? So that
video really was the point where people were willing to
(14:42):
give me a chance, even though I did have the
low sales track. And then from there on, every single
day I posted videos about my book because the book
wasn't going to be available for a year and a
half and how do you keep people interested? It's one
thing to go viral once? How do you do it
enough that people remember you in a year and a
half so that my mission post about my book so
(15:02):
much that by the time people can pre order, by
the time the book comes out, people actually buy it
and give it a chance and read it. So's that's
what happened. It feels very you know, magical, because I
don't know what about it went viral. I'm not even
sure it would go viral today. It really is kind
of so many different things in the universe.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
That lined up at that time.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And honestly, I get kind of shocked that anyone has
read my books, because I think when you go through
so long with no one caring about your writing, when
it happens, you're just really grateful. So I'm very grateful
that everything happened the way it did because I'm able
to see everything that's happened now.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
For what it is, what a story of resilience. Alex.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You've now written and have been published across a number
of genres. Yes, I'd argue that you're best known as
a fantasy writer, would you agree. I think so. And
so you're building these really high stakes, big drama worlds
all about Betrayal and Deceit and Yes and Turns. But
your first two books, Curse of the Night, which and
(16:12):
its sequel, are based on Colombian folk tales that your abuela,
your grandmother would tell you. Yes, I think that's so
special that they're personal to you. What did those folk
tales teach you about storytelling when you were growing up?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Oh, they taught me everything. So I'm Colombian. My mom
is from Columbia. She grew up there. She moved here
when she was in her twenties. And I actually learned
English with Spanish at the same time, because my grandparents
don't really speak English. And so every single night, from
maybe when I was like two years old, my abuela
La La, I call her. She would come to my
(16:48):
room and she would sit at the end of the
bed and she would be wrapped up in blankets and
she would tell us quintos like and so she would.
She had like all of these different tales that were
passed down orally, so they weren't really written down, but
her mom told her, and then her mom's mom told her,
and one of them was called La Nina go on
Last Day and Lafrente, which means the girl with the
(17:09):
star on her forehead, and it was my favorite one.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So every single I'd be.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Like, please please tell the one with the star on
the forehead, which is just wild because obviously right now
I'm a book called star Side. And I think having
such a special person in my life be a storyteller,
having it be such a dramatic moment of like I'm
waiting for her to come to my room so i
can fall asleep to this beautiful fairy tale that was
passed down through generations. It made storytelling special. And I
(17:38):
think that she kind of, even though maybe she didn't
know it, was giving me permission to tell my own stories.
And so it wasn't I think, like far fetched for
me to start creating my own And so even when
I was really young, I would get like printer paper
and fold it and I would make little books. And
my mom really encouraged that too. She kept all of them.
She actually showed.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Me recently my first few books.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
But yeah, I think that having her influence in that
storytelling culture was really cool and really inspired me to
want to tell stories one day and inspired a lot
in those books as well.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It's so cool for me to hear that, Alex, because
I have this armchair theory that actually all kind of
know who we are and what we want to do
at a very young age, and then sometimes the world
can talk us out of it. But like, for instance,
I would dress up as like Hillary Clinton and Gloria
Steinem and all these amazing women for every book report. Wow.
(18:37):
And my dream was always to be in women's media,
like I wanted to interview these incredible women. And I
think it's so cool to hear that you were making
these little books when you were, you know, eight ten
years old, Like you knew you wanted to be a writer.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
All kids know what they love, and it's really when
you grow older and you hear, oh, you can't make
a living doing this, or oh this isn't practical, that
that's what kind of kills your dreams. But I agree
with you. I think that at least by like ten
years old, you know what you like because you're not
thinking about it as a job. You're only thinking, this
is what I like to do. And yeah, kids are
(19:14):
so special in that way. They really just do things
because they like it. They have no other reason to
do it.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Do any of these stories that you're Abuela told you
make their way into your books today.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I definitely think with emblem Island because the girl with
the star on her forehead, it's a star and it's
like a special symbol, and so that really got translated
into the emblems, which are kind of magical markings in
the middle grade series. And then for Lightlark, Lightlark was
partially inspired by La Patasla. That's another like Colombian folklore
(19:50):
and it's kind of like a temptress that lives in
the forest. And so all of these stories have definitely
been in the back of my mind. And then the
character names, some of them are Spanish wars, which is
really like a way to kind of honor my culture,
my heritage.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I need more of your grandma on your TikTok because I, oh,
my god, I find this to be so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
When I started working at Hello Sunshine, Yeah, I remember thinking, wow,
I'm the first generation in my family who has been
able to do what they want to do, Like I
have the privilege to go after my dreams. And it's
only because all of the women who have sacrificed. And
I'm hearing your story and thinking, wow, there's so much
(20:32):
generational sacrifice that has allowed you to become this amazing writer.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah. No, My great great grandma she lived in a
small village in Colombia, and she was not like her
Her husband didn't allow her to leave the house. He
didn't allow her to speak, like he silenced her. And
so the fact that you know now so many generations later,
like I'm able to do what I love and I'm
able to write books and have my words be out there,
(21:00):
it really is. You're right, It's very important to remember that.
You know, I'm only here because there were so many
strong women who fought outside of their circumstances. And my
great grandma she was a single mom to I think
five kids, and she was extremely strong and she she
had a job like she she did everything that she
(21:20):
needed to to survive. And I think that all of
my books have strong women and they're inspired by like
the strong woman in my life. They always told me,
like you be independent, fight for your dreams, like you
can do this. And my mom especially, she's such a
fire in her She's such a strong person. And I
really have tried to get any part of that strength,
(21:40):
in that flame within me because she has it and
She's really the one that has told me since the
very beginning, like you have to go for it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You keep going.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And even we would go on college tours and I
remember there was a tour guy that was like he
said that he like had interned at like a publishing house,
and she was like, go tell.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Him about your book.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
GOI like, Mom, are you joking? Like that's so embarrassing,
and she like would but she was like that, and
she is like that, she was like, go fight for
what you want. And so she she's really why I
even tried to dream about something like this, and and
honestly why I never gave up because it's really easy
to just say, you know what, maybe maybe this isn't
(22:18):
for me. So yeah, I'm really grateful for all of
their influence and yeah, they're they're amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I mean it sounds like you write almost like you're possessed, Alex.
And I mean that in a kind way, like what
is it about fantasy that that puts your creativity into
turbo mode like that?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Mm hmmm. I think ever since I was young, reading
was the only thing that could get me out of
my head. I have pretty bad anxiety. I my mind
is always just spinning up all of these scenarios and.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It was the only thing that could quiet my mind.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And so when I started writing, it was that but better.
Because I'm immersed in the story, I to decide, I
get to almost control what happens, and so it was
really therapeutic for me to be able to get lost
in a world and just let it swallow me whole.
So I will say that I when I read that
(23:15):
kind of like flow state of your just five hours in,
suddenly you look up and it's dark outside, and how
did this time pass? How have I written this many words?
It feels magical. And I'm always chasing that feeling of
getting so swallowed into the manuscript that you do feel
almost like you're possessed. And I listened to the podcasts.
(23:36):
I know a few people have said this, but I
find it to be true as well. It's almost like
you don't have control over the characters. As much as
I used to think, Okay, I can control this, you
really can't. I will have moments or I'm writing and
I'm just like, oh my gosh, like why would they
say that?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Or like who is this?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Or you know, like oh my gosh, this is amazing,
and so you're just like, what's going to happen next?
And it really feels like the characters are speaking through
you in a weird way. And I love that feeling.
I love the feeling of just kind of typing what's
coming to me, getting lost in a story and hopefully
giving that to someone else, because I know, all through
(24:12):
my childhood even now, like I really am so grateful
to the books that helped me get lost in another world.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah. Absolutely, I gotta kind of ask you an unhinged question,
which is sure part of the characters that you write
a lot of them, are these very broody, dark guys,
like very swoon worthy men. Yes, yes, is there a
guy that like has been inspired by anybody in your
real life?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely? Know, it's almost the opposite, Like all the things
I'd like to read about are the opposite of my
real life. Like, I, yeah, I don't know anyone like that.
I think I would probably get like a restraining order
against someone like Crip who is just like kill people
to win my affection. But yeah, all of the behavior
(24:57):
we love to read about in romancy is stuff that
would be a huge red flag in real life. I
think in real life I prefer like friends to lovers,
like something a little less toxic, Like I get enough
of the toxic stuff in my books like when I
write them, so I think something safe is a lot better.
And also just like your best friend, right, which is
(25:18):
what I hope my characters end up with. Even if
they meet during like enemies to lovers circumstances, I get
so bored just as a reader. So that's why as
a writer, I'm constantly kind of putting them in these
circumstances where they might have to become enemies again because.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I just like that tension.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
So it's the exact opposite in real life. I could
not handle that. I'm too sensitive.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Well, when I talk to fantasy writers, they are just
really expert world builders. And when you're writing fantasy, you
are building worlds. But when you're writing something like somemer
in the City, which is a romance novel, it's kind
of like you're going on these emotional quests, whereas with
fantasy characters, you're going on literal quests. And how do
(26:03):
you build the stakes of the chemistry for these characters
the way you would build the stakes for the world
building in fantasy.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Question, I think for Ellen Parker and someone in the city.
Their romance really started with kind of the question of like, okay,
if he's a tech billionaire and billionaire romance is obviously
like a huge romance trope. I was kind of thinking
to myself, like, who wouldn't like this? Because a lot
of people would love that, but who wouldn't like this?
And it was kind of like prickly character who has
her own career and she's kind of has this like
(26:33):
guard around her because people are constantly underestimating her, and
that is kind of her worst nightmare for a guy
to be so publicly successful, because her worst nightmare is
for people to think that her career was because of
who she's with romantically. So it kind of that built
the stakes of just their traits, Like Parker is the opposite.
(26:54):
Parker has been like a tech billionaire for so long
that he now doesn't believe when someone likes him because
he thinks it's just because of the money that people
think he has. So I think they're kind of like
quest throughout the city is ways to put their guard
down and see, Okay, maybe it's not always wrong to
let someone in. So I think it really started with
who these characters are and why they, you know, need
(27:19):
this romance and why they're fighting against it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
The why is interesting because Elle was very stubborn at times,
but I really loved her drive. So even though she
was like making me angry a little bit, I was
so stucked in because I respected it and respected her.
I'm curious about your editing process because I know you
write so quickly. Have you ever sort of written loosely
(27:45):
and then changed quite a bit before a book hit shelves,
which I know that you do, and then regretted something
that you cut.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I don't know about something I cut. More like people,
Readers are very harsh on like female protagonists, right, Like
they would totally accept the guy that kills everyone in
a room because he's obsessed with the girl, but like,
god forbid a girl like you stand up for herself
or something, so like afterwards you're like, Okay, maybe I
didn't have to make her that prickly. But honestly, the
(28:15):
way I make peace with it is it truly feels like,
when I'm writing, that's their story, that is the story,
that is how Elle is, I can't do anything about it, right,
So it kind of feels like I'm just telling their story.
And there are a few moments in Starside even like
when I'm like, Okay, maybe I should change this, maybe
like readers wouldn't like this, But then truly it feels
(28:35):
like that's the story, Like I'm just telling it. That's
kind of how it is. Like obviously, when I talk
to my editor and it's like this isn't working, I'm
not like, oh, well, that's the way it is. No.
I edit a lot, and I actually love getting edits
because I like to kind of break a story apart
and then put it back together. And I like that
time to reflect, especially because I've had weeks or months
away from the manuscript, so you go back. But it's
(28:57):
kind of these like very important moment. I just think
that's their story. That's the way they are. It would
be doing the story a disservice for me to change it.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Is there a character or a storyline that you think
readers would be shocked to hear? How or where it started?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
For Star Side, I wrote the fifteen page romance scene first,
and that was really different for me from other books,
Like I weirdly started at the romance because I knew
that I wanted these characters to genuinely hate each other
and still hate each other even when they get together.
And so I wrote that to almost force myself to like, hey,
(29:37):
they hate each other at this point in the book,
this far into it, you have to keep them and
it means that long. And so that was something that
I've never done before because I want them to become lovers,
like I'm a reader, like, I want them to become
lovers like so soon. But I really wanted to make
sure that they stayed at each other's throats for at
least most of the book.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Do you have like a pub day position at all?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
When I'm on the day of pub I go straight
to the Barnes and Noble and Union Square, like the
biggest Barnes and Noble, and I like to go to
the different retailers and see their additions because a lot
of them have different artwork. And then I just kind
of sit on my couch and I'll like look at
the posts that I was tagged in to see whatever
readers want me to see. I'll see what their favorite
(30:24):
parts are. And my readers are great. They really tag
me and like, you know, like they want me to
see this, and I try to respond. So that's kind
of my tradition. And then, oh, something I'll do is
a few days later, I'll go on the Kindle app
and I'll see what the most highlighted parts are, because
I'm always curious to see, like which parts resonated with people, Like.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I love that you go to retailers. I think that's
so cute.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, of course, I mean genuinely. I still get so
happy because I know what it's like to walk into
a bookstore and they don't have your book, and they've
never heard of your book. They don't talk your book
like I had that for you know, a while. So
it feels really cool to go into a store and
see it on a table or to see people in
line with it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's just really cool. I also think the feedback loop
you have from book talk is really interesting. You know.
Book talk in general has become such a driving force
in the literary world, and the more writers I speak to,
the more I realize that it has democratized and demystified
so many things about the publishing world, which is so positive.
(31:30):
And I talk to writers who say book talk is
the bane of my existence. It's too much feedback. I
don't want to be part of social media. It seems
like you found this really nice footing with it. What's
your relationship like with it? How do you feel about it?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I love book Book talk is what made the difference
between me querying agents and not having an audience for
my books and having everyone reject it to having readers.
It is the best thing that ever happened to my career.
So that's why, like you know it, I can never
feel anything but positive for like a platform that not
(32:07):
only you know, got readers to know about my book,
but got people reading again. Like I know that there's
nothing better than picking up a book like for your
like you know, mental health, Like just picking it up
and reading it and getting lost in the world is
so magical. And the fact that like millions of other
people were able to discover that magic through book talk
is amazing. It feels like I'm still connected to my readers,
(32:28):
so I'm really grateful.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
This is like the Taylor Swift model of authorship, Like
you are, You've created this community that is in relationship
with you. You guys are creating together. It's very special.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, I mean, I just think when you meet these
readers and when you see their videos and some people
are posting, you know, dozens of posts about your book.
How can you not want to give them the best
possible of everything. So that's why I get up so
early and like right for so late, seven days a week,
because I want to not only get given i'm the
best work I can do, but get it to them quickly.
(33:02):
I don't want to make them wait. I really really
don't take it for granted that they have chosen to
support my books. And I love my readers so much,
and I hope they can feel that.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Do you see yourself writing books forever or would you
ever move into a different creative realm? I mean, I've
loved writing books since I was twelve. I don't think
that there would ever be a time where I don't
want to write stories.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I think that there will definitely be a time where
I'm not writing or publishing three books a year. But yeah,
I think I also just want to feel joy. I
think readers can tell if you felt joy while you
were writing. And if there's ever a point where I'm
not super happy to write every day, then I wouldn't
(33:48):
for that period of time, because I think my readers
deserve something that I really wanted to write and publish.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
So fantasy romance? Is there another genre that you have
on your heart that you want to experiment with. I
think I would.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Love to one day write a thriller. I love like
big plot twists, I love like surprises, and so I
think that would be really fun, but I can't see
myself writing that anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, I think you can do it. I see you
being able to create the tension that a thriller requires.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Thank you. I think I like romance too, but like
I like having and I don't know if a thriller,
you know, like usually it's someone's killing the other person,
which you know happens in fantasy, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
You could do like a romantic thriller like Mister and
Missus Smith. That's true, That's very true. Yeah, yeah, you know, Alex,
I think a lot of people listening are going to
feel really inspired by your journey. I know I have
listening to you. What is your best advice for aspiring authors,
for people who want to be the next Alex Astor.
(34:54):
I think, first of all, you have to write what
you love, because at the end.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Of the day, you will reread your own writing hundreds
of times. So really write what you want to read.
Don't take rejection personally, because at the end of the day,
you don't want to be represented by an agent who
doesn't absolutely love your book, and so they're doing you
a favor by saying no, and the publisher's doing a
favor by saying no. If they can't see the potential
(35:19):
of what you're doing, then just write the next book.
And I always say, just once you finish your book,
write the next thing. That's the best distraction. But nowadays
there are so many different avenues for getting your work
out there. You can make a TikTok video, you can
self publish, there are so many different ways to get
your story into reader's hands. So just keep writing. And
(35:41):
there are people out there who want to read your story.
It might take a while to find them, but write
for yourself first, because then no word will ever be wasted.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I used to work at Entertainment Tonight online right because
it's like twenty five or something, so like ten years ago,
and I would stay late and watch all of the
old interviews because I was trying to learn from people,
but also I was eating up all these stories that
were in this vault, right because I had access to it,
and I'll never forget this story, and it really reminded
(36:13):
me of what you shared. So Jennifer Lopez had been
trying so hard to quote unquote make it, and when
she finally got the role of Selena, which was really
her breakout moment, her manager called her. It was like
her sixteenth audition and they made her jump through so
many hoops that people didn't know about. And her manager
called her and said, wow, Jennifer, like you really you
(36:37):
never make it easy, like it's always the hard way. Yeah,
and she said, you know the difference between me and
anybody who didn't make it is that I just stood
the test of time. I didn't give up. And I
love hearing your story because I think it really exemplifies
that you just did not give up. And that's it's
such a key to life.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I think it's really easy to one little slice of
someone's career and think like, oh, they must have made
it with their first book. But I would bet that
almost behind almost every single success story is ten years
of work that no one ever sees. And so I
do think that if you're being rejected, you're just in
the game and you just have to keep going.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, it's actually almost a win because it means you're
in the game. I love it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, you're Yeah. You can't be rejected if you are
not trying. So if you're being rejected, it means you're
in the game.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You just got to keep going. What is something that
you are so obsessed with right now that you could
write a book about it? But you probably won't.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I mean, I loved K pop Duven Hunters. I feel
like it's kind of come off the other side. But
my little cousin she showed it to me. I was like,
oh my god, this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I love coffee. I could write so many books about
my love of coffee. I am a person who gets
obsessed with things.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Okay, Alex, We're gonna play a game called ick or Swoon. Okay,
so I'm gonna name a trope. You tell me if
it's an ick or a swoon? Okay, Okay, A shadow
Daddy swoon, golden boy swoon, Oh Damy's to lovers, Soon,
opposites attract, soon, faded mates?
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Soon? Is there any I don't like?
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I don't like everything? Force proximity swoon, hidden power swoon,
forbidden Love, swoon. It's like such a double swoon. Yes,
found family swoon, marriage of convenience swoon. Really that's such
(38:47):
an eck.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I mean it's an itch in real life, but I
like when it's like I like when it because it's
to meet the ultimate enemy slover's force proximity, Like they
don't want to beat together at all, and then suddenly
you're marriage, Like, you know, what is the truth?
Speaker 1 (39:02):
The first night? Look like, I don't know, maybe I
read too much. No, you're right, Like, who am I
to tell the queen of tension? What's anick? And what's
a spoon? Okay? How about unrequited love? Oh?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Ick?
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Hate that? Really? Why?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Because this is like fiction, I don't know unless it's
like no, I don't like that at all. I just
maybe that is my own personal taste. I feel like
if a character likes a character, I like it more
when the guy is obsessed with her and she's like
maybe I like you. I don't know like that. I
so maybe on his side that's fine, But for her, no,
(39:41):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
You're a girl's girl, Alex Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, why would I want to like read her being like, oh,
I don't know if he likes me like, no, I
want her to say that, but we all know. Oh
my gosh, really he just bought you a coffee shop
chain or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I love this so much, Alex asked her. Thank you
for your time and for inspiring us all. Wow, what
a what an hour we got to spend together. Thank
you so much. I really appreciate it. That's it for
this episode of Bookmarked by Reese's book Club. Our phone
line is now open, so if you want to go
nineties on us, give us a call at one five
(40:19):
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That's one five zero one two nine to one three
three seven nine. Share your literary hot takes, your book recommendations,
questions about the monthly pick, or let us know what
you think about the episode you just heard. And who knows,
you might just hear yourself in our next episode, so
(40:41):
don't overthink it. Give us a ring, and if you
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(41:02):
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen. We'll see you in the next chapter.
Bookmarked is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts.
Executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe, production
by Acast Creative Studios. Our producers are Matty Foley, Brittany
(41:23):
Martinez and Sarah Schleid. Our editor is Carmen Borca Carrillo.
Our production assistant is Avery Loftis. Jenny Kaplan and Emily
Rudder are executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios. Mariene
Polo and Reese Witherspoon are executive producers for Hello Sunshine,
Olga Cominwa, Kristin Perla, Ashley Rappaport and Sarah Kernerman are
(41:43):
associate producers for Reese's book Club, and Ali Perry is
executive producer for iHeart Podcasts.
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club is presented by Apple Books. Hi,
I'm Danielle Robe and welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club.
You know something that this week's guest said during our
interview has really been sticking with me. That behind every
picture of a successful person is years and years of
(00:23):
hard work and probably hundreds of rejections. Alex Astor's rise
to authorship is full of lore, okay. In twenty twenty one,
she posted a TikTok video laying out the plot of
her Romanticy Ya book, and she asked if people would
even want to read it. While that video it went viral,
(00:43):
Alex got a book deal and the rest is history.
She's become one of the most followed authors on social
media and hasn't stopped writing since. And I mean that
kind of literally. She published four books in just twenty
twenty five alone. Her latest, the adult romanticy novel Stars,
hit shelves on March thirty first. But Alex is far
(01:04):
from an overnight sensation, and the real story behind her
success is so so inspiring. So if you've ever felt
like a dream of yours is out of reach, you're
in the right place. Trust me. Let's turn the page
with Alex Astor. Alex Astor, Welcome to the club.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I'm so excited. We're so excited to have you here.
And you know, I always feel a little reflective around
this time of year, as we move out of winter
and finally into spring, I always get the impulse to
shake things up. And I was thinking, that's exactly what
you've done in your career. Last year, in twenty twenty five,
you published four books. Girl.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, kind of wild. I definitely have not slept in
a long time. But I'm very happy and I'm really
excited for this next.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
One, so I can't complain. I'm so curious what your
skied it looks like, Alex, Like, give me your day
to day, give me all the details. What time do
you wake up?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I wake up at around six am, and then I
make a latte, which I have to have every single day,
and then I try to start writing around six thirty am.
And then six thirty am to noon is like my
golden time for writing. Like that is when I get
the most done. Because no one's emailing me, I'm able
to put my phone in a different room, nothing's happening.
(02:27):
I'm not one of those writers who can write for
just fifteen minutes in between meetings. I have to really
have many hours to get absorbed into the store and
just like let it swallow me whole. So six thirty
to noon, and then I'll take a break to eat
and then walk around if I'm healthy, like get some
fresh air, and then come back and usually from two
(02:49):
pm to sometimes past midnight if I'm on a really
tough deadline, and then I wake up next day dude,
all over again. Alex, you're kidding, No, And I do
that ye seven days a week too, Yeah, I mean,
and I honestly I love to write. I've been wanting
to be an author since I was twelve. I've been
writing books since then. So this is really when I'm happiest.
(03:11):
But obviously it's not a very sustainable schedule. But the
last few years of deadlines, it's just what's been necessary
to publish this many books a year. And it doesn't
feel like burnout because you have so much passion behind it,
is what I'm hearing. Yes, I definitely have gotten burned
out before. It's usually after I come back from tor
and I love going on tour. Meeting my readers is
(03:33):
the best part of all of this, because I do.
I write all these books for them, and I am
very grateful they changed my entire career. But I'm an introvert,
and so going and traveling and being around people, I
really do get tired and a little burnt out. And
then when I'm not writing a lot, you know, is
when I'm you know, kind of lose my energy. So
(03:55):
I definitely have had burnout periods, and then I'll just
take a day or two where I do nothing, and
then I'm always itching to go back to writing. It
is my passion. I love it so much. I truly
wake up every single day so excited to dive into
these worlds. So yeah, for now, I'm really happy to
do it. But I know that one day I just
won't be able to maintain this schedule, and that'll be
(04:17):
fine too.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But you know what I'm hearing from you too, is
like this this excitement because you didn't always get to
do this. You actually have quite a lure behind your
writing career. And for anybody who's on book talk or
follows you on Instagram, which I've been doing for years,
really yes, we actually DMed years ago because I saw
(04:39):
you on the Kelly Clarkson Show and I was like,
who is this young woman who is so accomplished. I
was taken by you, and I just remember writing you
just a note of encouragement because you're very inspirational to
a lot of young writers in particular who are wanting
to do this, like you really made it happen for
(04:59):
your How old were you when you actually started writing
books professionally?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Oh, first of all, that's so nice, thank you, But
I was twelve year olds not professionally, but I was
twelve years old when I first wrote my book that
was around four hundred pages. It was really bad. I
was not some sort of prodigy. But that's when I
started trying to get an agent. So I thought, okay, cool,
I'll see it in Barnes and Noble the next day.
I had no idea how the industry worked, so I
(05:25):
actually went to Barnes and Noble and got a book
called Guide to Literary Agents. And it was so long
ago that it actually just had a directory of addresses,
like physical addresses to mail you're printed out manuscript to.
And so that was how I learned. Okay, the first
step is I need a literary agent. And what felt
so magical to me as a kid was I'm twelve
years old. No one knows I'm writing books. Obviously, I
(05:48):
don't know anyone in publishing. I don't know anyone who
has published a book at twelve years old. So it
felt really magical to me that I could just send
an email hypothetically and be published. And that's really how
it works. It's an industry where there are obviously gatekeepers,
but anyone can send that email and get in the
slush pile. And that's how I got my agents, That's
how all my friends got their agents. So it really
(06:08):
is something that is possible. But what happens when you
have an industry that has so much access like that
is you have thousands of people trying to get agents
at the same time, and so the rejection rates are
super high. Like every agent probably has like ten thousand
emails a year and they only take on one or
two clients. So as a twelve year old, it was
very tough to just be rejected by everyone, and I
(06:28):
deserve to be rejected again.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
The book was really bad.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I was twelve years old, but I just wrote another book,
another book, another books. I wrote different books through middle school,
high school. I remember going to the computer lab and
checking my email to get query rejections and just see
them all. But I just had so much hope because
I knew that it was possible and that other authors
had done that. So I kept writing books. In college,
(06:52):
I went to pen and I studied English. I wrote
a book for my senior thesis, my honors thesis, and
I queried that and that was the first book that
got me my first agent. It was actually an adult thriller,
so it wasn't a fantasy at all.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
And I want to interrupt you for one second, yeah,
to say two things, because you're using all these amazing
literary words. So a slush pile is a stack of
unsolicited manuscripts that have been sent to a publishing company
for consideration. What is Can you explain what a query is?
Of course?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So a query is basically, if you pick up a
book and you look on the back or the jacket flap,
you see a small summary of the book. A query
is just an intro. Hi, my name is this. I'm
querrying an one hundred thousand word romanticy that is, you know,
Bridgerton meets blah blah blah, and then you have two
or three paragraphs of a pitch for your book, and
(07:42):
you have to make it really compelling because agents, obviously
they go through thousands of them. And then you might
have a little bio if you're like I, you know,
wrote this short story that got published here, and that's
a query. And then sometimes you can look at every
agent's website and they have their directions for acquerying them,
and some people will ask for the first time pages.
Some people ask you to attach the whole book, but
(08:03):
basically it is just you can cold email an agent
and get published that way.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
That's how it worked. And so you are an English
major at PEN and I can tell even just talking
to you now, your mind runs a million miles a minute, definitely,
So I can imagine that you must feel different than
some of the other teenagers or people that are majoring
in English at PEN at the time. What did you
(08:29):
feel being in class with all of these people who
had a very similar goal to you. Did you feel
that you were similar to them or did you feel
like your mind was running differently?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So I will say the classes that really helped me
the most for what I do. Now are the workshops.
So as an English major, you could choose to specialize
in different things. I specialized in creative writing, and the
writing workshops were great because you would just write a
few pages and you would turn it in and the
whole class would read it and critique it. It's such
a kind of raw experience to put your everything on
(09:01):
a page and then have it critiques. And so that
really taught me to not be so precious with my writing,
like people are going to give you feedback and you
either listen to it or you don't, but it's good
to get that. That really just taught me that the
people who get published, it's really about like how long
can you go getting rejected every single day? How long
can you survive that and really keep going for what
(09:23):
feels at many times an impossible dream. And so I
would write query letters during my enclosed classes. I would
you write my manuscripts during these classes. So you're writing
these queries. How many times were you rejected? Oh gosh,
I was rejected by every single agent at least I
want to say five times. And it's tough because obviously,
(09:44):
when I was twelve, there was no chance, and the
books were really bad. And I always say the best
practice for writing a book is writing a book, and
so that was the way I learned before I went
to college was I would write another book, and then
I would write another book, and then I would rewrite it.
And I really taught my.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Self my voice.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So I was rejected many times. Then when I got
to college, I felt like, Okay, maybe I have more
of a chance. I'm getting a few requests, a few
people may be interested. And that was really the hardest
part because it feels like you get so close. I
had a few agents say I want to sign you.
Let's get on a call, and then at the last
(10:22):
minute it would just be like, you know what, this
market is so competitive or this isn't what I'm looking for.
I just signed something just like this, and so it
really felt like you were so close. And then when
that happens, you have to go back and write another book.
So it's not like you can try again tomorrow. You
have to really want to get rejected by everyone, go
back to the drawing board and write another book, and
(10:42):
then start quaring either months or years later. So it
really felt like this cycle where you get so close
and then suddenly you're back at the bottom again.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
What made someone finally say yes? Do you think? I think?
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I was twenty one when I got my first agent,
and I had a few offers of representation, which was
really wild because I had never had that before. I
had gotten closed, and I actually skipped my college graduation
because that was the day I needed to make the
decision and I wanted to get on all these calls
and that was what I had been working to for
(11:21):
towards for what felt like my entire life. So I
was like, I don't need to go to my graduation.
This is the beginning of my entire career. So I
skipped my graduation. I talked to all these agents, I
signed with one. We edited it all summer, and then
it didn't sell to publishers, and then at that point
then I didn't have an agent anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And you start back at zero again, and you just
mentioned with what happened? Yeah, for anybody who doesn't know
the story, it's a pretty epic story. Like I when
at the beginning, I said, you have lore, you really
do tell everybody what happened.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So I had a book published, and again, like there
were so many moments where you just feel like it
was so difficult, so many reductions, so many nots, and
finally you have someone that believes in you, you get
a book deal. And my first book came out during
the pandemic, so all the bookstores were closed. No one
was discovering new authors in the same way that they
were before. It was a terrible time to debut, so
(12:17):
had I did not have good book sales. And then
I didn't have an agent anymore because the agent I
was with didn't think that the book that I was
working on would sell. And that book was called Lightlark,
And so at that moment, I was crying, and I
was so sad because again, like I'm I think twenty
three at this time, and you feel like you just
went backwards again. I'm twelve years old, I don't have
(12:38):
an agent anymore. None of this, you know, was worth it.
And I took the worst picture that existed me of
just puffy and crying, and I told myself, I am
going to make myself a promise that this is going
to be the best thing that ever happened to me,
and so I went back. I took six months to
rewrite Lightlark from the beginning totally new manuscript, and then
(12:59):
I agents, and then I got an agent and it
was great, and then I was going on submission, and
then it started happening again. All these rejections were coming in,
and it just feels like jajavu, like I've been here before.
And I think when you write for so long and
you're a reader yourself, you really do think is there
no one else out there that would like this? Like?
Am I really writing something that no one would like?
(13:21):
And there are so many gatekeepers and they're the ones
telling you, no, we don't think this should be published,
which really translates to we don't think anyone would buy
this book. And so I decided to make a video
basically pitching my book to the internet, to TikTok saying
would you read a book about this? And so I
pitched my book. I said, it's about an island that
appears once a three hundred years to host a deadly game.
(13:43):
And I posted it and nothing happened. It did no views.
I almost deleted it because I was like, oh my gosh,
I'm proving these publishers right. No one wants to read
this book. But I truly had nothing to lose at
that point, so I left it up. In the next morning,
I was just like in a parking lot and I
looked at my phone and it had over a million views,
which was wild at the time. Book talk I don't
(14:06):
even know if it was really a thing at that point.
This was back in twenty twenty one, so it was
just kind of starting and it went viral and had
thousands and thousands of comments from readers saying I would
love a book like this, Please publish it.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I need to read this.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
And that really helped me get the book deal, because
even though there were people interested, they didn't really know
if they could give me a chance because my sales
track was so low. And that's unfortunately what happens is
if you are published, they can see how many books
you've sold, and if you haven't sold that many, they're thinking,
why would we give this person a chance? So that
video really was the point where people were willing to
(14:42):
give me a chance, even though I did have the
low sales track. And then from there on, every single
day I posted videos about my book because the book
wasn't going to be available for a year and a
half and how do you keep people interested? It's one
thing to go viral once? How do you do it
enough that people remember you in a year and a
half so that my mission post about my book so
(15:02):
much that by the time people can pre order, by
the time the book comes out, people actually buy it
and give it a chance and read it. So's that's
what happened. It feels very you know, magical, because I
don't know what about it went viral. I'm not even
sure it would go viral today. It really is kind
of so many different things in the universe.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
That lined up at that time.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And honestly, I get kind of shocked that anyone has
read my books, because I think when you go through
so long with no one caring about your writing, when
it happens, you're just really grateful. So I'm very grateful
that everything happened the way it did because I'm able
to see everything that's happened now.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
For what it is, what a story of resilience. Alex.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You've now written and have been published across a number
of genres. Yes, I'd argue that you're best known as
a fantasy writer, would you agree. I think so. And
so you're building these really high stakes, big drama worlds
all about Betrayal and Deceit and Yes and Turns. But
your first two books, Curse of the Night, which and
(16:12):
its sequel, are based on Colombian folk tales that your abuela,
your grandmother would tell you. Yes, I think that's so
special that they're personal to you. What did those folk
tales teach you about storytelling when you were growing up?
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Oh, they taught me everything. So I'm Colombian. My mom
is from Columbia. She grew up there. She moved here
when she was in her twenties. And I actually learned
English with Spanish at the same time, because my grandparents
don't really speak English. And so every single night, from
maybe when I was like two years old, my abuela
La La, I call her. She would come to my
(16:48):
room and she would sit at the end of the
bed and she would be wrapped up in blankets and
she would tell us quintos like and so she would.
She had like all of these different tales that were
passed down orally, so they weren't really written down, but
her mom told her, and then her mom's mom told her,
and one of them was called La Nina go on
Last Day and Lafrente, which means the girl with the
(17:09):
star on her forehead, and it was my favorite one.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
So every single I'd be.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Like, please please tell the one with the star on
the forehead, which is just wild because obviously right now
I'm a book called star Side. And I think having
such a special person in my life be a storyteller,
having it be such a dramatic moment of like I'm
waiting for her to come to my room so i
can fall asleep to this beautiful fairy tale that was
passed down through generations. It made storytelling special. And I
(17:38):
think that she kind of, even though maybe she didn't
know it, was giving me permission to tell my own stories.
And so it wasn't I think, like far fetched for
me to start creating my own And so even when
I was really young, I would get like printer paper
and fold it and I would make little books. And
my mom really encouraged that too. She kept all of them.
She actually showed.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Me recently my first few books.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
But yeah, I think that having her influence in that
storytelling culture was really cool and really inspired me to
want to tell stories one day and inspired a lot
in those books as well.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
It's so cool for me to hear that, Alex, because
I have this armchair theory that actually all kind of
know who we are and what we want to do
at a very young age, and then sometimes the world
can talk us out of it. But like, for instance,
I would dress up as like Hillary Clinton and Gloria
Steinem and all these amazing women for every book report. Wow.
(18:37):
And my dream was always to be in women's media,
like I wanted to interview these incredible women. And I
think it's so cool to hear that you were making
these little books when you were, you know, eight ten
years old, Like you knew you wanted to be a writer.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
All kids know what they love, and it's really when
you grow older and you hear, oh, you can't make
a living doing this, or oh this isn't practical, that
that's what kind of kills your dreams. But I agree
with you. I think that at least by like ten
years old, you know what you like because you're not
thinking about it as a job. You're only thinking, this
is what I like to do. And yeah, kids are
(19:14):
so special in that way. They really just do things
because they like it. They have no other reason to
do it.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Do any of these stories that you're Abuela told you
make their way into your books today.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I definitely think with emblem Island because the girl with
the star on her forehead, it's a star and it's
like a special symbol, and so that really got translated
into the emblems, which are kind of magical markings in
the middle grade series. And then for Lightlark, Lightlark was
partially inspired by La Patasla. That's another like Colombian folklore
(19:50):
and it's kind of like a temptress that lives in
the forest. And so all of these stories have definitely
been in the back of my mind. And then the
character names, some of them are Spanish wars, which is
really like a way to kind of honor my culture,
my heritage.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I need more of your grandma on your TikTok because I, oh,
my god, I find this to be so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
When I started working at Hello Sunshine, Yeah, I remember thinking, wow,
I'm the first generation in my family who has been
able to do what they want to do, Like I
have the privilege to go after my dreams. And it's
only because all of the women who have sacrificed. And
I'm hearing your story and thinking, wow, there's so much
(20:32):
generational sacrifice that has allowed you to become this amazing writer.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah. No, My great great grandma she lived in a
small village in Colombia, and she was not like her
Her husband didn't allow her to leave the house. He
didn't allow her to speak, like he silenced her. And
so the fact that you know now so many generations later,
like I'm able to do what I love and I'm
able to write books and have my words be out there,
(21:00):
it really is. You're right, It's very important to remember that.
You know, I'm only here because there were so many
strong women who fought outside of their circumstances. And my
great grandma she was a single mom to I think
five kids, and she was extremely strong and she she
had a job like she she did everything that she
(21:20):
needed to to survive. And I think that all of
my books have strong women and they're inspired by like
the strong woman in my life. They always told me,
like you be independent, fight for your dreams, like you
can do this. And my mom especially, she's such a
fire in her She's such a strong person. And I
really have tried to get any part of that strength,
(21:40):
in that flame within me because she has it and
She's really the one that has told me since the
very beginning, like you have to go for it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
You keep going.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
And even we would go on college tours and I
remember there was a tour guy that was like he
said that he like had interned at like a publishing house,
and she was like, go tell.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Him about your book.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
GOI like, Mom, are you joking? Like that's so embarrassing,
and she like would but she was like that, and
she is like that, she was like, go fight for
what you want. And so she she's really why I
even tried to dream about something like this, and and
honestly why I never gave up because it's really easy
to just say, you know what, maybe maybe this isn't
(22:18):
for me. So yeah, I'm really grateful for all of
their influence and yeah, they're they're amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I mean it sounds like you write almost like you're possessed, Alex.
And I mean that in a kind way, like what
is it about fantasy that that puts your creativity into
turbo mode like that?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Mm hmmm. I think ever since I was young, reading
was the only thing that could get me out of
my head. I have pretty bad anxiety. I my mind
is always just spinning up all of these scenarios and.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It was the only thing that could quiet my mind.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And so when I started writing, it was that but better.
Because I'm immersed in the story, I to decide, I
get to almost control what happens, and so it was
really therapeutic for me to be able to get lost
in a world and just let it swallow me whole.
So I will say that I when I read that
(23:15):
kind of like flow state of your just five hours in,
suddenly you look up and it's dark outside, and how
did this time pass? How have I written this many words?
It feels magical. And I'm always chasing that feeling of
getting so swallowed into the manuscript that you do feel
almost like you're possessed. And I listened to the podcasts.
(23:36):
I know a few people have said this, but I
find it to be true as well. It's almost like
you don't have control over the characters. As much as
I used to think, Okay, I can control this, you
really can't. I will have moments or I'm writing and
I'm just like, oh my gosh, like why would they
say that?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Or like who is this?
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Or you know, like oh my gosh, this is amazing,
and so you're just like, what's going to happen next?
And it really feels like the characters are speaking through
you in a weird way. And I love that feeling.
I love the feeling of just kind of typing what's
coming to me, getting lost in a story and hopefully
giving that to someone else, because I know, all through
(24:12):
my childhood even now, like I really am so grateful
to the books that helped me get lost in another world.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah. Absolutely, I gotta kind of ask you an unhinged question,
which is sure part of the characters that you write
a lot of them, are these very broody, dark guys,
like very swoon worthy men. Yes, yes, is there a
guy that like has been inspired by anybody in your
real life?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Absolutely? Know, it's almost the opposite, Like all the things
I'd like to read about are the opposite of my
real life. Like, I, yeah, I don't know anyone like that.
I think I would probably get like a restraining order
against someone like Crip who is just like kill people
to win my affection. But yeah, all of the behavior
(24:57):
we love to read about in romancy is stuff that
would be a huge red flag in real life. I
think in real life I prefer like friends to lovers,
like something a little less toxic, Like I get enough
of the toxic stuff in my books like when I
write them, so I think something safe is a lot better.
And also just like your best friend, right, which is
(25:18):
what I hope my characters end up with. Even if
they meet during like enemies to lovers circumstances, I get
so bored just as a reader. So that's why as
a writer, I'm constantly kind of putting them in these
circumstances where they might have to become enemies again because.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I just like that tension.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
So it's the exact opposite in real life. I could
not handle that. I'm too sensitive.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Well, when I talk to fantasy writers, they are just
really expert world builders. And when you're writing fantasy, you
are building worlds. But when you're writing something like somemer
in the City, which is a romance novel, it's kind
of like you're going on these emotional quests, whereas with
fantasy characters, you're going on literal quests. And how do
(26:03):
you build the stakes of the chemistry for these characters
the way you would build the stakes for the world
building in fantasy.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Question, I think for Ellen Parker and someone in the city.
Their romance really started with kind of the question of like, okay,
if he's a tech billionaire and billionaire romance is obviously
like a huge romance trope. I was kind of thinking
to myself, like, who wouldn't like this? Because a lot
of people would love that, but who wouldn't like this?
And it was kind of like prickly character who has
her own career and she's kind of has this like
(26:33):
guard around her because people are constantly underestimating her, and
that is kind of her worst nightmare for a guy
to be so publicly successful, because her worst nightmare is
for people to think that her career was because of
who she's with romantically. So it kind of that built
the stakes of just their traits, Like Parker is the opposite.
(26:54):
Parker has been like a tech billionaire for so long
that he now doesn't believe when someone likes him because
he thinks it's just because of the money that people
think he has. So I think they're kind of like
quest throughout the city is ways to put their guard
down and see, Okay, maybe it's not always wrong to
let someone in. So I think it really started with
who these characters are and why they, you know, need
(27:19):
this romance and why they're fighting against it.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
The why is interesting because Elle was very stubborn at times,
but I really loved her drive. So even though she
was like making me angry a little bit, I was
so stucked in because I respected it and respected her.
I'm curious about your editing process because I know you
write so quickly. Have you ever sort of written loosely
(27:45):
and then changed quite a bit before a book hit shelves,
which I know that you do, and then regretted something
that you cut.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I don't know about something I cut. More like people,
Readers are very harsh on like female protagonists, right, Like
they would totally accept the guy that kills everyone in
a room because he's obsessed with the girl, but like,
god forbid a girl like you stand up for herself
or something, so like afterwards you're like, Okay, maybe I
didn't have to make her that prickly. But honestly, the
(28:15):
way I make peace with it is it truly feels like,
when I'm writing, that's their story, that is the story,
that is how Elle is, I can't do anything about it, right,
So it kind of feels like I'm just telling their story.
And there are a few moments in Starside even like
when I'm like, Okay, maybe I should change this, maybe
like readers wouldn't like this, But then truly it feels
(28:35):
like that's the story, Like I'm just telling it. That's
kind of how it is. Like obviously, when I talk
to my editor and it's like this isn't working, I'm
not like, oh, well, that's the way it is. No.
I edit a lot, and I actually love getting edits
because I like to kind of break a story apart
and then put it back together. And I like that
time to reflect, especially because I've had weeks or months
away from the manuscript, so you go back. But it's
(28:57):
kind of these like very important moment. I just think
that's their story. That's the way they are. It would
be doing the story a disservice for me to change it.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Is there a character or a storyline that you think
readers would be shocked to hear? How or where it started?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
For Star Side, I wrote the fifteen page romance scene first,
and that was really different for me from other books,
Like I weirdly started at the romance because I knew
that I wanted these characters to genuinely hate each other
and still hate each other even when they get together.
And so I wrote that to almost force myself to like, hey,
(29:37):
they hate each other at this point in the book,
this far into it, you have to keep them and
it means that long. And so that was something that
I've never done before because I want them to become lovers,
like I'm a reader, like, I want them to become
lovers like so soon. But I really wanted to make
sure that they stayed at each other's throats for at
least most of the book.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
Do you have like a pub day position at all?
Speaker 2 (30:01):
When I'm on the day of pub I go straight
to the Barnes and Noble and Union Square, like the
biggest Barnes and Noble, and I like to go to
the different retailers and see their additions because a lot
of them have different artwork. And then I just kind
of sit on my couch and I'll like look at
the posts that I was tagged in to see whatever
readers want me to see. I'll see what their favorite
(30:24):
parts are. And my readers are great. They really tag
me and like, you know, like they want me to
see this, and I try to respond. So that's kind
of my tradition. And then, oh, something I'll do is
a few days later, I'll go on the Kindle app
and I'll see what the most highlighted parts are, because
I'm always curious to see, like which parts resonated with people, Like.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
I love that you go to retailers. I think that's
so cute.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, of course, I mean genuinely. I still get so
happy because I know what it's like to walk into
a bookstore and they don't have your book, and they've
never heard of your book. They don't talk your book
like I had that for you know, a while. So
it feels really cool to go into a store and
see it on a table or to see people in
line with it.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's just really cool. I also think the feedback loop
you have from book talk is really interesting. You know.
Book talk in general has become such a driving force
in the literary world, and the more writers I speak to,
the more I realize that it has democratized and demystified
so many things about the publishing world, which is so positive.
(31:30):
And I talk to writers who say book talk is
the bane of my existence. It's too much feedback. I
don't want to be part of social media. It seems
like you found this really nice footing with it. What's
your relationship like with it? How do you feel about it?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I love book Book talk is what made the difference
between me querying agents and not having an audience for
my books and having everyone reject it to having readers.
It is the best thing that ever happened to my career.
So that's why, like you know it, I can never
feel anything but positive for like a platform that not
(32:07):
only you know, got readers to know about my book,
but got people reading again. Like I know that there's
nothing better than picking up a book like for your
like you know, mental health, Like just picking it up
and reading it and getting lost in the world is
so magical. And the fact that like millions of other
people were able to discover that magic through book talk
is amazing. It feels like I'm still connected to my readers,
(32:28):
so I'm really grateful.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
This is like the Taylor Swift model of authorship, Like
you are, You've created this community that is in relationship
with you. You guys are creating together. It's very special.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, I mean, I just think when you meet these
readers and when you see their videos and some people
are posting, you know, dozens of posts about your book.
How can you not want to give them the best
possible of everything. So that's why I get up so
early and like right for so late, seven days a week,
because I want to not only get given i'm the
best work I can do, but get it to them quickly.
(33:02):
I don't want to make them wait. I really really
don't take it for granted that they have chosen to
support my books. And I love my readers so much,
and I hope they can feel that.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Do you see yourself writing books forever or would you
ever move into a different creative realm? I mean, I've
loved writing books since I was twelve. I don't think
that there would ever be a time where I don't
want to write stories.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I think that there will definitely be a time where
I'm not writing or publishing three books a year. But yeah,
I think I also just want to feel joy. I
think readers can tell if you felt joy while you
were writing. And if there's ever a point where I'm
not super happy to write every day, then I wouldn't
(33:48):
for that period of time, because I think my readers
deserve something that I really wanted to write and publish.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
So fantasy romance? Is there another genre that you have
on your heart that you want to experiment with. I
think I would.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Love to one day write a thriller. I love like
big plot twists, I love like surprises, and so I
think that would be really fun, but I can't see
myself writing that anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah, I think you can do it. I see you
being able to create the tension that a thriller requires.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Thank you. I think I like romance too, but like
I like having and I don't know if a thriller,
you know, like usually it's someone's killing the other person,
which you know happens in fantasy, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
You could do like a romantic thriller like Mister and
Missus Smith. That's true, That's very true. Yeah, yeah, you know, Alex,
I think a lot of people listening are going to
feel really inspired by your journey. I know I have
listening to you. What is your best advice for aspiring authors,
for people who want to be the next Alex Astor.
(34:54):
I think, first of all, you have to write what
you love, because at the end.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Of the day, you will reread your own writing hundreds
of times. So really write what you want to read.
Don't take rejection personally, because at the end of the day,
you don't want to be represented by an agent who
doesn't absolutely love your book, and so they're doing you
a favor by saying no, and the publisher's doing a
favor by saying no. If they can't see the potential
(35:19):
of what you're doing, then just write the next book.
And I always say, just once you finish your book,
write the next thing. That's the best distraction. But nowadays
there are so many different avenues for getting your work
out there. You can make a TikTok video, you can
self publish, there are so many different ways to get
your story into reader's hands. So just keep writing. And
(35:41):
there are people out there who want to read your story.
It might take a while to find them, but write
for yourself first, because then no word will ever be wasted.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
I used to work at Entertainment Tonight online right because
it's like twenty five or something, so like ten years ago,
and I would stay late and watch all of the
old interviews because I was trying to learn from people,
but also I was eating up all these stories that
were in this vault, right because I had access to it,
and I'll never forget this story, and it really reminded
(36:13):
me of what you shared. So Jennifer Lopez had been
trying so hard to quote unquote make it, and when
she finally got the role of Selena, which was really
her breakout moment, her manager called her. It was like
her sixteenth audition and they made her jump through so
many hoops that people didn't know about. And her manager
called her and said, wow, Jennifer, like you really you
(36:37):
never make it easy, like it's always the hard way. Yeah,
and she said, you know the difference between me and
anybody who didn't make it is that I just stood
the test of time. I didn't give up. And I
love hearing your story because I think it really exemplifies
that you just did not give up. And that's it's
such a key to life.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I think it's really easy to one little slice of
someone's career and think like, oh, they must have made
it with their first book. But I would bet that
almost behind almost every single success story is ten years
of work that no one ever sees. And so I
do think that if you're being rejected, you're just in
the game and you just have to keep going.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, it's actually almost a win because it means you're
in the game. I love it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, you're Yeah. You can't be rejected if you are
not trying. So if you're being rejected, it means you're
in the game.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
You just got to keep going. What is something that
you are so obsessed with right now that you could
write a book about it? But you probably won't.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I mean, I loved K pop Duven Hunters. I feel
like it's kind of come off the other side. But
my little cousin she showed it to me. I was like,
oh my god, this is amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
I love coffee. I could write so many books about
my love of coffee. I am a person who gets
obsessed with things.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Okay, Alex, We're gonna play a game called ick or Swoon. Okay,
so I'm gonna name a trope. You tell me if
it's an ick or a swoon? Okay, Okay, A shadow
Daddy swoon, golden boy swoon, Oh Damy's to lovers, Soon,
opposites attract, soon, faded mates?
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Soon? Is there any I don't like?
Speaker 1 (38:25):
I don't like everything? Force proximity swoon, hidden power swoon,
forbidden Love, swoon. It's like such a double swoon. Yes,
found family swoon, marriage of convenience swoon. Really that's such
(38:47):
an eck.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I mean it's an itch in real life, but I
like when it's like I like when it because it's
to meet the ultimate enemy slover's force proximity, Like they
don't want to beat together at all, and then suddenly
you're marriage, Like, you know, what is the truth?
Speaker 1 (39:02):
The first night? Look like, I don't know, maybe I
read too much. No, you're right, Like, who am I
to tell the queen of tension? What's anick? And what's
a spoon? Okay? How about unrequited love? Oh?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Ick?
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Hate that? Really? Why?
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Because this is like fiction, I don't know unless it's
like no, I don't like that at all. I just
maybe that is my own personal taste. I feel like
if a character likes a character, I like it more
when the guy is obsessed with her and she's like
maybe I like you. I don't know like that. I
so maybe on his side that's fine, But for her, no,
(39:41):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
You're a girl's girl, Alex Oh yes.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah, why would I want to like read her being like, oh,
I don't know if he likes me like, no, I
want her to say that, but we all know. Oh
my gosh, really he just bought you a coffee shop
chain or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I love this so much, Alex asked her. Thank you
for your time and for inspiring us all. Wow, what
a what an hour we got to spend together. Thank
you so much. I really appreciate it. That's it for
this episode of Bookmarked by Reese's book Club. Our phone
line is now open, so if you want to go
nineties on us, give us a call at one five
(40:19):
zero one two nine to one three three seven nine.
That's one five zero one two nine to one three
three seven nine. Share your literary hot takes, your book recommendations,
questions about the monthly pick, or let us know what
you think about the episode you just heard. And who knows,
you might just hear yourself in our next episode, so
(40:41):
don't overthink it. Give us a ring, and if you
want more, come hang with us. Reese's book Club is
on Instagram, serving up books, good vibes, and all the
behind the scenes stuff you love. And I'm at Danielle
robe Robay, so come say hi and please seriously dm
me because I actually read them, and I love hearing
you think about the episodes and don't forget to follow.
(41:02):
Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen. We'll see you in the next chapter.
Bookmarked is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts.
Executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe, production
by Acast Creative Studios. Our producers are Matty Foley, Brittany
(41:23):
Martinez and Sarah Schleid. Our editor is Carmen Borca Carrillo.
Our production assistant is Avery Loftis. Jenny Kaplan and Emily
Rudder are executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios. Mariene
Polo and Reese Witherspoon are executive producers for Hello Sunshine,
Olga Cominwa, Kristin Perla, Ashley Rappaport and Sarah Kernerman are
(41:43):
associate producers for Reese's book Club, and Ali Perry is
executive producer for iHeart Podcasts.
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