KT Literary podcast

Here at the beginning of 2025 there are a lot of things affecting the publishing industry. In this episode we have a conversation about generative AI and how it is changing the way publishers, authors, and agents have to think about "work". We discuss using books to train AI models (boo), we talk about the ways AI is making the industry more accessible for some people, and we talk about the ways we are advocating for our clients in...

Adria Goetz is a Senior Agent at KT Literary and our Illustration Coordinator. She represents picture books, YA, MG, and womens fiction with a genre twist.

If you want to follow her on social media, you can find her on Instagram and on her website.

Here's her official bio:

"Adria Goetz is based out of the beautifully gloomy Pacific Northwest. Adria got her start in publishing as an intern at Martin Literary Management in 2013. She rep...

This week’s guest. Doan Phuong Nguyen is a middle grade author, photographer, daydreamer, and creative girlie girl. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States when she was in elementary school. She received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

Purchase a copy of Mèo and Bé.

Follow Doan Phuong on Instagram. Or find more information on her website, doanphuong.com...

Rachel Werner joins us today to talk about the art (and grind) of becoming a full time writer. She gives us freelance tips, marketing ideas, and talks about the importance of an email newsletter! She’s an author, content creator and media consultant from Madison Wisconsin. She’s the founder of The Little Book Project WI as well as a teaching artist for Hugo House, The Loft Literary Center and Lighthouse Writer' Workshop. She’s writ...

In this episode, Parrish Turner joins Chelsea and Renee to talk about the HarperCollins union, the 2022 strike, and the passion for the job that keeps him going.  We talk about the state of publishing, the things we love about the job, and how people can get involved in the fight for living wages at HarperCollins and other publishers.

Follow the Union on social media: https://www.instagram.com/hcpunion/

Parrish talked about: Lou by B...

Katy James joins us today to talk about her book TOO MUCH MAN. It's a fun, flirty debut about a grumpy former hockey player and a bisexual coffee-shop owner refuse to commit—to themselves or each other. We talk about identity, hockey, and Katy's day job as an archivist and rare book librarian. 

Buy TOO MUCH MAN.

Preorder the next book TOO HOT TO TOUCH.

Visit Katy's website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find us at ktli...

THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER is about an autistic trans kid navigating their new school while finding friends—and love, along the way. It’s written by Maya MacGregor, and though they are no stranger to publishing, it’s their debut YA novel!

Maya and Allegra talk about the joys of bringing Sam to life on the page and in the audiobook, the exciting time we’re in for queer stories, and what this book means to their past s...

Patty is an educator, an accomplished horse woman, and a fantasy super fan. She joined me to talk about her new novel FORGING A NIGHTMARE, her love of messing with established mythology, and how she brought her characters to life. We also talk about the racist and bigoted book banning that’s gone on in her district in Pennsylvania. If you’re in the book world, you’ve heard about this. This story has been featured in CNN, the New Yo...

What the heck is going on with supply chain issues? Why aren't there more books? What can we do about it? What advice do we have for authors?

This week, Sara Megibow joins the podcast to talk about all these issues and more! We get granular about how books are made, what the "pain points" are in the process, and what that means for books releasing now. And though it all sounds a little depressing, we promise, it isn't! We also talk ...

Mayonn Paassewe-Valchev has always been a storyteller. From her youth in Liberia, to her time living in the Netherlands, and now residing with her family in Georgia, stories have played an important part in her life.

In this interview we talk about mythology, capturing oral storytelling on the page and how she did that in her new Middle Grade book THE LEOPARD BEHIND THE MOON. 

Buy THE LEOPARD BEHIND THE MOON.

Follow Mayonn on Twitter,...

Considering a post-pandemic trip to a quaint English Village? Be sure to add this book to your packing list.

Maureen Johnson, Jay Cooper, and Kate Testerman get together to discuss the new book YOUR GUIDE TO NOT GETTING MURDERED IN A QUAINT ENGLISH VILLAGE. We discuss the most dangerous element of a quaint English Village, the thing that would probably get us killed, the age-old place to dump a bodë (It's IKEA) and whether or not Th...

Maggie Wells is prolific in the romance genre and definitely knows her stuff. One of the most interesting things we talk about is her experience as a hybrid author. Hybrid authors’ books are usually a blend of traditionally published books and indie or self-published ones. Maggie takes the time to pull back the curtain on her experience in publishing . 

Check out Maggie Wells on Twitter, Instagram and on her website.

You can find AN...

R.W.W. Greene is a SciFi author, an educator, and an all around great guy. He has such an interesting perspective on the SciFi genre and what makes for a great story. He talks about so many different books in our conversation and if you're a student of SciFi, I recommend you have a pen handy.

We talk about writing near SciFi, what he's reading right now (THE GALAXY, AND THE GROUND WITHIN by Becky Chambers), and his delightful Covid...

Michelle Ruiz Kiel’s modern stories with mythic sensibilities are some of my favorites. She is someone I wanted to have on the podcast for a long time. I think it started when I heard her panel on modern fairy tales at the ALA Midwinter conference in Seattle a few years ago. I wanted to bring her on and ask her all about writing mythology, magical realism, and modern fairytales.

Michelle join me to talk about all things mythology, s...

Buy River Magic and Nightingale!

Today, I have the privilege of speaking with two of our Powerhouse Middle Grade authors, Ellen Booraem and Deva Fagan. These women are both from Maine and they both write beautiful, sharp, emotionally resonant Middle Grade fantasy.

We talk about writing, magic, LARPing, and puppers. We also talk about promoting their books with a group of authors who all release in April 2021. Ellen and Deva have been...

Today I have the privilege of speaking with New York Times Bestselling author, Jason Hough. Jason is the author of The Dire Earth series, ZERO WORLD, and video game tie in books for Gears of War and Mass Effect.  We talk about writing IP for video games, James Bond's pacing, and using movie soundtracks as writing music. 

Preorder INSTINCT!

Jason's website 

Jason's Twitter

You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

This week I have the privilege of interviewing novelist Jennifer Greunke. Jennifer’s debut novel, OF SILVER AND SHADOW just came out in February. Jennifer’s book was originally supposed to come out in May of 2020 and the release date was pushed back almost a year because of Covid-19. We have an interesting conversation about that process. We also discuss writing fantasy, and the best way for writers to curate their social media acc...

Madeline L’Engle once said in an interview “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” I can’t think of a better way to describe Jen Petro-Roy’s books. She’s the author of the books PS I MISS YOU, GOOD ENOUGH, and her brand new release LIFE IN THE BALANCE.

We actually talk a lot about balance in this episode. Balancing honesty and humor. ...