Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Margo Steines, author of Brutalities: A Love Story . In this episode, we discuss Margo's experience as a dominatrix, sex work then vs. now, the toxic societal pressures on women's bodies in the 90s and how that resulted in eating disorders for both of us, her stint as a high-rise welder, adv...
Jul 14, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Elle Nash, author of Animals Eat Each Other , Nudes , Gag Reflex , and Deliver Me . In this episode, Elle shares her experiences with the book publishing, including getting an agent, going on submission, receiving rejections, and ultimately landing a deal with an independent press. Elle also ge...
Jul 07, 2025•21 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome In today's episode, host Courtney Kocak shares her experience attending a college reunion and how it's impacted her heading into the final revision of the manuscript for her debut memoir, GIRL GONE WILD, out March 2026 with Trio House Press! The trip brought together a close-knit group of old friends and gave h...
Jun 30, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest is Dedeker Winston, author of The Smart Girl’s Guide to Polyamory and co-author of Multiamory: Essential Tools for Modern Relationships . In this episode, Dedeker talks us through her publishing journey—from landing an agent to selling two books, including one co-written with her former polycule a...
Jun 23, 2025•30 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest is Antonia Crane, author of Spent . Follow Antonia on Instagram @antoniacrane . The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social . For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com . Courtney is teaching some upcoming workshops...
Jun 16, 2025•6 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest is Hannah Howard, author of the memoirs Feast and Plenty . In this episode, Hannah returns to the pod to share her insights on surviving the publishing rollercoaster, aka what it's like when you’re on submission and you get your happy ending twice. She opens up about navigating rejection, the less...
Jun 09, 2025•18 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest is Sarah Fay, memoirist, writing coach, and Substack strategist. Her debut memoir, Pathological , chronicles her 25-year journey through the mental health system. In this episode, Sarah shares how she manifested her dream agent, her surprisingly fast path to publication (during the pandemic no les...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Greg Mania, author of the memoir Born to Be Public . In this episode, Greg shares his winding path to publication—from losing an agent, to finding the right publisher with the indie press Clash Books, to signing with a new agent, and what he’s learned through the highs and lows of going on subm...
May 26, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Margaret Killjoy, a prolific author and podcaster whose latest book, The Sapling Cage , kicks off a fantasy trilogy featuring a trans protagonist. In this episode, Margaret joins us to talk about her evolving writing process, navigating indie and traditional publishing (and the pros and cons of...
May 19, 2025•47 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest comes all the way from Africa! Ghanaian author Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah has such a cool story about how she used her blog as a launch pad for publishing her first book, The Sex Lives of African Women . Nana shares the whole process, including conducting the interviews, writing a book proposal, how sh...
May 12, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Deborah Derrickson Kossmann, author of Lost Found Kept: A Memoir . In this episode, we dive into the premise of Deborah's debut memoir, how she landed her publisher, and what she learned from working with a small press. Follow Deborah on Instagram @deb_derrickson_kossmann . Submit to Trio House...
May 05, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Elle Nash, author of Animals Eat Each Other , Nudes , Gag Reflex , and Deliver Me . This episode is an interesting peek into Elle's creative process as we talk through her body of work, the North star of writing to your taste, developing her voice alongside her editing chops, how she landed the...
Apr 28, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Victoria Kielland, Norwegian author of My Men , which was translated to English by Damion Searls. Follow Victoria on Instagram @vkielland . The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social . For more, check out her website c...
Apr 21, 2025•8 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest Elle Griffin set out to query her gothic novel and, in the process, made some disappointing discoveries about the publishing industry that led her to serialize it on Substack. In this episode from the archives, Elle shares her journey down this unconventional path that definitely has some upsides,...
Apr 14, 2025•28 min•Season 1Ep. 61
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest Alissa Wilkinson wrote her book Salty during the first year of the pandemic, which left its mark on both the process and the content. Alissa tells us about how Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women and her first book came to be and a little bit about her current J...
Apr 07, 2025•49 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today’s guest is Carmen Rita Wong, and she has a doozy of a story—it’s memoir meets family mystery, and it’s so freaking good! In this episode, Carmen shares how her magnum opus finally came together after decades in the making, plus writing and publishing wisdom she's gleaned through publishing FIVE books. She...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Omar Mouallem, author of the historical travel memoir Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas. In writing the book, Omar couldn’t explore its subject matter without also reexamining his own relationship with the religion he had grown up with—and grown apart from. In this interview,...
Mar 24, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Allie Rowbottom. Allie is the author of the memoir/family history/cultural commentary Jello Girls , which I love, and the new novel Aesthetica , which is incredibly zeitgeisty in its subject matter and has been getting rave reviews. Not only is Allie Rowbottom a super hot lit queen who can stri...
Mar 17, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Hannah Howard, author of two food memoirs, Feast: True Love in and Out of the Kitchen and Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family , that transcend the genre and are also about relationships, motherhood, and finding your tribe. We discuss how an MFA application process helped her crystallize her vis...
Mar 10, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Nicole Maggi, who joins me to share the origin story of her latest novel, A Murder in Zion , which hits shelves tomorrow! Inspired by a docuseries about crimes in national parks, Nicole set out to write a mystery series set against some of the country’s most breathtaking landscapes. We dive int...
Mar 03, 2025•13 min•Season 5Ep. 55
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Bassey Ikpi, author of I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying , one of my all-time favorite books. She grew up thinking authors were magicians, but it turns out she knows how to cast the spell too! In this episode, Bassey shares how the book proposal was a totally different book but working on it...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 54
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Emily J. Smith, author of Nothing Serious . Follow Emily on Instagram @emjsmith and Bluesky @emjsmith.bsky.social . The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Instagram @courtneykocak and Bluesky @courtneykocak.bsky.social . For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com . Court...
Feb 17, 2025•19 min•Season 5Ep. 53
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Andrew Bomback, author of Doctor and Long Days, Short Years: A Cultural History of Modern Parenting . Follow Andrew on Instagram @andrewbomback and Twitter @asbomback. >>> Watch the full interview with Andrew on YouTube : https://youtu.be/boHDw5bhBYE?si=iBmDPjhWsPSFF8c4 The Bleeders is...
Feb 10, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Paul Haddad, generously sharing the research, writing, and publishing process for his latest book Inventing Paradise , which explores the history of early Los Angeles and the power brokers who shaped the city's growth. Follow Paul on Instagram and X/Twitter @la_dorkout. The Bleeders is hosted b...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Frances Badalamenti, author of Many Seasons , I Don't Blame You , and Salad Days . Follow Frances on Instagram @franbad and connect via her website francesbadalamenti.com . >>> Watch the full interview with Frances on YouTube : https://youtu.be/KajQ4_2K8fU?si=QHH4s8stLJapddWD The Bleed...
Jan 27, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Matt Bell, who wrote his novel-writing craft book Refuse to Be Done between drafts of his latest novel Appleseed , and perhaps both books were the better for it. Matt has an exhausting yet enviably productive novel-writing process, and he's taking us to church today with this sermon and many ot...
Jan 20, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 49
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Samantha Mann, author of Putting Out: Essays on Otherness and editor of the anthology I Feel Love: Notes on Queer Joy . Follow Samantha on Instagram @samantha.mann05 and Twitter @Sdmann0502. >>> Watch the full interview with Samantha on YouTube : https://youtu.be/PSrcZBcAM7c?si=dW-_CMP...
Jan 13, 2025•7 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Cara McGoogan, host of Bed of Lies and author of Blood Farm . Follow Cara on Instagram and X/Twitter @cjmcgoogan. The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on X/Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com . Courtney is teaching some upcomin...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's episode features advice from Halley Sutton, Hannah Howard, Bridgette Bianca, Shelby Hinte, Chelsea Martin, Emmy Olea, and Elle Nash. The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @courtneykocak. For more, check out her website courtneykocak.com . Courtney is teaching some...
Dec 30, 2024•10 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Welcome, writers and book lovers. The Bleeders is a podcast about book writing and publishing. Make sure you subscribe to the companion Substack : https://thebleeders.substack.com/welcome Today's guest is Laura Cathcart Robbins, author of Stash: My Life in Hiding . Follow Laura on Instagram @lauracathcartrobbins and Twitter @TheOnlyOnePodc1. >>> Watch the full interview with Laura on YouTube : https://youtu.be/ultBqNG5PkA?si=nxxCwn22ezJF4KOO The Bleeders is hosted by Courtney Kocak. Fol...
Dec 23, 2024•5 min•Season 1Ep. 45
