Q&A with the Authors behind 'Of A Publishing Persuasion'

Who better to pick the brains of about the world of publishing than two podcast hosts of a show that explores just that? Angela Montoya and Melanie Schubert are the presenters behind Of A Publishing Persuasion, a podcast that explores the publishing industry and the writers who make it what it is. When they’re not interviewing authors (or FolioFox’s brand manager) on the mic, you can find Melanie and Angela writing and editing their own work - including their Christmas anthology Jingle These Bells, which FolioFox printed for its release last November.

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We caught up with the writing and podcasting duo to ask them all about the publishing world as industry insiders and published authors. Having experienced both traditional publishing systems and self-publishing routes, Angela and Melanie offer up their expertise as they explore the differences between the two, and how their own experiences as published authors informs how they approach diving into the nitty gritty of the industry with fellow writers on their podcast.

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Q&A with Melanie Schubert and Angela Montoya

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Hi Melanie and Angela! Tell us a bit about you and what you do.

M: Hi! I’m Melanie Schubert, a writer from Melbourne Australia. I dabbles in lots of area, from writing musical productions for a Primary performing arts company, to writing Adult horror and everything in between! But I’m probably best known for cohosting Of the Publishing Persuasion a (mostly) bookish podcast with the icon that is Angela Montoya!

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A: And we have a blast together! Hi. I’m Angela Montoya, award-winning author of YA fantasy romance books Sinner’s Isle, A Cruel Thirst, and Carnival Fantástico. And co-editor (with Melanie) of the amazing holiday anthology, Jingle These Bells.

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How did your podcast Of A Publishing Persuasion get started?

M: We met as mentees in Pitchwars (RIP) writing competition. I think when the competition ended, we both missed that and I somehow managed to convince Angela to do the podcast with me!

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A: That’s exactly right! We were both so nervous to start this adventure, we still get nervous, but now we both find that when we don’t get to have our weekly chats with each other and our guests, our natural nervousness turns into full-on anguish. So basically, this podcast saved our gentle souls.

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Being located in different parts of the world, how have you found that your work, writing and friendship are impacted by the distance? How do you make it work?

M: We became close online during the hell years that were covid lockdowns. During that time, I was honestly seeing my online friends more than anyone else. It does pain me that I can’t hug my US friends in real life, and go out for coffee, but chatting in DMs and on the podcast makes them all feel not so far away!  

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As well as being podcasters, you’re both writers too. How does your own writing background inform the way you approach chatting to authors on mic?

M: This writing thing, and in particular, trying to make a career out of it is HARD. I guess for me, knowing what I go through myself, I always try approach our interviews with kindness, curiosity and as much positivity and I can muster, because most people generally have a LOT on their plates on top of this.

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A: That’s exactly it. Being a writer makes me appreciate writers all the more. I find authors to be some of the most interesting humans on this planet…myself included, of course.

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You released your Christmas anthology, Jingle These Bells, last November. Tell us a bit about how you brought this book to life and why your indie publishing house Throbbing Quill was fundamental to the release of the book.

M: I fully blame Angela and our listeners for that one! Angela was reading Ice Planet Barbarians and we were cackling about it on the podcast together which lit the path to our love of spicy and absurd books. Separate to this, our listeners had been saying we should do an Of the Publishing Persuasion anthology... I don’t think they knew we’d end up combining the two, but here we are!

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A: I’m so glad Melanie listened to our wise listeners.

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Why did you decide that independent publishing was the right route for Jingle These Bells?

M: It just made the most sense for this anthology. All the books we were reading and laughing at were self published, and we knew from editing each other’s work over the years that we trusted each other with that side of things. Then our friend Robin Alvarez came on board. She is a force in the indie space. And we felt confident between the three of us we’d be able to do it justice in the end.

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With experience in both the traditional publishing world and the indie publishing world between the both of you, what would you say are the biggest differences between the two types of publishing?

M: For me I think it is the pace of things. With the right team, I was amazed at how fast things can move to get a book published. Trad pub is soooo slowww to get things moving a lot of the time. Which makes sense, because it is a much bigger, more complex beast.

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A: As a traditionally published author, I don’t really have to focus my brain energy on things like making sure to pay employees, finding cover illustrators, hiring editors, etc. But with indie publishing, all of those things are expected. And when you mix the business side with the creative side, it is a lot for your brain to keep in order. Luckily, we had an amazing team to help us learn as we took on this huge venture.

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What are some of the challenges in traditional publishing that aren’t as apparent in indie publishing, and vice versa?

M: Honestly? For my experience with indie pub the biggest challenge was visibility and financing after publication. I wish I could have given the amazing stories from our contributing authors more reach and visibility, and I did the best I could with the time and money I had, but a trad pub budget would have been nice! 

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Are there particular projects that are more compatible with indie publishing and others with traditional? How do you know which is the right route to take?

M: My advice is to research the genre you want to publish in well! For us, indie seemed the obvious choice for this, because it’s what the authors of all the absurd, spicy books we’d read were doing, and to our knowledge at the time, it’s not something trad pub was looking for (that may have changed now) but for this project we didn’t want to leave it up to chance, especially since, for the most part, it wasn’t our goal to make money from the project. Our goal was to have fun, and make more “seats at the table” in the publishing world.

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What do you both have coming up on your writing/podcasting/publishing horizons?

M: Right now I’m working on a couple of middle grade projects for my agent with the aim to get both out on submission next year. I’m also about to start writing a new musical production for the performing arts company I write for in New Zealand. 

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A: I am currently working on revisions for my fourth YA fantasy romance, The Immortal Undoing. The book will be published in autumn of 2027, which seems so far away, but will be here before we know it!

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A huge thank you to Angela Montoya and Melanie Schubert for kindly answering our questions for this Q&A. If you’re interested in checking out their podcast, make sure to pop over to Of A Publishing Persuasion’s website or start listening on your preferred podcast app. Keep up to date on everything that Of A Publishing Persuasion is doing by following them on Instagram. You can also find Melanie’s Instagram here and Angela’s Instagram here, and get yourself a copy of Jingle These Bells here.

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