Irma and Karen talk about how different platforms – Instagram, Facebook, X, Substack and author websites – help sell books (or don’t!)

Then Karen chats to Toni Jordan about how to successfully inject serious subjects with humour, the book to film process of Addition, why she structures her life to the nth degree but with writing is completely unstructured, how to approach writing as a business and why networking should be reframed, why being a skilled public speaker is important as a writer, how she has managed to make a living as a writer, the painful experience of having a book that didn’t sell well, and how that then led to her greatest career high.

About Toni

Toni Jordan is an award-winning, internationally best-selling author of 8 novels. Her debut novel Addition was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and has recently been made into a film. Her novel Nine Days was awarded Best Fiction at the 2012 Indie Awards, and Our Tiny, Useless Hearts was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Toni is a physiologist who has also completed a PhD in creative writing and she lives in Melbourne.

Show Notes

'Social Media is Dead – Old School Marketing Tactics for Creatives' by Creative Plus Business

‘Millions of Followers? For Book Sales, it’s Unreliable’ on the New York Times

‘If you get a million views on a social media post, how many books will you sell?’ on Nicola Washington’s substack post about a viral Tweet about a book event that no one showed up to.

Find out more about Irma and Karen

Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

Karen and Irma talk about the importance of writers centres, and urge listeners to sign the Writers Victoria petition.

Then Irma chats to Tasma Walton about novelising the story of her ancestor Nannertgarrook, how she protected herself in the process of writing about trauma, the reclamation of her Boonwurrung language and the importance of language in her novel, how writing and acting feed into each other, the challenges of writing versus acting, how writers rooms for TV and film work, and an embarrassing green room encounter with an Australian music legend.

About Tasma

Tasma Walton is a proud Boonwurrung woman from the saltwater country of Melbourne and surrounding coastlines. She has had a hugely successful career as an actor in film and television, with acclaimed roles in everything from Blue Heelers and The Secret Life of Us to Mystery Road and How to Please a Woman. In 2009, her first novel, Heartless, was nominated for an ABIA Award, and the first book in her children’s series Nerra: Deep Time Traveller was longlisted for the DANZ Children’s Book Award. Her most recent novel, I am Nannertgarrook, won the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize.

Show notes

Writers Victoria petition

I am Nannertgarrook

Find out more about Irma and Karen

Visit Irma Gold’s website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Visit Karen Viggers’ website, or follow her on Instagram and Facebook

Follow Secrets From the Green Room on Instagram and Facebook

Karen and Irma debate whether AI is useful to break writer’s block.

Then they both chat to Fleur McDonald about pioneering the way in rural crime writing, how she built her profile over the years and then rebranded, connecting emotionally with readers, using imposter-syndrome to motivate her next book, how an imaginary character changed her life, fighting for your rights as an author and why she changed publishers, why making a difference with her writing is so important to her, how experts help inform her crime fiction, why she is refusing to use AI, the value of having an agent (especially when you’re having a hissy fit!), why she insists on being involved in planning the publicity campaign, and how meeting her writing hero left her speechless.

About Fleur

Fleur McDonald is a prolific bestselling rural crime author who lives in Western Australia. She’s published 26 novels and sold over a million books, with her 27th book out in April. She is an active public speaker and an advocate for rural women experiencing domestic violence. She has worked as a jillaroo, and then a farmer and parent, and is now a fulltime author.

Show notes

‘Should you use AI to break writer’s block?’ in The Conversation

‘AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief’ in The Guardian

DV Assist