Writing Podcast Episode 706: Alex Johnson explores 'When Books Go Bad'

What’s more fascinating than reading actual books? Well, it’s the weird and bizarre stories behind the stories themselves! At least, that’s what journalist and author Alex Johnson hopes with his latest book, When Books Go Bad – exploring some of the strangest and most infamous stories about book writing and publishing experiences through the years. In this episode, Alex shares his love of writing these kinds of ‘behind the scenes’ industry books and how he ended up with the publishing relationship that has yielded 20 books to date. He also explains how he chooses the stories to go in his books and some of the more surprising entries. 00:00 Welcome06:11 Writing tip: Associative triggers11:00 WIN!: Diaries of Note by Shaun Usher13:02 Word of the week: ‘Deuteragonist’15:12 Writer in residence: Alex Johnson16:00 Alex explains his latest book, When Books Go Bad16:55 Why he wrote this book19:58 Journalistic not academic21:51 Starting his relationship with the British Library24:00 Compiling the material for the book25:09 Authors and their naughty and odd tendencies28:20 Pitching and publishing books32:57 The editing process36:21 Illustrations and book design38:06 Surprising stories from the book41:34 Publicity and social media43:06 Upcoming projects and tips44:39 A writing tip46:20 Final thoughts Read the show notes Connect with Valerie and listeners in the podcast community on Facebook Visit WritersCentre.com.au | ValerieKhoo.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.