On Check This Out, host Rachel Barenbaum looks beyond the best-sellers, seeking out emerging authors and books that are under the radar. So why is a global publishing phenomenon like E.L. James, author of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” on the show?
James is out with her first young-adult novel, “Land of Ghosts.” It’s a paranormal romance about a teen who moves to London after losing her family in a car crash, and falls in love with a ghost only she can see and hear.
James calls it a modern gothic romance and one that she’s had in mind since 2008. “What I was imagining when I wrote this was: what was the worst thing that could happen to you? And for me, it would be to lose everyone I love and to lose everyone who loved me. And I think that's what I really wanted to talk about in this book.”
James says although the book is categorized as Young Adult, it’s not a departure from her previous work. “This is just another love story. I love love stories. ’Fifty’ was a love story, ‘The Mister’ and ‘The Missus’ was a love story,” she says. “This is another love story. It just happens to be in a slightly different setting.”
Zibby Owens’ “Between Chapters” on the Book Biz
On the Book Biz segment, Barenbaum unpacks the trends shaking up the publishing world.
She talks to Zibby Owens about her new book “Between Chapters,” and her journey from stay-at-home mom to “book-fluencer.”
“Basically I changed everything about my life at a time when I didn't think change was possible,” she says. “I thought my life was set in one direction, and then I made a series of changes and I got divorced, I got remarried, I took up podcasting, I finally got my rejected books to become published books, and I started doing a lot of different things in the book world.”
The book features 40 essays that Owens hopes “will make you feel like you have a new best friend and feel a little bit seen and hopefully inspired that whatever comes next, you're not doing it alone."
Owens is the author/editor of six books. She hosts the daily interview podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, a sponsor of Check This Out. She founded Zibby Media which includes the Zibby Publishing boutique publishing house, the indie bookstore Zibby's Bookshop in Santa Monica, CA, as well as Zibby's Book Club and Zibby’s Retreats.
Check This Out from NHPR Books airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. on NHPR and NHPR.org, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.
Check This Out is made possible with support from Sourcebooks, an independent, women-led publisher built on the belief that books change lives. It is also sponsored by C&S Wholesale Grocers family of companies and the podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, the award-winning daily author interview show.
