Courtagonist

[00:00:00]

Laura: Hi Courtny, welcome to What's Your Next Podcast.

Courtny: Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited.

Laura: So happy to have you here. Tell us a little bit about what you've been up to.

Courtny: So I have been on summer break and so summer break doesn't mean summer break for me. It means that I then get to put on my writer's hat and my content creator hat. And then I basically pretend like it's my full time job and I am up at 5 AM and work until I go and pick up the boys. And so I've been Editing one of my a new book that I just started asking for beta readers for it's called literary stitches.

Courtny: And then I've been yesterday I was designing bookmarks and ordering them for death on deck. And so just a whole bunch of different like bookish fun stuff.

Laura: So we got to talk about it because you were a cozy reader for the past seven years and then you transitioned over to author, a cozy author. So talk to us about your cozy journey. Like where do you get started? How do you go from reading to actual writing into [00:01:00] actually producing an audio book? So it's like the whole word.

Courtny: Yeah. The whole nine yards. So I have always wanted to be a writer. There were times when I was a kid that my favorite books were the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen Adventure Novels. Literally just the Red Slipper one is just so darn good. And so I would write my own adventures. And instead of it being Mary Kate and Ashley, it would be me and my little sister.

Courtny: And I just loved them so much. And so, but then I took a break from writing for a really long time because I never thought that I was good enough. Like, I was like, Courtney, you're a reader, just stay in your lane, is sort of what I had myself do, and then in 2017, I found the BookTube community, and I was very much into, like, cozy mysteries, but there was no one.

Courtny: On book two with cozy mysteries at all. Like I searched high and low [00:02:00] and I was complaining to, he was my boyfriend, but my husband, now I was complaining to him and he goes, Well, then why don't you just be the cozy mystery person online? And I was like, well, I mean, I would have to learn how to edit and then record.

Courtny: And then he goes, okay. And so, sort of, I really I'm very competitive and I don't like it when someone tells me like, that I can't do something or challenges me. I'm like, yeah no, I'm going to rock it. Like, don't tell me no. So, I just started reviewing books online and fell in love with the Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander who has become, like, my big sister when it comes to, like, cozy mysteries and writing, and in 2019, she actually Released a mystery master class writing course and she was like, Hey, this is a new endeavor for me.

Courtny: Would you be willing to take the course? [00:03:00] Because I know you've been talking about writing. She's like, Do you want to try the course? And I was like, Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I do. And so we got, my husband and I got married in October of 2019 and we went on a cruise. for our honeymoon. And there were these four feisty ladies that were sitting in front of my husband and I.

Courtny: And we just started, my husband and I just started making up a mystery because I was reading, I had brought only like vacationing cozies with me in my like embroidered flower, like fanny pack. Like I was that person walking around the cruise. So we just started making up things and I. started writing Death on Deck on my honeymoon.

Courtny: Like, my husband went and like, procured stationery from, like, the little like, podiums that were in, like, around the ship. And they [00:04:00] have, like, the crew's labels on it. And you have my handwritten notes about, like, all of my feisty ladies. And that's sort of, like, it just took off. Like, I just started writing in 2019.

Laura: And now you published, you're getting published

Courtny: I am. Yeah, I'm very excited. My publisher is the Wild Rose Press and they're a small indie publisher and they decided to take a chance on me and my cruising crew, my feisty ladies. And it's been a whirlwind. They, since they're smaller, they can do things a lot faster. And So I got the offer in or I sent it in November, got an offer in January, and then started editing it Death on Deck with an, with my editor and with a a copyright editor or a copy editor and then my book was finished to be being edited at the end of I [00:05:00] think April of this year and then they gave me the publishing date of September 30th of this year and guys, I did not realize that publishing date is the anniversary of the very first episode of Murder, She Wrote. I was like, how serendipitous, like how just Utter perfection is that. Like, I can't even formulate words. I was just so flippin excited when I found that out.

Laura: Oh my gosh. I love this. I love the journey like you are from a reader to a writer, to a write, like an accidental writer of coming up the story in your honeymoon where you're not supposed to be writing, and then sort of writing the book. And now. Getting it published and not just getting published. You're also producing the audio, which is like, there'd be like, there's something that people don't think about it, but like, it's accessibility [00:06:00] is one thing, but the other part is expensive.

Laura: Undertaking, so talk to us about producing the audio part, because it's actually,

Courtny: Yeah.

Laura: it might be like, something you may not know.

Courtny: Yeah. So, it is really up to the publisher whether or not they're going to include the audiobook rights within your contract. And since the Wildrose Press is such a small publishing house they do not add in the audiobook rights. To the contract. So they take a cut of physical book sales and ebook sales, but the audio book sales are a hundred percent me.

Courtny: And so I actually took, I was so lucky enough that I. I make some money off of my YouTube channel and my book club and things like that. I was actually able to take all of my earnings and pay for my audiobook narrator through my through my hobby. And so, I was able to go on to, I had to go and find I found a website called [00:07:00] Voices.

Courtny: com, and then I put out samples of Death on Deck, and I actually had auditions for Death on Deck, and I had, I listened to them all, and I also had to, like, I messaged and asked questions, like, can you do for different older feisty ladies, can you do like, like, how do you feel about doing Midwestern accents, things like that?

Courtny: Because my ladies are based in Oklahoma where I live. And so, some of us speak a little bit different than if they're, if my audio book narrator is from Boston, like that doesn't necessarily work for Oklahoma y'all. Like it just doesn't. It's been so amazing, and I found Alice Hackle, and she is a retired reading teacher, and she is, as an educator myself, I just automatically was drawn to the fact that she was in education, and like you said, I am big on accessibility. predominantly [00:08:00] listen to audiobooks. And so I feel like I could not put Death on Deck out in the world without making it available to every single person in any way that I could.

Courtny: And so, I just listened to chapters I think it was 24 or 25 this morning, and there's 34 chapters in the book, so she's almost done. And it sounds Absolutely amazing. I sent the first chapter to my newsletter group and I had so many messages telling me how perfect she sounds and just how excited they are for the audiobook to come out.

Laura: I am so excited and I am going to request it so we can, libraries can order it. A lot of publishers and, like, seeing it on Audible and seeing all the different places but definitely looking for that too.

Courtny: I'm so, so excited. Like, it's just slowly becoming more and more surreal. Like, as we get closer to the date, and as I start making merchandise for book [00:09:00] signings and things like that, I'm like, Oh, this is really real. This is real.

Laura: So talk to the deck on deck, what is the elevator page? And

Courtny: The Golden Girls meets The Divine Secrets of the Ya Sisterhood with tasty adult beverages. Yes, set on a cruise. And so, our main characters are we've got Lisa May Medee, and she is a retired professor forced into retirement. So she's not very happy about that. We have Bev, who is the sweet, plump, cuddly grandma who loves cross stitching and bright colors. Who recently her husband passed away.

Courtny: So all of my women have new chapters in their lives that have sort of come to head. Wilma is a retired ER nurse and she is finally able [00:10:00] to think about just herself. When it comes to life, because she had a lot of a lot of things trials and tribulations put on her that she has not been able to selfishly think of herself in their 60, her 60 years of being alive.

Courtny: And then we've got Charlotte, who is a retired librarian and best selling author of a mystery series Where she just she just killed off her main character, and her publisher is threatening to drop her fans are rioting, and so they're all ready to unplug and go off on a new adventure with each other.

Laura: then there's some murder. Yeah just for the reader who's not familiar with Cozy Mysteries, the Cozy's are basically don't, will have a murder of some story, but they're not official, they're not on page, or they're not gory, or any trigger warnings, it's [00:11:00] pretty much off page. It's just part of the plot, it just moves the plot forward and the mysteries turns and things get resolved at the end.

Laura: I think that's pretty much the conventions of a cozy mystery. So that way, if you're looking for something that's a little bit, I think it's perfect for the fall if you're not, you're at a cat, I would like horror books. Cozy Mysteries are a good place to go. There's Paranormal Cozy Mysteries, there's Regular Cozy Mysteries, there's Small Town, there's Millennial Cozy Mysteries, which we have come.

Laura: So, there's Cozy Mysteries set in big cities, small cities, small towns, all over the place, and vacation, and obviously, there's Cozy Mysteries,

Courtny: Yeah, all of the hobbies, knitting, crocheting, I mean, galore. Scrapbooking.

Laura: the food!

Courtny: Oh, the food ones. The food ones make me gain weight so fast because I'm like, yeah, I deserve a raspberry cheese danish right now.

Laura: Yes.

Courtny: Do I need it? No, but I mean the book is telling me how delicious it is and I believe it.

Laura: or all the [00:12:00] cupcakes or all the bake shop things for the cheese. I do love the cheese and the wine. There's a wine

Courtny: Yes, I've had, there are, and it's just, it's so good. The apple cider ones get me whenever they're on a orchard. Oh, so good. I'm drinking cinnamon tea right now because I'm pretending that it's fall even though it's horribly hot in Oklahoma. I'm just going to force it to be fall.

Laura: some book recommendations because you're, you have a couple cozy mysteries to finish off at the read. com. And give us a recommendation, and let me know what I need to do next.

Courtny: There are so many books that I think that you should read next. A hundred percent if you are new to Cozies, this is like, I am the book pusher for the Bake Shop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander. Basically, I love the world that Ellie has created with relationships and there's 19 books.

Courtny: So if you want to binge a really good series. Like, this is what you [00:13:00] do. There, I have made so many recipes from her books. Like, I actually have videos on my YouTube channel of me testing out her Oh my goodness, I've done scones, I've done coffee drinks, I've done all different kinds of things.

Courtny: And they're so good. But think of it as Gilmore Girls meets, like, a bake shop. It's so amazing.

Laura: And you get to go to Ashland and do the Mysteries. Talk about that, actually, like, that's like a, so

Courtny: Oh my

Laura: to go live the Ashland and go to the site

Courtny: Yeah. I, and I'm actually doing my very first author event this year at the Ashland Mystery Festival. I'm going to be having a book signing and then me, Spencer from Intentionally Bookish and TJ from Beach Bum Bookworm, we're all going to be a podcast for an hour and a half talking about all things cozy.

Courtny: And the cozy community in Ashland, and I just am like, what [00:14:00] is my life? Like, what am I don't, people want to actually see and talk to me, I don't know what to do.

Laura: Yeah, so I think that's something unique about the series is that you do can go to the small town. I was telling my friend Kelly she was driving from San Francisco to to Portland and her middle stop was Ashland. And she's like, Oh, it's a Shakespeare. I was like, no, there's like a mystery set there where there's a Shakespeare, there's the big show, there's the murder, there's the mystery.

Laura: And I was like, you gotta read this book. Yeah.

Courtny: Yeah, like, and Lithia Park, like, and I have never seen such a small town have so many thriving bookshops. it's just it's utter perfection, like, hallmark worthy. like, views and to go during fall where everything is just so autumnal. Ugh I'm so, so excited for October to come. It's gonna be glorious.

Laura: Thank you for engaging me with this tangent. [00:15:00] Yeah,

Courtny: is Magic Lies and Deadly Pies by Misha Pop. So that is more of a millennial cozy. So it's going to push the boundaries of a traditional cozy a little bit more. It's it might not necessarily be a traditional Cozy Mysteries cup of tea, but it's like a crown jewel for me.

Courtny: It, our main character, she has magic, and her magic is in making pies for bad guys. I, there, it does touch on women who are being mistreated, and they sort of reach out to our main character and ask for help. So, She makes these pies that sometimes kill the guys and I'm just kind of like I mean they deserved it They're not nice people.

Courtny: So like I'm I'm like low key. Clapping my hands for the murder I'm also like Courtney, is there something wrong with you? But I just it's so good and so [00:16:00] well written and like the It's just so funny too. Like she says the things that I think in my head and it's glorious

Laura: I'm excited for that one. I did see the audio a couple of times and I was like, Oh, I should pick it up. So now you're selling me and I'm like, Oh yes, I'm here. To be a woman in the 21st century is like, yeah, this is part of, having the bad guys into the bad.

Courtny: audiobooks are so good. So good. Another one I have is actually, it's her debut book. And she's a good friend of mine. She actually took Ellie's writing course with me at the same time. But it's Resort to Murder by Annie McEwan. This series is a hug in a book. Like, her family, the main character's family, like, I want them to be my mom and dad.

Courtny: They just feel so wholesome, so real, and I just love it. Our main character is coming home because [00:17:00] she got fired from the design position that she was in. And she goes home to this resort that her parents own. It's like a whole bunch of little cabins and there's fluffy dog companions and a feisty sassy best friend, which I am always here for.

Courtny: And it's just. It's just so good. I just love it so much. I already read book two that just came out and it's Dead White and Blue. And it's a, like a, it's a Fourth of July mystery. And it was also so amazing. So good.

Laura: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for this series. This is a new to me one. So I'm excited to add this to my list.

Courtny: Yeah you have to. And then I think my last one or I've got two more, but so another one is a magical cozy because we can't forget our magical cozies. And it is Steeped to Death by Gretchen Rue. It is a mix of magical and like everyday life. [00:18:00] Like it just feels, it feels like life would be.

Courtny: for real if there were magic. And I absolutely love it. She lives in a house that, in my mind, it looks like the Practical Magic house. And she, her aunt has recently passed away and has sort of left the house and the tea shop to her and she's just, she's starting anew and again there is another feisty kitty cat and I just, of course there's murder but I don't really like.

Courtny: I come to Cozy's for the murder, but I stay for the coziness. I stay for the community that's being built per book. And so, Gretchen Rue's done a really good job with that series. And I think there's like, at least four in that series right now.

Laura: We're excited for a lot. So, oh my God, these are great recommendations. So Courtney, tell us where you can find me online.

Courtny: Yeah, so you can find me at CourtTagonist. com and anywhere on any of [00:19:00] the social medias as CourtTagonist. My author name is Courtny Bradley, but I was CourtTagonist before I was Courtny Bradley. So you can just type in CourtTagonist. It's like antagonist and protagonist, but with my name and come and say hi.

Courtny: I love meeting new people.

Laura: Awesome. Courtney. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Courtny: Yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.