s2E10: Story Schooled with special guest Alexa Donne

Two exciting words for you: YA THRILLER. This episode's special guest, Alexa Donne, has one coming out in May 2020 called The Ivies, and we can't wait to read it. We talked with her about the book itself and some behind-the-scenes insights Alexa drew upon from her years spent in college admissions consulting. We got a ton of great genre-related advice on thrillers and where the YA thriller market is going, and we talked with Alexa about her other projects, including Author Mentor Match and her Authortube channel.

You'll hear about:

• Alexa Donne's third novel, The Ivies, and the risks she took writing it

• Competitive college admissions and murder

• Adult thrillers vs. YA thrillers

• Author Mentor Match

• Alexa's Authortube channel

IMPORTANT LINKS FROM THE SHOW

• Pre-order THE IVIES on Alexa's website

• Check out Alexa's reviews - and leave one yourself - on Goodreads

• Tune in to Alexa's Authortube channel on YouTube for craft videos, publishing advice, reviews, livestreams, and more

• Consider supporting indie bookstores by ordering your books through bookshop.org. And if you're an audiobook person, libro.fm supports indie bookstores, too.

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EPISODE RECAP

Who wants to talk about competitive college admissions and murder?! Nat and PJ did, so we sat down with author Alexa Donne to talk about her YA thriller, The Ivies, and get the inside scoop about how the story grew from her years working in college admissions consulting and her conversations with people who attended real boarding high schools that feed into Ivy League colleges.

Alexa also gave us fantastic insights about the thriller genre, how it differs in the adult category vs. YA, and how YA thrillers are different from other YA sub-genres. Her first two books (Burning Brightly and The Stars We Steal) were both YA science fiction, so we also discussed her big switch over to thriller-writing and why not everyone is going to like the way this one ends.

We learned about the mentoring program Alexa co-founded - Author Mentor Match - and talked with her about how her Authortube channel has grown and why she loves YouTube as a platform.

Let us know if there’s anything you want to hear about later this season! Until then...