In the past 11 episodes of their podcast Book Bubble, novelist Nicky Pellegrino and children’s author Stacy Gregg have talked to a wide-ranging mix of New Zealand writers – from icons like Elizabeth Knox to talented newbie Amy McDaid – about their lives, their words and their work.

"It’s been a pleasure and also very illuminating,” says Nicky. “Every writer has been so different, but they’ve all had something interesting and new to say.”

This week in the final episode, the co-hosts talk to each other about their own publishing journey.

“We had feedback from listeners who wanted to know how we got our start – I think a few might have embarked on novels over lockdown!” says Stacy. "And we realised over the years we’ve learned some valuable lessons about publishing as an industry, that we were happy to pass on.”

Stacy has published 25 novels so far, and is now working on a series for younger readers. Nicky’s latest, Tiny Pieces Of Us, is the best-selling NZ fiction book of the moment.

“Crafting a novel is one skill, getting it out into the world so people can read it is quite another,” says Nicky, “And as we say in this week’s Book Bubble, ‘it’s hard but it’s not impossible’