An adult fantasy book club podcast that supports small businesses and indie authors.

Tea & Tropes is a book club for fantasy lovers. A community where everyone is welcome and heard. Having always been interested in fantasy and reading since a young age, I wanted to fully lean into it and make something from it! Being a huge supporter of indie authors, I wanted to find a way to support them and so the Author Spotlight segment was born. I am so honored to have talked to such talented and amazing people about their work and to have even made some very close friends along the way! I have big plans for the show in the future. Big ways to expand even beyond the podcast and create gatherings and events around the world where we can all find new friends with the same interests! I am so excited for what Tea & Tropes has inspired in me and I hope others find it to feel like home!
 

Other book clubs I tried to join weren't reading the books I wanted to read. People kept telling me that I should read more than just fantasy. I should branch out into other genres. But I decided life was too short! Don't read books that you don't want to read. I started this podcast to read the books I was interested in and to find people interested in the same! I hope to create a community where we can all engage in conversation, away from any judgement or shame. We can like what we like and enjoy the books we are reading!
 

Time is absolutely an enemy to creativity. But as the old saying goes, if it's important, you'll find the time. And that is just what I do. There have been many sleepless nights, or taking my equipment on the go to record in hotel rooms, at work, and even in the car occasionally! Being on a weekly schedule can be a blessing and a curse! Blessing because it gives me structure and I know what to expect. But a curse because it can be harder to fit in recording times in a busy week. One piece of advice that I wished I had listened to was to have multiple episodes pre-recorded before launching! It gives you a grace period to be ahead and still have content! Another piece of advice I can give is to do your research on recording equipment. I do believe that a cheaper microphone can get you by if everything else is done right. Even with my Blue Yeti, I have had poor quality because my recording space wasn't right. There are a lot of factors that play into it and don't be afraid to drop money on it when you can! Even my $40 portable sound proof box makes a huge difference!
 

All I wish to gain from podcasting is reading good books and meeting new people! This truly is a hobby for me. While I have been given very generous gifts from some of the authors I have interviewed, I do this for myself and anyone else who feels like they belong here, which I hope everyone does! Tea & Tropes was never intended to be a job or monetized in any way! I just love talking to authors, meeting readers, and going to bookish events!
 

Honestly, the hardest part of the show for me is deciding what book to pick for the next Book of the Month. There are so many amazing books I want to read with my listeners and so many amazing authors I want to support! Once that book is picked, I break it up into 4 (as equal as I can get them) parts and schedule them for the Wednesday's in that month. As I am reading that week's section, I am tabbing and taking notes, making predictions, trying to recognize character developments, relationships, etc. and keeping an eye out for answers to listener comments and questions! I record after reading each chapter so I can try to be as spoiler free as possible in my discussion. I use a Blue Yeti microphone that I also use for streaming and recording on Audacity, which is completely free!

When it comes to interviewing guests, at first I was so nervous to ask people to be a part of it. I hadn't really interviewed anyone before so this was such a new and exciting thing for me! My first few interactions were with authors I met at events and conventions that I was at. These authors include Dani Hoots, Sonja F Blanco, Aaron Hall, and Bryan Asher. They were so sweet to be so quick to give me a chance and I am so grateful for their support! Once I started my Instagram account, I found Meg Alivien and RM Gray, who made me feel so welcomed in the booksta community! RM Gray even partnered with me to have her book Nightweaver as a Book of the Month and did a full length bonus episode with me where we were able to talk about the book in detail! This was so much fun for me and led me to doing the same with other authors I met! Once I was in the Bookstagram community, finding new authors to interview was a breeze! Everyone is so supportive of each other and so willing to work with me and be a part of the community and I am so very grateful for each and every one of them!
 

I love being very hands on with marketing! Yes, I have the normal social media accounts and I try to keep up with them as much as possible. But my favorite way to market is to do it in person at conventions! I had bookmarks made with a QR code on the back and handed them out to anyone dressed in bookish cosplay or anyone I connect with about books in general! I have met so many new listeners this way! Even when I'm just at the grocery store, I keep bookmarks on me to hand out to whoever wants one. I have even been sneaky and put them inside the book of the month at bookstores! I have partnered with some of the authors I have interviewed to host giveaways and I am planning in person events for authors and listeners to connect, like a book fair or readers retreat! My ultimate goal is to host a massive bookish convention where readers can meet their favorite authors and meet new ones, all in one spot!
 

All that I can say is truly the most important is don't get discouraged! It will take a while, but as long as you are consistent and don't give up, people will come and people will love it! When I first started my show, I remember when I got my first listener. I was so excited that someone else out there was interested in my content. It was so surreal and I must have told everyone who would listen. Later I found out that it was my sister. She wanted to support me, but she didn't tell me it was her because she didn't want me to be discouraged from continuing. And I'm glad she didn't. Because here I am now, with hundreds of listeners and fans and followers on Instagram, and even though those numbers are small in comparison to "influencers" I never thought so many people would like my show and enjoy what I am doing. I never thought I would make it to 100, let alone 1000 and it keeps growing! I just hope people really like what I am doing and I hope they get just as much out of it as I do. You really just need to do it for yourself and others will come!
 

You can listen to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

For the best updates and bonus content, I am most active on Instagram @teaandtropespod and TikTok @teaandtropes

If you are a fantasy author and would like to be interviewed on the show, you can DM on any social media platform or email me at teaandtropespod@gmail.com

I also go to a lot of conventions around the country. If you find me at them feel free to say hi and get a free bookmark or sticker!

If you like what I do and would like to support me, there is official merch at www.phaseapparel.co and I have a wishlist on amazon on my link tree here: https://linktr.ee/teaandtropes