Backstage With The Book Babes
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Podcast Overview
<p>Welcome to Backstage With The Book Babes, the podcast where your favorite romance writers spill the tea. Hosted by romance authors Alby Blake and Nikki Jewell, we're taking you behind the scenes of the romance industry. From spicy storylines and smutty scenes to burnout, bad reviews, and why we still write through it all. It's real talk, racy revelations, and unfiltered author life from the babes behind the books.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
12/29/2025
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Recent Episodes
June 17, 2026
Sera Taino - Harlequin Special Edition Romance Author
<p><strong>Summary:</strong></p><p>Harlequin romance author Sera Taino goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a fantastic conversation about writing for Harlequin, her LatinX Characters, and writing queer normative worlds.</p><p>Sera Taino tells us all about winning a Harlequin romance contest which resulted in her novel being edited and published and how that led to her ongoing relationship with the publisher. Her novels focus on small towns, family & community connections, LatinX characters and different pairings both queer and MF.</p><p>While Harlequin is her primary publishing outlet, she also enjoys finding anthologies where she can publish short romance stories. These are often to raise money for charities that are important to her.</p><p>Sera tells us all about balancing family, her job as a high school teacher and her author life. She tells us about the importance of taking some time for herself after finishing a book, reading books and watching movies as well as exercising, eating well, and getting enough sleep.</p><p>We also learn about Sera’s use of journaling and tarot cards in her creative process. If ever she’s staring at a blank page, she’ll take some time to journal which helps her reconnect with her creativity and her characters. She also uses tarot cards for inspiration. She finds the storytelling aspect and use of archetypes is very useful when exploring her characters and the story she’s currently working on.</p><p>Sera has always been a fan of fanfiction and spent her teen years making fanfiction comics with her cousin. She’s been involved with lots of different fandoms over the years, and while she doesn’t currently have time to write it herself, she loves to read other people’s day in the life stories on Threads. Especially for Heated Rivalry.</p><p>Her trope for life is slowburn. She loves an angsty journey to get to the HEA.</p><p>Sera’s question for listeners is a fantastic one: If there’s a book you love your think she’ll like, drop it in the comments on our YouTube video or visit the Book Babes Instagram/Threads accounts to answer. Bonus points for queer or BIPOC authors.</p><p>We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us on your fave platform.</p><p><strong>Music by Christopher Tallon</strong></p><p>If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee. </p><p><strong>Help Support the podcast:</strong></p><p><strong>Buy Nikki a tea: </strong><a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell"><strong>buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell</strong></a></p><p><strong>Buy Alby a tea: </strong><a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake"><strong>https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake</strong></a></p><p><strong>About Sera Taino:</strong></p><p>Sera Taíno has lived all over the world and now calls Central Florida her home. She writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. When she's not missing a deadline, you can find her teaching, slinging tarot cards, and reading about her latest hyperfixation. </p><p><strong>Here’s where you can find Sera and her books:</strong></p><p><strong>All Links:</strong></p><p><u>Social media - serataino on all platforms (IG/Threads)</u></p><p><a href="http://www.serataino.com/"><u>www.serataino.com</u></a></p><p><u>Books can also be found on </u><a href="https://www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/29243_sera-tano.html"><u>https://www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/29243_sera-tano.html</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Keep Up With The Book Babes:</strong></p><p>Social Media: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>Backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p>Email: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com</u></a></p><p>Links & Guest Author Applications: <a href="http://linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes"><u>linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:</strong></p><p>Social Media: @nikkijewell_books</p><p>Website: <a href="http://authornikkijewell.com"><u>authornikkijewell.com</u></a></p><p>Event Links: <a href="https://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks"><u>://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:</strong></p><p>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/"><u>https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/</u></a></p><p>TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake"><u>https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake</u></a></p><p>Website: <a href="http://www.lovelunapress.com"><u>www.lovelunapress.com</u></a></p>
June 10, 2026
Kent Holland - Queer Romance Author
<p><strong>Summary:</strong></p><p>Queer romance author Kent Holland goes Backstage with the Book Babes for an insightful conversation about queer joy, making connections in the romance community, and the different subgenres he writes in.</p><p>Turns out the book babes have a lot in common with Kent Holland. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Alby lives and he shares a birthday with Nikki. Just goes to show you how connected we all are.</p><p>He starts off telling us about his books which include the Marquis Men theatre romance series, the Wanderlust travel romance series, and his Frostbitten hockey romance series. He even has a Western romance in the mix. And his next release, Hothead, is the first book in a new firefighter romance series.</p><p>Kent’s journey to authorhood was well planned and intentional. He studied English and entrepreneurship at school with a particular focus on online sales. This helped him grasp both the creative and the business side of being an independent author. His advice for aspiring authors is that writing is an art, but publishing is a business.</p><p>He shared how important making connections with readers is and how his personal measure of success is when readers reach out to say they felt seen. Kent is also very focused on ensuring he’s navigating his career in the most mindful and ethical way possible.</p><p>We talked about the impact of Heated Rivalry on queer romance including how it has brought many new readers into the community especially queer males who weren’t reading queer romance before.</p><p>Kent’s question for readers is a two parter. The first part is for LGBTQ2SL+ readers. What aspects of your experience have you seen in literature that you’re excited about or what aspects haven’t you seen that you’d love to see? And part two is for everyone. What drew you to the romance genre as readers or writers and what was it that brought you to this wonderful space? Please answer in the YouTube comments or follow the book babes on social media to answer there.</p><p>We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us.</p><p><strong>Music by Christopher Tallon</strong></p><p>If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee. </p><p><strong>Help Support the podcast:</strong></p><p><strong>Buy Nikki a tea: </strong><a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell"><strong>buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell</strong></a></p><p><strong>Buy Alby a tea: </strong><a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake"><strong>https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake</strong></a></p><p><strong>About Kent Holland:</strong></p><p>I am joyfully and proudly queer, which informs everything that I write. I live in a beautiful Southern town with my partner and our adorable cat, Poppyseed, who spends most of her free-time trying to step on my keyboard when I'm writing. I hope you find just as much queer joy in my stories as I do <3 </p><p><strong>Here’s where you can find Kent and his books:</strong></p><p><strong>All Links:</strong></p><p><u>Website: </u><a href="https://kentholland.myshopify.com/"><u>https://kentholland.myshopify.com/</u></a></p><p><u>Instagram: @kenthollandwrites </u><a href="https://www.instagram.com/kenthollandwrites/"><u>link</u></a></p><p><u>Threads: @kenthollanwrites </u><a href="https://www.threads.com/@kenthollandwrites"><u>link</u></a></p><p><u>Substack: @kentholland </u><a href="https://substack.com/@kentholland"><u>link</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Keep Up With The Book Babes:</strong></p><p>Social Media: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>Backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p>Email: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com</u></a></p><p>Links & Guest Author Applications: <a href="http://linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes"><u>linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:</strong></p><p>Social Media: @nikkijewell_books</p><p>Website: <a href="http://authornikkijewell.com"><u>authornikkijewell.com</u></a></p><p>Event Links: <a href="https://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks"><u>://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:</strong></p><p>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/"><u>https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/</u></a></p><p>TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake"><u>https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake</u></a></p><p>Website: <a href="http://www.lovelunapress.com"><u>www.lovelunapress.com</u></a></p>
June 3, 2026
Author Maude Winters - Contemporary MF & Sapphic Romance
<p><strong>Summary:</strong></p><p>Contemporary & Sapphic Romance Author Maude Winters goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a fantastic conversation about switching between male female and sapphic romances, writing chaotic interconnected worlds and chasing plot bunnies</p><p>Maude writes billionaire and royal romances as well as sapphic romances. She has too many ideas to contain and is constantly fighting off plot bunnies to stay focused on her current work in progress. But she does have an accountability editor to help her stay on task. Shout out to Becky.</p><p>Her love for the sapphic romance community is strong, and she finds the community very welcoming and helpful. However seeing as how there were not enough events for this community she went and created her own. She’ll be hosting her own sapphic romance book event at Pages & Grapes in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a few other authors. And their slogan for the event is amazing. “Sounds Queer, I’m in.” She hopes this event will go well and she can bring it back for a second year.</p><p>Maude has an amazing supportive family who helps her get her writing time in while still working a full time job. She has a special ritual of heading to a coffee shop on Saturday mornings and her husband even set her up a space in the basement to continue this practice during the pandemic years.</p><p>Alby and Maude have known each other for a few years, but it feels like a lot more as it always does with people you have a great connection with. So they catch up about their local author community and all the fantastic events and meetups they participate in.</p><p>We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us.</p><p><strong>Music by Christopher Tallon</strong></p><p>If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee. </p><p><strong>Help Support the podcast:</strong></p><p><strong>Buy Nikki a tea: </strong><a href="http://buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell"><strong>buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell</strong></a></p><p><strong>Buy Alby a tea: </strong><a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake"><strong>https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake</strong></a></p><p><strong>About Our Guest:</strong></p><p>Maude Winters is an pansexual, disabled author of open-door sapphic and billionaire romance who lives in Michigan with her husband, a horse-obsessed child, and three dogs. A weird theater kid and competitive choir devotee in a past life, she brings camp into all her stories.</p><p><strong>Here’s where you can find Maude and her books:</strong></p><p><strong>All Links:</strong></p><p><a href="https://maudewinters.com/litwe"><u>Love in the West End </u></a></p><p><a href="https://books2read.com/execdecision"><u>Executive Decision</u></a></p><p><a href="http://maudewinters.com/"><u>maudewinters.com</u></a></p><p><u>https://crewfiction.com/maudewinters/links</u></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Keep Up With The Book Babes:</strong></p><p>Social Media: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>Backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p>Email: <a href="mailto:backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com"><u>backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com</u></a></p><p>Links & Guest Author Applications: <a href="http://linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes"><u>linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:</strong></p><p>Social Media: @nikkijewell_books</p><p>Website: <a href="http://authornikkijewell.com"><u>authornikkijewell.com</u></a></p><p>Event Links: <a href="https://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks"><u>://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks</u></a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:</strong></p><p>Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/"><u>https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/</u></a></p><p>TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake"><u>https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake</u></a></p><p>Website: <a href="http://www.lovelunapress.com"><u>www.lovelunapress.com</u></a></p>
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- What is Backstage With The Book Babes?
<p>Welcome to Backstage With The Book Babes, the podcast where your favorite romance writers spill the tea. Hosted by romance authors Alby Blake and Nikki Jewell, we're taking you behind the scenes of the romance industry. From spicy storylines and smutty scenes to burnout, bad reviews, and why we still write through it all. It's real talk, racy revelations, and unfiltered author life from the babes behind the books.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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