Knockoffs with… Lyndall Clipstone
This week CityMag settles in at Biblioteca Book Bar to chat with Adelaide-based romantasy author Lyndall Clipstone about her latest book and how BookTok is changing the publishing industry.
Lyndall Clipstone is a critically acclaimed author of the newly released gothic romantic folk horror novel Tenderly I am Devoured. Her other titles include Unholy Terrors, Lakesedge and Forestfall.
WHERE: The Bibliotheca Bar and Book Exchange
DRINK OF CHOICE: Stolen Bride (strawberry gin, vermouth, lemon, mint)
We kick things off admiring the shade of pink of our drinks when they hit the table.
LC: That’s really nice.
HK: I love how pink it is, it matches the book cover, with the flowers.
LC: It does!
HK: So, this is your fourth book?
LC: Yeah, it’s my fourth book, it’s my biggest release so far too, like it’s had the most buzz around it, which has been really lovely.
HK: What has changed since your debut, now being your fourth book, how has your approach to writing changed since you started?
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LC: I feel like in every book, I try to challenge myself to grow as a writer and to do something new and different. My first three books, which were all quite similar were all sort of Gothic fantasy, dark fantasy, whereas this one’s more of a romantic folk horror type book. I had a bit of a break where I really wanted to reevaluate what sort of stories I wanted to tell, what kind of books I wanted to be writing, and what inspired me. So, Tenderly I’m Devoured is more literary, more introspective and more intimate, I think, than a high fantasy sort of book, but it’s been really fun.
I don’t know if I can pick favourites, but Tenderly I Am Devoured is very special. And obviously, I’ve grown as a writer over the past four books, so I think it is my best work.
HK: I think you always hope that your most recent work is the best, right? And you keep moving the bar.
LC: Yeah, I was talking about this with another author because I had my virtual launch yesterday, and we were talking about, ‘do you ever sort of wish you could go back and do anything differently with your first book’ and well, it’s hard, because with your debut there’s a lot of pressure to make like a big entry into the world and to get good critical responses, but it’s never your best work because you don’t want the first thing that you write to be your best work. You want to grow and keep developing as a writer. I did end up revisiting some of my older books not too long ago, and I was still really proud of them. I didn’t read them and feel cringy or anything.
HK: That’s good, because I feel like that would be quite easy. When I think about writing fiction and romance in particular, I look back at some of my past relationships and cringe and I think to myself, like, ‘wow, I really approach relationships so much differently now that I’m an adult’ so I imagine the way you would write about them would be quite different as you age and as you mature.
LC: Yeah, I often feel a bit like that because I started being published, I wouldn’t say late, I was in my late 30s, but there’s a lot of authors who are a lot younger, and I think about the sort of things that I was writing when I was in my early 20s, and I don’t think that would have been what I wanted to share with the world. I feel like I’ve got a much clearer idea of the sort of stories that I want to tell now.
HK: How long ago did you pitch Devoured?
LC: I think it’s sold in late 2023…While I was finishing off Unholy Terrors, I’d been thinking about what I wanted to do next and Unholy Terrors actually had a very quiet release, particularly in the United States. I actually went over there on tour and I really, really hoped that it was going to be like a big breakout book that would sort of launch my career into the next level and, despite it having a lot of support, it just really went under the radar and I still don’t know why. I think it’s just one of those things that happens in publishing. It came out in a really crowded release season between a couple of really, really big BookTok-type books.
HK: Did you find that the romance genre was quite saturated, particularly with BookTok?
LC: I feel like it’s a double-edged sword, because I absolutely love the way that it’s made writing and reading so widespread and accessible. I mean, romance has always been a massive genre, but I remember going to a writer’s event, and someone being really dismissive and being like, ‘oh, you write genre fiction’. Like, there’s always been this sort of tendency to dismiss fantasy written by women or romance-heavy things as not as important, and I think BookTok has really turned that around and made reading for pleasure and reading things that bring you joy, you can read whatever.
HK: Yeah, it doesn’t have to be ‘high culture’.
LC: Yeah, I mean I love to read a mix of everything, but I love how it’s brought romance into the forefront of the reading world, and that’s led to so many people having opportunities to tell stories. But I guess the downside of that is it has made the market quite crowded, and there’s so many people writing and so many publishers trying to pick up books where they have to do less to make it successful. It felt crowded to me, but also creatively, I just didn’t feel it didn’t bring me joy as a writer as much, because the sort of things that I wanted to do, which was to be more literary and write very intimate, small stake stories, didn’t really mesh with like the high concept and the writing style that people who read romantasy were looking for as well. But that said, Devoured has had quite a good response from people who do read romance and romantasy, both adult and YA, so I think I’ve struck a good balance.
HK: In 2025, when you’re seeing these BookTok sections of libraries and bookstores, how do you set yourself apart within that genre? I know you said that Tenderly I’m Devoured is more literary and more-prose style. But do you still imagine that this is one that could be on that BookTok shelf?
LC: I would love that I feel like every author dreams of becoming like a BookTok sensation, because I’ve seen the way that it’s changed the lives of some of my friends, like Rebecca Ross, who wrote Divine Rivals…I think every author sort of looks at it and is a little bit wistful, hoping that it will happen, but it’s frustrating because it’s so out of your control. There’s no way to engineer it. And I think letting go of it and just divorcing myself from thinking about it all together has been my best way of dealing with it.
HK: Just let the algorithm do its thing?
LC: Yeah. My first book came out during the pandemic so by necessity, I started to create a lot of online, shareable content, mostly on Instagram. And I really loved doing like photography and graphic design anyway, so it was something that I really enjoyed. And I loved how the online world gave me a way to connect with readers everywhere, when I’m in a separate country to many of them.
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HK: Do you feel that’s a necessity of the publishing industry nowadays? Have you ever felt pressure from your publishers, or even just pressure that you put on yourself, to be online?
LC: I think publishers do put a lot of pressure on authors to be very accessible and present on social media and with the rise of BookTok and authors having their personalities come into it, it does feel like publishers have kind of dropped off with the support because they think ‘you can just post about your book on social media’ and well yeah, but I’d like you to post about it as well. I am more than happy to promote myself and connect with readers online, but I want my publisher to be matching that amount of effort too… I think sometimes readers forget the authors are just normal people who aren’t huge celebrities. If you tag us in a bad review, we’re the ones who see it every day, I don’t have, like, a PA just screening all of our stuff or anything.
HK: That would be really hard, the personal aspect and how that would affect your mental health. Traditionally, like pre-BookTok we were more inclined in the way of death of the author, and when the book is out there it is the readers and if you wanted to theorise about it or write on a fan forum and connect with other readers, that was something that you could do without knowing much about the writer.
LC: The idea of ‘oh, I can follow this author on Instagram and see every detail of their life’, there’s a weird level of accessibility. I think people have started to talk a bit about the parasocial nature of relationships. What I would like is for there to be enough support so authors are able to keep a measure of distance that they need to protect their mental health and creative space. A lot of that comes down to publisher support, because a lot of the time when authors are online, promoting themselves and doing things on BookTok it’s because they know that it will make a difference…people are more receptive to an author sharing about their work, versus like a publisher being like, you should buy our product.
HK: Yeah, because it feels more personal rather than an advertisement.
LC: And I love that I’ve been able to connect with readers in this way, especially in the US. My book wasn’t a lead title, which a lead title is the one that the publisher puts all the marketing energies behind. So I knew that if I wanted to have its best chance, a lot of it would be down to me, and so I had like a street team of readers who got together, and they sort of organised sharing about the book, and they’ve been amazing and so lovely to work with.
HK: Do you think about the reader when you’re writing now, or do you just write the sorts of stories that you enjoy?
LC: I try to have a balance. A friend of mine was saying that having a book that you can pitch in one sentence is really important for being able to connect with readers. So I don’t think I would write something that I didn’t love just because I thought a reader would love it. I try to trust that if I’m really loving something, it will mean that someone else out there will love it too.
HK: What is your one-sentence pitch?
LC: For Tenderly, I’m Devoured, it is the story of a girl whose betrothal to the god worshipped by her isolated town goes horribly wrong, so she has to team up with her arrogant rival and his alluring older sister to save herself from a fate worse than death.
HK: That’s an exciting pitch. If you were to imagine your reader, what does that person look like?
LC: A lot of my writing is thinking of my teen self and the sort of books she would have enjoyed because I was such a prolific reader. I was this weird, queer goth kid in a country school. Reading books was a real solace to me. It was a way that I could feel very seen and connect with a sense of identity that I wasn’t finding in my peer group and my small town, and that feeling of picking up a book and finding a world that felt so resonant. I love the idea of being like that for someone, of writing a book that really resonates with someone or hits them at the right time. So I often keep my teen self in mind when I’m writing, because I think writing YA especially, it’s the sort of stories that I would have really enjoyed as a teen.
We wrap it up with some Adelaide-centric rapid-fire.
HK: Favourite Adelaide bookstore?
LC: I love Dymocks in Adelaide, they’ve been really lovely, I’ve done all my book launches there, they’re incredibly supportive, and it’s a beautiful store.
HK: Do you have a favourite spot in Adelaide to go for a drink?
LC: I’m a big coffee drinker, I really love Any Given Sunday in Cheltenham. It’s this really cute little café, I often go there.
HK: We write about a lot of sandwiches at CityMag, what’s your favourite place to get a sandwich?
LC: There’s another cafe in Alberton called The Pear, which is right next to the Alberton train station and they make really, really good toasted sourdough cheese and tomato sandwiches. I love going there.
HK: Do you have a favourite Adelaide creative, a band or author?
LC: Margot McGovern, my friend who’s doing my launch with me next week, she’s from Adelaide. I really love her writing.
Lyndall’s new book is being launched at Dymocks Adelaide on July 10 from 6pm ’til 8pm.
