Jodi McAlister
@jodimca.bsky.social
Romance author, romance scholar. Senior Lecturer in Writing, Literature & Culture at Deakin (Naarm/Melbourne). My newest rom-com, An Academic Affair, is out now.
Pinned
Jodi McAlister
@jodimca.bsky.social
· Oct 22
Okay USA, I know you have plenty of other things going on at the moment, but my new book An Academic Affair will be released in your country in only a few weeks (11 November!!), and if you wanted to pre-order it, I would simply love that.
www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Aca...
www.simonandschuster.com/books/An-Aca...
oh wow, a definitely real email in the inbox today from the definitely real EmHen wanting to have a definitely real craft conversation with me, I feel so blessed
December 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM
oh wow, a definitely real email in the inbox today from the definitely real EmHen wanting to have a definitely real craft conversation with me, I feel so blessed
"I've got this idea for a novel - how about you write it and we split the profits?"
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
December 1, 2025 at 9:39 PM
"I've got this idea for a novel - how about you write it and we split the profits?"
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
"How do you do your..." [leering pause] "Research?"
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
December 1, 2025 at 8:42 PM
"How do you do your..." [leering pause] "Research?"
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I shrieked aloud when @jodimca.bsky.social's new book mentioned the reality TV franchise from her previous trilogy. y'all, I love romance. I love it so much. it's so good and I am so happy to be a romance reader.
December 1, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I shrieked aloud when @jodimca.bsky.social's new book mentioned the reality TV franchise from her previous trilogy. y'all, I love romance. I love it so much. it's so good and I am so happy to be a romance reader.
Enormous shout-out to the Australian and Kiwi librarians standing up to Elsevier. This is killer.
Librarians versus the world
Photo of London’s National Art Library by Sebastien LE DEROUT on Unsplash Here at the Research Whisperer, we love librarians. They are smart, dedicated people who want to help you with your researc…
researchwhisperer.org
December 1, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Enormous shout-out to the Australian and Kiwi librarians standing up to Elsevier. This is killer.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
New romanceclass audiobook soon! Mango Summer by Agay Llanera, narrated by Gab Pangilinan and Jef Flores. patreon.com/romanceclass gets it first!
December 1, 2025 at 5:58 AM
New romanceclass audiobook soon! Mango Summer by Agay Llanera, narrated by Gab Pangilinan and Jef Flores. patreon.com/romanceclass gets it first!
Welcome to my Australian rom-com advent calendar! If you're Australian and want to read local, or from overseas and want to broaden your horizons, I've got you covered.
Day 1 is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood. No one does emotionally realistic mess like Nina - this book is a masterclass.
Day 1 is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood. No one does emotionally realistic mess like Nina - this book is a masterclass.
November 30, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Welcome to my Australian rom-com advent calendar! If you're Australian and want to read local, or from overseas and want to broaden your horizons, I've got you covered.
Day 1 is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood. No one does emotionally realistic mess like Nina - this book is a masterclass.
Day 1 is The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood. No one does emotionally realistic mess like Nina - this book is a masterclass.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
AUSTRALIAN AI: G’day! I’m Bonza, the LLM trained on dinky-di Aussie lingo! What can I do for you tod-
ME: Potato cake.
AUSTRALIAN AI: [sparks fly out of computer, explodes]
ME: Potato cake.
AUSTRALIAN AI: [sparks fly out of computer, explodes]
📢 Sovereign Australia AI wants to build a model that understands Australian culture and values. But does the country really need it?
👉 Report issues, make suggestions
👉 Report issues, make suggestions
‘Thongs aren’t underwear’: The case for an Australian ChatGPT
www.smh.com.au
November 30, 2025 at 8:02 AM
AUSTRALIAN AI: G’day! I’m Bonza, the LLM trained on dinky-di Aussie lingo! What can I do for you tod-
ME: Potato cake.
AUSTRALIAN AI: [sparks fly out of computer, explodes]
ME: Potato cake.
AUSTRALIAN AI: [sparks fly out of computer, explodes]
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
The finest minds at the Hollywood Reporter trying to Surf Dracula the gay hockey show
November 29, 2025 at 11:39 PM
The finest minds at the Hollywood Reporter trying to Surf Dracula the gay hockey show
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I've had strange academic week but 1 of the (non work) highlights that perhaps made it feel weirder was reading An Academic Affair by @jodimca.bsky.social. I have already recommended it to others in or around the academic precariate. A really great premise for a book!
November 30, 2025 at 3:19 AM
I've had strange academic week but 1 of the (non work) highlights that perhaps made it feel weirder was reading An Academic Affair by @jodimca.bsky.social. I have already recommended it to others in or around the academic precariate. A really great premise for a book!
Vale Graeme Turner, whose book Broken is a must-read for anyone with even the smallest vested interest in higher education in Australia.
Vale Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner AO FAHA FQA 1947-2025 – Australian Academy of the Humanities
Graeme Turner AO FAHA, a distiguished humanities and education scholar, passed away on 25 November 2025.
humanities.org.au
November 27, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Vale Graeme Turner, whose book Broken is a must-read for anyone with even the smallest vested interest in higher education in Australia.
If you're hungry for more sex cardigan content, allow me to completely altruistically point you in the direction of An Academic Affair.
Sex cardigans: can the Wicked sequel make bulky knits strangely alluring?
It’s not the sexiest of garments. It arguably looks more like a discarded fishing net. And yet it has cast a spell over the internet
www.theguardian.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:51 PM
If you're hungry for more sex cardigan content, allow me to completely altruistically point you in the direction of An Academic Affair.
This is a great piece by @bethdriscoll.bsky.social on our ongoing attachment to the print book.
Should we ‘get over’ print books in the digital age – or are they more precious than ever?
Print books embody culture. We see it in social media trends for annotating books, community publishing and wartime destruction of books spanning the Nazis to Gaza.
theconversation.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM
This is a great piece by @bethdriscoll.bsky.social on our ongoing attachment to the print book.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
We are pleased to announce that entries are now open for the 2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize, offering one winner a publishing contract with HQ and a $10,000 advance against royalties. Entries close on 30 January 2026!
Find out more: www.asauthors.org.au/news/2026-as...
Find out more: www.asauthors.org.au/news/2026-as...
2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize now open - Australian Society of Authors
The ASA and HQ, a publishing division of HarperCollins, are thrilled to announce that the 2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize is now open for submissions.
www.asauthors.org.au
November 26, 2025 at 4:46 AM
We are pleased to announce that entries are now open for the 2026 ASA/HQ Fiction Prize, offering one winner a publishing contract with HQ and a $10,000 advance against royalties. Entries close on 30 January 2026!
Find out more: www.asauthors.org.au/news/2026-as...
Find out more: www.asauthors.org.au/news/2026-as...
A lot of people have very correctly noted that most authors do not make close to a living wage. This is true in the US, the world's biggest Anglophone book market - so you don't even want to *know* how little authors whose primary market is non-American make.
November 26, 2025 at 12:14 AM
A lot of people have very correctly noted that most authors do not make close to a living wage. This is true in the US, the world's biggest Anglophone book market - so you don't even want to *know* how little authors whose primary market is non-American make.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
I know we know this, but authors need to get better at talking about how they actually make their money. Stop pretending it's from the books.
November 25, 2025 at 10:35 PM
almost every novelist you read who's not from the airport fiction or bestseller sections is working a full on day job, including multi-award winners and absolute legends, or they have a spouse or trust that supports them. virtually across the board. just normalize in your mind that's how it works.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
I know a LOT of authors and can count on one hand how many live off their book sales. The rest of us have other jobs (or other sources of income and support).
I know we know this, but authors need to get better at talking about how they actually make their money. Stop pretending it's from the books.
November 25, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I know a LOT of authors and can count on one hand how many live off their book sales. The rest of us have other jobs (or other sources of income and support).
My Marry Me, Juliet trilogy are all set on the same season of a covid-impacted reality show, and you can bet some people Did Not Like It. Wholeheartedly agree that loss and grief are being processed more obliquely in a lot of romance.
I wrote a rom-com that acknowledged covid (Chick Magnet), and that was a... polarizing choice. So I absolutely believe it's getting sublimated into other varieties of loss and grief.
Shorter version: people are using cancer in romance backstories because it’s less fraught than using covid: discuss
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 AM
My Marry Me, Juliet trilogy are all set on the same season of a covid-impacted reality show, and you can bet some people Did Not Like It. Wholeheartedly agree that loss and grief are being processed more obliquely in a lot of romance.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
🚨 Just one week left to send in abstracts for the Special Issue "Romancing the Posthuman". Don't miss the chance!
📣 Important update regarding this CfP: the submission deadline for our Special Issue "Romancing the Posthuman" has been extended until 30 November 2025!
🔗 Find all the relevant information through the JPRS website: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...
#RomanceResearch
🔗 Find all the relevant information through the JPRS website: www.jprstudies.org/submissions/...
#RomanceResearch
November 23, 2025 at 8:47 PM
🚨 Just one week left to send in abstracts for the Special Issue "Romancing the Posthuman". Don't miss the chance!
I've had a wave of these with the US publication of An Academic Affair, and I've become kind of fascinated with their profound meaninglessness. "Sadie and Jonah fighting for tenure while pretending to be married? That's not a plot, that's emotional calculus" - what does that even *mean*???
book PR scam copy has gotten just better enough in the last year that it drives me insane. I can't handle the extra five seconds of sleuthing before sending to spam!
www.thechatner.com/p/the-worst-...
www.thechatner.com/p/the-worst-...
The Worst Part About Publishing a Book in 2025 Is The New Kind of Spam
I don’t like getting spam emails as a general rule, but they’re usually pretty easy to filter and don’t cause more than a momentary spasm of irritation:
www.thechatner.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I've had a wave of these with the US publication of An Academic Affair, and I've become kind of fascinated with their profound meaninglessness. "Sadie and Jonah fighting for tenure while pretending to be married? That's not a plot, that's emotional calculus" - what does that even *mean*???
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Currently Reading: An Academic Affair by @jodimca.bsky.social @bookofthemonth.bsky.social @netgalley.bsky.social @atriabooks.bsky.social #Romance #BOTM #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #BookBlogger #BookSky www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
An Academic Affair: A Novel
From the “masterly” (The New York Times) Jodi McAlister…
www.goodreads.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Currently Reading: An Academic Affair by @jodimca.bsky.social @bookofthemonth.bsky.social @netgalley.bsky.social @atriabooks.bsky.social #Romance #BOTM #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #BookBlogger #BookSky www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
With An Academic Affair just coming out in North America (out now!! did I mention it's out now?!?!), I've done a fair few interviews, but I especially enjoyed this one with the Nerd Daily - where I talk about my book, the books that formed me, and Australian romance more people should read.
Q&A: Jodi McAlister, Author of 'An Academic Affair' | The Nerd Daily
We chat with author Jodi McAlister about An Academic Affair, which is a charming new romance about two English professors who embark on a fake relationship…only to discover that it may be harder to pr...
thenerddaily.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:15 PM
With An Academic Affair just coming out in North America (out now!! did I mention it's out now?!?!), I've done a fair few interviews, but I especially enjoyed this one with the Nerd Daily - where I talk about my book, the books that formed me, and Australian romance more people should read.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
Based on the book series by Rachel Reid - Heated Rivalry is going to melt screens (and hearts) when it premieres next week in Australia. Starts Friday November 28th on HBO Max.
November 19, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Based on the book series by Rachel Reid - Heated Rivalry is going to melt screens (and hearts) when it premieres next week in Australia. Starts Friday November 28th on HBO Max.
Reposted by Jodi McAlister
this is too on the nose
November 18, 2025 at 8:50 AM
this is too on the nose