Winner of the 2025 American Writing Awards Podcast of the Year in Fiction and the 2024 Positive Change Podcast Awards for Best Host and Best Book Podcast. Tune in to be introduced to new and upcoming authors in a wide variety of fiction genres – from historical to fantasy to mystery to thriller to romance – as well as inspirational memoirs.
Online for Authors is the only podcast with a host that personally reads and reviews indie-written fiction and inspirational/memoirs for avid readers who want to add books for their TBR beyond what they can find on the NYT best sellers list. As an award-winning host, Teri M Brown’s goal for Online for Authors is to introduce avid readers to characters they’d like to invite to lunch. If you read more than 40 books per year and want to veer away from the NYT Best Seller’s List or want to expand beyond your preferred genre, Online for Authors can help you discover novels written by Indie-Authors to add to your to-be-read list.
Teri M Brown is an author of character-driven fiction and lives for the moments her characters speak their stories to her. Recognizing that other authors also have interesting lives and reasons for writing, Teri uses Online for Authors as a space for these authors to shine. Avid readers listening to Online for Authors will have the opportunity to discover new authors, amazing characters, and “can’t stop reading” stories.
If you are looking for the next book on your “to be read” pile, then this is the podcast for you. Listen as authors discuss their latest work (no spoilers!), the impetus behind the storyline, how/where/why they write, what’s coming up next, and more! These conversations are in-depth because, unlike many hosts, Teri takes the time to read and review each novel before interviewing her guests. She believes that by doing so, she can guarantee a good fit for her audience as well as an interesting and inquisitive interview.
Additionally, the first Saturday of each month, Teri releases what she affectionately calls OFAU – Online for Authors University. These once-monthly episodes feature writing tips for authors in all stages of their careers and speaks directly to her desire to mentor others. Whether someone wants to know about editing, marketing, book awards, being a guest on a podcast, or how notebooking can help you overcome writer’s block, writers and aspiring writers will find useful tips to move their writing to the next level.
Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on
PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors
My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Shannon Symonds, author of the book Murder by the Book. Shannon Symonds writes in an old house by the sea and in the Utah desert. She is the proud mother of six children and Nana to 18. She loves her Savior, time with her family, laughter, a good mystery, walking the beach, clamming, and bonfires.
Shannon began writing to share her lived experience and unique perspective as a witness of the strength of survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. Shannon believes that if we could see the world through her eyes, we would share her deep love and respect for survivors and recognize their strength, resilience, and capacity.
Shannon has been an author since 2014. She has 10 published books, written 263 articles for Deseret Digital Media (which were periodically syndicated), and blogged for Hilary Weeks’ Billion Clicks project. Shannon published her first book, “Safe House,” with Cedar Fort Publishing in 2017. In 2023, she was nominated for the Latter-day Saints in Publishing, Media & the Arts Praiseworthy Award. In 2021, she was awarded the Author to Watch Award for her “By the Sea” Cozy Mystery YA series. In addition, her debut novel was a Whitney Award nominee in 2017.
Her first cozy mystery, “Murder Takes a Selfie,” was sold at Costco (who knew having one’s book in a big-box store would be the mark of success?). Her books continue to be available at Deseret Book, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Cedar For, Spotify, and her favorite beach town bookstores. Shannon received the Davis County Child Abuse Prevention Award, the Oregon Trial Lawyers Public Justice Award 2002 for the Tiffany Alvera case that changed housing for victims nationally, and the 2002 Star Advocate Commendation from the Oregon Department of Justice.
In my book review, I stated Murder by the Book is a cozy mystery by Shannon Symonds. And although it is cozy, it certainly isn’t quiet and orderly! Ivy, not so lovingly called Ms. Marple by the town’s police chief, is a self-identified murder magnet. She can sniff out a murder even when others only see a coincidence or accident – and so far, she hasn’t been wrong.
She is headstrong and lovable and completely real with a backstory full of issues. This is book two in the series, and I read it without reading the first one without feeling like I missed out. However, I now want to go back and get her backstory in full – and I’m sure you will, too.
There are several other amazing characters you won’t want to miss. Her boss, Xander, and his mother Rhoda, Anderson, Aggie, Conner, Charlotte, Brett, and the list goes on and on. It’s a whole town filled with people you’ll want to get to know. Shannon did a great job creating believable characters while keeping the story moving quickly through the mystery. It’s a fun read you won’t want to miss.
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You can follow Author Shannon Symonds
Website: http://shannonsymonds.com/
FB: @Shannon Symonds Author
IG: shannonsymondsauthor
IG: cozymysteriesbythesea
LinkedIn: Shannon Symonds Author
X: shannonsymonds7
Purchase Murder by the Book on Amazon:
Paperback: https://amzn.to/4h5esVx
Ebook: https://amzn.to/4bAjQMM
Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com
FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor
IG: @terimbrown_author
X: @terimbrown1
Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors
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