A little Wednesday post
what I've been reading, hearing
Gymed early this morning so had some time for a little post.
Little publishing tidbits:
“January has felt like a month long and we still have X days to go/January has felt like a year long.” - most common refrain when calling or meeting with editors.
Lots of books are on submission! January marks the start of submission season and the London Book Fair is the week of March 10th so books sold in February have time to make the catalogs.
The film/tv industry had a slower start, for obvious reasons, but this week I’ve heard about a couple exciting projects being sent around.
BookTok promoting a novel in translation reissued by the excellent Transit Books made me excited.
Multiple people have now recommended I read Mrs. S by K. Patrick.
What I’ve been reading & listening to:
I keep abandoning personal responsibilities to “read my MLM book” — the galley of Little Bosses Everywhere, by Bridget Read, that you can preorder here. I’m pretty sure I would have joined an MLM if the situation were right. My job is sales…
As a colleague joked, “what’s more delusional than thinking you’ll be one of the small percentage of agents who makes a nice six-figure income.”
I learned about “The Critic and Her Publics” and plan to listen to every one of Merve Emre’s interviews.
What you should be reading:
February’s best releases: MUTUAL INTEREST by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, ALLIGATOR TEARS by Edgar Gomez, and PEOPLE OF MEANS by Nancy Johnson.
Substack posts I’ve been reading:
Jeffrey Yamaguchi’s Publishing Timeline series, which is a very practical breakdown for authors wondering “what should I do now that it’s X months away from my book’s publication?”
Andrew Boryga, “No One Owes You Success in Publishing”
Jenny G. Zhang, “Media’s unspoken ‘talent’ hierarchy”
Will always recommend As Seen On
Attention Economy - Leigh’s interview with editor Jackson Howard
Cassie Mannes Murray’s post using a madlibs-style to help writers think about publicity before getting an agent and how to situate themselves and their work in the marketplace.
Reminded me a bit of these two posts:
That MLM book sounds fascinating — what a great title! And thank you for mentioning my publishing timeline series, much appreciated!