Print Run Podcast

As we come back from a few weeks off, we spent this episode getting caught up on all the times people in the book world got mad recently, including the Nora Roberts-Tomi Adeyemi kerfuffle (and spinoff argument!), a poet who tattooed a plagiarized verse on her forearm, and people getting mad at JK Rowling for—let’s see here—having a room in which she writes. So basically it’s another normal week of publishing!!!!!! We also get to Jonathan Franzen’s ten rules for writing novels, which were, well. They sure do exist, we’ll say that. Also: our special episodes for November will be out this week, and we apologize for the delay. Full slate of December epis coming out all month as well.

This week we pay respects to Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee, who died this week at age 95. Then we get into one of the most pervasive yet undiscussed topics in all of publishing: failure. Trying things that don’t work is the signature trait of nearly every facet of the industry, and yet it’s so rarely brought to light in the way successes understandably are. We talk about how failure has informed our respective approaches to agenting, and how working in the industry can feel like its own sort of creative pursuit--one that involves experimentation, failure, and learning from mistakes, all in the name of trying to sharpen one’s own craft and tastes. Join us!

Folks . . . The celebs, there are so many. This week--after digging into a delightful historical episode of a book-theft epidemic in Australia—we explore the concept of celebrity book clubs and their effect on the publishing industry. How does the desire to land a book with Oprah or Reese Witherspoon or Jimmy Fallon change how certain projects get published? And what do those celebrities get, brand-wise, in return? We also look at how tech like Instagram and even newer platforms like Twitch have changed and will continue to change these dynamics. Join us!

This week, after working through our thoughts on National Novel Writing Month (happy writing, everyone!), we discuss the intriguing critical response to the video game “Red Dead Redemption 2.” Apart from it being widely loved, people are specifically enjoying how difficult and tedious it is in spots--is this still an experience readers have with particularly large or difficult books? We talk about the differences between playing and reading, and wonder if seeing games as texts might be able to inform our thoughts on writing or pitching books. And of course, we end with a To Loon It May Concern! All special episodes will be out in the next couple days. As always, you can send us materials for these at [email protected].

We’re back! Fresh off the both of us having our respective weddings, we get caught up quickly on the last few weeks of publishing news before diving into the topic of creative and literary burnout. When someone working in a creative field is feeling low energy, how might that affect their habits, or their reading tastes, or even the types of projects they choose to work on? In publishing, taste is a public matter; when yours changes, it can be tricky to grapple with that out loud, in front of the rest of the industry. We discuss the ins and outs of creative burnout, and then finish with a new and particularly worthwhile To Loon It May Concern. Join us!

We’ve got freshly announced National Book Award and Man Booker finalist lists to discuss, so we give our impressions on what we’re seeing, how these lists relates to the broad Book Conversation that’s been happening throughout the year, and how we feel the winners might shake out. It offers a nice foundation for our other topic, a look at a recent attempt by NYMag/Vulture to create an early twenty-first century canon. The task is obviously impossible, but we talk about their methodology, and share our own thoughts on what might define the critical examination of books from this era in literary history.

This week, we found a very strange new “writing residency” model that, while obviously dangerous in this instance, we feel could crop up more and more. The sheer precarity of the writing life is going to lead to different institutions offering “solutions” that at first might seem attractive, but must be watched closely. Also, in light of two book-tech-related stories from the past couple weeks, we make a simple request: don’t let creators of sales algorithms and other digital publishing technologies pass off moral responsibility for the outcomes they produce. Plus: a new fiction writer under FBI investigation, and another round of To Loon It May Concern. Join us!

This week, after swatting another terrible article about YA literature out of the sky, we talk about the perceived moral stands publishers are able with regard to “controversial” authors. Publishers often wait until the most obviously lucrative moment to support marginalized authors and their projects, and also refuse to cut bait with toxic authors until the last possible instant, when their hand becomes forced. How do morality clauses let publishers hedge their bets while still claiming a supposed high ground? To finish the show, we dip into our new advice mailbag, where we’ve got two terrific publishing questions to consider.

This week we debut our new advice-column segment, where we try get a handle on the messiest book situations our listeners have found themselves in. We’ve got some critique-group quandaries this week, which felt like a good place to start. Also: please, please send us your messiest, stupidest, and most dramatic publishing-related qualms! Email the bird. Let the healing in. Special episodes for the month will all be out by end of this week (still August, baby!). As always, you can send us materials for any of those shows at [email protected].

Laura’s back from WorldCon, so we catch up by talking about all sorts of things, from the convention itself and the YA “soap controversy,” to the dangers of grifty politics books and everyone’s favorite book design feature, the deckled edge. A fun, free-flowing episode in which we’re mostly just happy to be back in the studio!

On the heels of recent publishing news as well as the response to NYT’s hiring of Sarah Jeong, this week’s show focuses on a phenomenon that is only going to get more common: bad-faith mobs appealing to power in an attempt to have writers or artists fired. We talk about how publishers and magazines should be prepared to respond to this sort of pernicious internet campaign, and how developing those responses is going to be key in the effort to publish essential voices in the modern age. Also included: a discussion of new contest judging protocols, and a look at one of Jeong’s most recent pieces, on romance writers and the Amazon algorithm.

This week, in the deepest valley of the summer doldrums, we mostly just catch up and talk about various things on our agenting plates: what we’re reading, how summer work in publishing is going, becoming a crusty lake monster in a canoe, and plenty more. Meandering and fun, because it’s hot out. Also, Laura gives a delightful curry recipe, which got inserted into this episode because . . . Because we just really think curry is delicious, and no possible reason other than that. Happy cooking!

We dig into this week’s allegations of fraud in the agent world, as well as the problems with this year’s WorldCon. Both topics serve as a means of asking a larger question: on the front end of publishing, what are all our structures actually built on? The truth is that, between agents and authors looking to pair up before any publishing money gets involved, so much of this industry runs on integrity and trust. That presents opportunities, but it also makes the writing world susceptible to fraud in ways that can be destructive to the whole ecosystem. We talk about ways to combat that, along with examining notions of prestige, reputation, and power in the “wild west” of publishing.

Welcome, at long last, to Print Run’s first foray into Call of Cthulhu! In this preview episode, the two of us set the stage by creating the characters we’ll use to play through the game. In a revelation that will shock no one, it turns out Intern Kevin has a bunch of useless knowledge and no functional ability whatsoever. Meanwhile, Jane seems to have a ruthless combination of ambition and skill. For the game itself, be sure to check us out on Patreon! Thanks so much for listening; we love trying new things like this and it’s only possible because of how outstanding your support has been.

This week, we tackle a fundamental question of the writing life in our current political moment: should writing fiction help us escape realities for a while, or should it offer thoughtful engagement? The answer as always is layered and nuanced and multifold. We also answer a listener question about personal responsibility with regard to Amazon: if Amazon provides the best publishing route for a writer’s career, is it okay to take that route? The answer is yes, but it opens all sorts of interesting questions about responsibility within the publishing landscape. Join us!

Just an abbreviated discussion this week, because you guys gave us so much to do! We are incredibly heartened by how much money you all raised for organizations fighting child separation on the border. You came together and raised nearly $1500, which is no small feat. Now we’ve gotta go do the query critiques in return, so this week is just a quick chat on how political issues like this should absolutely be directly addressed by the book publishing community. Thank you so much for you donations!

This week’s show takes a look at the subtle differences between categories like literary science fiction/fantasy and speculative fiction, first in terms of craft and then in terms of selling category. What we find is that those two spheres are separate: the way an author envisions their own work often doesn’t line up with how it’s sold. So what makes a story with speculative or otherworldly elements “literary” or “SFF,” and how does that affect its writing, its readers, and the way it’s pitched and sold? (Also we talk about the MPR Raccoon, who is not the hero we deserve but the hero we need.)

This week we tackle an underlying, often silent argument put forth to writers by many different parties in publishing: that the money one might get from writing books should be considered unsustainable and an afterthought. How does this strange yet common thinking affect the industry as a whole, and how does it affect authors in less stable financial situations? Does it change the way an agent approaches the career-planning aspect of working with a client? It’s a convo about the strange ways the book industry lets itself talk about writer compensation. Join us!

Goodreads released a fascinating article about how the team behind Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere used the site to fuel the book’s rise to the bestseller list, so we dig into it and examine what surprised us about the data, what might be replicable for other books, and how tools like Goodreads work in conjunction with other publicity and marketing strategies in publishing. We also give an excellent recap of BookExpo (we uhhhh weren’t there), and spend a minute on that new Clinton/Patterson book. Join us!

This week we hash out the latest updates to #cockygate, because Book Twitter will never stop and neither will we. We also spend some time on the major embezzlement case coming from Chuck Palahniuk’s agency; it’s a bizarre situation that once again leaves an agency’s authors footing the bill. Also, all of Erik’s queries are from David Brooks fans now, which he is THRILLED about. Join us!

In light of Romantic Times closing, we talk about how certain publishing institutions come to occupy indispensable spaces within the publishing community, and how part of moving the industry forward will involve understanding how those spaces work and adapting accordingly. It’s a convo about the roles we each play within the larger system, and what those roles can tell us about how we should imagine them in the future. Join us!

Things get a bit off the rails this week when a conversation about tabletop gaming eventually turns into us imagining what a publishing-themed D&D campaign might look like! Join us as we conjure up some characters and quests—I get to be Intern Kevin, I called it—and just generally get way too into the idea of a publishing RPG. (But also please will someone set this up with us?) In a more productive vein, be sure to tune in for our special episodes this month on Patreon. If you’d like to submit to any of our shows, feel free to send us materials at [email protected].

We’re back and thank goodness, because tons has happened in the book world over the last couple weeks. First, we tackle the serious stuff—the latest set of abuse allegations against literary figures, including those leading to the cancellation of the 2018 Nobel Prize for literature. But then we take on the latest book-themed crackpot scheme: #cockygate, or one author’s attempt to trademark the word “cocky” and demand that all other authors cease and desist. It’s . . . Well, it’s really something. Join us!

This week—after spending a couple minutes chatting about the insanity of the dumb fight about misandry in publishing—we take a look at the recent industry conversation surround Pitch Wars and entrance fees. The debate last week led to all kinds of important questions: What’s access, and why is it crucial for it to be free? What’s labor, and who should do the compensating for it? And perhaps most importantly, what do the two sides of the argument reveal about the state of the industry at the grassroots level?

This week, we talk about Sean Penn’s deeply terrible debut novel, and give him the First Pages Show treatment—it’s very cathartic. We also discuss the implications of Microsoft cracking down on explicit content across its online platforms, which includes Office, which means it includes writers. Finally: what should we make of the response to the distribution plan for John Oliver’s book, and what does the rift between Chronicle and booksellers reveal about the state of the industry?

This week we present a heartwarming tale about the time when stupid college-aged Erik thought he had a TV agent for a script about an octopus. It’s . . . well it’s really something, and most importantly, he’s not the idiot he used to be! Join us this week for some story time and other chatting on a free-flowing and fun episode.

This week, we get some laughs in about Will Self's belief that the novel is dying as an art form, share some stories of good and bad book events, briefly discuss the John Oliver-Mike Pence book kerfuffle, and have a quick conversation about publishers favoring brand-name authors over debuts. A cheerful episode, so come join us! Also sorry in advance for the Ben Shapiro impression, it's . . . it's really something.

We're back! This week we talk about the new "Kent Test" for evaluating diverse representation in books, and then broaden out to discuss what effects things like the Bechdel Test have on our discussions about art. We also debate what moral responsibility authors should have when a press becomes "toxic," (hint: not that much), and then gripe about what books go on a display bookshelf because at the end of the day, dear listener, we are petty people. Join us!

Curtis Dawkins, author of The Graybar Hotel, is back in the news this week, as the Michigan penitentiary in which he is currently imprisoned has stated it believes it has a claim to his royalty money from the book. We discuss the implications of this pending case, prison's relationship with art (guess what, it's bad), and why publishing folks should care about this more than they currently do. Also: in light of Florida teens finding their activist voices in the wake of the Parkland shooting, what role does YA literature play in the formation of young people's political imaginations?

This week, after discussing Washington Post’s incorporation of Amazon’s proprietary data into their bestseller lists, we discuss what appears to be the onset of book publishing’s reckoning with sexual harassment and abuse. Similar to other industries, how can the book world do an honest and sufficient job of examining the structures of power that allow these things to take place? What can an industry that by all accounts would like to be a more inclusive and safe place for everyone do to correct its course, and what challenges stand in the way? A bit more serious than usual this week, but a necessary conversation. Thanks, as always, for listening.

This week, we examine the fascinating decision by the National Book Awards to introduce a category for translated literature. What does this mean for our concept of a “national” award, and how might this category be used to extend literary “citizenship” to books and writing that readers in this country may have previously considered “un-American”? We discuss how adding the category changes the award in a fundamental way (for the better), and what it could mean for cultivating the canon moving forward.

Folks, this week it’s a smattering of things: in light of being placed on a “best podcasts for first-time novelists” list, we thought it would be a good idea to, well, provide some advice to those people. We also spend a few minutes on the incomparable Ursula Le Guin, talk about that Alex Jones book proposal, and break down exactly why it’s such a big deal that the University Press of Kentucky might face shutdown from budget cuts (spoiler alert: it’s because we desperately need university presses). Join us!

This week, we take a look at the recent controversy surrounding the Midwest Writers Workshop, and make some suggestions as to how the national and regional writing communities might be able to avoid such things in the future. We tie it a larger misguided impulse by some in the writing/publishing world to make their spaces “apolitical,” an impossible task that often carries an underlying motive itself. To wrap up, a check-in on how last year’s changes to the NYT bestseller list have affected the list and broader book coverage.

Happy new year! We ring in 2018 by discussing the many publishing details of the fervor surrounding Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Success for publishers is always good, but a few things about this project have both of us slightly worried. And then, at long last, we finally pay off our bet from the 2017 award season, by reading some excerpts from the 50 Shades of Grey series. It’s . . . well, it’s something.

In our last episode of 2017, we take the time for some observations about the year that was, and make some predictions for what 2018 might hold for the book world. We also touch on the new deal for the author of “Cat Person,” beg to get invited to MN’s new literary festival, and present a new Harebrained Scheme of the Week. Join us, and then we’ll see you in January!

Got a writer or book person in your life this holiday season? Then you’ll need the Print Run Holiday Gift Guide, full of terrific gift suggestions like a journal too fancy and expensive to ever use. We also introduce a new segment called The Hairbrained Scheme of the Week, and then discuss “Cat Person,” the short story in The New Yorker that went viral this week.

This week, we take a look at the truly tremendous contenders for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award, clearly the most prestigious fiction prize in all the land. Then, in light of a recent heated discussion in online book circles about the relationship between small presses and agents, we try to answer: why might a small press dislike working with agents, and are those reasons good ones? (Spoiler alert: they almost always aren’t.) Join us!

After a quick recap of the National Book Award winners, this week’s episode features a detailed and passionate interview with one of the co-founders of MSWL and Manuscript Academy, literary agent Jessica Sinsheimer. We talk to Jessica about revenue dynamics in the industry, and how technology holds the capability to increase access to publishing for both writers and industry professionals. Jessica is one of the smartest people working in our field and we really think you’ll like what she has to say. Join us!

This week we take a look at one of the more intriguing new innovations in publishing tech, Audible’s Romance Package. It’s an example of a company directly responding to the specific needs of a specific readership, and perhaps it’s a sign of cool new things to come. Also in this epi: the politicization of jacket blurbs, a look at 2017’s biggest book deals, and an FBI-themed writing prompt!

Now a year removed from the 2016 presidential election, most everyone is feeling distracted, addled, preoccupied, and often worse. No surprise, then, that this has extended to the sorts of books writers have been pitching over the last year. We discuss how a volatile year has affected our queries, and speculate on what an enduring “Trump novel” from this period might actually look like, years from now. Then, we discuss the AAR and proffer a tweak to its guidelines that could better reflect the modern state of agenting. Join us!

With November right around the corner, we set our sights on National Novel Writing Month, debating the “rules” of the crazed month of writing while offering up some of our own, along with a vision for the month that follows it. We also address Colin Kaepernick’s book deal, and make some stabs at book-themed Halloween costumes. It’s a regular cornucopia (seasonal image) of #content.

We’re back! After three weeks away, we kick off season two of Print Run by catching up on all the book news from the past few weeks, including the embarrassing Amazon beauty pageant happening across America, the ongoing (and misguided) debate about white authors’ place amongst publishing’s push for diverse voices, the Man Booker, and much, much more. Also, Joyce Carol Oates still hasn’t logged off. She should, uh, think about that.

We got a little bored of the standard literary award categories, so we decided to make up some new ones and hand out some hardware. Along with our fake award show, we also ended up litigating a copyright fight about baseball books, and recap a recent author reading Erik attended.

It’s awards season in the book world, so this week we break down the longlists for the four National Book Award categories, as well as the shortlist for the Man Booker. What do award lists say about the year of publishing, in retrospect? We sift through all of it, and also point out that awards season means Print Run turns one year old! Thanks, dear listener, for joining us in our first year.

Most writers think of their book titles as a craft element, but is that how the publishing industry treats the names of its books? We talk about the many considerations that go into picking and tweaking book titles, many of which have nothing to do with what’s in the book itself. Trends play a factor; so do genres/categories, cover designs, and lots more. Join us!

This week’s show takes a look at one of the zanier schemes the book world has seen in a while, in which a book almost no one had ever heard of debuted at number one on the NYT bestseller list. How’d she do it, how did the scheme get discovered as fraudulent? There’s plenty to laugh at there, and same with our other featured grift of the week, the YA writer who faked nearly everything about his life including his ancestry, his writing credentials, and even the existence of agent.

We recently heard it said as advice for writers: “be careful with your opinions online.” It raised our eyebrows, and so on this week’s show we debate whether or not this is a truth writers should take to heart, or whether it reveals certain political attitudes held by the publishing industry that need to be unpacked. We discuss why this sort of advice often gets delivered to writers, and why it can often be problematic. Also included is a quick discussion about a recent trip to New York and the geographic dynamics of American publishing.

This week, we walk through the many junctures in the publishing process—both within a publisher’s control and not—that lead to a book becoming a breakout bestseller. Every book is different, of course, but what are the necessary steps to having a book reach true commercial success? Beyond that, we cover the strange case of a Russian publisher cutting an LGBTQ plotline in their edition of an American book, and a very, very special JP book of the week.

In light of Michiko Kakutani leaving the New York Times, we discuss the changing roles of print book reviews and the literary critical establishment in the modern age. We also talk about that time she roasted Jonathan Franzen, which is very cathartic. Also included: the new Comey memoir, a Fiction Author Under FBI Investigation of the Week, and more!

This week, Laura walks us through the history of Young Adult literature in an attempt to answer a question that seems to never go away: what, exactly, is YA? We discuss why the category is so often under attack from others in the book world, its unique features, and much more. Plus: a JP book of the week, a word on the most recent wave of writer layoffs, and some thoughts on Keanu Reeves starting a publishing company.