A People's Guide to Publishing

This week on the pod, we field another reader question. You've got your focus and passions crystal clear. Now what do you DO? We tackle this answer through some various experiences and advice based on our combined 35 years of experience.

Over a year ago we answered a question (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPHmueANjRQ) about how a new publisher finds manuscripts. At the end of the episode, Elly mentioned that she had a lot more to say and the question asker got back in touch to request a follow-up where we discuss those things as well. So this week, we take another stab at this stuff.

Big news this week in publishing: Ingram announces that the experiment to have books from its client publishers available in all of its warehouses didn't work and those orders will have to ship from Jackson, Tennessee. We take a look at what this means and what industry changes have made this difficult.

One of the Kickstarter backers for our Gold Lyre Tarot deck is planning their own deck, and as one of the reward levels for that project, we answered a bunch of their questions about how to do it. Is it better to work with one artist or multiple artists? How do you set your deck up for print? How do you choose a printer? How do you choose paper stock? What resolution should your artwork be? How do you market your deck? How do you set yourself up for a successful Kickstarter project AND a successful life for your creative work beyond that project? We tackle all these questions and more. Most of the answers apply to any creative project, whether it's a book, a board game, a zine, an oracle or tarot deck, a magazine, or... whatever your creative brain has imagined!

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Big news this week! HarperCollins Publishers bought Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's trade division! The giants gobble on each other some more as Penguin Random House's attempt to purchase Simon & Schuster proceeds and the rumors that Amazon was the other leading bidder. We tackle this news in pod style and evaluate how it impacts the industry.

At a book event in 2019, a reader asked why more publishers are not more upfront about their own mistakes. Quickly realizing the answer to his own question, he moved on. So this week on the pod we explore this matter more thoroughly and look at 25 years of crushing errors and how you can learn from them.

For a lot of publishers, their own work as an author is their primary driver for what got them involved. While this wasn't either of our motivations, we are also both authors. This week we tackle the intersection of our roles as authors and publishers.

Question on the pod this week: Where can I find a banks that will help loan me money without having to put down your house and second child? So we take a look at how to fund your publishing operation!

It can feel dizzying to muddle through the array of topics and genres that you could produce into the world. How does a publisher decide? After all, we are mostly but mere mortals. So this week on the pod, we answer the reader question of how to narrow that down in order to be effective.

This week on the pod, a reader got in touch. She's having trouble being accepted by distributors but received an offer to license her books from an established publisher. What is in her best interest?