Print Run Podcast

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!