Print Run Podcast

It’s time. This week, we discuss by far the most influential entity in the book industry: Amazon. Bigger than everyone else, more ruthless than everyone else, and yet, completely indispensable to modern book culture. We go through Amazon’s history as it relates to publishing, highlighting its many innovations and its fights with publishers throughout the last decade, and try to get a handle on what Amazon could mean for books, publishing, and the written word.

This week, we discuss the levers of power that are at play in a book’s acquisition and publication, all of which end up determining that book’s fate and prospects. How does the size of a book’s advance payment affect how it’s published? What about author clout, or precedent, or expectation, or a pushy agent? It’s a chat about who ends up on the hook for what, and how all these factors come together (or don’t). We also do a quick BEA galley preview, in which we beg attendees to grab us books. Please … grab us the books.

This week’s show is on maybe the most fundamental thing any of us do outside the whole eating/sleeping thing: reading. How has the role of reading changed in our lives as we’ve gotten older? Is it the same experience reading as an adult as it is as a child or even a student? We unpack that, and also discuss the NYT slashing some of its bestseller lists, the new James Patterson/Bill Clinton collaboration, and books in your dating profiles.

This week we talk about the seemingly surface-level elements of books that seem to periodically rise and fall in popularity: things like the vampire in paranormal/YA books, or the cupcake shop in romance novels, or the word “Girl” in EVERY SINGLE LITERARY FICTION TITLE. Who’s driving these trends, and how and why do they change over time? Also included is a JP book of the week and a word on recent layoffs in the industry.

Just the two of us again this week. We discuss the supposed reader experience known as “escapism”—what does it mean, why do people seek it out, and are people actually “escaping” like they think they are when they pick up a good book? Also included is a brief discussion on Henry Holt’s decision to stick with Bill O’Reilly as his publisher, and the debut of a new segment, The Only Good Books!

In light of NYC’s new law forbidding employers from asking job candidates their previous salaries, we talk to editor Allyson Rudolph (@allysonrudolph) about the many issues surrounding pay in the publishing industry. Spoiler alert: there are tons, and it ends up hurting people AND the books. Allyson and Erik also tell a couple stories from their time on an editorial staff together and … hoo, boy. It’s a fun, honest, and wide-ranging interview we think you’ll like!

This week, we discuss what it means to engage in honest critical discussions about writing, why it’s difficult, and how it’s essential to the advancement of the good-faith publishing conversation. Why do people, especially authors, have such a hard time criticizing other books? What does it mean to read critically, versus reading for enjoyment, and has the digital age changed the way books are reviewed? We also talk about why certain books draw criticism and why others seem immune. We also recap this year’s Pulitzer announcements, as well as this weird thing where a guy claims all old Penguin books smell like biscuits. … You tell us, man.

This week, we take a look at how writing and publishing have become separate conversations, and how this divide isn’t good for anyone in any part of the writing world. Why is there such an oversized emphasis on query formatting, pitch elements, and the “myth of the checklist?” We talk about how to reclaim a more natural place when discussing the writing process, allowing all of us to get back to thinking about what we love in this field: the writing and the books.

Description: This week, dear listener, is about regrets. What books did we let go or pass on, that ended up doing well in other hands, and what does that say about the nature of professional and subjective taste? Other than that, the regrets are… Really something. A dude lighting books on fire and burning down his neighborhood. James Patterson blurbing himself, which more fills us with regret, because he’s clearly got life figured out way better than we do. And lots more!

This week, we tackle a seemingly simple question that no two people seem to have the same answer to: what does “literary” mean? Is it a genre, or the lack of one? Does it imply sophistication or prestige, or is it shorthand for pretentious or privileged? Does it mean different things to different people in the book world? Does it mean whatever we want it to mean? We try to arrive at a definition. And discuss how the term functions in both art and publishing conversation.