Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly

So you've signed a book deal, and the book contract has arrived. What does it mean, what can you ask for or changed, and how involved should you be? What organisations can help, if any? Also, why don't we have a writer's union / writer's guild, and how might we get one in future?

Today, we sit down with Julia Vee, who is an established indie author with a forthcoming trad title, Ebony Gate, via Tor 2023. Julia also happens to be an attorney in her dayjob and we can't wait to discuss those questions and many more with her (including touching on non-competes again.)

Other topics included: Julia and Ken's co-writing partnership / process, what good sales or bad sales look like for debuts in the first year, the Mark Lawrence formula for looking at sales via Goodreads ratings, and a few other things.

Today we're joined by Peter McLean, a fantasy writer who clawed his way to authorhood through an indie publisher slush pile, despite not being agented at the time. Pete talks to us about his publisher imploding, his first series getting canned, and the perseverance that saw him land another book deal--this time with one of the Big 5. Seven books and ten years later, he's still in the game, with a wide range of experiences and insights to share. And a few laughs along the way.

After years of unsuccessful querying and one small-press book, Nick finally hit it big with a break-out novel. Billed among this year's top sci-fi thrillers, ASCENSION is hot property, and has gone to auction in multiple countries--including for its film/tv options.

Today, Nick sits down to chat with us about navigating the world of film/tv options, and how it intersects with book publishing. In addition to talking about the money side, he also defines key terms, gives an overview of the process, and debunks the myth of authors 'needing' a social media platform.

NOTE: For the first time ever, we've deployed our 'alien warp' sound effect to censor a couple of names and companies that come up during the chat, as some details are under NDA. Please do not be too alarmed by the weird noise when you hear it!

This week, we sit down with Arab-American author Nadia Afifi, for a concise and chilled-out chat about her experience of publishing a scifi trilogy through Flametree Press. A lot of listeners are curious about life outside the Big 5 / bigger midsize publishers, so we've tried to cover a number of angles! This episode also touches briefly on wholesaling versus distribution, why royalty percentages vary so much for small presses, advance sizes in that category, and short story writing as a form of signal boosting.

Today we're joined by Nicholas Eames, author of cult favorite KINGS OF THE WYLD to discuss his publishing experience in a wide-ranging interview. Eames is a debut success story, and we hope you find his conversation as funny, uplifting, and engaging as we did (a welcome change after last week's grim deconstruction!) Other topics addressed: -- the creative process of working with a trad editor-- life as a "slow" writer-- how doing other creative projects can keep the writing passion going (this one was a listener question!)-- and a few bonus questions from our discord, with some hints from Nick about the next and future book.

In celebration of making it to 10 episodes, Scott & Sunyi answer some of the host-specific and/or personal questions that listeners have submitted. This is not really an official episode, just a fun, rambly, probably-too-opinionated extra for them who are interested.