Writers With Wrinkles

Forcing yourself to "just write every day" can make writer's block worse. Author Sylvia Liu shares the sideways fixes that actually get you unstuck. Writer's block isn't one problem. It's too many ideas, no ideas, a muddy middle, a deadline that's choking you, or a world that feels too loud to write in. Use the wrong fix and you stay stuck for months. Sylvia is a...

What do you do when the story you can't stop thinking about doesn't fit the genre you're known for? Thriller author Dina Marie (Dina Santorelli) took a ghost, a Salem mansion, and a big risk, and ended up with a paranormal cozy mystery series. She started with zero readers, and her first draft took four weeks. The cost of not knowing how she did it is another year of sitting on an i...

We're back in Napa, where the Writers With Wrinkles podcast was born five years ago, with a new book and a new self-publishing press for writers. Every self-published author we've talked to says the same thing: it was a lot more complicated than they expected. We spent the last year learning why, and we want your manuscript to get out of the drawer with fewer surprises along the way. Hit...

Your graphic novel isn't a novel. It's a screenplay, and editors can tell from page one whether you know the difference. First Second Books editor Ivan Taurisano explains how to write and submit a graphic novel script that gets read. Kids ages 8 to 12 head straight for the graphic novel shelf, and prose writers are trying to follow them there. But Ivan says a submission that misses the f...

We just turned 150+ episodes of hard-won publishing wisdom into one book — and it's finally here. Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast is up for pre-order now, and today Beth and Lisa are pulling back the curtain on why they wrote it, what's inside, and how it can save you from making the same missteps they did. If you've ever finished a p...

Harry Potter didn't just create a fantasy phenomenon — according to one Big Five editor, it quietly helped break middle grade publishing. Every book that tried to chase that success got longer, older, and harder for actual kids to read, and now imprints are shutting down because of it. In this encore episode, literary agent, bestselling children's author, and founder of At-Home Author Vi...

Most rejected picture book and middle grade manuscripts aren't turned down because they're bad — they're turned down because an editor has already seen five just like them. Susan Marston, the new editorial director of Albatros Books' US expansion (and former 25-year editorial director of the Junior Library Guild), joins us to lay out exactly what's landing on her acquisiti...

AI companies are shredding rare books to train their models—and now authors are the ones being told to prove they didn't use AI to write their own. Beth and Lisa unpack the double standard rocking publishing right now. From a debut novelist's multi million dollar book deal getting pulled over AI suspicion, to writers being told to reinsert typos and kill their em dashes just to "pro...

Your opening pages have about 30 seconds to keep a literary agent reading — and most manuscripts lose that fight before the first paragraph ends. Developmental editor Joel Brigham returns to unpack exactly what makes an agent stop reading (and what makes them keep going): the four ingredients — tension, suspense, mystery, and unfairness — that hook a reader in the first few pages. He breaks down w...

Note: If you downloaded this episode before 8/3 and experienced audio issues, please delete the download and hit re-download to grab the clean audio file! Wendelin Van Draanen spent 10 years collecting rejections before anyone said yes to her Sammy Keyes mystery series — she just kept writing the next one anyway. Now, 40 books and 30 years later, she's still with the same editor who finally d...

You could finish four books this year and only ever get to publish one of them. That's the traditional publishing timeline in a nutshell — and it's why more authors are quietly going hybrid: keeping one foot in a trad deal and self-publishing everything else on their own schedule, without waiting on anyone's calendar. In this episode, Beth and Lisa break down what a hybrid author ac...

New York Times bestselling author Jason June (Out of the Blue, Jay's Gay Agenda) returns to Writers With Wrinkles for a wide-ranging conversation covering his growing acting career, the current state of the publishing industry, and his upcoming adult rom-com Santa and Krampus' Cozy Killer Christmas, out fall 2027. Jason is refreshingly candid — about book advances, about the anxiety runn...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary In this episode of Writers With Wrinkles, hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid welcome back returning guest Lisa Frenkel Riddiough to discuss her brand-new picture book, Furious Turtle (Disney Hyperion), book two in the Forest School of Big Feelings series. The conversation quickly moves into the heart of the episode: Lisa's experience losing her longtime liter...

Send us Fan Mail Beth and Lisa welcome literary agent and debut author Alia Hanna Habib, whose book Take It From Me is a practical behind-the-scenes guide to getting a nonfiction book published. Alia represents acclaimed writers including Clint Smith and Nicole Hannah-Jones, was named one of New York Magazine's most powerful New Yorkers you've never heard of, and writes the Substack news...

Send us Fan Mail Literary agent Ann Rose (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency) returns to Writers With Wrinkles for a candid, funny, and reassuring conversation with Beth and Lisa about the current state of publishing—and how writers can keep going anyway. Ann is also the author of The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean and A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love . The episode opens with a frank lo...

Send us Fan Mail In this re-released conversation, developmental editor Joel Brigham returns to talk all things revision: how to approach your first editing pass, the most common pitfalls he sees in drafts, and how to know when a manuscript is truly ready to query. A great refresher as you set your summer writing goals. (Note: a recording glitch cut the original intro, which Beth explains at the t...

Send us Fan Mail Hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid cut through the noise of book marketing advice to spotlight what genuinely moves books: word of mouth. Nearly half of readers (47–48%) choose books based on personal recommendations — outperforming social media, platforms, and AI discovery tools combined. Beth and Lisa share three low-cost, actionable strategies to spark that word of mouth befor...

Send us Fan Mail Joel Brigham runs Brigham Editorial (developmental edits, manuscript critiques, query help), teaches high school English in Illinois, and is an editor for RevPit — a community that gives away free developmental edits each spring. REVPIT •    Free developmental editing contest — editors (not authors) mentor selected writers through full drafts •    Applications open April , winners...

Send us Fan Mail Beth and Lisa talk with literary agent Nikki Carrero, from The Rights Factory, to break down the querying process from the agent’s side — what gets you noticed, what gets a pass, and how to make the most of The Call.   Highlights •       Nikki runs monthly pitch parties on Threads — currently her only open submission path since she’s closed to general queries. •       Biggest quer...

Send us Fan Mail We tackle a publishing debate, draw writing wisdom from Taylor Swift, and dig into one of the most common craft problems in fiction — weak stakes and missing tension. Plus a community book shout-out. THE HARDBACK DEBATE Beth shares a Guardian article arguing hardbacks are outdated — too expensive, they kill buzz before the paperback drops, and lead with the least accessible format...

Send us Fan Mail First Page Feedback: Charlotte's Hunt for Glory Beth and Lisa critique the opening page of a middle grade fantasy submission and pull out craft lessons for any writer working on those critical first pages. The Submission Charlotte's Hunt for Glory follows 12-year-old Charlotte through a morning routine steeped in grief for her late grandmother and sibling envy — anchored...

Send us Fan Mail The One Where Nobody Ordered the Books  |  Beth McMullen & Lisa Schmid Lisa Schmid shares a cautionary tale from the Sacramento Book Festival, where a series of logistical failures turned what should have been an exciting milestone — her first book festival — into a comedy of errors. A week before the event she discovered the bookseller had never ordered any books, resulting i...

Send us Fan Mail Imprint closures, layoffs, and reorganizations are rattling the publishing world. Literary agent and At-Home Author founder Vicki Weber joins Beth and Lisa for a candid conversation about what’s driving these changes—and what writers can do about it. From the surprising role Harry Potter played in the decline of middle grade to building an audience before you have a book deal, Vic...

Send us Fan Mail Beth and Lisa discuss the 2026 publishing landscape. From the end of prestige imprints like Dial Books to the flood of AI content, they explore why the industry feels increasingly "disposable" and "noisy." Key Discussion Points The Shift to Content Management : Private equity firms are replacing veteran editors with "content managers" to prioritize fr...

Send us Fan Mail Hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid welcome award-winning author Amy Trueblood to discuss a transition many writers face but few discuss: life after parting ways with a literary agent. Amy shares her journey of being on her fourth agent, offering a refreshing look at why changing representation is a natural part of a long-term career. About the Guest Amy Trueblood is the author of...