Print Run Podcast

This week in the wake of a LOT of agency shakeups, we asked an extremely basic question: what if the publishing world treated writers like they were professionals? This frame lets us talk about the discourse from the past few weeks, all which shares the common theme of “treating writers really poorly.” Come vent with us, come laugh with us, come imagine a better way of doing things with us.

This week we talk about everyone’s favorite publishing topic that never gives anyone anxiety: gatekeeping and access! We explore how agents can do better jobs of creating an equitable and open playing field for writers trying to break into publishing, even while inherently positioned as a “gate” between the writers and the publishers. The conversation gets to some other places too–we call conferen...

We’ve heard it so many times in so many places: editors falling in love with books, agents loving manuscripts from the first page, deal announcements centered on how much every party involved LOVES the book and working with each other. To put it lightly, “love” as a publishing concept in acquisitions can be crazy-making to try to understand, anticipate, or even manufacture. This episode we talk th...

At many different moments in the publishing process, we are asked to stay quiet about news, or keep certain developments secret, or not post the thing we’re dying to share on social media. How come? This week we talk about the different silences in publishing–everything from etiquette during the query process to not doing a cover reveal before marketing says so. Some silences are helpful for write...

This week we gave each other a prompt: which books have been the most transformative or influential in shaping our book careers? It’s an open-ended question and we took it that way–in this episode we talk about books we worked on, books that changed our working categories, books we loved, hated, and more. It’s a wide-ranging show that gets into all the different ways individual titles can alter ho...

This week we were lucky enough to have HarperCollins associate editor Rachel Kambury on the show, and we talked to her all about her union’s strike, what about their working conditions led them to this historic moment, and how the industry might change in light of this watershed moment in publishing-worker solidarity. We thought it was important for folks to hear directly from the HarperCollins wo...

Folks, it is that time of year once again. As we set off on our yearly month of holiday memes and other nonsense, we’re adding in some real reflection on the truths that a strange, volatile year of publishing and (and life) has taught us. This episode we get a little personal and talk about the year that was, and set us off on a month of taking stock of where we’ve been and where we’re headed. It’...

This week we take a look at the HarperCollins Union’s strike for better working conditions, discuss the possible destruction of Twitter, and in general share how we navigate the strangest part of the book calendar–the holidays. It’s a lively grab-bag with a healthy dose of pro-labor sentiment to get your Thanksgiving week started right.

This week’s convo starts out as a discussion of our relationships with books as physical objects and ends up… everywhere? We talk about how we associate meaning and memory with books, our reading habits, when a book actually becomes a book and not a manuscript or a draft, and plenty else. We pick at all the seams of how people interact and place value on the concept of a book, and it ends up being...

This week we talk about Barnes & Noble’s decision to stock fewer hardcover titles, especially in YA and MG categories. How will this affect debut writers and marginalized creators, why might they make this choice in the first place, and how will publishers respond?

This week we talk about–what else–the court case involving the DOJ vs. PRH, regarding their attempted merger with Simon & Schuster. Specifically, we analyze how the executives testifying have been talking about the industry at large, and what it reveals about corporate publishing strategy, and how it affects authors who aren’t celebrities or politicians. If you’ve been seeing chatter about this ca...

Pettiness! Jealousy! Stop lying, you’ve felt it as much as the next person, especially in an industry like publishing. So have we, and here we present a full, honest episode on how we process those feelings in a (hopefully) productive way. Folks, it’s time to let the darkness in–join us!

This… is one of our more loose episodes ever. We sit down and catch up on everything from what we’re reading to how Laura avoids death while foraging in the woods, from an analysis of what makes a good children’s board book to how we’re carrying on during a moment of intense national trauma. Also we talk about book advances for a minute. Also we talk about toucans for a minute. At one point we get...

This week, in light of recent heated discourse around what awards like the Lambda are “for,” we thought we’d break down why awards and indeed all literary criticism are not meant to be objective signifiers of quality, but are rather reflections of individual critical perspectives and the context that surrounds them. To be clear: we prefer it that way! Come listen and find out why.

This week we talk about Brandon Sanderson’s wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for his next novels, a move so bold and unique that we simply have to ask: what wrong and/or inapplicable lessons will traditional publishing learn from this isolated incident? We break down why the Sanderson plan worked for him, why it won’t on a mass scale for others, and which observations we hope publishing DOES...

WOW it is nice to be back in the recording studio! In our first episode this side of Erik having a child, we talk about the recent trend of editors leaving their jobs and even outright leaving the industry. What does it mean for publishing when its talent is burning out or choosing other paths at this rate? How does it affect publishing houses, our work as agents, and writers? Join us for the begi...

On the “season finale” episode before Erik goes on paternity leave for a few months, we talk about the many swirling feelings around going on leave in the publishing industry, artistic anxiety in the face of looming parenthood, how we’ve thought about our professional goals in relation to the actual fabric of our lives, and the ways we’ve tried to create sustainable ways of making sure our work an...

After another RWA mess surrounding their recent issuing of the Vivian Award, we use the occasion to ask a fundamental question: what’s the point of these organizations, and how can we make them do what we actually want them to do? We talk about how institutions like RWA--or really any big literary collective--could be used to do what we actually need: supporting writers who wouldn’t otherwise have...

This week, we made the whole plane out of To Loon It May Concerns. We spent the episode answering your most burning and specific publishing questions, from all corners of the writing and publishing world. Come hang out for a free-flowing advice session!

It’s summer, and in publishing that means one thing: we’re all getting each other’s out-of-offices. In this episode we talk about how, actually, that’s a good thing--it underscores that people in the industry are irreplaceable, that so much of what we do is built on real and lasting connections we have with other specific colleagues, and how as much as the powers that be would like us to believe t...

This week we take a look at the far too slanted battlefield on which people who want change in publishing are forced to fight--and how, rather than responding to each new publishing injustice on a case by case basis, we might try instead to change the terms of engagement in our favor. On the heels of the deceptive phrase “we came to publish, not to cancel,” we argue that even in accepting the impl...

This week we talk about the state of nonfiction publishing amidst the changing conditions of both the industry and the wider world--how has a pandemic and political turbulence affected our relationship to “truth” and “expertise” in books? We talk through the new moment of popular science publishing, as well as how it might follow the arc we saw over prior years in more explicitly political publish...

This week we take on a term we all love but can never quite pin down: speculative fiction. What do industry people--and readers--mean when they say “speculative,” and what does the distinction between aesthetics, genre, and prestige with regard to the term say about the market at large? What are we talking about when we, as book people, talk about speculative fiction? Come help us work through it.

This week we take a look at Laura McGrath’s fascinating paper on how literary agents shape the acquisitions landscape. It’s got a lot of insights we agree with and some things we push back on a bit, but overall the conversation ends up being a close look at what “taste” actually is, how people in our position exist in relation to corporate power, and much more. Join us! The paper we discuss is her...

This week, we unpack a fascinating essay about the ways in which Philip Roth managed his authorial image and career, and the various questions it raises about what “success” is, how to be a good literary citizen, and what happens when an author’s “brand” becomes a part of their writing itself. It’s a conversation about moving and shaking in the modern literary landscape, how social media changes t...