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

by Sunyi Dean

In 2022, two authors debuted in the same genre, with the same publisher, in the same year. Yet each of their books, and subsequently each of their careers, went in very different directions. That pattern repeats itself throughout the industry, over and over. Why does this happen, and what does it mean?

In this Hugo-nominated podcast, we aim to answer those questions and many more, using collated experiences from oursel ... 

  ...  Read more
Books
Careers
Website
Listen on ...

Podcast episodes

  • Season 2

  • S2 E42: Managing Your 'Author Bandwidth', ft Suyi Davies Okungbowa

    S2 E42: Managing Your 'Author Bandwidth', ft Suyi Davies Okungbowa

    S02 E42
    01:04:13

    Authors are expected to juggle many different demands on their time and energy--from social media and self-promotion, to side projects and live events. How do we decide what is or isn't worth our efforts, and where do we set boundaries to prevent burnout and overwhelm? Award-winning author and professor, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, discusses how he makes the writing life work for him, by balancing his original fiction and his prolific IP work against his academic career. Among many other topics, he outlines the crucial role of a personal assistant (especially how they can supplement publisher marketing), his criteria for accepting or rejecting IP projects, his very unique approach to social media, and how he sets certain boundaries with publishers.

  • S2 E41: Write-to-market & the Rise of Romantasy, ft. Nisha J. Tuli

    S2 E41: Write-to-market & the Rise of Romantasy, ft. Nisha J. Tuli

    S02 E41
    42:48

    After years of mostly existing in indie space, Romantasy has finally burst onto the trad pub scene where it now reigns supreme, especially in SFF. Today, we talk to Nisha J Tuli, who spotted romantasy's trad potential early and whose career took off as a result. Her career trajectory is a microcosm of what is happening with romantasy more broadly, and gives us the chance to explore what it is like to catch the crest of a publishing wave. Nisha also shares with us specific tactics she employed as an indie author, and how they could be useful for trad, indie, and hybrid authors alike. Other topics: Sunyi comes out in defense of writing to market, Nisha stresses the importance of still writing what you love (even when writing to market), and how they intersect. There are different types of readers, and different types of writers, and they have different goals with regard to books. We also discuss the amount of money to be made in this particular subgenre, why Nisha chose to go trad/hybrid after seeing indie success; and the longevity of romantasy overall.

  • S2 E40 - The Downside of Blockbuster Advances, ft Ed Wilson (literary agent)

    S2 E40 - The Downside of Blockbuster Advances, ft Ed Wilson (literary agent)

    S02 E40
    01:06:50

    Sunyi and Scott have always maintained that "bigger is better" when it comes to book deals, and that any downsides will also apply to smaller advance sizes. But Ed Wilson, the literary agent and director Johnson & Alcock, believes the discussion is much more nuanced, and that 'blockbuster' book advances can sometimes be a symptom of publishing not working well. With 18 years of experience in the industry, Ed brings a shrewd but frank perspective on a variety of important topics in trad publishing--along with some thoughts on American football, and the shininess of Scott's teeth. Oh, and we think you'll love his "petty hill" segment at the end! Topics covered: Book advance sizes, and what they mean for your career Leverage, and managing publishing relationships Whether publishers really can "stall" an author's career Crucial contract clauses for the modern author The importance of literary agent relationships Editors getting insider book deals Football comparisons Bookscan inaccuracy And more!

  • S2 E39: The State of the Industry, ft. Kristina Perez

    S2 E39: The State of the Industry, ft. Kristina Perez

    S02 E39
    55:01

    Kristina Perez has lived all over the world, working alternately as a journalist, an author, and now as top literary agent. In this episode we cover a number of different topics, putting forward a combination of our own questions and reader-submitted questions, chatting with Kristina generally about the state of the industry and her multi-sided perspective on it. Topics include: reviving a flagging career, romantasy, trends and pitches, a nuanced discussion on the relevance of platform, and Scott attempting to guess Kristina's accent. Kristina also outlines some of the help she provides her authors, and graciously gave us a number of links to use in the show notes (seen below)

  • S2 E38: Taking Charge Of Your Book Launch, ft. Alexander Darwin

    S2 E38: Taking Charge Of Your Book Launch, ft. Alexander Darwin

    S02 E38
    59:54

    After submitting his debut self-pub novel to the annual SPFBO (self published fantasy blog-off) competition and reaching the semi-finals, Alex Darwin landed himself with a "trad deal" and agent. In the months leading up to his trad re-launch, Alex applied his self-pub experience to his upcoming book launch, trying a number of different angles. Reflecting back, he shares what kind of tactics worked best to give his book the best possible chance. Topics covered: Being a hybrid author How SPFBO works and can benefit indie authors Paying for publicity (via Black Crow) in the UK specifically Collaborative efforts with Orbit on marketing/publicity in the USA Book Tours (an assessment and reflection) Finding an angle for pubs to use Thinking about longterm goals LitRPGs and why they remain indie Theories about the goal of OrbitWorks (digital only imprints) Chatter about jujitsu and other nonsense