Hey, agents are humans, too. And to prove that Bri and Mer bring on their brilliant, shared agent, Abby Saul of The Lark Group, to talk all things publishing. Abby spills the tea on queries, comps, the state of publishing, and more. Come for the tips on preventable query mistakes and stay for the burning question: what ever happened to that god-awfully named genre “chick lit”?

Episode Outline

00:00 - 22:00 - Intro

21:57 - 1:23:15 - Our Chat with Abby Saul

1:23:15 - 1:39:20 - Book Recs

Books Mentioned

The Housewife by Natalie Barelli

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Dad Had a Bad Day by Ashton Poliantoff

Is it editing or revisions? Either way, it’s really freaking hard. This is where the manuscript becomes a book and where you earn your paycheck. Bri and Mer discuss self-editing and dreaded blindspots, beta readers and feedback from friends, and the emotional stakes of being professionally edited.

Come for tips on how to find the message behind the editing note and stay to find out what 19th century viscounts have to do with anything.

Books mentioned:

She’s a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Falling Back in Love With Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom

Found Time by Caroline Goldstein

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Episode Outline

00:00 - 08:35 - Intro

08:36 - 58:46 - Editing discussion

58:46 - 1:10:03 - Book Recs

A book is so much more than just the spark of an idea. A ton of people have the spark of an idea—and now can plug it into a plagarism machine to spit out a story. But you become a writer in the millions of choices you make between the story idea and putting the words down on the page.

Bri and Mer both lay out their creative process, from where they come up with ideas to how they create their characters and plot beats, highlight the different ways that can work for every individual writer and have one or to revelations about their own writing process ten years in. Come for mini-rants about AI and stay for Mer’s brush with viral fame.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

Bromantasy by Maire Roche

Single Player by Tara Tai

The Cloak and Dagger Club by Jackie McMahon

EPISODE OUTLINE

00:00 - 14:01 - What is going on in our writing lives?

14:01 - 1:16:02 - Craft Topic: Build-a-Book

1:16:02 -1:22:21 - Book Recs