Print Run Podcast

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 here, for your reference: https://academic.oup.com/alh/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/alh/ajab005/6161353?redirectedFrom=fulltext#230638685

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 that thinking, how it all relates to power, and how it connects to the art that gets made in this environment.

We’re back! In our first episode since going on leave in late 2020, we talk about how our approach and views toward the industry may have shifted since our time of last recording. This transitions into a conversation about the public performance of “working” on social media, and leads to a conversation about the interplay between social media posturing and power in the industry--spoiler alert: that power dynamic needs some fixing. It’s great to be back, and we’re so glad you’re joining us again!

After updating our discussion on the ethics of “news” books in light of Bob Woodward’s new controversial book, we use the occasion of Headwater’s first birthday to talk about the state of modern publishing, where boutique presses and agencies fit in, how the industry could survive and sustain itself moving forward, and much more. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about how, contrary to common wisdom, publishing may need to “think smaller” in order to be the most effective version of itself.

It’s great to be back! This week we catch up on some recent discussions in the book world, by way of first talking through why IP projects can be so beneficial for everyone involved, and then about various events that all revolve around the faulty ways that publishing sees gender. Join us!

This week we talk about the open letter published in Harper’s that supposedly advocates for free speech and open debate--we think it’s actually an argument for something far more pernicious, and on this episode we talk through why. It’s a conversation on power, platform, censorship, and related issues, and we think you’ll find it useful! Special episodes for the month coming soon. You can submit work for those or just write to us at printrunpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks as always for your support!

Well, it’s summer. Typically that’s a slow period in publishing, but this year feels different for a variety of reasons we try to work through in our discussion, along with some thoughts on how our work might change when the supposed “busy season” hits this fall. How has this pandemic changed the way we see our own working lives and those of our clients? All that and more, including an update on Erik’s new foray into science fiction, and a To Loon It May Concern.

This week, on the heels of what feels like a whole slew of notable publishing stories in response to heightened discussions on race and privilege in the industry, we talk about whiteness. This is a crucial moment in our industry (and of course in the country at large), and it is going to require white people being willing to engage in substantive self-criticism and action that gets beyond the usual expressions of allyship or “correct opinion.” We talk through the need to not shy away from discomfort, to do the necessary work even when it doesn’t rake in social media engagement, and finish with a submitted question about the possibility of getting “canceled” for a bad piece of writing in one’s past. Join us!

This week, we’re talking about a fascinating copyright case involving two authors working within a larger fanfiction universe known as the Omegaverse. It’s . . . a lot, as you’ll soon find out, but it’s also potentially a precursor for how large media corporations could move in on lucrative open-source writing projects. Then we have a quick discussion about shmagencies, and draw a key distinction: agencies that are bad for writers, and agencies that are bad for the agents working at them. Join us!

This week we are excited to have an interview with Genay Jackson and Wynne Kontos, two booksellers who are a part of the Bookstore at the End of the World. They tell us about their experience being laid off at the start of the pandemic, how publishing can treat its booksellers with the respect and value they deserve, and how bookselling is about people and community more than any physical location.

This week, with the announcement of Stephenie Meyer’s forthcoming book, we take on a question as old as time itself: are vampires back? It’s a conversation about how trends are formed, what they mean, and how publishing responds to them, and it ends up transitioning into a discussion on switching categories as a writer too. Join us! Also, we realize that the audio quality is worse now that we are recording remotely during quarantine. Thank you for bearing with us as we work on a better solution, hopefully implemented for this coming week!

As a means of trying to be more uplifting than recent weeks, we take on that everpresent fear all writers have: in relation to publishing, are you good enough? Obviously craft and skill matter, but here we reframe the question to one of constantly changing conditions and markets, rather than anything you can control--this should feel liberating, because no one has a good prediction for what’s “on trend” or will be, or how acquisitions might look even a few months from now. Just write!

This week, we talk about the ways in which publishing has, has not, and could respond to the new conditions presented by the pandemic, and why certain choices made well before 2020 have set up current difficulties. We also take a look at a very topical coronavirus book, and debate whether this sort of quick, reactive publishing is a good strategy in a time like this.

From our own respective isolations, we do a nice little wellness check on each other, and talk about how coronavirus has affected our work, the publishing industry, and even how we and other book people might view concepts like “productivity” moving forward. How will such a massive disruption affect the industry? No one knows, but we talk through a few ideas and in general just catch up.

This week’s episode is a recording of our live show from last week at Subtext Books here in Saint Paul, where we talked with Eric Smith about his new novel DON’T READ THE COMMENTS, how he balances agent and author life, being a positive internet presence in an age of cynicism, and much more.

We talk about the announced deal for the novel The Other Black Girl, a great-sounding book set within the publishing industry that will surely generate all sorts of discussion. We then discuss how publishers themselves might do a better job of investing in indie bookstores, and other infrastructure they rely on to succeed. This week’s To Loon It May Concern centers on deciding between experienced agents versus newer ones. Join us!

We’re back! Laura recently transitioned to agenting full time, and now that the dust has cleared it gives us the chance to talk about the strange calculations in work-life balance nearly everyone in publishing is making, why so many agents have second jobs (and why that’s not something often discussed), and how this culture of broadcasting how busy we all are creates a paradox with the fact that we never talk about our work outside the field.

This week, in addition to singing some sweet 90s pop, we talk through the many facets of the mess surrounding the novel American Dirt. What does this whole saga reveal about publishing’s biases, how review coverage intersects with promotion, or what gets prioritized by publishers in media at the expense of other projects? We discuss all that and more. Join us!

After a quick RWA update, we try to do a segment on resolutions and predictions for 2020, and while we do end up getting there after some deft transition work, we somehow end up talking about the St. Paul cafe scene? Anyway, we talk about interrogating one’s own taste, why SF/F might become more “literary” this year, a new outlook on reading submissions, and a lot more. Join us!