Print Run Podcast

We’re back! After three weeks away, we kick off season two of Print Run by catching up on all the book news from the past few weeks, including the embarrassing Amazon beauty pageant happening across America, the ongoing (and misguided) debate about white authors’ place amongst publishing’s push for diverse voices, the Man Booker, and much, much more. Also, Joyce Carol Oates still hasn’t logged off. She should, uh, think about that.

We got a little bored of the standard literary award categories, so we decided to make up some new ones and hand out some hardware. Along with our fake award show, we also ended up litigating a copyright fight about baseball books, and recap a recent author reading Erik attended.

It’s awards season in the book world, so this week we break down the longlists for the four National Book Award categories, as well as the shortlist for the Man Booker. What do award lists say about the year of publishing, in retrospect? We sift through all of it, and also point out that awards season means Print Run turns one year old! Thanks, dear listener, for joining us in our first year.

Most writers think of their book titles as a craft element, but is that how the publishing industry treats the names of its books? We talk about the many considerations that go into picking and tweaking book titles, many of which have nothing to do with what’s in the book itself. Trends play a factor; so do genres/categories, cover designs, and lots more. Join us!

This week’s show takes a look at one of the zanier schemes the book world has seen in a while, in which a book almost no one had ever heard of debuted at number one on the NYT bestseller list. How’d she do it, how did the scheme get discovered as fraudulent? There’s plenty to laugh at there, and same with our other featured grift of the week, the YA writer who faked nearly everything about his life including his ancestry, his writing credentials, and even the existence of agent.

We recently heard it said as advice for writers: “be careful with your opinions online.” It raised our eyebrows, and so on this week’s show we debate whether or not this is a truth writers should take to heart, or whether it reveals certain political attitudes held by the publishing industry that need to be unpacked. We discuss why this sort of advice often gets delivered to writers, and why it can often be problematic. Also included is a quick discussion about a recent trip to New York and the geographic dynamics of American publishing.

This week, we walk through the many junctures in the publishing process—both within a publisher’s control and not—that lead to a book becoming a breakout bestseller. Every book is different, of course, but what are the necessary steps to having a book reach true commercial success? Beyond that, we cover the strange case of a Russian publisher cutting an LGBTQ plotline in their edition of an American book, and a very, very special JP book of the week.

In light of Michiko Kakutani leaving the New York Times, we discuss the changing roles of print book reviews and the literary critical establishment in the modern age. We also talk about that time she roasted Jonathan Franzen, which is very cathartic. Also included: the new Comey memoir, a Fiction Author Under FBI Investigation of the Week, and more!

This week, Laura walks us through the history of Young Adult literature in an attempt to answer a question that seems to never go away: what, exactly, is YA? We discuss why the category is so often under attack from others in the book world, its unique features, and much more. Plus: a JP book of the week, a word on the most recent wave of writer layoffs, and some thoughts on Keanu Reeves starting a publishing company.

With the return of Game of Thrones to TV, it’s the right time to talk about the many fascinating writing and publishing aspects of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. How has the series managed to become such a phenomenon, and what about it is innovative or truly special, from a writing standpoint? We look at George’s (slow) history of writing books, his relationship with the HBO TV series (and his fans), and the strange dynamics of having your story told by someone else.

This episode has it all: a recap of Laura’s time at a SF/F convention; a bad article about old-school publishing; a Fiction Author Under FBI Investigation, of the Week; and a discussion on prison literature, focusing on the newly released collection of stories The Graybar Hotel, written by Curtis Dawkins. Join us!

This holiday week, we're joined by author, agent, and corgi owner extraordinaire Eric Smith. We talk about balancing his writing life with agenting, how both roles inform each other, and most importantly, why his corgi sometimes receives book queries. He even gives the #pubtip for the week! Plus, some other stuff too.

This week, we’re thrilled to have an interview with New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano. We ask him about his experience with the book-publishing process this time through, whether “experience” and “exposure” can pay bills for emerging writers or unpaid publishing interns (lol no), and of course, about his famous connection with his readers, the FOH Army. Separately, we also lead the show with a quick convo about TSA’s new policy of examining books in carry-on luggage.

What’s in a blurb? This week we talk about one of the more opaque processes in the book world: getting endorsements from other others. Who’s it for, and does it matter? Also, if Gary Shteyngart loves blurbing everything so much, why hasn’t he blurbed Print Run yet? We also debut a new weekly feature titled “Fiction Writer Under FBI Investigation, of the Week,” and no we’re not changing the clunky name, that’s the name of it. Oh, also: should publishers feel responsible for being green?

Summer Fridays: they’re fun, people love them, and they’re a well-established publishing tradition. But where do they come from, and why does publishing slow down in the summers? We get into the history of the summer Friday, and how it might tie into book culture far more than you might think. We also discuss author estates, in light of the new Harper Lee graphic novel, and apparently PRH bought a shirt company? Anyway, join us!

It’s safe to say that most people are feeling something strange in our current historical moment: disenchantment, paranoia, anxiety, or a whole host of other emotions. But current events aside, how do the strange traits of our age affect the way we read? Does this fraught era of information overload change how we consume books, and later on, will it change the books that someday get written during and about this period? We speculate on how this specific moment might affect all of our relationship with books, and how those books might change as a result.

After last week’s big, heavy episode, we’re more fun this week. We get into the “unwritten rules” of the book world, both real and imagined, both petty and substantial. We also do a quick check-in on Amazon Charts, per our chat last week, and spend a few minutes on Amazon’s physical stores (they’re good, unfortunately). Listener mailbag, as well!

It’s time. This week, we discuss by far the most influential entity in the book industry: Amazon. Bigger than everyone else, more ruthless than everyone else, and yet, completely indispensable to modern book culture. We go through Amazon’s history as it relates to publishing, highlighting its many innovations and its fights with publishers throughout the last decade, and try to get a handle on what Amazon could mean for books, publishing, and the written word.

This week, we discuss the levers of power that are at play in a book’s acquisition and publication, all of which end up determining that book’s fate and prospects. How does the size of a book’s advance payment affect how it’s published? What about author clout, or precedent, or expectation, or a pushy agent? It’s a chat about who ends up on the hook for what, and how all these factors come together (or don’t). We also do a quick BEA galley preview, in which we beg attendees to grab us books. Please … grab us the books.

This week’s show is on maybe the most fundamental thing any of us do outside the whole eating/sleeping thing: reading. How has the role of reading changed in our lives as we’ve gotten older? Is it the same experience reading as an adult as it is as a child or even a student? We unpack that, and also discuss the NYT slashing some of its bestseller lists, the new James Patterson/Bill Clinton collaboration, and books in your dating profiles.