x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

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

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 ourselves, friends, colleagues, and a slew of industry professionals in an attempt to

arts books

All Episodes

58:38

S2 E45: Post-Debut Blues & Bookish Longevity, ft....

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

2025/10/26

Are we really back? Were we ever truly gone? Who is special guest Drake Scottford, and why is he joining us today? These questions and more will be answered in episode 45.On a more serious note, we cover a wide range of topics today: a general catch-up on where we both are, career-wise, what prompted us to record again, and how life after debut is going. (Spoiler: it's complicated and stressful.)There's been a move in the industry to talk about the problem of career longevity, which is definitely a

en

95:22

E44: More Than The Text Of Our Book, ft. Greatest...

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

2024/11/28

Famed for his highly unique fiction, and for the the pink mask that conceals his secret identity, Chuck Tingle (pseudonymous name) is a much-beloved icon in the SFF book world and beyond. Today he joins us to share the incredible story of his journey through publishing, and to make a passionate case for why authors are so much more than just the story they write. We also discuss the nuts and bolts of book deals, running innovative book events, and how to approach publisher negotiations.Although this

en

46:43

S2 Ep 43: Momentum, Worldcon, and Arguing on the...

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

2024/10/07

Catch-up episode after a long gap! Sunyi and Scott both discuss career momentum, cheerfully losing at the Hugos, and the pushback they've had from Reddit / the internet. Sunyi explains why she'd turn down other nominations in the future, while Scott talks about why he was happy to sign a smaller deal for his UK rights. They also cover future plans, and what happened to previous author guests. And finally, they each get to give the pettiest hill they'd die on. Hint: Sunyi's hill starts with "J" and

en

42:44

SPECIAL EPISODE: The Grim World Predatory Publishers...

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

2024/07/12

Ever heard the phrase "Money flows to the author"? James "Jim" MacDonald is the one who coined it.Jim is a long-time author and anti-vanity press advocate who, along with many others, has dedicated years of his life to investigating predatory publishers and teaching new authors to protect themselves. Today, he joins us in this Special Episode to share his experiences and knowledge on the rise of these organisations and how they operate. This episode differs from our usual because Jim is very much

en

64:13

S2 E42: Managing Your 'Author Bandwidth', ft Suyi...

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

2024/07/11

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

en

42:48

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

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

2024/06/06

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

en

55:01

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

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

2024/05/26

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

en

66:50

S2 E40 - The Downside of Blockbuster Advances, ft Ed...

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

2024/05/16

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

en

31:18

S2 E32 - Our Hugo Awards "Voter Pack" Compilation

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

2024/04/21

This audio file is a compilation of 11 clips across various episodes, and is part of our submission to the Hugo Awards "Voter Pack." Everyone who pays for Hugo membership is given a "voter pack" with electronic copies of the books, short fiction, novellas, essays, and--in our case--audio files for fancasts.Rather than subject voters to hours of episodes, we've chosen to create a short(ish) compilation, spanning the whole of our show! Runtime is only 31 minutes, and we hope it will give you a sense

en

59:54

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

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

2024/04/20

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 authorHow SPFBO works and

en

6:55

S2 - BONUS CLIP: Scott Versus The Elk

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

2024/04/16

Just an outtakes edit from Alex Darwin's episode 38, in which Scott shares a hunting misadventure. Absolutely no industry content whatsoever, simply a short bit of chat. Also featuring: Alex Darwin and Sunyi Dean. CONTENT WARNING: Animal hunting (elk) is discussed in detail, which may be upsetting to some listeners.

en

59:48

S2 37 - Reasons To Keep Writing, ft. David Wragg

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

2024/04/09

After solid sales for his first duology, David Wragg's next book series got caught in the infamous post-covid "midlist death spiral". After this current trilogy finishes, his future in trad is uncertain at best.But with his usual good-natured humor, Wragg cheerfully dissects the past six years of his career, including advances, royalties (or negative royalties in this case), the reality of post-debut book deals, and the differences in production quality between tiers of books. Finally, he and Scott

en

44:53

S2 E36 - The Problem with Author Book Events, w/ Sam...

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

2024/03/27

What's the deal with author book events? Are they useful, do they shift books, and why do they all follow the same format? This week, we speak with Sam Missingham, who spent many years working with the Bookseller, and later with Harper as an author events creator. We talk about what works and what doesn't, whether hiring publicists as a trad author is worth the time, the influence of class and connections in publishing, and the real reason so many publisher-run book events fall a little flat. If

en

52:19

S2 E35 - AI Generation and the Future of Cover Art,...

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

2024/03/18

Steve Lead is a freelance cover artist and industry podcaster, with many years' experience working on book cover designs in the publishing industry. Today, he sits down to help demystify the complicated process that goes into creating a book cover. We discuss briefs, trends, industry pay (or lack of it), the impact of thumbnail images on print books--and finally, the elephant in the room: the burgeoning technology that is generative AI, and what it might mean for us all.00:00 Introduction and

en

69:14

S2 Ep 34: Challenging Tradpub's 'Culture of...

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

2024/02/27

In addition to writing bestselling novels and cofounding a viral podcast (THE BESTSELLER EXPERIMENT), Mark Stay also spent many years working with bookstores and publishers, gaining great insight to all sides of the industry. We chat to Mark about his varied experiences, and reflect back on the seven years he spent recording his groundbreaking podcast. This one is fun and quite eye-opening for behind-the-scenes stuff.00:00 Introduction and Podcast Origins01:09 Mark Stay's Background and Bestseller

en

54:34

33 - The Myth of the Instant Bestseller, with JT...

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

2024/02/10

As our one and only return guest, JT Greathouse joins us for the launch of Season 2, this time in his capacity as a true-hybrid author (with a bookseller's eye). JT sold his debut, HAND OF THE SUN KING, to a UK publisher, but didn't get a USA deal. With the support and help of his literary agency, he opted to self-publish the American version in the States. This week, we talk about the process of getting your books into stores, the nitty gritty of distribution in relation to small presses, indie

en

51:20

31 - SEASON FINALE: Leverage, success, and life after...

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

2023/11/26

Our final show of the season! This week, we talk frankly about author leverage--what it means, and how to use it. We also discuss when and how to pitch new books on proposal, the impact of past sales on that process, and why Scott is (probably) walking away from writing trad fantasy as a result. Other topics: we reflect on regrets and highlights across the past year, do a quick summary of where we are, why we've slowed down, and what's going on, AND our plans for Season 2 (there will be one!) and

en

53:16

30 - Relaunching A Career, with Holly Race

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

2023/11/04

After being orphaned by multiple agents, and a COVID book launch that hamstrung her sales, Holly Race started again--querying with a fresh manuscript, in a different age category--before finally landing on her feet... for now! Today, we talk about the instability of trad; relaunching a career that stumbled; what Holly learned from reading tv scripts; moving from YA to adult; writing with the market in mind; the pitfalls of manuscript assessment services; and much more.

en

53:35

29 - Readerships, Sales, and Discoverability with...

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

2023/10/14

Does Twitter sell books? Do book tours improve sales? How do readers actually find authors in the first place? Across a fifteen-year-career, NYT best-selling author Gail Carriger talks about hitting list, collecting data on her readers, and walking away from bad book/film deals. Check the show notes to gain access to a wealth of info and author assistance, via her incredibly detailed blog. ###Show Notes And Links (written by Gail herself!)Website = gailcarriger.comResources tab for authors on Gail's

en

60:10

28 - The Art of Success, with Wesley Chu

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

2023/09/22

Against the odds, Wesley Chu's small-press debut novel became a break-out success. In the ten years since, he has published a dozen other titles, written for large IPs, signed deals with the Big 5, and even dabbled in self publishing. Today, he sits down to chat about unexpected wins, getting blacklisted by publicists, learning to write sex scenes with Diana Galbadon, industry trends for SFF, and many other things. #### SHOW NOTES ####Got through the Angry Robot slush pile, unagentedLives of Tau was

en

48 results

Similar Podcasts

Start The Breakthrough Full Audiobook Now, Thriller Fans!

thebookvoice.com

Get Hooked On The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!

thebookvoice.com

西四五条

主播郑捕头

Podcast Patapoe

0d0a

On Mic Podcast

Jordan Rich