Print Run Podcast

This week we are thrilled to bring you an interview with Laura B. McGrath, whose new book MIDDLEMEN offers the largest-scale historical look at the field of literary agenting that we’ve ever seen. We talked to Laura about her experience talking to agents for the book, how being a debut writer herself has changed her view of publishing, and how what she has her eye on as publishing heads toward an uncertain future. This is one of our best conversations in the history of the show and we think you’ll love it. And be sure to buy MIDDLEMEN, available here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/middlemen-literary-agents-and-the-making-of-american-fiction-laura-b-mcgrath/df5cb73be04facb1?ean=9780691256160&next=t

This week we talk about the shifting nature of the politics/culture nonfiction book market–who do publishers imagine their readers to be? How does the broader political horizon change which sorts of books become “sellable” in this category? And most importantly, how have the last few months of violent occupation in the Twin Cities changed the way we see what a “politics book” should even be or do? If you want to participate in our Query Drive to benefit Open Market at the Zion Community Commons, send $100 to us via Paypal (printrunpodcast@gmail.com) or Venmo (Laura-Zats) and (if not a gift slot), email your query to printrunpodcast@gmail.com. If you want to claim a gifted critique, email us to let us know!

Episode 182—Print Run Goes Nano by Erik Hane and Laura Zats

This week we took a look at a substack piece (link below!) that argued that literary agents can’t or don’t read well, as a jumping-off point to discuss the big picture of the query process, the ways we sort through a high volume of submissions, when art becomes boring business emails, and much more. We can read, we promise! The piece in question is here: https://antipodes.substack.com/p/literary-agents-dont-read-how-i-proved

In light of the recent revelations about Unbound/Boundless’s failure to pay their debts to their authors, we talked about what went wrong, what flawed publishing impulse these mistakes come from, and the importance of publishing companies not pursuing growth at all costs. We also yell a little bit about AI. Come unpack the horrors with us!

This week we look at the announcement of a fascinating new agreement between eight small publishers that revolves around sharing shipping costs as a way to discuss the concept of cooperation in our industry; what do co-op initiatives like this do for the survival of independent publishing–or agenting, or writing, or anything else outside the industry’s largest corporate structures? We talk about how cooperation actually exists in opposition to consolidation, and the ways moves like this can actually free up the ability to take editorial and artistic risks.

This week we use one of publishing’s favorite new portmanteaus–romantasy–to talk about the fluid nature of genre and subgenre, and discuss the ways in which these endless classifications can help bring new readers into a given category of book, as well as what drawbacks occur when we get more and more specific with our book taxonomy. We arrive at a key conclusion: the thing being categorized is not the book, but rather its readers. Join us!

This week we talk about the functional death of social media as a promotional tool in the publishing industry. Now that we all agree that these platforms are actively corrosive to not only our body politic but literary culture specifically, where do we go next? What forms of cultural production might actually get people excited about books again, once we detach ourselves from the Slop Machines? We explore that vision and more. Join us!

On the heels of some recent discourse on the trust between querying writers and agents managing submission piles, we go long on the culture of trust–or lack thereof–that exists between these two parts of the publishing industry, why it occurs, and what could fix it. We talk about the nature of ideas and copyright, the structures of the modern literary agency, publishing culture, and much more. It’s a fun and fiery episode–hope you enjoy!

This week we get a little bit mad at the Forced Waiting that publishing imposes on all of us, and it builds to a call to arms: you–writers, agents, editors, whoever–don’t just have to wait quietly for progress to happen to you. No matter your situation in publishing, you can get out there and make something happen as a person with agency and the owner of your own career and path. We address the flipside too, of course: agents (including us!) need to adjust our habits so that there’s less silence, waiting, and wondering. The world is burning! Let’s make moves!

This week’s theme, across multiple topics, is that workers in publishing deserve to be paid and supported in all the ways required for them to live well and do their jobs to the best of their abilities. We start with a chat about the Half Price Books Union’s contract negotiations, and finish with a look at the recent survey data from AALA. Join us!

In the wake of what feels like an endless round of layoffs, restructurings, consolidations, and any other corporate terms for “good people losing their jobs,” we talk about how this constant reshuffling affects the industry as a whole and specifically our jobs as agents. Spoiler alert: it’s not great! But we talk through it and let the feelings out, and do our best to express some solidarity along the way. Join us.

This week in the wake of a LOT of agency shakeups, we asked an extremely basic question: what if the publishing world treated writers like they were professionals? This frame lets us talk about the discourse from the past few weeks, all which shares the common theme of “treating writers really poorly.” Come vent with us, come laugh with us, come imagine a better way of doing things with us.