Shooting the Shit About "The Put Down, Pick Up Test"

Shooting the Shit About "The Put Down, Pick Up Test"

From The Shit No One Tells You About Writing by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

August 24, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

Carly and CeCe discuss the gut-level feeling agents have when they find something special, the importance of a strong premise, and current issues in publishing including scams and AI.

Carly and CeCe are back for another Shooting the Shit, talking about that gut-level feeling that makes an agent know they’ve found something special—and why a great premise still has to deliver all the way through. The literary agents also tackle the latest publishing scams targeting writers, AI watermarking and transparency, and the growing tension around publishers using AI in parts of the business. Plus, they dig into the “put-down, pick-up test”. As mentioned on the podcast (please copy and paste the URL into your browser): https://janefriedman.com/after-editing-two-ai-assisted-manuscripts-i-rewrote-my-client-agreement/ https://andibartz.substack.com/p/publishing-is-under-a-full-fledged?r=h5j0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer https://dearheadofmine.substack.com/p/submissions-redux-red-yellow-and?r=h5j0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency…

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