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

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 publishing--along with some thoughts on American football, and the shininess of Scott's teeth. Oh, and we think you'll love his "petty hill" segment at the end!

Topics covered:
Book advance sizes, and what they mean for your careerLeverage, and managing publishing relationshipsWhether publishers really can "stall" an author's careerCrucial contract clauses for the modern authorThe importance of literary agent relationshipsEditors getting insider book dealsFootball comparisonsBookscan inaccuracyAnd more!

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 of the kind of humor, content, and discussion that we cover on Pub Rodeo.
Transcripts + show notes are on our website, and on RSS.com.

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 can benefit indie authorsPaying for publicity (via Black Crow) in the UK specificallyCollaborative efforts with Orbit on marketing/publicity in the USABook Tours (an assessment and reflection)Finding an angle for pubs to useThinking about longterm goalsLitRPGs and why they remain indieTheories about the goal of OrbitWorks (digital only imprints)Chatter about jujitsu and other nonsense

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.

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 discuss the pressing question of how and why authors keep writing, despite it all. (Though this episode description may seem bleak, we promise it has a few laughs along the way.)

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 authors want a successful career, Sam stresses that this requires a long-term perspective and a focus on writing multiple books, as well as a creative and individual approach to self-marketing.

00:00 Introduction01:00 Background and Experience in the Publishing Industry04:11 The Role of Events in Book Marketing07:05 The Challenges of Filling Book Events09:00 The Value of Events for Debut Authors10:26 The Influence of Class and Connections in Publishing15:00 The Myth of the Slush Pile18:39 The Need for Engaging and Fun Book Events20:24 The Value of Indie Author Events25:26 The Role of Marketing and Publicity for Authors27:22 Working with Traditionally Published Authors31:33 The Challenges of Hiring PR and Marketing Services41:57 The Empowered Author and Building a Strong Author Platform