How Books Are Made Arthur Attwell

Good agents are the fairy grandparents of page and screen. They get writers; and they get writers paid.
Most jobs in publishing are done by humans flying solo – writers and freelancers working from home, running their own show. That can be lonely work. Especially as a writer, it's just not possible, on your own, to know everything and everyone you need to know to turn your talent into a viable business. For that, most writers need an agent. What does an agent do? And how do you get one?
Aoife Lennon-Ritchie is the founder of the Lennon-Ritchie Agency, which works in commercial book publishing, and the managing director of Torchwood, which represents writers in film and TV. She joins Arthur to talk about being and getting an agent, negotiating contracts, and writing for TV and film.
Links from the show:
The Lennon-Ritchie AgencyTorchwood Literary & Scouting AgencyScreen Daily article about the launch of Torchwood.Publisher’s Weekly article on the 2022 Sharjah Book Fair, quoting Aoife.Sharjah International Book Fair‘Behind the Scenes: African Filmmakers and Writers on Interplay and Adaptation’ – a panel discussion including Aoife.

Open-access publishing models are so ubiquitous today that we forget they had to be invented first – by bold, generous publishers.
In this episode, Arthur talks to one of those inventors: Frances Pinter has been pioneering for decades, running her own academic publishing company for over twenty years, and then leading publishing programmes in Eastern Europe for the Open Society Institute. She’s been the founding publisher at Bloomsbury Academic, the CEO of Manchester University Press, a fellow at the LSE and the University of London, and founded the groundbreaking organisation Knowledge Unlatched. Today, she’s the Executive Chair of the Central European University Press.
Frances and Arthur talk about Knowledge Unlatched, her work in Eastern Europe, maintaining quality in publishing, the impact of open-access publishing on COVID research, and what it takes to start a new publishing business today.
Links from the show:
TOC 2010: Frances Pinter, "Rethinking the Role and Funding of Academic Book Publishing"Knowledge UnlatchedOpen Society FoundationsCentral European University PressOpen Climate CampaignPaperight

There are so many interesting people in book-making; people who cross boundaries and live for the thrill of making art with other people. People like Andrés Barragán: rock guitarist, engineer, writer, agent, and founder of Colombian publishing company Puntoaparte Editores.
For nearly 20 years, Andrés has been creating beautiful, infographic books for many of the world’s leading brands and organisations, winning multiple awards, and publishing his own books too. Before starting Puntoaparte, he was the lead guitarist for the influential hardcore band Ultrageno, and studied literature and industrial engineering. He has co-founded a literary agency, and is the author of Biblioperrito, a children’s book about a dog who loves books.
In this in-depth conversation, Andrés talks about his journey from musician to publisher, how his team makes infographic books, and what is changing about the way books are written and distributed.
Links from the show:
Puntoaparte EditoresWEF BiodiverCities reportPuntoaparte’s BiodiverCities book (free PDF download)Palaeontology book Hace Tiempo (free PDF download)Handbook for tourism guides in ColombiaBiblioperrito, the children’s bookRolling Stone, ‘50 great Colombian albums of the 21st century’Rolling Stone Colombia’s ‘25 great national albums’ republished by Polen RecordsUltrageno - La juega (music video on YouTube)

The biggest decision in publishing is ‘who gets published?’ Whose ideas, world views, and idioms get added to the great library?

When we create machines to handle the drudgery of book-making, we free up our brains for more creative work.

Few people have helped to publish as many children’s books, in as many different ways, as Alisha Niehaus Berger.