17 Comments
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Andrew Boryga's avatar

Excellent interview. I greatly appreciate Sean’s work on Substack and his perspective. It cuts through all the noise and speculation that most people peddle.

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Katie Higgins's avatar

Thank you for this! Great questions and I really appreciate the level of candor in the responses. I've seen a lot of gripe about the lack of editing in books these days so it was nice to see it explained by someone who actually does it. I don't tend to think there should be less books published (because as you said about genres like poetry, I think if there were fewer books published the first to be at risk would be works by BIPOC and other minority writers), instead there should be the more difficult but more lasting opposite: better pay for the people doing the editing, more editors to share the work.

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Inkbeetle: writing & the weird's avatar

Interesting interview. I’m a UK author (trad published) and my acquiring editor does both jobs, so no split there. Not sure if it’s a big 5 phenomenon as I’m published by a large indie (Titan).

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Grant Snider's avatar

Great interview, Lincoln and Sean. The part about getting a manuscript as polished as possible before sending out rang painfully true. I've experienced this in the picture book and middle grade world as well (learning the hard way, forgetting, learning again). Here's to more great books in the hands of more devoted readers!

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Amanda McTigue's avatar

Thank you so much. Truly informative and heartening.

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James Marshall's avatar

A good interview, not just a 'puff piece.' Thank you.

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Ethan D. Chorin's avatar

interview resonated, and the blurb sold me on Metallic Realms …

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Lincoln Michel's avatar

Hope you dig!

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Ethan D. Chorin's avatar

I do! I’m halfway through ….

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Paul's avatar

Great interview - very helpful to see what it's like from the other side of the editing desk.

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Heidi Fiedler's avatar

So many good insights! Thank you for asking about positive trends too!

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Peter Shull's avatar

This was a nice and reassuring interview—thank you.

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

"as far as traditional “Big 5” publishing, we’re in the 10,000s of new print books a year." I would like to know how many new novels by the Big 5 are published each year, if anyone has an idea.

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Lisa Fransson's avatar

Thank you for this, so many good points, both about the "platform" and the need for readers to expand their reading habits.

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Susan Kietzman's avatar

Thanks for this - and for the encouraging news for midlist writers.

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Jennifer Louden's avatar

So helpful!

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Shelley Burbank's avatar

Hear, hear for book clubs! Enthusiastic readers who love to discuss, in detail, their chosen books-of-the-month. These are our people!

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