Publishing Demystification

Interview: Fisher the Bookseller Explains How Bookstores Decide Which Books to Sell

The ins and outs of how books are bought and sold in bookstores

Nov 6 •

To Understand What Books Are Published, You Must Understand How Books Are Sold

Plus cyborg baseball and the Anthropic AI author settlement info

Oct 2 •

The Book Club Industrial Complex, Speculative Detectives, Remembering Maxine Clair, and Other Sunday Sundries

A Sunday roundup of writing-related things from the past week.

Sep 28 •

Scattered Thoughts on the State of Book Reviews

rainy day thoughts on a rainy day

Sep 10 •

Brooks, Books, and the Imagined Realties of Publishing

One last post on "decline of literature" discourse...

Jul 16 •

The Forever Dying and the Always Dead; or, Literary Fiction and the Novel

A long post on the state of "literary fiction," book sales, and the culture at large

Jun 24 •

Interview: Editor Sean deLone on How Modern Publishing Actually Works

A conversation about the evolving role of editors, how books get "into shape," and the good and bad of publishing today

Jun 19 •

The Writer as Chimera (and Where Substack Fits In)

Or MFA vs. NYC vs. Streaming TV vs. Substack Feed vs...

Jun 3 •

The Age of Genre Bending, Blending, and Juxtaposing

Thoughts on the most important literary trend of the last 25 years, and novels that juxtapose different genres side by side.

May 6 •

How to Read a Royalty Statement

The ins-and-outs of getting paid for publishing a book

Apr 18 •

Is the American Bibliography Shrinking?

Writers don't seem to be writing, or at least publishing, as much as they used to

Mar 12 •

Why ChatGPT Is a Balloon and the Book Is a Bicycle

If AI is going to transport literature to new heights, why can't anyone explain how?

Feb 10 •

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