Happy Tuesday, writing friends!
Last week was 📕Books with Hooks 🪝week on the podcast, so you can find Carly and CeCe’s written query critiques below! Yesterday was Shooting the Shit day on the podcast - make sure you don’t miss out on CeCe and Carly spilling all the tea.
Today’s essay by Stacey Yu, author of Kitten, is titled Creating Content That Teaches Your Audience How to Read You.
“There is a difference between having a platform and creating content. While a platform might look powerful on paper, it can fail to translate into an engaged readership without good, effective content. I think about how the New York Times must still evolve its content to retain relevance (see the popularity of the 100 Best Books of the Century Interactive, a highly engaging piece of content, over traditional reviews). So, whether you’re publishing a book or just starting to write one, building a familiarity with content creation—not mere audience growth—can be helpful in the endless journey of advocating for your work.”
Our Meet Your Dream Agent profile is of Amy Collins from Talcott Notch Literary Services. We love what she had to say about what her favourite part of the job is:
“The hunt. I love looking for editors who will be a good fit for a project I love. I adore the research and setting up the Zoom meetings to get to know them. And I have built my client base by “hunting” for them. (Not as creepy as it sounds...) 6 years ago I was IN LOVE with Stacey McEwan’s TikTok videos and she mentioned she was writing a book. I reached out to her, begged her to let me read it. She sent it over with the note that she was self publishing it in 2 weeks. I loved it. I called her and asked her to please give me 5 weeks. Just 5 weeks to find it a home. We did it in 4. A Forsaken Prophecy (she is now with Saga) came out this week. It is the second in a trilogy and she is hitting the bestseller lists like it was child’s play. I have spent the remaining years repeating that process with authors like Jaysea Lynn, Momma Cusses, Devrie Brynn Donalson... I LOVE the hunt and the matchmaking that comes after.”
Amy’s profile is one our most informative yet - we promise you’ll want to study it!
Then, today’s Q&A with Laura Moriarty, author of Sunlight Finds You:
“When I “know” I want to go all in on a particular idea, I feel like I’m falling in love: I can’t stop thinking about the idea, and my rational brain (”will readers find this interesting? would a character really do that? can I do the research the idea requires without spinning my wheels for years?”) is on board as well. I put “know” in quotes because sometimes, especially when I have time to write (like a semester off teaching) but no good idea, a bad idea masquerading like a good idea can seduce me. In this way, it’s like falling in love as well. People who say ‘when you know you know’ regarding love didn’t know me in my twenties, when I grew highly skilled at ignoring red flags, ‘creatively’ coming up with narratives that obscured reality, etc. I now know that, well, any port in a storm, meaning my creative brain can take over and start spinning narratives (”I can make it work!”) that didn’t serve me romantically and won’t serve me in my creative decisions.”
You’ll also want to hear what Laura has to say about POVs!
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! ❤️
❤️ The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Team
This Week on ‘Shooting the Shit’
They are back! On this week’s episode of Shooting the Shit, Carly and CeCe tackle some of the biggest conversations in publishing, from the rise of AI detection controversies to the ethics of literary agent services. They discuss the recent Atlantic article accusing a bestselling author of using AI, why unreliable detection tools can have serious consequences, and what transparency should look like in publishing. They also unpack major changes to the AALA Canon of Ethics, including editorial services, referral fees, and what these updates could mean for authors. Plus, they answer a listener's question about the pros and cons of signing with a literary agent who’s also an author, and share an important reminder about publishing scams targeting writers.
Listen to it here or watch it on YouTube!
