Podcasts by Print Run Podcast
Print Run is a podcast created and hosted by Laura Zats and Erik Hane. Its aim is simple: to have the conversations surrounding the book and writing industries that too often are glossed over by conventional wisdom, institutional optimism, and false seriousness.
Further podcasts by Erik Hane and Laura Zats
Podcast on the topic Bücher
All episodes
Episode 166—Give ‘Em What They’re Owed from 2023-10-04T17:29:23
This week’s theme, across multiple topics, is that workers in publishing deserve to be paid and supported in all the ways required for them to live well and do their jobs to the best of their abili...
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Episode 165—Private Equity, AI, and the Techification of Publishing from 2023-08-16T16:27:13
This week we use two recent stories–the acquisition of Simon&Schuster by the investment firm KKR and the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence usage in various book-related shenanigans–as a way ...
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Episode 164—Level Drain from 2023-07-27T14:44:10
In the wake of what feels like an endless round of layoffs, restructurings, consolidations, and any other corporate terms for “good people losing their jobs,” we talk about how this constant reshuf...
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Episode 163—The Annual Summer Vibe-isode from 2023-06-09T19:49:52
We’ve had a lot of Serious Content lately and it’s a summer Friday, so come take a break with us while we chat about what we’ve got going on this summer, in terms of book stuff and otherwise. One o...
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Episode 162—Turning Over the Same Leaf from 2023-05-23T16:48:36
This week in the wake of a LOT of agency shakeups, we asked an extremely basic question: what if the publishing world treated writers like they were professionals? This frame lets us talk about the...
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Episode 161—Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss from 2023-05-12T16:48:33
This week we talk about everyone’s favorite publishing topic that never gives anyone anxiety: gatekeeping and access! We explore how agents can do better jobs of creating an equitable and open play...
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Episode 160—What is Love from 2023-03-29T18:38:36
We’ve heard it so many times in so many places: editors falling in love with books, agents loving manuscripts from the first page, deal announcements centered on how much every party involved LOVES...
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Episode 159—All the Strange Silences from 2023-03-14T13:55:35
At many different moments in the publishing process, we are asked to stay quiet about news, or keep certain developments secret, or not post the thing we’re dying to share on social media. How come...
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Episode 158—The Books That Made Us from 2023-01-31T15:35:18
This week we gave each other a prompt: which books have been the most transformative or influential in shaping our book careers? It’s an open-ended question and we took it that way–in this episode ...
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Episode 157—Fresh Off the Picket Line with Rachel Kambury from 2022-12-08T18:42:21
This week we were lucky enough to have HarperCollins associate editor Rachel Kambury on the show, and we talked to her all about her union’s strike, what about their working conditions led them to ...
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Episode 156—Welcome to Decembo from 2022-12-01T16:32:56
Folks, it is that time of year once again. As we set off on our yearly month of holiday memes and other nonsense, we’re adding in some real reflection on the truths that a strange, volatile year of...
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Episode 155—Tweets and Strikes from 2022-11-21T15:42:28
This week we take a look at the HarperCollins Union’s strike for better working conditions, discuss the possible destruction of Twitter, and in general share how we navigate the strangest part of t...
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Episode 154—Object Lessons from 2022-10-07T14:36:30
This week’s convo starts out as a discussion of our relationships with books as physical objects and ends up… everywhere? We talk about how we associate meaning and memory with books, our reading h...
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Episode 153--A New Achilles Heel from 2022-08-19T17:02:42
This week we talk about Barnes&Noble’s decision to stock fewer hardcover titles, especially in YA and MG categories. How will this affect debut writers and marginalized creators, why might they mak...
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Episode 152--Show Trial from 2022-08-12T17:29:14
This week we talk about–what else–the court case involving the DOJ vs. PRH, regarding their attempted merger with Simon&Schuster. Specifically, we analyze how the executives testifying have been ta...
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Episode 151—The Pettisode from 2022-06-02T15:41:26
Pettiness! Jealousy! Stop lying, you’ve felt it as much as the next person, especially in an industry like publishing. So have we, and here we present a full, honest episode on how we process those...
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Episode 150—No Thoughts Just Toucans from 2022-05-27T14:03:18
This… is one of our more loose episodes ever. We sit down and catch up on everything from what we’re reading to how Laura avoids death while foraging in the woods, from an analysis of what makes a ...
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Episode 149–Critique, Awards, and Subjectivity from 2022-04-12T13:59:55
This week, in light of recent heated discourse around what awards like the Lambda are “for,” we thought we’d break down why awards and indeed all literary criticism are not meant to be objective si...
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Episode 148—All the Wrong Lessons from 2022-03-14T15:00:06
This week we talk about Brandon Sanderson’s wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for his next novels, a move so bold and unique that we simply have to ask: what wrong and/or inapplicable lessons ...
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Episode 147—Publishing’s Great Resignation from 2022-03-01T16:22:01
WOW it is nice to be back in the recording studio! In our first episode this side of Erik having a child, we talk about the recent trend of editors leaving their jobs and even outright leaving the ...
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Episode 146—The Baby Hane-isode from 2021-09-27T14:46:14
On the “season finale” episode before Erik goes on paternity leave for a few months, we talk about the many swirling feelings around going on leave in the publishing industry, artistic anxiety in t...
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Episode 145—RWA Madness, or: What Should Literary Institutions Actually Do? from 2021-08-18T15:22:48
After another RWA mess surrounding their recent issuing of the Vivian Award, we use the occasion to ask a fundamental question: what’s the point of these organizations, and how can we make them do ...
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Episode 144—The Summer To Loon-isode from 2021-08-18T15:17:08
This week, we made the whole plane out of To Loon It May Concerns. We spent the episode answering your most burning and specific publishing questions, from all corners of the writing and publishing...
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Episode 143—Irreplaceable from 2021-06-22T15:52:28
It’s summer, and in publishing that means one thing: we’re all getting each other’s out-of-offices. In this episode we talk about how, actually, that’s a good thing--it underscores that people in t...
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Episode 142—Change the Frame from 2021-06-02T19:54:10
This week we take a look at the far too slanted battlefield on which people who want change in publishing are forced to fight--and how, rather than responding to each new publishing injustice on a ...
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Episode 141—Science, Fake Science, and Publishing from 2021-04-12T16:03:52
This week we talk about the state of nonfiction publishing amidst the changing conditions of both the industry and the wider world--how has a pandemic and political turbulence affected our relation...
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Episode 140—Speculation on the Speculative from 2021-04-06T16:00:36
This week we take on a term we all love but can never quite pin down: speculative fiction. What do industry people--and readers--mean when they say “speculative,” and what does the distinction betw...
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Episode 139— Taste and Agency from 2021-03-15T15:22:07
This week we take a look at Laura McGrath’s fascinating paper on how literary agents shape the acquisitions landscape. It’s got a lot of insights we agree with and some things we push back on a bit...
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Episode 138—Literary Survival from 2021-03-09T16:05:39
This week, we unpack a fascinating essay about the ways in which Philip Roth managed his authorial image and career, and the various questions it raises about what “success” is, how to be a good li...
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Episode 137—THE BACKISODE from 2021-02-22T15:46:14
We’re back! In our first episode since going on leave in late 2020, we talk about how our approach and views toward the industry may have shifted since our time of last recording. This transitions ...
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Episode 136—Thinking Small from 2020-09-15T15:14:48
After updating our discussion on the ethics of “news” books in light of Bob Woodward’s new controversial book, we use the occasion of Headwater’s first birthday to talk about the state of modern pu...
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Episode 135—The Publishing Binary from 2020-08-26T15:23:37
It’s great to be back! This week we catch up on some recent discussions in the book world, by way of first talking through why IP projects can be so beneficial for everyone involved, and then about...
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Episode 134—The Letter from 2020-07-14T15:40:16
This week we talk about the open letter published in Harper’s that supposedly advocates for free speech and open debate--we think it’s actually an argument for something far more pernicious, and on...
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Episode 133—Weird, Weird Summer from 2020-06-23T16:32:43
Well, it’s summer. Typically that’s a slow period in publishing, but this year feels different for a variety of reasons we try to work through in our discussion, along with some thoughts on how our...
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Episode 132—Pressure Points from 2020-06-10T17:24:47
This week, on the heels of what feels like a whole slew of notable publishing stories in response to heightened discussions on race and privilege in the industry, we talk about whiteness. This is a...
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Episode 131—Welcome to the OmergerdVerse from 2020-05-27T18:56:39
This week, we’re talking about a fascinating copyright case involving two authors working within a larger fanfiction universe known as the Omegaverse. It’s . . . a lot, as you’ll soon find out, but...
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Episode 130—The Bookstore at the End of the World, featuring Genay Jackson and Wynne Kontos from 2020-05-12T16:36:35
This week we are excited to have an interview with Genay Jackson and Wynne Kontos, two booksellers who are a part of the Bookstore at the End of the World. They tell us about their experience being...
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Episode 129—VAMPIRES BACK from 2020-05-05T17:11:34
This week, with the announcement of Stephenie Meyer’s forthcoming book, we take on a question as old as time itself: are vampires back? It’s a conversation about how trends are formed, what they me...
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Episode 128—“Am I Good Enough?” from 2020-04-21T13:54:10
As a means of trying to be more uplifting than recent weeks, we take on that everpresent fear all writers have: in relation to publishing, are you good enough? Obviously craft and skill matter, but...
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Episode 127—Publishing’s Pandemic Response from 2020-04-07T15:33:44
This week, we talk about the ways in which publishing has, has not, and could respond to the new conditions presented by the pandemic, and why certain choices made well before 2020 have set up curr...
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Episode 126—Socially Distanced from 2020-03-24T14:11:41
From our own respective isolations, we do a nice little wellness check on each other, and talk about how coronavirus has affected our work, the publishing industry, and even how we and other book p...
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Episode 125—Print Run Live, featuring Eric Smith! from 2020-03-10T14:25:58
This week’s episode is a recording of our live show from last week at Subtext Books here in Saint Paul, where we talked with Eric Smith about his new novel DON’T READ THE COMMENTS, how he balances ...
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Episode 124—Publishing About Publishing from 2020-02-25T15:07:37
We talk about the announced deal for the novel The Other Black Girl, a great-sounding book set within the publishing industry that will surely generate all sorts of discussion. We then discuss how ...
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Episode 123—Work Life from 2020-02-18T15:12:59
We’re back! Laura recently transitioned to agenting full time, and now that the dust has cleared it gives us the chance to talk about the strange calculations in work-life balance nearly everyone i...
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Episode 122—American Dirt from 2020-01-28T16:13:02
This week, in addition to singing some sweet 90s pop, we talk through the many facets of the mess surrounding the novel American Dirt. What does this whole saga reveal about publishing’s biases, ho...
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Episode 121—Every Item on the Menu from 2020-01-14T15:25:35
After a quick RWA update, we try to do a segment on resolutions and predictions for 2020, and while we do end up getting there after some deft transition work, we somehow end up talking about the S...
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Episode 120—RWA, and What Writing Institutions Should Be from 2019-12-31T15:14:26
In the wake of the still-unfolding RWA mess, we share our perspectives on what’s gone so badly wrong, and why we feel these problems are--at least in part--intrinsic to the sort of writing institut...
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Episode 119—The Holiday Party from 2019-12-17T18:02:08
It’s a pretty loose one this week. We talk about where we’re at as we draw toward the end of the year, share some memories from the year, give a delicious recipe for Oreo balls, it’s a whole thing....
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Episode 118—The Decembosode from 2019-12-10T15:27:37
This week we talk through the reason for the season, in this stretch after National Novel Writing Month--self-editing and evaluation, and how to decide when something is ready to show others and pr...
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Episode 117—The One Before Thanksgiving from 2019-11-26T15:25:29
This episode covers an interesting recent piece on the continual publishing of right-wing garbage books, how best to design a contest or grant for marginalized creators (and how that project can go...
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Episode 116—Hope, Risk, and Tinfoil from 2019-11-12T15:46:53
After checking in on #NaNoWriMo, we talk about the recent PW article that wondered aloud whether publishing is “too top-heavy.” It is, but not for the reasons the article suggests! Then we debut ou...
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Episode 115—Doing Some Swears from 2019-10-23T22:46:40
This week we talk about the new California law that’s supposedly designed to help freelancers, but in practice will further devalue their work and the work of staff writers at publications. From th...
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Episode 114—Working Both Sides from 2019-10-15T14:46:29
After a quick response to the Booker award announcement and a note on censorship, today we talk about the unique dynamic of people in publishing also being creators who get published. What can be l...
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Episode 113—Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Loon from 2019-10-08T14:38:28
This week’s discussion is centered on the idea of long versus short-term expectations in artistic careers, the pressures that make thinking about both difficult, and the role agents play in helping...
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Episode 112—Nashville from 2019-09-17T14:41:07
We’re back from Nashville, where we attended the Digital Book World conference! We talk about what we saw at the conference and recap the evening in which we were lucky enough to walk away with a p...
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Episode 111—The Big New Thing from 2019-09-10T11:14:10
After quickly running through the publishing news of the past few weeks and deciding whether each thing is Good or Bad, we talk about some news of our own: as of today, we’ve launched our own agenc...
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Episode 110—Preorders, Crossovers, and the Ways Publishers and Readers Engage from 2019-08-20T14:25:13
This week we talk about how the new emphasis on preorders for book sales has changed the way books are purchased, discussed, marketed, and evaluated by publishers. It’s a self-reinforcing feedback ...
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Episode 109—Who Wants Some Pie from 2019-08-06T14:42:56
After a rousing conversation about 1) pie and 2) the joys of novels that can’t be made into good movies, we talk about Macmillan’s new decision to restrict library purchases of ebooks. The (questio...
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Episode 108—Caption This from 2019-07-23T14:54:28
That classic online book retailer / Pentagon contract candidate is at it again, folks. With the announcement of Audible’s new audiobook feature called “Captions,” we talk about how it mostly amount...
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Episode 107—July, July from 2019-07-16T17:15:24
It’s hot and muggy out, and we use that as an opportunity to examine one of publishing’s oldest pieces of conventional wisdom, that the industry grinds to a halt in the summer. We discuss how, rath...
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Episode 106—The One with the Paint Fumes from 2019-07-02T15:18:55
Hello from the recording studio, where a large paint job is in progress--but it’s only making the takes stronger. Today we talk about the recent New York Times article about the rampant fraud and c...
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Episode 105—What Should Agents Do? from 2019-06-18T14:41:32
...It’s a big, open-ended question, but it’s one we ask ourselves this week with regard to how the role of agents and agencies could shift to meet the needs of modern publishing. We talk through so...
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Episode 104—The Cancelers Become The Canceled from 2019-06-11T15:14:27
This week, in light of the Natasha Tynes story, we discuss the trend of books being canceled by publishers due to bad behavior online by their authors. In a time when authors often find themselves ...
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Episode 103—Talking About Talking About Books (with Nathan Goldman) from 2019-05-28T19:23:57
This week we’re joined by literary critic and editor Nathan Goldman to talk about the current state of book discourse, and the role literary criticism plays in the broader publishing ecosystem, esp...
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Episode 102—The Hope-isode from 2019-05-14T14:23:31
After a few weeks of covering various bits of doom and gloom in the publishing world, people asked us: “why would you or anyone want to take part in this industry?” That’s actually a very good ques...
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Episode 101—Print Run Morning Drive Time Radio Hour from 2019-05-07T15:42:48
We recorded in the morning this time, and the results… the results are something. In light of publishers turning down Woody Allen’s memoir, we talk about the publisher role as tastemaker--and how f...
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Episode 100—Print Run 100 from 2019-04-23T14:52:06
We’ve made it to our 100th episode! Mostly this week we spend a little time reflecting on where the show has been, how it’s changed itself and us, and how the book world we’ve been talking about si...
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Episode 99—WGA Walks Away from 2019-04-16T14:49:23
Our main conversation this week is about the recent decision by the Writers Guild of America to push forward in encouraging its members to fire their agents, despite mounting pressure and uncertain...
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Episode 98—You Betcha from 2019-04-09T14:38:35
After some lighter conversation about Laura’s recent Wisconsin book trip, what we’re reading, and who the writerly voice of the millennial generation might be, we talk about Stacey Abrams’s romance...
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Episode 97—The April Fools from 2019-04-02T14:35:48
In light of another RITA award controversy, we discuss the different ways that the literary world hands out prizes, and discuss the interplay between readers, writers, and critics when it comes to ...
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Episode 96—The English Patients from 2019-03-26T14:30:27
We’re back, with a recap of our time at the London Book Fair! It was a trip that reminded us of where we sit in the vast constellation of publishing as an industry, and we got to see how the rubber...
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Episode 95—Comps, Comps, Comps from 2019-02-26T15:54:08
This week’s episode is all about comp titles--far from being just something you put in a query letter, comps are how the whole industry talks to itself, and in many ways that practice has come to s...
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Episode 94—Speaking To The Manager from 2019-02-19T15:40:37
This week’s show features a discussion on the tricky nature of writing fiction about real historical figures, and the heavy responsibility a writer carries in managing source material, historical g...
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Episode 93—Grammar and Power from 2019-02-12T14:13:34
In this week’s show, we discuss everyone’s favorite topic: grammar. How do certain conventions in grammar, syntax, and punctuation end up as class signifiers or tools for enforcing other systems of...
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Episode 92—We’re Not Teching Our Way Out of This from 2019-02-05T16:27:49
We survived the cold! This week we take a look at Wattpad’s new plan to create a full-service publisher and “revolutionize” the media industry (lol), especially in light of further traditional impr...
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Episode 91—Writing Viral from 2019-01-22T15:28:17
In light of the NYT’s critical response to the debut story collection from Kristen Roupenian (author of “Cat Person”), we trace the publishing route from the initial story’s viral success to where ...
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Episode 90—Everybody Settle Down from 2019-01-15T16:24:22
This week, we take stock of three bizarre and unsettling publishing stories: the apparent missteps in the reporting and fact-checking in Jill Abramson’s new book, the author Sherrilyn Kenyon filing...
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Episode 89—Welcome To Another Year Of Books from 2019-01-08T15:18:34
Happy new year, everyone! On the first Print Run of 2019, We take a look at the year ahead by going through what we’re excited about in the book world, what we’re scared of, predictions, and resolu...
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Episode 88—Print Run Holiday Gift Guide 2018! from 2018-12-11T15:37:32
Folks, it’s that time of year again. After a riveting new edition of everyone’s favorite Australia-themed segment What’s Going On Down There, we get into some gift suggestions for the Print Run fan...
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Episode 87—Scandal Makers from 2018-12-04T15:11:57
As we come back from a few weeks off, we spent this episode getting caught up on all the times people in the book world got mad recently, including the Nora Roberts-Tomi Adeyemi kerfuffle (and spin...
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Episode 86—Trial and Error from 2018-11-13T15:29:52
This week we pay respects to Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee, who died this week at age 95. Then we get into one of the most pervasive yet undiscussed topics in all of publishing: failure. Trying things th...
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Episode 85—The Celebs are At It Again from 2018-11-06T15:08:38
Folks . . . The celebs, there are so many. This week--after digging into a delightful historical episode of a book-theft epidemic in Australia—we explore the concept of celebrity book clubs and the...
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Episode 84—Red Dead Novel Writing Month from 2018-10-30T14:46:33
This week, after working through our thoughts on National Novel Writing Month (happy writing, everyone!), we discuss the intriguing critical response to the video game “Red Dead Redemption 2.” Apar...
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Episode 83—Post-Wedded Bliss from 2018-10-23T14:51:54
We’re back! Fresh off the both of us having our respective weddings, we get caught up quickly on the last few weeks of publishing news before diving into the topic of creative and literary burnout....
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Episode 82—Awards and Canons from 2018-09-24T15:04:52
We’ve got freshly announced National Book Award and Man Booker finalist lists to discuss, so we give our impressions on what we’re seeing, how these lists relates to the broad Book Conversation tha...
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Episode 81—The Machine Made Me Do It from 2018-09-20T14:40:22
This week, we found a very strange new “writing residency” model that, while obviously dangerous in this instance, we feel could crop up more and more. The sheer precarity of the writing life is go...
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Episode 80—Hedging Bets from 2018-09-10T14:42:14
This week, after swatting another terrible article about YA literature out of the sky, we talk about the perceived moral stands publishers are able with regard to “controversial” authors. Publisher...
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Episode 79—To Loon It May Concern from 2018-08-30T14:30
This week we debut our new advice-column segment, where we try get a handle on the messiest book situations our listeners have found themselves in. We’ve got some critique-group quandaries this wee...
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Episode 78—Soap, Crimes, and Deckled Edges from 2018-08-22T14:30:41
Laura’s back from WorldCon, so we catch up by talking about all sorts of things, from the convention itself and the YA “soap controversy,” to the dangers of grifty politics books and everyone’s fav...
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Episode 77—Call and Response from 2018-08-07T16:46:35
On the heels of recent publishing news as well as the response to NYT’s hiring of Sarah Jeong, this week’s show focuses on a phenomenon that is only going to get more common: bad-faith mobs appeali...
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Episode 76—The One With the Curry Recipe from 2018-07-31T17:20:59
This week, in the deepest valley of the summer doldrums, we mostly just catch up and talk about various things on our agenting plates: what we’re reading, how summer work in publishing is going, be...
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Episode 75—Something Rotten from 2018-07-26T14:44:50
We dig into this week’s allegations of fraud in the agent world, as well as the problems with this year’s WorldCon. Both topics serve as a means of asking a larger question: on the front end of pub...
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Print Run RPG: Character Creation! from 2018-07-17T16:22:55
Welcome, at long last, to Print Run’s first foray into Call of Cthulhu! In this preview episode, the two of us set the stage by creating the characters we’ll use to play through the game. In a reve...
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Episode 74 — Escapism vs. Activism from 2018-07-03T14:09:57
This week, we tackle a fundamental question of the writing life in our current political moment: should writing fiction help us escape realities for a while, or should it offer thoughtful engagemen...
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A Note on Funds for Kid Lit Says No Kids in Cages from 2018-06-26T14:47:49
Just an abbreviated discussion this week, because you guys gave us so much to do! We are incredibly heartened by how much money you all raised for organizations fighting child separation on the bor...
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Episode 73—Speculation on the Speculative from 2018-06-19T14:54:18
This week’s show takes a look at the subtle differences between categories like literary science fiction/fantasy and speculative fiction, first in terms of craft and then in terms of selling catego...
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Episode 72—What About the Money from 2018-06-12T14:29:56
This week we tackle an underlying, often silent argument put forth to writers by many different parties in publishing: that the money one might get from writing books should be considered unsustain...
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Episode 71—One Weird Trick from 2018-06-05T14:49:26
Goodreads released a fascinating article about how the team behind Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere used the site to fuel the book’s rise to the bestseller list, so we dig into it and examine w...
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Episode 70—At the Top of Our Voice from 2018-05-30T14:01:06
This week we hash out the latest updates to #cockygate, because Book Twitter will never stop and neither will we. We also spend some time on the major embezzlement case coming from Chuck Palahniuk’...
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Episode 69—The Publishing Ecosystem from 2018-05-22T14:32:57
In light of Romantic Times closing, we talk about how certain publishing institutions come to occupy indispensable spaces within the publishing community, and how part of moving the industry forwar...
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Episode 68—Publishing D&D from 2018-05-15T14:27:26
Things get a bit off the rails this week when a conversation about tabletop gaming eventually turns into us imagining what a publishing-themed D&D campaign might look like! Join us as we conjure up...
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Episode 67—Cocky from 2018-05-08T14:11:29
We’re back and thank goodness, because tons has happened in the book world over the last couple weeks. First, we tackle the serious stuff—the latest set of abuse allegations against literary figure...
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Episode 66 — Vinegar Hearts from 2018-04-10T14:58:03
This week—after spending a couple minutes chatting about the insanity of the dumb fight about misandry in publishing—we take a look at the recent industry conversation surround Pitch Wars and entra...
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Episode 65 — Branding is Being from 2018-04-03T14:21:41
This week, we talk about Sean Penn’s deeply terrible debut novel, and give him the First Pages Show treatment—it’s very cathartic. We also discuss the implications of Microsoft cracking down on exp...
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Episode 64 — The OCTOCOM from 2018-03-27T14:48:28
This week we present a heartwarming tale about the time when stupid college-aged Erik thought he had a TV agent for a script about an octopus. It’s . . . well it’s really something, and most import...
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Episode 63—The Novel is Dead Now, Everyone Go Home from 2018-03-21T14:20:09
This week, we get some laughs in about Will Self's belief that the novel is dying as an art form, share some stories of good and bad book events, briefly discuss the John Oliver-Mike Pence book ker...
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Episode 62—Self on the Shelf from 2018-03-13T15:02:37
We're back! This week we talk about the new "Kent Test" for evaluating diverse representation in books, and then broaden out to discuss what effects things like the Bechdel Test have on our discuss...
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Episode 61—The Kids are All Right from 2018-02-27T15:30:36
Curtis Dawkins, author of The Graybar Hotel, is back in the news this week, as the Michigan penitentiary in which he is currently imprisoned has stated it believes it has a claim to his royalty mon...
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Episode 60 — Making Publishing Safer from 2018-02-13T15:48:36
This week, after discussing Washington Post’s incorporation of Amazon’s proprietary data into their bestseller lists, we discuss what appears to be the onset of book publishing’s reckoning with sex...
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Episode 59—The NBA Goes Worldwide from 2018-02-06T15:57:35
This week, we examine the fascinating decision by the National Book Awards to introduce a category for translated literature. What does this mean for our concept of a “national” award, and how migh...
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Episode 58—Old Presses, New Novelists, and a Tactical Podcasting Vest from 2018-01-30T15:49:17
Folks, this week it’s a smattering of things: in light of being placed on a “best podcasts for first-time novelists” list, we thought it would be a good idea to, well, provide some advice to those ...
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Episode 57 — Power-Move Blue from 2018-01-23T16:14:11
This week, we take a look at the recent controversy surrounding the Midwest Writers Workshop, and make some suggestions as to how the national and regional writing communities might be able to avoi...
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Episode 56—50 Shades of Loon from 2018-01-09T15:16:47
Happy new year! We ring in 2018 by discussing the many publishing details of the fervor surrounding Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury. Success for publishers is always good, but a few things about this...
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Episode 55—Wrap It Up from 2017-12-19T15:20:30
In our last episode of 2017, we take the time for some observations about the year that was, and make some predictions for what 2018 might hold for the book world. We also touch on the new deal for...
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Episode 54—The Print Run Holiday Gift Guide! from 2017-12-12T15:22:42
Got a writer or book person in your life this holiday season? Then you’ll need the Print Run Holiday Gift Guide, full of terrific gift suggestions like a journal too fancy and expensive to ever use...
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Episode 53—The One Where We Talk About the Bad Sex in Fiction Award from 2017-12-05T15:21:22
This week, we take a look at the truly tremendous contenders for the Bad Sex in Fiction Award, clearly the most prestigious fiction prize in all the land. Then, in light of a recent heated discussi...
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Episode 52—MSWL, Manuscript Academy, and Where We Go From Here from 2017-11-21T15:38:38
After a quick recap of the National Book Award winners, this week’s episode features a detailed and passionate interview with one of the co-founders of MSWL and Manuscript Academy, literary agent J...
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Episode 51—Skip to the Good Part from 2017-11-14T15:19:45
This week we take a look at one of the more intriguing new innovations in publishing tech, Audible’s Romance Package. It’s an example of a company directly responding to the specific needs of a spe...
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Episode 50—A Year of Slush from 2017-11-07T16:04:13
Now a year removed from the 2016 presidential election, most everyone is feeling distracted, addled, preoccupied, and often worse. No surprise, then, that this has extended to the sorts of books wr...
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Episode 49—NaNoWriMo Begins from 2017-10-31T14:26:04
With November right around the corner, we set our sights on National Novel Writing Month, debating the “rules” of the crazed month of writing while offering up some of our own, along with a vision ...
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Episode 48—Back in the Saddle from 2017-10-24T14:12:51
We’re back! After three weeks away, we kick off season two of Print Run by catching up on all the book news from the past few weeks, including the embarrassing Amazon beauty pageant happening acros...
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Episode 47—Better (fake) Awards! from 2017-09-26T14:09:56
We got a little bored of the standard literary award categories, so we decided to make up some new ones and hand out some hardware. Along with our fake award show, we also ended up litigating a cop...
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Episode 46—Awards Season (Again!) from 2017-09-19T14:25:52
It’s awards season in the book world, so this week we break down the longlists for the four National Book Award categories, as well as the shortlist for the Man Booker. What do award lists say abou...
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Episode 45—Titlerama from 2017-09-13T02:20:48
Most writers think of their book titles as a craft element, but is that how the publishing industry treats the names of its books? We talk about the many considerations that go into picking and twe...
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Episode 44—Griftopia from 2017-08-29T13:54:49
This week’s show takes a look at one of the zanier schemes the book world has seen in a while, in which a book almost no one had ever heard of debuted at number one on the NYT bestseller list. How’...
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Episode 43—Who Gets to Talk? from 2017-08-22T14:18:35
We recently heard it said as advice for writers: “be careful with your opinions online.” It raised our eyebrows, and so on this week’s show we debate whether or not this is a truth writers should t...
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Episode 42—Anatomy of a Bestseller from 2017-08-15T03:30:45
This week, we walk through the many junctures in the publishing process—both within a publisher’s control and not—that lead to a book becoming a breakout bestseller. Every book is different, of cou...
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Episode 41—Criticism, Criticism from 2017-08-08T14:55:10
In light of Michiko Kakutani leaving the New York Times, we discuss the changing roles of print book reviews and the literary critical establishment in the modern age. We also talk about that time ...
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Episode 40—What's YA? from 2017-07-25T14:17:17
This week, Laura walks us through the history of Young Adult literature in an attempt to answer a question that seems to never go away: what, exactly, is YA? We discuss why the category is so often...
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Episode 39 — Write the Book, George from 2017-07-18T14:53:39
With the return of Game of Thrones to TV, it’s the right time to talk about the many fascinating writing and publishing aspects of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. How has the series ma...
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Episode 38—The People's Court from 2017-07-11T14:37:54
This episode has it all: a recap of Laura’s time at a SF/F convention; a bad article about old-school publishing; a Fiction Author Under FBI Investigation, of the Week; and a discussion on prison l...
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Episode 37 — Eric Smith Rocks from 2017-07-04T15:51:56
This holiday week, we're joined by author, agent, and corgi owner extraordinaire Eric Smith. We talk about balancing his writing life with agenting, how both roles inform each other, and most impor...
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Episode 36 — Shoot Your Shot (featuring Shea Serrano) from 2017-06-27T14:32:22
This week, we’re thrilled to have an interview with New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano. We ask him about his experience with the book-publishing process this time through, whether “expe...
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Episode 35 — Please Blurb Us, Gary from 2017-06-20T14:23:57
What’s in a blurb? This week we talk about one of the more opaque processes in the book world: getting endorsements from other others. Who’s it for, and does it matter? Also, if Gary Shteyngart lov...
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Episode 34 — Summer Friday from 2017-06-13T14:14:31
Summer Fridays: they’re fun, people love them, and they’re a well-established publishing tradition. But where do they come from, and why does publishing slow down in the summers? We get into the hi...
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Episode 33 — Current Fiction, Post-Truth from 2017-06-06T14:28:01
It’s safe to say that most people are feeling something strange in our current historical moment: disenchantment, paranoia, anxiety, or a whole host of other emotions. But current events aside, how...
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Episode 32 — The Game’s Got Rules from 2017-05-31T14:35:54
After last week’s big, heavy episode, we’re more fun this week. We get into the “unwritten rules” of the book world, both real and imagined, both petty and substantial. We also do a quick check-in ...
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Episode 31 — Amazon vs. Everyone from 2017-05-23T14:36:42
It’s time. This week, we discuss by far the most influential entity in the book industry: Amazon. Bigger than everyone else, more ruthless than everyone else, and yet, completely indispensable to m...
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Episode 30 — All That Power from 2017-05-16T14:28:09
This week, we discuss the levers of power that are at play in a book’s acquisition and publication, all of which end up determining that book’s fate and prospects. How does the size of a book’s adv...
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Episode 29 — We Used to Be Readers from 2017-05-09T14:45:12
This week’s show is on maybe the most fundamental thing any of us do outside the whole eating/sleeping thing: reading. How has the role of reading changed in our lives as we’ve gotten older? Is it ...
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Episode 28 — Trending from 2017-05-02T14:28:52
This week we talk about the seemingly surface-level elements of books that seem to periodically rise and fall in popularity: things like the vampire in paranormal/YA books, or the cupcake shop in r...
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Episode 27 — The Great Escape from 2017-04-25T14:28:35
Just the two of us again this week. We discuss the supposed reader experience known as “escapism”—what does it mean, why do people seek it out, and are people actually “escaping” like they think th...
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Episode 26 — And Then There Were Hoots from 2017-04-18T14:22:39
In light of NYC’s new law forbidding employers from asking job candidates their previous salaries, we talk to editor Allyson Rudolph (@allysonrudolph) about the many issues surrounding pay in the p...
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Episode 25 — Fresh Rusk Biscuits from 2017-04-13T14:39:34
This week, we discuss what it means to engage in honest critical discussions about writing, why it’s difficult, and how it’s essential to the advancement of the good-faith publishing conversation. ...
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Episode 24 — Writing vs. Publishing from 2017-04-04T14:30:39
This week, we take a look at how writing and publishing have become separate conversations, and how this divide isn’t good for anyone in any part of the writing world. Why is there such an oversize...
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Episode 23 — The Regretisode from 2017-03-28T15:47:05
Description: This week, dear listener, is about regrets. What books did we let go or pass on, that ended up doing well in other hands, and what does that say about the nature of professional and su...
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Episode 22 — Literary from 2017-03-21T14:26:16
This week, we tackle a seemingly simple question that no two people seem to have the same answer to: what does “literary” mean? Is it a genre, or the lack of one? Does it imply sophistication or pr...
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Episode 21 — The Hate U Give from 2017-03-14T14:35:29
This week, we examine the phenomenon of THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas, and break down why exactly it was able to debut at the top of the bestseller lists. Then, in light of Laura being mad at som...
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Episode 20 — The Wonderful Impediment from 2017-03-07T14:23:59
On the occasion of Erik finishing a manuscript he's been dragging his feet on for five years, we talk about the strange and naive myths we believed about publishing before entering the industry, an...
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Episode 19 — The Romance Biz from 2017-02-28T15:38:41
This week we're joined by Carly Silver, an assistant editor at Harlequin Books! We talk about what it's like to work as an editor at a romance publisher, whether any of the meetings get a little aw...
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Episode 18 — Mad Online from 2017-02-21T15:31:18
This week, we take a look at some of the trends and tropes in social media in the book world, from writers, agents, editors, and publishing houses. Why can't anyone on writer Twitter make a good jo...
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Episode 17 — Who Shushes the Shushmen? from 2017-02-14T15:43:05
In our latest episode, we bring to you the first-ever Print Run interview, a conversation with author and librarian Lily Anderson (@ms_lilyanderson). We talk about her upcoming book, her experience...
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Episode 16 — The Birds and the Boats from 2017-02-07T15:22:14
This week, we look at the strange and often hilarious ways that women's bodies get described in fiction, and talk about how that descriptive tradition weighs on writers even today. Then, Erik decid...
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Episode 15 — Party Like It's 1984 from 2017-01-31T16:16:39
This week, we talk about some of the sillier allusions to 1984 happening right now in media (in light of the book becoming Amazon's top seller). We break down Roxane Gay pulling her book from Simon...
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Episode 14 — Story Time from 2017-01-24T15:25:40
This episode features a crazy publishing story from Erik, along with a discussion on the apparently booming industry of dumbing down literary classics for toddlers. We also talk about our best book...
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Episode 13 — Build-a-Press from 2017-01-18T15:21:24
This week, we tackle a pretty big, speculative question: if you were to start a publishing company, what would it look like? We discuss a wide range of facets to this, from editorial vision, publis...
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Episode 12 — Mousetrap from 2017-01-10T16:17:05
In this episode, we discuss ways that modern publishing should address the literary canon's diversity problem. We also fight about whether or not audiobooks count as reading, because frankly we're ...
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Episode 11 — Dangerous from 2017-01-03T15:26:18
Happy new year! In the first Print Run of 2017, we talk about our holiday break and Milo Yiannopoulos's controversial book deal with Simon&Schuster. We break down the backlash, the backlash to the ...
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Episode 10 — Censorship and Elves from 2016-12-13T15:30:57
In addition to spending way too long breaking down Sara Gruen's Hatchimals scheme, we discuss the supposed "censorship" argument made by Abrams Books in light of their controversial release of Bad ...
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Episode 9 — Author Theme Parks from 2016-12-06T15:37:15
In the latest episode of Print Run, we talk about the horrors of recommending books to others, because giving gifts with subtext is what the holidays are all about. Also, we offer some alternative ...
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Episode 8 — Verified from 2016-11-22T14:58:12
In this episode of Print Run, we talk about Penguin Random House's decision to start helping its employees pay off student loans, and what the could mean for the candidate pool for publishing jobs....
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November First Pages Show from 2016-11-17T15:54:27
In the November First Pages episode of Print Run, we take a look at three different novel openings and talk about the best ways to get your story started right from the opening page. We discuss est...
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Episode 7 — Publishing in the Age of Trump from 2016-11-15T15:10
In this episode of Print Run, we discuss what a Trump presidency could mean for the publishing industry, and how publishing might affect Trump. How will Trump interact with the free press, and what...
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Episode 6 — #NaNoCryMo from 2016-11-08T17:09:55
In the latest episode of Print Run, Laura and Erik talk about the national nightmare facing America this November: NaNoWriMo. Also discussed are all the books George R.R. Martin isn't currently wri...
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November Query Show from 2016-11-03T14:20:53
In their first dedicated query show, Laura and Erik read three real queries and break down what's working and not working in each. The conversation focuses on things like using a strong lede, showc...
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Episode 5 — Book Publishing in a Thinkpiece World from 2016-11-01T15:21:58
In this week's Print Run, Laura and Erik use the current election cycle—No politics, we promise!—to discuss how book publishing fits within a fast-paced reading world geared toward shorter articles...
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Episode 4 — The Halloween Hit List from 2016-10-25T14:23:59
In this episode, Laura lets Erik sit near the gong and immediately regrets it. We discuss climbing the book-podcast charts and declare war on the NYTBR podcast, which surely has them shaking in the...
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Episode 3 — Romance Outtakes from 2016-10-18T14:01:44
In Episode 3 of Print Run, we discuss Laura's recent trip to a Romance Writer's convention, as well as the romance genre as a whole: what's the difference between the romance genre and women's fict...
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Episode 2 — Unmasking Elena Ferrante from 2016-10-11T14:24:28
In which we discuss the New York Review of Books' outing of Elena Ferrante's identity, identify the end of all publishing, touch on neuroscience, and announce some super special Special Content for...
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Episode 1 — The Man Booker Awards from 2016-10-04T04:46:29
This is the first full-length episode of Print Run. In it, you will find some illegal literary betting on the winner of the Man Booker, talk of Erik's plants, and what GRRM is most likely not worki...
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The Murder of Stephen King from 2016-09-16T00:00
In the week before the first official episode of Print Run, Laura and Erik discuss James Patterson's cancelled novel "The Murder of Stephen King," how Patterson has been Mad Online for six years a...
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