Episode 187—Goblins in the Source Code

This one… well folks we just got it all out there. We spend some time talking about publishing impersonation scams, about our upcoming trip to New York, about Dune, about the Green Bay Packers, about bad publishing advice, about god knows what else. Erik learned that some reality TV is scripted? He didn’t like that. Not at all.

This week, in response to a steady stream of questions about how to interface with literary agents either during the query process or once you’re actually working with them, we present to you: a list of Red Flags to look for with regard to agents! We get into communication styles, transparency, pressure, and much more as we try to work through whatever has you vexed about your interactions with agents. Let’s figure out what’s normal and what isn’t!

This week we catch up on two pieces that caught our eye: one on the modernization of older children’s literature to match contemporary culture, and another on how every LLM chatbot keeps telling stories featuring the same vaguely aggrieved fictional guy. It’s weird! The goblins are closing in!

This week we are thrilled to bring you an interview with Laura B. McGrath, whose new book MIDDLEMEN offers the largest-scale historical look at the field of literary agenting that we’ve ever seen. We talked to Laura about her experience talking to agents for the book, how being a debut writer herself has changed her view of publishing, and how what she has her eye on as publishing heads toward an uncertain future. This is one of our best conversations in the history of the show and we think you’ll love it. And be sure to buy MIDDLEMEN, available here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/middlemen-literary-agents-and-the-making-of-american-fiction-laura-b-mcgrath/df5cb73be04facb1?ean=9780691256160&next=t

In light of the recent controversy around Helen DeWitt winning and then losing the lucrative Windham-Campbell Prize, we talk about the dying era of the true literary eccentric, the artistic costs of writers being online, and making room for genuine artistic and intellectual curiosity in an age when every idle moment is filled with an obligation to produce optimized digital marketing content. Which artists get to be offline weirdos, anymore? What happens when an “artist” is a marketing idea instead of an authentic pursuit?

This week we talk about the shifting nature of the politics/culture nonfiction book market–who do publishers imagine their readers to be? How does the broader political horizon change which sorts of books become “sellable” in this category? And most importantly, how have the last few months of violent occupation in the Twin Cities changed the way we see what a “politics book” should even be or do? If you want to participate in our Query Drive to benefit Open Market at the Zion Community Commons, send $100 to us via Paypal ([email protected]) or Venmo (Laura-Zats) and (if not a gift slot), email your query to [email protected]. If you want to claim a gifted critique, email us to let us know!

After checking for a few minutes about the ICE occupation of the Twin Cities, we answer a reader question about genre as relates to Karen Russell’s THE ANTIDOTE, a novel that has both historical AND fantasy elements but which usually only gets talked about as “literary.” Is that a slight to fantasy? Does it show us something about the creation and marketing of genre? Are Memory Witches real? All this and more! Join us.

Episode 182—Print Run Goes Nano by Erik Hane and Laura Zats

This week we evaluate the pervasive notion that “literary” or “challenging” fiction is going away, and what that means for our reading culture more broadly in age where the AI slop is only becoming more prevalent. It’s a convo about genre, category, selling versus writing categories, and much more. Join us!

This week we took a look at a substack piece (link below!) that argued that literary agents can’t or don’t read well, as a jumping-off point to discuss the big picture of the query process, the ways we sort through a high volume of submissions, when art becomes boring business emails, and much more. We can read, we promise! The piece in question is here: https://antipodes.substack.com/p/literary-agents-dont-read-how-i-proved