Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
Sunyi Dean
In 2022, two authors debuted in the same genre, with the same publisher, in the same year. Yet each of their books, and subsequently each of their careers, went in very different directions. That pattern repeats itself throughout the industry, over and over. Why does this happen, and what does it mean?
In this Hugo-nominated podcast, we aim to answer those questions and many more, using collated experiences from ourselves, friends, colleagues, and a slew of industry professionals in an attempt to deconstruct what makes or breaks a book, along with how to build–and maintain!–an author career.
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
S2 E38: Taking Charge Of Your Book Launch, ft. Alexander Darwin
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
04/20/24 • 59 min
After submitting his debut self-pub novel to the annual SPFBO (self published fantasy blog-off) competition and reaching the semi-finals, Alex Darwin landed himself with a "trad deal" and agent. In the months leading up to his trad re-launch, Alex applied his self-pub experience to his upcoming book launch, trying a number of different angles. Reflecting back, he shares what kind of tactics worked best to give his book the best possible chance.
Topics covered:
- Being a hybrid author
- How SPFBO works and can benefit indie authors
- Paying for publicity (via Black Crow) in the UK specifically
- Collaborative efforts with Orbit on marketing/publicity in the USA
- Book Tours (an assessment and reflection)
- Finding an angle for pubs to use
- Thinking about longterm goals
- LitRPGs and why they remain indie
- Theories about the goal of OrbitWorks (digital only imprints)
- Chatter about jujitsu and other nonsense
26 - Why Don't We Just Quit? with Kameron Hurley
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
09/07/23 • 53 min
After years of rejections, Kameron's early book deals ran into problems when her publishers either folded or went bankrupt, Instead of quitting, she kept going. And going. In the decade since, Hurley has signed new deals, built a fanbase, and even won a Hugo.
We sit down with her today to ask hard-hitting questions: Why don't we just quit? Why keep doing it? Why not 'just' self publish? And finally, was it all worth it?
Nota bene: SPECIAL THANKS to Casmer Maliszewski for helping us clean up the audio on this episode! We experienced a lot of distortion and he kindly stepped in to help make it a more comfortable listen.
###
SHOW NOTES:·
- Long career that begin with a slew of rejections, followed by getting picked up by publishers who either went bankrupt, folded, or refused to pay. Kameron now claws a fierce living on the midlist, with a hard-earned fanbased and a chest of publishing war stories / wisdom.·
- Sunyi reads a bit from Kameron Hurley’s essay, ON PERSISTENCE:· "I felt like I'd failed at everything. Life was a ruin. I found myself living in a spare bedroom at a friend's house, unemployed, deep in medical debt, staring at yet another novel three-quarters of the way finished. When I opened my laptop, the sticky note still stared back at me. Persistence, in all things, in writing, in life. I finished the book. I'd reached a point in my life where I didn't know how to do anything else but finish the fucking book."·
- The importance of being ‘easy to work with’ in the industry·
- But also the importance of knowing your worth and fighting for your career·
- Choosing walk away from bad deals, unsupportive agents or editors, and bad film options (yes you can do all of this!)·
- Why did Kameron choose to champion transparency on her blog? Because the skewed publishing perspective that many writers put forward made her feel like a failure.·
- Examples of midlist writers who broke out to find big success·
- The importance of pen names·
- The importance of giving away arcs·
- WHY DON’T YOU JUST SELF PUBLISH? The dreaded question that we swim through repeatedly in conversations.·
- Why do we keep doing it? Why should we persevere?· Defining personal success, and finding joy in the process.·
- Sunyi’s final question: WAS IT WORTH IT?
11 - Letting The Good Times Roll, with Nicholas Eames
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
04/14/23 • 48 min
Today we're joined by Nicholas Eames, author of cult favorite KINGS OF THE WYLD to discuss his publishing experience in a wide-ranging interview. Eames is a debut success story, and we hope you find his conversation as funny, uplifting, and engaging as we did (a welcome change after last week's grim deconstruction!) Other topics addressed: -- the creative process of working with a trad editor-- life as a "slow" writer-- how doing other creative projects can keep the writing passion going (this one was a listener question!)-- and a few bonus questions from our discord, with some hints from Nick about the next and future book.
13 - The Small Press Experience, with Nadia Afifi
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
04/29/23 • 38 min
This week, we sit down with Arab-American author Nadia Afifi, for a concise and chilled-out chat about her experience of publishing a scifi trilogy through Flametree Press. A lot of listeners are curious about life outside the Big 5 / bigger midsize publishers, so we've tried to cover a number of angles! This episode also touches briefly on wholesaling versus distribution, why royalty percentages vary so much for small presses, advance sizes in that category, and short story writing as a form of signal boosting.
10th Episode Special: Q&A with Sunyi Dean and Scott Drakeford
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
04/09/23 • 39 min
In celebration of making it to 10 episodes, Scott & Sunyi answer some of the host-specific and/or personal questions that listeners have submitted. This is not really an official episode, just a fun, rambly, probably-too-opinionated extra for them who are interested.
Bonus clip: Ep18 Outtakes (with Sunyi, Scott, and Julia)
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
06/11/23 • 4 min
5 - ANATOMY OF A BESTSELLER, PT 2 with Richard Swan
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
03/10/23 • 33 min
Both Richard and Sunyi hit the Sunday Times list right out the gate in the UK. How does that happen? Who gets to decide, and what does it mean? We explain how the Sunday Times lists work in the UK, the importance of crates (and other independent gatekeepers), and why the list is both hard to hit without orchestrated support. Additionally, we discuss what authors should be most afraid of, and what we wish publishers would openly say.
18 - A Song of Contracts And Unions, with Julia Vee
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
06/09/23 • 67 min
So you've signed a book deal, and the book contract has arrived. What does it mean, what can you ask for or changed, and how involved should you be? What organisations can help, if any? Also, why don't we have a writer's union / writer's guild, and how might we get one in future?
Today, we sit down with Julia Vee, who is an established indie author with a forthcoming trad title, Ebony Gate, via Tor 2023. Julia also happens to be an attorney in her dayjob and we can't wait to discuss those questions and many more with her (including touching on non-competes again.)
Other topics included: Julia and Ken's co-writing partnership / process, what good sales or bad sales look like for debuts in the first year, the Mark Lawrence formula for looking at sales via Goodreads ratings, and a few other things.
17 - Burnout And Other Bullsh*t, with Premee Mohamed
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
06/03/23 • 76 min
S2 E33 - The Myth of the Instant Bestseller, with JT Greathouse
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly
02/10/24 • 54 min
As our one and only return guest, JT Greathouse joins us for the launch of Season 2, this time in his capacity as a true-hybrid author (with a bookseller's eye). JT sold his debut, HAND OF THE SUN KING, to a UK publisher, but didn't get a USA deal. With the support and help of his literary agency, he opted to self-publish the American version in the States.
This week, we talk about the process of getting your books into stores, the nitty gritty of distribution in relation to small presses, indie authors, and hybrid folks like JT, how to make smart choices, the ways in which books can build towards success, and the (psychologically) damaging myth of the "instant best seller" launch.
###
- the advantages of splitting rights versus selling world rights
- Thinking about strategies for selling the rights of your book
- self pub USA, trad pub UK
- The importance of ingram
- Why are book royalties so low in trad? What does higher royalties mean in the context of smaller presses
- Good presale numbers--how to calculate this as a debut (jeremy's 'vibe check' formula)
- Debuts not making or breaking you
- how online discussions skew our perception of success
- how to make good decisions
- Jeremy and Scott bicker (good-naturedly) over the definition of "tiers"
- Bookseller mentality re hype and sales
- Small, achievable goals - not totally powerless!
- NEW PODCAST SECTION: The Smallest Hill You're Willing To Die On
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly have?
Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly currently has 47 episodes available.
What topics does Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts, Books, Arts, Business and Careers.
What is the most popular episode on Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly?
The episode title '19 - The 50k Download Special: My 600-Rejection Life, with R.R. Virdi & Wayne Santos' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly?
The average episode length on Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly is 55 minutes.
How often are episodes of Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly released?
Episodes of Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly are typically released every 7 days, 16 hours.
When was the first episode of Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly?
The first episode of Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly was released on Mar 4, 2023.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ