“She’s really interested in queer voices, she’s really interested in feminist voices, she’s really interested in voices on body size, all kinds of different conversations that are really exciting right now, and I think are the future.”— Amy Hundley, nytimes.com
“You know what’s for everyone? Water. Water is for everyone. And if you’re publishing something for everyone, well, you’re publishing water.”— Giancarlo DiTrapano, nytimes.com
“In the midst of a multi-pronged crisis, it’s not easy to get a lay of the land – much less predict what tomorrow looks like. But right now publishers are forced to do that every day.”— Digiday, digiday.com
“It was more important to her to be seen as an author than it was to be an author. She didn’t know how to be an author.”— Byrd Leavell, backmattermag.com
“However warm the fuzzies might get because we love reading, there’s still a bottom line.”— Heather Demetrios, medium.com
“No writer I knew had a person they trusted to advise on finance: it’s a notoriously predatory industry and our unconventional earnings make getting clear advise difficult indeed.”— Heather Demetrios, medium.com
“Did anyone working with me — agency, publishing team — tell me that a staggering advance was not something I should depend on or get used to and that, in fact, it’s extraordinarily common in the publishing industry for untested debuts to be paid large sums they will never see again? No.”— Heather Demetrios, medium.com
“It was no longer enough to publish good content and know your existing readers would come to you. This is still true, now: A lot of the editors I know must overachieve for their publication just to survive.”— Tavi Gevinson, rookiemag.com
“What works now is content that galvanizes people. Instagram pages that turn into book deals have followers that do more than just smile and keep scrolling. These pages can show that the content is being reposted and shared to people who aren’t even on Instagram. Those are the signs of an Instagram b…”— Rachel Vogel, Rachel Kramer Bussel, forbes.com
“I mean, publicity is hard. Publicists LOVE books and they LOVE their authors, but... Imagine you've got 30 sled dogs to feed and not enough food. You give each dog the bare minimum to keep it alive and sneak extra food to the strongest pullers. You've got to keep pulling.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“The really important point here is that your debut book/series/year DOES NOT PREDICT YOUR CAREER. It's not any indicator of future success. Publishers know and understand this. Just keep writing the best books you can. Keep innovating without fear. Keep that hope.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“If I could change 1 thing about my debut year as an author, I wish someone in power had looked me in the eye and said, 'You wrote a good book, and you're a good writer, but we are not pushing your book. There is no way it will hit list. Just have fun.' Truth > disappointment.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com
“Publishing is hard, yall. Support the authors in your life, even if they're at the edge of your life.”— Olivia A. Cole, twitter.com
“The best editors take the book you give them and don’t make it their own version or vision—they give you the insight and feedback you need to make it even more yours.”— Kiersten White, twitter.com
“Much of publishing is completely out of your control. The only thing you can control is the power of your storytelling and the professionalism with which you deliver it, and that means tuning out the noise, putting your butt back into the chair, and getting better.”— Delilah S. Dawson, terribleminds.com
“I’m an author myself, and that truth pains me even now. I wrote one of those “not good enough” books. In fact, I wrote three.”— Lauren Spieller, theguardian.com
“Despite bringing in leaders with a new vision, Condé Nast is still about $100 million a year in red ink.”— Alexandra Steigrad, nypost.com
“Being an extremely social, sociable, accessible person should not be the price of being a professional writer, but for women it almost inevitably is.”— Emily Gould, buzzfeed.com
“The hard thing about publishing is you need professional feedback to grow your skills, but you can't get professional feedback until you have skills. I feel like this is why so many people lose hope in the query trenches. The solution: Take a class, go to a conf., join a group.”— Delilah S. Dawson, twitter.com