Have you ever thought of being a publisher, but don&#39;t know if it&#39;s the right choice for you? In this episode, DongWon (an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency) walks you through this world and gives you some tips for how to decide if publishing is the right career for you.Homework:Come up with a list of 3 things you&#39;ve read. Think of things that can act as comp titles for your professional career and/or personal brand.Thing of the Week:Letters to a Writer of Color Edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour SoomroMentioned Links:So You Want to Work in Publishing by DongWon SongCredits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

Writing Excuses

18.20: So You Want To Work In Publishing?

In this episode, we unpack what the publishing industry is, what exactly it does, and why it does it. We also outline the first steps for preparing to talk to an agent or publisher.Homework: If you had to sit down with a publisher today and convince them that there&#39;s a market for you book, how would you start doing it? Make a list of 3-5 titles that your book is similar to, and describe your target audience.Thing of the Week: Kate McKean’s Agents and Books on SubstackMentioned Links: "The Publishing Question" by DongWon SongCredits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.19: What is Publishing For, Anyway?

It&#39;s 2023 and people still use email newsletters. For some reason they&#39;re more important than ever, so let&#39;s talk about building one.

18.18: Launching an Author Newsletter

An exploration of author branding and the social media tools we use. "Figure out who you are, and then do it on purpose" - Dolly Parton.

18.17: Build Your Author Brand, 2023 Edition

Publishing is hard. Also, Publishing is Hard is a newsletter from DongWon Song. In this episode we grill them about it.

18.16: Deep Dive: Publishing is Hard, by DongWon Song

Back in February, with Episode 18.8, we began exploring the process of writing a mystery story. That episode led us into a series of six episodes about tension, and the tools we use to create and manage it. And now, with this episode (and a toolbox full of tension) we&#39;re ready (we hope!) to revisit the creation of mystery stories. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.15: Building a Mystery, Now With More Tools

Let&#39;s take all our tension tools and apply them in tiny ways. A big application of tension might be an argument between two characters about a course of plot-important action. Microtension might be those characters arguing about how long to boil eggs. In this episode we&#39;ll explore some favorite applications of microtension, and the ways in which it can be layered to ramp up the larger, plot-focused tension. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.14: Heavy Lifting with Microtension

In our ongoing exploration of tension, the time has come to examine conflict. It can be shaped and delivered in numerous ways, but you have to know the core conflict before you can make anybody feel tense about it. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.13: Finding the Core Conflict

Our continuing exploration of tension has taken us to a favorite technique: unanswered questions. Sure, this obviously applies to mysteries, but consider the question posed in romances: “will they get together?” In its simplest form, the unanswered question that forces a page-turn is "what happens on the next page?" In this episode we explore how to use unanswered questions to drive tension, and how to avoid some common pitfalls. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.12: The Long Shadow of Unanswered Questions

Our deconstruction and categorization of tension continues this week with an exploration of Juxtaposition, which is a contrast between two elements that supplies tension by allowing the reader to insert themselves. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.11: Turning Up the Contrast With Juxtaposition

Last week we talked about tension, and promised that we&#39;d be breaking it down into more pieces. This week we&#39;re discussing one of those pieces: Anticipation. We sub-divided it as follows: Surprise Suspense Humor Promises We talk about how to create anticipatory tension well, where the pitfalls are, and how this fits into the creation of our stories. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.10: Anticipation is More Than Just Making Us Wait

For the next several episodes we&#39;ll be talking about tension. That may seem like a lot of time to spend on just one word, but as we unpack the word &#39;tension&#39; in this episode you&#39;ll see that there is plenty of material to work with.

18.09: Unpacking the Tension

After last week&#39;s deep dive into The Spare Man we&#39;re ready to talk more generally about mysteries, and the tools we use to write them. Obviously we can&#39;t cover all of that in just one episode, but don&#39;t worry. In upcoming episodes we&#39;ll explore more of these tools in detail. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.08: Building a Mystery

Spoiler Alert! This week is our deep dive into Mary Robinette Kowal&#39;s The Spare Man. It&#39;s a sci-fi mystery novel often described as "The Thin Man in space." Deep dive episodes are necessarily full of spoilers because we ask all kinds of how and why questions specific to the writing of the work in question. If you haven&#39;t yet read The Spare Man, you might consider doing that before listening to this episode. We&#39;re not the boss of you, but we believe you&#39;ll get more out of this episode and the novel if you read the novel first. Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. It was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

18.07: Deep Dive into THE SPARE MAN

Your Hosts: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler In this episode we interview Howard Tayler, one of the founding members of the podcast, and the creator of Schlock Mercenary. The first question: how did this twenty-year ride change you? And a later question: what comes next? Liner Notes: We&#39;ll eventually do a deep dive on the final three books of the Schlock Mercenary saga. You can read for free starting here. Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson

18.06: An Interview With Howard Tayler

Fifteen minutes long, because you&#39;re in a hurry, and we&#39;re not that smart.

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Writing Excuses

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