Publishing Rodeo: The Good, The Bad, and the Bloody Ugly

Latest Episodes:

Ep 46: Honesty, Hostility, and Misinformation in Trad Publishing (with Donyae Coles) Apr 04, 2026

Show notes

Social media is beset by a tidal wave of publishing misinformation, fuelled by bots and platform-farming and algorithms that favour outrage. With special guest Donyae Coles, Sunyi and Scott talk about why this matters, and how on earth we can walk the line between being honest about industry problems, while still being positive and not fueling an atmosphere of misery.

S2 E45: Post-Debut Blues & Bookish Longevity, ft. "Drake Scottford" Oct 26, 2025

Show notes

Are we really back? Were we ever truly gone? Who is special guest Drake Scottford, and why is he joining us today? These questions and more will be answered in episode 45.

On a more serious note, we cover a wide range of topics today: a general catch-up on where we both are, career-wise, what prompted us to record again, and how life after debut is going. (Spoiler: it's complicated and stressful.)

There's been a move in the industry to talk about the problem of career longevity, which is definitely a favorite subject here, and now we're weighing in, almost 3 years exactly after our 2022 debuts. Though we have no guest other than Drake Scottford, we did collect some responses in an informal questionnaire, and share a few of those answers.

Other things we discuss: the magic sales number, and an infamous AMA with a big 5 marketing person, and the absolute joy of reading commercial fiction.

Link to the Reddit AMA with Marketer: https://www.reddit.com/r/PubTips/comments/1nw96ti/ama_big_five_marketer_umssalt/

Link to The Magic Number, by Todd Satterson:

https://bardpress.com/the-magic-number/

Tracks of My Tears (article featuring David Headley):

https://www.thebookseller.com/features/tracks-of-my-tears-where-does-the-fault-lie-when-books-fail-to-hit

E44: More Than The Text Of Our Book, ft. Greatest Author Chuck Tingle Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

Famed for his highly unique fiction, and for the the pink mask that conceals his secret identity, Chuck Tingle (pseudonymous name) is a much-beloved icon in the SFF book world and beyond. Today he joins us to share the incredible story of his journey through publishing, and to make a passionate case for why authors are so much more than just the story they write. We also discuss the nuts and bolts of book deals, running innovative book events, and how to approach publisher negotiations.

Although this has a bit longer run-time than normal, we hope you find this episode as intriguing, entertaining, and profoundly uplifting as we did. LOVE IS REAL, buckaroos!

Topics covered:

Autism and backstory
Journey into publication
The origins of his surrealist art
Sad Puppies / Rabid Puppies
Chuck's unique view on the concept of "branding"
Integrating art with marketing
The role authors can play in self expression
The relationship between who authors are and what they write
When authors we love let us down
Chuck suggests that publishing is the kindest of all the artistic industries
Chuck's advice for approaching deals
We talk about Chuck's deal progression
Selling books through events, and rethinking them

S2 Ep 43: Momentum, Worldcon, and Arguing on the Internet (ft Sunyi and Scott) Oct 07, 2024

Show notes

Catch-up episode after a long gap! Sunyi and Scott both discuss career momentum, cheerfully losing at the Hugos, and the pushback they've had from Reddit / the internet. Sunyi explains why she'd turn down other nominations in the future, while Scott talks about why he was happy to sign a smaller deal for his UK rights. They also cover future plans, and what happened to previous author guests.

And finally, they each get to give the pettiest hill they'd die on. Hint: Sunyi's hill starts with "J" and ends in "owling".

Link to the Guardian article that Sunyi talks about in her Petty Hill at the end: https://www.theguardian.com/books/1997/jul/08/booksforchildrenandteenagers.danglaister

SPECIAL EPISODE: The Grim World Predatory Publishers (ft. James MacDonald) Jul 12, 2024

Show notes

Ever heard the phrase "Money flows to the author"? James "Jim" MacDonald is the one who coined it.

Jim is a long-time author and anti-vanity press advocate who, along with many others, has dedicated years of his life to investigating predatory publishers and teaching new authors to protect themselves. Today, he joins us in this Special Episode to share his experiences and knowledge on the rise of these organisations and how they operate.

This episode differs from our usual because Jim is very much the focus, with Scott and Sunyi choosing to take a backseat. We hope that this episode will be illuminating and helpful to newer authors who are starting to find their feet in this murky industry. This is a topic which is close to our hearts, and on which we feel strongly about.

S2 E42: Managing Your 'Author Bandwidth', ft Suyi Davies Okungbowa Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

Authors are expected to juggle many different demands on their time and energy--from social media and self-promotion, to side projects and live events. How do we decide what is or isn't worth our efforts, and where do we set boundaries to prevent burnout and overwhelm?

Award-winning author and professor, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, discusses how he makes the writing life work for him, by balancing his original fiction and his prolific IP work against his academic career.

Among many other topics, he outlines the crucial role of a personal assistant (especially how they can supplement publisher marketing), his criteria for accepting or rejecting IP projects, his very unique approach to social media, and how he sets certain boundaries with publishers.

S2 E41: Write-to-market & the Rise of Romantasy, ft. Nisha J. Tuli Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

After years of mostly existing in indie space, Romantasy has finally burst onto the trad pub scene where it now reigns supreme, especially in SFF. Today, we talk to Nisha J Tuli, who spotted romantasy's trad potential early and whose career took off as a result. Her career trajectory is a microcosm of what is happening with romantasy more broadly, and gives us the chance to explore what it is like to catch the crest of a publishing wave. Nisha also shares with us specific tactics she employed as an indie author, and how they could be useful for trad, indie, and hybrid authors alike.

Other topics: Sunyi comes out in defense of writing to market, Nisha stresses the importance of still writing what you love (even when writing to market), and how they intersect. There are different types of readers, and different types of writers, and they have different goals with regard to books. We also discuss the amount of money to be made in this particular subgenre, why Nisha chose to go trad/hybrid after seeing indie success; and the longevity of romantasy overall.

S2 E39: The State of the Industry, ft. Kristina Perez May 26, 2024

Show notes

Kristina Perez has lived all over the world, working alternately as a journalist, an author, and now as top literary agent. In this episode we cover a number of different topics, putting forward a combination of our own questions and reader-submitted questions, chatting with Kristina generally about the state of the industry and her multi-sided perspective on it.

Topics include: reviving a flagging career, romantasy, trends and pitches, a nuanced discussion on the relevance of platform, and Scott attempting to guess Kristina's accent. Kristina also outlines some of the help she provides her authors, and graciously gave us a number of links to use in the show notes (seen below)

S2 E40 - The Downside of Blockbuster Advances, ft Ed Wilson (literary agent) May 16, 2024

Show notes

Sunyi and Scott have always maintained that "bigger is better" when it comes to book deals, and that any downsides will also apply to smaller advance sizes. But Ed Wilson, the literary agent and director Johnson & Alcock, believes the discussion is much more nuanced, and that 'blockbuster' book advances can sometimes be a symptom of publishing not working well.

With 18 years of experience in the industry, Ed brings a shrewd but frank perspective on a variety of important topics in trad publishing--along with some thoughts on American football, and the shininess of Scott's teeth. Oh, and we think you'll love his "petty hill" segment at the end!

Topics covered:

Book advance sizes, and what they mean for your career
Leverage, and managing publishing relationships
Whether publishers really can "stall" an author's career
Crucial contract clauses for the modern author
The importance of literary agent relationships
Editors getting insider book deals
Football comparisons
Bookscan inaccuracy
And more!

S2 E32 - Our Hugo Awards "Voter Pack" Compilation Apr 21, 2024

Show notes

This audio file is a compilation of 11 clips across various episodes, and is part of our submission to the Hugo Awards "Voter Pack." Everyone who pays for Hugo membership is given a "voter pack" with electronic copies of the books, short fiction, novellas, essays, and--in our case--audio files for fancasts.

Rather than subject voters to hours of episodes, we've chosen to create a short(ish) compilation, spanning the whole of our show! Runtime is only 31 minutes, and we hope it will give you a sense of the kind of humor, content, and discussion that we cover on Pub Rodeo.

Transcripts + show notes are on our website, and on RSS.com.

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