This episode with Liara Tamani first aired on October 31, 2017. In this episode, she was the debut author of Calling My Name. Her newest book, All the Things We Never Knew, is out now!

Dr. Somaiya Daud is the author of Mirage and its forthcoming sequel, Court of Lions (out August 4, 2020). Check out the cover reveal from Court of Lions and read an excerpt at Tor.com, as well as a conversation between Somaiya and I about how the theme of lost cultures functions in the book.

Jason Reynolds is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ghost series, Long Way Down, For Every One, Look Both Ways, and more, as well as co-author of Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi),. In January, Jason was named the seventh National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2020-2021.

In the second look at how books get sold, former Little, Brown and Delacorte senior editor Kate Sullivan, Senior Content Development Manager for New Leaf Literary & Media, walks us through all the steps an editor takes between receiving an agent’s pitch and signing a deal memo to acquire a book. Acquisitions meetings, P&L statements, and TI sheets, oh my!

Lev A.C. Rosen, author of Depth and Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts), talks about his latest young adult novel, Camp.

Pseudonymous Bosch, the pen name for Raphael Simon, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Name of This Book is Secret and the Secret series, Bad Magic and the Bad series. Shane Pangburn is a writer and illustrator and producer of YALLWEST. Simon wrote, and Pangburn illustrated, The Unbelievable Oliver and its sequel, The Unbelievable Oliver and the Sawed In Half Dads.

Literary agents Holly Root, founder of Root Literary, and Seth Fishman with The Gernert Company return to lead us through how an agent prepares a manuscript for submission, how they choose which editors to approach with a manuscript, and how they negotiate common types of book sales. We get into what a writer can expect during this notoriously nerve-wracking process.

Candace Bushnell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, and The Carrie Diaries talks about her newest book, Rules For Being a Girl, which she co-wrote with New York Times bestselling author Katie Cotugno.

Publishing experts discuss how the global pandemic, and widespread shelter-in-place laws have changed their jobs, how publishers have responded to the uncertain retail market, what books are more or less likely to sell in this climate, and what all writers should be focused on during this time.

John Hodgman, comedian and author of The Areas of My Expertise, More Information Than You Require, and That is All, as well as collections of humorous essays Vacationland: True Stories From Painful Beaches and Medallion Status: True Stories From Secret Rooms. John is also the host of the Judge John Hodgman podcast as well as I, Podius with Elliott Kalan.