Editor Susan Chang on where authors trip up, and the state of the publishing industry.

Well, some of you have been wondering what happened to my promised link to the recent interview with Susan Chang. Here it is! Entirely my bad. If you didn’t get the chance to attend in person, it might be worth a watch. It was more controversial than most of the interviews I’ve conducted. Some found the peek into how the industry works rather dark. Others appreciated Susan’s great frankness and clarity. If you know me, you’ll know I’m in the second camp. I recently heard some professor turn an old adage on its head. Instead of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” he said, “if you can’t say something that’s not nice, you can’t really have a discussion.” The state of affairs—or in this case, what it takes to get published—might not sound nice, might not look nice, but you have to look at it. In fact, you have to stare it down.

But as you can see from our frozen images, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I found the conversation so enjoyable and interesting, talking one dev editor to another. I often do the author-to-author chat; I get to speak editor-to-editor far less frequently. And if you have ever wondered what it is we dev editors do, and why we may or may not be necessary, this interview would be enlightening. If you would like to learn how to perhaps do it for yourself, I will be teaching a six-week Dev Editing workshop for Stanford Continuing Studies this summer, June 21-July 26 (registration opens May 16 - drop me a line if you’d like me to send you a reminder), and a 70-minute overview of Dev Editing for the Kansas City Writing Workshop on August 6 (ditto).

Also, speaking about interviews, the tables (or at least the Zoom camera) will be turned next Thursday, March 24th, 8pm ET/5pm PT when I join agent Jessica Sinsheimer (co-creator of #MSWL and ManuscriptWishList.com) and writing professor and SCBWI organizer Julie Kingsley for a little “Living Room Chat” conducted for members of the Manuscript Academy. If you’re a member, I hope you will join us. And if you’re not a member but interested, I encourage you to subscribe. The Manuscript Academy is a great resource for all aspiring writers. Think of it as a 24/7 writing conference online.

Onto opportunities that have nothing to do with me! Marthine Sartris, acquisitions editor at Heydey, is looking for nonfiction submissions, especially biographies. Heyday promotes civic engagement and social justice, celebrates nature’s beauty, supports California Indian cultural renewal, and explores the state’s rich history, culture, and influence. If you have a work that could help realize the California dream of equity and enfranchisement, Marthine would be interested in seeing it.

The Nimrod Literary Awards are now open. Deadline for entry is April 1st. First and second prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 will be given for both fiction (Katherine Anne Porter Prize) and poetry (Pablo Neruda Prize). There is a reading fee of $20, which usually makes me skeptical, but this prize is given by the University of Tulsa, and previous winners include Ursula LeGuin, Michael Blumenthal, and Sue Monk Kidd, all of whom had to be in it to win it, so good enough for them, good enough for me.

Finally, with our world is such disrepair, my mind has been turning to civics. So, as a little pick-me-up and to celebrate the 112th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt’s address Citizenship in a Republic on April 23rd, I will be giving away a copy of Get Up, Elizabeth! for every copy of Go to Bed, Ted! that you buy. Just send me a photo of your copy and receipt, the address you’d like Elizabeth sent to, and the name you’d like it signed to. I’ll take care of the rest.

In the meantime, Ted’s words bring to mind the admirable courage of the Ukrainian people: War is a dreadful thing, and unjust war is a crime against humanity. But it is such a crime because it is unjust, not because it is war. The choice must ever be in favor of righteousness, and this whether the alternative be peace or whether the alternative be war. The question must not be merely, Is there to be peace or war? The question must be, Is the right to prevail? Are the great laws of righteousness once more to be fulfilled? And the answer from a strong and virile people must be, "Yes," whatever the cost. Every honorable effort should always be made to avoid war, just as every honorable effort should always be made by the individual in private life to keep out of a brawl, to keep out of trouble; but no self-respecting individual, no self-respecting nation, can or ought to submit to wrong.

Courage!

Shirin