Prepare your ears for some major fangirling. Why? Because we got to talk publishing and romance books with dynamic writing duo Christina Lauren! Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings released their first book, Beautiful Bastard, in 2013, and have been an unstoppable force ever since. In this episode we talk about what traditional publishing looks like in romancelandia today, and what their own experience being bestsellers is like. We also have a brief discussion about traditional publishing as a whole, and touch on some of the issues that persist throughout the publishing world.

Thank you again CLo! You guys were awesome, and everyone needs to go get their mits on Something Wilder (May 17), ASAP!

Books we mention:

• In a Holidaze
• Something Wilder
• The Honey Don't List
• Soulmate Equation
• Merchants of culture : the publishing business in the twenty-first century (Thompson, 2012)

Terms:

• Traditionally published - referring to when a book is published by an established publishing house, with a team of professionals to take care of the book design, sales, marketing, and more.
• Querying - The process by which an author seeks an agent for representation
• Query letter - An authorial cover letter which details the manuscript the author is seeking representation for
• Submitting/On submission - After gaining representation, an agent will place their author out on submission to publishing houses, meaning they are seeking a publisher who will buy the manuscript to publish it
• Agents - A middle man/representor for the author
• On Contract - When an author has signed with a publishing house for multiple books/series
• Synopsis - a short description of the book/manuscript

Websites/journals/articles we read:

• "The Myth of Gatekeepers" (Coffey, 2014)
• "Disregard the Gatekeepers" (Berner, 2019)
• "Querying is a numbers game" (Baldwin, 2017)
• "Traditional Publishing vs. Self Publishing: Pros and Cons" (MasterClass, 2021)
• "How To Publish a Book: An Overview of Traditional & Self-Publishing" (Writersdigest.com, n.d.)