Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

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Writing books you don’t want your parents to read (This week in books)

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This week! Books!

First up, I’ve heard from multiple authors who’ve been scammed recently by fraudsters impersonating agents and publishers.

Please, please educate yourself on how to spot a publishing scam and be very wary of people contacting you out of the blue with something that seems too good to be true. Yes, agents and editors do occasionally reach out to people, but double- and triple-check that they’re legitimate before you move forward. A good place to start is Writer Beware’s Impersonation List, which has information on common scams. But be mindful that the scammers change their names and approaches all the time. Please reach out to me if you need help confirming whether someone is legitimate.

R.O. Kwon wrote a really fantastic and moving essay about dealing with the shame of writing a novel with queer lust and kink as a Korean woman who was raised Catholic, which she doesn’t want her parents to read. Writers grappling with the inner conflict between expressing their truths and the dread of exposing them publicly, and most especially cultural shame, will find a lot to engage with in this piece.

The Atlantic tackled the perennial challenge of choosing contenders for the Great American Novel, and for some reason decided to focus on the last 100 years. Maybe because they wouldn’t be able to sell a sponsorship to Bank of America for an article that just said, “It’s Moby-Dick, duh.” They went with some stalwarts like The Great Gatsby and The Sound and the Fury alongside other worthy additions like The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin and Severance by Ling Ma.

Reacting to the list, while it’s admittedly not part of the exercise, Lincoln Michel wonders where the short stories are.

Brandon Sanderson deserves some kind of a medal or something if this gets enacted. After pulling his audiobooks from Audible (owned by Amazon) over their poor deal for self-published authors, Sanderson not only renegotiated his own terms, but he apparently secured better deal terms for all self-published audiobook authors. Now that’s author solidarity. (via Jane Friedman’s Hot Sheet newsletter).

Another take on new publishing imprint Author Equity comes from Maris Kreizman, who argues that publishing models relying on gig labor are bad for everyone, including the authors who would be published in that fashion.

When it comes to fan fiction, as Elizabeth Minkel points out, it can feel like everyone is making money except for the authors themselves.

I keep forgetting to add this to the roundup, but Daniel Immerwahr has a fascinating look at two polar opposite contemporaries, Frantz Fanon and Ian Fleming, and the way they reflect the decline of 20th century empires.

And I loved this post by agent Kate McKean: you’re probably going to annoy an agent at some point. Don’t let it paralyze you.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

  1. The Women by Kristin Hannah
  2. The Hunter by Tana French
  3. Never Too Late by Danielle Steel
  4. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
  5. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. The House of Hidden Meanings by Ru Paul
  2. Blood Money by Peter Schweizer
  3. The Wager by David Grann
  4. The Trump Indictments annotated by Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissmann
  5. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Young adult hardcover:

  1. The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
  2. Powerless by Lauren Roberts
  3. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
  4. Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
  5. Murtagh by Christopher Paolini

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. Stay Curious and Keep Exploring: Next Level by Emily Calandrelli
  2. Ferris by Kate DiCamillo
  3. Coyote Lost and Found by Dan Gemeinhart
  4. Unstoppable Us, Vol. 2 by Yuval Noah Harari
  5. Uprising by Jennifer A. Nielsen

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

And finally, actor Jeremy Strong of Succession game never disappoints with an interview, and I very much enjoyed this one with David Marchese.

Have a great weekend!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

For my best advice, check out my online classes, my guide to writing a novel and my guide to publishing a book.

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Photo: The Huntington, San Marino, CA

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Neil Larkins says

    With both my parents gone I don’t have that problem. There are, however, some books I could write that I wouldn’t want ANYONE to read. I suspect this applies to nearly all of us in one respect or another.
    A lot of other essential reading for the weekend, Nathan. Thanks.