the difference between a wonderful audiobook performance by a gifted voice actor and this "digital voice" horseshit masquerading as legit audiobooks makes me steaming mad. good narration is important and deserves to be paid for!!!!!!

This is exactly what it feels like when I have manuscripts to edit but I also picked up an express library copy of a book that’s due in 5 days

My husband is rly into watching critically acclaimed movies, but he’s always confusing actors for each other with bewildering gusto & it brings me sooo much joy. Today we were talking abt how good rachel macadams is in the movie Spotlight and he said “and she was also great in Arrival!”

Just a reminder that Banned Books Week isn’t about selling more copies of 1984. It’s about keeping authors and teachers and librarians safe and making sure all of us have the freedom to read widely. www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

I have to say… working on workshop slides scratches a very specific itch in my brain and I will happily hyperfocus for the rest of the day

New blog post on the #publishing industry and what writers can control in their career. As always, all opinions are my own! I'd also love to hear from you how you maintain a sense of sanity and control in publishing! Lmk if I missed anything www.noursallam.com/publishing-b... #amwriting

Hello #DVpit! I'll be looking at pitches today. If I like your pitch, please send along your query and the first 10 pages using this link: querytracker.net/query/noursa...

Didn’t expect to be thinking so much about garlic scent today but there’s never a dull day in publishing i guess

The update!! I’m thrilled to share that I’ve joined The Caldwell Agency! My query inbox is now open and I accepted queries through QT, so please consider querying me if you think I’d be a good fit for you! #amquerying

Sooo.. today is my last day at P.S. Literary Agency... I'm so grateful to the brilliant agents I've worked with and learned from. Leaving something behind is never easy, and this was definitely a tough decision, but I’m feeling so excited (and giddy!) to share where I'm headed to next very soon! 🤩

Today! Meetings go live for members. Thursday, for non-members! And next week is our much-anticipated Summer Academy! 4 agents, 3 editors, one agent panel, daily workshops! events.manuscriptacademy.com

Wrote a new blog post for authors on social media with some best practices! #pubblog #writingcommunity www.noursallam.com/publishing-b...

"I'm interested in horror novels with a big layer and/or critique on class, society, or social dynamics." @nourhasbooks.bsky.social #MSWL psliterary.com/submissions/

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Arab experiences are vast and are not limited to war, civil conflict, and oppression. We’re not a one-size-fits all people and neither are our stories. I want to see your expansive, joyful, funny, and romantic Arab stories #mswl & Eid Mubarak!! 🌙🫶🏻

A reminder to #amwriting authors: the work that happens off the page matters 😌 All about emotional backstory on the pub blog this week! www.noursallam.com/publishing-b...

My taste in nonfiction is pretty broad, but if you have something along these lines👇🏼I’d love to see it!

✨Please help me spread the word as I try to raise $15K for families ASAP I will be doing a 50-page YA SFF intensive limited to 20 authors this summer for #KidLit4Ceasefire fundraising. It will be epic!!!✨ www.32auctions.com/organization...

I would love to see more horror or light speculative fiction in my inbox with sea monsters, sea creatures, or a deep sea element! 🌊🐙🪼 #mswl

Can we not have one good day without AI entering the chat and ruining it?? In case anyone needs a reminder: AI replacing human narrators is NOT good news.

If you’re looking for insight from the other side of the desk on why agents don’t respond to every query, here ya go! This is pretty much everything I have to say on why I don’t www.noursallam.com/publishing-b...

"I would love more mystery, thrillers, and psychological horror centering BIPOC and underrepresented characters." @nourhasbooks.bsky.social #MSWL psliterary.com/submissions/

Yes! Esp in thriller & horror (but seriously across all genres I rep)

pals, what’s your most recent 5 star read? Asking for research purposes (aka my book club)

"I'd like well-researched nonfiction books that urge a slower lifestyle (WINTERING Katherine May) or challenge our understanding of productivity in the modern world (DIGITAL MINIMALISM Cal Newport, THE MYTH OF MAKING IT Samhita Mukhopadhyay)." @nourhasbooks.bsky.social psliterary.com/submissions/

I’ll be snooping #UnhingedPit today 👀 If I like your post, please query me through PSLA’s query inbox & include a link to your post. Submission guidelines are at psliterary.com/submissions

I just want to say… now that the sun is out and the days are getting longer and I’m taking daily walks again, I am RENEWED. I am capable of anything. I can do it all.

#writers and #amquerying authors, I am itching for a horror story inspired by the evil eye, with a messy, high stakes friendship or sister dynamic. If you have something like that, please consider querying me!! #mswl

Registration is now open for my March and April query letter workshops. 🔸 Live virtual class 🔸 Professional critique 🔸 Q&A session Space is limited. 👩🏻‍💻 Please share with your writer friends at the start of their publishing journey.

Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.

Wrote another blog post 🤧 I haven’t shared my blog posts on here yet, so this my way of letting you know that I have a publishing blog with resources for writers on my website & you can read the latest post here: www.noursallam.com/publishing-b...

My amazing, talented, fantastic, incredibly kind, and (insert all positive adjectives here) client @msmacb.bsky.social has a great Substack called Ask A Sober Lady. I have teared up reading it before (and yes I’m a crier but that is still high praise). If you haven’t heard of it, now you have!

I do love to talk about memoir plus / hybrid memoirs! Also sharing so you can go ahead and browse through @mariavicente.com ‘s Q&A 👀

At the point in the month where I’m forgetting how to form a sentence… it feels like it’s been 700 days of January 🥴

Whenever I see generalized advice a la “don’t query a (genre) novel over (reasonable word count)” I want to scream. Before taking random social media tips, please. Look at your bookshelf. Your local bookstore. It’ll help inform your work and understand the market better than whoever BookExprt37 is.

i'm baffled that we're not getting a full 30 day yoga with adriene course on the year I decide to do 30 days of yoga with adriene????

A helpful reference to keep in view for those of us who work in the arts.

“What does it mean for any of us as Arab writers to be writing in English, the language of the major perpetrators of our suffering?” @elgendy95.bsky.social on Mosab Abu Toha’s Forest of Noise.

Hello Friends! You can find the #MSWL agent and editor starter pack here: go.bsky.app/52ZEfjC Our hope is that this will help rebuild the community from, well, that former place. This is brought to you by our sister company, @manuscriptwishlist.bsky.social, and will continue to grow.

Every dec i get super sentimental abt all the things I did the past yr (I’m a pisces) & today i was thinking about how many writers i met and how many convos i had about the wonderful world of books and just 🥹🥹🥹 little me would be absolutely screaming crying throwing up that thats now my job!!!

absolutely begging for more literary agencies and agents to hire me to build their websites. i can set it up so you can filter which agents rep which genres!! adding new clients and books to the site can be as easy as adding a spreadsheet row!! LET ME HELP YOU!!!!!!

This morning I saw a post from an author talking about their book I am already aware of their book and when I see them post about it I'm usually like "I should pick that up." But THIS time their post caught me at the right moment and I bought the book. PLEASE YELL ABOUT YOUR BOOKS. Thank you.

"One of my teachers at Columbia was Joseph Brodsky...and he said 'look,' he said, 'you Americans, you are so naïve. You think evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots. It doesn’t come like that. Look at the language. It begins in the language.'"

A reminder to #amquerying writers that the PSLA submissions inbox will be closed between Dec 14 to Jan 5 so send me your queries in the next week— or hold on till the new year! Either way, I’ll be reading!

My dad finally figured out how to follow me back on instagram today… which is interesting because he’s been commenting that he’s proud of me on most of my posts for the last 2 years. So I just found out he’s actually just been checking in on my profile every once in a while to see what’s new 🥹

Help us send 2,000 books to readers who are incarcerated this winter through our Books Not Bars program

It's good to stop every once in a while and remember: the library is INCREDIBLE.

I just accidentally spent 2.5 hrs on canva playing with fonts that look the exact same but different

Pinned resources post! 📌 📝 20 successful queries. 📚 6 nonfiction proposals. 🦸🏽‍♀️ A guide to writing IP! 🔎 A guide to finding agents. All free. Though coffee is welcome! www.ericsmithrocks.com/perfect-pitch And a starter pack for finding literary agents who are here on BlueSky. go.bsky.app/EFopcRo

Book PR people and authors: if you have a nonfiction book that’s about business, economics, tech, media or work culture coming out anytime in the next year, I’m looking for people to interview for Slate’s Money Talks podcast. DM me!