All my love and solidarity to Quirk Books Union. The publishing industry has no future without unions, and I'm so proud that we were part of the effort to unionize publishing.

the brilliant people left in the union are some of the very best I’ve had the privilege of working with. solidarity forever with my friends.

I just want to say that forming a union is an act of strength, fellow-feeling, and belief in the work you do. That belief isn’t always enough because the people in power only care about what they can get, but I’m proud of my comrades for their courage and optimism.

A final update from Quirk Books Union ✊💔 Devastated that, in the three months since we unionized, management never met the union at the bargaining table -- and now the remaining four union members have all been laid off.

this part!!!!! “The whole thing feels … disrespectful. Give me a job fair. Give me something where I can interact with another human.” www.thecut.com/article/job-...

oh hey if you’ve been meaning to pick up Horror For Weenies, Bookshop is having an anti-prime day free shipping sale (also a slight discount on the book!): bookshop.org/a/293/978168...

Could someone cool please start a press. There are so many great hires rattling around out there right now. I KNOW some of you are out here having secret money

...anyway! I am looking for work (and have been for months actually!!) and also soft-launching that I'm doing freelance marketing and publicity. if you have a book coming out that you think would benefit from a thoughtful publicist/marketer, I'd love to help you get it into the world!

Great day to follow Quirk Books Union (@ QuirkBooksUnion on IG) and show your support for unions in publishing! 🙂✊ No particular reason or anything!! 🔗 www.instagram.com/quirkbooksun...

Whether or not you support political violence won’t change where we’ve come to, nor where we’ve been for some time in this country. I am quite taken aback by how many people only invoke the term ‘political violence’ when it happens to a person with power. It’s political violence the other way too.

It’s so embarrassing when ppl say HP was important to their childhood so they can’t let it go. Did it open a love of books & you went on to devour millions more books? Or is it just that you took one step into total brand capture before your brain was fully formed & even now you wish to remain

The Crone Zone by @slackmistress.bsky.social (with illustrations by @pamwishbow.bsky.social) is out in the world today! Perfect for all the aspiring bog witches, swamp hags, and Baba Yagas in your life (and anyone trying to age under patriarchy). Featuring every crone pun I could think of

happy labor day to: big unions, small unions, organizers, stewards, employees trying to start unions, workers at the bargaining table, non-eligible employees who support their workplace's union, workers waiting for voluntary recognition, striking workers, workers going to an election, etc

Happy Labor Day, comrades 🫡

Thrilled to see THIS IS MY BODY in the New York Times!!! "Unique, unexpectedly tender, surprisingly sensual and full of queer love." Thank you for this lovely and generous review, @gabino.bsky.social! archive.is/2025.08.31-1...

Happy book birthday to @lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social and This Is My Body! I’m so proud of this book and of Lindsay—we worked hard on it editorially and for every note she did something better than I could have imagined

THIS IS MY BODY comes out TOMORROW (August 5)! I'm incredibly proud of this book; it's deeply personal and (I think) really scary, and I hope you'll check it out. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789598...

I've been blissfully on vacation in Canada the last week, but it's as good a time as any to say that I was laid off from Quirk Books at the end of June. I'm sad to be leaving behind authors I loved working with and many wonderful colleagues!

HIRE JESSICA AND OTHER FORMER QUIRK EMPLOYEES OR REGRET IT FOREVER

ICYMI 👇 The latest from Quirk Books Union on IG

To be clear, we are NOT calling for a boycott. If you'd like to support the Quirk Books Union, please show your love to our authors (preorder their books, request from the library, etc). All of us want to see our books do well — and we want to prove that unions are good for business! Thank you!! 💞

Here's a few Quirk books out in August! Please show them some love (preorder, request from the library, etc) 💓 🐝 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789598... 🐸 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789602... 🐱 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/779681... 🐣 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/767109...

Want to support our laid off Quirk Books Union members? Well, we have some very talented folks looking for work in Sales, Marketing, & Publicity, plus in entry level editorial/agenting. They're all rising stars and delightful to collaborate with — please consider them for work if you're hiring!

Some personal news: As of Monday, I am no longer a kidlit editor at Quirk Books. I was laid off last week along with the other acquiring editor and every full-time union member on the Sales, Marketing, & Publicity team. Here's me on my last day with ~60% of the books I had the privilege to work on:

Today was my last day at Quirk—which means I finally have time for freelance editing clients! If you’re developing a book at any stage please get in touch and we can discuss how I can help www.jesszimmerman.com/editing.html

Want to read about our union in Publishers Weekly? Of course you do

Quirk's employees are some of the greatest people you'll ever meet. They treat their books and their authors with incredible care. I am lucky and proud to work with these people, and I hope their union is recognized quickly and wholeheartedly!

They should invent a bitch who isn’t eating crackers

We're manifesting a hot labor summer for publishing 🌞 If you're on IG, you can follow along @ QuirkBooksUnion ✨

Here are the friendship bracelets by the way

My workplace is unionizing and we made friendship bracelets about it 🥰 I love my co-workers and couldn't be more excited to be collaborating on positive change!!

👯

My coworker anonymized this behind-the-scenes moment so I can share it publicly. This is what unionizing looks like in publishing

By the way, I would not be surprised if we saw a cascade of publishing unions in the next year or so. Abrams just won their vote and I bet there are more coming down the pike. If I were a journalist covering publishing or labor news I’d start preparing for that trend piece now (we’ll give a quote!)

as Jack Kelly (Newsies, 2012) once said, “there’s a lot of stuff you gotta have in order to be a union.” how lucky am I to get to stand with a group of such dedicated, vibrant, passionate people!! I’m so proud. (follow us on IG: @quirkbooksunion)

LET'S GOOOOOO

I am SO HAPPY that the wonderful brilliant folks at Quirk are unionizing!! follow them on IG and spread the word 💜💜💜

Here’s a new project we’ve been cooking for the last few months! So proud to stand with the brilliant, dedicated, passionate workers of Quirk Books. We’re not on Bluesky yet but you can follow us on Insta at @quirkbooksunion

Baltimore: there are ICE agents questioning people in Waverly this morning. Be careful and know your rights.

I promise you will find other books to love that don’t also come with a side of blood on your hands 👍

For no reason at all, here's the campfire story scene in MANHUNT where a character relates the tale of J. K. Rowling's grisly death in her fortified Scottish castle.

I can now share the cover for CRAFTING FOR SINNERS, in which Quirk Books said Fuck AI and commissioned a real life crochet art piece

so far I have received three congratulatory texts about Kieran Culkin

the number of times I’ve chanted “chud chud chud chud” is not 0 (it’s like 7)

redesign of the piece that has gotten me restricted/suspended at least 4 times 😇

I cannot stress this enough: fuck. this.

Five days till Horror for Weenies, one week till my launch event at Greenlight Books with @claymcleod.bsky.social & @iameeadams.bsky.social!! We'll have stickers! We'll have wine! We'll sign books! I'll be wearing something incredibly extra! @quirkbooks.bsky.social www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...

I am BOWLED OVER to have Horror for Weenies as the September nonfic pick for Library Reads!!!!!