ICYMI: THIS IS MY BODY scored a review in the New York Times, courtesy of the wonderful @gabino.bsky.social! "Effective, straightforward storytelling and great attention to emotions... King-Miller's finest work to date." Check it out, then grab the book from your local bookstore or library!

Two months ago, I was laid off from my job as a kidlit editor, along with six other union members... Which means I have lots of free time! So I've donated my editorial services to the We the People fundraiser for #KidLit4Ceasefire 🍉 + immigrant & trans rights. 🔗 www.32auctions.com/organization...

I wonder when my former employer will update the submissions page to reflect that every editor has departed or been laid off! There are people listed as accepting submissions who haven’t worked there since 2024 lol

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...

seconding CRAFTING FOR SINNERS by @jennykiefer.com: a tense, wild survival horror novel about a queer woman locked into a megachurch-run craft store who must survive using only the craft supplies around her www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771522...

First is THIS IS MY BODY by @lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social: a fucking fantastic religious horror novel about catholic trauma, bodily autonomy, and the horrors of parenting a pubescent teen www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789598...

also! I want to shout out two forthcoming horror books from Quirk, since the authors have been left dangling in all this:

Jess is an outstanding editor, the kind every writer dreams of working with, and is quietly responsible for a huge amount of writing you probably already know and love being as good as it is, this is an incredible opportunity for anyone working on a book to hire the best mind in the game

FSP-NWU stands in solidarity with the @voxmediaunion.bsky.social as they prepare to strike. We pledge to support our colleagues by committing not to cross the digital picket line, as readers OR as workers. We don’t scab when staff unions strike!

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!

Yes, that is a BEWARE OF POSSUM sign @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social is holding in our union group photo.

Quirk Books Union is in PW! 💫 Read all about it: www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

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

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)

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

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!)

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

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

I recreated my cover crochet art

Any funny guyz (in the gender neutral sense) on here who also have the research chops to dig into the diaries of great writers throughout history? I'm cooking up a gift book idea for @quirkbooks.bsky.social 👨‍🍳

Reminder

When @jennykiefer.com told me the premise for her new novel I couldn't stop cackling. A cult-run craft store as escape room / survival horror? Yes yes YES

Our brilliant design director Andie Reid commissioned local Philly fiber artist Nicole Nikolich to crochet the hands, which she photographed for the cover. The piece is HUGE and it lives at Quirk HQ now and I love seeing it every day. Pre-order CRAFTING FOR SINNERS <3 🧶🩸🎨💀

I liked this a whole lot!

Chuck's whole thread is well worth a read, but I want to re-up his essay about the false promise of the "idea." As an editor who creates a fair amount of IP for my publisher, it might seem counterintuitive when I say that ideas are cheap and that any idiot can have a great idea--but it's true.

just imagine working at microsofft and thinking “let’s spend billions, steal a load of intellectual property, and destroy the planet to make an interface to write bad essays” rather than “let’s update MS Word so users can comment on footnotes”

As @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social put it recently, writing is thinking! What LLM enthusiasts want to skip is the thinking part and that should feel embarrassing because it is

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

I am watching the game because I love Philly but to give you an idea of how much we know about football @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social asked “so which of them have to be big and who gets to be little?” and I think that was a really good question and am still wondering

not a football guy myself but I have great love for the city-sized insane asylum that is Philadelphia, and so I say unto you all: go birds

Can anyone recommend me a climate optimist/solarpunk adjacent writer or creator who focuses on lifestyle changes, DIY, and micro community-building over political lobbying and activism? (Both are good, obvi, but I'm cooking up a project that focuses on the former.) Not looking for fiction, please.

Guess what’s out in the world today? @mariaabrams.bsky.social DEATH IN THE DOWNLINE !!!! Congrats, Maria !!!! @quirkbooks.bsky.social @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social @thetobiasagency.bsky.social www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/756650...

Can I interest you instead in this book which is LAVISHLY edited

There was a running joke at work about our publicist putting a horse head in @gabino.bsky.social’s bed to stump for this one (which we describe as “horse girl horror”) and I hope it didn’t come to that but I know she does what it takes

Congrats to @lesliejanderson.bsky.social!!! 🥳🥳

I wish the people making the big policy decisions in publishing (and pushing AI) loved and understood publishing the way @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social does

"A good editor cannot be reduced to an AI-powered proofreading process... A good fact-checker is not just a machine... A good copy editor does not just find misplaced commas... They make you better." @mckinneykelsey.bsky.social:

Yes AI art is ugly, but that isn't the problem with AI art. AI art will get better and it will still be unacceptable. AI art is built on stolen art. AI music is built on stolen music. AI videos are built on stolen videos. AI text is built on stolen text. Across all mediums, fuck AI.

I'm pretty freakin proud of the cabbage merchant picture book @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social and I wrote together (illustrated by Bonnie Pang!) 😌🥬✨

As we approach Banned Books week, here's my annual reminder: If you're going to partake, buy and read banned books from *living* authors. The Bradbury and Vonnegut estates don't need your money, but Maia Kobabe probably does.

it's been the honor of a lifetime to finally tell the story of Avatar: the Last Airbender from the perspective of the REAL hero: the Cabbage Merchant 😊 🥬 get a copy for the ATLA fan in your life today! written by me and @jamteayang.bsky.social, illustrated by Bonnie Pang bookshop.org/p/books/avat...

The cabbage merchant book is out today! 🥬🥳 Written by me and @rebeccagyllenhaal.bsky.social, illustrated by Bonnie Pang and designed by Elissa Flanigan ✨ bookshop.org/p/books/avat...

guess which cabbage face I made

Editor (31) seeks science/nature writer (TK) to collaborate with me and @quirkbooks.bsky.social on a book about the weird, dangerous, and scary side of nature in the style of Amy Stewart and J. W. Ocker 🦈🩸🍄💀 If this describes you (or a client of yours), let me know!

gotta love how contemporary publishing is 30000000 beautiful, deeply felt, finely crafted books with 7.5 readers each whose authors are just barely making a living, and like 4 books that financially support the whole apparatus, each of which has comprehensively and unforgivably destroyed society