This is really smart and thoughtful and satisfying: defector.com/fanfictions-...

I can finally share that my next book will officially publish in 2027, and that the good folks at @unmpress.bsky.social will be the ones to bring it out in the US! Thrilled and grateful that I get to keep doing this. More soon!!!!

First trade review! Thrilled to see some pre-pub praise for MIDDLEMEN from kirkus.

Just a few spots left in this memoir workshop, which runs from February through November 2026 and is my favorite class to teach. Now holding off on new acceptances until the deadline so I can consider every application that comes in. Apply by Jan. 24! @thewriterscenter.bsky.social

I read American Canto and I think it’s wonderful. haha jk

I need a cross-show supercut of Walton Goggins saying "yo daddy"

This is *so* good.

my 2025 has been defined by the release of my debut, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. I'm incredibly proud of the work that went into it, & everything that has come of it. Incredibly grateful for the team at @utexaspress.bsky.social for their wholehearted support of me and this project.

Proud of the work I've done at @literaryhub.bsky.social and proud to be a human writer, aligned with other human writers. Times is hard, but your support for a site like ours does really mean the world. lithub.com/its-harder-a...

Thank you @literaryhub.bsky.social for naming my publishing essay the 20th biggest literary story of the year! lithub.com/the-50-bigge...

I keep losing subscribers but I will not stop (for now) writing my damn newsletter! This week's offerings includes a very minor blind item, love for Jennifer Percy and Erin Somers, and a great list of Nuzzi-less newly published titles. www.themarisreview.com/the-maris-re...

If my books are/were on any lists, I would have no idea, but my guess is that they aren’t. My books were *reissued* in April of this year, and I’d be thrilled if you bought a copy, asked your local library to stock them, bought an electronic copy, shared, told your friends, reviewed, etc. Thanks 💚💚💚

you do have to do it in a couple of places but this tutorial makes it easy to go uncheck the boxes that otherwise lets Google's AI read all your shit. or move everything over to protonmail but moving everything over is a giant thing I know.

So uh. I've spent the last five years working on a book about grief, mourning, who is allowed to grieve and how, and where we go from here, and... you can now preorder it!

Excited to reveal the cover of my book, MIDDLEMEN: LITERARY AGENTS AND THE MAKING OF AMERICAN FICTION, which is available for pre-order now!

"My agent in particular was like, There must be sex in this novel. Please put sex in this novel!'" I talked to @somers.bsky.social about comic novels, writing "like a worm," and her new novel THE TEN YEAR AFFAIR (out today!) countercraft.substack.com/p/processing...

"an entire layer of middle managers who need to have meetings to feel alive"

DC! Join me at @politicsprose.bsky.social on Saturday, 10/18 to celebrate 🎉 National Book Award finalist 🎉 @meghamaj.bsky.social and her hauntingly gorgeous new novel A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF

It's cool to see a trade outlet responding to the sales track piece in a substantive way. It would be even cooler if they credited the writer and/or linked to the piece—especially since the response basically re-reports the original thesis.

Pushing writers to "braid" cultural criticism (or whatever other genre) into memoir has been a net negative for nonfiction and is out of touch with what readers want

"If buying the debut is a rollicking night at the craps table, then the sophomore project is the sober morning after. Gone is the clean slate." @tajjaisen.bsky.social for @thewalrus.ca: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

"If buying the debut is a rollicking night at the craps table, then the sophomore project is the sober morning after. Gone is the clean slate." Hoo boy, did this @tajjaisen.bsky.social piece ever hit me where I live.

I’m really grateful writers are talking about this. The experience of selling books after a big success v books that didn’t do the same numbers was heartbreaking. I know you’re only as good as your recent booknet numbers but it was still super weird to be treated differently by the same people.

Good, if depressing, piece on the industry here.

If I'd read this piece 10 years ago I'd have understood my career very differently. If I'd read it 12 years ago I might not have agreed for my first book to be published in the way it was. We still don't talk about this stuff because it can feel embarrassing, but the author always picks up the bill

"The book business may be centred in New York, but the logic is pure Las Vegas."

One of the best pieces I've read about the state of the industry. Absolutely spectacular stuff and aiming at a problem we *desperately* need to solve (and which is, thankfully, an easy problem to solve... if the industry simply puts its muscle to it)

I have a downright unwieldy number of thoughts but mostly I just think everyone in any corner of publishing should probably read this

“Publishers, as McGrath says, have always been risk averse. But with higher pressure to find a sure thing, more writers who may have been able to sell a book five or ten years ago, whether to a corporate or an independent press, are being left out in the cold.” @tajjaisen.bsky.social @thewalrus.ca

All of this. If you never see another book from me, it won't be because I haven't written one.

love love to see friend / client @invisibooks.bsky.social here making the case for the role small presses play in making writing careers (if not piles of money)

Lots of good reporting here from @tajjaisen.bsky.social, as always.

Tajia is always right. Literature is an art (sometimes) that is entirely dependent on data.

Tajja's pieces always hit

Oof. Feeling this in my marrow.

I’m always game to follow the data in publishing, and so grateful when the smartest folks (like @tajjaisen.bsky.social) want to hop in the weeds with me. A brilliant piece of reporting.

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

I went on the record with @tajjaisen.bsky.social to talk book sales and the infamous “track”: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...

Anyone in Las Vegas? 😊 Tonight with @tajjaisen.bsky.social!

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye sold just 2,000 copies in its first year. Today, it’s a number many authors can’t recover from. Writer @tajjaisen.bsky.social examines how the publishing industry’s sales track can make or break careers before they even begin: thewalrus.ca/the-publishing-i...

Why don’t more establishments sell movie theater-style popcorn

I'm such a fan of @nicolechung.bsky.social and @tajjaisen.bsky.social, and this conversation for @whichistosay.bsky.social's Awakeners podcast about mentorship, the relationship between writing and editing, and more is a gem. Loved listening & came away with much to think about:

I texted a friend yesterday "I wonder what it’s like to work in a field that is thriving and I worry I will wonder that for the rest of my life"

Las Vegas 9/26 at 7 pm PT: The Writer's Block & Black Mountain Institute with @tajjaisen.bsky.social! Free to attend: www.thewritersblock.org/events/47665

I forgot to share my book tour info for WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM (@penguinpress.bsky.social)‬! I still have events in San Francisco and Las Vegas, as well as a virtual event with @aaww-nyc.bsky.social. Hope to see some of you there! I'll post details and links in the comments 💕

SUCH A JOY to chat about writing, editing, publishing, and mentorship with @tajjaisen.bsky.social @whichistosay.bsky.social for the Awakeners podcast! (feat. a dramatic reenactment of our very first pitch exchange) @literaryhub.bsky.social

Today's Polygon Exit Interview is with @nicoleclark.bsky.social, who ran Polygon's culture section, led the charge on many of the site's book recommendations, and did so much more behind the scenes. Always a pleasure to chat with Nicole! pvguide.ghost.io/polygon-exit...

Things are bad but the books will continue to be good. Here’s a visual preview for fall 2025 as evidence.

Now that it's been a few days, I wanted to share some of my favorite pieces I wrote for Eater over the 6+ years I was there. First off, I got to write a lot about the intersection of food and queerness, culminating in this piece that got me a JBFA nomination www.eater.com/24162871/foo...