How do new authors find their ideal readers? Jenn Hanson-dePaula guides you through the steps of elevating your book promo! Tune in to hear her take on what marketing is and isn’t, tips for building your social media platform (including valuable advice on what to post), and why you should have a newsletter.

NYT bestselling author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka shares the challenges and gratifications of reaching across different age categories and the importance of illustrations in storytelling. Listen to hear his tips on writing within established franchises (like Star Wars), how to pivot a picture book idea into a graphic novel series, and memoir writing.

Danielle Marietta joins the podcast to discuss Books & Things Publishing, the children’s book sphere, and the importance of promoting diverse authors. Tune in to learn more about Danielle’s writing journey, and her tips on self-publishing, social media marketing, and connecting with your target audience.

Book Marketer and PR Coach Emily Enger joins Mary to talk about some of the aspects of the writing process that might leave a yucky taste in our mouths. Tune in for actionable tips and insights into a publicist and marketer's side of the publishing world.

If you’re writing a picture book, how should you handle illustrations? Let’s compare illustrating your own manuscript, finding another illustrator, or leaving it to the publisher.

Communicating with literary agents is an important part of the querying process. Here are some communication do's and don'ts that'll give you the best shot at receiving a response to your query.

Debut middle grade author Rebecca Ansari chats with Mary about the journey from aspiring writer to published author, MG craft insights, and what new things she has in the works!

Many aspiring writers hope to quit their day jobs so they can pursue writing for a living, but is this a realistic goal? Here's an overview of what to expect if you want to pay the bills with your writing.

Publishers can pay people. The upsetting thing is who they choose to pay, how they choose to pay them, and whatever calculus they've used to arrive at those decisions doesn't seem equal. This is going to be a hard ongoing conversation, but a necessary one.

How do so many bad books get published? Today, we'll be discussing this question, one that a lot of writers shout at the top of their lungs when they get yet another rejection.

Should you post your writing online to attract attention? What are the risks and benefits? Learn all about posting writing online with this video.

A short, information-packed writing class on what readers want. It's simple. By thinking about what readers want from their stories, writers can harness the power of reader emotion to write amazing stories, novels, screenplays, picture books, poems, and more.

How do you have a career in publishing? This is the question on a lot of minds. Do you have to move to NYC? Do you have to be incredibly lucky? Learn how to have a publishing career with this video.

Allow yourself to dream big. What does that look like for this project or for yourself as a writer? Some writers want movie adaptations, or to write a New York Times Best Seller, but a lot of people just want to keep writing.

This is everybody's favorite fucking topic. It is swearing in children's books. Very controversial. Keep in mind the power gatekeepers have in children’s publishing.

It may seem weird to talk about failure and rejection in writing context as a good thing. But I really want to help you reframe it, because the actual writing journey is rather long. If you don't enjoy the actual writing process, you're gonna have a tough time because there is so much rejection and failure inherent in that journey.

Publishing loves its buckets. In children's books, there are several buckets that you need to fit into, with word count guidelines and all of that. There are buckets and tropes in adult publishing as well. Books that don't lend themselves easily to categorization can be a really difficult sell.

This is a conversation for a little bit more of an advanced writer. I'm going to talk about the components of what goes into a book that is likely to sell, is likely to attract agents, publishers, eventually readers, right, which is what we want.

Here’s what the picture book, chapter book, and early reader publishing trends look like for Fall 2021.

Thinking about finding another literary agent? Here are some tips to help smooth the transition.

You have an offer of representation from a literary agent--now what? Here are some crucial questions to ask before you sign on the dotted line.

If you want to pursue traditional publication, you need to think about writing for an audience. Here are some thoughts on work that's billed as "completely unprecedented"; following writing trends; and writing for "everyone from 0 to 99."

There are so many paths to publishing--what's the best fit for your project and career goals?