Writers With Wrinkles

Publishers kept saying “great idea, but short story collections are a hard sell.” Then Beth Weinhouse built a pitch showing how much more older readers spend on books, and a press said yes.

Most fiction treats older characters as the wise grandmother or the crotchety sidekick. Beth Weinhouse, co-editor of the short story anthology 20 Over 60, explains why that stereotype was a problem, and what two editors did about it. If you read, write, or want to pitch a book of your own, her story is worth your time. Hit play and let’s dive in.

The Confetti Club segment is a new addition to Writers With Wrinkles, for celebrating authors and their brand-new books.

In this episode:

• Why 20 Over 60 exists, and how a 20-year-old joke about 20 Under 30 started it all
• What sets short story collections by writers 60 and over apart
• How the editors found 20 authors among hundreds of submissions
• What it takes to pitch an anthology to agents and presses (and the ageism they suspect)
• How to “think like a publisher” when your book idea gets turned down
• The story that got away over a missing contract, and why one editor’s own story ended up in the book
• What to do when an agent ghosts you (“No is a complete sentence”)
• A light-touch editing philosophy, plus a Reader’s Digest detour

Books and authors mentioned:

• 20 Over 60, edited by Beth Weinhouse and David Galef (Regal House Publishing), available anywhere books are sold
• 20 Over 40(the editors’ first anthology, University Press of Mississippi)

Find Beth and David:

• Beth Weinhouse: https://bethweinhouse.com/
• David Galef: https://davidgalef.com/
• Links for ordering the book are on both sites. Reviews and events are being added.

About Beth Weinhouse: Beth is a freelance journalist who specializes in health, writing for magazines and websites including Reader’s Digest. She started her career at mainstream women’s magazines such as Ladies’ Home Journal. With co-editor David Galef, an English professor, she edited 20 Over 40 and now 20 Over 60.

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Forcing yourself to "just write every day" can make writer's block worse. Author Sylvia Liu shares the sideways fixes that actually get you unstuck.

Writer's block isn't one problem. It's too many ideas, no ideas, a muddy middle, a deadline that's choking you, or a world that feels too loud to write in. Use the wrong fix and you stay stuck for months. Sylvia is a former environmental attorney turned middle grade and dystopian sci-fi author, and her toolkit covers all of those. Lisa got unstuck on her own manuscript live, mid-recording.

In this episode:

• Why "writer's block" is really an umbrella term, and how to tell which kind you have
• The list-and-mash-up exercise that sparks story ideas (and the summer camp ghost story with horseshoe crabs)
• What to do when the news and the scroll are eating your creative energy
• Two plot fixes for pantsers: "stakes and agency" and the midpoint swap
• Mind maps, chapter thumbnails with emoji, and reverse outlining
• How the Beat Sheet Calculator can help with pacing, and why middle grade word counts keep shrinking
• Why walking without your AirPods may beat staring at your laptop
• The worst writer's block advice Sylvia has heard
• Why a throwaway secondary character may be the answer you already planted

Resources and mentions:

• Sylvia Liu's website: https://www.enjoyingplanetearth.com/
• Sylvia's newest book, Now That We Don't Talk, released October 6
• KidLit411, a resource website and Facebook community for children's writers and illustrators (co-founded by Sylvia and Elaine Kiley Kearns in 2013)
• Beat Sheet Calculator, which maps Save the Cat beats to your word count
• TBR Live on Instagram, a weekly 30-minute group quiet-reading session

If you're stuck on chapter three, or stuck in your life, hit play. You may walk away with the one tool that gets you writing again.

More on our blog at writerswithwrinkles.net.

Looking to self publish? Let's chat. Writers With Wrinkles Pressnow open!

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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What do you do when the story you can't stop thinking about doesn't fit the genre you're known for? Thriller author Dina Marie (Dina Santorelli) took a ghost, a Salem mansion, and a big risk, and ended up with a paranormal cozy mystery series.

She started with zero readers, and her first draft took four weeks. The cost of not knowing how she did it is another year of sitting on an idea that won't leave you alone. Hit play to hear what she learned, and why one very popular ghost is about to get a lot more page time.

In this episode:

• The Salem vacation that was never supposed to be work, and the idea that followed
• Why her first plan (a paranormal romance) changed course
• The "rules" for how ghosts behave in her world
• What starting over with no readers looked like, and why she waited ten months to publish
• What readers told her about the character they wanted more of
• The perfect "if you like X, you'll like this" comparison
• A ghost story swap that went way off topic (in the best way)

Books mentioned:

• Going Ghost (Salem Spirits, Book 1)
• Ghost Rider (Book 2)
• Grateful Ghost (Book 8, released in August)

Find Dina's books: https://www.dinamariebooks.com/

More about this episode and the blog: https://www.writerswithwrinkles.net/

This is the first Confetti Club, our new segment celebrating authors and their brand-new books. Hit play, follow the show, and grab a little confetti. Then tell us which ghost story of ours creeped you out most.

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We're back in Napa, where the Writers With Wrinkles podcast was born five years ago, with a new book and a new self-publishing press for writers.

Every self-published author we've talked to says the same thing: it was a lot more complicated than they expected. We spent the last year learning why, and we want your manuscript to get out of the drawer with fewer surprises along the way.

Hit play, then visit writerswithwrinklespress.com to send your questions or book a call with us.

In this episode

• Why we're celebrating in Napa, the spot where this podcast was hatched
• The book: Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast, out now wherever you buy books
• Meet Writers With Wrinkles Press, and why we built it
• The one thing everyone says after they self-publish
• How to reach us, and what's next for Season 6

Links and next steps

• Writers With Wrinkles Press: https://www.writerswithwrinklespress.com/(ask questions or book a phone call)
• Book: Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast, available everywhere books are sold
• Add the book to your Goodreads shelf.

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Your graphic novel isn't a novel. It's a screenplay, and editors can tell from page one whether you know the difference. First Second Books editor Ivan Taurisano explains how to write and submit a graphic novel script that gets read.

Kids ages 8 to 12 head straight for the graphic novel shelf, and prose writers are trying to follow them there. But Ivan says a submission that misses the format doesn't just earn a "not for me." It can earn a "don't send me your next one." Here's what he wants you to know before you write a single panel.

In this episode:

• Why writing a graphic novel is closer to writing a screenplay than a prose novel
• Revealing character through dialogue alone (no "she looked wistfully at the ocean")
• Why editors talk page count, not word count, and the "70,000-word graphic novel" red flag
• What to submit for a script-only project vs. an author and illustrator team: script, pitch, synopsis, and 20–30 sample pages
• How much art direction is too much, and the one question to ask before you leave an art note
• Why illustrators usually earn more than writers
• The biggest mistake Ivan sees: art that doesn't match the audience you're pitching
• Why kids who read "slightly above their level" become lifelong readers
• Adult graphic novels and First Second's sister imprint, 23rd Street

Ivan's manuscript wishlist:

• Middle grade graphic novels about girl friendship that capture how big those fights and bonds feel at 10, 11, and 12
• Dragons
• Early reader graphic novels for ages 4–7, 64–96 pages, any topic
• Stories with fresh magic systems
• A joyful, new take on the immigrant journey that shows the excitement, not only the hardship

Ivan's inbox (ivan.taurisano@firstsecondbooks.com) is open to agented and unagented creators, and he gives feedback when he passes.

Books and resources mentioned:

• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (Ivan's must-read before you write a graphic novel)
• The Investigators by John Patrick Green
• Dog Man by Dav Pilkey
• Pizza and Taco
• Narwhal and Jelly
• Parachute Kids
• Tuck Everlasting (graphic novel adaptation)
• Clara and the Devil
• How to Catch Santa Claus (How to Catch series)
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Hit play, then grab a graphic novel for the age group you want to write for. Follow Writers With Wrinkles so you don't miss our next Ask Beth and Lisa episode, and send us your questions!

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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We just turned 150+ episodes of hard-won publishing wisdom into one book — and it's finally here. Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast is up for pre-order now, and today Beth and Lisa are pulling back the curtain on why they wrote it, what's inside, and how it can save you from making the same missteps they did.

If you've ever finished a podcast episode thinking "that's such a good tip" — and then completely forgotten it by the next day — this book is the fix. Beth and Lisa gathered the best insight from over five years and 150+ conversations with agents, editors, and authors, organized it by where you are in your process (first draft through published book), and added end-of-chapter worksheets so you can actually use it, not just read it. Plus: they're launching a brand-new segment called the Confetti Club, where debut and new-release authors get the mic to pitch their own books — no interview pressure, just celebration.

In this episode:

• The cover reveal for their new book, Write, Revise, Publish: Essential Lessons from the Writers With Wrinkles Podcast
• Why they built the book around 150+ episodes of guest wisdom instead of just their own opinions
• How the book is organized so there's a spot for you whether you're drafting, revising, querying, or publishing
• The personal (and often embarrassing) asides from Beth and Lisa woven into every chapter
• End-of-chapter worksheets designed to turn the book into a practical writing tool, not just a read
• Introducing the Confetti Club — a new short-form segment spotlighting authors with books releasing within 30 days
• Who's lined up for the first three Confetti Club episodes
• A teaser for a third big announcement — coming next month
• Release date, pre-order details, and (of course) a Taylor Swift tangent

Pre-order Write, Revise, Publish on Amazon now — it releases in ebook and paperback on October 6th. And if you've got a book coming out in the next 30 days, keep an eye out: the Confetti Club wants to celebrate you too.

Hit play, and let's dive in. And if you love the show, a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts takes two minutes and helps us keep ironing out the wrinkles every week.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Harry Potter didn't just create a fantasy phenomenon — according to one Big Five editor, it quietly helped break middle grade publishing. Every book that tried to chase that success got longer, older, and harder for actual kids to read, and now imprints are shutting down because of it.

In this encore episode, literary agent, bestselling children's author, and founder of At-Home Author Vicki Weber breaks down what's really happening in publishing right now — the layoffs, the imprint closures, and why "everybody's throwing spaghetti at the wall." Then she gets tactical: her #1 piece of advice for authors in the query trenches (hint: it's not "wait for The One agent"), how to read between the lines of an agent's wishlist, and why chasing a "dream agent" is quietly sabotaging your confidence.

In this episode:

• The real story behind Vicki's viral Substack post on the state of middle grade
• The "Harry Potter theory" — how one runaway bestseller reshaped an entire category
• Why editors loving your book is only the beginning, not the end, of acquisitions
• Vicki's #1 tip for querying authors: write another book (and why the process isn't a straight line)
• How to research an agent's actual taste, not just their stated genres
• Why "my dream agent passed" is the wrong way to think about rejection
• Self-publishing vs. traditional: how to decide which is right for your book
• What to do about a "bad" sales track record (and how to reframe it)
• Simple, low-cost ways to build an email list and audience before you're published
• Vicki's current manuscript wishlist: horror-tinged, commercial, with social commentary

We had a new guest lined up for this week, but a family emergency meant we had to reschedule — so we're bringing back one of our favorite conversations instead.

Find Vicki's Substack and more show links in the notes at writerswithwrinkles.net.

Hit play and let's get to it!

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Most rejected picture book and middle grade manuscripts aren't turned down because they're bad — they're turned down because an editor has already seen five just like them. Susan Marston, the new editorial director of Albatros Books' US expansion (and former 25-year editorial director of the Junior Library Guild), joins us to lay out exactly what's landing on her acquisitions list right now — and what's already been done to death.

We talk about why Albatros — the largest publisher in the Czech Republic — is betting big on the American market, what makes a manuscript feel "irresistible" to an editor who's read literally thousands of submissions, and why she thinks the industry needs way more funny books, shorter word counts, and readers who aren't just "a boy and a girl who are best friends." Susan also gets specific about the exact gaps she's trying to fill: mysteries that go beyond the Sherlock-and-sidekick formula, horror-lite for middle grade, memoir, magical realism, and chapter books that actually try something new.

If you write for kids, this is the episode where an active acquiring editor tells you, out loud, what she wants to see land in her inbox.

In this episode:

• Why Albatros Books chose now to expand into the US market
• What "fun nonfiction" means as an acquisitions strategy
• The gap in chapter books Susan is actively trying to fill
• Why humor is one of the hardest — and most underrated — things to acquire
• Her take on the "boy and girl best friends" trope in middle grade, and why it's fading
• Why she'd take a great 200-page book over another 400-page epic any day
• Where to send your submission (and what she's hoping lands in that inbox)

Submissions: Albatros Books is actively acquiring picture books and chapter books from North American authors. Submission guidelines are on their website — send yours to submissions@albatrosbooks.com.

Hit play, grab a pencil, and get ready to take notes — then head to writerswithwrinkles.net for the full breakdown and links mentioned in this episode.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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AI companies are shredding rare books to train their models—and now authors are the ones being told to prove they didn't use AI to write their own. Beth and Lisa unpack the double standard rocking publishing right now.

From a debut novelist's multi million dollar book deal getting pulled over AI suspicion, to writers being told to reinsert typos and kill their em dashes just to "prove" they're human, the burden of proof has landed on exactly the wrong people. Beth and Lisa dig into who gets accused (and who conveniently doesn't), why the "nudge theory" behind blue recycling bins explains what's really happening here, and why voting with your dollars might be the only leverage writers have left. Plus: the AI-sounding conference invite that had Lisa convinced she was being scammed — until it wasn't.

Here is the content Lisa references:

1) Any AI use can never be completely “safe” but using for research, brainstorming, etc. can be acceptable. Usage for critiquing, improving prose or pacing, generating drafts is NOT. AI generated text is NOT copyrightable.

2) When using AI, stick to paid plans or walled gardens. Read the terms of use carefully re: training, storage of your prompts, input text, etc.

3) Avoid inputting your manuscript. Use prompts instead.

4) Cross-check all output for accuracy (false answers, hallucinations, poor nuance).

5) Keep all evidence of your process whether original or AI-involved.

Okay. Now hit play, then tell us: has AI made you paranoid about your own writing voice?

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Your opening pages have about 30 seconds to keep a literary agent reading — and most manuscripts lose that fight before the first paragraph ends.

Developmental editor Joel Brigham returns to unpack exactly what makes an agent stop reading (and what makes them keep going): the four ingredients — tension, suspense, mystery, and unfairness — that hook a reader in the first few pages. He breaks down why agents almost universally reject prologues, the two-highlighter trick for catching your own info-dumps before an agent does, and where your inciting incident actually needs to land depending on your genre — it's earlier than most writers think.

If you've ever gotten a same-day rejection and wondered why, or you're prepping pages for a conference critique or your next query batch, this is the fix-it guide for those first ten pages.

Hit play — then check the chapter markers below to jump straight to the section you need.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Note: If you downloaded this episode before 8/3 and experienced audio issues, please delete the download and hit re-download to grab the clean audio file!

Wendelin Van Draanen spent 10 years collecting rejections before anyone said yes to her Sammy Keyes mystery series — she just kept writing the next one anyway. Now, 40 books and 30 years later, she's still with the same editor who finally did.

If you've ever wondered whether to keep pitching a project nobody wants yet, or whether staying loyal to one editor for decades is a mistake in an industry that rewards jumping ship — this conversation is the counter-argument. Wendelin also gets candid about the moment Rob Reiner called to option Flipped, what it actually takes to hand your book to Hollywood without losing your mind, and the book-festival disaster that had two authors comparing notes on the exact same nightmare bookstore.

Ghosted, Wendelin's new romantasy, is up for pre-order now ahead of its October 6th release.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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You could finish four books this year and only ever get to publish one of them.

That's the traditional publishing timeline in a nutshell — and it's why more authors are quietly going hybrid: keeping one foot in a trad deal and self-publishing everything else on their own schedule, without waiting on anyone's calendar.

In this episode, Beth and Lisa break down what a hybrid author actually is (not to be confused with a hybrid publisher — totally different thing), why it's suddenly everywhere in publishing conversations, and the different ways real authors are structuring it: splitting genres between trad and self-pub, keeping e-book/audio rights on a trad print deal, reissuing backlist titles that reverted back to them. They also get into the real tradeoffs — creative control and faster cash flow vs. running two jobs at once (author and small business owner) — plus a few authors doing it well right now, like Rebecca Thorne.

Also in this episode: a shoutout to listener and author Kate McCarrell Moore's new release, Walter and Benny: Good Guys, Nature Spies, and a preview of next episode's guest, bestselling author Wendelin Van Draanen.

Hit play, and if you're new here, follow the show — new episodes every week. Find more at writerswithwrinkles.net.

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New York Times bestselling author Jason June (Out of the Blue, Jay's Gay Agenda) returns to Writers With Wrinkles for a wide-ranging conversation covering his growing acting career, the current state of the publishing industry, and his upcoming adult rom-com Santa and Krampus' Cozy Killer Christmas, out fall 2027. Jason is refreshingly candid — about book advances, about the anxiety running through publishing right now, and about finding joy in the work when the business side gets hard.

Guest
Jason June — NYT bestselling author, actor, screenwriter, and self-described "Laura Dern stan" based in Dallas, TX. Known for YA rom-coms Out of the Blue and Jay's Gay Agenda, and publisher of The Ventorship, a newsletter on author finances and transparency.

Highlights
• Auditioning post-COVID: why self-tapes democratize acting, and what's lost without an in-person redirect from a casting director

• How years of writing fiction sharpened Jason's instincts for character and story on set

• The "greater sense of unease" in publishing right now — AI concerns, slow timelines, and authors questioning why traditional publishing can't move faster

• Self-publishing's rising role, the discovery gap it still faces, and why hybrid careers are becoming more common

• The Dungeon Crawler Carl story as a case study in trusting your own artistic vision

• Why Jason publicly shares his advances and royalties through The Ventorship — and the argument that most of that "secrecy" is self-imposed

• Publishing as a side hustle: debut culture, shrinking advances, and the myth of the "cushy" author life

• The MER Principle (Beth's term): find the niche community obsessed with your book's specific hook, not a general audience

• The premise behind Santa and Krampus' Cozy Killer Christmas — a "dark cozy" where Krampus only kills the people who'd otherwise doom humanity

• Jason's advice to aspiring authors: chase the joy, and aim to be "prolific, not perfect"

Key Takeaway
Whether you're navigating traditional publishing, weighing a hybrid career, or just trying to market your next book, the throughline is the same: get specific. Specific about your niche audience, specific about your finances, and specific about what actually brings you joy in the work.

Have a marketing tip that's worked for you? Beth and Lisa want to hear it.

• Beth: beth@writerswithwrinkles.net

• Lisa: lisa@writerswithwrinkles.net

• Join The Waiting Room, our Facebook community for writers

• Website: writerswithwrinkles.net

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Episode Summary

In this episode of Writers With Wrinkles, hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid welcome back returning guest Lisa Frenkel Riddiough to discuss her brand-new picture book, Furious Turtle (Disney Hyperion), book two in the Forest School of Big Feelings series. The conversation quickly moves into the heart of the episode: Lisa's experience losing her longtime literary agent to retirement and having to re-enter the query trenches after years of being represented.

Lisa walks through how her second querying experience differed from her first — a small, curated list built mostly on personal referrals, a calmer and more strategic mindset, and the ability to separate emotional attachment from business decision-making. She also shares the exact query letter that landed her new agent, breaking down why it worked so well, including her formula for picture book pitches (title + word count + comps, story gist, and the twist/ending).

The episode wraps with candid advice for writers who've lost an agent — take stock of the career you've already built — and Lisa's biggest publishing lesson: it's okay to make mistakes.

Key Topics Discussed

• New release: Furious Turtle, a rhyming picture book about managing big emotions, releasing the day after this episode airs
• Book launch event at Old Haunts Bookstore in Granite Bay, CA
• Losing an agent to retirement and starting the query process over
• Building a small, referral-based query list instead of mass-querying
• Using leverage (an editor offer) without abandoning the goal of finding an agent who loves the full body of work
• Reading her actual query letter aloud, line by line
• Picture book pitch formula: title, word count, comps → story gist → the twist/ending
• Keeping old manuscripts organized — shelved drafts can resurface as the right opportunity later
• Pitching picture books vs. middle grade novels
• Reframing job loss (agent loss) as not career loss — taking stock of everything already built
• Embracing mistakes as part of the growth process in publishing

Notable Quotes

• On what a great query needs: the title should convey nearly the entire premise of a picture book.
• On business vs. heart: writers need to separate emotional attachment from evaluating what's genuinely a good match professionally.
• On losing an agent: the fact that someone once represented you is proof a career already exists — that career doesn't disappear with the agent.
• On mistakes: mistakes are simply how writers learn, and grace matters more than perfection.

Guest Info

Lisa Frenkel Riddiough writes board books, picture books, and middle grade novels using wordplay, humor, rhyme, and whimsy. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. More at lisariddiough.com.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Beth and Lisa welcome literary agent and debut author Alia Hanna Habib, whose book Take It From Me is a practical behind-the-scenes guide to getting a nonfiction book published. Alia represents acclaimed writers including Clint Smith and Nicole Hannah-Jones, was named one of New York Magazine's most powerful New Yorkers you've never heard of, and writes the Substack newsletter Delivery and Acceptance.

WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE TO BE A WRITER (WHEN YOU'RE ALSO AN AGENT)

Alia shares what it was like to experience the writer's side of publishing for the first time — the anxiety of waiting for feedback, the obsessive inbox-checking, and the hard-won empathy for her own clients. Her takeaway: before you hit send on that panicked email to your agent, ask yourself — am I sending this because I need an answer, or to soothe my own anxiety? If it's the latter, wait.

HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE

The idea came during an afternoon nap. Alia was expanding a writing workshop for Stanford academics and realized there was no practical guide specifically about nonfiction publishing. She texted her colleague and friend Meredith Pafel Simonoff two paragraphs — and had a proposal within weeks. Writing the book took two years, complicated by divorce, loss, and the realities of doing it alongside a full-time career.

THE NONFICTION LANDSCAPE RIGHT NOW

We're in an escapist moment. Romantasy, cozy mysteries, and rom-coms are dominating. In nonfiction, what's working is practical books that make your life better or give you hope. Alia also sees a coming wave of tech-critical books skeptical of our online lives. Her agenting philosophy: if something fascinates her, it'll fascinate readers. She doesn't chase headlines — nonfiction timelines are two-plus years, and you can't predict the news.

CRAFT: WRITING A WINNING NONFICTION PROPOSAL

The biggest mistake Alia sees is what she calls "death by PowerPoint" — leading with marketing bullet points instead of writing. Publishers are readers first. Her advice:

• Open with a scene in the voice of the book, not a summary
• Solve the "page 100 problem" — what's the engine that sustains 80,000 words?
• Keep marketing sections grounded in what you actually bring to the table — platform, expertise, existing audience. Publishers decide budgets and tours. Skip the hypotheticals.
• You're being judged on how you tell a story, not how great you are at bullet points

WHAT ALIA IS LOOKING FOR RIGHT NOW

Books that provide guidance or reframe someone's life, historical true crime, and narrative nonfiction with a strong storytelling engine. Current projects include a Regency-era true crime story and My Jane Austen Breakup Album — a literary memoir about a man who lost his partner and his home and spent a year couch-surfing with his collected Jane Austen, reading her for romantic advice while navigating the gay dating scene in Manhattan.

FIND ALIA

Substack: Delivery and Acceptance
Book: Take It From Me — available now wherever books are sold

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Literary agent Ann Rose (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency) returns to Writers With Wrinkles for a candid, funny, and reassuring conversation with Beth and Lisa about the current state of publishing—and how writers can keep going anyway. Ann is also the author of The Seemingly Impossible Love Life of Amanda Dean and A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love.

The episode opens with a frank look at an industry in flux. Ann and the hosts dig into why publishers have grown so risk-averse, why "branded" and name-recognition titles are crowding out fresh voices, and why debut authors and previously published writers alike are finding the trenches tougher than ever. They also tackle the hard truth that marketing has largely shifted onto authors' shoulders—and that, post-Twitter, no one has cracked the code on selling books online.

From there, the conversation turns practical and hopeful. Ann shares exactly what hooks her in a first chapter, what makes her stop reading, and how to push past the "messy middle" of a draft. If you're querying, pivoting genres, or rebuilding after a book that didn't sell, this one's for you.

In this episode:

• Why publishers are playing it safe—and what that means for debuts and option books
• How the marketing burden has shifted to authors, and why there's no magic bullet
• The two things Ann needs in a first chapter: voice and character agency
• Why "starting with action" can backfire if we don't yet care about the character
• The power of the unexpected: write down your first idea, then find your seventh
• Red flags that make Ann stop reading, and the "and then" trap that kills momentum
• Trusting the reader and leaving space on the page (a lesson from Brian Selznick)
• Advice for authors dropped after a disappointing option—and how to shake off imposter syndrome
• Pivoting genres and riding the pendulum: why what's "dead" always comes back
• Ann's midpoint challenge: move your ending to the middle and raise the stakes
• Her #1 piece of advice for writers: stay in your own lane and stop comparing
• What's at the top of her wish list: feminine rage, women doing bad things for good reasons, and gripping, feminist-leaning suspense

Whether you're a debut writer, a seasoned author starting over, or somewhere in the messy middle, Ann's message is one to hold onto: control what you can—your writing—and don't be afraid to get gritty.

Learn more about Ann and find the full blog at http://www.writerswithwrinkles.net. Next time: an Ask Beth and Lisa episode—send us your questions! Until then, happy reading, writing, and listening.

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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In this re-released conversation, developmental editor Joel Brigham returns to talk all things revision: how to approach your first editing pass, the most common pitfalls he sees in drafts, and how to know when a manuscript is truly ready to query. A great refresher as you set your summer writing goals. (Note: a recording glitch cut the original intro, which Beth explains at the top.)

What you'll learn in this episode

Joel revises in phases, and phase one is always structure. He looks for the "tent pole" story beats: the inciting incident, the midpoint turn, and the all-hope-is-lost moment, and checks whether they fall where reader expectations and pacing demand. He explains why pantsers tend to have the beats but in the wrong places, and how genre and age level dictate placement (the inciting incident around 8–12% for YA and adult, the romance meet-cute by the end of chapter one).

He then walks through a practical self-editing checklist writers can use before paying a professional:

• Have you hit the major story beats, and are they in the right place?
• Does every character, including the antagonist and secondary cast, have clear motivation and an arc?
• Is your character driving the plot through choices and consequences, or just passively reacting? (Joel calls character agency the single biggest difference between a good book and one that isn't ready.)
• Is there tension in every chapter, even small-scale?
• Are the stakes clear and high?
• Have you read your dialogue out loud?
• Does the book open and close with a bang?
• Is your word count appropriate for your genre and age level?
• For kid lit, have you checked readability scores (Lexile, Flesch-Kincaid)?
• Have you proofread to a pristine, professional standard?
• And finally, do you feel proud of it? That feeling, Joel says, is often how you know you're close.

The episode digs into developing narrative voice, which Joel calls the hardest thing to teach. His advice: read widely, mimic authors you admire until your own voice emerges, write in different mediums, be authentic, seek feedback, and read your work aloud. He shares his own path from imitating Dave Barry and John Green to finding his own style.

On story structure red flags, Joel offers a memorable test borrowed from South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone: strong stories connect scenes with "but" or "therefore," not "and then." A string of "and thens" signals missing consequences and a passive protagonist.

He also tackles the saggy middle and rushed endings, with concrete fixes for each: introduce a new obstacle, separate inseparable characters, drop a backstory reveal, add a ticking clock, or shift the power dynamic to revive a sagging midpoint. For endings, make your all-hope-is-lost moment dark enough that you're forced to pace the resolution, and think of act three as its own four-chapter arc.

He closes with hard-won advice on polishing: focus on one element at a time, get other eyes on your pages, learn to weigh feedback wisely, rest between revision phases, and above all, be right, not fast. Don't impose artificial deadlines or query before a manuscript is ready. As Joel reminds listeners, finishing a draft already puts you in rare company, and persistence is what eventually turns into success.

Resources & links

Learn more about Joel and find episode notes at writerswithwrinkles.net.

Happy reading, writing, and listening!

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Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid cut through the noise of book marketing advice to spotlight what genuinely moves books: word of mouth. Nearly half of readers (47–48%) choose books based on personal recommendations — outperforming social media, platforms, and AI discovery tools combined. Beth and Lisa share three low-cost, actionable strategies to spark that word of mouth before and after your launch.

3 Strategies to Spark Word of Mouth

1. Build a Street Team

• Recruit 20–30 trusted readers (writers, friends, community members) and give them an advance copy — digital or print

• Provide a short, clear list of 3 specific asks: post on social media, share with friends, leave a review

• One voice becomes 25 — and those 25 can each reach 10 more, creating exponential amplification with minimal effort from you

2. Engage Bookstagrammers & BookTok Creators — Early

• Identify creators who read books in your genre months before your launch — not the week of

• Comment, share, and engage with their content authentically to build a genuine relationship first

• Pay it forward with fellow authors — share their books freely, and don't be afraid to ask directly when your book drops

3. Attend Local Book Festivals

• Book festivals are abundant, often within driving distance, and free to apply for as an author — no flights or hotel rooms required

• Having a new or recent release significantly improves your chances of acceptance; apply before your launch

• In-person connection creates lasting amplifiers — readers who meet you, enjoy your book, and tell 10 friends

Key Takeaway: Stop spending hours on content nobody sees. Invest that time in real relationships — book groups, communities, and fellow authors. Marketing doesn't have to be expensive or high-tech to work.

Have a marketing tip that's worked for you? Beth and Lisa want to hear it.

• Beth: beth@writerswithwrinkles.net

• Lisa: lisa@writerswithwrinkles.net

Send us Fan Mail

Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Joel Brigham runs Brigham Editorial (developmental edits, manuscript critiques, query help), teaches high school English in Illinois, and is an editor for RevPit — a community that gives away free developmental edits each spring.

REVPIT

• Free developmental editing contest — editors (not authors) mentor selected writers through full drafts

• Applications open April, winners announced early May; ~14–15 editors participate

• Year-round mini-event: 10 Queries — public feedback on first 5 pages + query letters

THE FIRST DRAFT

• One goal: words on the page. Momentum beats perfection — always

• Psychology backs this up: Goal Gradient Effect, Zeigarnik Effect, and Commitment Principle all support just keeping going

• Comparing your messy first draft to your last polished book is a trap — every published book started the same way

5 DRAFTING HINDRANCES

• Starting slow — avoid waking-up scenes, mirror descriptions, dream openers. Try dropping into the middle of something (*in medias res*)

• Perfectionism — editing as you go wastes time on scenes that may not survive. Grammar is the last step

• Weak character foundation — know their goal, fear, flaw, and wound as early as possible

• No tension — even “everyday life” chapters before the inciting incident need friction, stakes, or a ticking clock

• Info dumping — no backstory or flashbacks in chapters 1–2. Backstory is a breadcrumb, not a full loaf

FOR DISCOVERY / PANTSER WRITERS

• Check in every 15–20k words — assess without forcing rigid plot beats

• By 20k: your character should have a clear want and be on the book’s core journey

• Made a change mid-draft? Drop a note and keep writing forward as if it’s always been that way — don’t stop to rewrite

LINKS

Joel’s services: https://brighameditorial.com/ • RevPit: https://reviseresub.com/ • Show notes: https://www.writerswithwrinkles.net/

Send us Fan Mail

Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

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Beth and Lisa talk with literary agent Nikki Carrero, from The Rights Factory, to break down the querying process from the agent’s side — what gets you noticed, what gets a pass, and how to make the most of The Call.

Highlights

• Nikki runs monthly pitch parties on Threads — currently her only open submission path since she’s closed to general queries.

• Biggest query red flags: word count outside genre norms, miscategorized genre, and sending to agents who don’t rep your category.

• Personalization? Just use her name. “Dear Agent” won’t auto-reject you, but do double-check pronouns.

• Multiple passes don’t always mean bad writing — it may be wrong agents, weak hook, or pacing issues in the opening pages.

• Nikki is an editorial agent: developmental notes, line edits, and reader reactions all in the margins.

• Watch your social media. Agents notice public venting in the query trenches — keep it in private group chats.

Questions to Ask on The Call (with prospective agent!)

• How editorial are you, and what does your revision process look like?

• Will I see the pitch letter and submission list?

• What happens if the book doesn’t sell — do you stay with me?

• Always ask for a boilerplate contract before signing.

Nikki’s Parting Advice

Patience and persistence. Self-publishing is not a fallback. Keep writing new books — voice and craft develop over time, and the writers who stick with it are the ones who break through.

Nikki Carerro Substack

Nikki Carerro Threads

Send us Fan Mail

Ready to turn your manuscript into a published book? Writers With Wrinkles Press handles editing, cover design, formatting, and distribution, and you keep 100% of your royalties. Visit https://WritersWithWrinklesPress.com and write CONFETTI on your submission to get $500 off your publishing package. Your book. Your moment. Let's make it a celebration.

Support the show

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