Writing It!
The Podcast About Academics & Writing
Displaying 2 items of Writing It! with the tag "publicists".
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Episode 48: Four Decades of Writing Biography
April 21st, 2025 | 47 mins 2 secs
biography; carson mccullers, editors, publicists, self-promotion; trade press; literary agent
When Mary Dearborn finished her doctorate at Columbia University she knew she wanted to write biography. She went on to a forty-plus year career in writing biographies whose subjects including Peggy Guggenheim, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, Ernest Hemingway, Anzia Yezierska, and most recently Carson McCullers. We talk about the challenges of writing biography for trade press publications; writing the trade press book proposal; changes in the publishing industry; reaching a broader readership; struggling with self-promotion and changing social media norms; and why it’s invigorating to remember that presses actually need good writers.
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Episode 16: When you need lots of images in your book
January 29th, 2024 | 37 mins 39 secs
book events, book launches, book prices, book promotion, bookstores, comics history, fellowships, images, lgbtq history, permissions, publicists, second book
We’re speaking with UF English Professor Margaret Galvan about writing a book with lots of images; how to find a press that can accommodate image-rich manuscripts; what a book publicist will actually do for you; how to cultivate a relationship with your publicist and editor; how to be thoughtful about book promotion; when and why to apply for a fellowship for book two; the importance of finding colleagues and friends who will get excited about your book; and handling the details of getting a manuscript ready for production.