See You on the Bookshelf

A documentary podcast following my first novel from finished manuscript to finished book, told by the people who made it. Each episode has the audio and a full transcript.

18 episodes · 2017–2021

  1. Prologue

    A novel is finished. Eight months later, a printed book appears on shelves. What happens in those eight months?

  2. 1. The Submission

    The manuscript is attached to an email, and that email is sent to editors at various publishing houses. The person sending it? The literary agent.

  3. 2. The German Deal

    Even before See You in the Cosmos was sold to US and UK publishers, it was sold in Germany. Here's how it happened.

  4. 3. The Acquisition

    See You in the Cosmos was jointly acquired by two editors, one in the US and UK. We meet those two editors.

  5. 4. The Editing

    We go deeper in the editing process with Jess Garrison and Anthea Townsend, and talk about the differences between young adult and middle grade.

  6. 5. The Cover

    We talk with art director Jacqui McDonough about designing the cover.

  7. 6. The (Internal) Launch

    As See You in the Cosmos launches this week in the US, UK, and rest of the English-speaking world, we look back on the internal launches that took place within the publishing houses roughly one year ago.

  8. Interlude

    We've come back to where we began our story: roughly eight months out from publication. We pause for a moment before digging into the even more behind-the-scenes – and invisible – aspects of the publishing process.

  9. 7. The Copyediting

    You’ve met my editors; now meet my copyeditors.

  10. 8. The Interior Design

    We've already talked about the cover. Now we talk to designer Jason Henry about the book's interior.

  11. 9. The Audiobook

    See You in the Cosmos was born out of audio; this week, we talk to producer Karen Dziekonski about the making of the audiobook.

  12. 10. The Librarian Conference

    They say that everything's bigger in Texas. That's especially the case with libraries. I bring my microphone to the Texas Library Association's annual conference.

  13. 11. The Publicity

    Media coverage around this book and others like it don’t happen by accident; they come as a result of the persistent efforts of the book publicist.

  14. 12. The Sales

    See You in the Cosmos is on the shelves of most bookstores in the English-speaking world. Convincing them to stock it is in large part the responsibility of the publisher sales rep.

  15. 13. The Marketing

    We’ve talked a bit about marketing in past episodes; this week we go more in depth with Julia Teece from Penguin Random House (UK) and Alexis Watts from Penguin Young Readers (US).

  16. 14. The Book Tour

    This week we talk once again with our Penguin Young Readers publicists Lindsay Boggs and Kaitlin Kneafsey, and with our sales rep John Dennany, about putting together the book tour.

  17. 15. The Publisher

    In our finale to the podcast, we talk to one last person at the publishing house: the publisher. We speak to Lauri Hornik, president and publisher of Dial Books for Young Readers.

  18. Epilogue (and a New Podcast)

    A few updates from 2021, and a sample of my new podcast, BookSmitten.