Free for Writers: Publishers Lunch
Anyone interested in understanding publishing can learn a lot, for free, by subscribing to the daily e-mail Publishers Lunch. And if you’re at all interested in being published, you should be interested in understanding publishing, according to Marcela Landres, a former editor at Simon & Schuster who now coaches writers through her website, workshops and e-book, How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You.
I took a workshop with Marcela a few years ago at the Spring Writers Festival at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Continuing Education, and her message was bracing: learn about publishing, or you don’t stand a chance of getting published. Among Marcela’s tips for improving your chance at success, she said writers must read Publishers Lunch.
This newsletter covers the industry, from book sales (by individual authors and the industry as a whole) to personnel changes at publishing houses and literary agencies. They even run a jobs board that regularly posts positions at publishing houses and agencies.
The free Publishers Lunch e-mail is a pared-down version of a subscription, and you’ll be encouraged in every day’s “meal” to subscribe, which costs $20 a month. Subscribers have access to databases of industry contacts, deal information and who represents who, and get a deluxe edition of the daily e-mail with a lot more news.
I find the daily freebie tremendously useful, but expect to subscribe, at least for a while, once I’m ready to start pitching my novel to agents. People who subscribe tell me it’s addictive.
Publishers Lunch has been a boon to me, both in terms of better understanding the industry, and in finding ideas to write about. I’ve pitched some freelance projects based on info I saw first in Publishers Lunch. If you don’t already subscribe, PL is an important addition to your inbox. Consider it a free correspondence course in publishing. And read it with some Hot Lunch: