Paper Questions

Here are some questions I have that could potentially become a paper:



I’m interested in thinking about the small magazines and literary publications we were talking about in the first few weeks of class. It’s crazy to me that projects like The Baffler and One Story--which subsist on relatively small, underground readerships--can exist in the same ecosystem as The New Yorker or Vanity Fair--huge publications geared towards a popular (if not a bit highbrow) audience, with enormous readerships and lots of money. I want to know how these small publications carve their niches and how they relate to a new kind of instagram-flavored “zine” culture I see emerging among artistic sets of Gen Z-ers and Millennials (the local mag “Sleepless” comes to mind). http://www.sleeplessboston.com/home



Also, what would become of the big publications if there were no underground literary journals? I’d like to look into the relationship between mainstream/underground cultural movements in general, and how this dynamic manifests in publishing. 



Another question I’d like to explore is a little more nonspecific. How have changes in the publishing industry in the 21st century also changed how we read? I’m interested in pursuing questions related to ebooks and online publishing, but also things like the Publication Studio Standler was writing about, which I could see as being a kind of reaction against the huge boom of digital content in the 21st century and content in general as part of the “publishing machine.” How do readers interact with all this content, digital or otherwise?

Booktube!

As a broke college student who loves reading, practicing self control in Barnes and Noble can be really difficult. I always end up with a huge stack of books that I want to buy if I go in there without a specific book in mind. I usually try to have a few books that I know I really want to buy, to avoid buying too many books I can't afford or books that just end up on my shelf and I never read them. How do I find book recommendations you might ask? Booktube!

I usually only watch two specific book Youtubers, PeruseProject aka a young women named Regan and Abooktopia another young woman named Sasha. I watch Regan much more, but both Youtubers have given me really awesome recommendations that I actually read and enjoyed.

I like Booktube so much because you get to listen to people's reviews and general thoughts about books. It's so much more personal. I really trust their opinions. They do all different types of videos, my favorite are the ones at the end of the year, when Booktubers make videos for their best and worst reads of the year. This is usually how I spend the Barnes and Noble gift cards that I inevitably get for Christmas every year. They also do book tag challenges, book hauls, and specific recommendations, like winter or airplane reads. There's something for everyone.

Regan has similar interests as me when it comes to reading. She usually favors Young Adult Fantasy and Sci-Fi, although she reads a solid mix of different genres and subgenres. One of the best recommendations she's made for me is The Remnant Chronicles, which is a Fantasy trilogy by Mary Pearson. Sasha always raves about Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I started the first book and the tv show last year, but because I have so little time to read I have been unable to finish the books (they're also very long).

One other great thing about Booktube is they usually talk about and review the "chosen ones" or the books that are chosen by the publishing houses and God knows who else to be the big hits of the year. It's a great way to keep up with the industry and what's up and coming.

If you're ever struggling to find new books to read, check out some Booktube channels. They can really help.

The vanishing reading progress

     I’m pretty sure I have not read any more of The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson in the past week, which is depressing but I have just been so tired. Seeing as I don’t have any new reading to talk about, I thought I might explain more about Truly Devious, the book that precedes The Vanishing Stair. 

     On one hand, it is a very typical Young Adult book in terms of certain tropes. There is a main character who is “different” and goes to a school for kids who are kind of different or kind of just rich. The school is in the middle of the mountains in Vermont (or New Hampshire, I can’t remember for sure), and the whole point of it is that learning is a game. It was started by a wealthy man, but in its first year, his wife and daughter were kidnapped and held for ransom. The mystery of it was never solved, and our main character, a budding detective prone to sneaky behavior, plans to solve it. While she’s at the school though, she’s faced with another mystery. 

      I read a lot of Young Adult, but not a lot of mystery, so this was nice that it was something new for me but I also can’t really judge it as an actual mystery novel, especially because there are two other books and the mysteries haven’t been revealed yet. I like the slow progression of information; it feels like it’s building up to what will hopefully be a very satisfying resolution. 

     There is a love interest who is admittedly both very predictably the love interest and also becomes the love interest before the reader knows a lot about them In reading the book the second time, this annoyed me a little because I just didn’t find myself caring that much about the character in general let alone in their relationship to the main character. However, the reader does learn more about him after the initial relationship starts and they end up being an intriguing character. 

      I think it was the mystery element of the book that I enjoyed a lot, because again, the Young Adult aspects were not exactly special. The other thing that I found interesting was that the main character has anxiety, and it isn’t just a side issue; it’s a main part of the story that the author doesn’t shy away from and, in my opinion, does a really good job depicting. The present day story in the book (because it does actually jump to the past in different ways) is told entirely through the lens of this character, which means it’s told entirely through the lens of anxiety. Sometimes the character struggles, but it’s encouraging because she can do the thing she loves, which often involves possibly frightening situations. 

      I already said this previously, but I would definitely recommend this book with the caveat that you have to be okay with Young Adult tropes. If you’re gonna hate the very teenage characters with their very teenage personalities (which are accurate to real life teenagers if you ask me) then you maybe shouldn’t read it. But it was a good read. 

A Reading Adjacent Blog Post

Unfortunately this week has been killing me. I haven’t even had the chance to get past the first 10 pages of Sally Rooney’s Normal People. Midterms are no joke, so unless you count Linguistics PowerPoints or articles on Diegetic vs. non-diegetic sounds in cinema reading, I haven’t read much. I don’t have much to report on this week in terms of books, but I have some topics I can discuss! First, I have found a new favorite spot to read. Last week, when my life wasn’t controlled by the suffocating stress of projects, I found myself reading a bunch and loving reading in ISEC. It is a very nice building with a lot of space and a lot of windows. I have come up with a routine where I pick up a white chocolate mocha and a slice banana bread from Starbucks, make my way to ISEC and read by a window. It is so relaxing! Plus, it feels like a tiny rebellion, English major reading a fiction novel in a brand new STEM building.

            Another thing that I have found interesting lately is that my sister has started to read, regularly. This is strange because my sister has never liked books or reading of any kind. Ever. She used to yell at me, when we were kids, because I wouldn’t stop reading and go play with her. The only thing that changed though, is that she got hired this summer to work at our local library where I used to work. I guess being around books all the time and reading the backs of them, made her realize the reading is actually fun! She does have a specific genre though, and I have yet to convince her to deviate from the YA realistic fiction novels, but I guess that will come with time.

Hopefully spring break will give me the time I need to recoup and stay on top of my goodreads challenge!

Book of the Month online service

On my Instagram feed, I got an add for an online program called Book fo the Month, advertised as "we pick 5 books, you get for $9.99" and I was really intrigued how they could give 5 books for $9.99 each month. But then I went on their website and discovered they select 5 books and the customer gets to pick one to get shipped to them. I was annoyed at this false advertisement.

This website is attempting to make "books cool again", as advertised on their website. Then they go kidding, books were always cool. It is a cute idea for a subscription program, but in my opinion, their marketing and design team are doing a poor job. Additionally, they make it seem like you're saving money because it is only $9.99, but that is only for the first month. After that, the books are $14.99 a month, which is nowhere near as enticing.

Another issue I have with this is the very limited books that are available. It seems like there are only 5 for the whole subscription, which is a problem. I don't think it really encourages reading because it is very specifically catered to young adult, female readers. I think they should add surveys about the reader, so they have a more personalized reading experience. I like the 5 options, but when none of them are interesting, it seems pointless to subscribe to this. It also seems like it is more of an exclusivity type of thing, because they brag about early releases, so reader have access to books before the rest of the public by using this subscription.

In concept, a book subscription would be really cool, and I would honestly be interested in participating. But this one just really isn't it.

One more thing to mention is for the February book picks, American Dirt was one of them.

My Goodreads "Currently Reading"

Currently, I’m in the middle of an awful book slump and because of that, I am unable to finish the five texts I’ve been stuck in for what feels like years. Here’s a list of those books...

Anna Karenina - I started this work a few days ago and have consistently read a little bit each day since which I guess is a win. I don’t know why I thought Tolstoy’s 800-page novel felt like a smart move to get me to read more but it’s a decision I made and now I have to follow through. I’m flying to San Francisco this break so hopefully, I will be able to make a huge dent in the text if not finish the whole thing.

The Last Wish - I started reading this book in anticipation of The Witcher coming out on Netflix in December hoping it would be a new book series I loved. The fact that I have now seen the entire show and don’t even have the book with me doesn't help my wish to finish it.

Wayward Son - I talked about this novel a few posts ago and sadly haven’t picked it up since. Before I put it down I had a great time reading it. It has so far been light-hearted and fun but every time I start to open it up I get stressed and close it again. I will also be taking this with me over the break to serve as an alternative option to Anna Karenina in the hopes that it too will also be done when I return. 

The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World - I talked about this in one of my first posts and I am still trekking my way through the audiobook. I am making progress as I listen to it every night before I go to sleep but given the fact that I can listen to a maximum of ten minutes before passing out means that it will probably be a long time before I finish. 

The Book of Life - The Book of Life is the last book in the All Souls Trilogy and has been sitting on my shelf untouched for a few months now. While I loved the first two books I am someone who really hates endings. I’m struggling to get past page 50 not because I don’t want to continue but because I am scared to finish it. I know it’s dumb but A Discovery of Witches was one of the first books I have enjoyed in a while and I feel like I need to save the finale for a rainy day when I’ll need it more.

Question (probably not the question though)

I currently am not sure what question I want to revolve my project around. But I do have a question...

Michael's remarks from class (about the merit of literature being innately skewed because it is created on the basis of literature that has been published; and the publishing industry leaves hundreds of books unpublished a day) left me stumped. I didn't even know how to look at the whole thing straight...previously I had been alluding to the nature of authors-- after hearing the Vonnegut passage I was sure the modern world had not changed the ability for a writer to write. I later mentioned the passage portrayed a problem with individuals having an understanding of themselves and a confidence to put it in action and to learn, not the inability for storytellers to emerge now that we no longer live in clans of 50-100 people with distinct roles. The absurdity that we lose freedoms with improvements in technology and advancements in society is bogus to me; a claim that points towards the increase in individual trials and tribulations is an argument I would accept. To me literature is what is written, not what is read. And yes, improvements in tech and advancements in society have made publishing easier on one hand-- it has increased the freedoms of writing from simply the time it takes to write a manuscript compared to type it, to the ease of mass production, and so on--, while making the writing world more difficult to navigate on the other. But the writing world and social world behind it, the changes they undergo, and the restrictions they put in place are not the author and his or her ability and desire to write.

To me, for the purely literature takes, the focus has to be on what is written and not what is read. To focus on the consumer side of things would pollute the concept of "higher" literature...which is why what Michael said had me stuck. I took his words to mean: if the books we consider to be a part of the Cannon of Literature are those which were publish and promoted, if not by a publishing house then by a crown or a religious symbol, and have sold well for long enough to stick around, then how can "higher" literature ever be removed from consumerism. And now I ask, does something have to be read by other people to be literature with merit? I know its a clique question-- if a tree fell and no one was there to hear it did it fallesque--but if so how many people need to read it? If not, then bare with me...

If not, then literature becomes a calling that one answers. Writing is something this person has to do. To get something out. And that something COULD be useful for masses of people in a plethora of ways. But it is not the masses of people that make the book's merit, the book has merit of its own because now it is the creation of something that had to get out, and not a creation of something that wanted to sell out...

And so the follow-up question is: Is all literature, and all art for what it's worth, a matter of faith-- a self-guided journey towards one's own sense of enlightenment? And if so, then why does it matter what people categorize as literature with more or less merit, what sells in book stores and what doesn't...For if it's a matter of faith then one would assume they would have the book that was necessary for their journey to proceed...and if they didn't...they would write it...

Publishing Q's

While I have many general questions about publishing, here are a few specific ones. Enjoy where my mind wanders!

1. Where is publishing headed in the next five to 10 years?

This is the almighty question for both publishing and anything English/journalism industry related. In nearly every journalism class I've ever taken, all of my professors tell me to prepare for the industry to shift and the quick pace at which it will shift. Other professors and adults have told me that my future job hasn't even been created yet, which is a scary thought. Though I don't exactly have a grasp on what I will be doing in the next five to 10 years myself, I seek comfort in the hope that there is already an established position out there. Publishing has changed so much already, evolving to Kindles and e-books and audiobooks. Everything is becoming digital, so will publishing become obsolete?

2. What are the biggest drawbacks of self-publishing?

One of the first authors I fell in love with was Amanda Hocking, a self-published fantasy novelist who wrote the "Switched" series in 2010. I remember my mom showed me this magazine profile written about her, and I kept it close to my bedside and reread it as often as I could. As a 10-year-old, this woman sort of became my hero. For some reason as a youngster, I was already obsessed with getting published as a fiction writer, thinking it must have been as easy as having a good story to tell. Amanda Hocking showed little me that I didn't have to wait around to find an agent who could help me publish my unfinished novel. As I grew older (and as I've learned in this class), I've learned self-publishing is limiting. I guess it makes sense because I have no idea what Amanda Hocking is doing now, but I'm curious as to how severe the damage is to self-publish versus publishing with a big publishing house.

3. What does it mean when full novels are re-published online?

Many times, I've found full-fledged novels republished online in PDF format. Though a particular novel has already been published thousands of times over, how does the full manuscript end up online? And how does this affect potential republishing or the current published edition? There are several questions attached to this singular one. Do authors benefit from this PDF novel, or do they lose money/does the novel lose value because of its availability?

4. How much $$$ does it usually take to publish a novel?

All the publishing reading has said it time and time again – publishing is expensive. But just how expensive? As far as I've heard, many first-time authors work one to two jobs, but still scrape by even when a novel is selling. The whole thing seems like a paradox.

5. Will big publishing houses survive?

This one kind of springboards off of Q1. Harpers and Random House have already established  and made a decent name for themselves. Will they survive when the digital age takes over? (redirect back to Q3?)

6. What is the difference between publishing under an author's original name and pseudonym?

This is for Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler and Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling, among the thousands of other pseudonyms. What does the process look like for renowned, popular authors who want to publish under a pseudonym? I assume they still work with the same agent and probably the same publishing house, but besides the name, is there any difference? 

7. Publishing and movie deals?

How much hands-on involvement are authors usually granted when it comes to movie deals? Can they determine it for themselves, whether they want to be involved or not? What about those republished novels with inserted movie graphics/visuals? How does that work?

Questions

I think my number one question now is about the ethics of publishing something that could involve other, living people— at what point should the author tale them into account? At what point do they have a moral obligation to those people? I’m also interested in the way the visuals of a book affect the audience and who picks it up.

Some Questions about Publishing

I have a lot of interest in going into the publishing industry, specifically in being an editor, so most of my questions are related to that. Here they are!

1. In this rapidly shifting industry, is it still possible to make a living writing books without selling film rights?

2. How extensive is editing really supposed to be? Lish is the example of going "too far" with editing, but what exactly is the "right amount" of editing?

3. How much do books even go for (e.g. how much are advances supposed to be)? Do books that have less of a sellability factor (that are good books but might not sell) have smaller advances?

4. How much of being an editor is just "going to lunch"? How does acquiring books work, and do you necessarily work on a book once you've acquired it?

5. How extensive is the correspondence between a writer and a good editor?

6. How long does editing usually take? I know there's a lot of extended or missed deadlines in the publishing industry; how long can you wait past the deadline before it's unacceptable?

7. How do editors deal with temperamental writers (i.e. people who might be too attached to their writing, etc.)? How do they know when to allow the writer to have their way instead of insisting on their own way?

8. How much of the general public is actually invested in the publishing industry--how many people actually read?

Publishing Questions That Could Potentially Turn Into A Final Project

What is usually a starting position in publishing and how does one work their way up?

• For this question I was thinking of using some case studies that we've looked at as well as external materials.
• It's possible that the answer to this question is too subjective, but I'm not sure.

How does book publishing differ from magazine publishing?

• We've briefly discussed/read about some of the differences, but I think it would be interesting to compare the two.
• This can also be expanded to different industries we've talked about like trade vs scientific journals.

What is the process for book to movie/tv show adaptations?

• I follow a lot of authors on Facebook or I am signed up to their email newsletters, and when they talk about this process it has always intrigued me. I think especially since a lot of authors are unsatisfied with the product, there are some things happening in the process that may influence authors to go through with projects they may not want to. 

Publishing thoughts

Right now I have a couple different areas of specific interest/questions that I’ve been thinking about.

First, as someone who’s very interested in editing—copy editing in particular, but all forms of editing as well—I was really struck by our discussions about how editing plays into ideas of ownership and authorship (and the distinction between the two, if it exists). I’d love to explore these ideas further—how do these concepts look from the editorial side? From the author’s perspective? From the reader’s perspective?

I also did my first co-op at a startup that was essentially a marketing platform for self-published and independent authors. Working closely with a lot of the authors on our platform gave me a really different perspective on the publishing world than what I originally came into the job with. I’m fascinated by the differences between authors who self-publish or publish independently and those who take the traditional publishing route (for instance, for many self-published authors, the mailing list is king; reviews are emphasized and valued more highly; many self-published authors—on our platform, at least—had certain ideas about what a reader “owed” them for a copy of or excerpt from their book; and so on). Both trade publishing and self-publishing seem to have their own little niche worlds and idiosyncrasies, and yet these microcosms differ so greatly despite the fact that they are just different areas of the same field. I don’t have fully articulated questions about these differences at the moment, but would love to look further into those as well.

questions about publishing

After college, I want to pursue a career in publishing (right now, specifically copy editing) so my questions are more about the process and lifestyle of being in the publishing industry.

1) How does copy editing vary from different industries? Obviously there are different style guides between publishing houses, but more generally, how does it differ from copy editing for trade, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and on a broader sense, between industries (like political press releases, large business corporations, etc).

2) Since large cities where publishing houses are often located tend to be expensive and the pay for incoming editors is low, how do they maintain thee lifestyle of a big city when they start off? While I wish I could say that I care more about the experience than the money, it is simply impractical to ignore the financial aspects of publishing.

3) Unlike regular editors who are able to close deals for books and get credit for bestsellers, how do copy editors move up in the industry? Their contribution is much more behind the scenes so how do they get recognition?

Questions !!

Throughout the semester, we touched upon a variety of different issues. I listed some I would like to explore further. I am really saddened but not surprised by the lack of diversity in the publishing industry. 

• How can we change this and get more women and authors of color into the industry?

• How do we change the literary canon and make books by authors of color more prominent and relevant?

• Does it begin with the books we are exposed to in schools?

• Who has the ownership to tell certain stories? How do we determine this?

•  How will technology impact the future of the publishing industry?

• Will it eventually go extinct?

• How do we become environmentally friendly while not losing the impact of physically reading a book?

• How do we stop books like American Dirt from being published?

• Should we stop books like American Dirt from being published?

• Do we have the right to control what books should or should not get published?

• How do we determine what places/sources we should buy books from?

I also have more questions, but at the moment I think these are the ones that are the most interesting!

translation publishing

What I'm concerned with is right there in the title. It's what I want to go into as a career and it's a large part of the reason I'm learning Japanese. My capstone will hopefully be a translation project, which I would like to get rolling but the Asian studies department head straight up ghosted my first inquiring email regarding it. I should probably try again...

But yeah, regarding our final project, I'd like to cover the overall process of translation publishing and some of imprints I may want to work for in the future. There's the question of acquiring translation rights and how editing differs from translation publishing and typical editing.

I'm going to be experiencing this process firsthand shortly actually (if all goes even remotely according to plan), so this will either be preliminary research for me, or it'll include some firsthand experience in the final product.

Potential Project Questions

With the help of this class and many existential crises recently, I've decided I want to pursue a career in magazine publishing rather than book publishing. Since this course has been very heavy on book publishing (not that that's a bad thing), I think I definitely want to look into magazine publishing for my project. Here are some questions I'm considering:

• How does magazine publishing work in a general sense?
• How does magazine publishing differ from book publishing?
• How does an editorial assistant position at a book publishing house differ from that at a magazine?
• What are the major changes between modern publishing and publishing in the 20th (and earlier) century?
• What direction is the industry going in for the future? We've seen the affects technology and the internet has had in regards to digital publishing. How will this continue?
• What is the state of the industry? Struggling? Negative or optimistic?
• What exactly does an entry level position look like? Maybe a more comprehensive study than we've seen so far. 

Further Questions About Publishing

Last weeks prompt that I am writing this week (because I kind of forgot, ooops) was to write about some questions we have related to publishing. I returned to some of the ones I wrote down earlier in the semester and added a few in light of our discussions. Here are a few:

• Do publishers create trends in publishing, or do external forces create trends in publishing? If publishers create trends, what do they try and go for and how do they decide what will be trendy? If external forces dictate publishing trends, what do publishers think about/look at when deciding what they will publish?
• I raised this as a result from some of our readings where they talked about trends in types of books and a little about the covers that are found in different genres.
• How does the industry differ in more academic publishing? What distinguishes good and bad quality of work in strictly academic publishing?
• Academic publishing almost certainly come up in my future at some point and it would be helpful/cool to know more about the process,
• Have publishing houses transitioned to hiring people remotely? 
• In my mind, it seems like a lot of jobs could be done remotely in a way that could be mutually beneficial considering the conversations we've been having about low starting salary, the living in New York, etc. 
• What are the environmental concerns with publishing physical books these days? 
• It's a lot of paper, no?
• How do translations get published? At what step does a translator get called in? In general, how faithful are translations?

I definitely have more questions, but these are the ones I have written down and a few I could come up with off top. I look forward to our further discussions/readings that will hopefully answer these questions and others.

Questions on Publishing

During our discussion in class earlier this year when we were talking about our questions for publishing, I didn’t think I had many, but once I started to write them down I realized I had a lot. Such as…

·      If an author wants to allude to or reference another work, be it another book or another piece of media, how would they have to go about incorporating that without violating copyright? Whose responsibility is it? Agents? How does copyright play into books? Especially because major media companies have their own publishing houses, like Disney?

·      Do publishers have time to read any already published books? Do they have to know keep with trends and know what is popular?

·      When getting a job in publishing what would be the difference between getting a job in an independent company rather than a conglomerate? In terms of being an editor.

·      How much does it cost to buy a manuscript? Do publishers buy manuscripts? How do they acquire the rights to the authors work? What is the advance? How much is it?

·      If an editor and a publisher start to work together but then realize they aren’t a good fit, does the author go to another editor within the company or can they pull out of a deal and go to another publishing house?

·      If a book ends up not selling well and the publisher decides to stop publishing more copies can the author bring the work to another publisher willing to continue publishing it?

·      Since movie deals and TV deals are so popular now with book adaptations how have those deals been made? Are they a condition within a contract that the publisher makes when signing an author? Or are they made separately, after the work has garnered attention? If so, who do the studios go to for permission to make the show, the author or the publisher? Do publishing houses and media companies now work closer together knowing that the collaborations between them are popular.

Out of all of these questions, I have to say, I am most interested in the ones dealing with copyright and movie deals. I am a combined major with Media and Screen Studies, and I think it would be interested to research areas where these two intersect.

The Questions I Have...

Questions I Have About Publishing

- What publishing house is most successful/which are the big players? How did they get to this point?

- Are there houses known for publishing YA? What is it like to publish YA? What’s different from 
publishing this genre than others?

- How do book to movie deals work?

- How are big companies like amazon influencing the publishing industry?

- What genre is the most successful? Does it vary by house?

- How has kindle/electronic publishing affected the way that publishing houses work? 

- When a book is published what is the distribution of the money? How much goes to the writer?
  The editor? The house?

- Where are the main publishing hubs/cities around the world? What makes them different 
from each other?

- How many manuscripts do editors handle at a time?

Class Reading and Book Swaps

When thinking about how I acquire books and how I hope to be suggested a book, I realized that it is actually quite rare for me to go out with the intent of purchasing a book. My mom is subscribed to a monthly book club thing where they send her a book by mail and she usually will read them and then either recommend them to me, or talk about how bad it was for days. Other reading I come across is usually class assigned; this week I am reading 'The World to Come' by Dara Horn which is an assignment for my Contemporary Jewish Literature class. After reading the back, I was a little put off by what seemed to be a rather bizarre theme, it states "from an orphanage in Soviet Russia where Chagall taught to suburban New Jersey and the Jungles of Vietnam." How did this cover pass the grammar check? I read and reread it until I realized a very vital comma was missing between 'taught' and 'to.' That infuriated me, I started reading it angrily and with some deserved remorse only to find that the story is incredibly touching and well crafted, bringing three or so narratives into one purpose. I highly recommend it and on the topic of covers, it has a pretty nice one.

 

My other aquisitions, and some of my favorites, are the classic impromptu book swap. Just last week, a girl I work with, who is also an English major, brought a book to work to lend to me because she thought I would like it. What a nice feeling, to have someone read something and think of sharing it with you. We talk about what we are reading often while at work and it was nice to bring a tangible factor to it. Now I have to pick something to share with her, maybe 'The World to Come."

I read and I question

      As it turns out, not only did I completely forget Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson the last time I read it, but I also totally missed when the sequel came out. In my last post, I said that the sequel just came out, but apparently I was wrong and it’s actually the conclusion to the trilogy that just came out. So that’s a little embarrassing. But also exciting because now, as a pleasant surprise, I do not have to wait for the third book. 

     Last week, I finished the first book and I started the second, The Vanishing Stair. I don’t know how I forgot the first book so completely when I enjoyed it a lot. There were several times where I delayed going to sleep or doing homework because I wanted to keep reading it. So far the second book is also really good. I feel like sequels are sometimes hard when they pick up right after the first one, but this one did it well. The main character left the main setting in the beginning and then came back, so it feels like a restart for the characters as the story is restarting as well, if that makes sense. I recommend the first book if you like Young Adult and mystery. 

      Unfortunately this means that I have put down An Absolutely Remarkable Thing AGAIN. Maybe it is still not the time to read it. 

     I’m a little late in this post so now I get to also talk about what I maybe want to question/research/think about in publishing. To be honest, I don’t have a very good plan for a question. The thing is, I am, sadly, a person that is mainly interested in publishing because I would like to hopefully maybe perhaps possibly get published one day. So a lot of my curiosity about publishing is, like, how to do that. 

     Slightly related to that, I’ve been thinking about what happens to writers that go into publishing as editors or agents or something else. I think we read one thing that mentioned writers who become editorial assistants but eventually leave because they can’t stand working on other peoples’ writing or something like that. But that can’t be everyone, right? Surely being a writer must allow for good editing and reviewing skills as well. And if writing is not a life-sustaining job anyway, why not do publishing as well? I guess I’m wondering if all writers that go into publishing are doomed to hate it or to leave. Wouldn't having connections in publishing be useful for personal writing? I don’t know if this is actually a reasonable question to ask but at this moment, that’s what I’m most curious about.