Pausing Hook to Book

Why I’m taking a breather right now, and where to go to read more about book publishing

The non-self-indulgent version of this post

These types of posts tend to be a bit self-indulgent, so let me cover the actual takeaways for you right up front: Hook to Book is going on a hiatus of indefinite length, but I will be leaving all posts up and available for free in the meantime. I’ll also link to other great outlets for further reading about book publishing at the end.

. . . that said, no one really ends up in book publishing without have some sort of writing itch, so here’s the version I can’t help but want to write:

The self-indulgent version of this post

When I first had the idea to write this newsletter, I created a Word document on my desktop just called “Hook to Book”. It started as an outline of the topics I wanted to cover, and the rough order in which I wanted to cover them. Then I started expanding each entry in the outline, and then each outline entry ballooned into actual posts.

It never felt like I did much writing in any single sitting, but while writing my last post the document ticked over past 40,000 words. That is modest for any proper writer, of course, but it’s an astounding number to me—I’ve never seriously considered writing a book myself because deep down I didn’t believe I could actually stick with it for any substantial length of time. (Also, what the hell could I write that much about?)

While looking at my overall outline, I also noticed a natural break point right here. To this point I’ve covered the “preparation” stages for a nonfiction book: the shaping of the idea, the creation of the book proposal, the pitching and closing and contract negotiation—all the steps that set the table for the actual writing of the book. What’s next is going to roam out of my current wheelhouse: the book-writing process, the production process, launch preparation, the actual launch campaign for the book, and how to measure success and make peace with that thrilling, nerve-wracking moment when your book is finally out in the world.

So I’ve decided to take a breath here—to pause the newsletter and see how I feel when I’m not writing it. If I miss it, I’ll spin it back up again; and if I don’t I’ll wrap it up for good.

One more LOTR reference couldn’t hurt, right?

In the meantime, I will keep Hook to Book up on Substack, and I will leave all the posts published and available for free. And because I hate to leave anyone hanging, here’s a rundown of places to read very good writing about book publishing:

Places to read very good writing about book publishing

Let’s start with the easiest place to read very good writing about book publishing: here on Substack.

If you’re looking for hard-won wisdom from authors, I highly recommend the following.

For more perspectives from the agent side of things, Anna Sproul-Latimer at Neon Literary and Kate McKean at HMLA have been writing terrific posts about the entire writing and publishing process for a much longer time than I have.

And off Substack, I’m excited to see agent Alia Hanna Habib’s forthcoming book, Take It From Me, all about nonfiction publishing! Alia is a wonderful agent at The Gernert Company, and her book deal was announced on Publishers Marketplace this past October:

I’m not sure when it will come out, though—your best bet is to follow Alia on Twitter for updates.

I’ll close here with a heartfelt thank-you for the kind messages from you all. When I decided to start writing this newsletter, I thought it would be useful mainly as an exercise to develop my own thinking about my job. There’s not really any proper training for becoming an agent, and as a result I built up processes and interacted with authors in a totally hazy, sort of instinctive, manner. I knew if I forced myself to put things down in writing somewhere, I would have to reckon with all that fuzziness.

But I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep on writing and thinking longer-term without some public pressure. You all have been the key to the whole endeavor—the prospect of people actually reading all this kept me going long after I would have otherwise stopped. I am incredibly grateful to you all for that.

So thank you, and I wish you all thrilling, challenging, and fulfilling book journeys, wherever they may take you.