Best Erik Hane Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 180—Can Agents Read? 56:01

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1M ago56:01

56:01

This week we took a look at a substack piece (link below!) that argued that literary agents can’t or don’t read well, as a jumping-off point to discuss the big picture of the query process, the ways we sort through a high volume of submissions, when art becomes boring business emails, and much more. We can read, we promise!The piece in question is …

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Episode 179—The Psychologisode 53:15

2M ago53:15

53:15

This week, Laura got mad enough at Erik’s approach to his creative life that she’s devoting an episode to psychoanalyzing him and his writing practices. What could go wrong!By Erik Hane and Laura Zats

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Episode 178—The One About (Un)bound(less) 59:23

3M ago59:23

59:23

In light of the recent revelations about Unbound/Boundless’s failure to pay their debts to their authors, we talked about what went wrong, what flawed publishing impulse these mistakes come from, and the importance of publishing companies not pursuing growth at all costs. We also yell a little bit about AI. Come unpack the horrors with us!…

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Episode 177—The Jimmies, The Rock, The Tariffs 44:24

5M ago44:24

44:24

This week…. Well folks there’s not much to say other than that we were pretty loose, given the general state of things in both publishing and beyond. We talk about MrBeast getting eight figures for a book, Dwayne The Rock Johnson being a True Crime Girlie, and the tariffs that promise to upend the publishing industry. Come hang out and blow off som…

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Episode 176—Co-ops as the Way Forward 35:57

6M ago35:57

35:57

This week we look at the announcement of a fascinating new agreement between eight small publishers that revolves around sharing shipping costs as a way to discuss the concept of cooperation in our industry; what do co-op initiatives like this do for the survival of independent publishing–or agenting, or writing, or anything else outside the indust…

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Episode 175—What We Owe Each Other 1:07:25

6M ago1:07:25

1:07:25

In response to an excellent listener question, today we’re talking about how writers can approach asking potential agents about how they might handle specific aspects of their lives–whether that’s gender or sexual identity, disability, pregnancy or possible pregnancy, and much more–that could affect their publishing journey. We are in an age where …

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Episode 174—The Subgenre is YOU 52:45

7M ago52:45

52:45

This week we use one of publishing’s favorite new portmanteaus–romantasy–to talk about the fluid nature of genre and subgenre, and discuss the ways in which these endless classifications can help bring new readers into a given category of book, as well as what drawbacks occur when we get more and more specific with our book taxonomy. We arrive at a…

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Episode 173—The Manuscript Wish List at the End of the World 49:27

7M ago49:27

49:27

We don’t need to tell you that the world feels pretty dark right now. The question then becomes: as creatives, as publishing people, as writers, readers, agents, whatever–what are we looking for to get us through? This episode we talk about what we’re hoping to see from and get out of art and publishing this next stretch, when all feels lost but we…

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Episode 172—The End of the Social Media Marketing Era 48:44

8M ago48:44

48:44

This week we talk about the functional death of social media as a promotional tool in the publishing industry. Now that we all agree that these platforms are actively corrosive to not only our body politic but literary culture specifically, where do we go next? What forms of cultural production might actually get people excited about books again, o…

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Episode 171—Summer, Again 43:26

1y ago43:26

43:26

It’s time for the annual Print Run Summer Check-In, where we list out all the ways we’re both keeping it together and losing our marbles. Summer is strange time in publishing, and it leads us to a conversation on deep work versus shallow, frenetic work, how we manage our interior creative selves in relation to the job, and the chaos that is sure to…

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Episode 170—A Culture of Mistrust 56:32

1y ago56:32

56:32

On the heels of some recent discourse on the trust between querying writers and agents managing submission piles, we go long on the culture of trust–or lack thereof–that exists between these two parts of the publishing industry, why it occurs, and what could fix it. We talk about the nature of ideas and copyright, the structures of the modern liter…

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Episode 169—We’re Just a Bunch of Guys 48:38

1+ y ago48:38

48:38

In light of yet another round of agent chaos over the weekend, we got together to talk about the information climate in publishing at large, the ways in which even well-intentioned agents can contribute to gatekeeping and access issues for writers. In an age when there are more agents, writers, and information about agents and writers than ever bef…

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Episode 168—You Don’t Have To Sit There 44:52

1+ y ago44:52

44:52

This week we get a little bit mad at the Forced Waiting that publishing imposes on all of us, and it builds to a call to arms: you–writers, agents, editors, whoever–don’t just have to wait quietly for progress to happen to you. No matter your situation in publishing, you can get out there and make something happen as a person with agency and the ow…

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Episode 167—Dread, But Make It Fashion 53:29

1+ y ago53:29

53:29

In our first episode of 2024, we take a look at the publishing landscape for the year ahead. We believe that there could be several culminating moments of rupture or change in the near future, in everything from AI’s implementation in the industry to how workers in publishing choose to respond to their own working conditions. We get a little rowdy …

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Episode 166—Give ‘Em What They’re Owed 56:10

2y ago56:10

56:10

This week’s theme, across multiple topics, is that workers in publishing deserve to be paid and supported in all the ways required for them to live well and do their jobs to the best of their abilities. We start with a chat about the Half Price Books Union’s contract negotiations, and finish with a look at the recent survey data from AALA. Join us!…

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Episode 165—Private Equity, AI, and the Techification of Publishing 48:58

2y ago48:58

48:58

This week we use two recent stories–the acquisition of Simon & Schuster by the investment firm KKR and the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence usage in various book-related shenanigans–as a way of talking about something big and broad: publishing looking more and more like the tech world each day. Why might the Silicon Valley approach to busin…

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Episode 164—Level Drain 54:30

2y ago54:30

54:30

In the wake of what feels like an endless round of layoffs, restructurings, consolidations, and any other corporate terms for “good people losing their jobs,” we talk about how this constant reshuffling affects the industry as a whole and specifically our jobs as agents. Spoiler alert: it’s not great! But we talk through it and let the feelings out…