Bestselling author M. M. DeLuca spent her childhood in the beautiful cathedral city of Durham in North-Eastern England, which has often appeared in her novels. She attended the University of London, Goldsmiths College, studied psychology, then became a teacher and a freelance writer. She immigrated to Canada and lives with her husband and two children in Winnipeg. There she also studied creative writing under her mentor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carol Shields received many local arts council grants for her work. Her books have been featured with many book clubs and appeared on The BookScan Top 100 Bestsellers List and Amazon Top 100 Bestsellers List. Marjorie loves writing for all ages and in many genres—suspense, historical, and sci-fi for teens. She's also a screenwriter with several pilot projects in progress. She enjoys teaching workshops in Creative Writing and the writing process.  She is an avid reader, an eager painter, and loves going outside for walks, even in the depths of winter.

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A senior acquisition editor at Blackstone Publishing, Marilyn Kretzer has over thirty years of experience in the publishing industry. Her roles have ranged from acquisitions and rights sales, including international, subsidiary rights, and editorial acquisitions and contracts. She has a strong network across the industry, including with agents, editors, and rights professionals. Previously, she held key roles at Sterling Publishing as Rights and Editorial Director and at Scholastic as Acquisitions Manager. While caring for her mother, she held freelance and contract positions, including audio licensing for HarperCollins, author acquisitions for Callisto Media, and business development for Devar Entertainment (a tech company specializing in AR for books).

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Catherine Coulter is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eighty-four novels, including the FBI Thriller series and The Brit in the FBI international thriller series, cowritten with J.T. Ellison. Coulter lives in Sausalito, California, with her Übermensch husband and their two noble cats, Peyton and Eli.

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Book publishing is an industry that is often considered as a luxury or an indulgence of the wealthy. While it is true that a relatively small percentage of people purchase books, book publishing is actually a huge industry that has a significant impact on the economy. The books we read serve not just to entertain us, but they also educate us, inspire us, and help us grow as individuals. According to market research, the global book publishing industry is expected to reach over $127 billion by 2025.

As with any industry, the economy has a significant impact on book publishing. Every aspect of the publishing process, from the writing to the printing and distribution, is affected by economic factors. In this blog post, we will delve into how the economy is impacting book publishing and what this means for authors, publishers, and readers alike.

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Ronald H. Balson is an attorney, professor, and New York Times bestselling author. He won the National Jewish Book Award and was the Illinois Reading Council's adult fiction selection for their Illinois Reads program, in addition to being a Target Book Club Pick and Newsweek Choice. Balson was a finalist for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction and a runner-up in the Italian Premio Selezione Bancarella Award for Italian Literature. He is the author of ELI’S PROMISE, DEFENDING BRITTA STEIN, and AN AFFAIR OF SPIES. He has appeared on many television and radio programs and has lectured nationally and internationally on his writing. He lives in Chicago.

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Something my wife said has always stuck with me. It’s something I still think about often. As a writing teacher and novelist, my wife has spent much of her time thinking about the creative process and gaining insights into the day-to-day work she and other creative people engage in.

What she said was this: “Everyone needs to find that thing that they’ll get up early in the morning to do, even if they hate getting up early.”

For my wife, that’s an easy question with an easy answer. It’s writing. The actual act of writing. Not waiting for inspiration, not going for a meditative creative walk. For her, it’s typing out paragraph after paragraph of a fictional story. She wakes up, catches the sunrise, feeds the cats, grabs her coffee, and then attacks the keyboard for the next several hours.

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Teresa Messineo is the bestselling author of the WWII historical fiction novel WHAT WE MAY BECOME, wherein secrets hidden at an Italian estate could prove just as vital to humanity's fate as the war efforts on the frontlines…if nurse Diana Bolsena can get to them first. She is a DeSales graduate majoring in English, Biology, and Theology, and she is now completing an MFA in creative writing. She is the recipient of the Ross Baker Memorial Award for Writing, the university’s highest honor for writers. Her debut novel, THE FIRE BY NIGHT, took seven years to research and was preempted by HarperCollins less than fifteen hours after submission. It opened in the number one position on the Canadian Best Sellers’ List, was selected as the HarperCollins Canada Focus Feature, was nominated for the American Library in Paris Book Award, and is now available in three languages in seven countries. Teresa also has four children, whom she home-schooled for twenty years. She is passionate about social justice and sticking up for the underdog. Her varied interests include medicine, swing dancing, lecturing, studying foreign languages, distance swimming, hunger relief, and hiking. Teresa lives in Elverson, Pennsylvania.

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I decided to go back to my roots and write a novel, but could I turn my back on the umpteen screenplays I’d written, especially my favorites? If not, then why not turn one of them into a novel? A screenplay is about 120 pages long and could serve as a good outline, not to mention that I know the characters inside and out. Writing a novel would allow me to do what screenwriters can’t—color within the lines. I would no longer need to consider everyone else’s input, including the director, actors, cinematographer, set, and costume designer. I would make the choices I’d been leaving for them. But could I switch to writing a novel and make it work? Or would it be like that rebound boyfriend I dated while pretending my heart wasn’t still an open wound—an absolute disaster?

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Adam Wallace is a #1 New York Times bestselling author (150+ weeks and counting) with 4.5 million+ copies sold who loves writing stories that make children laugh and get excited about reading and drawing and writing . He also loves taking naps and listening to music. Not at the same time. Adam has over eightybooks published and out in the world, and loves each one as if they were his child...except if that child is like really naughty and always breaks his favorite things and writes bad words on the walls of our house. None of Adam’s books are like that. From gross books to action and adventure books. From inspirational to just plain funny, there's something here for kids of all reading abilities, and all ranges of interests. His next book, A VERY DINOSAUR BRITHDAY, is forthcoming from HarperCollins/Tommy Nelson.

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Erinn Pascal joined Andrews McMeel Universal in 2021. Prior to AMU, she held editorial positions at Scholastic, Disney, and Simon & Schuster, where she worked on brands such as Minnie Mouse, Peppa Pig, Disney Princess, LEGO, and Batman. Erinn grew up in Pembroke Pines, FL and graduated with a BFA in Writing, Literature & Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, MA. At AMU, Erinn manages the kids’ publishing list. She’s most interested in uplifting creators and their authentic visions, from licensed kids’ cookbooks to middle grade graphic novels to activity books to everything in-between. When she’s not editing, Erinn can be found defending the Star Wars prequels; “vegan”-izing family Colombian and Jewish recipes; taking her mini Bernedoodle, Obi, to the dog park; doing Pilates; or browsing the local farmer’s market for fresh veggies (baby cauliflower is her favorite). 

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Laura Davulis is the editor for history and current affairs at the Johns Hopkins University Press. She has also worked at the Naval Institute Press and the Yale University Press. She seeks books for both academic and general audiences in American history, with a particular focus on African-American history, Indigenous history, early America, religious history, and Civil War and Reconstruction; she also seeks current events books for a general audience. She can be reached at davulis@jhu.edu and welcomes inquiries from authors at all stages of the writing process. You can find her on twitter (@Davulis) dispensing both publishing advice and cat pictures.

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Alexandra Hudson is the curator of Civic Renaissance, a newsletter and intellectual community dedicated to moral and cultural renewal. She is an award-winning writer based in Indianapolis. She earned a Master’s degree in Social Policy at the London School of Economics as a Rotary Scholar, and has served at the local, state and federal levels of government and public policy—most recently holding an appointment at the U.S. Department of Education. From Vancouver to Orlando, and from Sydney to Paris, Alexandra is an in-demand speaker, frequently engaging audiences both across America and around the word. A former Novak Journalism Fellow, she has appeared on Fox News and contributes to The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME Magazine, POLITICO Magazine, Newsweek, and other national outlets. Hudson is about to release a book with St. Martin’s Press called The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Our Society and Ourselves. As the daughter of the "Manners Lady," she was raised to respect others. But as she grew up, Hudson discovered a difference between politeness—a superficial appearance of good manners—and true civility. In this timely book, Hudson sheds light on how civility can help bridge our political divide. Provocative, personal, and acutely relevant, The Soul of Civility is an essential book for our era.

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It was 2014, the year I finished my first novel. I was in London, attending Historical Novel Society’s annual conference. HNS conferences are heaven for aspiring authors of historical fiction. Over the course of two days, you can meet and exchange tips with other writers, hear industry professionals talk on a variety of topics, ask any questions you might have and pitch your novel to not just one but two literary agents. There are book signings, writing workshops and seminars, as well as all-you-can-eat sandwiches and cakes. I should have been over the moon but I wasn’t. At the time, I didn’t feel like I belonged there at all. My confidence as a writer was at an all-time low and I was questioning whether anyone would ever read my novel. In the weeks leading up to the conference, when yet another heart-breaking rejection letter from a literary agent landed in my inbox, I decided to give up. No, I wasn’t going to stop writing—I loved it too much. But I was going to stop trying to get my novel traditionally published. It seemed like an impossible dream and I didn’t think it would ever happen for me.

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Lana Kortchik grew up in two opposite corners of the Soviet Union—a snow-white Siberian town and the golden-domed Ukrainian capital. At the age of sixteen, she moved to Australia with her mother. Lana and her family live on the Central Coast of NSW, where it never snows and is always summer-warm, even in winter. She loves books, martial arts, the ocean and Napoleonic history. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies. She is the author of the USA Today bestseller Sisters of War (HarperCollins) and the forthcoming novel Brothers of the Revolution (HarperCollins).

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Michael X. Wang is the 2020 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize-Winnter for his debut short story collection Further News of Defeat. His debut novel, Lost in the Long March, is forthcoming from Abrams Books/Overlook Press. He was born in Fenyang, a small coal-mining city in China’s mountainous Shanxi Province. Michael immigrated to the United States when he was six and has lived in ten states and fifteen cities. In 2010, he completed his PhD in Literature at Florida State University. Before that, he received his MFA in Fiction at Purdue. Michael’s work has appeared in New England Review, Greensboro Review, Day One, and Juked, among others, and they have won an AWP Intro Award and been selected by the Best American Anthology as a notable story of the year. He lives with his wife and pets at Russellville, Arkansas, and is currently an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Arkansas Tech University.

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Alexandr Poltorak (right) and Dmitry Chukhrai (left) present the most ambitious graphic novel literary adaptation yet—War and Peace: The Graphic Novel (Andrews McMeel Publishing). This faithful adaptation celebrates Leo Tolstoy’s beloved and timeless classic novel. The project was started in 2018, has recently been published and is accompanied by an introduction from the Tolstoy Library in Moscow. War and Peace remains Leo Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece and it is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest literary achievements. Tolstory’s novel chronicles the French invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of five Russian aristocratic families. The illustrations are made in the style of ancient painting of that century. But this is a combination of two drawings—ink drawing, which allows you to achieve the necessary and accurate detail, and watercolor, which gives the volume, shadows and tones characteristic of Russian classical painting of the nineteenth century. Russian newspapers have already celebrated and attended the presentation of this project pre-publication in December of 2019.

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The dream began in 1948, long before I was born. That was the year my mother resolved to escape poverty and illiteracy. Living with her family in a “Grapes of Wrath” tent encampment in California, too destitute for shoes, she quit school where she’d been an advanced student, and married at age sixteen to escape the grinding poverty. (The backstory here is a historical novel I’m currently writing).

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In the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken, the famous lines read:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

What follows is a thought piece on how getting stuck on one project—instead of feeling free to switch up and work on what moves—can be difficult. One thing that may surprise people is that the writer Misha Lazzara was working on another novel for about three years, before she pivoted to her first-ever novel idea—that she carried around with her for eight years between undergrad and grad—the one that became Manmade Constellations, forthcoming from Blackstone Publishing.

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Benjamin Cunningham is a correspondent for The Economist. He covered Central and Eastern Europe for six years, and now writes about the wider Mediterranean region from Barcelona. In addition he contributes to The Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Aspen Review, Le Monde Diplomatique and is an opinion columnist for Sme, Slovakia’s main daily newspaper. He is a PhD candidate at the University of Barcelona. Cunningham began his journalism career with newspapers in Michigan (Pontiac, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Detroit). After earning a master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam, he lived for six months in Vranje, Serbia reporting on the newly independent Kosovo and supervising youth cross-border cooperation programs in this troubled post-war region. He later moved to Prague, where he went on to…

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One of the most important people impacting the trajectory of an author’s career is a literary agent. Why then can it sometimes seem impossible to get information about the practices of some literary agencies? This leaves writers feeling like Spider-Man perched outside opaque windows unable to see into the Manhattan skyscraper where vital things related to their interests are happening.

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