Rough Drafts Welcome by Salt and Sage Books

You head to your bookshelf and pull off a childhood favorite... only to be shocked by some of the content you'd completely forgotten about! So... what now?

Kid lit is a complex subject, and it becomes even more complex give the passage of time and the way morals have moved since you were a kid.

Erin & Sachiko approach this from a parenting lens as well as an educational one, and we're curious how you would approach this...

Check out the previous episode for indie publishing part 1.

Sachiko has questions about indie publishing, and Erin has (some of) the answers! Last episode, we went over how to write to market, what exactly it means to write to market, and how to find an audience and category that are hungry for your writing.

In this episode, we move from writing the piece through publishing, including all the ins and outs of ISBNs, buying...

Sachiko's got some questions about her upcoming project--and Erin has way too much hyperfocus-fueled knowledge about how to make data-based decisions about your indie novel.

We talk about writing to market, and why that's a smart choice for indies; how to understand your chosen market, including tropes, reader expectations, and genre overlap; and how research the existing market to find the information you want and nee...

The world is falling apart. Whether that’s your personal world, your community’s world, or the literal world around you, how do you cope? As a creative especially, what do you do? How do you keep writing, quilting, drawing, creating?

The answer might be that you don’t.

The answer might be that you do.

The answer might be that you switch mediums, switch stories, switch modes. It might be that you wait it out. It might...

CW: This episode contains conversations about sexual situations and is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.

Our incredible editor, therapist, and featured sensitivity reader Amy joins us to talk about all things spicy!

You’ve probably all noticed the increase in “respectability” when it comes to spicy books, both erotica and smut alike — it’s a brave new world out there, and we are here for it!

As with all ex...

You know that you don’t know how to write a certain scene… say a kissing scene. And you want to learn how to do it—but how, exactly, do you figure out how to write like your favorite authors?

Join Erin & Sachiko today as they dive deep into how, exactly, you’re supposed to figure out how to be a good writer. Classes help, degrees help, but the best help of all is right on your book shelf.

Erin shares her personal strategy of “t...

The great war of indie publishing versus traditional publishing has begun!

No, not really. Erin actually thinks that they're both pretty cool. But if you have wondered which of those publication pathways is a better fit for you, Erin has some thoughts.

Depending on genre expectations, your goal audience, your ideal reader, and even your own personal interest in marketing, you might find that one sort of publication is...

Join us today as we meet the incredible David. David, is an editor at salt and Sage books, a sensitivity reader, and a big believer in looking into the shadows of what makes us human.

David loves horror, and talks a little bit more about what makes the genre so interesting to him. David has a background in psychotherapy, and uses many of those approaches in his reads. He is an incredible editor who is keen to put the author fi...

Erin and Sachiko dive headfirst into one of the most common issues we see in our writers: circling the same story for years.

You know the authors; you've heard the stories. You might even be one of them! There's something about this story, something about this plot. You might have "world builder's disease" or feel like you just can't quite get this story right.

Whether you've been writing (and rewritin...

Join us today in meeting the incredible editor Rebecca!

Rebecca, with her Master's of Fine Arts, talks with us today about who she is, what she loves, and how she edits. We discuss her passion for disability advocacy, the medical model of disability vs. the social model, and the way that books change the world. She is a sensitivity reader, autistic parent to autistic children, developmental editor, and broad reader.

...

Join editor and therapist Amy in her conversation with Erin as the two discuss all things trauma.

What exactly is trauma? What "counts" as trauma? How can you, as a creative, understand trauma better? We discuss PTSD, cPTSD, traumas both big and small, and the nervous system. As with all of our conversations with Amy, we're here learning things right alongside you.

CW: generalized discussions of trauma, neglect, and a...

You're a writer, your friend is a writer... why not read for each other? Save some money on an editor, you can have your writing friends read it!

Not so fast! Reading and editing for your friends can be an incredible experience if it's set up correctly. Join Erin in today's episode to discuss the pros and cons of editing your friend's work. It's absolutely possible to have it be the best experience ever, bu...

Erin has a lot to say about systems of power and the way that they interact with our fiction. 

We discuss punching up, punching down, and how systems of power inform what funny actually feels like. Erin explains why, to her, privilege and power go hand-in-hand. She discusses patriarchy, sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, and a host of other charged systems that thrive on controlling the people “under” them. 

She also di...

To wrap up our romance novel February, Erin shares her thoughts on age gap romances. This trope has a lot of potential to be fun, flirty, and very enjoyable! But of course, as with all tropes, it has a dark side, too.

At Salt and Sage Books, we believe that as authors and readers know more, they do better; this episode operates on that assumption. Erin discusses child marriage, appropriate and inappropriate age gaps, and how p...

Welcome back to part two of Erin’s conversation with our sensitivity reader Amy! As a therapist and a sensitivity reader, Amy has unique insight into the way that relationships are presented in fiction (and more broadly as well) and why those misrepresentations—and lack of representation and diversity—impacts everyday people in a deep way.

The discussion opens with a conversation about how white supremacy is the norm in a lot ...

What exactly makes a healthy relationship, and why does it matter that fiction has them? Erin sits down for a conversation with Amy, a sensitivity reader and therapist, to discuss the ins and outs of relationship writing.

Have you ever noticed that the couples in fiction have the same problems over and over again? The woman magically changes the man, the man rescues the woman, the couple magically solves all of their problems ...

Join Erin in a solo episode today for a discussion about dark romance, mafia romance, and problematic/villainous heroes. Erin is a latecomer to the romance genre and has some thoughts about the way that patriarchal conditioning has infiltrated the romance genre.

We start with a conversation about what makes a dark romance, what Erin's research revealed, and her theories about why dark romance, and especially problematic he...

Join us today to as Erin interviews the absolutely incredible Lydia!

Lydia is a highly intelligent, highly decorated, highly accomplished editor, author, and game developer. She's an incredible TTRPG developer, GM, and author -- and her editing skills match. Her know-how as a sensitivity reader and author has taken her to some really cool places, and we are so excited to introduce you to her today.

Lydia loves working...

Welcome back to the conversation between our incredible editor, Amy Bowen, and our host, Erin. This is part two of a continued conversation about the intersection of creativity, mental wellness, prescriptions, medication, privilege, and power structures. If you missed part one, check out the episode just before this one.

In part two, the conversation turns to specific actions that all creatives can take to help accommodate for and ...