April 22, 2024 • 46 mins
The new digital-first traditional publisher...
It's been awhile since we talked about the differences, pros and cons of traditional versus indie publishing.
As our tagline says, "We believe there's no single right way to produce, publish, or promote your writing, only what works for you!"
Which is why we're excited to have Stephanie Carey on the show. Steph is the Commissioning Editor at Joffe Books, one of the UK's leading independent publishers of commercial fiction, and they’re currently looking to expand further into the American thriller/suspense market.
We met Stephanie at the 20Books to 50K conference in Vegas last November, and really enjoyed our conversations. We always think it’s a good idea to learn about all of the publishing options, and Joffe has been on the cutting edge of the NEW digital-first traditional publishing space. Both indie and traditional authors will learn a lot from this one!
The indie publishing landscape can feel like untamed wilderness, but Stephanie reveals how Joffe provides a collaborative yet hands-on approach, giving authors the reins over editorial decisions and cover art. This blend of control and support could be the nurturing ground needed for authors to flourish long-term.
If pitching publishers is on your horizon, Stephanie has advice on how to query, what to do, and better yet, what NOT to do as you seek a contract.
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Stephanie Carey
Website: https://joffebooks.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephMCarey
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome to the Author Wheel
podcast.
I'm Greta Boris, usa Todaybestselling mystery thriller
author.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm Megan Haskell , award-winning fantasy
adventure author.
Together we are the AuthorWheel.
Today's guest is a new friendwe met at the 20 Books Vegas
conference last year JoffePublishing's acquisitions editor
, stephanie Carey.
It was a nice change of pacefrom all the indie business
guests we've had on recently.
We always think it's a goodidea to learn about all of the
(00:29):
publishing options, and Joffeyhas been on the cutting edge of
the new digital-firsttraditional publishing space.
Both indie and traditionalauthors will learn a lot from
this conversation, so make sureyou listen all the way through.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
But first, greta, how's your week going?
Nice, it's good.
I'm just settling back in fromvacation, so it was a little bit
of a short week.
And on the business news, theonly thing I have to say is that
I did check my KDP dashboardwhen I got home and it was
always nice.
I had some really nice daysfinancially.
So it was like, oh, I made somemoney while I was wine tasting.
(01:11):
I think I probably spent italmost as fast as I was making
it.
But hey, you know, it's alwaysnice, it's on vacation, that's
what you do, that was good.
So, anyway, that's about it forme.
What's going on with you?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I have been absolutely swamped with the Last
Ascendant Kickstarter this weekand it's funny, you know, this
is actually the third campaignI've run.
You know, when we include ournonfiction campaign, and I
always forget how much extrawork it is.
I feel like I'm all prepped andready to go, and then I hit the
launch button and it's like, ohno, I've got to pivot, I've got
(01:48):
to do this, I've got to changethat, I've got to fix this and
do more images.
I've got more need, moregraphics, all this stuff.
So it ends up being a lot moretime, but it's been going okay.
And then I'm also getting readyfor the LA Times Festival of
Books this weekend.
So when this actually airs,unfortunately the event will be
(02:10):
over, but I'm prepping for itright now and I didn't realize
this until just recently, butit's actually the largest
literary festival in the country.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, I did know that I did it once years and years
ago and was absolutelygobsmacked at how many people
and how many books and how manypublishers and everything were
there.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, I think it's going to be kind of crazy.
So this is my first time, soit's taking over the USC campus,
which will be kind of a funthing for me because that's my
alma mater, but I kind of don'treally know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So here goes nothing, I guess.
Well, it was really really hotthe day that I did it, so it'll
be nice it won't be so hot.
Yeah, this weekend is supposedto be on the cooler side, but at
least not rainy either.
Yeah, because I think the heatdid kind of there wasn't quite
as many customers walking by,because it was just like 90s and
(03:15):
oh, yeah, yeah, so yeah no,it's supposed to be beautiful
this weekend, I think, so I'mexcited for it.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm sharing a booth with a few other authors, and so
it'll be interesting.
I'll make some good newconnections, if nothing else,
and hopefully sell quite a fewbooks along the way.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, I will be interested to hear how it goes
when you get back.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I will be sure to tell you.
So that's it for me for thisweek.
So, listeners, please don'tforget, make sure you subscribe
to the podcast and review it ifyou love it, and, if you do,
please also consider sharingyour favorite episode with a
writer friend.
Word of mouth is how thispodcast gets out there.
(03:59):
So that's it for now.
Let's dive into the interviewwith Stephanie Carey.
Steph is the commissioningeditor at Joffie Books, one of
the UK's leading independentpublishers of commercial fiction
.
And guess what guys?
They are currently looking toexpand further into the American
thriller and suspense market.
So if you've got a pitch ready,steph's going to be your girl.
(04:23):
Poor Steph, she's going to getinundated after this.
I know she is Watch out.
We actually met Steph at the 20Books to 50K conference in
Vegas last November and had afabulous dinner.
We were just reminiscing aboutour dinner at this little
Mexican restaurant there.
It was great and we reallyenjoyed our conversations, so we
(04:46):
decided to invite her on theshow today.
One of the things that wealways talk about a lot is how,
at the author wheel, we try tobe very agnostic, whether you're
indie, self publishing orwhether you're, you know, going
for that traditional deal orsome kind of hybrid thing in the
middle.
You know it's always good tolearn about all the options in
(05:07):
every corner of the publishingindustry and even across the
pond.
So welcome, steph.
We're so excited to have youhere.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Hi, thank you so much for having me on.
It's so fun seeing you guysagain.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Absolutely yes.
We did quite a bit of hangingout and drank occasionally a
glass of wine here or theretogether.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Or two, or possibly three, just the odd glass yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
It was so good.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Well, before we dive into our usual questions, tell
us all the amazing things thatyou've been doing since you got
back from back home after yourjaunt to America.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
My jaunt to America was so fun and since I got back
home I actually have signed acouple of authors who I met at
20 Books, so I've been able toshow off to my boss and say,
look, you've got to send meagain next year.
It's been really good.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That is wonderful yeah it really, really is,
especially because I mean thatconference is largely focused on
self-published or indie authors.
I'm actually curious what droveyou to attend that conference
in particular.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Jockey Books is an independent publisher and it's
digital, but we have alwayslearned so much from the indie
author space.
I think self-published authorsare often at the very forefront
of the publishing industry.
They know exactly what they'redoing in terms of trends in
terms of genre, in terms ofmarketing.
They know exactly what they'redoing in terms of trends in
terms of genre, in terms ofmarketing, um, and when one of
(06:47):
our authors was attendinganother conference, we suddenly
started thinking you know, we'vegot to go to these things, we
need to be learning from thecreme de la creme, um.
And so we thought, well, what'sthe biggest one?
And it's without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I think it's 20 books , yeah, and I think the, I think
the um, the new version, orauthor nation, I think they're
anticipating or trying to growit even further.
So it's they're really tryingto make it the premier event for
, you know, indie authors inparticular, but you know the the
author and publisher space,which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
We may even be having um, joe Solari, who is the new
director, promoter, owner ofthat conference on the podcast
pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
We're trying to schedule.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I know that should be fun.
We are hoping.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So, Steph, why don't you tell us a little bit more
about your personal journey intothe publishing industry?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, of course.
So it sounds kind of ridiculousto say at this point, but
obviously I have always lovedreading.
It's like yeah, yeah, whatever,um, but I mean that is a great
big part of my job, so it's beenreally.
It's been really useful andreally nice having to get to a
(08:02):
point where I now work withbooks and I get so much time
reading.
I actually did Frenchliterature at university and I
got to go live in Paris for ayear and you can either teach or
carry on studying.
And I decided to get aninternship at Édition La Russe.
(08:22):
They do La Russe Gastronomiqueand all these dictionaries and
language learning guides, and Iwas only there for six months,
but I just learned so much.
It was so much fun.
I was working on thesetranslated editions of English
classics and they were kind ofmarked up, almost like
Shakespeare, with little notesin the margins.
(08:43):
So if you wanted to read a bookin English and your English
wasn't amazing but it was okay,but you just couldn't sit
through a dictionary likelooking back all these words you
were able to read those.
So that was my first stint ineditorial and I just loved it.
And then, after I came back andfinished my degree I got a
(09:11):
couple of different bits of workexperience.
I think I worked at a lifestylemagazine publisher in the south
of England and then also inLondon on like a pregnancy,
childcare, like women's healthpublisher, which was really fab.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Oh, wow, very cool.
And then you landed at Jaffe.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Many moons later.
I've actually done a little bitof everything, I think, across
the publishing game in England.
I've worked on academicmonographs on criminology books,
which was just absolutelyfascinating, and then I worked
on some sort of seriousnon-fiction memoir,
(09:46):
autobiography, history, politics.
Then I worked on illustratedchildren's books, which was
honestly just a laugh a minute.
One of my titles was honestlycalled uh, magical rainbow
unicorn and then I that'shitting all the tropes that is
very current right now yeah, ohthat's wonderful, so how long
(10:13):
have you been with?
Jaffe.
Um, I think it's about threeand a half years now actually
wow yeah so tell us a little bitmore about Jaffe in particular.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
you, you know you're digital only.
Obviously you're based in theUK, but what does that mean as
far as how you approach authorsand your marketing strategy and
that kind of thing?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah.
So I mean, I'd say somepublishers are digital only and
some publishers are sort ofdigital.
First, I would say we'redigital mostly.
Digital is our absolute primary, but we do generally have a
print edition of most books thatwe publish.
We've just started doing thesegorgeous full wraparound jackets
now as well, but, yeah, thevast majority of the books we
(10:58):
sell are in e-book.
They're incredibly good valueboth in the UK and in the States
and, yeah, as I say, we'velearned so much from
self-published authors in termsof all the full gamut of digital
marketing.
Our marketing team is incrediblystrong.
We've actually just hired somemore people.
We have a social media managerwho used to be, I think, one of
(11:21):
the biggest booktubers booktubers in the States, wow, yeah.
And now she does all of oursocials.
But yeah, we started off about10 years ago.
Jasper Joppe, our CEO, waspublishing his mum's old romance
novels and was sort of gettinginto KDP and you know sort of
(11:44):
that really DIY approach, doingeverything yourself, and he
would do the editing and do thatin the covers and write the
blurbs and do all of the youknow your book book, your
Facebook ad, amazon ads,everything and then we started
taking on some more authors, andwe've got authors like Joy
Ellis, faith Martin, helen HDurant, who's been with us from
(12:06):
from early in the day, who'vejust sold amazing, amazing, wow
in the in the british crimegenre that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, um, why don't you walk us through a little bit of
your day-to-day as an editor atjoffey, like what does that?
I think most of our listenersor maybe not most, but a lot of
our listeners honestly probablyhave zero idea what an
acquisitions editor actuallydoes.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, so I have the amazing job of being able to
look for new authors and workwith them on their books.
So I might be looking in oursubmissions book inbox.
I try and look, you know, everyother day and really sort of
keep abreast of what all the youknow the new submissions are
like.
Um, I will be finding newauthors.
(12:55):
So that means having calls withpeople and talking to them
about their ideas, uh,explaining to them what we do,
seeing if they would maybe liketo come on board with us, often
with a lot of debut or authorswho've maybe done a little bit
of publishing, either with othercompanies or, you know, on
their own.
I'll help them with a sort ofreally big picture story element
(13:19):
.
So they'll send me an outlineor a synopsis and we'll be
looking at it and thinking, youknow what?
How does this best fit thegenre?
What is the reader gonna gonnamost want from this?
Um, I might be writing blurbs.
I might be sending cover briefsto our amazing designers, um,
thinking about the whole packageyou know, the title, the blurb,
(13:40):
the cover.
Um, thinking about how to sellthese books online in this
really snappy sort of reallyplot focused way.
So, yeah, a lot of reading, alot of emails, a lot of talking
to lovely authors.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So it sounds to me a little bit like once you find
the book that you like or thatyou want to acquire, you know,
you sign the contract with theauthor and then you're kind of
the shepherd for that book,you're guiding it through the
whole process within the company.
Is that pretty accurate?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
absolutely.
I've never considered myself ashepherd before, but 100% now I
have a flock, yeah, yeah, fromstage one to the end of
publication.
And you know thereafter, likechecking online, you know, does
the blurb look okay on mobileand on desktop?
You know how are the reviewscoming in, Like checking the
(14:32):
chart ratings and yeah, justbeing an absolute champion for
all the lovely writers.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I love that, you know , because I do think that.
You know I have one seriesthat's indie and I got to say
one of the most difficult thingsabout that is not having
somebody who can step back andget a broader, get the overview,
the big picture overview oflike, where does this book fit
in the market?
What are the tropes that shouldbe called out and shown on the
(15:00):
cover?
On the cover, what are the?
You know, it's like when you'rethe author it's hard because
you're so, you're so immersed inthe details of this story it's
hard to stand back and get thebig picture.
So I love the idea of having ashepherd.
That's such a good idea.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, I love that thank you, feel free to steal it
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's good.
So one of the questions that wealways ask if people are a
writer, we ask them about theirown roadblocks, but since you
work with, since you're ashepherd with so many in your
flock, what do you see is one ofthe most common roadblocks your
(15:57):
writers run into and how do youhelp them overcome that
roadblock?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
everything.
If you're a self-publishedauthor, I mean you guys know
this you're the one writing thescripts, you're the one briefing
the cover designers or maybedoing the covers yourself.
You're writing the book, thendoing a full edit, then you've
got maybe beta readers and, likeoutsourced editors, you've got
to take in all the correctionsyou could.
I just can't imagine howanybody does it.
We have a whole company thatdoes all of it, and so I think
(16:23):
for authors who come to ussometimes it can be hard to sort
of believe that they don't haveto do all of that anymore.
I mean, it's great if ourauthors are on social media or
they have an amazing newsletterthat they want to keep doing.
But just being able to say likeno, you're the writer, you write
and we'll take care ofeverything else, like it's fine,
(16:44):
we've got you, you can sort ofrelax now, I think that's
something that people are sortof almost they can't quite
believe and they can't quite letthemselves settle into, I do
think there's something in theindie mindset that often is plug
up your ears, megan.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's a little controlling.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
What Me Sometimes?
Yes, we have some controlfreaks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, no offense to those listening.
I know who are control freaksbecause Megan and I both are in
different ways know who arecontrol freaks, because Megan
and I both are in different ways.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So yeah, and you have to be.
You absolutely have to be.
If it's yeah, if it's yourbusiness, if it's your
livelihood, if it's your life'spassion and you're trying to,
you're trying to do it andyou're checking every single day
, you have to be absolutely acontrol freak of the entire
whole person.
But it's really nice to be ableto say no, you just do the
ideas and the words and leavethe rest to us.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Well, I think that's so interesting too, especially
from comparing Joffey to what Iunderstand of, like, the big
traditional publishers and, tobe fair, this is, you know,
third-hand information becauseI've never actually talked to
anyone from one of the bigtraditional houses.
So, big traditional houses, ifyou're listening, feel free to
pitch us because we'd love totalk to you.
(18:07):
But it's very interesting to meto like see that difference, at
least from my understanding ofsort of the hands-on ability
that Joffey has to work withauthors.
I mean, we happen to know oneof your new contracts, one of
your new authors that you've,that you've brought on, and so I
(18:29):
know, I've heard some of thatprocess and how you really are a
shepherd for these books,whereas I think a lot of indie
authors have been told,basically since the advent,
advent of Kindle, that if you gotraditional you lose all
control.
So it's like this black or white, all or nothing.
(18:50):
Either you're, you know,involved in the process and and
able to, you know, help, guidethe cover yourself, or you don't
do anything at all.
And so I'd like to you knowwhat's kind of your perspective
on that.
Is that kind of accurate?
Are you able to be morehands-on with these authors?
Or do you kind of just say youknow, it's this, we're going to
(19:10):
do the we're going to do allthis and you just kind of sit
back and over there and do yourthing Like how's your
perspective on that?
Like from from the I'm going tosay mid-sized or small-sized
indie publisher.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'd say it's often pretty tailored in terms of the
editorial side of things.
We can be as hands-onabsolutely as our authors need
us to be.
I know some people really needto sort of be able to see every
single stage, so and also willsend me their their first draft
(19:45):
and I'll read it and, you know,give them some notes, uh, and
then they'll or maybe I'm doinga full structural edit myself,
if it's not going out of houseto one of our freelancers and
then there's a copy of it andthen there's a proofread and
sort of towards the end stagesof the process it's mostly
checking that things are inhouse style and just correcting
any tiny little errors.
(20:06):
And some authors are more thanhappy to say look, it's fine.
You know, I know it's only the,the last little changes that
you're making, and some peoplereally need to see and be able
to check and approve everything.
So we're happy with as involvedor as not involved as authors
want to be in terms of that.
You know, if they want to seeevery single stage, fine, great.
(20:27):
I think I would probably be thesame.
I want to have my eyes on everytiny little track change and
then, in terms of the cover lotsof self, previously
self-published authors.
You know they know exactly whatthey're doing in terms of the
designs and where they will sitin the market.
So we love to get people'sideas.
I guess we would always come atit from this wholesale
(20:49):
perspective.
We talk to everybody in theteam.
We've got sales, we've gotmarketing, we've got publicity,
we've got social media.
We can sort of look and see, asyou, greta, that sort of step
back.
We can see the really bigpicture and and come up with a,
an amazing identity and coverand title and a whole package
(21:11):
idea, um.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But we, you know, we love all this feedback and input
and, yeah, we're always, we'realways doing things
collaboratively, I'd say yeah,that that's great and that's
what we've heard, in particular,about Jaffe and because of the
way that your company grew, Iguess that's always been like
the word of mouth, if you will,about the company is that it is
(21:35):
you as an author, you are ableto be a little bit more hands-on
or as hands-on as you actuallywant to be, and some authors
don't want to be, some authorsjust want to be like you know
what you do it.
I have no interest, I just wantto write the words, and that's
great too.
But for those that do want atleast a little bit of that type
A control, b, just a little.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Just a little control fee, just a little.
One of the things I know hasbeen true about the big
traditional publishers I'm notsure if it's changing or not,
but is you know has been true isthat they tend to focus their
marketing dollars on newreleases and the backlist kind
(22:24):
of gets lost in the dust and ifa series is not selling super
well by, like the second book,it's often tossed or tanked, you
know.
I had heard through thegrapevine that jaffe was a
little bit more like the indieauthors and uh, you do look at
(22:46):
backlist in a little bit more ofthe longevity of the series is.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
uh, that is absolutely true.
Um, we like to say uh, there'sno such thing as backlist, it's
just a book you haven't met yetoh, that's so, it's pretty
adorable, isn't it?
because it's new.
It's new to any reader whohasn't already read it.
We don't really have this kindof tiered hierarchical system of
(23:14):
like, oh, this is a superbestseller, they're going to get
90 of the budget, which I thinkcan be the case for some of the
lists at bigger publishers.
Yeah, we treat every book likeit has the potential to be a
bestseller and so we keeppushing in all different ways.
Maybe it doesn't take offimmediately.
(23:36):
So we'll think, oh, let's, youknow, see if we can submit it
for a deal or an award, or we'llplay with the pricing structure
across the series to get morereaders in, really give it away
for free for a limited time andget a you know, a whole bunch of
new people into the, into theseries.
We'll, yeah, we'll do.
(23:57):
We'll do all sorts of things.
It's not really this kind ofwe're just going to give up and
ditch it in the dust.
And some of our best newAmerican books that we've been
putting out recently have been,you know, previously published
and so, I guess, would have beenconsidered backlist.
Anya Mora we republished abunch of her books and they have
(24:18):
taken off enormously well.
Not my Baby, my Husband's Wife,I think it's called book and
they have taken off enormouslywell.
Uh, not my baby, uh, my, uh, myhusband's wife, I think it's
called.
That was the first one.
We did a whole bunch of thesereally amazing family-oriented
domestic psych thrillers I lovethose kind of books yeah, yeah,
we, we love those too, if anyonewell.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So one thing I picked up on there that you were just
talking about is that you'rewilling to give books away for
free.
So you're doing a freepromotion which, as I understand
it, is not normally atraditional publisher big
publisher, you know, publisher,I mean indie authors do it.
But I thought that was kind ofI don't want to say taboo, but
(25:04):
certainly not a common practice,uh, amongst publishers.
But you guys do free promotions, you do the like low price,
yeah, deals and stuff like thatabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
In fact, we um we started a campaign recently
called free book friday andacross all of our various
imprints, usually sort of fromthe deeper depths of the
archives, we will be giving awaya book of free.
I think it's now three booksfree away every week.
It's a great way of revitalizingseries, especially if an author
(25:37):
is bringing out a new seriesand we want to get some new
readers in, get some more peoplehooked.
Yeah, it's a great way.
I know authors can sometimes bea bit like ah help, you're
giving my hard work away forfree, but it's obviously a very
limited time and it's a greatway of finding a new audience.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah Well, I mean even for myself as a.
I'm a wide indie author, so Ihave my.
My debut novel is perma free,like you can download it
anywhere at any time for free,with the idea being, of course,
that then you hook readers andyou get them to read through the
backlist, uh, or the rest ofthe series, or you know my other
titles, the other books theyhaven't met yet.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, the other books they haven't met yet yes, the
other books.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yes, and it earns you a lot of goodwill as well,
especially if you're aself-pubbed or you're a smaller.
Yeah, you know, people are likethat's nice.
What else have they got.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, and it seems, I mean it certainly seems to help
attract an audience and then,like I said, hopefully you get
that, that read through.
So I, I'm, I'm impressed, Iguess, that a publisher who is
running their business likeusually, I don't know.
it just seems like like andindie authors are sometimes like
this too.
It's like well, I don't want togive it away for free because I
(26:54):
worked so hard, and then I'mlosing money on those titles.
But the the truth is, when youactually look at the data, you
end up earning more, so I'mimpressed that you guys are
willing to do that.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Well, we learned it.
We learned it from the books.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Not from me I don't think because I stole it from
somebody else.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, so what other tools or advice would you give
to authors who are interested inpotentially getting a
traditional deal with a with acompany like joffy or joffy
itself?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I'd say um, one of the best things I would
recommend is a really tailoredsubmission email.
Um, sometimes you get peoplesaying now I know you don't
publish children's fiction, butwould you like to publish my
children's fiction?
And the answer is always goingto be no.
You know what we do and what wedon't do.
Um, I think, know your, knowyour market, know your audience.
(27:53):
We'd love to see an authorwho's like my book is like x, y
and z in these really specificways.
You know, like it's a, it's apacey domestic thriller, or it's
like a survival thriller orit's.
You know and everyone who knowstheir competitors, or you know
other books that are similar.
Um, a clean manuscript.
(28:18):
It doesn't have to be likeprestigiously, amazingly, you
know error-free.
We're probably going to want todo some work on it, but you know
a level of care that you've,you know, had a look at it,
you've read it over, um, and Ithink, uh, having an awareness
of what the sort of genre is aswell, I'd say and know like a
(28:39):
really clear idea of being ableto sell the sort of core, key
plot elements.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That sounds like.
If you are uncertain listeners,go check out our course
Understanding your Genre,because we go into our book.
We have a quick tips guide onthat, because it's true, I mean,
megan and I have both learnedthis the hard way, but
especially me.
I pitched my first manuscriptto an agent as a cozy horror,
(29:09):
which did not exist at the time,but I thought it was pretty
darn clever you know and shedidn't exist.
Now I know, but it did not exist, I was ahead ahead of myself,
ahead of the industry of myselfahead of the industry, too far
ahead of the industry,apparently because, yeah, I got
the light years now I shoulddredge that old book up
(29:32):
somewhere and go pitch it againnow that cozy horror exists.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But yeah, I'd say that's a really good point.
And if you're trying to make itkind of fall between two very,
very disparate stools, it'sgoing to be hard to sell if you
can't tell readers what it lookslike, what it feels like, what
it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, it's going to be tricky yeah yeah we have to
know yeah, you have to knowenough about the story you've
written to express it in a veryshort, like elevator pitch,
exactly Because acquisitioneditors and agents are very busy
people and they got storiescoming at them left and right
(30:15):
and it's, it's the hook right,and my personal tip would be put
that in the body of the email.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Don't save it for some special extra cover letter
that you've got to download aswell.
Put all the good stuff in theemail.
Oh that's interesting, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So I'm actually curious now, how does the
submission process work Like?
Do you go to the contact pageon Joffie and fill out a contact
form?
Do you send an email?
Do you guys even acceptattachments, like some of them
don't?
What's your process so?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
we have completely open swabs.
We do work with agents and wework with authors.
You know, sort of directly, butanyone and everyone can submit
a book.
It's submissions atjoffiebookscom.
There's guidelines on ourwebsite of what we're looking
for, how much to include, whatto sort of lay out.
But, yes, send an attachment ofthe book, our Word doc's,
(31:11):
easier we can send it to ourKindles and read it on the tube
on our way in.
If we're commissioning editorsand we're short on time.
And, yes, tell us straight upin the email.
You know, this is an amazing,uh, an amazing domestic suspense
and it's, it's like this is inthe east and this is the plot
(31:31):
and we'd love to.
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
What do you say to the advice that, uh, this is not
for when you're, when you'reapproaching agents or editors.
It's not a don't don't hide the.
What is it?
Don't don't uh, don't hide thelead, don't bury the lead, right
like you.
Just tell what the book isabout.
You're not trying to keep itsecret, you're not trying to
have the twists you want them toknow.
(31:55):
Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
yeah, one thing that we always ask for and this.
This comes like once we've evensigned a deal and we're working
with an author and they delivera manuscript, we say, please,
can you write a spoiler-fullplot synopsis?
You know, we have this on ourshared drive and the whole
company has access to just abrief resume.
What is the story?
What's going on here?
(32:17):
So, yeah, tell us all the bigjuicy twists and turns.
That's what we like.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, that's really good.
I thought of a question when wewere saying this about pitching
.
So I have heard that you knowagents.
A lot of the time they want totell you oh, it's just the book,
it's just the book.
But do you give preference to,say, an author who has a
platform, a person who has aplatform over maybe, a debut
(32:48):
author who hasn't even got aFacebook page or website?
How much do you look at whatthey've done career-wise, as
opposed to just the story itself, like what's the weight?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
I'd say it's always exciting if someone's got a
really genuinely incredibleplatform already.
But I mean, that's hard and youkind of basically have to be a
semi-celebrity to have somethinglike that.
So the main thing that mattersis the story.
If it's got a great hook, wecan sell anything.
Caleb Stevens it was, I think,his debut novel.
(33:27):
It was a thriller, it's calledthe Girls in the Cabin.
I found that in our submissionsin books.
He had another book out, Ithink with Timber Press in the
autumn and I don't't.
You know he'd got collectionsand he'd got sort of short
stories and you know bits andbobs here and there, but this
was, I think, his firstfull-length novel.
(33:48):
Um, and that's just got afantastic hook and we, we could
sell that right away without any.
You know, you don't need to doall the sort of socials.
If you want to, that's great,and if you already have it,
great, but it's.
But it's always the, it'salways the story.
Yeah, we'll take.
You know, we we're notprejudiced against debuts or or
anything like that.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Oh, that's good to hear.
I think that is going toencourage.
Encourage some people, becauseI, you know, you hear that they
don't want to even look at youif you don't have, you know,
5,000 people like your Facebookpage or something.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
No, no, I mean again, that's our job.
You know, we'll be putting adson Facebook.
We'll be sending it to ourmailing list of 100,000 people.
You know, we'll do themarketing it's.
I'm working with David Wilsonas well because, uh, it's that
collaboration, that that sort ofback and forth of like working
on ideas and and looking at abook go from just an idea to a
(34:49):
synopsis to a first draft yeah,I'm my favorite.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
So another, another kind of quick question uh, off
of that too, then.
So you said, you know, from anidea to an outline, to a
synopsis, to a draft, do youprefer people to come to you
with a completed manuscriptEspecially I mean, we're talking
mystery thriller here orthriller suspense, I guess
mostly you.
(35:16):
But so full manuscript, orpitch an idea, or both, or
either I'd say yeah, I'd say I'dsay both.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I mean, ideally, we love a man like one.
Maybe one book, that's done.
And then, if you've got somemore ideas, yeah, we'd love to
hear and that's one of the firstquestions I usually ask if you
know, if I read a book and I'mlike oh, this is really good,
it's.
You know, have you got anythingelse in your, in your back
pocket, what, what else could wework on together?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I think that this is a good tip for listeners.
If you're gonna, and tell me ifyou agree with me.
Steph, if you're going to pitcha publisher, I think it's a
darn good thing to go to thepublisher's website and do a
little research on the authorsthat they publish, how those
authors are doing.
Look at those authors, amazonpages.
Look at the sales.
(36:06):
Look at how many reviews.
Look at the covers.
There was when I was pitchingpublishers back in the in the
day.
Um, there were a couple ofpublishers that I did not pitch
because I looked at their bookcovers and they looked so
amateurish I was like I don'twant to eat with them.
Plus, like you were saying, makeyour pitch very tailored.
(36:27):
If you can see what thispublisher is publishing, that is
you know.
I mean it's like it'srespectful too, like you're
coming in, like you said.
You're not coming in saying,hey, you want to do my
children's book?
Yeah, and that publisher has nochildren's books.
You want to do my cookbook?
I have no cookbooks.
(36:48):
Yeah, looking at the kind ofbook it is, so would you agree
that that's a good tip?
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, always, and also gonna be.
If it's, if it's gonna besuccessful, you have to be happy
as well.
Some authors want to bepublished, you know, sort of in
print, and we do have printeditions, but that's not our
focus.
And if that is your big, biggoal, we're not going to be
right for you.
And I feel like we have to bevery upfront with authors and I
(37:19):
think, as you say, also shouldequally do their share of their
research and make sure you knowthis is the kind of publisher
for me.
You know, if you want,hopefully, to be an Amazon Top
100 bestseller, then we're yourpeople, but if you know if
you're looking for somethingelse, then maybe not.
And one last thing, actually onemail submissions, if I could
please give a little plea, nomore emails that begin with dear
(37:41):
sirs.
Oh, yeah, that's right, come onAlso.
It's crazy, it's editorial andit's publishing.
Yeah, there's not that manysirs in any case, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Well and actually, but that kind of goes back to
the same point too.
Is that mean?
Well, I don't know about Joffey, because it sounds like you
have a sort of generalsubmissions um inbox, but when
you're reaching out specificallyto an agent or editor or
anybody like.
We've seen this even for thepodcast too.
It's like somebody will be likedear author wheel, and they
don't address it to Megan, theydon't address it to Greta, and
immediately we address it toGreta, and immediately we know
(38:21):
okay, this is this is a someonewho doesn't know us, right, yeah
, they haven't looked at at whowe are, what we're doing, um,
especially, yeah, Anyway, we getthe same thing.
So I feel your pain, but do thatresearch so that you do.
You can make it morepersonalized, you know that.
(38:41):
Or you're showing the person onthe other side that you know
what you're doing and you're youknow who they are and you've,
you know, made an effort toactually find somebody who would
be interested in what you'reoffering.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
100 yeah I always say that you, I feel like finding
an agent or finding an editor,acquisition editor, finding your
publisher is kind of like, youknow, a dating app.
You only need one per series orper whatever.
You only need one.
You're not going to have, youknow.
(39:14):
So be choosy and beprofessional and put your best
foot forward.
This is an important, importantrelationship.
It's a long, ongoingrelationship, you know.
So give it the care that itdeserves.
And so, on that note, could youtell us what are you, steph?
(39:36):
What are you looking for?
Like what would just make yourlittle acquisition editor?
heart so happy if you got it inyour inbox.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
um, I am, this is very specific, but hear me out,
okay, I would love a domesticsuspense thriller on holiday.
So it's like it's the lastchance to save the marriage, or
it's the reunion of the reallycliquey high school group and
(40:11):
it's in a gorgeous location, youknow, like a poolside resort,
and the stakes are high becauseof all of these deep, dark,
underlying secret lies,betrayals.
But then it's on holiday andyou know that sort of hot sun is
beating down on you and there'stemptation everywhere and
(40:32):
everything just yeah, getsdialed up to 11.
I mean, that's, that'spersonally what I'm, but amongst
other things, A cozy beachthriller, that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
A cozy beach thriller , that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I love it.
If you get that book, would youplease send it to me.
I will blurb it for that.
I'm also making notes because Icould write that book.
That would be so fun.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Yeah, you could, yeah , yeah, or just, you know, like
thrillers with an amazing,amazing initial premise or like
a crazy plot twist.
But yeah, twists and turns aremore the merriest, I can admit.
Yeah, well-rounded characters,moms who care about their kids
and their families, and they'lldo literally anything to hold it
(41:23):
all together.
All that good stuff.
And I should put a plug in formy fellow editor at Joppy.
You might be interested in this, megan.
We've actually just startedlooking at some fantasy.
So, in particular, maybe aromantic scene which would go
down very well with my colleagueJasmine.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
We didn't meet Jasmine at the conference right,
we met your colleague Emma.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, Emma is our editorial director and she works
across the board really.
She has Punjabi titles and shehas taken on and, I would say,
completely revitalized ourromance imprint Chocolate.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Good name for the imprint.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
It's fun, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, it is it's fun.
So what are all the imprintsthat Joppy has?
Speaker 3 (42:18):
for romance.
And we've got Loom Books, whichwas one of the part of one of
the earliest digital publishersin the UK who were really
successful, and so they have awhole list of, I mean, anything
and everything.
They've got some really amazingnonfiction on there.
They've got some fantasy.
That's where it all sort ofbegun.
(42:39):
We were looking at things likethat.
They've got some historical andsome sagas, um, but we were
sort of mining, you know, thislist of books that readers
haven't met yet.
Uh, and the sound, all of thesefun, fun new genres that we
haven't necessarily worked withyet oh, that's exciting, but
(42:59):
your bread and butter has alwaysbeen mystery, thriller suspense
.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's mypersonal bread and butter.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
All right.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Yeah, this is why we're friends.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
So why don't you tell people where they can find out
more about you and more aboutJaffe?
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Yeah, absolutely so.
The Jaffe Books website has allkinds of stuff.
It has all of our new books,all of our new releases, all of
our new news.
So we have all of our funsigning announcements.
So if I get to sign a fabulousnew author, you'll get to read
about it on there.
There's a blog, there's authorbuyers and then there's all of
(43:43):
our editor buyers.
Joffrey Books is also very bigon Facebook, twitter, instagram
and TikTok and I reluctantlyagreed to get Twitter.
I was once so excited about howwell my author was doing that I
made a Twitter account just soI could chat about it.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
That's so fun.
That's great, well, and we willhave all those links in the
show notes.
This has been so fun, steph,catching up with you and all of
that.
I've really enjoyed it.
So, listeners, if you arethinking about pitching, go
check out Jaffe Books and ourbuddy Steph.
(44:21):
Also, if you are enjoying thepodcast, please consider hitting
that little button below thatsays support the show.
Just a few dollars a month canreally help us to keep the show
on the air, cover our editingand hosting costs.
We really appreciate it.
We would also appreciate areview, or hit those star
(44:46):
buttons and a review if you'reenjoying the show and share your
favorite episode with a friend.
Until next time, keep yourstories rolling.
Hi everyone and welcome to the Author Wheel
podcast.
I'm Greta Boris, usa Todaybestselling mystery thriller
author.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
And I'm Megan Haskell , award-winning fantasy
adventure author.
Together we are the AuthorWheel.
Today's guest is a new friendwe met at the 20 Books Vegas
conference last year JoffePublishing's acquisitions editor
, stephanie Carey.
It was a nice change of pacefrom all the indie business
guests we've had on recently.
We always think it's a goodidea to learn about all of the
(00:29):
publishing options, and Joffeyhas been on the cutting edge of
the new digital-firsttraditional publishing space.
Both indie and traditionalauthors will learn a lot from
this conversation, so make sureyou listen all the way through.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
But first, greta, how's your week going?
Nice, it's good.
I'm just settling back in fromvacation, so it was a little bit
of a short week.
And on the business news, theonly thing I have to say is that
I did check my KDP dashboardwhen I got home and it was
always nice.
I had some really nice daysfinancially.
So it was like, oh, I made somemoney while I was wine tasting.
(01:11):
I think I probably spent italmost as fast as I was making
it.
But hey, you know, it's alwaysnice, it's on vacation, that's
what you do, that was good.
So, anyway, that's about it forme.
What's going on with you?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, I have been absolutely swamped with the Last
Ascendant Kickstarter this weekand it's funny, you know, this
is actually the third campaignI've run.
You know, when we include ournonfiction campaign, and I
always forget how much extrawork it is.
I feel like I'm all prepped andready to go, and then I hit the
launch button and it's like, ohno, I've got to pivot, I've got
(01:48):
to do this, I've got to changethat, I've got to fix this and
do more images.
I've got more need, moregraphics, all this stuff.
So it ends up being a lot moretime, but it's been going okay.
And then I'm also getting readyfor the LA Times Festival of
Books this weekend.
So when this actually airs,unfortunately the event will be
(02:10):
over, but I'm prepping for itright now and I didn't realize
this until just recently, butit's actually the largest
literary festival in the country.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, I did know that I did it once years and years
ago and was absolutelygobsmacked at how many people
and how many books and how manypublishers and everything were
there.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, I think it's going to be kind of crazy.
So this is my first time, soit's taking over the USC campus,
which will be kind of a funthing for me because that's my
alma mater, but I kind of don'treally know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So here goes nothing, I guess.
Well, it was really really hotthe day that I did it, so it'll
be nice it won't be so hot.
Yeah, this weekend is supposedto be on the cooler side, but at
least not rainy either.
Yeah, because I think the heatdid kind of there wasn't quite
as many customers walking by,because it was just like 90s and
(03:15):
oh, yeah, yeah, so yeah no,it's supposed to be beautiful
this weekend, I think, so I'mexcited for it.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm sharing a booth with a few other authors, and so
it'll be interesting.
I'll make some good newconnections, if nothing else,
and hopefully sell quite a fewbooks along the way.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, I will be interested to hear how it goes
when you get back.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I will be sure to tell you.
So that's it for me for thisweek.
So, listeners, please don'tforget, make sure you subscribe
to the podcast and review it ifyou love it, and, if you do,
please also consider sharingyour favorite episode with a
writer friend.
Word of mouth is how thispodcast gets out there.
(03:59):
So that's it for now.
Let's dive into the interviewwith Stephanie Carey.
Steph is the commissioningeditor at Joffie Books, one of
the UK's leading independentpublishers of commercial fiction
.
And guess what guys?
They are currently looking toexpand further into the American
thriller and suspense market.
So if you've got a pitch ready,steph's going to be your girl.
(04:23):
Poor Steph, she's going to getinundated after this.
I know she is Watch out.
We actually met Steph at the 20Books to 50K conference in
Vegas last November and had afabulous dinner.
We were just reminiscing aboutour dinner at this little
Mexican restaurant there.
It was great and we reallyenjoyed our conversations, so we
(04:46):
decided to invite her on theshow today.
One of the things that wealways talk about a lot is how,
at the author wheel, we try tobe very agnostic, whether you're
indie, self publishing orwhether you're, you know, going
for that traditional deal orsome kind of hybrid thing in the
middle.
You know it's always good tolearn about all the options in
(05:07):
every corner of the publishingindustry and even across the
pond.
So welcome, steph.
We're so excited to have youhere.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Hi, thank you so much for having me on.
It's so fun seeing you guysagain.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Absolutely yes.
We did quite a bit of hangingout and drank occasionally a
glass of wine here or theretogether.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Or two, or possibly three, just the odd glass yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
It was so good.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Well, before we dive into our usual questions, tell
us all the amazing things thatyou've been doing since you got
back from back home after yourjaunt to America.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
My jaunt to America was so fun and since I got back
home I actually have signed acouple of authors who I met at
20 Books, so I've been able toshow off to my boss and say,
look, you've got to send meagain next year.
It's been really good.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That is wonderful yeah it really, really is,
especially because I mean thatconference is largely focused on
self-published or indie authors.
I'm actually curious what droveyou to attend that conference
in particular.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Jockey Books is an independent publisher and it's
digital, but we have alwayslearned so much from the indie
author space.
I think self-published authorsare often at the very forefront
of the publishing industry.
They know exactly what they'redoing in terms of trends in
terms of genre, in terms ofmarketing.
They know exactly what they'redoing in terms of trends in
terms of genre, in terms ofmarketing, um, and when one of
(06:47):
our authors was attendinganother conference, we suddenly
started thinking you know, we'vegot to go to these things, we
need to be learning from thecreme de la creme, um.
And so we thought, well, what'sthe biggest one?
And it's without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I think it's 20 books , yeah, and I think the, I think
the um, the new version, orauthor nation, I think they're
anticipating or trying to growit even further.
So it's they're really tryingto make it the premier event for
, you know, indie authors inparticular, but you know the the
author and publisher space,which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
We may even be having um, joe Solari, who is the new
director, promoter, owner ofthat conference on the podcast
pretty soon.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
We're trying to schedule.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I know that should be fun.
We are hoping.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
So, Steph, why don't you tell us a little bit more
about your personal journey intothe publishing industry?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, of course.
So it sounds kind of ridiculousto say at this point, but
obviously I have always lovedreading.
It's like yeah, yeah, whatever,um, but I mean that is a great
big part of my job, so it's beenreally.
It's been really useful andreally nice having to get to a
(08:02):
point where I now work withbooks and I get so much time
reading.
I actually did Frenchliterature at university and I
got to go live in Paris for ayear and you can either teach or
carry on studying.
And I decided to get aninternship at Édition La Russe.
(08:22):
They do La Russe Gastronomiqueand all these dictionaries and
language learning guides, and Iwas only there for six months,
but I just learned so much.
It was so much fun.
I was working on thesetranslated editions of English
classics and they were kind ofmarked up, almost like
Shakespeare, with little notesin the margins.
(08:43):
So if you wanted to read a bookin English and your English
wasn't amazing but it was okay,but you just couldn't sit
through a dictionary likelooking back all these words you
were able to read those.
So that was my first stint ineditorial and I just loved it.
And then, after I came back andfinished my degree I got a
(09:11):
couple of different bits of workexperience.
I think I worked at a lifestylemagazine publisher in the south
of England and then also inLondon on like a pregnancy,
childcare, like women's healthpublisher, which was really fab.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Oh, wow, very cool.
And then you landed at Jaffe.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Many moons later.
I've actually done a little bitof everything, I think, across
the publishing game in England.
I've worked on academicmonographs on criminology books,
which was just absolutelyfascinating, and then I worked
on some sort of seriousnon-fiction memoir,
(09:46):
autobiography, history, politics.
Then I worked on illustratedchildren's books, which was
honestly just a laugh a minute.
One of my titles was honestlycalled uh, magical rainbow
unicorn and then I that'shitting all the tropes that is
very current right now yeah, ohthat's wonderful, so how long
(10:13):
have you been with?
Jaffe.
Um, I think it's about threeand a half years now actually
wow yeah so tell us a little bitmore about Jaffe in particular.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
you, you know you're digital only.
Obviously you're based in theUK, but what does that mean as
far as how you approach authorsand your marketing strategy and
that kind of thing?
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Yeah.
So I mean, I'd say somepublishers are digital only and
some publishers are sort ofdigital.
First, I would say we'redigital mostly.
Digital is our absolute primary, but we do generally have a
print edition of most books thatwe publish.
We've just started doing thesegorgeous full wraparound jackets
now as well, but, yeah, thevast majority of the books we
(10:58):
sell are in e-book.
They're incredibly good valueboth in the UK and in the States
and, yeah, as I say, we'velearned so much from
self-published authors in termsof all the full gamut of digital
marketing.
Our marketing team is incrediblystrong.
We've actually just hired somemore people.
We have a social media managerwho used to be, I think, one of
(11:21):
the biggest booktubers booktubers in the States, wow, yeah.
And now she does all of oursocials.
But yeah, we started off about10 years ago.
Jasper Joppe, our CEO, waspublishing his mum's old romance
novels and was sort of gettinginto KDP and you know sort of
(11:44):
that really DIY approach, doingeverything yourself, and he
would do the editing and do thatin the covers and write the
blurbs and do all of the youknow your book book, your
Facebook ad, amazon ads,everything and then we started
taking on some more authors, andwe've got authors like Joy
Ellis, faith Martin, helen HDurant, who's been with us from
(12:06):
from early in the day, who'vejust sold amazing, amazing, wow
in the in the british crimegenre that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
So, um, why don't you walk us through a little bit of
your day-to-day as an editor atjoffey, like what does that?
I think most of our listenersor maybe not most, but a lot of
our listeners honestly probablyhave zero idea what an
acquisitions editor actuallydoes.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, so I have the amazing job of being able to
look for new authors and workwith them on their books.
So I might be looking in oursubmissions book inbox.
I try and look, you know, everyother day and really sort of
keep abreast of what all the youknow the new submissions are
like.
Um, I will be finding newauthors.
(12:55):
So that means having calls withpeople and talking to them
about their ideas, uh,explaining to them what we do,
seeing if they would maybe liketo come on board with us, often
with a lot of debut or authorswho've maybe done a little bit
of publishing, either with othercompanies or, you know, on
their own.
I'll help them with a sort ofreally big picture story element
(13:19):
.
So they'll send me an outlineor a synopsis and we'll be
looking at it and thinking, youknow what?
How does this best fit thegenre?
What is the reader gonna gonnamost want from this?
Um, I might be writing blurbs.
I might be sending cover briefsto our amazing designers, um,
thinking about the whole packageyou know, the title, the blurb,
(13:40):
the cover.
Um, thinking about how to sellthese books online in this
really snappy sort of reallyplot focused way.
So, yeah, a lot of reading, alot of emails, a lot of talking
to lovely authors.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So it sounds to me a little bit like once you find
the book that you like or thatyou want to acquire, you know,
you sign the contract with theauthor and then you're kind of
the shepherd for that book,you're guiding it through the
whole process within the company.
Is that pretty accurate?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
absolutely.
I've never considered myself ashepherd before, but 100% now I
have a flock, yeah, yeah, fromstage one to the end of
publication.
And you know thereafter, likechecking online, you know, does
the blurb look okay on mobileand on desktop?
You know how are the reviewscoming in, Like checking the
(14:32):
chart ratings and yeah, justbeing an absolute champion for
all the lovely writers.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I love that, you know , because I do think that.
You know I have one seriesthat's indie and I got to say
one of the most difficult thingsabout that is not having
somebody who can step back andget a broader, get the overview,
the big picture overview oflike, where does this book fit
in the market?
What are the tropes that shouldbe called out and shown on the
(15:00):
cover?
On the cover, what are the?
You know, it's like when you'rethe author it's hard because
you're so, you're so immersed inthe details of this story it's
hard to stand back and get thebig picture.
So I love the idea of having ashepherd.
That's such a good idea.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, I love that thank you, feel free to steal it
I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
That's good.
So one of the questions that wealways ask if people are a
writer, we ask them about theirown roadblocks, but since you
work with, since you're ashepherd with so many in your
flock, what do you see is one ofthe most common roadblocks your
(15:57):
writers run into and how do youhelp them overcome that
roadblock?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
everything.
If you're a self-publishedauthor, I mean you guys know
this you're the one writing thescripts, you're the one briefing
the cover designers or maybedoing the covers yourself.
You're writing the book, thendoing a full edit, then you've
got maybe beta readers and, likeoutsourced editors, you've got
to take in all the correctionsyou could.
I just can't imagine howanybody does it.
We have a whole company thatdoes all of it, and so I think
(16:23):
for authors who come to ussometimes it can be hard to sort
of believe that they don't haveto do all of that anymore.
I mean, it's great if ourauthors are on social media or
they have an amazing newsletterthat they want to keep doing.
But just being able to say likeno, you're the writer, you write
and we'll take care ofeverything else, like it's fine,
(16:44):
we've got you, you can sort ofrelax now, I think that's
something that people are sortof almost they can't quite
believe and they can't quite letthemselves settle into, I do
think there's something in theindie mindset that often is plug
up your ears, megan.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's a little controlling.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
What Me Sometimes?
Yes, we have some controlfreaks.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, no offense to those listening.
I know who are control freaksbecause Megan and I both are in
different ways know who arecontrol freaks, because Megan
and I both are in different ways.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So yeah, and you have to be.
You absolutely have to be.
If it's yeah, if it's yourbusiness, if it's your
livelihood, if it's your life'spassion and you're trying to,
you're trying to do it andyou're checking every single day
, you have to be absolutely acontrol freak of the entire
whole person.
But it's really nice to be ableto say no, you just do the
ideas and the words and leavethe rest to us.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Well, I think that's so interesting too, especially
from comparing Joffey to what Iunderstand of, like, the big
traditional publishers and, tobe fair, this is, you know,
third-hand information becauseI've never actually talked to
anyone from one of the bigtraditional houses.
So, big traditional houses, ifyou're listening, feel free to
pitch us because we'd love totalk to you.
(18:07):
But it's very interesting to meto like see that difference, at
least from my understanding ofsort of the hands-on ability
that Joffey has to work withauthors.
I mean, we happen to know oneof your new contracts, one of
your new authors that you've,that you've brought on, and so I
(18:29):
know, I've heard some of thatprocess and how you really are a
shepherd for these books,whereas I think a lot of indie
authors have been told,basically since the advent,
advent of Kindle, that if you gotraditional you lose all
control.
So it's like this black or white, all or nothing.
(18:50):
Either you're, you know,involved in the process and and
able to, you know, help, guidethe cover yourself, or you don't
do anything at all.
And so I'd like to you knowwhat's kind of your perspective
on that.
Is that kind of accurate?
Are you able to be morehands-on with these authors?
Or do you kind of just say youknow, it's this, we're going to
(19:10):
do the we're going to do allthis and you just kind of sit
back and over there and do yourthing Like how's your
perspective on that?
Like from from the I'm going tosay mid-sized or small-sized
indie publisher.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
I'd say it's often pretty tailored in terms of the
editorial side of things.
We can be as hands-onabsolutely as our authors need
us to be.
I know some people really needto sort of be able to see every
single stage, so and also willsend me their their first draft
(19:45):
and I'll read it and, you know,give them some notes, uh, and
then they'll or maybe I'm doinga full structural edit myself,
if it's not going out of houseto one of our freelancers and
then there's a copy of it andthen there's a proofread and
sort of towards the end stagesof the process it's mostly
checking that things are inhouse style and just correcting
any tiny little errors.
(20:06):
And some authors are more thanhappy to say look, it's fine.
You know, I know it's only the,the last little changes that
you're making, and some peoplereally need to see and be able
to check and approve everything.
So we're happy with as involvedor as not involved as authors
want to be in terms of that.
You know, if they want to seeevery single stage, fine, great.
(20:27):
I think I would probably be thesame.
I want to have my eyes on everytiny little track change and
then, in terms of the cover lotsof self, previously
self-published authors.
You know they know exactly whatthey're doing in terms of the
designs and where they will sitin the market.
So we love to get people'sideas.
I guess we would always come atit from this wholesale
(20:49):
perspective.
We talk to everybody in theteam.
We've got sales, we've gotmarketing, we've got publicity,
we've got social media.
We can sort of look and see, asyou, greta, that sort of step
back.
We can see the really bigpicture and and come up with a,
an amazing identity and coverand title and a whole package
(21:11):
idea, um.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But we, you know, we love all this feedback and input
and, yeah, we're always, we'realways doing things
collaboratively, I'd say yeah,that that's great and that's
what we've heard, in particular,about Jaffe and because of the
way that your company grew, Iguess that's always been like
the word of mouth, if you will,about the company is that it is
(21:35):
you as an author, you are ableto be a little bit more hands-on
or as hands-on as you actuallywant to be, and some authors
don't want to be, some authorsjust want to be like you know
what you do it.
I have no interest, I just wantto write the words, and that's
great too.
But for those that do want atleast a little bit of that type
A control, b, just a little.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Just a little control fee, just a little.
One of the things I know hasbeen true about the big
traditional publishers I'm notsure if it's changing or not,
but is you know has been true isthat they tend to focus their
marketing dollars on newreleases and the backlist kind
(22:24):
of gets lost in the dust and ifa series is not selling super
well by, like the second book,it's often tossed or tanked, you
know.
I had heard through thegrapevine that jaffe was a
little bit more like the indieauthors and uh, you do look at
(22:46):
backlist in a little bit more ofthe longevity of the series is.
Is that true?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
uh, that is absolutely true.
Um, we like to say uh, there'sno such thing as backlist, it's
just a book you haven't met yetoh, that's so, it's pretty
adorable, isn't it?
because it's new.
It's new to any reader whohasn't already read it.
We don't really have this kindof tiered hierarchical system of
(23:14):
like, oh, this is a superbestseller, they're going to get
90 of the budget, which I thinkcan be the case for some of the
lists at bigger publishers.
Yeah, we treat every book likeit has the potential to be a
bestseller and so we keeppushing in all different ways.
Maybe it doesn't take offimmediately.
(23:36):
So we'll think, oh, let's, youknow, see if we can submit it
for a deal or an award, or we'llplay with the pricing structure
across the series to get morereaders in, really give it away
for free for a limited time andget a you know, a whole bunch of
new people into the, into theseries.
We'll, yeah, we'll do.
(23:57):
We'll do all sorts of things.
It's not really this kind ofwe're just going to give up and
ditch it in the dust.
And some of our best newAmerican books that we've been
putting out recently have been,you know, previously published
and so, I guess, would have beenconsidered backlist.
Anya Mora we republished abunch of her books and they have
(24:18):
taken off enormously well.
Not my Baby, my Husband's Wife,I think it's called book and
they have taken off enormouslywell.
Uh, not my baby, uh, my, uh, myhusband's wife, I think it's
called.
That was the first one.
We did a whole bunch of thesereally amazing family-oriented
domestic psych thrillers I lovethose kind of books yeah, yeah,
we, we love those too, if anyonewell.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
So one thing I picked up on there that you were just
talking about is that you'rewilling to give books away for
free.
So you're doing a freepromotion which, as I understand
it, is not normally atraditional publisher big
publisher, you know, publisher,I mean indie authors do it.
But I thought that was kind ofI don't want to say taboo, but
(25:04):
certainly not a common practice,uh, amongst publishers.
But you guys do free promotions, you do the like low price,
yeah, deals and stuff like thatabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
In fact, we um we started a campaign recently
called free book friday andacross all of our various
imprints, usually sort of fromthe deeper depths of the
archives, we will be giving awaya book of free.
I think it's now three booksfree away every week.
It's a great way of revitalizingseries, especially if an author
(25:37):
is bringing out a new seriesand we want to get some new
readers in, get some more peoplehooked.
Yeah, it's a great way.
I know authors can sometimes bea bit like ah help, you're
giving my hard work away forfree, but it's obviously a very
limited time and it's a greatway of finding a new audience.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah Well, I mean even for myself as a.
I'm a wide indie author, so Ihave my.
My debut novel is perma free,like you can download it
anywhere at any time for free,with the idea being, of course,
that then you hook readers andyou get them to read through the
backlist, uh, or the rest ofthe series, or you know my other
titles, the other books theyhaven't met yet.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yes, the other books they haven't met yet yes, the
other books.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Yes, and it earns you a lot of goodwill as well,
especially if you're aself-pubbed or you're a smaller.
Yeah, you know, people are likethat's nice.
What else have they got.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, and it seems, I mean it certainly seems to help
attract an audience and then,like I said, hopefully you get
that, that read through.
So I, I'm, I'm impressed, Iguess, that a publisher who is
running their business likeusually, I don't know.
it just seems like like andindie authors are sometimes like
this too.
It's like well, I don't want togive it away for free because I
(26:54):
worked so hard, and then I'mlosing money on those titles.
But the the truth is, when youactually look at the data, you
end up earning more, so I'mimpressed that you guys are
willing to do that.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Well, we learned it.
We learned it from the books.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Not from me I don't think because I stole it from
somebody else.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, so what other tools or advice would you give
to authors who are interested inpotentially getting a
traditional deal with a with acompany like joffy or joffy
itself?
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I'd say um, one of the best things I would
recommend is a really tailoredsubmission email.
Um, sometimes you get peoplesaying now I know you don't
publish children's fiction, butwould you like to publish my
children's fiction?
And the answer is always goingto be no.
You know what we do and what wedon't do.
Um, I think, know your, knowyour market, know your audience.
(27:53):
We'd love to see an authorwho's like my book is like x, y
and z in these really specificways.
You know, like it's a, it's apacey domestic thriller, or it's
like a survival thriller orit's.
You know and everyone who knowstheir competitors, or you know
other books that are similar.
Um, a clean manuscript.
(28:18):
It doesn't have to be likeprestigiously, amazingly, you
know error-free.
We're probably going to want todo some work on it, but you know
a level of care that you've,you know, had a look at it,
you've read it over, um, and Ithink, uh, having an awareness
of what the sort of genre is aswell, I'd say and know like a
(28:39):
really clear idea of being ableto sell the sort of core, key
plot elements.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That sounds like.
If you are uncertain listeners,go check out our course
Understanding your Genre,because we go into our book.
We have a quick tips guide onthat, because it's true, I mean,
megan and I have both learnedthis the hard way, but
especially me.
I pitched my first manuscriptto an agent as a cozy horror,
(29:09):
which did not exist at the time,but I thought it was pretty
darn clever you know and shedidn't exist.
Now I know, but it did not exist, I was ahead ahead of myself,
ahead of the industry of myselfahead of the industry, too far
ahead of the industry,apparently because, yeah, I got
the light years now I shoulddredge that old book up
(29:32):
somewhere and go pitch it againnow that cozy horror exists.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But yeah, I'd say that's a really good point.
And if you're trying to make itkind of fall between two very,
very disparate stools, it'sgoing to be hard to sell if you
can't tell readers what it lookslike, what it feels like, what
it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, it's going to be tricky yeah yeah we have to
know yeah, you have to knowenough about the story you've
written to express it in a veryshort, like elevator pitch,
exactly Because acquisitioneditors and agents are very busy
people and they got storiescoming at them left and right
(30:15):
and it's, it's the hook right,and my personal tip would be put
that in the body of the email.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Don't save it for some special extra cover letter
that you've got to download aswell.
Put all the good stuff in theemail.
Oh that's interesting, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So I'm actually curious now, how does the
submission process work Like?
Do you go to the contact pageon Joffie and fill out a contact
form?
Do you send an email?
Do you guys even acceptattachments, like some of them
don't?
What's your process so?
Speaker 3 (30:48):
we have completely open swabs.
We do work with agents and wework with authors.
You know, sort of directly, butanyone and everyone can submit
a book.
It's submissions atjoffiebookscom.
There's guidelines on ourwebsite of what we're looking
for, how much to include, whatto sort of lay out.
But, yes, send an attachment ofthe book, our Word doc's,
(31:11):
easier we can send it to ourKindles and read it on the tube
on our way in.
If we're commissioning editorsand we're short on time.
And, yes, tell us straight upin the email.
You know, this is an amazing,uh, an amazing domestic suspense
and it's, it's like this is inthe east and this is the plot
(31:31):
and we'd love to.
We'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
What do you say to the advice that, uh, this is not
for when you're, when you'reapproaching agents or editors.
It's not a don't don't hide the.
What is it?
Don't don't uh, don't hide thelead, don't bury the lead, right
like you.
Just tell what the book isabout.
You're not trying to keep itsecret, you're not trying to
have the twists you want them toknow.
(31:55):
Is that accurate?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
yeah, one thing that we always ask for and this.
This comes like once we've evensigned a deal and we're working
with an author and they delivera manuscript, we say, please,
can you write a spoiler-fullplot synopsis?
You know, we have this on ourshared drive and the whole
company has access to just abrief resume.
What is the story?
What's going on here?
(32:17):
So, yeah, tell us all the bigjuicy twists and turns.
That's what we like.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Yeah, that's really good.
I thought of a question when wewere saying this about pitching
.
So I have heard that you knowagents.
A lot of the time they want totell you oh, it's just the book,
it's just the book.
But do you give preference to,say, an author who has a
platform, a person who has aplatform over maybe, a debut
(32:48):
author who hasn't even got aFacebook page or website?
How much do you look at whatthey've done career-wise, as
opposed to just the story itself, like what's the weight?
Speaker 3 (33:03):
I'd say it's always exciting if someone's got a
really genuinely incredibleplatform already.
But I mean, that's hard and youkind of basically have to be a
semi-celebrity to have somethinglike that.
So the main thing that mattersis the story.
If it's got a great hook, wecan sell anything.
Caleb Stevens it was, I think,his debut novel.
(33:27):
It was a thriller, it's calledthe Girls in the Cabin.
I found that in our submissionsin books.
He had another book out, Ithink with Timber Press in the
autumn and I don't't.
You know he'd got collectionsand he'd got sort of short
stories and you know bits andbobs here and there, but this
was, I think, his firstfull-length novel.
(33:48):
Um, and that's just got afantastic hook and we, we could
sell that right away without any.
You know, you don't need to doall the sort of socials.
If you want to, that's great,and if you already have it,
great, but it's.
But it's always the, it'salways the story.
Yeah, we'll take.
You know, we we're notprejudiced against debuts or or
anything like that.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Oh, that's good to hear.
I think that is going toencourage.
Encourage some people, becauseI, you know, you hear that they
don't want to even look at youif you don't have, you know,
5,000 people like your Facebookpage or something.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
No, no, I mean again, that's our job.
You know, we'll be putting adson Facebook.
We'll be sending it to ourmailing list of 100,000 people.
You know, we'll do themarketing it's.
I'm working with David Wilsonas well because, uh, it's that
collaboration, that that sort ofback and forth of like working
on ideas and and looking at abook go from just an idea to a
(34:49):
synopsis to a first draft yeah,I'm my favorite.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
So another, another kind of quick question uh, off
of that too, then.
So you said, you know, from anidea to an outline, to a
synopsis, to a draft, do youprefer people to come to you
with a completed manuscriptEspecially I mean, we're talking
mystery thriller here orthriller suspense, I guess
mostly you.
(35:16):
But so full manuscript, orpitch an idea, or both, or
either I'd say yeah, I'd say I'dsay both.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
I mean, ideally, we love a man like one.
Maybe one book, that's done.
And then, if you've got somemore ideas, yeah, we'd love to
hear and that's one of the firstquestions I usually ask if you
know, if I read a book and I'mlike oh, this is really good,
it's.
You know, have you got anythingelse in your, in your back
pocket, what, what else could wework on together?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I think that this is a good tip for listeners.
If you're gonna, and tell me ifyou agree with me.
Steph, if you're going to pitcha publisher, I think it's a
darn good thing to go to thepublisher's website and do a
little research on the authorsthat they publish, how those
authors are doing.
Look at those authors, amazonpages.
Look at the sales.
(36:06):
Look at how many reviews.
Look at the covers.
There was when I was pitchingpublishers back in the in the
day.
Um, there were a couple ofpublishers that I did not pitch
because I looked at their bookcovers and they looked so
amateurish I was like I don'twant to eat with them.
Plus, like you were saying, makeyour pitch very tailored.
(36:27):
If you can see what thispublisher is publishing, that is
you know.
I mean it's like it'srespectful too, like you're
coming in, like you said.
You're not coming in saying,hey, you want to do my
children's book?
Yeah, and that publisher has nochildren's books.
You want to do my cookbook?
I have no cookbooks.
(36:48):
Yeah, looking at the kind ofbook it is, so would you agree
that that's a good tip?
Speaker 3 (36:57):
Yeah, always, and also gonna be.
If it's, if it's gonna besuccessful, you have to be happy
as well.
Some authors want to bepublished, you know, sort of in
print, and we do have printeditions, but that's not our
focus.
And if that is your big, biggoal, we're not going to be
right for you.
And I feel like we have to bevery upfront with authors and I
(37:19):
think, as you say, also shouldequally do their share of their
research and make sure you knowthis is the kind of publisher
for me.
You know, if you want,hopefully, to be an Amazon Top
100 bestseller, then we're yourpeople, but if you know if
you're looking for somethingelse, then maybe not.
And one last thing, actually onemail submissions, if I could
please give a little plea, nomore emails that begin with dear
(37:41):
sirs.
Oh, yeah, that's right, come onAlso.
It's crazy, it's editorial andit's publishing.
Yeah, there's not that manysirs in any case, yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Well and actually, but that kind of goes back to
the same point too.
Is that mean?
Well, I don't know about Joffey, because it sounds like you
have a sort of generalsubmissions um inbox, but when
you're reaching out specificallyto an agent or editor or
anybody like.
We've seen this even for thepodcast too.
It's like somebody will be likedear author wheel, and they
don't address it to Megan, theydon't address it to Greta, and
immediately we address it toGreta, and immediately we know
(38:21):
okay, this is this is a someonewho doesn't know us, right, yeah
, they haven't looked at at whowe are, what we're doing, um,
especially, yeah, Anyway, we getthe same thing.
So I feel your pain, but do thatresearch so that you do.
You can make it morepersonalized, you know that.
(38:41):
Or you're showing the person onthe other side that you know
what you're doing and you're youknow who they are and you've,
you know, made an effort toactually find somebody who would
be interested in what you'reoffering.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
100 yeah I always say that you, I feel like finding
an agent or finding an editor,acquisition editor, finding your
publisher is kind of like, youknow, a dating app.
You only need one per series orper whatever.
You only need one.
You're not going to have, youknow.
(39:14):
So be choosy and beprofessional and put your best
foot forward.
This is an important, importantrelationship.
It's a long, ongoingrelationship, you know.
So give it the care that itdeserves.
And so, on that note, could youtell us what are you, steph?
(39:36):
What are you looking for?
Like what would just make yourlittle acquisition editor?
heart so happy if you got it inyour inbox.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
um, I am, this is very specific, but hear me out,
okay, I would love a domesticsuspense thriller on holiday.
So it's like it's the lastchance to save the marriage, or
it's the reunion of the reallycliquey high school group and
(40:11):
it's in a gorgeous location, youknow, like a poolside resort,
and the stakes are high becauseof all of these deep, dark,
underlying secret lies,betrayals.
But then it's on holiday andyou know that sort of hot sun is
beating down on you and there'stemptation everywhere and
(40:32):
everything just yeah, getsdialed up to 11.
I mean, that's, that'spersonally what I'm, but amongst
other things, A cozy beachthriller, that's what you want.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
A cozy beach thriller , that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
I love it.
If you get that book, would youplease send it to me.
I will blurb it for that.
I'm also making notes because Icould write that book.
That would be so fun.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Yeah, you could, yeah , yeah, or just, you know, like
thrillers with an amazing,amazing initial premise or like
a crazy plot twist.
But yeah, twists and turns aremore the merriest, I can admit.
Yeah, well-rounded characters,moms who care about their kids
and their families, and they'lldo literally anything to hold it
(41:23):
all together.
All that good stuff.
And I should put a plug in formy fellow editor at Joppy.
You might be interested in this, megan.
We've actually just startedlooking at some fantasy.
So, in particular, maybe aromantic scene which would go
down very well with my colleagueJasmine.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
We didn't meet Jasmine at the conference right,
we met your colleague Emma.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, Emma is our editorial director and she works
across the board really.
She has Punjabi titles and shehas taken on and, I would say,
completely revitalized ourromance imprint Chocolate.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
Good name for the imprint.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
It's fun, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, it is it's fun.
So what are all the imprintsthat Joppy has?
Speaker 3 (42:18):
for romance.
And we've got Loom Books, whichwas one of the part of one of
the earliest digital publishersin the UK who were really
successful, and so they have awhole list of, I mean, anything
and everything.
They've got some really amazingnonfiction on there.
They've got some fantasy.
That's where it all sort ofbegun.
(42:39):
We were looking at things likethat.
They've got some historical andsome sagas, um, but we were
sort of mining, you know, thislist of books that readers
haven't met yet.
Uh, and the sound, all of thesefun, fun new genres that we
haven't necessarily worked withyet oh, that's exciting, but
(42:59):
your bread and butter has alwaysbeen mystery, thriller suspense
.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's mypersonal bread and butter.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
All right.
Speaker 3 (43:08):
Yeah, this is why we're friends.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
So why don't you tell people where they can find out
more about you and more aboutJaffe?
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Yeah, absolutely so.
The Jaffe Books website has allkinds of stuff.
It has all of our new books,all of our new releases, all of
our new news.
So we have all of our funsigning announcements.
So if I get to sign a fabulousnew author, you'll get to read
about it on there.
There's a blog, there's authorbuyers and then there's all of
(43:43):
our editor buyers.
Joffrey Books is also very bigon Facebook, twitter, instagram
and TikTok and I reluctantlyagreed to get Twitter.
I was once so excited about howwell my author was doing that I
made a Twitter account just soI could chat about it.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
That's so fun.
That's great, well, and we willhave all those links in the
show notes.
This has been so fun, steph,catching up with you and all of
that.
I've really enjoyed it.
So, listeners, if you arethinking about pitching, go
check out Jaffe Books and ourbuddy Steph.
(44:21):
Also, if you are enjoying thepodcast, please consider hitting
that little button below thatsays support the show.
Just a few dollars a month canreally help us to keep the show
on the air, cover our editingand hosting costs.
We really appreciate it.
We would also appreciate areview, or hit those star
(44:46):
buttons and a review if you'reenjoying the show and share your
favorite episode with a friend.
Until next time, keep yourstories rolling.
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