Writers With Wrinkles

Wendelin Van Draanen spent 10 years collecting rejections before anyone said yes to her Sammy Keyes mystery series — she just kept writing the next one anyway. Now, 40 books and 30 years later, she's still with the same editor who finally did.
If you've ever wondered whether to keep pitching a project nobody wants yet, or whether staying loyal to one editor for decades is a mistake in an industry that rewards jumping ship — this conversation is the counter-argument. Wendelin also gets candid about the moment Rob Reiner called to option Flipped, what it actually takes to hand your book to Hollywood without losing your mind, and the book-festival disaster that had two authors comparing notes on the exact same nightmare bookstore.
Hit play — and if you've got your own "I sent it anyway" story, we want to hear it. Ghosted, Wendelin's new romantasy, is up for pre-order now ahead of its October 6th release.

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You could finish four books this year and only ever get to publish one of them.
That's the traditional publishing timeline in a nutshell — and it's why more authors are quietly going hybrid: keeping one foot in a trad deal and self-publishing everything else on their own schedule, without waiting on anyone's calendar.
In this episode, Beth and Lisa break down what a hybrid author actually is (not to be confused with a hybrid publisher — totally different thing), why it's suddenly everywhere in publishing conversations, and the different ways real authors are structuring it: splitting genres between trad and self-pub, keeping e-book/audio rights on a trad print deal, reissuing backlist titles that reverted back to them. They also get into the real tradeoffs — creative control and faster cash flow vs. running two jobs at once (author and small business owner) — plus a few authors doing it well right now, like Rebecca Thorne.
Also in this episode: a shoutout to listener and author Kate McCarrell Moore's new release, Walter and Benny: Good Guys, Nature Spies, and a preview of next episode's guest, bestselling author Wendelin Van Draanen.
Hit play, and if you're new here, follow the show — new episodes every week. Find more at writerswithwrinkles.net.

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New York Times bestselling author Jason June (Out of the Blue, Jay's Gay Agenda) returns to Writers With Wrinkles for a wide-ranging conversation covering his growing acting career, the current state of the publishing industry, and his upcoming adult rom-com Santa and Krampus' Cozy Killer Christmas, out fall 2027. Jason is refreshingly candid — about book advances, about the anxiety running through publishing right now, and about finding joy in the work when the business side gets hard.
 Guest
Jason June — NYT bestselling author, actor, screenwriter, and self-described "Laura Dern stan" based in Dallas, TX. Known for YA rom-coms Out of the Blue and Jay's Gay Agenda, and publisher of The Ventorship, a newsletter on author finances and transparency.
 Highlights
•     Auditioning post-COVID: why self-tapes democratize acting, and what's lost without an in-person redirect from a casting director
•     How years of writing fiction sharpened Jason's instincts for character and story on set
•     The "greater sense of unease" in publishing right now — AI concerns, slow timelines, and authors questioning why traditional publishing can't move faster
•     Self-publishing's rising role, the discovery gap it still faces, and why hybrid careers are becoming more common
•     The Dungeon Crawler Carl story as a case study in trusting your own artistic vision
•     Why Jason publicly shares his advances and royalties through The Ventorship — and the argument that most of that "secrecy" is self-imposed
•     Publishing as a side hustle: debut culture, shrinking advances, and the myth of the "cushy" author life
•     The MER Principle (Beth's term): find the niche community obsessed with your book's specific hook, not a general audience
•     The premise behind Santa and Krampus' Cozy Killer Christmas — a "dark cozy" where Krampus only kills the people who'd otherwise doom humanity
•     Jason's advice to aspiring authors: chase the joy, and aim to be "prolific, not perfect"
 Key Takeaway
Whether you're navigating traditional publishing, weighing a hybrid career, or just trying to market your next book, the throughline is the same: get specific. Specific about your niche audience, specific about your finances, and specific about what actually brings you joy in the work.
Have a marketing tip that's worked for you? Beth and Lisa want to hear it.
•     Beth: beth@writerswithwrinkles.net
•     Lisa: lisa@writerswithwrinkles.net
•     Join The Waiting Room, our Facebook community for writers
•     Website: writerswithwrinkles.net

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Episode Summary
In this episode of Writers With Wrinkles, hosts Beth McMullen and Lisa Schmid welcome back returning guest Lisa Frenkel Riddiough to discuss her brand-new picture book, Furious Turtle (Disney Hyperion), book two in the Forest School of Big Feelings series. The conversation quickly moves into the heart of the episode: Lisa's experience losing her longtime literary agent to retirement and having to re-enter the query trenches after years of being represented.
Lisa walks through how her second querying experience differed from her first — a small, curated list built mostly on personal referrals, a calmer and more strategic mindset, and the ability to separate emotional attachment from business decision-making. She also shares the exact query letter that landed her new agent, breaking down why it worked so well, including her formula for picture book pitches (title + word count + comps, story gist, and the twist/ending).
The episode wraps with candid advice for writers who've lost an agent — take stock of the career you've already built — and Lisa's biggest publishing lesson: it's okay to make mistakes.

Key Topics Discussed
New release: Furious Turtle, a rhyming picture book about managing big emotions, releasing the day after this episode airs
Book launch event at Old Haunts Bookstore in Granite Bay, CA
Losing an agent to retirement and starting the query process over
Building a small, referral-based query list instead of mass-querying
Using leverage (an editor offer) without abandoning the goal of finding an agent who loves the full body of work
Reading her actual query letter aloud, line by line
Picture book pitch formula: title, word count, comps → story gist → the twist/ending
Keeping old manuscripts organized — shelved drafts can resurface as the right opportunity later
Pitching picture books vs. middle grade novels
Reframing job loss (agent loss) as not career loss — taking stock of everything already built
Embracing mistakes as part of the growth process in publishing

Notable Quotes
On what a great query needs: the title should convey nearly the entire premise of a picture book.
On business vs. heart: writers need to separate emotional attachment from evaluating what's genuinely a good match professionally.
On losing an agent: the fact that someone once represented you is proof a career already exists — that career doesn't disappear with the agent.
On mistakes: mistakes are simply how writers learn, and grace matters more than perfection.

Guest Info
Lisa Frenkel Riddiough writes board books, picture books, and middle grade novels using wordplay, humor, rhyme, and whimsy. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University. More at lisariddiough.com.

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Beth and Lisa welcome literary agent and debut author Alia Hanna Habib, whose book Take It From Me is a practical behind-the-scenes guide to getting a nonfiction book published. Alia represents acclaimed writers including Clint Smith and Nicole Hannah-Jones, was named one of New York Magazine's most powerful New Yorkers you've never heard of, and writes the Substack newsletter Delivery and Acceptance.
WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE TO BE A WRITER (WHEN YOU'RE ALSO AN AGENT)
Alia shares what it was like to experience the writer's side of publishing for the first time — the anxiety of waiting for feedback, the obsessive inbox-checking, and the hard-won empathy for her own clients. Her takeaway: before you hit send on that panicked email to your agent, ask yourself — am I sending this because I need an answer, or to soothe my own anxiety? If it's the latter, wait.
HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE
The idea came during an afternoon nap. Alia was expanding a writing workshop for Stanford academics and realized there was no practical guide specifically about nonfiction publishing. She texted her colleague and friend Meredith Pafel Simonoff two paragraphs — and had a proposal within weeks. Writing the book took two years, complicated by divorce, loss, and the realities of doing it alongside a full-time career.
THE NONFICTION LANDSCAPE RIGHT NOW
We're in an escapist moment. Romantasy, cozy mysteries, and rom-coms are dominating. In nonfiction, what's working is practical books that make your life better or give you hope. Alia also sees a coming wave of tech-critical books skeptical of our online lives. Her agenting philosophy: if something fascinates her, it'll fascinate readers. She doesn't chase headlines — nonfiction timelines are two-plus years, and you can't predict the news.
CRAFT: WRITING A WINNING NONFICTION PROPOSAL
The biggest mistake Alia sees is what she calls "death by PowerPoint" — leading with marketing bullet points instead of writing. Publishers are readers first. Her advice:
Open with a scene in the voice of the book, not a summary
Solve the "page 100 problem" — what's the engine that sustains 80,000 words?
Keep marketing sections grounded in what you actually bring to the table — platform, expertise, existing audience. Publishers decide budgets and tours. Skip the hypotheticals.
You're being judged on how you tell a story, not how great you are at bullet points
WHAT ALIA IS LOOKING FOR RIGHT NOW
Books that provide guidance or reframe someone's life, historical true crime, and narrative nonfiction with a strong storytelling engine. Current projects include a Regency-era true crime story and My Jane Austen Breakup Album — a literary memoir about a man who lost his partner and his home and spent a year couch-surfing with his collected Jane Austen, reading her for romantic advice while navigating the gay dating scene in Manhattan.
FIND ALIA
Substack: Delivery and Acceptance
 Book: Take It From Me — available now wherever books are sold

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