if every post is whining about how much you miss fic of your blorbo or every post is smug about how much tradpub you're reading that's kind of a dick move because you control your posting but also missing fic of your blorbo & reading tradpub are both morally neutral things to do! do either one/both!
November 3, 2026 at 7:09 PM
if every post is whining about how much you miss fic of your blorbo or every post is smug about how much tradpub you're reading that's kind of a dick move because you control your posting but also missing fic of your blorbo & reading tradpub are both morally neutral things to do! do either one/both!
I keep going back and forth about how to publish my current manuscript. Selfpub, tradpub, secret third thing? Selfpub feels more difficult these days because of AI slop, but then it turns out tradpub ALSO feels more difficult these days... because of AI slop
you can't win
you can't win
October 29, 2026 at 1:45 AM
I keep going back and forth about how to publish my current manuscript. Selfpub, tradpub, secret third thing? Selfpub feels more difficult these days because of AI slop, but then it turns out tradpub ALSO feels more difficult these days... because of AI slop
you can't win
you can't win
the existence of this series gives me great appreciation for editors, who very plainly were not allowed to touch the source material when it hit tradpub. bless them for what they save us from.
November 2, 2026 at 7:55 PM
the existence of this series gives me great appreciation for editors, who very plainly were not allowed to touch the source material when it hit tradpub. bless them for what they save us from.
I tell you what, readers are already getting fed up with this reskinned fanfic shit that tradpub has going on. Idk if it’s because they’re fed up with Reylo/Dramione/Marauders specifically or if any reskin is doing it, but they are getting MAD
October 29, 2026 at 11:35 AM
I tell you what, readers are already getting fed up with this reskinned fanfic shit that tradpub has going on. Idk if it’s because they’re fed up with Reylo/Dramione/Marauders specifically or if any reskin is doing it, but they are getting MAD
Publishers have so much fucking power in the tradpub sphere, and that really has to stop. Something needs to give. Authors shouldn't be subject to bullying because they speak up about issues that concern them, and they shouldn't be afraid to speak up for fear of being blackballed.
One writer’s account of retaliation by a toxic publisher. (But in situations like this, there is never just one writer.)
As of this morning, Ex Partum has been discontinued. After a four month print run, Atthis Arts has decided to cancel the book.
Find this surprising? You're not alone. This has been a rollercoaster experience.
emmaburnett.uk/life/axed-pa...
Find this surprising? You're not alone. This has been a rollercoaster experience.
emmaburnett.uk/life/axed-pa...
November 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Publishers have so much fucking power in the tradpub sphere, and that really has to stop. Something needs to give. Authors shouldn't be subject to bullying because they speak up about issues that concern them, and they shouldn't be afraid to speak up for fear of being blackballed.
Hey does anybody know if an agent would go for a novel that used to be published for free on a defunct website? I want to figure out whether I could shop my Tapas novel around to agents or, if it's futile, self-publish it instead?
#authorsky #booksky #indieauthor #writesky #tradpub #romantasy
#authorsky #booksky #indieauthor #writesky #tradpub #romantasy
October 31, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Hey does anybody know if an agent would go for a novel that used to be published for free on a defunct website? I want to figure out whether I could shop my Tapas novel around to agents or, if it's futile, self-publish it instead?
#authorsky #booksky #indieauthor #writesky #tradpub #romantasy
#authorsky #booksky #indieauthor #writesky #tradpub #romantasy
The line about staffers using Gemini to evaluate literary agent submission letters would've honestly made me rage quit, go fuck all of yourselves if I was still pursuing tradpub
See this kind of thing is the reason I’m not even TRYING to work with traditional publishing. I walked away from a stable, lucrative career specifically to get away from the stink of this bullshit.
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later Killed
Workers tell WIRED that NOA—or “No Ordinary Assistant”—was unhelpful. Bestselling authors also say AI is ruining their relationships with Big Five publishers.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2026 at 3:26 PM
The line about staffers using Gemini to evaluate literary agent submission letters would've honestly made me rage quit, go fuck all of yourselves if I was still pursuing tradpub
Thank you for covering this. Most tradpub authors are struggling under these conditions. If we receive material that seems to be genai, there's no way to politely ask an editor, who holds your career in their hands, "Is this ai or are you just bad at this?"
October 28, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Thank you for covering this. Most tradpub authors are struggling under these conditions. If we receive material that seems to be genai, there's no way to politely ask an editor, who holds your career in their hands, "Is this ai or are you just bad at this?"
I think writers should have a place in fandom. Which sounds like "yeah duh, everyone should" but I mean like. Talk to them.
We don't get to monetize, we rarely get to be in zines or big projects, and 99.999% of us will never tradpub or be able to jump into it professionally or whatever.
We don't get to monetize, we rarely get to be in zines or big projects, and 99.999% of us will never tradpub or be able to jump into it professionally or whatever.
October 30, 2026 at 11:06 PM
I think writers should have a place in fandom. Which sounds like "yeah duh, everyone should" but I mean like. Talk to them.
We don't get to monetize, we rarely get to be in zines or big projects, and 99.999% of us will never tradpub or be able to jump into it professionally or whatever.
We don't get to monetize, we rarely get to be in zines or big projects, and 99.999% of us will never tradpub or be able to jump into it professionally or whatever.
at the very least Lulu has been letting people do that for a good 20 years now (uuuugh) but print on demand is so easy these days that even Amazon and B&N use it for tradpub, so the landscape's definitely changed
November 3, 2026 at 12:37 AM
at the very least Lulu has been letting people do that for a good 20 years now (uuuugh) but print on demand is so easy these days that even Amazon and B&N use it for tradpub, so the landscape's definitely changed
The Hurricane Wars is my GOAT among the reylo to tradpub pipeline books and I need more like it alkfjhsdlkfjhsdkl
(like, contemporary romance is fine and all, but I am a fantasy nut first and foremost and that's why fantasy romance and romantasy do it for me best)
(like, contemporary romance is fine and all, but I am a fantasy nut first and foremost and that's why fantasy romance and romantasy do it for me best)
October 30, 2026 at 6:06 AM
The Hurricane Wars is my GOAT among the reylo to tradpub pipeline books and I need more like it alkfjhsdlkfjhsdkl
(like, contemporary romance is fine and all, but I am a fantasy nut first and foremost and that's why fantasy romance and romantasy do it for me best)
(like, contemporary romance is fine and all, but I am a fantasy nut first and foremost and that's why fantasy romance and romantasy do it for me best)
I think this also explains the uneven successes of "filing the serial numbers off" fanfiction for tradpub - there's as much foundational reworking you need to do as if you were taking a hard SF story and making it into a Romantasy!
October 29, 2026 at 10:01 PM
I think this also explains the uneven successes of "filing the serial numbers off" fanfiction for tradpub - there's as much foundational reworking you need to do as if you were taking a hard SF story and making it into a Romantasy!
I don't want to work with people who are AI-tolerant. I want to work with people who are as vehemently anti-AI as I am. Agent, editor, publicist, artist, anyone who touches a creative project at any point along the line.
If that straight-up doesn't exist in tradpub now... Welp.
If that straight-up doesn't exist in tradpub now... Welp.
October 28, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I don't want to work with people who are AI-tolerant. I want to work with people who are as vehemently anti-AI as I am. Agent, editor, publicist, artist, anyone who touches a creative project at any point along the line.
If that straight-up doesn't exist in tradpub now... Welp.
If that straight-up doesn't exist in tradpub now... Welp.
I agree with Koren
It takes it's own skillset to go indie.
Plus it takes courage to "stray from the path" of tradpub.
It takes it's own skillset to go indie.
Plus it takes courage to "stray from the path" of tradpub.
October 28, 2026 at 4:25 PM
I agree with Koren
It takes it's own skillset to go indie.
Plus it takes courage to "stray from the path" of tradpub.
It takes it's own skillset to go indie.
Plus it takes courage to "stray from the path" of tradpub.
A tradpub ebook I actually want for $2.99?
Hell yes!
Hell yes!
Witch King by Martha Wells is $2.99 at ebook vendors. It’s a multi layered tale of colonization, empire, & prejudices. Complex & detailed, but the humanity of the characters added so much heart to the story.
Found family, queer, & set in a queer normative world🌈📚💙
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Found family, queer, & set in a queer normative world🌈📚💙
us.macmillan.com/books/978125...
Witch King
Winner of the Locus Award!From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of...
us.macmillan.com
October 25, 2026 at 1:07 PM
A tradpub ebook I actually want for $2.99?
Hell yes!
Hell yes!
People in qrts are threatening suicide like 😭 I read fics so seldom I can't imagine being that type of person either. It is definitely a demographic that has made tradpub suck too
October 29, 2026 at 6:02 PM
People in qrts are threatening suicide like 😭 I read fics so seldom I can't imagine being that type of person either. It is definitely a demographic that has made tradpub suck too
A lot of TradPub is trash too.
October 26, 2026 at 4:07 PM
A lot of TradPub is trash too.
the fact that chris paolini was 16 when he got eragon published explains so much of why those books are like that, huh
and how you can get so easily dogwalked in your dragon rider fantasy by a tradpub romance writer, and that's still not very good!
and how you can get so easily dogwalked in your dragon rider fantasy by a tradpub romance writer, and that's still not very good!
November 2, 2026 at 5:25 PM
the fact that chris paolini was 16 when he got eragon published explains so much of why those books are like that, huh
and how you can get so easily dogwalked in your dragon rider fantasy by a tradpub romance writer, and that's still not very good!
and how you can get so easily dogwalked in your dragon rider fantasy by a tradpub romance writer, and that's still not very good!
Something I think abt in all this is what happens to those of us who aren’t bestsellers? Who don’t have the income or time to go indie or have a big fanbase to support that move? Tradpub deserves its critiques, yet it’s also the better option for some.
For @wired.com, I spoke with Macmillan and PRH staff about AI at the rest of the Big Five.
I also spoke with bestselling authors who've gone to "war" with publishers over AI use and are now demanding disclosures and threatening to leave their publishers altogether. www.wired.com/story/macmil...
I also spoke with bestselling authors who've gone to "war" with publishers over AI use and are now demanding disclosures and threatening to leave their publishers altogether. www.wired.com/story/macmil...
Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later Killed
Workers tell WIRED that NOA—or “No Ordinary Assistant”—was unhelpful. Bestselling authors also say AI is ruining their relationships with Big Five publishers.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Something I think abt in all this is what happens to those of us who aren’t bestsellers? Who don’t have the income or time to go indie or have a big fanbase to support that move? Tradpub deserves its critiques, yet it’s also the better option for some.
If you took the broad strokes of any given arc of Katalepsis & handed it off to a tradpub editor, it'd be horrendous unreadable dogshit because they'd cut out every single TUNE IN NEXT TIME & post-reveal rest episode & the characters would never get to goddamn stop moving & breathe.
November 2, 2026 at 9:51 PM
If you took the broad strokes of any given arc of Katalepsis & handed it off to a tradpub editor, it'd be horrendous unreadable dogshit because they'd cut out every single TUNE IN NEXT TIME & post-reveal rest episode & the characters would never get to goddamn stop moving & breathe.
Totally yeah! It's so strange seeing this at my age too because like. I REMEMBER when ao3 was made, I knew people who got Anne Rice C&D letters. I honestly wonder how much of people being so copyrighty has to do with tradpub buying fanfic and filing the serial numbers off so openly now, too.
November 2, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Totally yeah! It's so strange seeing this at my age too because like. I REMEMBER when ao3 was made, I knew people who got Anne Rice C&D letters. I honestly wonder how much of people being so copyrighty has to do with tradpub buying fanfic and filing the serial numbers off so openly now, too.
"multiple bestselling Big Five authors say they’ve gone to “war” with their publishers over AI and are considering abandoning traditional publishing altogether."
mhm *nods*
I've been saying for a while AI usage by tradpub would swell the ranks of self-published authors.
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
mhm *nods*
I've been saying for a while AI usage by tradpub would swell the ranks of self-published authors.
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
Macmillan Staff Say the Publisher Threw a Party for a Workplace AI Assistant That Was Later Killed
Workers tell WIRED that NOA—or “No Ordinary Assistant”—was unhelpful. Bestselling authors also say AI is ruining their relationships with Big Five publishers.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2026 at 5:51 PM
"multiple bestselling Big Five authors say they’ve gone to “war” with their publishers over AI and are considering abandoning traditional publishing altogether."
mhm *nods*
I've been saying for a while AI usage by tradpub would swell the ranks of self-published authors.
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
mhm *nods*
I've been saying for a while AI usage by tradpub would swell the ranks of self-published authors.
www.wired.com/story/macmil...
Maybe it will feel different when I’m out of grad school (oh yeah, I’m also in grad school) but right now, for all their flaws, tradpub still feels like the most accessible and supportive option for me as an author who probably isn’t even midlist.
October 28, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Maybe it will feel different when I’m out of grad school (oh yeah, I’m also in grad school) but right now, for all their flaws, tradpub still feels like the most accessible and supportive option for me as an author who probably isn’t even midlist.
Pretty Little Lion, my second tradpub romantic suspense, turns 5 today. American desi apsara Meghna + Black and British lion shifter Elijah. Politics. Explicit sex. Action. MMF secondary romance.
It had no marketing, got good trade reviews, and is one of my worst sellers. 😂
books2read.com/u/mgMn00
It had no marketing, got good trade reviews, and is one of my worst sellers. 😂
books2read.com/u/mgMn00
Available now at your favorite digital store!
Pretty Little Lion by Suleikha Snyder
books2read.com
October 26, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Pretty Little Lion, my second tradpub romantic suspense, turns 5 today. American desi apsara Meghna + Black and British lion shifter Elijah. Politics. Explicit sex. Action. MMF secondary romance.
It had no marketing, got good trade reviews, and is one of my worst sellers. 😂
books2read.com/u/mgMn00
It had no marketing, got good trade reviews, and is one of my worst sellers. 😂
books2read.com/u/mgMn00
Right?! There's doubtless a piece in these numbers on the importance of discoverability/visibility. At a guess, indie is more likely to advertise even implied rep *as* aspec rep than tradpub and with the general lack of aspec visibility that obscured aspec tradpub more when you're looking for it.
October 26, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Right?! There's doubtless a piece in these numbers on the importance of discoverability/visibility. At a guess, indie is more likely to advertise even implied rep *as* aspec rep than tradpub and with the general lack of aspec visibility that obscured aspec tradpub more when you're looking for it.