How I Learned about the Publishing Industry: An Honest Review of StoryStudio Pub Crawl 2022
5 months ago, I knew pretty much nothing about the publishing industry. Since then, I attended a month-long intensive about the publishing industry. Here is my HONEST review of StoryStudio Pub Crawl 2022.
but what is StoryStudio?
If you don’t know what it is, StoryStudio is a nonprofit writing organization in Chicago, IL. Since the pandemic, they’ve added tons of remote learning opportunities for those outside of the city, but they also have a brick and mortar location in Ravenswood, Chicago, IL where you can take classes, get feedback on writing, and work on projects.
They help with ALL types of writing at different ages and levels. I’ve taken multiple one-time courses, a year-long course, a specific revision course, and I rented time just to write. With all that, I’ve never seen anything like Pub Crawl.
Pub Crawl was a MONTH of daily webinars about writing and the publishing industry. As an attendee, you heard from agents, writers, editors, publishers, you name it, all about their experience in the publishing industry. Their goal was to “DE-MYSTIFY” the publishing industry, and they did that in 28 days.
Mission accomplished.
At a high level, this is something I would suggest to ANY novelist, memoirist, or writer who has at least a finished draft. If StoryStudio does this again, I would 100% suggest attending. However, I would not suggest this to those who are still on their first draft: it can be a bit intimidating.
Here, in total, are 5 things I loved about Pub Crawl, and 3 things I think could be better next year.
Love #1: The Publishing Industry Knowledge
I thought I understood publishing going into Pub Crawl, but I did not. My impression going in: you write a draft, you query an agent, and then they and editors fix your book.
No.
No that’s wrong.
You need to have a FULLY POLISHED manuscript that multiple people have read before you start querying. You need to have a thick skin. All authors should have their books read through multiple times before they send it out. Writers need to do research about agents to make sure they aren’t sending the pieces to the wrong agents.
When you learn from the mouths of agents and editors what they expect from someone querying them, you immediately can tell how close or far you are to that point.
LOVE #2: The keynote speaker: Lisa Lucas
StoryStudio had a wonderful keynote speaker. She was hilarious, knowledgeable, and had experienced so many different facets of the publishing world. She offered experience as someone who isn’t a writer, which is an odd one to hear, and she talked about the National Book Awards. I learned about her work as a publisher, and she gave FRANK commentary on the state of diversity in publishing. She was compelling, amazing, and just fascinating. Follow her on Twitter, you will not be disappointed.
LOVE #3: Editor/Agent Meetings
I met with both an agent and an editor. I did not do a formal pitch, but I was able to receive feedback form a professional editor and agent on 5 pages of my manuscript as well as my query letter. They gave wonderful feedback and very poignant suggestions.
I would not suggest this for people who are defensive, but for people who are WILLING to listen. It is quite possible (some people in the slack channel confirmed) that the agent or editor won’t like your piece, and they will just tell you. You will be face to face on a zoom with this person, and if you’re not prepared for that, it may be awkward.
I was so ready for any type of feedback, that I just loved it. Anyone looking for solid, professional feedback, should do this.
LOVE #4: Agent Panels
Multiple zooms were panels with people teaching you about the industry. Once in a while, multiple agents sat on a panel and answered questions about the state of the industry, what to avoid, and how to get published. They took you through the book-buying process, how an agent reads a book with the eye to market it, and what to avoid as someone looking to get published. (hint: if you’re mentioning the biggest names in publishing as your ONLY comps, that’s a minor no-no).
The information was so valuable and different than what I, as a writer, expected to hear.
They reminded you that the publishing industry is a business where the #1 GOAL IS MAKING MONEY. It takes the sting out of rejections when you realize someone may just not see your book as something they can market.
When you hear agents say they passed on books they loved because they had something similar they couldn’t sell, you realize it isn’t just the quality of your writing. You can be an amazing writer, and not have an agent just because you aren’t sellable RIGHT NOW. Now, this is overly simplified, and some may take this as terrible, but I took this as enlightening.
Sometimes, you just need time and luck and a good comp.
Love #5: Specific Master Classes on the Publishing Industry
Peppered throughout the month, StoryStudio hosted a series of specific classes. Some were about crafting a query letter. A few took you through all the different types of publishing. Some taught you about actual genre breakdowns and the misconceptions (Note: I don’t write literary fiction, I write upmarket fiction, who knew?).
Every single one was fascinating. The more specific and specialized they were, the better.
I never knew how different pitching nonfiction from fiction was (fiction needs a finished manuscript, nonfiction is a proposal), but there were separate courses just on that.
To have that specific time set up to look at these small parts of the industry was immensely valuable.
Now onto the NEEDS IMPROVEMENT part of our suggestions:
Sadness #1: Fridays not recorded
Throughout the month, StoryStudio made Fridays free and open to the public. That, I thought was smart on the marketing side, and just awesome. What I didn’t love was that these were the only meetings not recorded.
As someone who often worked late on Fridays or had plans, I never was able to attend a Friday free session, and because they were not recorded, I never will be able to. These should be recorded and made available to those who paid for the month next year.
Sadness #2: Repetition
As mentioned above, some of the topics and classes covered were incredibly specific. Those, I loved. Other courses or “master classes” were almost repetitive. Multiple people were brought in to talk on the same topic. While all of them were interesting people, after 3 weeks of hearing someone say the same things, it became harder to pay attention and give people what they deserved; attention.
I think more specificity or less courses, or a shorter time period would have made sense. Maybe we didn’t need 28 days?
Sadness #3: Structure of Meetings
This one is SUPER nitpicky. Over the past two years, everyone I know grew used to digital meetings. We watched zooms, teams meetings, go to meetings, google hangouts, etc. Because of this, you also learn that each system has supplements that make meetings better.
Some of my favorite webinars (that’s a sentence I can actually say now) kept chats and questions separate. Either they allowed you to ask questions on another browser tab, or they had a separate section within the meetings, and then chat allowed people to have a conversation about what they were watching.
StoryStudio didn’t have this, which left people viewing a bit isolated. Chat mixed with questions mixed with hosts giving clarifications, and things got lost. It also made me uncomfortable because we were told to say pretty vulnerable things in an early chat, then later on that chat was posted in a Slack channel so people could read it (with names included).
StoryStudio is a wonderful organization I suggest people check out. Pub Crawl is something I hope they host again. I’m not sure I would attend multiple years in a row, though. Without some promises of different information, it may feel repetitive year over year, but who knows. If you have a draft done on your book and you’re lost, you should for sure check them out.
Also – if you have a draft done, I’m happy to be your beta reader — Pubcrawl says you need it! Click my link here to have me review your writing. Not sure what a beta reader is? Check out my article on it!
