HeyJaredPublishing Peptalk, because we're all in this together
Publishing Peptalk is for authors who are tearing their hair out. It's a place to share our frustrations about the publication process.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 6
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- Sep 23, 2026
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- Jul 15, 2026
Latest issues
Writing is a confidence trick (opens the original)
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I recently had to rewrite a book. I think of stories as tapestries, with layers of threads for plot, emotional arcs, themes, characters all interwoven. My rewrite involved pulling out a thread that ran across the whole book, changing it and stitching it back in. Halfway through this exercise I had a total panic of ‘is this the right thing to do?’ I’ve learned that, until I finish the job, I won’t know. I have to see the entire thread restitched before I can see whether it works.Essentially, I ne
Distractions (opens the original)
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Lately, I’ve found myself more easily distracted from my writing.It’s strange. I’ve written while having small children so I’m generally good at writing with noise going on. When mine were young I wrote in softplay cafes, in playgrounds, in the stands at swimming club; anywhere I could.But nowadays, I find it increasingly hard to find the right headspace. It might be a bit to do with (ahem) getting older, but I think it is more about the noise of the world.Of course, there are global nightmares
Switching Off (opens the original)
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I tried to have a holiday this week. I’m not very good at holidays. I find it really hard to switch off.It’s partly because my to-do list is never finished. Even when I think a book is done, there is often a last-minute email saying ‘before we go to print, can you just check…’ or there’s some issue in the publishing industry that means I need to do a chunk of Society of Author work.It’s partly because these days we are contactable all the time. It’s also because of the additional pressure to do
Is publishing way too obsessed with the hook? (opens the original)
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I feel like something has got lost somewhere in the process of making books.Publishing seems more obsessed than ever with ‘the hook’ and I see so much advice online about it. It might just be me(??) but I’m not sure we all have the same definition of ‘hook’.To me, the hook is the thing that makes a reader turn the page. It’s a nebulous blend of character, voice, plot, pacing, illustration and emotional pull. It’s the driver of a story, the something special, something original that is tricky to
The Sliding Doors Moments of Publishing (opens the original)
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Sometimes I feel like there’s a moment in my career that could go either way.A new book goes out on submission and I’m pacing the room, thinking:Will someone love it?Will everyone hate it?As if there are only two possible futures. In one version I’ll get a decent deal and I’ll have a series to work on for the next few years and I’ll be happy and fulfilled; and in the other version, nobody will take the book, my agent will drop me and I’ll be miserable and penniless.My thoughts swing madly from o
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