Shooting The Shit: CeCe's new job, agent referrals, and what publishers try to get away with when writer's don't have agents

CeCe drops big news—she’s joining Wendy Sherman Associates! Carly and CeCe dive into what it means for her clients, how agency moves work behind the scenes, and the one question every querying writer should be asking. They also pull back the curtain on what publishers try to sneak into contracts when authors don’t have agents (spoiler: it can stall your career), debate whether “referrals” in query letters really help, and unpack shocking sales figures that reveal how publishing runs on a venture-capital-style model. It’s a candid, gossipy, and eye-opening episode about power, publishing, and why writers need to think like entrepreneurs.

Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host ​and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

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It’s Beta Reader Match Up time again where you can be matched up with those writing in a similar genre and/or time zone, so they can critique your work as you critique theirs.

For more information and to register, go to: https://www.biancamarais.com/beta-reader-match-

up.html

Sign up for CeCe’s Fall Course: 

Writing Tension Creating Tension, Conflict and Stakes in a Story

Read additional insights on Helen Lewis’ Substack:

https://helenlewis.substack.com/p/the-bluestocking-379-the-economics?mc_cid=0c2de47626&mc_eid=f61c809461