Sophie Vershbow is a freelance journalist who writes a lot about books, reading, and the publishing industry. You might have seen her article about celebrity book ghost writers and about DNFing without guilt.

We talk about her experience with social media strategy for authors and publishers, and with writing about publishing. We also discuss how much book publicity has changed, so stay tuned for extremely good advice for managing social media for book publicity.

Then, naturally, we turn to reality tv and shopping!

We have SO MANY LINKS. Get ready!

You can find Sophie Vershbow at her website, on Instagram – and don’t forget her dog, Simon!

We also discussed:

• SBTB: When do you DNF a Book and Why, inspired by Sophie’s article below
• Sophie in The Atlantic: When Is It Okay to Not Finish a Book?
• Sophie in New York Magazine: Who’s Really Writing Celebrity Novels?
• Sophie in Esquire: The Murky Path To Becoming a New York Times Best Seller
• All of Sophie’s bylines in Esquire
• Sophie in Esquire: Behind the Scenes of Barack Obama’s Reading Lists
• Sophie’s favorite piece that she’s written: The Cousin I Never Knew
• Shopping links!
• Off Fifth
• Nordstrom Rack
• Sezane
• Gap
• Everlane
• Cos
• Marine Layer
• Staud
• Reformation
• Beni – browser extension that searches second hand platforms for items on screen
• Rakuten – cash back for shopping through their platform (Affiliate link gets you $30 bonus when you spend $30)

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It’s time for the Ads & Features from the November 2015 issue of Romantic Times magazine! Our cover story is…the 10th anniversary of Samhain publishing. We’ve got articles on series bibles and rugby romance – and a lot of ads when YA covers were all White Girls in Giant Dresses.

Come back in time with us – we had a lot of fun chatting about this issue, even though it was a bit of a snooze.

Don't miss the visual aids, especially the weird gun cover.

We also mentioned:

• Vox.Com: There’s something off about this year’s “fall vibes”
• Jezebel.com: Forget Dinosaur erotica, it’s all Bigfoot erotica now

Music: Purple-planet.com

Thank you to EveryPlate for sponsoring this episode! Get 50% off your first box at EveryPlate.com/PODCAST and use code trashybooks599

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Lucy Jane Wood’s debut book, Rewitched, is out, and we connected to talk all things cozy, witchcraft, all the different 90s witches in pop culture, and the big feelings around turning an age with a zero on the end. Ultimately, this is a book about a person who wants to keep her own power – a theme I could certainly celebrate!

Lucy Jane is also a TikToker and YouTuber with a sizeable following, so we also talk about her best practices for social media as a creator and author.

You can find Lucy Jane Wood online on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

We also mentioned:

• Saeed Jones on BlueSky: ” The first draft of a piece of creative writing is a radical act. It literally defies capitalism. You’re doing it for the LOVE. You’re risking possibility.The blank page isn’t the canvas. The canvas is the first draft. Get it all down, then get to work. Joyful rigor. LET’S GO!”
• Lucy Jane Wood on Tiktok: “Meg Ryan Core”

Music: purple-planet.com

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It’s time to take a look at the new books in November 2015 inside Romantic Times! We’ve got spanking and small towns, and a magazine that seems more targeted toward aspiring writers than readers. That yielded a mixed bag! But we have some books to talk about so let’s get to it!

So many small town contemporaries, so many historicals, so many Four Star reviews with word salad. And some cat poo.

TW/CW: very brief and nonspecific discussion of abusive relationships in the Erotica section.

Please note: I don't have a visual aids post for this episode, but the Ads & Features certainly will!

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Tara Scott, staff writer at SBTB and co-host of the Queerly Recommended podcast, is in the interviewer’s chair, asking Amanda and me questions about Smart Bitches After Dark, our new community support wing. We talk about what After Dark is, and also about the larger enshittification of different parts of the internet, and how we navigate that as a 20 year old blog.

Yay blogs!

I was really nervous about being interviewed, and I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes exploration of the site, the podcast, and the business of being in business.

CW/TW: – I cry later! It’s good but if you’re driving and you’re a sympathy crier like I am, I wanted you to be aware.

We also mentioned:

• “The The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok. Or how, exactly, platforms die.” by Cory Doctorow (Wired) (Archive.org)
• Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon (wikipedia)

You can find out more and join Smart Bitches After Dark right here!

And don’t miss out on Tara’s show, Queerly Recommended!

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It’s time for the Ads & Features of the October 1988 (!!) issue of Romantic Times Magazine.

Y’all. We’ve got:

• Vintage gossip!
• Blind items that are very easy to guess!
• Danielle Steel’s two blue Mercedes!
• Fuchsia covers with giant flowers and startled animals!
• Riverboat gambler romance heroes!
• And a truly paltry obituary for an extraordinary author.

It’s 1988. Fuchsia. So much fuchsia.

Blanket content warning for romances written in the late 80s. Be ready for some very offensive tropes.

Do not, and I mean this most sincerely, skip the visual aids. It’s 1988 y’all. The covers are glorious! 

LINKS. So many good links!

• “Double Trouble: One or Two Women?” by Gillian Whitlock about the alleged plagiarism of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s The Blue Castle by Australian author Colleen McCullough.
• Sam Lord’s Castle, Barbados
• Sharon Spiak Art listing for Wary Hearts
• Eye Heart Romance’s review for Mistress of the Seas by Ruth Langan
• Clothes in Books: “Mary Burchell aka Ida Cook” – the patterns from Mab’s Fashions!
• Mary Burchell’s Wikipedia page
• A BluSky thread from John Bull on Mary Burchell
• The Pudding magazine interactive article about romance covers by Jan Diehm and Sandra Chiu

music: purple-planet.com

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Freya Marske’s new book Swordcrossed is out this week, and she’s joining us from the other side of the planet to talk about what she calls, “Fantasy of manners, mercantile edition.” We also talk about writing fanfic and her new favorite show, Interview with the Vampire.

Yes, I did mis-number last week’s episode – sorry about that.

Music: purple-planet.com

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It’s time to journey back to the October 1988 issue of Romantic Times!

That’s right, we’re going all the way back to 1988, a time when one of us on the show wasn’t born yet. We’ve got absolutely appalling plots, some extremely luscious covers, and more – like Amanda’s engagement!

Congrats Amanda and Brian!

TW/CW: crappy family tales in the first 4 minutes, and overall, a number of references to enslavement, violence, colonialism, predatory behavior and assault in the reviews.

Music: purple-planet.com

Don’t miss the visual aids!

We also mentioned:

• Jonathan Bailey at the Emmys (Town & Country)
• Belle Starr (Wikipedia)
• Water Witching: Fact or Fake? (Farmers Almanac)

And you can see Amanda’s beautiful engagement ring on her Instagram! 

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Courtney Milan is here to talk about her newest book, The Earl Who Isn’t, and about climbing Mt. Fuji! Along the way we talk about training, the shifting style of historical romances, and audiobooks.And we have questions from you!

A few moments to be aware of before you listen: we talk a little about her dog Pele, who passed away earlier this year.

We also mention briefly the topics of antifat bias in medicine, weight gain, chafing, trauma, workplace abuse, cancer, and sexual harassment.

Thank you to Tara, Emily for the questions!

Music: purple-planet.com

You can find Courtney Milan at her website, CourtneyMilan.com, and you can sign up for her weekly tea newsletter as well! 

Support for this episode comes from The Starling Inn, the new novel by Claire Therese! Find The Starling Inn by Claire Therese inside Kindle Unlimited now!

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The ads and features of the September 2015 issue of Romantic Times are a nine-layer cake of wonderment and weird.

Don't miss the visual aids! WE GOT FONTS. And dogs!

Side trips include:

• Janet Dailey and who is writing her books (we don’t know)
• lawyer romances
• changes in cover design
• a twist cliffhanger in a quiz with no answer key!

Plus, this issue of the magazine and also Amanda both have terrific memories of RT 2015 in Dallas.

We have So many links!

• Meet Louisa, the cover model dog! (Instagram)
• Reformed Rakes’ episodes on Janet Dailey Part 1 and Part 2
• JanetDailey.com – all present tense
• Topaz Literary: “Janet Dailey and the Curious Case of the Missing Author”
• The Contemporary Romance Color of the Year (SBTB)
• Joyfully Jay
• “This is the Last RT: Kathryn Falk Announces End of Romantic Times” (SBTB)

Thanks to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Lume!  New customers get 15% off ALL Lume products with our exclusive code and link. Use code SARAH15 at LumeDeodorant.com 

Music: Purple-planet.com

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Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer are podcasting powerhouses with shows like By the Book and How to be Fine With Friends.

This season they’re looking at friendship, the research behind sustaining friendships, ending relationships, and creating new connections with people – and they joined me to talk all about it.

You can find their show, How to be Fine with Friends where you get your podcasts – like this one!

TW/CW: short discussion of diet culture and diet books just after Kristen introduces herself. When she stops talking, hit your 30 second skip and you should be fine.

What are some of the traits you appreciate most about your closest friends?

...

You can find How to Be Fine with Friends where you get your podcasts, and you can follow the show on Instagram @howtobefinepod.

Jolenta Greenberg can be found on her website JolentaGreenberg.com, and on Instagram @jolenta_g.

Kristen Meinzer can be found on her website, KristenMeinzer.com, on Instagram @K10meinzer, and co-hosting her show The Daily Fail. 

Music: Purple-planet.com

Thanks to our sponsor for this week’s episode: Lume!  New customers get 15% off ALL Lume products with our exclusive code and link. Use code SARAH15 at LumeDeodorant.com 

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