Surviving the Publishing Process w. COURTNEY MAUM

Surviving the Publishing Process w. COURTNEY MAUM

Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre, Touch, and I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and the chapbook Notes from Mexico. Her writing and essays have been widely published in such outlets as BuzzFeed, The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Interview, and Modern Loss. She is the founder of the learning collaborative The Cabins, and she also works as a product namer and publishing consultant from her home in Connecticut. You can sign up for her writing-advice newsletter, Maumalog, at courtneymaum.com.

Discussed In This Episode

The fetishization of the debut novel. “It’s supposed to be a long game.” Don’t be marketing when you should be writing. Candy pushers in your writing space. The feeling that there’s something dirty about selling your art. The generosity of writers. “I didn’t want you to feel like there was a boat that you were in, and then a really fast boat speeding by you.” Let’s talk about money. “Of course everyone assumes that, because no one is telling us otherwise.” What does success look like for you? Why do you write in the first place? Muji notebooks forever. Researching Pegeen Guggenheim. Before you get an MFA, try this.

Bonus Segment: Advice I Wish I’d Received

Courtney talks about what she most wishes she’d been told as a debut author.

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