We're back with Part 2 of The Author Industrial Complex, a series that was totally planned and not just us having too many feelings and very little discipline! This week, we discuss how to balance serving your readers without losing your mind or your voice (you can only choose one, so choose wisely); pen names for fun and profit*; why romance writing is for everyone; ARC reviewer entitlement; and how writing about an awful person does NOT equal endorsement despite whatever some rando on Threads named Monica may accuse you of. (Seriously Monica, that is not what Nabokov was writing about.)

Plus in Hot Goss: an update about the fake literary agency that turned out to be a book marketing campaign powered by unfeasible amount of AI. Gross. Very gross. So gross. No one was harmed in the making of this episode except our faith in humanity. Again.

*Bad Lit Friends does not guarantee any profits from your writing. No backsies, no giveses, so there.

Welcome to Bad Lit Friends. We're glad you're here, even if none of us know what we're doing.

Bad Lit Friends was created and is hosted by Meagan Thompson-Mann and Kirk Rafferty.

Show email: ⁠⁠badlitfriends@gmail.com⁠⁠

Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠

Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@badlitfriends⁠⁠⁠⁠

YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BadLitFriends⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠badlitfriends.com⁠

Show notes:

• Meagan's underappreciated Woodward and Bernstein moment on Bluesky about the literary agency that wasn't: https://bsky.app/profile/thecrumpet.bsky.social/post/3mlm6epvbyc2w