Scared of Trad Pub? You may have fallen for propaganda.
+Meeting TODAY + May Meeting Invite
🔔Today! April Meeting🔔
Friday, April 25 · 5 PM PST, 6 PM MST, 7 PM CST, 8 PM EST
📅May Meeting Invite📅
(Yes, it’s way early for May!)
Sunday, May 11 · 5 PM PST, 6 PM MST, 7 PM CST, 8 PM EST
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/ibf-sgtg-pct
⭐ANBIP Shoutouts!⭐
🏆Rise of the Zombie Bugs by Mindy Weisberger
Author’s story cites help from this group!
ANBIP member
‘s new book, Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind Control, is out!You can buy it here on JHU Press, and if you use code HLFE25 through April 30, it’s 40% off!
That works with their other science and nature titles, and others have even steeper discounts. Some good deals include Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them looks good, ($5 for a hardback!) or Life in the Dark: Illuminating Biodiversity in the Shadowy Haunts of Planet Earth for $12.
But, of course, with Rise of the Zombie Bugs, you can read it and possibly talk to the author during ANBIP meetings! The National Association of Science Writers’ column Advanced Copy featured Weisberger’s book and her journey to publication, with a shoutout to this group!
🔗 Read the article
🏆The Slime Mold's Guide to World Domination: A Natural History by Jennifer Frazer
Author gets $55,000 grant & shouts out the help of this group
+Publicity opportunities for other science writers
ANBIP member
‘s success story regarding her upcoming book The Slime Mold's Guide to World Domination: A Natural History was featured on the YouTube channel CivicSciTVNetwork, where she talked about her book and getting the Sloan Grant, and how this group informed her about it!Frazer and I agree that it’s odd that neither our agents nor publishers told us that we could get funding from Sloan, Whiting, The Lukas Prize, or other grants. That’s insanely important! So I want everyone to know if you have a trad deal to write a general audience science book: GET YOUR FREE MONEY.
We are also in agreement that the money changes your life for the duration of the book, at least, and is a huge burden off your shoulders. And Frazer has other good advice on being a good science book author!
If you’re interested in being featured on the CivicSci program, the host would like more science writers to reach out. Here is the host’s info:
https://camd.northeastern.edu/people/fanuel-muindi/
💀Kristin’s updates💀
My book Carcass is currently with the publisher, and I’m awaiting academic reviews.
I’m currently trying to ramp up various other potential projects, but if you wanted to hire me to write anything, now’s the time!
Some ideas I’ve been working are all similar in theme to Carcass: a photo book of carcasses, giving bone-hunting tours, and making a workbook guide on finding, cleaning, and understanding animal bones. I don’t know much about publishing workbooks: If you have any suggestions for guides, groups, examples you like, or any other advice regarding where to start (other than having tons of ideas and knowledge about bones, and some amazing co-authors interested) let me know!
🧰Resources🧰
🏆Was your science book published/will it be published in 2025?
Book award
Kate Gammon is a judge for the 2025 LA Times Book Prize in science. Send your nominations (including your own science books) to kategammon@gmail.com.
🎓Academic looking to write a general audience book on your research topic?
Webinar: How to Publish a Trade or Crossover Book
A webinar for scholarly authors interested in writing for a general audience, led by Laura Portwood-Stacer with agent Kate McKean. Covers adapting academic work and navigating trade publishing.
🔗 Register here
📅 May 7, 2025 | 💵 Free
🏠Residency
Fiction Meets Science Writers-in-Residence
This residency supports writers of fiction and nonfiction who work with scientific themes. It takes place at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany.
Application Due: ??? Soon ???
Location: Germany
🔗 More info
✏️Workshop
Breaking Into Books: A Nonfiction Writing Workshop for Journalists
Poynter is offering a workshop focused on helping journalists develop book proposals and understand the publishing process.
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Date: June 10-12, 2025.
Application due: April 25, 2025 (today!) | 💵 Cost: $2,000
🔗 More info
📚Still need a publisher?
Greystone Books Open to Science Book Submissions for April
Greystone is open to science book submissions.
Keep in mind that I’m skeptical of this kind of thing because most trad publishers don’t post these kinds of limited-time deals, and it doesn’t mean this is the best publisher for you. Also, they mostly publish nature writing, so I don’t know if they will really stop accepting science submissions after this month. Just something for you to consider. I didn’t see anything wrong with them when I googled them.
Due: April 30, 2025
🔗 View post
📚Free online conference for advanced freelance writers
Growth Without Burnout Conference
From the site: “The free 4-day online event for advanced freelance writers who want to learn what’s working right now, set priorities, and create a 1-page roadmap to hit their growth goals.”
Date: May 6 to May 9, 2025
🔗 Register here (free and paid options)
🌱Writing about environmental justice?
Kozik Environmental Justice Reporting Grants
From site: “Grants up to $15,000 will be awarded to support journalism in any medium that centers on environmental justice and environmental racism in the United States. This could include coverage of the disproportionate harms to disadvantaged communities from pollution, the effects of climate change, or other relevant topics.”
A/N: It doesn’t say anything about books, but it does say “any medium.” Consider this if even a chapter of your book fits the bill.
Due: May 27, 2025 |💵 Award: You get up to $15,000
🔗Apply here
PREMIUM: How much money I got to fund my book and where I got it
This is my first subscriber-only post! I deeply appreciate your support. All 7 of you. Very exclusive!
Feature:
Heard bad things about traditional publishing? They might be propaganda.
I wrote a list of the most common misinfo I see people saying about trad publishing, (the list is coming next issue,) and as a skeptical/cynical person, I sometimes suspect one reason these rumors started is because of lobbying from vanity presses and other businesses that are sometimes on the scammy spectrum.
I’m sure some of these negative rumors about trad pub are just mistakes, being overly pessimistic (or optimistic!), and sour grapes, but there is a financial incentive for certain people to start and spread these myths. Specifically, people and companies selling services to self-publishers. Especially scammy ones.
If you’re selling ghost-writing services, book marketing classes, cover art, editing services, or art on a one-on-one basis, you may get more customers if more people self-publish. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as your services are worthwhile and you don’t lie, mislead, or over-flatter people to improve your sales.
However, the world is awash in scammers targeting authors, and it’s way easier to scam a self-publishing author than a trad-publishing one. If you don’t believe me, put the word “author” in your social media bios, and watch the generic, flattering GPT copypasta from scammers trickle into your inboxes.
Other scammy DM’s you’ll get as an author:
“We want to sell your books in our store!”
“Ever wanted to be a New York Times bestselling author?”
“I can help you live your dreams by promoting your book! You never know, you could be the next Stephen King!”
“Have you ever wanted to write a book? We have ghostwriting services!”
(This doesn’t make sense. It should say, “Have you ever wanted to pretend to have written a book?”)
I’m not saying trad publishing authors are less likely to be scammed because they’re smarter or anything, but because they’re working with big companies that can protect them. When I get an email saying, “We’d like to make your book into a movie,” hey, maybe it’s real. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, considering my book is informational and not really movie material. Maybe a documentary.
But I don’t bother too much with them and say, “Go ahead and speak to my agent!” An experienced scammer would probably know they’ll have a hard time tricking an experienced literary agent. A non-scammer would be happy to work with a professional.
Either way, please, please protect yourself. Scammers to first-time self-publishing authors are like flies to disemboweled carcasses in damp fields on hot days. There’s a whole website of literary scams because there are so many.
If someone DM’s you for literary services:
Ask why they’re DM’ing you and what they know about your work.
Consider if you even need that service. If so, why not shop around to find someone to provide it, or look for recommendations from people you trust? The first person to message you isn’t likely the best person for the job.
Try to identify if their work is of quality, if they’ve actually worked with authors you respect, if they have a reputation they wouldn’t risk, and if anything about their content seems AI-generated.
Ask “What is my book about?” That’s something scammers can’t seem to answer because they don’t know or care about you or your book, just your money.
Consider bringing it up in the group if there’s someone you really want to hire, and it’s fairly unlikely the best hires are in your DM’s unless you’ve put out some kind of employment call. I’m not sending money to people cold-emailing me, no matter how much they “love” the book, the subject of which they can’t even identify.
Now I’ve always got to wonder if the opposite could be true: are there pro-trad rumors that could be trad publisher propaganda?
I’d be curious, but I suspect not: trad publishers have WAY more people interested in them than the number of people they actually want to represent. They might not even care if 90% of authors are scared away from them. But they might, they profit from good authors, and they do want to represent them.
Next issue: I’ll list out some of the most common myths about trad pub, and the truths instead.