Layers of Psychological Processing
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra
4.8 • 842 Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this milestone 225th Books with Hooks segment , Bianca, Carly and CeCe break down two wildly different submissions to dissect what’s working (and what’s not). First up is a high-concept Western horror with cannibals, ghosts, and immortal outlaws. They discuss a strong premise, which can be made stronger by clearer stakes, as well as the author being aware of a romance that readers won’t necessarily root for. Second up: a killer AI-meets-family-drama concept that hooks instantly—though opening pages could do more heavy lifting. Why? Listen to find out. A lesson on concept vs. craft—and why both need to be firing.
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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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The last beta reader matchup of the summer has been extended thanks to Grimlins in the system. |
| 0:06.3 | Instead of the matchup happening on the 2nd of June, it will now be extended to the 9th of June |
| 0:11.7 | with matchup emails going out that day. If you haven't registered yet and would like to take |
| 0:17.2 | advantage of this extension, you have until midnight, eastern time on the 8th of June. |
| 0:22.9 | Please go to the shitabout writing.com, look for the beta reader matchup tab, and you can find all |
| 0:28.4 | the details and register there. |
| 0:33.3 | What's up, everyone? |
| 0:34.7 | This is Cece. |
| 0:35.5 | So I recently grabbed lunch with an acquiring editor from Harper |
| 0:38.9 | Collins, who told me that the number of submissions she's been getting has nearly doubled. |
| 0:44.5 | And I wasn't surprised at all, because every agent and editor I know has been talking about how |
| 0:50.1 | the volume of submission keeps increasing. So personally, that is a wonderful thing because it's more reading for me, |
| 0:57.9 | but it also means I have more chances of matching with authors. |
| 1:01.3 | I consider it a privilege to review queries on books with hooks, |
| 1:05.2 | and of course, in my submissions inbox. |
| 1:07.8 | But at the same time, I talk to writers who tell me that they wish agents would read |
| 1:12.4 | more than a few pages because, and I quote, my story gets better in chapter two. I have to be |
| 1:20.1 | honest, this kills me. It's like me wanting chocolate chip cookies to have the nutritional value |
| 1:26.1 | of kale. It's just not realistic. Like it or not, |
| 1:29.9 | no agent, no acquiring editor is going to stick around to see if a submission gets better. It's |
| 1:36.4 | not because we're mean. It's because we get dozens and dozens every day. I know it's harsh, |
| 1:42.2 | but ambitious writers embrace harsh realities. So here it goes. |
... |
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