Beta reader matchup time is happening again. It's been so gratifying over the summer to be tagged in so many posts about beta readers who've become writing besties and who are still going strong many years after they were first matched. Some even travel to meet up and do writing weekends together, which sounds incredible. I can't guarantee

any of that. That's entirely up to you, but what I can guarantee is that you'll be matched with a

group of people working in your genre and or time zone who will critique 3,000 words of your work

as you critique theirs in return. You can sign up from now until the 31st of

August with the matchup emails going out on the 1st of September. Head to my website, Bianca Moray.com,

and look for the beta reader matchup tab. Welcome to another episode of Shooting the Shit with literary agents Carly Waters and Cece Learro, where we dissect publishing gossip, discuss book industry trends and the overall state of the book business.

If you've ever wanted to grab a coffee with two literary agents, grab your mug and pull up a chair.

Yeah. two literary agents, grab your mug and pull up a chair. Hi everybody. We are so glad that there was a positive response to Cece and I having our little

one-on-one duo conversation. You never know when we're going to set out for a new venture with the podcast or spending some time working on something, whether it's going to work out. But we're just so glad you guys enjoyed it. So we really appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, it's been so much fun just to see people on social media being like, yes, more Carly, more CC. And I'm like, people want to hear more from us. Okay. I'm still in shock over this, even after all these years. I'm flattered and thankful. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, I mean, not to speculate what other people are thinking about their parasocial relationships with us, but obviously they listen to us in a more technical way when we're on books with hooks, you know, or author interviews, obviously in a more, like, agent capacity, but they follow us on socials and they've been to our workshops. A lot of you guys have taken our courses at this point. I've been to our deep dive so you know what we're about on a slightly more personal level. But, yeah, we thought we'd bring a little bit more kind of flavor and intimacy to the conversation, talk a little bit about our thoughts behind the thoughts. Yeah, so I'm excited for today's topic.

So I have tentatively called this episode, shooting the shit about editors, the quote unquote

death of the novel and authors with the quote it factor. So lots of stuff to talk about.

Let's start off with, did we read the Blackbird and the Butcher? So a lot of gossip about our gossip on dark romance. And so

I read, I don't know, maybe like 40% in the novel when I started this conversation, I finished it

last night. And then I had to go and buy lights out because, again, once you start going down

these rabbit holes of these sub-nds and subgenres,

you kind of just got to get on the bandwagon. And I really wanted to see the difference.

It's kind of what I did with Akitar and then Fourth Wing. Oh, no, I think I did Fourth Wing and then Akatar. But, you know, once you're starting to go down these subtrendes, you've got to think, okay, what's the difference, the subtle differences between these subtrends. And so that's kind of where I'm at.

So, Cece, did you read Pitch from the Blackbird?

I did. So it Cece, did you read The Boucher in the Blackbird?

I did. So it's the second time, Carly, that you've referred to as Blackbird and the Butcher. And I think it's because the Blackboard is the woman. So I think your unconscious is being feministic. So I approve. I approve. I just want to say that. Black word? Am I saying it wrong?

No, no. So now you said it right, but then before you said blackboard. But then also when we were chatting before we recorded, you also said blackbird first. And I'm like, oh, unconscious. You know me. I like to psychoanaly people. I'm just looking at like our notes that I wrote in Google. And one time I say butcher and blackboard and the next time I say blackbird and butcher. But I think everybody knows what we're talking about at this point. No, no, no. People know. People know and they're loving the feministic change edit, I guess.

So I did. I haven't finished it yet. Okay, my thoughts. I am a big believer in when it comes to books,

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