JJ and Kelly talk about one of the most opaque parts of publishing: submission and acquisition.
Show Notes
On Being on Submission by Stacey Lee and Stephanie Garber
Agony! Misery! Woe! (JJ's song filk and cover of Stephen Sondheim's "Agony")
What We're Reading
JJ's Reads
Golden Son by Pierce Brown (audio)
She's still working her way through Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
Kelly's Reads
The Martian by Andy Weir
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
Off Menu Recommendations
This week both Kelly and JJ have the same recommendation: HAMILTON.
For those who aren't plugged into musical theatre buzz, Hamilton is a hip-hop musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Wait, what?
YES. The score, lyrics, and book are by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning composer of In the Heights, based on a biography of Alexander Hamilton written by Ron Chernow. The story goes that when Miranda was on vacation from In the Heights, he picked up Chernow's book at the airport and was so inspired by the life of Hamilton as "the ultimate hip-hop/immigrant story",[1. Hamilton was an orphaned, illegitimate child born in the Caribbean who immigrated to New York City and worked his way up from poverty by working his butt off. He had fiery, tempestuous personality, and his cutting words were the death of him, much like Tupac Shakur.] he started writing the musical.
In 2009, he performed the opening number (then a workshopped piece of poetry/rap/spoken word) at the White House for President Obama:
Words can't describe how transformative and (not to be punny) revolutionary this musical is. The majority of the cast is made up of people of color, and in fact, all the principal characters are not white (except, appropriately, King George III). Miranda has said it's the story of America, and it looks like America now.
The album is available for digital download (and is currently streaming on Spotify), but if you'd like the physical album with booklet, it will be available on October 16. Rumor has it that it will also be released on vinyl, and JJ may need to buy herself a record player now.
We're not shills for the musical, we promise. But if the creators see our enthusiasm and want to fund our respective trips back to NYC as well as tickets, we would certainly not turn that down.
That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll be discussing CONTRACTS. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
2. Publishing 101: Submission & Acquisition