Publishing Craft

Microphone Confessions: When Novelists Decide to Read Their Own Audiobooks

Author-narrated audiobooks promise intimacy, authenticity and a voice that knows the book from the inside. They can also produce 11 hours of accidental panto. Here is what happens when novelists step behind the microphone — and what indie publishers should do about it.

Nov 8, 2026

In Praise of the Wonky Blurb: Why a Muddled Back Cover Beats a Perfect One

Polished marketing copy slides off the memory like rain off a coat. The overstuffed, over-promising, faintly deranged blurb sticks — and small presses produce the best of them. A defence of the messy back cover, plus an exercise in rewriting a classic in three glorious sentences.

Nov 8, 2026