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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 14h

I didn't assume anybody DIDN'T know that. I could just foresee folks coming for me for promoting this as a sales technique instead of as a chatty conversation I was having with my wife.

I find that sometimes preemptive clarification saves me some angry messages. I too sensitive for angry messages.

Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 14h

(This followup comment is to acknowledge that this isn't about how it "should be," but rather a discussion of what can increase effectiveness in commercial sales. No one should HAVE TO trade on their looks. Still, the science consistently tells us attractiveness is very powerful.)

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 14h

Me: Attractive authors putting their pretty front and center in their marketing draws eyes. What would I need to benefit from some pretty privilege?
Her: I think you're beautiful
Me: I mean the public. Get in shape, fancy treatments?
Her: Plastic surgery

No danger of getting a big head in my house.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 16h

Doctor's waiting room furniture is a lie. Looks comfy, feels hurty.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 18h

On This Day in History: October 9
Birthdays: 1835 Camille Saint-Saëns, composer; 1935 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent; 1940 John Lennon, Beatles cofounder; 1948 Jackson Browne, singer-songwriter; 1964 Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker; 1969 PJ Harvey, singer-songwriter. A stacked day for music and movies.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

7/
Give it a shot. I think it can be a win for both of us. If you sub for a few weeks and disagree, that unsubscribe button isn't hard to find.

In the meantime, I'll either say something that will change your perspective on our business or I'll piss you the hell off. (Did you see Private Parts?)

Text of the "if they hate him, why do they listen?" scene from the movie Private Parts

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

6/
In the same way that you should never take specific financial advice from someone who isn't intimately familiar with your personal situation, you shouldn't take industry or career advice from me.

I try to stay rooted in my lived experience, but I have opinions and you'll hear those, too.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

5/
But also, we're all adults here so I think I can level with you and say that I hope you like it enough that, when my debut finally does release in 2026ish, you'll think, "He's not boring and sorta helpful, so I'll give that book a read. Maybe even buy a copy.

I don't give advice.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

4/
I'm not special, unless you think being lucky is special. I just know that obsession + experience = some amount of insight and I write this 600-word weekly newsletter to try to share that insight with you.

Why? Partly habit. I spent my career in nonprofit arts working with communities in need.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

3/
That's 1,000 hours of research to-date. Add my experience sending 208 query letters, getting multiple offers of rep, choosing an agent, going on submission, getting an offer from a global top 50 publishing house, negotiating the hell out of it, and signing a contract all in the span of 8 months.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

2/
Though much of the science has been debunked, I was once a Gladwell fan & devotee to the 10,000-hour rule so when I changed careers I started spending three hours each day on reading, webinars, podcasts, and AMAs about traditional publishing, more out of habit than bc I still believe in the rule.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

From the mailbag:
Q: How are you qualified to write about the publishing industry? You've never worked as an agent or editor and your debut hasn't even released yet.

A: Other than being a bit hostile, this is a good question bc I'm no Brian Murray, after all. What I am is an obsessive researcher. 🧵

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 19h

On This Day in History: October 9, 2023
Spooky Season Edition!
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, set the world record at Half Moon Bay with a 2,749-pound pumpkin, enough for about 687 pies. A ridiculous, joyful feat of cultivation.

Uncredited photo of world record pumpkin via https://www.worldrecordacademy.org/

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 20h

Messy Genius Spotlight
Spanish painter and printmaker
Francisco Goya (1746–1828)

Born in Fuendetodos, he rose as a court painter in Madrid. After illness left him deaf at thirty-seven, he stripped away flattery and made the Disasters of War and the Black Paintings, images that refuse comfort.

Vicente López Portaña - el pintor Francisco de Goya

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Something to read instead of writing the followup to my debut?! Yes, please! (I'll DM you my email address, but no hurry. Whenever you're ready to share it.)

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Hurry up so I can read it already! Damn.

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Reposted by Ryan T. Pozzi

Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 3d

Hey folks: Who was it that promoted their book with a challenge to visit 100 bookclubs earlier this year? I remember it, but I can't remember the author or find the digital footprint for the campaign now.

I need to know for...secret reasons...
#writingcommunity #booksky #WritersofBluesky #halp

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Ugh, why did you let me start playing Stawdew again?

Wasn't I clear that I'm not entirely capable of managing my own affairs and part of your role, as my parasocial friends, is to keep me on task?

Now I'll never finish this manuscript. #booksky #writingcommunity

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

If I could have a do-over on the stupid mistakes I've made these first 46 years - not all mistakes, just the really "why the f- did you do that" ones - I'd be set. #GoalSetting #RealisticGoals #MeasuableAndSpecific

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Now I feel bad for complaining about SM all the time.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Trads or open-to-trads:
We all hate querying so let's play make believe and design a better process.

Let's use annual inputs of:
-160,000 querying authors
-2,000 agents open to queries
-At most, 12,000 authors will get offers of rep

How can those 2k agents get from 160k to 12k in a better way?

Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

On This Day in History: October 8, 2015
Wu-Tang Clan released Once Upon a Time in Shaolin as a single physical copy, housed in a custom silver box and never for streaming. That lone two-CD set sold for about $2 million, making it the most expensive piece of recorded music ever sold.

Album cover: A blurred photo of men in hoods with full facial masks

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

On This Day in History: October 9, 1986
Run-D.M.C. used KDAY’s airwaves with Barry White and community leaders to call a “Day of Peace” among LA street gangs, weeks after a Long Beach concert riot left more than forty people injured. Hip-hop did the civic work and asked the city to choose peace.

From left to right: Joseph "Run" Simmons, Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

Only fair of me to say he may have just be having a bad day, but he was such a tool that it stuck with me. I've been doing it so long now that if my wife notices one of his restaurants before I do, she'll say it save me the trouble.

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Ryan T. Pozzi @ryantpozzi.bsky.social · 1d

On This Day in History: October 8, 1962
North Korea reported 100 percent turnout(!) and 100 percent votes for the Workers’ Party in single-candidate “elections.” Not democracy, just theater. A preview for what some would love to normalize here in the US?