If you want to understand where book publishing was, is, and where it’s going, you could hardly do better than to spend an hour with long-time journalist, author, and writing coach Ann Byle. She recently joined us in the library sound studio for a wide-ranging conversation that included all the usual industry analysis, career review, and opinionated takes on relevant themes, particularly getting creative in modern Christian publishing.
The Landscape Is Changing (Indie vs. Mainstream)
As the seasoned writer of features, deal reports, and book reviews for Publishers Weekly’s religion industry coverage, Ann has observed that self-published and custom-published books are earning genuine respect in the marketplace.
She draws a useful distinction between the two. Vanity publishing, where “you send in your grocery list and pay $10,000,” is one thing. But “custom publishing,” where an author hires skilled professionals to vet, edit, and produce a genuinely beautiful, well-edited book, is another thing entirely. “If the author is willing to invest the time and effort to create a really good book that also looks good,” Ann said, “that possibility has [improved] a lot.”
She noted that Publishers Weekly still doesn’t review custom-published books, but the deals happening show a clear pattern: major houses increasingly only want influencers with massive platforms. So, “you get some pretty shallow books.” David agreed that at publishing companies, the pressure to hit profit margins can be relentless.
None of this is new, but we’re hearing it said much more openly these days, and by people who still love the industry and work inside it every day.
But Connections Are Still King
The throughline in this episode was that publishing is still, at its core, a relationship business. Ann has found clients and story subjects throughout her career from people she knows and people they know. Current coaching, editing, and ghostwriting projects all came through referrals, and Mick commented how the editorial marketplace Reedsy has underperformed for him since his best work has always come through friends.
In books, I’ve always maintained that it requires more of your brain just to write it. And that’s why a community is so necessary.
Ann also made a case for working at newspapers, not that print journalism is exactly thriving (the Washington Post just announced 300 layoffs when this conversation took place, including book reviewers). But for thick skin, decisive judgment, and meeting deadlines, news floors are unmatched. “You learn to do the job [and write],” she said.
Try Chicken Scratch Creativity
Ann’s book Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens (Broadleaf) grew out of a decade of raising backyard chickens and posting their antics on Instagram. An editor spotted the photos, reached out, and a book was born. Publishing connection made.
The book’s core argument is that everyone is creative. Scientists, surgeons, chefs. It isn’t a rarefied gift, but a universal impulse. Fear gets in the way, and so do other people’s opinions. “Who cares what anybody says?” she said. “You do your thing.”
While she might retitle the book eventually to expand the book’s reach, burnt-out creatives and anyone in a dry spell will find something useful here. At conferences, the conversations it opens up confirm her instinct with the central metaphor: keep scratching.
And Build a Career that Lasts
Ann goes where the work is interesting, and right now that means many directions at once: two book-length ghostwriting projects, a book on elder care, and ongoing features for PW and Grand Rapids Magazine. The book coaching work is “really therapy,” she jokes.
But the variety is the point. “I like [it],” she said. “Variety keeps it interesting.” For anyone building a portfolio career in and around publishing in writing, coaching, editing, or journalism, her advice is direct and encouraging: “Be a good literary citizen. And be a good human.”
Ann always left jobs professionally, and years later, those relationships are still paying dividends—in freelance assignments, in connections, and in trust. The industry is smaller than people realize, she said, and it has a long memory.
Not the most glamorous advice, maybe, but candid and clear-eyed. Amidst the industry’s pressures and genuine disruptions, we find such honest advice extremely useful.
Ann Byle can be found at annbylewriter.com. Her book Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens is available wherever books are sold. And every aspiring writer who reads this post should immediately go subscribe to the Religion Book Line newsletter at Publishers Weekly.
Publishing Disrupted is hosted by book editor and author coach Mick Silva and indie publisher and literary agent David Morris.
