Jordan Michelman writes in the Atlantic about “the most coveted screenshot in the literary world,” honoring writers’ joy in sharing their “Publishers Marketplace Official” book deal screenshots.
“It’s become one of the most important rites of passage in the book-publication process—more meaningful to some writers than a book party or book-cover reveal. For many authors, in fact, no book deal is complete until they’ve posted it. It is the Publishers Marketplace book-deal social-media post.”
Lately, we have been admiring all the authors moving to BlueSky and populating it anew with their deals. Creators continue to impress us with their innovative twists in celebrating: From mugs to wine glasses, t-shirts and more — and Shortwave Publishing just took it to a new level with their holiday card.
Here is Michelman’s screenshot from 2022, by the way. He writes: “I’m convinced that the website itself, largely unchanged since the early 2000s, is the secret sauce to this whole thing: The naive, disarming, Web 1.0 charm of the Publishers Marketplace screengrab cuts through the ambient friction of our extremely online 21st-century lives, arriving as something rare, authentic, and complete.”