Shooting the Shit About The Easiest Genres to Sell and How Agents Impact The Outcomes of Book Deals

Jan 12, 2026

Kick off the new year as Carly and CeCe navigate the intriguing world of publishing. They discuss their personal goals and the concept of ease for 2026. Discover which fiction and nonfiction genres sell like hotcakes and which are a tough sell. Spoiler: romance is the winner! They also dive into a crucial community question: how much impact does an agent really have on book deals? Insights on agent reputation and negotiation styles reveal the nuances that shape authors' successes. Get ready for a fun and informative ride!

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INSIGHT

Editors Buy For Ease, Not Just Quality

Acquiring editors often prioritize pragmatism and 'ease' over pure excellence when choosing books to buy.
Ease means fewer structural edits, a strong pitch, prior imprint experience, and no bad sales history for that title.

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ADVICE

Make Submissions Easy To Sell

Make an editor's life easier by providing a pitch that reads like jacket copy and early blurbs when possible.
Reduce anticipated structural work and highlight relevant imprint experience to improve sale chances.

insights

INSIGHT

Genre Difficulty Spectrum For Fiction

Short story collections, poetry, and literary fiction rank among the hardest fiction categories to sell according to an acquiring editor.
Romance, mystery/thriller, and SFF sit nearer the easier end, but nothing is truly easy to sell.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

New Year catch-up and personal updates

01:05 • 3min

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Words of the year, goals vs habits

03:59 • 3min

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Exercise habit experiments and Reformer Pilates

06:30 • 3min

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Substack baby-photo game and community notes

09:02 • 3min

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Public domain day and retellings' appeal

11:37 • 4min

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What editors value: 'ease' when acquiring

15:31 • 3min

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Hardest and easiest fiction genres to sell

18:57 • 4min

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Nonfiction genre difficulty ranking

Literary romance vs. romance: genre identity

25:53 • 5min

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Community question: Do agents affect deals?

30:36 • 10min

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Agent experience, editor relationships, and deal nuance

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In this week’s Shooting the Shit, Carly and CeCe ring in the new year by talking about words of the year, habits vs. goals, and what ease might actually look like in 2026. They also dive into what really goes into selling books, including a fascinating editor breakdown of the hardest—and easiest—genres to publish in fiction and nonfiction.

Plus, they answer a big community question about whether which agent you have actually affects your book deal (spoiler: yes).

Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.

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