Shooting the Shit With CeCe's Former Co-Workers Turned Bestie

Will Carly have a serious case of FOMO after this Monday’s Shooting the Shit episode?! In this special episode, CeCe was supposed to fly solo—but instead, she twisted the arms of her former colleagues turned besties, literary agents Eric Smith, Nour Sallam, Adria Goetz, and Claire Harris, to join her for a publishing industry catch-up. This fireside chat amongst besties, covers everything from printing delays and a new children's imprint to the resurgence of bookstores and the latest buzz from the Frankfurt Book Fair. AI…the agents go there. Diving into the increasingly complicated world of AI in publishing, discussing author protections, AI-generated submissions, and the controversy surrounding AI detection tools like Pangram. This episode is packed with loads of laughs, strong opinions, and publishing industry hot takes. Sorry, Carly. You definitely missed a good one!

As mentioned on this episode:

Sign up for Coaching Corner for access to the editorial library with agents' feedback — including feedback from Eric, Claire, Adria, and Nour!

https://learn-with-cece.thinkific.com/products/courses/cecescoachingcorner

The first publisher to issue AI guidelines to authors and illustrators: 

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/connect/contact-us/ai-policy-for-authors-and-illustrators/

Supply Chain Issues Threaten Book Sales:

https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/10/as-supply-chain-problems-increase-some-books-miss-on-sale-dates/

What's Hot at the Frankfurt Book Fair: 

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/trade-shows-events/article/101287-frankfurt-book-fair-2026-what-s-hot-according-to-agents.html

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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