Libsyn Directory

[DD] Author/Agent Seth Fishman Answers Our Questions

Release Date: 06/26/2023

Ditch Diggers

"Genre is a marketing tool, just like a book cover." - Mur Lafferty In this episode of Ditch Diggers, Mur and Ursula rant about genre expectations, marketing, and what happens when you decide that genre isn't for you because you're special. Ursula lists her whales, and Imposter Syndrome doesn't really make a showing when Mur travels. Highlights: - (05:12) Ursula's anxiety over multiple deadlines and projects - (12:45) Mur's recent business trip and the absence of imposter syndrome - (25:30) The ongoing debate about happy endings in romance - (38:15) The role of marketing in...

[DD] AI and the Art of Reading the Room

Ditch Diggers

"If you want this to be your thing, you got to keep doing the thing." - Ursula Vernon In this episode of Ditch Diggers, Mur and Ursula dive into the chaotic world of writing, sharing their latest projects, travel plans, and ask you if that thing you wanted to say actually is the thing you want to say online. They discuss the SNAFU of the WorldCon AI controversy, the ethical considerations surrounding generative technologies, and whether it matters if the dog dies or not. Highlights: (01:15) Welcome to the Warbler Appreciation room! (05:30) Ursula's upcoming travels and book festivals...

[DD] Trad Marketing vs Self Marketing

Ditch Diggers

"The best way to survive is to turn everything into hilarity." - Ursula Vernon In this episode we dive into the chaotic world of writing, marketing, and the ups and downs of self-publishing. Mur shares her recent trip to Maryland for Independent Bookstore Day, and Ursula catches us up on Swordheart's launch. Self promotion is hard, ya'll. Highlights: (05:12) Mur's experience running a solo RPG at an independent bookstore (12:45) Ursula's updates on Swordheart and her UK marketing team (25:30) The difference between traditional marketing and self-promotion (38:15) The importance of...

[DD] Navigating Agents, Rights, and Reality

Ditch Diggers

"If you can tolerate the boring and lonely, then hopefully you'll be rewarded on the other side." - Ursula Vernon In this episode of Ditch Diggers, Mur and Ursula navigate the chaotic world of freelancing, taxes, and the ups and downs of being a writer. They discuss the recent Hugo nominations (two for Ursula, one for Mur!), share insights into their creative processes, and delve into the challenges of working with agents. Chapters: (03:29) Congratulations to Hugo Finalists! (04:06) Several people from the podcast have been nominated for various awards (05:41) Ursula has been working on...

[DD] Weeping Bunkers and Writing Woes; Surviving the Creative Chaos

Ditch Diggers

"Sometimes the best way to survive is to turn everything into hilarity." - Ursula Vernon S.11 Ep.2 In this episode of Ditch Diggers, join hosts Mur and Ursula as they navigate the chaotic world of freelancing, taxes, and the ups and downs of being a writer. They discuss the recent Hugo nominations, share insights into their creative processes, and delve into the challenges of working with agents. Highlights include: (05:32) Ursula has too many author copies. She's written nearly 50 books (12:30) Let's talk about marketing for SwordHeart (24:09) A lot of your writing happened when you were...

[DD] Ducks, Resolutions, and That Elephant Again

Ditch Diggers

"Try to make the world a better place. You personally are not on the hook to fix everything." - Ursula Vernon (This post went live for supporters on January 17, 2025. If you want early, ad-free, and sometimes expanded episodes, support at or !) S.11 Ep.1 Welcome to Season 11 of Ditch Diggers with Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon! We try to be positive and funny in this episode, but stuff happens. We cover the Neil Gaiman controversy, touch on Ursula's move, and what our goals are this year. Also there's a in the background. We explore the challenges of self-promotion in a post-Twitter world,...

[DD] How Mur and Ursula Edit

Ditch Diggers

"Editing is where you leave the craft behind and start thinking like a business." - Mur Lafferty "I am the person with the hat." - Ursula Vernon (This post went live for supporters on January 13, 2025. If you want early, ad-free, and sometimes expanded episodes, support at or !) In this final episode of season six of Ditch Diggers, Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon dive deep into the world of editing. From the trials and tribulations of editing passes to the nuances of hat confidence, Mur and Ursula share their personal experiences and industry insights. Mur shares her recent adventures at...

[DD] Elephants in the Room: NaNoWriMo, Burnout, and More

Ditch Diggers

"Sometimes you just need to chase the inspiration, even if it means working on a project nobody asked for." - Ursula (This post went live for supporters on October 4, 2024. If you want early, ad-free, and sometimes expanded episodes, support at Patreon or Substack!) In this episode, Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon tackle the complexities of burnout, the writing hustle, and the latest controversies in the literary world. Ursula shares her battle with mortgage woes, while Mur discusses the challenges of juggling multiple podcasts and writing projects. The duo also delves into the fallout from...

[DD] Worldcon 2024 Debrief (AKA how have I not released this yet???)

Ditch Diggers

"Networking is just meeting people and having them remember you exist." - Ursula Vernon (This post went live for supporters on October 2, 2024. If you want early, ad-free, and sometimes expanded episodes, support at or !) In this episode of Ditch Diggers, Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon return from their adventures in Scotland and dive into the art of networking. They explore the nuances of making connections in the writing world, share tales from Worldcon, and discuss the challenges and joys of upcoming conventions. The duo also tackles the importance of maintaining a presence in the...

[DD] Recorded back when Mur still had a Gallbladder

Ditch Diggers

"If you, you know, give ten writers an idea, you get eleven different books." - Ursula (This post went live for supporters on July 30, 2024. If you want early, ad-free, and sometimes expanded episodes, support at or !) In this episode of Ditch Diggers, Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon dive into the gritty realities of the writing world. From the anxiety of upcoming surgeries to the chaos of travel and illness, they share their personal and professional struggles. The episode takes a critical look at the pitfalls of online behavior, especially concerning agents making inappropriate...

More Episodes

S9 Ep7

Recorded live on Twitch!

Mur's agent Seth Fishman joins us to take your questions, and we fill up an hour FAST. Full transcript available!

Seth Fishman: ...the industry is right now, where editors are just, they just have, they're just too busy. There's just not enough people working in publishing. So it's harder for agents to do to sell books is really what we're saying. There's a number of times that were like, were you passing because of this, you don't want to put that like, work into it or whatever. But you know, what the people pass for all sorts of reasons, we get the books into pretty great shape, before we send them out. And I mean, we try to, and if an editor is passing, for those reasons, they're what they're really probably saying is more along the lines of developing of an author versus, like editing an author.

Transcript Links

Seth's books
Seth's agency, The Gernert Company
Matt's site
Mur on Focusmate!
Mur on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube
Newsletter, The Hot Mic
Support via Patreon!
Theme song by Devo Spice

(check here for all mentioned books)

June 21, 2023 | Season 9 Ep 7 | murverse.com
Copyright 2022, Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License

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