5E

12/02/2025

Happy belated pub day (11/18) to this mother/daughter team who spent years researching their family history in a North Carolina town close to the South Carolina border. My job as “book doctor” was to help them place this history in a wider context set mostly Reconstruction, when an insurrection in the town of Laurinburg presaged an even more destructive one in Wilmington. Despite many obstacles, their family thrived and prospered in a close knit African American community. One of their father’s childhood pals was Dizzy Gillespie! Published by Amistad/Harper Collins (Pat).

12/01/2025

Lance Richardson’s True Nature, out this fall from Pantheon, is a deeply researched biography of the renowned writer Peter Matthiessen. 5E’s Judy Sternlight was Matthiessen’s editor at Modern Library, and 5E loved reading the section devoted to their work together on Shadow Country, Matthiessen’s National Book Award–winning novel, a condensed and distilled reworking of his previously published Watson trilogy. Richardson writes: “Sternlight quickly proved herself as a discerning reader, unintimidated by the magnitude of Matthiessen’s ambition…. He was happy to adopt her as his new editor—she was ‘exceptionally intelligent and insightful’—yet he rarely took the easy path.” Working with Peter Matthiessen was a highlight of Judy’s career, and 5E celebrates this tribute to a brilliant writer and his talented and patient editor. (5E Editors)

11/24/2025

One of the best things I’ve gotten to work on as an independent editor is Shani Mootoo’s autobiographical novel Starry Starry Night, recently out from Canadian indie press Book*Hug. Although I worked closely with Shani on a couple of drafts, I’ve never actually met her, so I was glad to attend her virtual reading on Sunday hosted by Junction Reads. Shani read from one of the most harrowing parts of her book, when six-year-old Anju, her fictionalized self, is introduced to strangers who’ve just arrived in Trinidad from abroad, and told she must call them Mummy and Daddy. It turns out her beloved Ma and Pa, who raised her, are really her grandparents, and nobody ever told her. This is the first shock in a childhood that’s outwardly idyllic but marred by loss and neglect. Starry Starry Night is the story of Shani’s formation as an artist, told with seemingly boundless compassion for the adults who raised her, who meant well but taught her in everything they said and did that we are all fundamentally alone. Shani has published six novels and three poetry collections, and her work has been nominated four times for the Giller Prize and long- and shortlisted for the Booker, the Lambda Literary Prize, and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award—so she’s hardly an unknown, especially in Canada. But I hope more readers will discover this special book. (Anne)

11/21/2025

In 5E’s November Office Hour on creative book promotion, Mateo Askaripour, author of Black Buck and This Great Hemisphere, took on the question that was top of mind for many attendees: What are the one or two most important things a writer can do to promote a book? “The one thing you can do that is outside of the tactical is be yourself to the fullest degree,” he said. “Be prepared when promoting your book to go out of your comfort zone—but don’t go so far out of your comfort zone that you’re forcing it. More practically,” he added, “what you can do is engage. Figure out where your readers are or where they will be. Maybe you have ten or fifteen Goodreads reviews. Thank those people for their time. Let them know that you’re happy to talk more and give them your time. Maybe you have a hundred followers on Instagram. Host an Instagram Live. Tell everyone, ‘Hey, come around Friday at one. Let’s just chat for an hour.’ And maybe five people will show up. But that five can grow into twenty-five and thirty and so forth.” In the rest of this snippet, Mateo talks content calendars, giveaways, Q&As, and not spreading yourself too thin.

We’re so grateful to Mateo ( ) and his co-panelists Marjan Kamali ( ) and Juliet Grames ( ) for the informative discussion, which ranged from how to connect with book clubs to whether to hire a freelance publicist to how to promote your work while being yourself.

We’ve posted more of the conversation on our blog, along with the full hour-long audio from the session. You can access it here:
https://www.5eeditors.com/5e-blog/2025/11/21/three-dynamic-authors-on-creative-book-promotion

11/20/2025

Many congratulations to this wildly imaginative writer and to his publisher, Grove Press, for winning the fiction award at last night’s National Book Awards ceremony. A great way to boost the profile of this often hilarious novelist whose work combines social satire of the highest order with a unique perspective in what we can only call historical calamities.

11/04/2025

Building authentic enthusiasm for your novel or memoir—making it stand out and sell—has never been more challenging. It requires creative energy, support from the publishing community, and luck. Join us this Friday, November 7, at 11 a.m. EST, for a free Zoom conversation with three top-notch writers who have played an integral role in cultivating their audiences: Mateo Askaripour ( ), author of Black Buck and This Great Hemisphere; Marjan Kamali ( ), author of The Lion Women of Teheran and The Stationery Shop; and Juliet Grames ( ), author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia and editorial director of . We’ll discuss strategies for creative book promotion and leave time for audience questions. Sign up here: https://www.5eeditors.com/5e-resources

10/30/2025

In 5E’s Office Hour last week, editorial director Masie Cochran eloquently described the advantages of publishing with an independent press: “Independents are particularly good at launching careers. You can outpace the sales of any Big Five for a debut author, unless it’s their front-list, keystone author. But if it’s not, if it’s an author that will fall into their wide-category list, time and time again, indies will outsell copies [compared] to the Big Five.” She added that indie press authors “have more hands-on experience. It will be more bespoke. You’ll have more of a voice. But I also think that independents are more muscular than maybe they seemed in the past and are able to step into spaces—whether it’s review attention, award recognition, or taking up ink on the bestseller list—that maybe hasn’t always been true.” In the rest of the hourlong conversation, Masie, Johnny Temple (publisher, ), and Erika Goldman (publisher, ) discussed the rewards and challenges of independent publishing in 2025. We’ve posted the full video on our blog; watch it here:
https://www.5eeditors.com/5e-blog/2025/10/28/the-role-of-independent-presses-in-todays-literary-marketplace

Please join us next Friday, November 7, for our Office Hour on creative book promotion. We’ll be joined by the writers Mateo Askaripour ( ), Marjan Kamali ( ), and Juliet Grames ( ). It’s free; sign up here:
https://www.5eeditors.com/5e-resources

10/27/2025

Zoom alert! Upcoming on Friday, 11/7 at 11:00 a.m. EST. Three very successful writers will discuss creative ways to promote your book. With individual writers being asked to do more to partner with publishers to get out the word, it's important to think outside the box to find readers and build a devoted following.
5Eeditors Judy Sternlight, Jane Rosenman and Patricia Mulcahy will moderate.

You can sign up on our website at www.5eeditors.com or on the link at the bottom of the graphic.

10/26/2025

Getting my copy of Dan Chaon’s new novel signed at his event this afternoon at in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Per Hamilton Cain in the NY Times, One of Us is “something quite arresting, a joy to read…. A political parable emerges, linked to empathy for outcasts, pariahs and those afflicted with genetic conditions, all hemmed in by the American Nightmare. Amid séances and tarot cards and telepathic warnings, [Chaon] probes how and why we’re blinkered from seeing the pain of others.” Congratulations to Dan Chaon and his agent, Renee Zuckerbrot. I was glad to have a chance to check out Twisted Spine too—perfect warm, dark decor for a horror bookstore, right on time for Halloween.
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10/17/2025

Bank Square Books in Mystic, Ct has a wide array of everything from classics to new fiction— all in a cozy yet expansive setting. (Leslie)

10/17/2025

I enjoyed this fun bookstore with a focus on spooky titles in Mystic, CT (Leslie)

10/15/2025

How nice, to come across a piece of good news. (Judy)

Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is teaming up with Bed-Vyne's owners to create a literary salon in the Bed Stuy building.