Recommended Resource: Track Changes from First Draft with Sarah Enni

Post written by Katie Wall.

This month I want to highlight a specific miniseries of a podcast: Track Changes from First Draft with Sarah Enni.

While I must admit that I haven’t listened to the typical First Draft episodes (yet), I’ve listened to every episode of Track Changes, which is a special season with episodes interspersed between the normal First Draft shows. What do I think makes Track Changes special enough to recommend on this blog?

First, the Track Changes episodes take an exceptionally candid look behind the veil of traditional publishing. Enni interviewed people with a variety of perspectives on the subject: a new author being traditionally published, agents, an editor from a publishing company, publicity and marketing professionals, and more. She asks tough questions and isn’t afraid to face some stark realities in the industry.

Second, these interviews are woven together across the episodes in a way that makes the information presented very easy to follow. It’s clear that Enni and her team worked hard to put this together with the listener’s best interests in mind. This podcast is expertly edited, both in terms of how the information is organized and presented, and also regarding the interviews, narration, music, etc.

Third, these interviews took place after the pandemic started, so it’s a great look into how the pandemic is affecting and changing the world of publishing. As time passes, more resources will take this global phenomenon into account, but for now resources that do this are few and far between, and this one is excellent. There is even a specific episode focusing on this topic!

In my previous review of a podcast I selected a variety of favorite episodes to highlight. I’m not going to do that for this show, in part because Track Changes is a collection of fewer than 20 episodes (to date), and in part because the podcast content builds on itself so this particular section of the First Draft with Sarah Enni podcast will be the most valuable to you if you listen to it sequentially instead of as standalone episodes (though I’m sure you would still glean useful information that way).

However, I will list the episode names here so you can get an idea of what is covered by the podcast:

• Track Changes: Publishing 101
• Track Changes: Agents: Who They Are, What They Do, And How To Get One
• Track Changes: Publishing in the Time of COVID
• Track Changes: Selling Your Book (Part 1)
• Track Changes: Selling Your Book (Part 2)
• Track Changes: Advances
• Track Changes: Contracts
• Track Changes: After the Book Deal
• Track Changes: Inequality in Publishing
• Track Changes: Marketing and Publicity (Part 1)
• Track Changes Bonus Episode: The Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From panel, feat. Author Jennifer de Leon, Agent Faye Bender, and Editor Caitlin Dlouhy
• Track Changes Bonus Episode: Publishing From Every Angle (Panel)
• Track Changes: Marketing and Publicity (Part 2), and Defining Success

I highly recommend this miniseries for anyone who is hoping to traditionally publish or who is not sure whether or not they want to publish traditionally. I learned a lot—as a book coach, editor, and writer myself—and highly enjoyed the experience of listening.

I believe that there will be another season of Track Changes at some point, but this is what is up for now. You can find all of the episodes of this miniseries on the First Draft with Sarah Enni website, here: https://www.firstdraftpod.com/trackchanges

Happy listening!