Susie Has 2 Classes This Spring - Register Here!

The Business of Writing and . . . and the Parts No One Says Out Loud

I was a busy Professor in my youth. I taught creative writing, film, and sexual politics. For those of you who were there, it was a blast, eh?

My favorite 90s highlight was when the Dean of Social Sciences announced, “Susie Bright will teach at UC over my dead body” — I was devastated. Everything was cancelled.

Three days later, the same man had a stroke. I got a letter from the department secretary stuck to my doorstop: “Show up Monday.”

The show went on.

But soon after, trade publishing overtook me. I published 40+ books of my own, from bestsellers to cult-items. I edited hundreds of authors and thousands of stories. To my sometimes-pride and and sometimes-distress, I made millions . . . for the usual suspects, the publishers. Sometimes the writers too! — when the contract was right. I negotiated on both sides, all over the world. There were several scandals and miracles along the way!

I bet half of you reading this, have been neck-deep in some improbable publishing adventure wit…