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In the inaugural episode I visited Faber & Faber, the iconic publishers of authors like Sylvia Plath, William Golding, TS Eliot and Ted Hughes.

This week's guest is Louisa Joyner, Faber's Publishing Director. We discussed her background as an academic and the difference (or rather lack thereof) between publishing commercial and literary fiction.

Louisa's books include some of the most successful novels of recent times like Call Me By Your Name, The Shock of the Fall and Milkman, winner of the 2018 Booker Prize. We also discuss some of her non-fiction, such as working with the likes of Samantha Irby and Jay-Z.

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Scott (@meandmybigmouth) and I met in the run up to Christmas to discuss our mutual love of experimental fiction (although not, as you'll hear, the novels of Haruki Murakami). Scott explains why he thinks newspaper’s literary review pages are massively restrictive, and how publishers throw away millions of pounds a year on publishing hardbacks. We discussed his time as Head of Buying at Waterstones and how it is books end up in bookshops (or don't).

At the heart of this episode, and this podcast, is that crucial question: is an editor the author’s representative to the publisher, or the publisher's representative to the author?

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