Deals Deals Deals for February 2025 [Teaser]

Summary

Book Riot - The Podcast Episode: Deals Deals Deals for February 2025 [Teaser]
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Hosts: Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky

---

Introduction

In the teaser episode of "Deals Deals Deals for February 2025," hosts Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky dive into the exciting world of upcoming book deals. Although this episode serves as a preview of premium content available to Patreon subscribers, it offers a tantalizing glimpse into the latest trends and notable book releases poised to make waves in the literary landscape.

---

Industry Trends and Observations

Before delving into specific book deals, Jeff and Rebecca discuss overarching trends shaping the publishing industry:

• Diverse Genres on the Rise:
  Jeff: “Tarot decks, queer rom coms, horror all over the place.”
  (00:42)
  The duo highlights the increasing popularity of diverse genres, noting a surge in tarot-inspired content, queer romantic comedies, and a continued fascination with horror narratives.

• Influence of Substack and Content Creators:
  Jeff: “I feel like I'm seeing more Substack-derived book deals...”
  (01:11)
  They observe a trend where established Substack writers are transitioning into book authorship, reflecting a broader shift towards content creators being recognized and adapted into the publishing sphere.

• Evolution of Terminology:
  Jeff: “No longer calling them a YouTuber, Instagram or book talker. That's content creator now.”
  (01:26)
  The hosts discuss the rebranding of digital influencers as "content creators," signaling a more inclusive and professional acknowledgment within the literary market.

---

Highlighted Book Deals

1. "Myrtle" by GT Carver

• Genre: Puzzle-based Crime

• Description:
  Rebecca: “Is that like Wordle but for murder?”
  (02:13)
  "Myrtle" is a bestselling series that combines the addictive nature of Wordle with intricate murder mystery puzzles. Its success in impulse purchases at major book chains underscores its widespread appeal.

• Future Prospects:
  Jeff: “...we're gonna see not just copycats, but descent with modification from this common ancestor here.”
  (03:05)
  The book's popularity is expected to inspire similar puzzle-based narratives, expanding the genre further.

2. "Bordergrams" by GT Carver

• Genre: Adventure/Strategy Puzzle

• Description:
  Jeff: “Connections meets Settlers of Catan with the Spanish spy themed adventure plot.”
  (03:08)
  "Bordergrams" offers a unique blend of strategic gameplay and intricate storytelling, appealing to fans of both literary connections and strategy games.

• Anticipation:
  Rebecca: “Sign me up.”
  (05:19)
  The promise of a compelling adventure plot has generated significant excitement among listeners.

3. "The Night Side" by Mallory O'Mira

• Genre: Historical Fantasy

• Description:
  Jeff: “Reimagining the life of Catherine Crowe, who falls in love with the Morrigan, a secret society of women harboring a terrible, terrible, terrifying secret.”
  (05:20)
  This novel delves into the struggles of a 19th-century English novelist seeking literary and financial independence, intertwining her journey with a mysterious and powerful female society.

• Unique Appeal:
  Rebecca: “Yeah. Sign me up for that one.”
  (08:43)
  The blend of historical fiction with dark fantasy elements positions "The Night Side" as a standout upcoming release.

4. "Planets in the Sea" by Noah Kiku Lincoln

• Genre: Ecological and Cultural History (Nonfiction)

• Description:
  Jeff: “An ecological and cultural history of Hawaii that intertwines indigenous knowledge and scientific inquiry...”
  (06:00)
  This book explores the intricate relationship between Hawaii's diverse ecosystems and its cultural evolution, offering insights into sustainability and environmental resilience.

• Visual and Intellectual Appeal:
  Rebecca: “I bet it'll have a beautiful cover.”
  (06:02)
  Anticipation is high for both its aesthetic and scholarly contributions.

5. "The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances" by Glenn Dixon

• Genre: Fiction (Sentient Appliances)

• Description:
  Jeff: “About a household of sentient appliances... confronting the most profound ethical questions facing their humans.”
  (09:07)
  Drawing parallels to classics like "The Brave Little Toaster," this novel anthropomorphizes household items, exploring their consciousness and moral dilemmas.

• Nostalgic Appeal:
  Rebecca: “It's like the Brave Little toaster in the 80s.”
  (09:32)
  The familiar premise combined with modern ethical inquiries makes it a compelling read for fans of both nostalgia and contemporary fiction.

6. "The Immortal Womb" by Kristen B. Brown

• Genre: Investigative Nonfiction

• Description:
  Jeff: “An investigation into the fertility industry and the scientific quest to halt time inside the female body.”
  (09:32)
  This book examines the challenges women face in fertility treatments, questioning whether scientific advancements can alleviate the burdens associated with reproductive health.

• Clarifications and Humor:
  Rebecca: “...first of all, the Vatican has staff writers, and they're doing a book about fertility.”
  (10:23)
  The hosts engage in light-hearted banter regarding the unexpected nature of the author’s background, adding a humorous touch to the discussion.

---

Additional Mentions

• "Cousin Maine" by Jim Telekis and Sabin Lomax:
  Description: Chronicles the strategies and anecdotes from the founders of Cousin Maine Lobster, focusing on maintaining business relationships within a family-centric workforce.
  (06:33)
  Rebecca: “Running a lobster business sounds super interesting... next level.”
  (06:57)

• "The Pillager's Guide to Arctic Pianos" by Kendra Langford Shaw:
  Genre: Nonfiction
  Description: Explores the discovery of underwater heirloom piano instruments in the Arctic and their cultural significance amid climate change impacts.
  (08:26)
  Rebecca: “Sign me up for that one.”
  (08:43)

• "Google Trends" by Simon Rogers:
  Description: Analyzes extensive data sets to uncover insights about human nature and societal trends through the lens of Google's search data.
  (07:30)
  Jeff: “...narrative supplemented by list charts and graphs about what he's learned...”
  (07:30)

---

Conclusion

Though brief, this teaser episode of "Deals Deals Deals for February 2025" offers a snapshot of the vibrant and diverse array of book deals on the horizon. From innovative puzzle books and historical fantasies to ecological histories and investigative nonfiction, Jeff and Rebecca provide listeners with a curated preview of what's to come in the literary world. Their enthusiastic discussions and insightful commentary underscore the dynamic nature of publishing, inviting audiences to stay tuned for the full premium content available through their Patreon platform.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Jeff O'Neal: “Rebecca's Deals, Deals, Deals time.”
  (00:23)

• Rebecca Schinsky: “I love this for the witches.”
  (00:49)

• Jeff O'Neal: “I feel like I'm seeing more Substack-derived book deals...”
  (01:11)

• Rebecca Schinsky: “Is that like Wordle but for murder?”
  (02:13)

• Rebecca Schinsky: “Yeah. Sign me up for that one.”
  (05:19)

• Rebecca Schinsky: “It's like the Brave Little toaster in the 80s.”
  (09:34)

• Rebecca Schinsky: “I know, like one of us is on drugs. I don't know who yet.”
  (10:33)

---

For the full episode and access to all premium content, listeners are encouraged to join the Book Riot Podcast community on Patreon.

Transcript

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Foreign. You're listening to a teaser for Book Riot Podcast premium content. If you want to hear the rest, join [e-mail] bookriotpodcast for just $10 a month, get access to our full library of premium content in addition to receiving early ad free access to the regular episodes you hear in the show. Here we go.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Rebecca's Deals, Deals, Deals time.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's my favorite time. I don't have to do any homework and I get to be delighted.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Nice work if you can get it. Let's see. Before we get started on the actual deals, let me do some top level stuff. What trends, observations kind of across the. Bring it the board which is still big.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Which is.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Which is all over the place. Tarot decks, queer rom coms, horror all over the place.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I love this for the witches.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Even getting a little meta. I think I have a couple. I should say as always, there's no particular agenda with this. It's just if there was something in the description or. Or the metadata around it I found interesting and made the list. I don't know if I included any, but I feel like I'm seeing more sub stack derived book deals which is.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

That makes sense. I think we're like at the right point on the timeline for well established substacks to have been translated into books.

[Jeff O'Neal]

A lot of no longer calling them a YouTuber, Instagram or book talker. That's content creator now.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay.

[Jeff O'Neal]

So I don't know if that means anything. Let me see. I guess I'll start here because one thing that I look for is what has entered into the comps lexicon that we can now use as a comp. That someone. They could be wrong but they at least they feel like the comp to this book is. Has some currency at all. Like you kind of made it in a different way if you now are used as a comp. Right.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

How many mentions of all fours do you have? Because I'm starting to get pitches with that.

[Jeff O'Neal]

You know I don't remember. That's not when I remember but one I saw several of. Well this first one is actually by the author so it's not the same but a lot of. Do you know the. The myrtle stuff? Do you know Myrtle?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Is that like Wordle but for murder?

[Jeff O'Neal]

No. I mean yes and no. I mean it's Myrtle because everyone knows that wordle is a game but it's murder because it's crime. But these are like the book called Myrtle. There's like volume one and two sold very well by GT Carver and they're logic games that are based around murders. So it's not Wordle exactly, but it's the same thing.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yes, I saw them on Extremely. Well, I saw them on an impulse buy table in the cash wrap line at Barnes and Noble.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Yeah. And a lot of people have impulse bought them because I think, I think maybe last year it was one of the big British book chains, book of the year, Myrtle, because it sold so well and you can imagine people like sit around in the rain and do these things. But J.T. carver's new book is called Bordergrams, a new type of puzzle book pitched as Connections meets Settlers of Catan with the Spanish spy themed adventure plot.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay, Connections, like the New York Times game, I'm guessing.

[Jeff O'Neal]

So I don't know what else it would be that. Those are all interesting words in an order.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I know what all of those words mean and I have no idea what they do, no idea what they mean.

[Jeff O'Neal]

But I think there's. I saw, I may even have one down the board. But Myrtle was sufficiently popular that we're gonna see not just copycats, but descent with modification from this common ancestor here. Okay, from here I'm just going to go down the list. That one I'm just going to.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah, you should note there's a lot of new folks have joined us on Patreon since the last Deals, deals, deals. There will not be a title list in the show notes because there are not formal listings for any of these or publication dates yet. All there are are book deals. So if something sounds interesting, make yourself a note and like Google it in 18 months.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Right. So Anisha Nabi and Ukrainian writer who belongs to the Lac Seul First Nation and author of Becoming Kin. Patty Kraywalk's Bad Indians Book club reading at the end of a Thousand Worlds about the many diverse worlds that writers imagine and create. Reflecting on conversations, authors podcast their own ever growing bookshelf to broadleaf in a nice deal. So some of you might hear me. This is publishers lunch. Nods and winks about how much money someone is getting for this. And I think a nice deal is like the 50 to 100k range is what they're usually saying. But it's like a, it's. There's so many of these kinds of book related memoirs. I've never heard of one like this. I'm not even sure what this is gonna. Yeah, like it's like a biblio memoir. Sometimes it's called this, but I don't thought that was interesting.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Interesting.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Mallory O'Mira has a new book. She wrote lady from the Black Lagoon. She also co hosts the Recipe Reading Glasses podcast. I think we have some shared listeners in our side. This one's called the Night side. Pitched as a reimagining of The Life of Mid 19th Century English novelist and playwright Catherine Crowe, who is desperate for literary claim and financial independence and falls in love with the Morrigan, a secret society of women harboring a terrible, terrible, terrifying secret that falls in love. Falls in with. I'm sorry, falls in love with. That's. That'd be even a cooler polygon.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. I was like, tell me more.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Yeah. So she gets like literary lady book cults.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. Sign me up.

[Jeff O'Neal]

There you go. Hanover Square Press. Coming in the future.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Very few of these group of ladies with a dark secret.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Yeah, you do you like it, right?

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah.

[Jeff O'Neal]

This is one for me, I guess mostly. University of Hawaii ethnobotany professor Noah Kiku is Noah Kakua Lincoln's Planets in the Sea. An ecological and cultural history of Hawaii that intertwines indigenous knowledge and scientific inquiry, arguing that island societies and the cultures they developed to survive reveal our planet's possible future. It's gonna be a riverhead title.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

So cool. I'm looking forward to that.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Sounds really cool.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I bet it'll have a beautiful cover.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Yeah, it's gonna look great. I went when we went to Hawaii for the first time. Actually going to Hawaii in a few weeks. I was looking. I wanted this. I still want this book, but I really wanted something like this exists then and probably something exists. Yeah.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

The plant life there is just incredible. And there's so many different. There's so many different little microclimates across the islands. You can see just really incredible botanical adventures.

[Jeff O'Neal]

I'm sorry, this one's for me. The last one is gonna seem like vanilla ice cream that everyone likes compared to the next.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

A history of Post it notes in 12 reminders.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Cousin Main. Let's. I read that Cousin Maine Lobster founders Jim Telekis and Sabin Lomax. The way of the Lobster. Sharing their strategies, anecdotes, stories, hiring practice, and lessons they learned as they navigate running a major business whose primary employees are their longtime friends and members of their family and community. All right, that's not bad.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

No, I think that sounds fun. Like running a lobster business sounds super interesting. And if you can run a business with your family and friends and, like, maintain all the relationships. Bless you. Yeah, like that's next level.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Then. You don't mind Being out on a dinghy at 5 o'clock in the morning in February, it's like, at least I'm not with them. For right now, anyway. At Matt Holt Books, the Bordergrams, the Catan meets Connection ones actually have this small book, so that is a strike. While the impulse purchase are hot.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

This.

[Jeff O'Neal]

One I'm not sure about. Well, I'm interested in it, but I'm not sure. We are in big tech right now, writ large, so let's just put that into the air. Google Data editor Simon Rogers is what we ask Google an examination of the insights the authors gleaned from leading the world's biggest data set. And a narrative supplemented by list charts and graphs about what he's learned about human nature and the surprisingly hopeful story search data tells us to plume at auction.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay, I look forward to 15 charts that explain Google trends.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Yeah, there we go. Okay, next one up. University of Michigan MFA graduate and city councilwoman of Billings, Montana, Kendra Langford Shaw's the Pillager's Guide to Arctic Pianos. This is nonfiction.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Okay.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Set in the far reaches of the Arctic, where descendants of early homesteaders discover an underwater treasure trove of heirloom instruments that have been perfectly preserved the frigid waters for centuries and where families are bound together by the resourceful means and adapting to warming oceans and rising sea levels. Pantheon.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I just went on such an emotional journey. Yeah, that sounds fascinating. I think when you said underwater pianos, I was like, arctic pianos. Okay, yes, sign me up for that one. Nonfiction.

[Jeff O'Neal]

I think, I think, I think, I think I could be wrong about that. Well, I could maybe double check that.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I don't know to be real, because that's too weird of a thing for someone to have invented.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Hold that thought for the next 1. Glenn Dixon's the Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances. About a household of sentient appliances. Watch, fridge, Volvo and a Roomba vacuum that has christened itself Scout that learns self awareness before ultimately confronting the most profound ethical questions facing their humans.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

It's like the Brave Little toaster in the 80s.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Seriously. Right? Emo. Brave little toaster publication spring 2026 coming from Harper Atria. I'm sorry. And then Harper Canada for those of you north of the border. Staff writer at the Vatican, Kristen B. Brown's the Immortal Womb. An investigation the fertility industry and the scientific quest to halt time inside the female body. Asking whether a new generation of scientists can at long last make fertility a less grueling business for women.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Staff writer at the Vatican, the Atlantic.

[Jeff O'Neal]

Did I say the Vatican? I'm not reading a book about fertility by a staff reader.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

Yeah. And then it went into fertility, and I was like, what in the Dan Brown is happening?

[Jeff O'Neal]

You know what it could have been because it's Kristen V. Brown, and my LLM put the wrong token on it.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

You had a little hallucination moment. I was like, wait, first of all, the Vatican has staff writers, and they're doing a book about fertility.

[Jeff O'Neal]

I've been conclave pilled, Rebecca. I don't know what to tell you.

[Rebecca Schinsky]

I know, like, one of us is on drugs. I'm not sure who yet. Thanks so much for listening. Join [e-mail] bookriotpodcast to hear the rest of this episode and get access to our full back catalog of premium content. That's patreon.com bookriotpodcast.