Publishing gets a bad rap sometimes. Too many people see the people within the industry—the literary agents, editors, booksellers, etc.—as overly picky gatekeepers, armed with a “no” for every unsuspecting writer who approaches them.

But that’s really not who we are. We, just like you,  really, really like books. So we don’t think it’s fun to say no to books. In fact, we’d much prefer to say yes. We live for those big hearty yeses, where we all clap each other on the back and congratulate ourselves and burst with excitement for that one book we love.

That’s why people in the industry are known for being eternal optimists—we’re all pretty sure that each book we have is a special and beautiful snowflake, and we want everyone else to see that, too. We’re that proud parent who’s convinced that Junior is the smartest kid in his class, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure the people in charge recognize it.

If you’ve been following along, last month I unpacked the entire publishing journey in a four-part series (read Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV), but we didn’t really talk about all the peaks and lovely vistas along the path. And as we all know, if you don’t pause to steep in the happy moments, you’ll never have the stamina necessary to get through the challenging moments.

So over the next month, my weekly Tuesday post will be a series on The Good Stuff, with everything from stories of recent deals and successes, lists that remind us to pause and enjoy the high points, and some good ol’ writing motivation in the form of one lovely free art print. (I’m extra excited to share that with you!) Think of this series as your highlight reel of the publishing journey: your on-call dose of motivation and encouragement to power you through to publication.

I’m excited for us all to end the summer on a high note and to jump into the busyness of the fall book season with a little bit of extra inspiration in our back pockets. So if you’d like to follow along, you can always sign up to the right to receive all the posts, lists, and printables directly to your inbox!

Update: Here are all the posts for easy navigation:

Part 1: A Book Deal with a Side of Cheesecake
Part 2: 6 Moments to Celebrate on Your Publishing Journey
Part 3: The Most Important Quality for Platform-Building & a Jack Kerouac Art Print
Part 4: 5 Things You Shouldn’t Worry About When Building Your Platform