TODAY: Simon & Schuster editor Olivia Taylor Smith
on BookTok virality, running an indie press, and moving to Big Five publishing
Good morning! Welcome back to my talk show.
At 1pm EST today, I’ll be interview Olivia Taylor Smith, a senior editor at Simon & Schuster.
Prior to joining S&S, Olivia was the Cofounder and Executive Editor of Unnamed Press in Los Angeles. Recent publications include national bestseller Alice Sadie Celine by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza (Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction 2025), The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas (one of the BBC's Best Books of 2024) and Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell (Longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize).
Titles Olivia has acquired and are forthcoming at Simon & Schuster include Artifacts by Natalie Lemle, The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders, In Bloom by Liz Allan, Kinkier: a fiction anthology edited by R.O. Kwon & Bryan Washington, The Camino by Anya Niewierra (translated by Eileen Stevens), and Tomorrow’s Shadows by Noelle Michel (translated by Frank Wynne).
I’ll ask her:
About her experience founding and leading Unnamed Press: what were some of the best parts of running an independent press, and what was the most challenging? What does she wish more writers understood about indie presses?
About the viral sensation of A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers, a novel about a menopausal food critic who kills and eats her ex-lovers, on BookTok
About editing anthologies like Kinkier
About transitioning into Big Five publishing and what advantages she has now
What she’s looking to acquire in literary fiction
What her editing process is and what tips she can share with novelists
What the current workload is like in editorial and what writers should know about the view from her desk
I will interview Olivia for about 30 minutes and then open it up to your questions!
If you can’t attend live, there will be a recording available to watch for 7 days.
As a reminder, this is a private, off-the-record conversation, exclusively available to my diamond medallion members. You may not post quotes from the conversation anywhere on the internet, or create content out of my events. Keeping the Chat Room series private allows both me and my guests to speak candidly.