Ep. 543: Behind the scenes of Fall Book Preview 2026

What Should I Read Next?

Anne Bogle and Will Bogle take listeners behind the scenes of the 2026 Fall Book Preview production. They discuss the evolution of the proje

Key takeaways

• The Fall Book Preview features 43 curated titles across various genres like memoir and sci-fi.
• The team uses a 'Books on the Way' spreadsheet to track titles years before publication.

Main topics

• Fall Book Preview 2026 production
• Publishing industry research methods

Notable quotes

I can only read like myself.

Conclusion

The episode demonstrates the deep labor and personal passion required

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) I find this very funny because you were saying like, not everybody reads Speaker 1 (0:02) like me. Speaker 2 (0:03) Yeah, that's not me at all. I mean, I barely have like a to-be-read list and most of the time I don't even know what's on it. Like, I don't know where I thought I should have that in my TBR and I don't know. Speaker 1 (0:12) Oh my gosh. I'm thinking of the year where you opened your reading journal and were like, wait a second, is my scale four stars or five stars? I don't even know. Speaker 1 (0:25) Hey readers, I'm Anne Bogle, and this is What Should I Read Next? Welcome to the show that's dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader. What should I read next? We don't get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read. Speaker 1 (0:49) We say that at the start of every episode, but that is the ethos behind everything we do, and especially behind big things like our fall book preview, which we just recorded for you last week. So this week, we're hoping we give you info to choose your next reads plural. Today, I'm talking all things fall books with our executive producer, Will Bogle. Speaker 1 (1:10) Readers, when it comes to makeup, I always reach for easy-to-use products that give an effortless glow. If I'm going to follow a morning makeup routine, it's got to be no fuss and flattering. So, when I heard about Jones Road Beauty from friends who raved about their stuff, I couldn't wait to explore. You may know about Jones Road because of their Miracle Balm, which works as a highlighter, blush, bronzer, and more. Fans gush about how it delivers big results with minimal effort. Miracle Balm is easy to use, with no brushes needed. Just use your fingers to apply, and you're out the door. 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We just dropped it last Thursday, which means you can now get yours at modernmrsdarcy.com slash FBP for fall book preview for a la carte access. But to preemptively answer a frequently asked question, members of our Patreon community in the books and events or all-inclusive tiers get the Fall Book Preview as an included membership perk. This is a great time to become a member, obviously, for the Fall Book Preview, but also our upcoming bonus episodes, which I happen to know are quite good. And in just a couple of months, our team's best books of the year event is a real fan favorite and will be included in your membership. Today, we're talking all things fall books, not getting ahead of ourselves. William, thank you for joining me to talk about Fall Book Preview. Speaker 2 (4:52) I'm so glad to be here. This week, I'm kind of all Fall Book Preview. So now that it's finally here, we're gearing up. Speaker 1 (4:59) You really have a unique perspective on this because you've been behind the scenes of Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next since before... These things were publicly out there on the interwebs and in the real world. And I mean, you've been part of the fall book preview ride from the beginning. Right now, I think you should tell everybody why you're all full book preview all the time this week that we're recording. Speaker 2 (5:22) This specific week. So there's a lot of prep work and we do plenty of things. I guess I probably start at the very beginning, right? Kind of planning stuff. And then you and, and, uh, the designer kind of get going on, like, what's it going to look like and how much you can include and what are the features? You Speaker 1 (5:39) should Speaker 2 (5:39) have a Speaker 1 (5:39) sounding board on your business card. Speaker 2 (5:41) Yeah. I don't have a lot to do there. I, I, uh, you know, say, Hey, can I, can I talk to you about these things? And, and then you talk and I. I just sit there and you're like, yeah, thanks. I was like, well, okay, I'm glad I got help. Speaker 1 (5:51) Thank you for verbally processing that with me. Speaker 2 (5:54) I was like, I didn't do anything, but I'm glad I got help. And then as we get really close to time for the Fall Book Preview, there's a lot of technical stuff. What do we do with the PDFs? How do we share it with people? Let's load some emails into our email provider so that we can deliver it to people posting on our website. Yeah, there's just a lot of like. I don't know how many tasks I have in a normal week, but I opened our task management today and this week is just nuts. But most of them only take a couple of minutes because it's just a simple change. It's like, don't forget, you know. But today and the next maybe two days, I'm also prepping up a whole lot of merch to go out. So I am stuffing envelopes and printing labels and sticking things. And yeah, I'm. Not exactly working my computer. I'm just kind of like standing over the dining room table. Speaker 1 (6:42) Sweatshirts and stickers and well-read hats. Oh my. And that's not even counting the 1,000 plus fall book preview lookbooks. Physical, hold in your hands, delivered by snail mail lookbooks that are getting ship, ship, uh. Sorry. That are getting shipped out this week. That was a passive voice. Speaker 2 (7:00) That I am shipping out. I like how you said that in a passive voice. But yes, I am shipping out Speaker 1 (7:06) around a thousand Speaker 2 (7:08) lookbooks. You are the fulfillment center. Fulfillment center, yes. Speaker 1 (7:12) Yeah. And we're going to be eating on the couch this week. I love eating on the couch. I'm not sad about it. Speaker 2 (7:18) And that's my week. So that's why I'm all for Fall Book Preview all the time. But I think you are too. What exactly, sort of leading up to the actual day that we send out the email and we do unboxing, what are you doing? Speaker 1 (7:30) Oh, well, that's funny. Here's what happens. Every year, I wrap the content on our PDF lookbook. Last year, we had a physical lookbook that you could get. We had it professionally printed. You could get it in the mail. We are test driving doing this. I mean, it was good for its own sake, but we also wanted to see if we could print and mail the summer reading guide and how that would go. And Fall Book Preview was a nice test case. But every year I send all that in and I think, woo, I'm done. And then I realized, no, I got to get ready to decide the very most important things I want to tell you at Unboxing, which by the time you're listening happened on Thursday, September 17th. So really what I do this week is talk to myself, just thinking about what I want to say, and then I'll test run it through and realize, oh, well, that's five minutes of talking about books. And I really only have 90 seconds to, I mean, I will spend up to four minutes on a certain title, but I can't do that for every title or we would be at unboxing for like four hours. And it's going to be right around 90 minutes. The video you'll get is right around 90 minutes. We say this is casual, unscripted book talk. I have learned it goes better if I practice what I want to say. And then what happens is I show up rehearsed with all my notes and I throw them out the window and just speak from the heart. But it does go better if I prep in advance. So yeah, I'm talking to myself about books this week to make a long story short. And it's tough because... There's so much I want to say about every book. And I'm just really counting on having really great questions from our readers so I get to talk more about the books I want to talk about. But they will show up in the future on the podcast and in bonus episodes. And I'll talk about the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club. And I bet we'll invite an author or two to join us in that space. And I'll be talking about these books for years beginning with unboxing. Speaker 2 (9:27) You're very time limited for unboxing, but I'm sure you'll get a chance to talk about these books again and again. It's Speaker 1 (9:32) hard to believe that the first year we did Fall Book Preview in 2019, I just sat down with a stack of books next to me and just talked about them. I don't remember doing any preparation. I mean, I don't remember everything crystal clear that happened in September 2019, but I don't believe I did a lot of prep. Like the original vision. for a fall book preview. And this is a story I've told before. So maybe you're hearing it for the first time and maybe you've heard it every fall book preview since, but thank you for your grace. What happened was I went to the Southern Independent Bookstore Alliance, SEBA, fall trade show. And it wasn't the first year I'd been. I think I started going every year beginning in like 2015. But that year. I went for Don't Overthink It, which was coming out March 3rd, 2020. Please hear that date and just like take a big sigh along with me. But I went to promote that book. But, you know, I've been going with my Modern Mrs. Darcy and What Should I Read Next hat on for years. And what I love about that event, aside from getting to talk to other readers and hearing the scoop from the booksellers and meeting the authors, is just... getting a bead on how publishers are feeling about Speaker 2 (10:54) the season to come. Speaker 1 (10:55) Because tons of publishers are there talking to booksellers about what they might want to carry in their stores in the next three to nine months. And