Alex Adsett Literary is growing! I am so excited to introduce my incredible new assistant Lin Li Wan! Lin has just graduated Arts/Law from UQ, and is studying her Masters in Publishing. She is the unicorn of a young publisher – she adores reading, is incredibly passionate about a career in publishing, and actually loves publishing contracts and copyright as much as I do. Or maybe she’s just saying that to make me feel better (ego-bolstering: another very good trait in an assistant!). Lin is a superstar, and will be helping with both the contracts consultancy and agenting side of the business, initially one day a week, but growing.
I asked the already long suffering Lin to answer some questions to get us started!
Tell us about yourself!
Hi! My name’s Lin and I’m Alex’s newest assistant! I’ve just graduated with a Bachelor of Arts/Law (Honours) from the University of Queensland, during which I did a thesis on reversion clauses in publishing contracts, and am now completing a Masters of Writing, Editing and Publishing. In my spare time, I read (duh!), dance ballet, and drag my friends and family out to eat with me. I love all things genre fiction, but my absolute favourites are YA, Romance and Fantasy. My end goal is to become an editor in a publishing house, but in the meantime, I’m working on discovering everything the world of publishing has to offer.
Why are you interested in the publishing industry?
I love stories, but more than that, I love storytellers. I am passionate about supporting diverse voices in mainstream literature, and I want to help these people tell their stories. Books have been the foundation of my life for as long as I can remember. I am committed to a career in publishing because I want people to grow up seeing themselves on the page, no matter their background, in a way that I wasn’t necessarily able to.
Also, publishing is just really fun! I love reading submissions/manuscripts and finding stories that stick to you, the ones you can’t stop thinking about for weeks after. I love getting to know creators, learning about the heart of a story and helping make sure it shines through, so every reader can fall in love with it like I did. And I love fangirling about those stories with other readers when they’re finally in print and on shelves!
The story of how we met!
Phew! Strap yourselves in, it’s a bit of a long story!
I feel like Alex and I go way back! We first met in 2016 (I think?), when I started my Arts/Law degree. A mutual friend was kind enough to introduce us, and we went out for coffee to discuss all things law, publishing and how the two areas intersect. I was painfully shy back then, and still considering a career in law (HA!), so we didn’t really stay in contact after that one afternoon.
Flash forward to 11 June 2020, one of my best friends, Tashie Bhuiyan (author of Counting Down With You), sent me a tweet from Alex. Basically, Alex was offering to have a chat with people from diverse or marginalised backgrounds who were interested in getting into the Australian publishing scene. I swear I have never written an email so quickly in my life! After a few emails, we hopped on a call, which went for double the length of time it was scheduled to, and became friends!
Flash forward again to December 2020, I’m juggling two retail jobs and Alex emails me asking if I had capacity to help with her slush pile. I said yes (even though I really should have said no) and was lucky enough to do a mini-internship with AAL over Christmas, which was so hectic but so fun. After that, I did some reading for AAL whenever there was need, or when I had time, over my final semester in Arts/Law.
Finally, when I graduated, Alex asked if I was interested in training as an assistant at AAL. It was mostly going to be helping with the consultancy/contract review side of the agency, but there would also be a chance to learn more about the agenting side of things if I wanted to. I was absolutely gobsmacked. My brain to mouth filter went out the window, and I think my response was literally: “Are you kidding me? Yes, obviously yes!”
And so, we worked happily ever after! Moral of the story is that Alex is the loveliest, most generous person ever, and I am so very lucky to have her as my boss! The end!
Favourite book/s?
My answer for non-bookish people: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
My answer for bookish people: Pride and Prejudice AND
- Tashie Bhuiyan’s A Show For Two
- Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries
- Chloe Gong’s These Violent Delights
- everything by Georgette Heyer
- Melina Marchetta’s The Lumatere Chronicles
- Casey McQuiston’s Red, White and Royal Blue
- Naomi Novik’s Temeraire
- literally anything by C.S. Pacat
- V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic
- Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
- F.C Yee’s The Epic Crush of Genie Lo
(Disclaimer: this is a very, very, very, distilled list)