They work hard for the money.

Recognizing the hustle behind the books.

JL Collins signing copies of The Simple Path to Wealth.

Hi all.

I know that telling you I love authors sounds like I'm stating the obvious, but most people say they got into publishing for the books. For me, when I think about why I've stayed in this business, it's not so much the books as the people who write them.

Why? Are they happy, sunny, easy personalities? Rarely! Instead, they're smart, funny, critical of themselves, and discerning about others. As I heard one say this week: authors have a unique way of moving through the world, and I like the way they do it.

When you go to a lot of events for authors, you come across other attendees who think they'd like to be published themselves. I'm sure many of those who'd like to switch seats with the person on stage have compelling ideas and stories of their own, but I also know that a lot of the author envy comes from a wild misunderstanding of what authors do all day.

In an idealized vision, the job of the author looks cushy: they can lounge around, not going to an office, getting paid just to put some thoughts down on paper, and then get celebrated. I know a lot of authors, but I don't know any for whom that's true. Yes, many get to skip the hassles of office life, and they get to spend their days in the company of characters and narratives they create. But even for those who revel in the "pure" part of the writing life, that's only one part of the job.

There may have been a time in the distant past when writers could be successfully published authors just by doing the writing part. But if that idyllic vision ever existed, it certainly doesn't now.

Every working author realizes early on that the other half of their job may be the harder one. As hard as writing books is, it's what they set out to do. Selling books, on the other hand, is not only hard but also often uncomfortable and frustrating. While an author can control what they put inside the books, no one can control the number of people who read it. In a time when there are more books published than ever before (6,000 new ones a day), capturing the attention of a substantial audience is tough.

Most authors are willing to do whatever it takes to promote their book. They will dutifully invest their time and wits in fulfilling any request, going to any venue, posting any post that seems like it might help. But it can be Sisyphean. It's one thing to do hard work for a defined result—press this button, get this outcome—but it's much more frustrating when no one (and I mean no one) really knows which combination of buttons is going to get the book to sell. What worked last year/month/week might or might not work this time. Or maybe there's a great result (sales!) but no one's all that sure why.

But the authors keep at it, year after year, book after book. And many, if not most, are keeping at it while also hustling their way through day jobs—teaching, writing-for-hire, or, God forbid, going to offices.

You might think by this description that authors would be a cranky bunch to steer clear of, but those of us who work with them see it as the greatest privilege and wouldn't (or couldn't?) work in service to any other kind of humans. Even when it's tough, even when things don't go exactly as planned, the best of them are simply the best, full stop: warm and engaging and sharp and wise. Good partners in thinking about the "what ifs."

Springtime brings a burst of book events, as the weather encourages actual readers out into the wild. That means we at AE have had the pleasure these last few weeks of seeing many of our authors in action. A few highlights:

Laura Pegram at Books Are Magic with Nicole Dennis-Benn and Naima Coster.

• Events at NYC bookstores Word Up and Books Are Magic for Sing the Truth with the Kweli Journal and book editor Laura Pegram and contributors JP Infante, Naima Coster, and Nicole Dennis-Benn.

• The Gold Coast Book Fair, in Oyster Bay, Long Island, where We Hold These “Truths” author Casey Burgat was in conversation with contributor and Theodore’s Books proprietor Hon. Steve Israel. Bonus for me: the day was a two-fer, since the author I'm actually married to, Chris Pavone, was there speaking about his fantastic new novel, The Doorman, published by our friends at FSG/MCD. And it was a two-fer weekend for both Casey and Chris, who had also participated in the Gaithersburg Book Festival the day before!

Casey Burgat in conversation with Hon. Steve Israel and Robert Zimmerman.

And the cherry-on-top this week: the author we’ve come to think of as “Uncle JL”—JL Collins, whose The Simple Path to Wealth has quietly sold more than a million copies over the last decade—made the trek to NYC from his idyllic and remote cabin on the shores of Lake Michigan. We lured him with a podcast booking with his pal Hasan Minhaj and a home-cooked meal. It was his first trip to New York in decades, so we were a little nervous about how he'd feel about it. Happy to report: a good time was had by all.

Of course, the month's not over yet. Believe it or not, it was just a year ago that our current president became a convicted felon. Our author, New York Times reporter Jonah Bromwich, was present in court every day during the historic trial, witness to developments that were formative for Trump 2.0. Dragon on Centre Street: New York vs. Donald J. Trump is coming to stores on Tuesday.

And on Wednesday, Jonah will take the stage at P&T Knitwear, along with his New York Times colleague Maggie Haberman, to talk about it all. Time to pop the popcorn and place your preorder here.

So thank you to our authors for showing up every day in service of your craft—and for making all of our lives a little bit better along the way.

See you out there!

Madeline