It’s been a really heavy past few days with our collective hearts going out to Los Angeles.

I grew up in Southern California and have many friends, family, and colleagues in that area. To witness the devastation has been heartbreaking. While human and animal safety is, of course, the top priority—I couldn’t help but think what it might feel like to lose everything that brings me comfort and safety. And those items that just can’t be replaced—my late grandmother’s salmon roll recipe in her handwriting pinned to my refrigerator, my son’s artwork, and clip of hair from his first haircut…  It makes me want to extend my arms like go-go-Gadget arms and hug everyone who’s suffered this kind of loss.

It’s also times like this that I’m reminded of how much I LOVE the work I do. I sit with people’s stories of resilience every day. I get to help people birth new ideas—often taking hard moments and turning them into lessons and offerings of compassion. I get to help midwife books and support people as they step into authorship.

I also get to hear stories and absorb the wisdom of all the industry folks who came before me. I’ll never tire of those conversations because what always emerges is a deeply shared belief that there’s a beautiful legacy seeded within this process. We get to make an impact by helping you make an impact. And we don’t take it for granted.

This week, we have our first new Bound + Determined episode of 2025 and it’s not to be missed! I sat down with literary agent Cherise Fisher to unpack this incredible and sometimes maddening process of bringing a book to the world.

We discuss:

• The leap in going from writer to author
• Why Cherise feels it’s so important to work with someone to develop your book idea
• How she views community vs platform
• The power of books for legacy and cultural impact
• What’s changed in publishing over the last decade
• And SO much more

One of my favorite moments from this interview was when Cherise said, “Publishing is an industry that requires you to bring your entire self into the room.” As someone who has held many publishing positions over the years, I completely agree. I think the same goes for being an author—to succeed means bringing every part of yourself onto the page and into every step of the process.

Cherise Fisher began her career in publishing more than twenty-five years ago, spending many years editing and publishing several national bestselling and award-winning authors at Simon & Schuster and Plume (an imprint of Penguin Random House), where she was Editor-in-Chief.

As an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates for the past eight years, she has represented story-driven fiction with full-bodied characters, both contemporary and historical. She seeks out memoirs and narrative nonfiction that showcase the diversity of human experience and well-platformed non-fiction writers who seek to provoke, inspire, and educate on diverse subjects, including self-help, finance and career, health and wellness, spirituality, and social justice.

An active member of the American Association of Literary Agents and a very popular workshop leader for several writer’s conferences, including the Grub Street Writing Center, Cherise also teaches the “Introduction to Publishing” class as a part of the Publishing Certificate Program at the City College of New York. Her intention is that all the books she helps bring into the world are relevant, enduring, and help readers maximize their lives.

Don’t miss out on this conversation—it’s a perfect kick-off to the New Year.