Women’s History Month Feature
PaSH Magazine is celebrating Women’s History Month with a Q&A style mini-series highlighting women from many different industries making an impact in the world, their communities and for themselves. In this Q&A we will spend time with Courtney Psak.
Meet Courtney Psak
Courtney Psak is a psychological thriller author who started her career at magazines like Cosmopolitan, Self, and Modern Bride before pivoting to fiction, selling thousands of copies of her debut while working full-time, and recently signing a three-book deal with Hodder and Stoughton. Her latest, The Tutor, is out now, and The Hostess releases on April 21. She’s a great example of a woman who kept writing through every season of life and finally broke through in a big w
Who is a woman who inspired your journey in entertainment, and what impact did she have on the way you approach your work?
Yes, Anna Barrett. She is a former literary agent who now offers a mentorship program. Before her, I wasn’t quite sure if I was good enough. But being able to talk about my book with her was extremely helpful, not only in improving novel, but with my confidence as well. She taught me how to approach not only my writing in a certain way, but the industry itself. Anna helped manage my expectations and gave me the encouragement I needed to pursue the traditional publishing path.
Was there a pivotal moment in your career that changed the trajectory of your path or helped you step fully into your purpose?
I think the main one was when I got a three-book deal with my publisher. The interesting thing was they wanted to do a digital-first approach, so all three books would come out in a year. That meant that I had this short runway to do everything I possibly could. In that time frame I started going to writers’ conferences and talking to every author I could about what I should be doing. I was excited to see just how nice and encouraging everyone was and as a result, I got really great advice that has helped me immensely.
Looking back at your journey so far, what milestone are you most proud of achieving?
While I have started to build up success in my career, I’m really glad that I self-published my first novel. Not only did it take a lot of guts to finally put my work out there, but I learned so much by having to be the one to do it first-hand. Once I saw what it took and how thick my skin could be against criticism and rejection, it gave me the courage to keep going.
How do you stay grounded and maintain your creative voice in an industry that often tries to shape narratives and expectations?
I stay grounded by writing about those exact narratives and expectations. In my book, The Hostess, the overall theme is about how women will often ignore their intuition because they don’t want to seem crazy. Instead, we will try to explain our feelings away despite the fact that we know something is wrong. We will get on an elevator or go somewhere with someone who makes us uncomfortable because we don’t want to come off as rude. By calling these issues out, we bring it to light and show that we need to be more outspoke rather than worry about being nice.
How do you balance creative passion with the business side of entertainment?
While we all love our work, we have to first and foremost remember that at the end of the day, it’s a business. If you want to maintain full control, then self-publishing is the way to go. But if you are to get traditionally published, you have to be willing to trusts that your book cover was chosen based on market research and what is selling. To know that the editors asking for changes is because it’s their job to know what readers are looking for. If your book is on kindle unlimited or running at a discounted price for a period of time, it’s because the focus is building your readership and not necessarily about making money. While you should stand up for yourself if something really bothers you (I’ve made tweaks to my covers), you have to understand that everyone is on the same team. Everyone wants your book to sell, so you have to trust the publishing team to be able to do that.
If you could change one thing about the entertainment industry to make it more equitable for women, what would it be?
It bothers me that in our day and age women aren’t given equal pay as men (I only know this of the film industry, not necessarily books). But talent is talent and it shouldn’t matter what gender you are.
Thank you for reading this installment of the Women’s History Month Features. Come back each day to read a new inspiring story, centering women.
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