Bethanne Patrick

Bethanne Patrick is the host of Missing Pages. Follow her on Twitter here. Follow Missing Pages on Twitter here.

Tell us about the show in 10 words or less.
Missing Pages uncovers literary scandals to highlight book-publishing issues.

You will like Missing Pages if you like _____.
Scams, pop culture drama and/or books!

Why are you the perfect host for Missing Pages?
Because I’m billed as a publishing insider, but I became one because I was a complete outsider to the world of book publishing. I just wanted to know more, and I kept at it, and now I want to share what I’ve learned along the way with others.

How did the idea for this show come about?
Podglomerate’s CEO Jeff Umbro (who is also the executive producer of Missing Pages) had heard a great Revisionist History episode about Howard Hughes and his weird fake memoir. Jeff thought, “No one has focused on these bookish scams before. What if there were a show that did?” Jeff and The Podglomerate know everything about how to distribute and sell podcasts, but he and his team had never built one from the ground up before. He and I connected, and we decided to move forward with the idea. Given the audience’s positive response to Missing Pages and the critical praise (as a must-listen from Vulture, Washington Post, and The Guardian), it’s safe to say that The Podglomerate knows how to produce and market a successful podcast!

What’s your favorite episode of Missing Pages?
Probably the Anna March episode (which will drop on September 19). It’s quite personal for me. It shows how even the most well meaning – perhaps because they are the most well meaning – literary people can get conned.

Which episode was the most challenging to make?
A few months ago, I would have had one answer; now I have a different one, but that’s because we’ve had different challenges with each episode. Sometimes it’s tracking down the right people to interview. Sometimes it’s setting the right tone. Sometimes it’s making sure we have thought through all aspects of a story before we finish writing. I’m proud that I have a credit as a producer as well as host, because I tried to contribute as much as I could, whether that meant helping to write, cracking open my virtual Rolodex, or getting advice from trusted industry colleagues.

Which episode was the most fun to make?
Definitely our two-part investigation into Caroline Calloway because the production team met up in Calloway’s beloved West Village for an afternoon of influencer cocktails, a delicious lunch at Minetta Tavern, and a sunny early-spring amble around that neighborhood’s hot spots.

Why should people listen to Missing Pages?
Because we’ve tried to make it fun, and because even if we don’t always achieve everything we wanted to, we tried hard to ask some questions about book publishing that deserve discussion.

Why is the publishing industry so dramatic?
A question that deserves discussion! Consider this: Why do so many people, even people who have achieved huge success in other areas/endeavors, still want to write a book (or have one ghostwritten)? It’s because a book is the shortest distance between the consciousness of two people, the writer and the reader. Meaning it’s highly personal, and anything highly personal is going to be full of. . . drama. And so is the industry that fosters books. Publishing, as we saw during the recent DOJ vs. PRH trial, doesn’t have a lot of hard-and-fast rules. It’s an industry that relies heavily on relationships and trust.

Can you tell us a story or detail that you had to leave on the cutting room floor?
Our bonus episodes (an exclusive treat for Apple Podcast subscribers!) are chock full of information, so much information about publishing that at least one university professor I know is using them on her Fall 2022 syllabus for a class about editing and publishing. Don’t miss Deesha Philyaw discussing separation between social media and real art, or Luis Urrea telling us what it was like to learn from the great Ursula K. Le Guin.

Who will like Missing Pages? Is it just for book nerds or publishing people?
When I started working on this show, I would have said, “Yes, it’s just for the bookish.” But the people I know who love it the most are some of the least nerdy/insider-y people I know! They might be readers and culture vultures who cannot resist going deep into an industry they’ve never known anything about. 

Are you a podcast listener?
Absolutely, now more than ever, and I’ve become convinced that podcasts might become a literary genre of their own (and I don’t just mean podcasts about books). I’m going to be listening to more and more of them so I don’t get left behind as things develop.

What’s a podcast you love that everyone already knows about?
I recently guested on Roy’s Job Fair with Daily Show Correspondent Roy Wood, Jr., and I had sooooo much fun with Roy, Third, and Jacqueline. I hope I get to return as a guest someday, but I will be listening all the time. And I can’t wait to see Roy in the upcoming movie he’s co-starring in with Jon Hamm!

What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about?
Ursa Short Fiction with Dawnie Walton and Deesha Philyaw! Listen in, my bookish friends!

 If you were going to start another show…your budget is $1M, don’t worry about any of the logistics or whether or not anyone would like it…what would it be?
Weeeellllllll. . . I have a show I’m developing. But maybe I’ll keep that quiet for now. So, if I were developing my own podcast with a dream budget, it would be a sort of raucous literary free for all, maybe with Brandon Taylor and Grant Ginder and Elizabeth McCracken. We would just talk and talk and talk and there would be lots of chat about food, alcohol, swimming, sweaters, photography, collectibles, our dogs (Brandon needs to get one), and how the world is going to end any second now but let’s keep laughing.

How are authors like podcasters?
Authors spin out narratives like podcasters do, sometimes in an organized fashion, sometimes by the seat of our pants. We have one narrator, or a cast of characters, or a deep conversation, or superficial chatter. Books and podcasts are both highly elastic forms.

Can you give us a book recommendation?
Can I give you thirty? 

OK, OK, just one. Hmmmm. I’ll go with Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, a magical novel about a young woman who becomes a 1920s aviatrix. It starts in Montana and I won’t tell you where it ends but I will tell you that if you don’t read all the way through you will be cheating yourself. A lush, complicated, important, high-wire act of a book.

 Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you want to say?
Missing Pages is a collaboration, and I want to thank my entire team, starting with Executive Producer Jeff Umbro, VP of Marketing and Audience Development Joni Deutsch, Chief Engineer Chris Boniello, Showrunner Caila Litman, Tech Lead and Producer Jordan Aaron, Marketing Lead and Producer Matt Keeley, Marketing Managers Morgan Swift and Madison Richards, and so many more.

Thanks, Bethanne!