Susan Coll on the Fictional Bookshop in Her Novel

Totally Booked with Zibby · Sep 28, 2026 · 23m

Susan Coll sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss her new novel Word Salad, a bookish comedy about former economics major Matilda who finds herself working at her hometown bookstore where she must navigate the business of publishing and the people in it.

Susan talks about teaching herself to write, structuring each chapter as a scene, the remarkable literary community in Washington, DC, and her endless fascination with the publishing industry.

She also shares her own background as a bookseller, the determination that kept her writing after her first novel died on submission, and using…