Chapter 160: Nita Prose on mastering manuscripts and making Molly the Maid

Happy ​ Flower Moon ​ , everyone! Up in Toronto we're experiencing a wonderful blooming, a beautiful ​ bird migration ​ , and lots of slowly-getting-warmer days as we inch towards summer. With this warm spring breeze I'm thrilled to welcome our latest 3 Books guest: a luminous force in publishing, a powerhouse editor-turned-author, and a wonderful storyteller ... the one and only ​ Nita ​ ​ Prose ​ ! Today Nita is best known for her ​ Molly the Maid ​ mystery series which features three main titles and a holiday edition—' ​ The Maid ​ , ' ' ​ The ​ ​ ​ ​ Mystery Guest ​ , ' ' ​ The Mistletoe Mystery ​ , ' and ' ​ The Maid's Secret ​ '—which have collectively sold over 2 million copies. Raised in Ontario's Simcoe County, Nita began her career by contributing to literary magazines, became a production editor with HarperCollins, and then became a Senior Editor at Doubleday. She then held the lofty publishing position of Vice President and Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster Canada and oversaw titles by authors like Rupi Kaur ( ​ @rupikaur_ ​ ), Kate Morton ( ​ @katemortonauthor ​ ), Iain Reid ( ​ @tidydissolve ​ ), and... me! Nita was the editor of my book on resilience ' ​ You Are Awesome: How To Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life ​ ' which came out in 2019 and my book on gratitude and community ' ​ Our Book Of Awesome ​ ,' which came out in 2022. Nita has since left publishing to write full-time and today her phenomenal career and perspectives offer a true publishing and writing masterclass. Tune in as we discuss: What does an editor actually do? How do you get a job in publishing? What writing routines structure Nita's stories? Why might you keep the novel you're writing a secret from your long-term partner? How do you write an allegory? And (of course!) which 3 books most shaped her life? We talk about creating characters grounded in emotional truths, measuring success within the labyrinth-like writing industry, the importance of reading across genres, and much, much more. Let's flip the page to Chapter 160 now...

You can listen to Chapter 160: Nita Prose on mastering manuscripts and making Molly the Maid online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Chapter 160: Nita Prose on mastering manuscripts and making Molly the Maid is an episode from 3 Books With Neil Pasricha by Neil Pasricha.

This episode is 01:46:35 long.

This episode was published on May 1, 2026.

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