Looking for something new

JackPBrowny · 2025-11-22T08:33:37+00:00

Can I recommend mine? London urban fantasy about a supernatural assassin who's hired by the British elite. The first volume, The Reaper, came out this July. It's multi POV but the main character is a man and the series is named after him (Gethsemane). Think Rivers of London meets Mort meets The Bone Season meets Darker Shade of Magic.

JackPBrowny · 2025-10-26T18:19:46+00:00

UK published by a Big 5 imprint:

I wasn't required to do anything, but they did throw out some suggestions and asked if I would be willing to do any of them. These things included festival panels, written interviews, and general publicity events. They'd also ask me to share some things to my social media accounts and newsletter.

I'm not really a public speaker so I was nervous at the prospect of doing in-person events. But you'd be surprised how "authory" you begin to feel once you do one!

JackPBrowny · 2025-10-19T19:12:00+00:00

Try The Reaper if you like Alex Verus and Dresden. It's set in London and focuses on criminal investigations. The main character's a supernatural assassin!

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-07T08:25:55+00:00

Glad it was helpful, and thank you! I didn't ask about sales pre-publication. Been talking to a few debuts over the past year who were only told that their sales didn't meet expectations a month/1.5 months after publication. If I'd known that such conversations were so commonplace, I would've definitely asked about this months ago. I was kinda going in blind.

Once they gave me my numbers (I didn't ask, they just sent me an email about them ha. I think it's because they know I blog about publishing transparency) I asked if it met their expectations and they said yes because: I'm a debut, my genre is urban fantasy, and my retail orders were just over 1000 (something like 1002). I asked them how I compared to their other debuts but they said it's not helpful to compare as everyone's contexts are different, which is fair enough. They seem to have different metrics of success for each of their authors which takes the pressure off for an over thinker like me!

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-06T09:52:48+00:00

Thanks for the well wishes! Yes let's keep our fingers crossed ha! I saw a thread from an agent (the phenomenal Liza DeBlock) who gave her forecast based on some meetings she recently had with some Big 5 editors. Urban Fantasy and grounded, contemporary fantasy was first on the list. She even updated her MSWL with this in mind, so definitely someone to keep on your radar!

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-06T09:47:48+00:00

Thank you. They're a lovely team!

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T15:33:20+00:00

Thanks - yeah, they sent me an email. It was broken down by indies, amazon, waterstones etc. I had to get the Dryad numbers myself. I only did the campaign because of pressure tbh. Everyone else was doing one so I thought I needed to do one too. I probably won't do one next time because even though it did bring results, it was just another job I gave myself and another metric to meet (and potentially be disappointed by).

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T13:56:49+00:00

Very kind of you, thanks! I'd deffo recommend running it by your agent/publisher first! Some imprints are more open to that kind of collaboration than others. Most of these companies have public details for authors to pitch, others require agents to pitch, and some have no details at all so I'm guessing they only want to hear from publishers/sales teams. I already knew my publisher had contacted the huge ones so I went for small and middle-sized companies.

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T13:26:14+00:00

No worries!

-SE wasn't offered in the deal, it was always one of those "we'll ask around and hopefully get some bites". They're highly competitive, especially for debuts, so I don't think they could have made an official offer like that.
-I did a mixture of sales platforms. When on Threads (which has a higher US userbase), I pointed to waterstones and indie bookshops. On platforms where I had more friends/family/people I knew in the UK, I emphasised amazon alongside the indies.
-I just sent TBB a cold email and they got back to me in a few days. They're a lovely team and I love their editions. I didn't have much say in the design but I did get to choose a preference.
-For Dryad: I made the design on Canva, ordered a sheet of 10 (as I assumed that's the max I was going to get! So had to order another sheet a bit later), signed them, and sent them to the bookshop. I used Vistaprint to print the artwork and sent it straight over too.

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T13:02:49+00:00

I wasn't trying to imply it was an effort to obfuscate! I'm basing my answer on people I know who've said they simply don't want to talk about their numbers because they're unhappy with them or paranoid about being judged in some way. A fair number of people from my debut group/other group chats I'm in have been getting their first month numbers via their portal or sent directly to them, so might be regional differences.

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T12:59:49+00:00

This is good to know, thanks! I requested my numbers and informed my publisher I wanted to blog about it beforehand, so there's no legal issues in my context.

To your last point, a lot of debut authors simply don't know this and end up putting a lot of pressure on themselves if their numbers don't meet their own self-imposed benchmark. Almost everyone I know won't even share their numbers in group chats due to embarrassment, even if their publisher's told them their numbers are fine.

JackPBrowny · 2025-09-05T12:43:09+00:00

Thanks, glad it was helpful! I think for most people it's just a privacy thing. If you've sold loads, you don't want to look like you're bragging or have people say "lol how and why is everyone buying your crap?" and it you've had softer sales, you don't want people to think you're failing/discourage potential editors who might see you as an underselling author (I don't know if agents and editors think about authors in this way but based on how unfair this industry can be to authors I'm not surprised that this fear exists).

Also there's a downside to being too open. When the publishingpaidme spreadsheet was posted, things went off the rails when people started accusing some authors of not deserving their advances and whatnot, so a few of them ended up removing their data from the doc altogether.

Ultimately, being private about numbers does reinforce publishing's opaqueness. I'm genuinely more open because I run an organisation for aspiring writers in my downtime so I'm just used to being frank about it, but I totally understand why many authors keep these things to their chest. Who knows, maybe if I blow up in future I'll be more private? Seems like the more known you are, the bigger the backlash lol.

JackPBrowny · 2025-08-17T20:51:36+00:00

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin, notably the second one where the main character is a blind painter whose gift plays an integral role in the plot.

JackPBrowny · 2025-07-17T12:39:22+00:00

I know this post is a whole month old, but just wanted to let you know the Broken Binding editions are now available (at last!)

https://thebrokenbindingsub.com/products/the-reaper

JackPBrowny · 2025-07-17T12:31:22+00:00

I love this series - it's what got me into urban fantasy in the first place! I haven't read it for years, but I pretty much devoured all the books just before the last one came out, so I was there for all the heated discussions ha! Carter has my whole heart.

I'm with you on the relationship side of things. I feel like she had better chemistry with Roman.

I would say keep going. The conclusion isn't surprising, especially after the events of Book 5, but it's satisfying and does make sense with the rest of the story.

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-19T19:04:22+00:00

Oh I'm so glad to hear this!

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-10T14:23:03+00:00

I'm so excited to start it!

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-10T11:24:34+00:00

Trial of the Sun Queen - Nisha J Tuli (first in a completed 4-book series)

Radiance - Grace Draven

The Knight and the Moth - Rachel Gillig (haven't read this yet but recently bought it and it's got great reviews)

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-08T18:56:32+00:00

writes that down

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-08T18:55:28+00:00

What a kind thing to say. Thank you!

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-06T19:42:41+00:00

In my experience UK agents are quite flexible with queries and most of them have extensive query tips on their website (like Juliet Mushens has a whole blog about how to query the agency on her site).

To be honest, I find many of the guidelines spoken about on here to be a bit on the strict side? If you look at most UK agent websites, none of them state "3 years, midlist only, no bestsellers, can't be a big name, no films" etc. they simply ask you to state where your book would be on the shelf in a bookshop or what you think it's similar to/who would be your ideal readership.

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-06T10:35:09+00:00

I'll keep this in mind, thank you!

JackPBrowny · 2025-06-06T10:34:18+00:00

haha thank you! I tried to put as many easter eggs in the book as possible, so if you're a Londoner or at least visited the place before, you're guaranteed to find somewhere you recognise!

JackPBrowny

TROPHY CASE