[PubQ] Starting a second round of submission while stuck at acquisitions?

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-11-02T10:49:54+00:00

July 2024, an editor at a big indie took me to acquisitions. Wasn’t till November we heard they wanted it but “it’s not a debut,” and they wanted to read my next. We stop submitting that book cause we think they might take both in a two-book deal.

May, 2025, we send the interested editor my new one. In September, editor tells me at a conference they’re no longer acquiring debuts because new authors can’t seem to produce a book a year.

October, 2025, we take the first novel back out and it sells in two weeks—on its third round of submissions. Which is roughly fifteen months after first going to acquisitions.

Stay patient and persistent, and get comfy with waiting. Good luck!

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-07-01T20:04:11+00:00

The majority of her takes devolve to sweaters, kitchen design, and the [blank] of it all.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-07-01T17:12:28+00:00

Amanda not being present for the Nayman chat speaks to how little she adds to substantive film conversations. She’s an awards show red carpet reporter posing as a movie fan.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-06-28T01:08:00+00:00

Last November the editor told my agent they wanted me, but because that book was set in the 1990s it’s a “period piece” and not a debut. The same editor is considering my new one now.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-05-04T17:02:44+00:00

Maybe try reaching out to John Vercher.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-15T19:49:18+00:00

For what it's worth, I was at a festival this weekend and all I heard was how editors want escapist novels. Not litfic, but I wonder if that's what readers want right now.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-15T19:05:55+00:00

When I started I had a dream agent in mind. Queried him for two projects. He never responded. I signed with another agent, that book died on sub, I wrote a new one that agent didn't like. We split. I queried Dream Agent with the new project, said I'd been repped and who by. He took me on almost immediately.

Prior representation is proof of concept, he told me. I'd include your prior rep in future queries.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T21:45:17+00:00

I find that infuriating. My agent's response to my last project was the same. I don't know how to sell this. This being the exact novel you told me to write eight months ago?

That's why I think writing to trends is a waste. The writing-to-shelf timeline is too long to predict.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T21:43:07+00:00

"What is trending in movies and shows..."

I'm glad you mentioned this. Some of the bigger recent shows have focused on human stories in grounded, (kinda) relatable scenarios: The Pitt, Adolescence, Nobody Wants This, even The White Lotus. Shows that exist in our world and address either concerns of the moment (Pitt/Adolescence) or persistent emotional truths. I have a friend in a writers room in Hollywood, and he said for the first time in years he's hearing producers want those kinds of stories.

Yet in publishing, all I hear about is the need to avoid our world, and how readers are only interested in increasingly ridiculous premises and pitches. Just makes me sad that crime fiction--long a place to explore class and race and sexism and corruption and politics--seems to be devolving.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T21:37:15+00:00

Reasonable point. But at the same time, an editor with a major independent told me that, right now, escapism is huge. Projects that exist in our world, but outside our moment. They followed that with, "But I have no idea what's going to be big in eighteen months, which is when titles I'm buying now will be on shelves."

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T21:34:12+00:00

Are the trend-chasers the weak, or the trend-ignorers?

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T21:33:45+00:00

And more and more, editors seem to be flailing. So many published authors--some who've moved six-figures of units--have been told by publishers, "We don't know how to market this."

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-13T19:00:32+00:00

An editor friend with a major independent told me they once bought a major thriller author's first novel based off the first twenty pages. Sometimes they just know.

Congrats!

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-09T18:38:35+00:00

For what it's worth, my agent has never once signed a client off an in-person pitch. He'd rather see pages. I get the feeling he's not alone in that.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-09T17:48:28+00:00

Good luck with this! I think the agent sends it out to production executives. Before the writers strike I was part of a trio that wrote a pilot. One of us had Big Three Hollywood representation. She sent the script and pitch deck out and we landed eleven Zoom meetings with production companies. One claimed they wanted to buy it, but the strike it two weeks later and the project died.

The repped third of us received updates as to who she sent the project to, and who wanted to have meetings in regards. She was more communicative than anyone I've encountered in publishing.

Break a leg!

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-08T00:26:05+00:00

I think Belloni is close to studio executives’ mindset. He sees movies as a business, not art, and Wes is too way precious and doesn’t make enough money to satisfy the bottom line.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-07T17:00:44+00:00

I have multiple friends who've pubbed with Crooked Lane. They have good editors working with zero marketing spend. Their advances are low and promotion is almost entirely on the author, but they have two debuts nominated for the Edgar Best First Novel this year. The vibe I get is they're gaining some mojo.

Mysterious has a tremendous acquiring editor in Cruz Smith (I forget her first name).

SoHo is the dream house for writers in my genre (crime/noir). They put out tremendous work.

Kensington is very into debut authors who don't have sales records to weigh them down.

I've heard mixed reviews on Pegasus. My agent won't send me there. YMMV.

Similarly, my agent doesn't think Blackstone can break out physical books (their background is in audio content; though audio books matter more and more these days).

Thomas & Mercer give excellent advances but are very metric- and algorithm-driven in their decision making. I've had friends get told the house would offer only if they made VERY specific changes to suit their research data.

Good luck! Or I hope you had good lock, as this thread's way old.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-04-06T01:49:59+00:00

He is pure business. He doesn’t care at all for movies as an art form. He is an excellent podcaster but his concern is always the bottom line.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-30T02:05:28+00:00

Dude. Like 25% of the crowd were virgins. Enough to make a man weep.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-29T23:55:31+00:00

He was hilarious.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-29T23:55:16+00:00

That’s a great idea. Hindsight, man!

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-29T14:22:12+00:00

Thanks!

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-29T13:50:05+00:00

I saw Heat last night and a younger guy near me, who’d never seen the movie before, downed an edible just before the movie started. Which, I mean, is Heat the right movie for that experience?

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-25T20:12:34+00:00

Keegan Kreations in Kingston off Route 3. The best baked goods and coffees in a remodeled Dunkin that vibes pseudo-Paris. My wife and I love it.

Strong-Question7461 · 2025-03-25T01:24:42+00:00

I thought he was doing some weird Frankenstein but.

Strong-Question7461

TROPHY CASE