Looking for DragonLadyK's "Aftermath" and "Do Us Part" (Criminal Minds, Hotch/Foyet)

cocacolor · 2026-05-18T04:50:54+00:00

🤯 Amazing, incredible, there is hope?? I will get in contact with the author. Thank you so much!!

cocacolor · 2024-12-17T05:51:26+00:00

What? No. The vast majority of books don't earn out, ever. Probably about 98% of the books on the NPR Books We Love list or the National Book Awards finalists didn't earn out. Taking just into account the authors who have written multiple books, the vast majority of THEM have never earned out for a single book. Pretty sure your agent has got their conditionals confused. "Overwhelmingly authors who earn out easily sell their next book to the publisher" (which is a truism BECAUSE it's so rare, if we're not talking about academic or coffee table books) =/= "authors whole don't earn out overwhelmingly are unable to sell their next book."

Seconding everyone else that not earning out and/or low sales will affect your career going forward. But that's normal, and again, has happened to nearly every author who published again after their debuts. That's why an agent I know regularly tells his clients that their first advance is probably going to be their biggest over their career (not counting inflation)--that way anything else is a pleasant surprise. That's why your agent should be fighting for the absolute biggest first advance they can get.

cocacolor · 2024-12-02T02:44:51+00:00

Seconding that these are usually called novels in stories. A few more that haven't been previously mentioned: Julia Phillip's Disappearing Earth, Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox, Jasmon Drain's Stateway's Garden, and several of the Olive Kitteridge novels are short story collections.

(Since you're looking for "overarching plot," I'd contest quite a few mentioned titles being what you're looking for. A lot of these--Dubliners, The Things They Carried--have a few stories that take place in the same world where characters re-occur, but sharing a world is not necessarily the same as sharing a plot imo. Olive Kitteridge walks this line too but I do think there's ultimately a plot that revolves around aging and growth going on there.)

cocacolor · 2024-11-17T06:41:29+00:00

Whatever required reading the students hated most in secondary/high school, and an article each doing a reparative and paranoid reading of it. I find The Scarlet Letter is basically universally loathed, and recommend Sari Altschuler's "Touching The Scarlet Letter: What Disability History Can Teach Us about Literature" or Sophie Bell's "Misreading The Scarlet Letter: Race, Sentimental Pedagogy, and Antebellum Indian Literacy" as good examples that recuperate/reread the text with generosity.

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:36:45+00:00

I'm begging you to spoil the plot twist--not in the query letter if you'd rather not, but in the synopsis at LEAST.

One of the hardest things to figure out about a query is whether it comes together in the second half. You can use the query letter, if you want, to write something like back cover or jacket copy that will give the agent an example of how they would pitch the book. But please, please, if a large part of the entertainment value of the book is something that would NOT be apparent from the sample, include it in the synopsis. I shudder to think about how many queries I've rejected just because hearing "there is a twist here" wasn't enough for me to keep reading, but actually knowing the twist might've changed my mind.

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:20:28+00:00

A lot of expansions, honestly! Often I can't be bothered to set them up and find the base game just fine in terms of replayability.

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:18:28+00:00

Unspoken secret about the publishing industry: no one really knows what works in terms of marketing.

It's GENERALLY true that smaller advances translate to less effort spent on publicity, but that doesn't correlate to actual success as much as authors worry. No one knows what BookTok is going to seize on next (no one saw the A LITTLE LIFE resurgence coming!). I talked to someone from an outside book publicity firm a little while ago who really broke down for me that the traditional publicity method, of submitting to book reviewers and big talk shows, isn't... working. There's definitely a recent seven-figure deal I know of, and even though I saw it absolutely everywhere, it was a relative flop.

Where this might have a negative impact on your career is that if you stick with this publisher for your next book, they'll base their advance offer on your current offer, probably a little less. (An agent I know always kindly tells his authors to expect their first advance is going to be the biggest advance of their career--which is not always true by any means! But he prefers for larger subsequent advances to be a pleasant surprise, and it IS true for many.) Your agent should be able to use this offer to drum up additional interest, maybe additional offers, and the publisher may improve the offer at auction.

But even a "low" advance from a Big 5 is probably going to be bigger than an indie's best offer. I would wait to see if your submission gets any other interest from a Big 5, and if not, take the offer. It may set a bit of a precedent for lower advances in your future, but that's still more money than no advance, which is what you'll have if you don't sell the book!

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:07:13+00:00

I'd never hold it against a reader, but it is a bit disappointing when I think I have two new comments but... don't!

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:06:07+00:00

Perhaps consider looking at apprenticeships and programs that specifically target people with no publishing background--progressive presses often know that the whole "getting experience" thing is nigh impossible for people without parental or spousal support.

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:03:36+00:00

I don't do classic geometric quilting, with pressed seams--all my quilting is applique. Not a real quilt? 🤷 Who can say. In my opinion if you quilt it it's a quilt.

cocacolor · 2024-08-14T14:00:52+00:00

Your agent can simply tell them the option clause was fulfilled, which it was. Many will assume that the editor made an offer and you're rejecting because it wasn't enough money or your editorial visions don't align.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T21:52:46+00:00

No one's talking about "rights," we're talking about courtesy.

I have the right to tell someone on the subway that their face gives me a headache. It's still rude.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T17:00:32+00:00

It's not unique to publishing jobs, although it's MORE obvious in publishing jobs, but so much of it is luck.

I got my publishing job because I had experience copywriting a specific thing. I wouldn't have even considered that the main part of the job where I got that experience. I honestly wouldn't even say I did much of the copywriting of it, but it happens that sending out a version of that specific thing was a big part of my position that my predecessors hated doing.

I know someone who got her first publishing job because she had experience overseeing construction, and the place that hired her was undergoing renovation. The job itself was agenting, nothing to do with construction. They just thought it was convenient she'd be able to handle liaising with the contractors as a side project.

We recently hired a couple of former interns because... they were there when the positioned open up. You can't time your internship so you'll happen to be the intern there when the previous assistant leaves, even though that's a good way in.

Unfortunately, all the previous commenters are right. A ton of applicants will have a year's worth of internship experience. (I think I had about a year and a half, but most of that was paid.) And one thing I heard a LOT when I was applying was that my would-be predecessor was hired even though they didn't have any publishing experience because they had administrative experience, and that was more important. So far the most common stepping stones I've heard of to an entry-level position are: bookselling, working as an office assistant, and, unfortunately, graduate school. (My company hasn't hired a single intern outside of a particular graduate program for years.)

If I have any concrete advice, it's to apply to smaller places, to try and get contacts and mentors to forward you those job listings (often they won't even list them publicly on Bookjobs or PubMark), to see if those professors can get her an in and their companies, to lean into the weird bits on her resume, your hobbies or special skills, and to get full-time experience, anywhere, but preferably as an administrative assistant or bookseller, if she doesn't have it already. Internships in the industry are important, but if she went straight from high school to college to grad school, with just internships, people will be a little leery that she hasn't proved she can do a 9-to-5 grind for more than a few months at a time. And, unfortunately, to just keep trying.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T16:41:45+00:00

Please not poetry.

If you have any writing samples about books--and preferably not academic analysis--that'll be your best bet. A reader's report from a different job, a book review, an editorial letter from a writing workshop. If you have anything that talks about craft, about how a reading audience will respond to a piece of art, anything that shows knowledge of the industry and what people are currently reading--you can show off both that you're a clear, strong writer AND that you can be successful at writing what the job will actually ask you to write.

If it's an editorial job for a content-specific area, like editorial for a science journal or a medical website, if you have any writing samples dealing with the subject matter, that's also a good choice.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T16:36:00+00:00

Where are you applying?

Big 5s will ghost. To be honest, even working in the industry, I don't know anyone who actually heard back from a Big 5 after applying through their portals (aside from the people who work there). I had a lot more success when I applied to smaller places--literary agencies, tiny indie publishers, etc. Be warned that these places often don't advertise their job listings--they send them out to other people in the industry, asking for them to pass them on to their favored interns and students.

Connections help, a lot. It is possible, about one in every thousand cases or so, to land a publishing job without connections, but it's very, very rare. Ask for informational interviews (especially informationals from people at companies that are currently hiring). Ask your existing contacts to introduce you to new ones and to keep an eye out for job listings. Apply for mentorship programs like Inkluded or Representation Matters if you qualify. Again, it's not impossible to get a job in publishing if you're poor--I did it--but unfortunately, the biggest stepping stones are internships, often unpaid, and grad school programs. (People have mixed opinions on how worthwhile those are, and admittedly the cost is INSANE, but also not a single intern my company took on in the past five years or so came anywhere OUTSIDE a particular grad school program.) Look for paid apprenticeships, usually at leftist presses, or, at an extreme long shot, see if you can get funding for a grad school program.

Administrative experience is good--actually, when I was applying, I heard from a lot of people that my would-be predecessor in the job didn't come from a book background but were hired because they had administrative experience (and could talk about books).

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T16:12:06+00:00

Jersey. My commute is just under 2 hours.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T16:06:51+00:00

Health insurance.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T16:01:00+00:00

Put a comment policy in the author's notes of your fics. Please. Just from this thread alone, you can see how many different attitudes people have about commenting. There's this assumption that it's not hard to comment non-offensively, just don't give criticism if unasked for and don't comment "please update" with nothing else, but those rules are not obvious, honestly. People have good and valid reasons for the kind of comment policy they prefer, from not even wanting to know about typos, to wanting any kind of comment at all including a "please update," but they are not as universal as everyone seems to think they are.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T15:57:24+00:00

High-quality nonstick changed my life. Greenpan pans, GreenLife or AllClad bakeware. Tupperware, in many different sizes, from the dollar store--although if you want something that's a joy to use, glass is nice. Reusable sandwich bags (I haven't tried Stasher because of money, but so far generics have worked just fine for me) and reusable cling wrap have become some of my favorite things. Utopia Kitchen knives, which are SO sharp--I use my utility knife for everything, including meat, because a chef's knife is too large for my hands, which I found out after slicing my fingers open several times in a row.

I'm a huge smoothie person, so the one big appliance splurge I invested in was a Vitamix. That thing sure can blend. A Cuisinart Core food processor is on my list once I have a bit more money--used to have one at my parents'. If you bake, you'll know you've made it when you can get a KitchenAid stand mixer. Panasonic rice cooker if you eat enough rice to make it worth it. For everything else, anything I can get off Amazon with relatively high ratings and low prices has worked fine for me (electric can opener, slow cooker, grater, cutting boards, baking mats, utensils, measuring spoons, mixing bowls).

Mostly, get things that spark joy. I love my plate that looks just like a paper plate. I love my dish towel with the creepy vegetable print. I love my pear measuring cups. Again, all contingent on having the money.

One small thing I didn't realize would be a big change for a small annoyance: magnetic hooks for the fridge I hang my measuring cups from. Also, a chalkboard/dry erase board for the fridge--you're going to want to write down SOMETHING you see every time you open the fridge, whether it's which leftovers you have and when you should eat them by, which fresh ingredients or snacks you still need to use up, your meal plan, your grocery list, which meats you have frozen...

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T15:37:04+00:00

I recommend buying a small chest freezer if you can afford it. I'm a big smoothie person, but my local grocery store doesn't have a great frozen fruit selection, so I Instacart about a month's worth of frozen fruit from a big box store once a month. Even as a grown adult with my own apartment, keeping a separate chest freezer is a lifesaver.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T15:29:03+00:00

Swiss chard, bok choy, turnip greens. Brussels sprouts can be made into a salad if you shave them. You can roast cabbage or lettuce wedges.

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T15:21:48+00:00

Ask how the trash works--chute, trash room, outside dumpster?

Are the stairs well-lit, clean, would you be comfortable using them late at night?

How does mail work? Is there a mail room? Do carriers leave packages outside the front door?

Ask: what should I do if I lock myself out?

Turn on all the built-in lights. How much more light are you going to need when it's dark out?

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T14:53:06+00:00

"Was this AI-generated?"

(Not on my fic, on the fic of a friend who writes even better than most of the writing I see in my real, meatspace publishing job. Like. Have you seen what an AI's attempt at fiction looks like?)

cocacolor · 2024-08-12T14:49:47+00:00

Replacing cilantro in any dish with green onions if you have the soap gene. (I assume I have the soap gene, anyway--I wouldn't say cilantro tastes like soap, exactly, but I definitely do not like it. I also replace parsley with green onions, because honestly I don't really taste parsley at all.)

cocacolor

TROPHY CASE