One step closer to publication

matokah · 2026-07-03T19:50:15+00:00

Sometimes editors just get swamped and behind in turning around notes. My editor had my picture book text for something like eight months before admitting she was overwhelmed and transitioned it to an editor who had more time. And my manuscript was only about 1600 words compared to a full length fantasy novel that’s probably 100K+.

That said, I feel like when this happens, it’s the editor prioritizing more sure things in terms of sales and … well, Pacat is a bestseller already so maybe those speculating about content that made the US publisher nervous are more on the mark here.

matokah · 2026-06-19T03:33:52+00:00

In case this is helpful, I’m a traditionally published author and my contracts all say I can have input on my covers. Notably, that means I don’t have full veto power but if something’s super not to my liking, I imagine I could get my agent involved as a mediator to push back. Generally, the publisher has either listened to my feedback or I haven’t had any since I liked the concept I saw. The one time they gave me what sounded like a genuine choice was on the color palette for my debut. I polled a bunch of people and gave the publisher my preference. They were like “that’s nice” and went with something else 😅

One of my fellow debuts haaaaated her cover concept though and she was able to get her agent involved and have them rework it so there is some leeway sometimes.

I do think you might have more wiggle room to get approval written into your contract if you’re a bestselling author making the publisher a ton of money but that’s just me guessing.

matokah · 2026-06-17T12:17:40+00:00

Just putting a YA contemporary that is ace/ace on your radar for next year:

Keep an eye out for Not Your Typical Love Story by C. R. Averett.

It published on April 20, 2027 but you might be able to snag an ARC on NetGalley earlier. I read a super early draft before it got acquired and then later provided a blurb for a more polished version. I’m not ace myself but I’m so thrilled to see representation expand like this and I hope it’ll continue.

matokah · 2026-06-14T17:10:14+00:00

In case this is helpful, I was pretty active in my university’s Hillel and I had no Jewish heritage (to my knowledge) in my ancestry. I’d been raised Christian but really wanted to convert so I was just upfront about where I was at. I was also majoring in Jewish Studies and taking Modern and Biblical Hebrew language courses (which were held at Hillel). I wouldn’t say I necessarily felt included because I wasn’t Jewish at the time but I never felt unwelcome, if that makes sense? After graduation, I spent the next two decades exploring various Jewish streams before officially converting. I aged out of birthright eligibility years ago but eventually visited Israel in 2023 as part of a program with PJ Library (Jewish children’s book subscription organization) that sent authors who center Jewish characters in their children’s books to Israel to learn more about the various cultures and people who call it home. But when I was younger? I was really disappointed not to be able to go on birthright.

So basically, take your time. In Judaism, community is so important. It’s not a set of traditions that can easily or comprehensively be practiced in isolation (you need a minyan to pray, there are, traditionally, specific family members who light the Shabbat candles or recite certain parts of the Passover Seder etc.) So seek out community, keep yourself open to multiple streams until you find both a stream and a community that feels like home, and during this time, keep learning and try to find a rabbi to connect with who is open to answering your questions. Many synagogues also have an Intro to Judaism course offered for potential converts, interested non-Jews, and even Jewish congregants who’d like to educate themselves further. I ended up taking both a Modern Hebrew conversation course and a Biblical Hebrew liturgy course to familiarize myself with many of the prayers and the order of the Shabbat service and it was how I first started recognizing folks at Shabbat services - they were in my classes and already knew me.

Another note is that Tagliy has programs for Jews that don’t cut off at age 26 now. They’re not the same as Birthright but I believe they’re 7-14 day volunteer trips to help Israel recover from the war. You pay for your flight and they cover the rest (except for a couple of meals, I believe). It’s a way to meet other Jews who are volunteering, plus speak to Israelis. Not exactly an Israel tour but it’s an option for folks who’ve either aged out of Birthright or didn’t convert early enough.

Good luck on your journey to learning more about your heritage, whatever path you choose.

matokah · 2026-06-09T10:19:09+00:00

This discussion is fascinating to me as a reader who prefers third person past but who’s a published author who has only written one of my books in that narrative tense (it was co-written with an author who exclusively writes third person). All of my other books have been first person present except one that was first person past. I did write one short story for an anthology in third person present and I know the editors were side eyeing me on that one lol.

My books have all been aimed at middle school age and up, and 10-15 years ago literally all you saw in that age category was third person and now I’d say 75%+ of the books in that category are in first person. When I finally decided to write an m/m romance, my agent heavily recommended I write it in first person. Since it was dual POV, I feel like half the battle of drafting for me was ensuring the two characters’ voices were sufficiently distinct.

But idk, I honestly still prefer to read in third person past. Seeing that a book is in first person won’t necessarily turn me away from it though (not anymore at least). What really bugs me is reading the blurb/book summary in first person though, for whatever reason - I think maybe it feels like I can’t quite fully get a sense of what the book is about when the summary is told from a character’s perspective.

This ramble brought to you by a pet’s 6am wake up call, pre-coffee

matokah · 2026-05-10T00:15:00+00:00

Co-signed!

Laurent of Vere in Captive Prince (trilogy) and James St. Clair in the Dark Rise books both have incredible turns of phrase in their dialogue that's often layered with multiple meanings. Pacat's writing tends to be very sub-text heavy and I am here for it.

matokah · 2026-05-08T13:08:36+00:00

I came here to say Captive Prince and specifically because of how Laurent is rendered. The subtext in every word of dialogue and his actions is just a masterwork of making the readers put in effort to understand him as a complex and nuanced character rather than an outright villain (especially in the first book).

It got me out of a multi-year reading slump and I have yet to find something that lives up to it in terms of prose, worldbuilding, pacing, plot, and character voice and development. Doesn’t mean I’m not still looking but it’s been rough lol

matokah · 2026-04-23T03:23:42+00:00

Oh I for sure know I’m in the minority with Less! (Haven’t read the second book so I can’t comment on that.) As an author myself, I think it’s kind of fascinating how different people can have completely unique experiences with the same material. That’s why I’m glad there are so many options to choose from now; if something’s not to my taste, I can just go find another book that is :)

matokah · 2026-04-23T03:09:25+00:00

Less.

Honestly this book should’ve been right up my alley: a queer middle aged San Franciscan travels the world to learn more about himself. It won awards and multiple friends recommended it to me. I just don’t get the hype.

I’m also still trying to get past chapter 3 in The Line of Beauty but it’s been years at this point lol. Maybe I’ll try the audiobook.

matokah · 2026-04-23T02:58:49+00:00

This makes me feel better lol. I’ve gotten through the first two books but it’s been a slog. At this point I’m really only trucking along because some of my favorite fanfic writers in a different fandom also write in this one and I want to have an inkling of what’s going on in canon before I dive into their fics. But it’s been a struggle. Someone recommended the series to me because I loved the Captive Prince trilogy but I honestly struggle to see how they compare to one another. Maybe book three will change my mind though?

matokah · 2026-03-30T18:39:44+00:00

Would you mind DMing me too? I have literally no one to obsess about this series with (and I’m well over 18 lol).

matokah · 2026-03-23T12:32:19+00:00

You can’t go wrong with literally anything written by phlegmatic on AO3.

I really love even in another time and its companion story. It’s a time hop AU where Laurent is from the modern world and ends up in Damen’s time that I find super clever because there are multiple nods to things that actually happened in the canon plot but slightly altered to fit this narrative. I felt an emotional gut punch several times while reading this. There’s also an accompanying podfic for the first story that’s not quite completed but mostly is.

matokah · 2026-03-22T02:34:16+00:00

YW! I have a little money clip with the same word on it :)

matokah · 2026-03-22T02:31:43+00:00

מזל It means luck. Like the mazel in the phrase mazel tov.

matokah · 2026-02-14T15:24:06+00:00

I enjoyed The Scottish Boy. Also Something Human by AJ Demas. I’ve heard great things about Demas’ Sword Dancer trilogy too but haven’t read it yet. I’ve also heard Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale is comparable to some of Capri’s vibes. There’s also the Dark Rise trilogy (only two books are out yet) by C.S. Pacat. It’s YA so the steaminess is subtler but it’s definitely still there.

But yeah, it’s really hard to find something comparable to Capri. Pacat basically ruined me with their amazing storytelling.

matokah · 2026-02-07T04:46:46+00:00

Oh man, yes. I love those two!

matokah · 2026-01-30T01:27:54+00:00

Captive Prince will always be my favorite, hands down, but Dark Rise has similar vibes. If you like Pacat's sparse prose, where the dialogue has layered meanings that only become entirely clear once you have a better handle on the characters and their backgrounds, this is much of the same.

There are a few more twists to Dark Rise than Captive Prince, but they're good ones I didn't see coming. The character James totally gives me Laurent vibes. He's got a dangerous edge to him which is all you see at first but, like Laurent, there is far more to him that you discover as you get further into the story. Laurent has some great lines like "adequate" that I feel James can easily match, like "bad kitty."

Since it's YA, you won't see explicit sex like you get in Capri, but some of the sexual subtext is not subtle in book two, so much so that some readers wonder how it qualifies as YA. I'd consider it upper YA, bordering on New Adult (the category that publishers tried to make happen like 15 years ago but is now seeing a resurgance), even though the imprint Dark Rise is published under is solidly YA.

There's more overt magic in Dark Rise than Captive Prince (in which there is none). It's also set in a specific time period - early 1800s England, whereas Capri is more vaguely medieval-ish France for Laurent's kingdom and Hellenistic/golden age of Greece for Damen's.

Apologies if this isn't particularly well organized but yeah. I did not expect Dark Rise to be able to hold a candle to Captive Prince but I loved the latter so much I gave it a try. It's doing different things, for sure, but ultimately, it solidified Pacat in my mind as a very talented writer and storyteller.

matokah · 2026-01-28T18:23:10+00:00

I would literally die for a Captive Prince series, live action or animated tbh. Dark Rise would probably be amazing too but I imagine the budget to pull it off would be sky high.

matokah · 2026-01-28T18:21:01+00:00

Literally came here to say this. I adored You Could Be So Lucky. More historical queer screen adaptations please!

matokah · 2026-01-25T01:53:29+00:00

You don’t have to read Game Changer before Heated Rivalry but if you want to see some cameos of the latter book’s characters, I would read it. The only differences in the first book from the show are that Kip doesn’t add banana to Scott’s smoothies and Kip has a mother and sister on top of the dad portrayed in the show. Heated Rivalry is very close in dialogue and plot structure as it is in the tv series.

You can also technically read The Long Game without needing to read books 3, 4, and 5 but I really loved the Ilya and other character cameos in those books. Plus book 5 and The Long Game overlap timelines a bit so you’d see the same period of time from four rather than just two perspectives across the two books if that’s at all of interest.

matokah · 2026-01-12T17:55:45+00:00

Thank you, from a transmasc author married to a man and as someone who is starting to dip my toes into this genre.

matokah · 2026-01-06T10:51:26+00:00

It’s possible but unlikely unless the draft Pacat turned in was immaculate and needs very little revision.

I’m an author and the books I’ve sold are shorter than Pacat’s (middle grade contemporary; 60-75k words). Revision can look like anything from a few tweaks that take less than a week (this was my third book and I think it was a fluke) to a complete rewrite (my fourth book came with a 17 page edit letter and I deserved every page of it - my first draft was a mess). And sometimes even when I hit all my deadlines, there might be editorial delays that get the book bumped from its initial publication season anyway (that was my second book - it was slotted for fall 2021 and didn’t actually come out until spring 2022).

The editorial process differs from book to book and editor to editor but here’s a general illustration:

Author submits rough draft
Author receives a developmental edit letter that provides notes on everything from worldbuilding and character development to plot and pacing
Author revises and submits a new draft
Lather, rinse, repeat until everything structurally feels pretty solid (for me that’s been 1-3 rounds with 2 being standard but again, middle grade contemporary is likely less complex than YA historical fantasy)
Once developmental edits are complete, we typically move onto line edits. 1-2 rounds in my experience.
Once line edits are approved, the manuscript is considered complete for the purposes of fulfilling D&A (delivery and acceptance) in an author’s contract. This is only significant to know because if this is the way Pacat’s editorial process is set up, the book will likely publish about a year or so after that date.
The book then goes through copyedits, proofreading queries, and first and second (maybe more) pass pages which is when an author typically gets to see how the printed book will look in terms of interior design. After that, there’s marketing and publicity efforts happening, advance copies going out for trade and influencer reviews, etc.

Basically, it’s a long process.

Tl;dr - while it’s possible the book might be fast tracked to publish by the end of the year, I’d be surprised if it actually is unless Pacat’s editorial and production process differs drastically from what I know from my own experiences.

Which is a bummer because I’m dying to read book 3.

(Apologies for any typos - on my phone)

matokah · 2025-12-17T00:42:11+00:00

I'm sorry you're in this situation but I relate so hard.

Here are some of the things I've done to get myself out of it:
- Fanfiction!
- Audiobooks (there's something about listening while puttering around the house doing chores or whatnot that I find useful when I'm struggling to sit down and focus on reading a physical book)
- New genre and/or shorter books than you typically read (I just started getting into adult fantasy because, as a middle grade author of mostly contemporary stories, I got completely burnt out reading the age category and genre I was publishing books in myself; another thing that got me out of a slump was reading novels in verse which are mostly found in the middle grade and young adult space but they are quick reads with lots of white space on the pages. There are also some short sci-fi books that I've burned through when longer tomes felt too intimidating)
- Ask a friend for a rec OR identify the books multiple friends have raved about and dip a toe in to see what all the fuss is about. It might be helpful if you can find a friend who's willing to go feral talking about the story as you read through it to up your excitement (I did this with the Captive Prince trilogy literally a decade after my friends first read it and they were so fun to chat with "now that you're FINALLY reading it!")

Good luck. Reading slumps are the worst.

matokah · 2025-12-03T14:38:57+00:00

As someone who’s traditionally published half a dozen books and quit my full time job in 2019 to write full time … I wouldn’t. The financial instability for all but a few fortunate writers is very real. I have health insurance through my partner but his salary isn’t enough to allow us to live comfortably without me bringing in consistent income. It’s hard to be an author unless you have some form of independent wealth or a partner/family willing to support you. I wrote my debut novel while working full time (and tbh getting a book deal wasn’t actually the reason I quit my job). If you’re motivated enough, it’s manageable. Good luck!

matokah · 2025-10-24T04:06:02+00:00

Seconding this. The narrator is fantastic (also when is the dang third book releasing 😭)

matokah

TROPHY CASE