The Next Circle of Hell, Vol. 2

ALSO a midwesterner (!) and I say no ope there, just a heck yes, you betcha!

HECK YES, YOU BETCHA!

Thank you all!! I am putting good vibes into the universe for everyone this last pre-break week....

RaggyCat and Helios, congratulations!!! I’m so happy this agent is feeling the love for your book, Raggy! Well deserved.

My CP thinks that editors like to clear their desks before the holidays, so I’m hoping for some rejections just for closure. Not really expecting anything else at this point.

Fuchsia Groan said:

My CP thinks that editors like to clear their desks before the holidays, so I’m hoping for some rejections just for closure. Not really expecting anything else at this point.

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Yep, December is scary. I finally got a response from my publisher (after weeks), and it was abrupt and a bit insulting, and … that's when I HAVE a publisher. I get everyone is busy, but I also think everyone on the other end needs to remember THEY hold all the power, and that they have the ability to make us feel pretty bad ...

I’m so sorry, Sonya! It can be a tough relationship to navigate, and they were probably just busy/stressed, but that never feels good. A respected author was tweeting recently about how you should never be afraid to ask your editor questions about your marketing plan, etc. because you need to know this stuff, and while I certainly agree that we should know things, it’s not easy to ask. Not at all.

Sonya Heaney said:

Yep, December is scary. I finally got a response from my publisher (after weeks), and it was abrupt and a bit insulting, and … that's when I HAVE a publisher. I get everyone is busy, but I also think everyone on the other end needs to remember THEY hold all the power, and that they have the ability to make us feel pretty bad ...

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Sorry to hear this. In a situation like this, I have no idea whether an agent would have been a good "buffer" to act as intermediary between you and your editor/publisher, or whether it wouldn't have made a difference for your specific circumstances.

Raggy - Congratulations!! Excited to see where this book ends up!!

Helios - WOOT!! What an amazing ride you’re on. I hope the editors one-up each other until you end up with a massive deal.

Fuchsia - Here’s to hoping that you get good news before things wind down for the holidays.

Sonya - Erggghhh, I’m so sorry to hear that. It does sound like maybe an agent might be handy in this case, to act as the bad cop so you don’t need to. I hope the new year brings you better news and a much smoother editor interaction.

My agent likes the bulk of the edits I made, so phewww. Just polishing needed and then hopefully sub/sob soon. I’ve also hit 35K in my WIP, and was feeling smug before I realized that that’s nowhere near halfway because it’s an adult book. DAMN YOU, ADULT WORDCOUNT!! Take me back to my 70K YA goals, please.

Putputt said:

My agent likes the bulk of the edits I made, so phewww. Just polishing needed and then hopefully sub/sob soon. I’ve also hit 35K in my WIP, and was feeling smug before I realized that that’s nowhere near halfway because it’s an adult book. DAMN YOU, ADULT WORDCOUNT!! Take me back to my 70K YA goals, please.

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I wrote a novella trying to keep it under 40K and that broke me. I don't know how anyone writes in word counts of that amount when I routinely break 140K on a typical SFF novel.

Shoeless said:

I wrote a novella trying to keep it under 40K and that broke me. I don't know how anyone writes in word counts of that amount when I routinely break 140K on a typical SFF novel.

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140K?! Heh, you are the exact opposite of me. I tend to write lean, and then flesh it out later on. Can’t imagine my first drafts coming in at anywhere near 140!

Feeling pretty weird here (Monday morning in Australia). We did "Christmas dinner" and presents and things last night because most of my family is going to be away on the real day. So I got up this morning and it felt like a holiday - and then I realised it wasn't and I have real work to do.

On Thursday I finally had a problematic book accepted for publication, and it's such a relief. Now I actually feel confident to write again ...

Putputt said:

Sonya - Erggghhh, I’m so sorry to hear that. It does sound like maybe an agent might be handy in this case, to act as the bad cop so you don’t need to. I hope the new year brings you better news and a much smoother editor interaction.

My agent likes the bulk of the edits I made, so phewww. Just polishing needed and then hopefully sub/sob soon. I’ve also hit 35K in my WIP, and was feeling smug before I realized that that’s nowhere near halfway because it’s an adult book. DAMN YOU, ADULT WORDCOUNT!! Take me back to my 70K YA goals, please.

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Thanks. lol about the word count. I added about 30 000 to a book recently - after I thought it was finished.

Calla Lily said:

Don't sneak something like this in! Shout it out!

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Lol, I read that and I was like, "This feels huge. It is huge, right?? Is it huge?" I'm glad you picked up on it, Calla. CONGRATULATIONS, SONYA!!!!

It’s been such an ordeal I don’t like thinking about it! It’s part of a series, and I’ve been paralysed writing the book after it, because I had to know what happened with this one. I’m not a crier, but when I finally got the notification that they were arranging the contract I had a moment …

Of course, now I’m free to work on the book that comes after it I’ve sat down and started work on an entirely different manuscript!

Adoptions and offers and contracts, oh my! It's so lovely to catch up here and see no bad news.

ShouldBeWriting said:

It’s been a while since I popped in. Good luck, January! And woohoo Helios!!! Did I miss anyone? And I’m doing the #meetthe2020s too. Are there others here? (I see you Atlantic and Earthling.) Fingers crosses there will be a whole batch of 2021s on here too.

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What are your and Atlantic's Twitter usernames? I'm so bad at matching people from here to there. *waves*

Sooo, my writing retreat in the remote cottage was a SUCCESS. After writing pretty much nothing for 18 months, I slowly oiled my writing wheels and got 12k done during the week I was there, and a further 12k last week. It feels so good to know that I can still write.

The NetGalley thing is going slowwwwwwly. I know there were a load of requests for my book but so far only two reviews have come in, both positve. My agent says not to worry as it's the holidays, but naturally I'm convinced the rest of them couldn't get past the first page and my debut will wallow in obscurity.

Oh congratulations Sonya! I actually missed your announcement the first time I scrolled through. What a relief! And happy tears are totally justified and nothing to be ashamed of.

Earthling, I'll be forever jealous that you went on a writing retreat! I'm glad it worked out and gave you a kick start after having stalled for so long.

December is a funny time in publishing, definitely. Years ago I had a sub deadline of around 16 Dec that ended up being unsurprisingly extended into January... combination of people taking leave and also being sick. I haven't heard myself about editors trying to clear their desks, but I can believe it happens.

Yay Sonya!! Are you thinking about getting an agent for the next project or forging ahead as is?

Earthling said:

The NetGalley thing is going slowwwwwwly. I know there were a load of requests for my book but so far only two reviews have come in, both positve. My agent says not to worry as it's the holidays, but naturally I'm convinced the rest of them couldn't get past the first page and my debut will wallow in obscurity.

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I'm not yet at the NetGalley stage, but then with a July release, it's still going to be several months before they move on that.

I have a July release too, Shoeless! That was also the case for my debut, and I think it went up on NG in January or February, but I could be misremembering.

Earthling said:

What are your and Atlantic's Twitter usernames? I'm so bad at matching people from here to there. *waves*.

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On Twitter I’m iamHRChavez.

Raggy - SO happy for you! Really well-deserved. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Helios - Wooooow. Such amazing news. I'm really enjoying watching this unfurl and thank you for taking us along on the ride. So exciting!

Sorry for disappearing briefly again - babies keep you busy, haha.

My news: on Friday my agent got in touch regarding that editor who was potentially interested in doing an R+R, if you remember? Anyway, the first email said that she'd sent a nudge and she'd had his out off office to say he's now off until January. So I was a bit gutted, because I at least wanted to know if he's still interested. But then another email from my agent pinged through, saying that he'd picked up the email despite now being off, said he's still interested and is going to re-read my MS over the break to marshal his thoughts - then he wants to meet me week commencing Jan 12th!!!! So it looks like I'm off to London (eeeeeek, mildly petrifying!!). My agent is going to be at the meeting also.

So yes, that's my news. I'm so glad he's still interested - and I'm now really excited to meet him, but also terrified of travelling to London on my own.

Do editors usually meet with authors if it's just an R+R? It's quite a way for me to go to London, and it will be expensive, too. But agent said he's more likely to fight for me if it gets to acquisition if we meet and he gets to know me a bit.

Thanks, Raggy!

polishmuse said:

Yay Sonya!! Are you thinking about getting an agent for the next project or forging ahead as is?

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I'm not going to for this series. The deal I signed for it takes the rights for each consecutive book (even though they're contracted individually), and at this point I just want to get it finished.

Next year, though … I guess I'll be querying like a maniac.

Earthling - I wouldn't be worried about the NetGalley thing. I didn't follow what was happening when my book was on there, but a lot of people wait until the release date to post their reviews. I used it for years (as a blogger) and I generally wouldn't review until the book was due out.

leewhowrites - That sounds really, really promising. Good luck with it!

I'm sure when you do query you'll be signed quickly, Sonya - you're publishing with a top house right now, what savvy agent wouldn't want to get onboard? One of the harder things might be identifying which agents you want, but I'd be amazed if they didn't consider you seriously. When I queried last year I wasn't successful but my past books meant in most cases I got personalised responses.

Lee, that's a really good sign (also, welcome to baby club - it decreases your procrastination by 100% and also ups your productivity by 100%, but also zaps your time in which to do anything). Your agent is totally right that it would be good to meet this editor, even if the R&R doesn't immediately bear fruit. If he thinks you seem open to revisions and someone with whom it would be easy to work, he's much more likely to push for you. When I think about it, one of my editor meetings for my debut was sort of a R&R meeting as the publisher didn't want to take the book as it was. Turns out the editor liked my attitude, and ended up offering based on an agreement for revisions. So, this could see you heading in a very positive direction - or at the very least, get an editor on your side.

Oh, also: keep your travel receipts. If this book does come good you can claim them as a work-related expense on your tax return.

I'm waiting for my new agent contract to come through. Once signed, I will allow myself to get cautiously excited about everything! I'm expecting some editorial notes from my new agent this week which is exciting. I also let my former agent know I'd found someone new yesterday as we were emailing about something else and she's really happy for me. It feels good that there's no ill-feeling there on either side.

Right, off to the coffee shop in the rain to attempt some New Shiny plotting...

Sonya - I feel like the fact that it was a difficult journey is cause for an even bigger celebration! And yeah, I agree with the others that you'll snag an agent very quickly once you do start querying.

Earthling - SUPER jealous about your writing retreat! And congratulations on the positive reviews for your book!!! How exciting!! The holidays would definitely slow people down...I'm having such a hard time writing and/or reading these days, what with the big kid home from school. I'm sure once the hols are over, the reviews will start coming in.

Lee - Sounds promising! And congratulations on the new baby!

Raggy - Congrats again on the new agent!! And aaaa, editorial notes! It's both somehow one of my favorite and least favorite part of the process. Did she mention any major changes, or are they mostly going to be tweaks?

No news on my end, but I just realized that all of my replies have been some form of congratulations, which is...a really nice realization to have. I'm so glad that 2019 has been so kind to us. May 2020 be even betterer!!

Putputt said:

Raggy - Congrats again on the new agent!! And aaaa, editorial notes! It's both somehow one of my favorite and least favorite part of the process. Did she mention any major changes, or are they mostly going to be tweaks?

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Thank you! It's been ages since I had any editorial notes so I'm quite psyched about receiving them! They're mostly going to be tweaks - a bit of character stuff, removing a scene that is contentious, redirecting a subplot, a few other small things. Nothing structural as far as I know, which is big relief. I've done major structural edits before and they make things such a mess.

Yay! Just tweaks