You can write an excellent book. You can publish with a major house. And your next manuscript can still get rejected.

Not because the writing isn’t there — you’ve already proven you’ve got the chops — but because publishing is an incredibly subjective and ever-changing business.

So fall in love with writing itself.

The authors who make it aren’t the ones chasing bestseller lists or trying to write toward whatever’s trending. They’re the ones who sit down at their desk, forget about the industry for a few hours, and remember why they started telling stories in the first place.

Because the only thing in publishing you can actually control is the words on the page.

In today’s interview, author and editor Elayne Audrey Becker shares the hardest truth she’s faced since her debut, how patience landed her four offers of representation, and the mindset shift that’s keeping her creative flame alive.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Elayne Audrey Becker

Author and Editor

Her novels FORESTBORN and WILDBOUND are available for purchase now!

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

After I received a contract for the Forestborn duology, a not insignificant part of me thought, “This is it. My author career has officially launched.” It wasn’t that I expected the books to become bestsellers out of the gate; having worked in publishing for so many years, I knew well how rare it was to have a debut break out and attract the attention of the masses. (I knew, too, that when a debut does “hit the list,” it is usually due to the publisher’s marketing push more so than the content or quality of the book itself.) Rather, I thought, “Okay, I’ve auditioned for this job and proven myself capable of doing it.” I thought it would be easier to secure another contract for a new book, now that my writing had passed the test.

Working as a novelist, however, turns out to be a role you have to audition for over and over again. In the three years since Wildbound was published, I have struggled to secure my next contract. Not because my manuscripts are bad, not because the quality of my writing isn’t there, but because publishing is, as my agent Tia Ikemoto puts it, “A moving target market based entirely on subjective opinions,” and my books have not fallen into whatever profitable trend happened to be dominating the fantasy market at the time of submission.

I won’t lie. To work on a novel for so many months—years—only to have the door shut in your face over and over is difficult. Demoralizing. Heartbreaking. But writers like myself don’t get into this business because we’re looking to make money. We write because we love it. Because we must. Because the stories taking shape in the corners of our minds demand to be told.

Reconnecting with that creative joy, nurturing its tiny flame, is my mission now. Here is what I tell myself: You can write an excellent book, and after all is said and done, it might be published. Or, you can not write the book, and then it definitely won’t be published. Always, I choose to take the option that comes with a chance. And as I continue drafting my newest novel, I don’t sit down at my desk and think about the publishing industry. I sit down and write because I love it. Because I must.

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

I queried a relatively small number of agents—about twenty in total—over the course of approximately eight months. I didn’t throw spaghetti at the wall; I was very intentional in deciding to whom I’d reach out, and I didn’t rush the process, choosing instead to gauge the initial response to my manuscript and let full requests play out. The waiting was hard, as were the inevitable rejections I received along the way. But I continued to believe in the quality of my work, and I carried on.

Around the eight-month mark, I sent out a query to another agent on my list, and less than a week later, I had received an offer of representation. A dream come true! In the end, I received four offers of representation and accepted the one that felt right in my gut, and that blossomed into a wonderful partnership. Eight years later, I have since switched agents within CAA to someone who works more closely with the kind of fiction I aim to write, and I am so thrilled to be there!

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Changing up my space makes an enormous difference when I’m in a writing rut. I go to my favorite coffee shop, treat myself to an oat milk latte and perhaps a pastry, and choose a table where I can feel my creativity surfacing. Often, this is enough to do the trick and kickstart productivity.

When that fails, however, I put the book down entirely and take a break. Stepping away from a manuscript for a couple of weeks can feel really counterproductive, but by now, I’ve realized the opposite is true. Doing so allows me to return to the manuscript with fresh eyes and a recharged creative battery.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

That the quality of a book determines whether or not it sells, and that authors have a large degree of input in how their books get packaged and marketed.

In reality, authors have next to no control in the publishing process. That relinquishing of control begins as early as submitting one’s manuscript to publishers. You can and should make your book the very best it can be, but at the end of the day, market positioning and commercial appeal are two of the biggest determinants in whether or not a publisher offers on a book—and while you should be cognizant of the market in which you’re aiming to write, you cannot control what will be popular at the time your book happens to go out on sub. This can be thoroughly depressing to creatives who just want to tell good stories because they are good. But it is the reality. Publishing is a business, and its leadership wants to make money.

Then, if you manage to land a contract and a good editor, they may include you in various parts of the decision-making that happens on the 18-24 month road to publication. But even with the very best and most inclusive editors, 95% of meetings about your book will still happen in-house, outside the author’s sphere of awareness; authors do not control the cover art given to their books, the manner in which the books are typeset, the degree to which their books are pushed by the publisher. When I worked as an editor at a major publisher, I was privy to that 95%. As an author, I wasn’t, and boy was that hard at times! Our books are our babies, the characters real to us, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of properly.

Ultimately, though, the only thing in publishing that writers can control is the words on the page. So we just have to focus on making those as good as we can make them.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?

One of the best things I’ve ever done for my writing is to learn to take feedback, period. When I was younger, I used to balk at the prospect of being told to change things about my stories. I had trouble separating the work from the person, and so took critical feedback on my work as personal insults.

Now, I love receiving critical feedback on my manuscripts. I crave it. As someone who works as both an author and an editor, I know very well how important it is to receive an outsider’s perspective on one’s novel. As writers, after picking away at a manuscript over and over and over again, at a certain point, we lose the ability to actually see what is on the page. We become blind to our books. Because of this, it’s impossible to maximize our story’s potential and make it the best it can be without gaining feedback from a trusted source.

You don’t want to make changes based on just any person’s opinion, of course. I don’t take critical feedback from “randos” on the internet who have negative things to say about my books—why would I? I know nothing about their professional background in writing or editing. I do, however, immensely value feedback from editors, my agent, and writer friends. The day I receive feedback can sting, but my books are always, always, better once I implement their notes.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

This is something I’m in the process of figuring out right now. To make a very long story short, what I keep coming back to is this reminder: “Do not write to sell. Write because you love it.”

Nowadays, when I sit down to work on my newest novel, I try to divorce thoughts of my book from thoughts of publishing as much as possible. I try, instead, to simply sink into the joy that writing and telling stories brings me. I try to lean into the fun of it all. And when I do that—when I can manage to forget about the industry and marketability and sales tracks for a brief time—my writing comes out better, and I am happier. So I will continue down this path.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share the signs that indicate you’re querying or self-publishing too soon (and setting yourself up to fail).

Watch the video!

Including me.

At first, I was bummed that the big publishers passed on my book, a nonfiction guide to querying written with the creator of QueryTracker. I worked at both Macmillan and Penguin Random House (on the fiction side) and was most familiar with the big corporate publishing environment. It was where I’d hoped my own book would eventually land.

So when rejections rolled in from big house after big house, they stung. Some thought our book was too niche, others said there was too much overlap with other books they already bought.

But then we got enthusiastic interest from a published I’d never heard of before: Matt Holt Books (an imprint of BenBella Books), which my agent had suggested putting on our submission list.

And it turned out that not having my book published by a Big Five house might have been the best possible outcome for me and my co-author.

Let me tell you why.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

The publishing plot twist I didn’t see coming

BenBella is known for being an author-friendly house, which feeds into how they approach the editorial process, cover design, and marketing. Working with them turned out to be a completely different experience from what I’d been preparing for.

Working with an independent house totally reframed what I consider a “good” book deal and expanded my view of the current publishing landscape.

So today I want to share everything that has surprised me about working with an independent publisher over a Big Five house: the benefits, the downsides, and the tradeoffs nobody talks about.

Because there are so many more publishing avenues available today than ever before, and sometimes the less-obvious paths are the more rewarding ones.

1. The edits were shockingly minimal

As a developmental editor, I was 100% expecting my co-author and I to have to tear our book apart and rebuild it from scratch. After all, neither of us had written a nonfiction book before.

I’d braced myself for months of structural overhauls, painful cuts, and revision letters that ran ten pages long. That’s the kind of edit I deliver to my own clients (sorry, it’s out of love, I promise!), and it’s what I’d seen authors receive from the houses I worked at.

But here’s the email we got from our editor instead…

Read more

After countless mornings and nights spent just you, your laptop, and your story, it’s easy to feel like being a writer is isolating.

But the authors who level up are the ones who let people in. Because getting input from other people is what will actually move your craft forward. They could be critique partners, trusted editors, or fellow writers who get what you’re doing.

So share your work, even when it’s scary.

Putting your draft in front of someone you trust is how you find the gaps you can’t see on your own. It’s also what keeps you grounded when rejection inevitably knocks you.

In today’s interview, acclaimed author and creative writing teacher George Jreije shares the one technique that transformed his writing, why person-to-person connection sustains him through the harder parts of publishing, and how he stays creative when life gets impossibly busy.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

George Jreije

Acclaimed Author and Creative Writing Teacher

Latest novel, BASHIR BOUTROS AND THE JEWEL OF THE NILE, available now!

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

The one technique that transformed my writing and leveled me up as an author was sharing my work with others for feedback. Without a doubt, I couldn’t have achieved the success I’ve had on my own. Not without the wonderful critique partners, editors, and of course, my wife (the first person who reads any manuscript).

Sharing my work with professionals and readers who I trust challenges me to put out the best work I can, and I’ve grown so much since I began to bake it into my process.

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

I most enjoy sharing my love of writing and all that I’ve learned as an author to connect with others. This might be working with clients who aspire to get to where I am now, but it also manifests in getting to visit schools and helping to motivate students to read and think like authors themselves. Without that person-to-person connection, I couldn’t sustain the harder parts of being a writer myself.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

It’s fundamental to my writing that I’m always placing a piece of my identity in my characters or the story. For example, many of my characters are Lebanese or Lebanese-American, like I am. Some even have alopecia like I do!

Being sure to establish that very personal connection allows me to write authentically and craft characters who feel like real people.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

Rejection comes at every stage of an author’s journey. Before getting to choose from several literary agents, I amassed dozens of rejections. I wasn’t ready for the fact that, even with an agent, publishers can still pass on my work.

It’s happened with every project I’ve put out, and the first few publisher rejections were especially difficult, but I got through them by continuing to do that one thing which I knew how to do best — writing!

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

Life’s always busy when you wear multiple hats, so to speak. For example, I’m fortunate to have a thriving freelance editing career helping other aspiring authors, but there’s also the business of publishing my own novels as well as my speaking engagements.

That’s why I seek out the few minutes between daily tasks, when I can whip out my laptop (or even my phone) and type up a few sentences. You’d be surprised how much those precious minutes, day after day, can add up!

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I review three manuscripts (submitted by you!) that make the same mistake on page 1.

Watch the video

It’s unclear what your protagonist actually wants.

The writing might be beautiful. The setting might be vivid and immersive. But if I can’t pinpoint what’s driving the protagonist forward, the plot will feel directionless — and the story will fall apart.

That’s how important your protagonist’s objective is. It’s the foundation your entire plot is built on.

But it may not be coming through in your draft as clearly as you think.

What “plot” really boils down to

I’ve seen too many writers tie themselves in knots trying to “get the plot right.” In an attempt to make the process easier, countless resources, methodologies, and worksheets for plotting have emerged:

• Save the Cat!

• The Hero’s Journey

• The Three-Act Structure

• The 7-Point Story Structure

• The Snowflake Method

The list goes on. And as helpful as they can be, in actuality, you don’t need to follow any of them to create a solid plot.

I’m going to strip the complex concept of plot down to just three core elements. That’s truly all you need to create a compelling, page-turning story.

Then, I’ll walk you through a simple exercise that will help you stress-test your novel’s plot.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

Preorder now!

My 3-ingredient plot recipe

Plotting is a lot like cooking.

It might feel like there are a million things that you need to plot effectively, but you don’t actually need a kitchen full of ingredients to make something delicious. The best recipes are the ones that get a few key ingredients exactly right.

At its core, every plot is built from just three elements working together:

Read more

Every writer dreams of that magical flow state — the one where the words pour out, time disappears, and writing feels effortless. But that magic rarely happens. 90% of the time, writing is messy, clunky, and hard.

If you only write when it feels easy, you’ll never finish your book.

Show up anyway — even if you have to trick yourself into it.

Don’t wait for inspiration. Set the bar absurdly — hilariously — low. Light a candle, pour a drink, or do whatever silly little ritual it takes to get yourself in the chair.

In today’s interview, editor and USA Today bestselling author Halley Sutton shares why her first drafts are intentionally rough, the seduction trick she uses to coax herself into writing on hard days, and the simple plot advice from grad school that still guides her novels today.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Halley Sutton

Editor & USA Today Bestselling Author

Latest novel, THE HURRICANE BLONDE, available now!

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

I love when I get into the flow state with writing, where time melts away and you feel like you’re under the skin of the story. I love it when it feels like the words come out in the exact right order, and it’s all easy.

That said, that happens maybe...ten percent of the time I write?

When I was younger, I used to want to write only when I got into that flow state. What I’ve discovered, particularly in writing books, is that that’s a nice-to-have, not a need to have.

Now, my first drafts are often very, VERY messy because I’m not living under the skin of the book yet—I’m teaching myself how to get there. That’s also a necessary part of the process, especially to actually get through a draft of a book!

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Sometimes I have to seduce myself into writing, when the writing gets hard. For me, this looks like cleaning up a corner of my house, lighting some candles, turning on my record player (because it’s way vibey-er than Spotify) and pouring myself a little nonalcoholic beverage. I have to coax myself into writing like a scared little fawn into a meadow by cosplaying a Romantic Writer Who Writes, Dammit.

That may not be what your romantic writing setup looks like, and if I had to do this setup every time I tried to write, I’d never get anything done. BUT when you’re really struggling, I’ve found that sometimes really making the effort to curate my setting signals to my brain that we’re serious about our creativity, we’re making the time and space for it, and now we need to get into it.

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

In grad school, I had one professor give me a really simple piece of plot advice that I’ve held onto ever since. This is something that I suspect many of us know intuitively, but hearing it spoken aloud really clicked for me: You should solve your plot strands in reverse order of importance.

For example, your C plot should be resolved first, then your B plot, and finally, your A plot. I think this is most helpful when you get into really plotting out the second half of your book — whether you plot ahead of time, or do a reverse outline after a first draft — it basically gives you a roadmap to the end of your book.

Like I said, this is something that I think a lot of us intuitively understand, but hearing it said out loud was a lightbulb as I was trying to figure out how to bring all the strands of my first book together.

Psst: I wrote a book! Check it out ☺️

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

The current best tool I have for protecting my writing when things get busy is to set the bar for writing as low as it can be. For me, that looks like telling myself I only have to write two hundred words a day. And they do not have to be good words! Two hundred words is a really small chunk for me but sometimes, even that might not be manageable. Then I halve it — one hundred words.

The point is forcing myself to sit down and engage with my manuscript daily, even on days when I’m exhausted. That doesn’t mean I manage to write every day. But even on most of my busy days, I can manage, if I make the goal small enough, to achieve it.

Life comes in busy seasons and less busy seasons. I think the key is just to not let the busy seasons take you so far away from your manuscript that it’s really hard to get back to it.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

There’s so much waiting! When you start to query, you’re waiting to hear back from agents. When you’re out on submission, you’re waiting to hear back from editors. You’re even waiting for your editor’s feedback for different lengths of time, depending on how busy they are.

You really, really, REALLY need good outlets to distract you during all that waiting. That might be starting a new book if you can manage it, or taking up a new hobby, or watching every single James Bond film in order. Whatever it is, find something to distract yourself that you can submerge yourself in for many, many, many long waits!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

That your book has to be a big hit to be a success. Most books that get published do not sell hundreds of thousands (or even tens of thousands!) of copies. Most books do not earn out. That doesn’t mean your publisher didn’t make money on it, by the way. That’s another myth.

But besides the feeling of personal accomplishment, being published can bring other opportunities your way: speaking opportunities, book review opportunities, teaching opportunities. Your career is not over if your book doesn’t hit the NYT bestsellers list!

In your publishing journey, there are going to be things that happen that disappoint you majorly, and there are going to be things that happen that are beyond your wildest dreams. I think that’s true of every book, from biggest hit to smallest launch.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I’m sharing which overused character tropes are hurting fiction right now and what I’d love to see instead.

Watch the video

It’s the tough truth every aspiring author needs to be prepared for. Even with glowing reviews, big launch day buzz, and a perfectly curated social media campaign, nothing guarantees your book will break through.

What actually moves the needle is simple: readers telling others they have to read your book.

So work on crafting a book readers can’t resist.

The best thing you can do for your publishing career is write the strongest book possible — and that starts with knowing what’s out there.

Read what’s currently being published in your genre. It’s how you understand the landscape you’re entering, find the white space for your story, and make sure you’re writing a book that readers are actually hungry for.

In today’s interview, agent Gideon Pine discusses the power of word-of-mouth, the issue with “copycat” writing, and the surprising new way readers are consuming fiction.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Gideon Pine

Agent at Inkwell Management

Gideon is currently looking for:

• Big Idea nonfiction

• Journalist exposé (OpenAI whistleblowers welcome)

• Narrative Nonfiction

• Health & Wellness / Self-Help

• Chef/Influencer-driven Cookbooks

• Literary or Upmarket fiction with loud imagination in the quiet moments. Think: a John Irving novel, or for those who do not have the literary tastes of a 70-year-old man, which I admittedly do, a Kaveh Akbar or Miranda July novel.

• Always looking for serious crime novels with style (ex. FIVE DECEMBERS, A GIFT BEFORE DYING, THE HEAVENLY TABLE, SHIBUMI) and writers like Ira Levin, Laura Lippman, and Stephen Graham Jones who are masterful acrobats with their prose. Then there are those who embrace the weird and even grotesque - Alvaro Enrigue, Katherine Dunn, Ava Reid, Olga Ravn - who all write with a lot of heart and intention beneath the surreal and terrifying.

• A sportswriter for specific project

• A psychologist with a significant social media platform for specific project

• A literary fiction author with an interest in Japanese culture for specific project

What’s one challenge most debut authors don’t see coming, and how do you help them navigate it?

Most debut authors underestimate how important word of mouth is for their success. The only thing remotely close to having a sure path to success is if a novel becomes a Reese or Jenna pick.

Otherwise, a debut author can have a buzzy debut that gets write-ups in all the right places, only to learn that book reviews are not the needle-movers they used to be. Ultimately, it’s word of mouth that pushes titles like THE IDEA OF YOU and THE CORRESPONDENT to the top of the charts.

The takeaway here should be that there is so, so much that authors can’t control, so the best thing to focus on is trying to write the best book you can and see how the universe responds!

What is one piece of advice you would give to a writer who aspires to be published?

For novelists, read high-quality contemporary fiction (and please don’t tell me everything being published today sucks). If your manuscript is “nothing like anything that’s out there,” then that’s probably not a good thing.

There are always exceptions — Samantha Harvey’s ORBITAL is unique, but her prose is also world-class, which counts for something — but most of the time, the person who says that there are no comps for their book has likely written a book for no one.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What’s the most common issue you see in manuscripts that keeps you from saying yes?

Too much copycat and ripped from the headlines fiction. Obvious Colleen Hoover, James Patterson, and Frieda McFadden influence. It’s difficult to replicate their success.

Then there’s the AI thriller. The climate change thriller. The veiled Trump admin thriller. I understand the instinct, but writers need to remember that whatever they are writing won’t be for sale until at least 12-18 months after acquisition.

That’s why I look for fiction that takes me away from the familiar and shows me an entirely different world. The stakes don’t always have to be maximal.

Ian McEwan’s THE INNOCENT is a perfect example of small stakes in what is otherwise heavyweight fiction. Not everything needs to lead to the end of the world; sometimes, it can just lead to the end of a relationship, which could feel like the end of the world if delivered with potency.

Psst: I wrote a book about querying! Check it out ☺️

What trends or shifts in publishing do you think emerging authors should have on their radar?

This is the definition of anecdotal data, but I am noticing a lot of online reviewers (Goodreads, Amazon, etc.) are starting to classify books as either the kind you have to give your full attention or the kind you only have to pay partial attention. I suppose that’s the creeping popularity of audiobooks at work. But it never occurred to me that people would consider not giving a book their full attention.

In a world where there’s 10,000 things competing for your attention at once, friends, family, and books are among those that deserve your undivided attention. What someone can do with this information… I have no idea. But maybe someone reading this will appreciate the message.

How can a writer tell when their manuscript is truly ready to query?

A manuscript is truly ready to query once the author believes it is the best possible manuscript it can be. When they feel they’ve given an agent no reason to say no. Of course, reality might dictate different terms, but the author at least needs to feel that they’ve done their absolute best.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I’m revealing the mistake I see in 50% of the novels I edit — and showing you real examples of how to fix it.

Watch the video

I honestly thought I was late to the game, that the Internet had already moved onto the next bookish drama.

Boy, was I wrong.

The video instantly shot up to my most-watched in months and is now at more than 115,000 views. It’s tracking to be my most-viewed video of all time.

If you haven’t watched it yet or have no idea what I’m referencing, check it out here.

There are still so many unknowns with the Shy Girl case that aren’t worth further speculating on, but what’s abundantly clear is that authors are rattled. They’re worried that they’ll be the next ones “burned at the stake” in the AI witch hunts.

So let’s talk about it: what can — and what should — you do if you’re accused of using AI to write?

No one is safe from AI accusations (myself included)

I’ve personally received two AI accusations: one person suggested that I used AI to write an Instagram caption, and another person claimed to run my two-sentence YouTube video description into an AI detection tool and said it came back as AI-generated. (In that very video, I discuss how AI detection tools are not completely reliable, but that’s beside the point.)

I didn’t use AI in either case. But does it even matter? Once someone is convinced you used AI, can you ever dig yourself out of that accusation? Can you prevent these accusations upfront?

Luckily, these comments were isolated and didn’t negatively impact my business. But the same can’t be said for Mia Ballard — whether Shy Girl contained AI writing or not, her name will now be associated with it.

And I suspect that anyone who publicly posts or publishes content is going to face an AI accusation at some point.

So…how do we respond?

Read more

Even after you sign with an agent and sell your book to a major publisher, you might face challenges in your publishing career.

Your publisher could restructure. Your agent could retire. The deal you thought was your big break could fall apart — putting you back at square one.

But giving up is never the best option.

The writers who build lasting careers are the ones who keep showing up, even when the industry lets them down. They revamp old projects, nurture new connections, learn about the industry, and trust that persistence will eventually give them new opportunities.

It’s not glamorous, and it’s definitely not fast, but it’s how you rebuild when publishing knocks you down.

In today’s interview, author Annelise Ryan takes us behind the scenes of a decades-long career, sharing the reality of losing a major deal, the Sunday afternoon phone call that changed everything, and the best cures for a creative block.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Annelise Ryan

Author

Monster in the Moonlight, Book #4 in the Monster Hunter Mysteries, is out now!

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

Getting published at all was a long and arduous journey, decades of rejections and learning. But I’d have to say the toughest moment overall was a one-two punch when HarperCollins decided to drop me as an author before my third book with them came out, and my agent became so frustrated with the way the industry was going that she decided to retire two years later.

This was in the late nineties, and it was a strange time in the publishing world because there were these new things called e-books out there, and lots of folks were panicking. Publishers were merging and reorganizing, some were closing shop, and agents were dropping like flies.

After thinking my writing career was finally taking off because I had an agent who had sold three of my books to HarperCollins, I suddenly found myself with no agent, no publisher, and no prospects. It was a devastating setback for me. I got through it by continuing to write, revamping a story I’d been working on for several years, and keeping at it. Eventually it paid off, but it took several years.

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

My first literary agent came after I’d sent out 39 query letters. I’d had a handful of manuscript requests but wasn’t expecting any agent to call me at home on a Sunday. Yet she did. I honestly thought it was a friend playing a joke on me at first. Once I realized she was legit, it was all I could do to contain my excitement. She and I went on to do three books with HarperCollins, but then she decided to retire.

I spent a few years with another agent I queried for a new project but he didn’t seem to have the enthusiasm for my work I wanted to see, so after three years we parted ways.

A few years after that, a contact I’d made doing book reviews for B&N.com became an agent, and she called me out of the blue to ask if I had anything. I did, and she went on to sell my Mattie Winston Mystery series to Kensington. After a few years, she switched from agenting to becoming a published writer herself, but another agent in the company took me on, so I didn’t have to go agent hunting again. Thank goodness! It’s a humbling process.

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

There are almost no overnight successes. It takes time and hard work.

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

I think too many writers ignore the need to learn not just the craft of writing — it’s about more than simply putting words on the page — but also the business side of writing for publication. Whether you intend to self-publish, go the traditional route, or choose some hybrid mix in between, you need to approach it like a professional because it’s a business.

That means learning and understanding things like the markets, trends, goals of publishers, costs of publication, the needs of bookstore owners, what attracts readers, and even the nitty-gritty, day-to-day stuff like book distribution networks and discounting.

If you want to write simply for your own pleasure, have at it. But if you want to write for publication, you need to put in the time to learn how to do it — all of it — properly.

Psst: I wrote a book! Check it out ☺️

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Sometimes I have to step away from the work and do something uncreative, like take a walk in the woods, go for a bike ride, or tackle some heavy-duty housecleaning tasks I’ve been putting off. Sometimes I’ll read a book or binge-watch something way outside my writing genre. My subconscious mind is working all the time, and, while it took me some years and a few books to realize that and trust the process, I now know I can rely on it. Eventually, the answer will come.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

I write what I enjoy reading. If it doesn’t entertain me, how can I expect it to entertain anyone else? I’m not striving to write great literature, I simply want to spin a good tale that will keep readers entertained and let them escape from the real world into the imaginary one I’ve created for a while.

What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?

The best and most frustrating advice I ever received was to “find my voice.” I had several writing instructors say this to me and tell me I hadn’t found it yet after they read my work, and I had no idea what it meant. I still don’t.

But I kept trying to find it and changing my writing approach and style until, one day, someone told me I’d finally found my voice. It’s more of an ethereal concept than an identifiable thing, yet I can now recognize it in my head and tell when my writing lacks it. I wish I could bottle it up and sell it! Or at least store it on a shelf so I don’t have to ever worry about losing it.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

Those days when I sit down to write and feel like I’ve been at it for maybe an hour and then realize five hours have gone by and I don’t want to take a break because I’m so excited about where the story is going. Getting into that groove is such a high. Then there’s the moment when you realize you’re finished with a project and ready to send it out into the world. That’s both scary and exciting.

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

It can get to be a challenge at times, but I’ve learned that I don’t need to be in front of my laptop or sitting with pen and paper to be writing. I’ve worked through plot points while driving in my car and dictated notes to myself on my phone while watching my nieces in a game and scribbled down an idea on a napkin in a restaurant and stuffed it in my pocket.

When deadlines start pressuring me, I sometimes have to beg off of social events and family gatherings in the name of getting the work done, but I’m something of an introvert anyway, so people have come to expect that of me. I’m fiercely protective of my writing time when I need to be.

ICYMI…last week on YouTube, I discussed why the Shy Girl scandal is a wake-up call for the entire publishing industry.

Watch the video

Sending out their manuscript way before it’s actually ready.

I get it: you finally reached “the end,” and you should feel incredibly proud and excited for the next steps! Few authors reach this milestone.

But the hard truth is that your manuscript probably isn’t the strongest it can be yet. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer or that your story sucks. Revision is just a critical part of the process.

Your manuscript deserves your patience.

The highest form of respect you can show your story is putting in the work it deserves. No author’s first draft is perfect, but your story will become something incredible in time.

In an industry where agents might only say “yes” five times out of thousands of queries sent to them, you need a story that’s ready to enter the highly competitive market.

In today’s interview, Vice President & Executive Agent Brent Taylor shares the most common reason he has to pass on a project, the secret to making sample pages hum with tension, and why your social media presence matters more than it did a decade ago.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Brent Taylor

Vice President & Executive Agent at Triada US

Brent is open to queries via QueryTracker and is actively looking for new clients in a variety of genres and categories. See his MSWL here.

What’s the most common issue you see in manuscripts that keeps you from saying yes?

I believe that many writers get so excited about the prospect of seeking traditional publication that they begin querying their projects too early.

I recommend that authors really take their time to make their manuscript the best that it can be. Workshop it with friends, critique partners, etc. Only begin querying it when you truly don’t see how you could possibly make the manuscript any stronger.

How can querying authors ensure their sample pages are engaging and intriguing?

Start the story where something is already in motion. Agents don’t need explosions on page one, but we do need tension. That could be a question raised, or a problem introduced.

You also need to introduce your voice as an author and the voice of your characters. I should be seeing on the page why you are specifically the writer to tell this story.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Work with me

What traits or qualities do you look for in a potential client?

I’m looking for a client to be a creative collaborator and a business partner. We should feel like strategic partners at every stage of the process, respecting one another’s ideas while also feeling comfortable bringing up our own thoughts and opinions.

Approximately how many queries do you receive per year, and how many of those result in an offer of representation?

Between 5,000 and 10,000, and I offer representation around 5 times per year.

Psst: I wrote a book! Check it out ☺️

What trends or shifts in publishing do you think emerging authors should have on their radar?

10 years ago, the industry felt that social media wasn’t that effective at selling books. Now, social media has the power to sell hundreds of thousands of books! I think a strong, energetic, and passionate social media presence is essential in this market.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share the real difference between bad and great writing — and a practical exercise you can apply to your WIP.

Watch the video

I saw debut authors sign massive book deals. I saw agents launch new talent onto bestseller lists. And, sadly, I saw hundreds of queries get rejected.

But the most exciting days were the ones where we received that rare query that made the agent sit up in their chair. One that they pounced on immediately.

“Request the full right now,” they’d tell me. And then we’d read it immediately.

Sometimes these queries would end up getting multiple agent offers, and the author would have to choose between them in what the industry calls a “beauty contest.”

Looking back, I realized that those select queries that got so much buzz and excitement had one thing in common:

The stories were all what the publishing industry calls “high-concept.”

You’ve probably heard this term thrown around. Maybe you’ve seen it on a literary agent’s manuscript wish list and wondered: Does my book need to be high-concept to get published? And what the heck does that mean, anyway — that I have to throw in a bunch of explosions or set it in a speculative world?

(The answers are no, by the way.)

Today, I want to talk about the power of high-concept storytelling and why every author should harness it, even if your story is “quiet.”

Because it can make agents and readers pay attention (and buy in) even before they’ve read a single word of your writing.

OK…but what is a high-concept book?

Read more

Editing isn’t a single item you check off your to-do list and move on from. Drafts are rewritten, restructured, and revised — often more than once. You think you’re finished, and then the story needs more from you.

Revisions can be draining. Discouraging at times. But as an editor, I truly believe the…

Read more

Publishing one, or even multiple, books doesn’t automatically mean the rest of your career is made. Your next book might get a lowball offer or outright rejected. You might switch agents or editors.

So, how do you get through it?

Lean on your author friends.

They’re the ones who have been with you fo…

Read more

I’d finished it in a single sitting.

Granted, I’d read several novels in bursts like that — but they were mostly manuscripts I was required to read quickly for work. This one was purely for enjoyment. I didn’t even mean to read it so quickly. It just happened.

Today I want to show you how to write like that. How to make readers addicted to turning the pages. How to make your story unputdownable.

The science behind addictive storytelling

The novel was called Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips.

If you haven’t read it, here’s the premise: a mother and her four-year-old son are trapped inside a zoo after closing time when shooters open fire. The entire story unfolds over roughly three hours. It’s raw, visceral, and uncomfortably intimate.

I physically couldn’t stop reading it.

The writing was strong, yes — but that wasn’t the crux of what made the novel so compulsively readable. Plenty of beautifully written books don’t grip you like that.

So what was Gin Phillips doing that made it impossible to look away, page after page?

It turns out I wouldn’t be able to articulate the answer until years later, when I discovered a powerful psychological principle that master storytellers know how to harness.

And once you understand it, you’ll never approach your story the same way again.

Read more

Rejection after rejection can be difficult to face, especially if you’ve been in the query trenches for years and have queried multiple manuscripts. It can feel like your dream of being published isn’t on the horizon.

But that’s not true.

Success is ahead of yo…

Read more

A writer’s curse is that you will hear “no” far more than you’ll hear a “yes.” That doesn’t mean you can’t write. That doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. That doesn’t mean your publishing dreams will fail.

It just means you’re in the game.

So write for yourself, always.

Who are you writing for, really? No, …

Read more

Do you wait for feedback from your critique partners or revise as you go? Do you tackle the edits in chronological order or jump around?

Just as there’s no right way to write, there’s no right way to revise.

Slow down to work through the issues.

If you’re writing on deadline, you may be tempted to speed through your revisions ASAP. But s…

Read more

When you let what you think readers want dictate your writing, it’s easy to lose your personality and voice — and your story will suffer.

Instead, stay true to yourself. The story you want to tell. The people you want to write about. And the right readers will find you.

Be authentically yourself, and …

Read more

Now might be the absolute hardest time to be a querying author. Agents are taking longer to review their queries. More agents are adopting the “no reply means a rejection” policy. Publishers are closing up their purses, which affects how many clients agents take on.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t make it through. A quick scan through the debut section on Publishers Marketplace shows that publishers are still interested in fiction from first-time authors!

In 2025, there were 390 deals reported to Publishers Marketplace in the debut category (note that this database does not contain all deals, since they have to be reported, and it doesn’t include all the authors who signed with literary agents).

To celebrate the start of the new year, I’m wrapping up the best query advice I heard this year from traditionally published authors and literary agents featured in this newsletter.

Here are their 8 best tips for surviving — and getting out of — the querying trenches:

1. Just because an agent loves your book doesn’t mean they’re the right agent

I know it can be tempting to accept the first agent offer you get. But it’s very important that you take the time to ensure it’s the right offer. Make sure that you wait for the agent who will share your vision and bring it to fruition.

“Sometimes, agents absolutely love your manuscript and it sticks with them, but that doesn’t mean they’re the ‘right agent’ for the publishing process.

There could be a thousand factors involved, but it often boils down to whether they can reasonably position your book in the market. While this can make querying authors frustrated or bitter, you actually want an agent that will be that transparent with you. An agent who takes on a client without having a sales strategy or industry experience can be a major problem in the future.

If you’re looking to publish traditionally, it’s likely that you want the work to reach a larger audience. If that’s the case, you want to partner with someone who has a well defined strategy to make that happen.”

— Allison Gunn, author of Nowhere

2. Be flexible and receptive

Most agents are editorially inclined, meaning they’ll want to work with you to revise and strengthen your book before submitting it to publishers. So agents are looking for authors who are flexible, receptive to their feedback, and want to produce the most polished book possible.

“I would say one of the biggest green flags for me is flexibility. When signing new authors, I always tell them that my editorial suggestions are in the end, suggestions, and that the revision process is an ongoing conversation, not a mandate. And this is true!

But I always look for authors who are willing to kill their darlings, so to speak, and be flexible and receptive to edits both big and small. Being flexible and willing to look at your manuscript through a different lens often yields the best book and the best results.

Beyond that, the submission and publication process can be lengthy, arduous, and sometimes disappointing. The ability to manage the highs and lows of the publishing industry is crucial.”

— Lily Dolin, Associate Agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

Want professional eyes on your query package?

“Because of Alyssa’s feedback on my query letter, I was able to obtain a reputable agent who then sold my book to a top 5 publisher! When I needed help choosing an editor, she was there to chime in and offer guidance! And even eleven months later when I asked for insight choosing an imprint, she helped then, too!”

—Bailey Evers, contemporary romance author

Work with me

3. Personalization can go a long way

Despite what you hear people say, you do not need a personal connection to get an agent. Cold queries lead to representation offers and book deals all the time!

One small thing you can do to stand out in agents’ inboxes is personalize your query letters. You should already do some research on the agent before deciding to query them, so mention something from their MSWL or client list that caught your attention.

“After sending my manuscript to about ten or more friends and really trying to polish it as much as possible, I cold emailed a list of agents in batches of five or ten using a spreadsheet I made in Google Sheets with each agent name, agency, a book I liked that they represented, and their query format.

Personalizing each query letter and making sure that I was querying the right agent at each agency for my manuscript helped me find my agent.”

— Lauren Ling Brown, author of Society of Lies

4. Capitalize on any momentum you get

Too many authors, after getting rejection after rejection, feel they have to work with the first agent who shows interest. But this can dramatically limit your options.

Here’s what you should do instead:

Read more

The moment your book hits the shelves is often imagined as the ultimate peak — all the years of hard work and patience have led to this day. It’s an amazing high, but it sadly doesn’t last forever.

Remember that your worth is not tied to your book launch.

Think abou…

Read more

The thing I love most about this newsletter is getting to hear real, practical advice from incredibly talented authors and publishing professionals who know exactly what aspiring authors are going through, and this year was full of gold nuggets I’m going to carry with me.

This year, I’ve featured New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors and agents who have sold books to the Big Five, so what better way to close off 2025 than a recap of all their best lessons?

Here are the top 7 pieces of writing and publishing advice I heard this year. Whether you’re deep in revisions, holding down the querying trenches, or drafting up a storm, there’s something here for you to carry into 2026 and beyond.

1. No one else can tell your story

No matter how much we try to fight it, doubt always comes creeping in. “So-and-so is a way better writer than me,” or “so-and-so has a way more interesting life than me.”

Doesn’t matter. You still have something unique to say.

“[T Kira Madden] said I should write my story. I remember saying, ‘yeah, but plenty of people have had it worse than me.’ And she said, ‘but no one will tell it the way you can.’

“This was not obvious to me at that time in my life. I was twenty-six and still working through a ton of ‘stuff,’ and hearing this crystalized something for me and gave me permission to write the things I really needed to and share them. It’s not a measurement of suffering or whose story is most difficult or whose survival is most heroic. It’s simply that the way we tell a story is unique to us, and worthy of telling. She’s right. No one can tell the story the way I can, just as no one can tell the story the way she can, and every other writer.”

— Chelsea Bieker, national bestselling author of Madwoman

Ready to take your story to the next level?

“I received truly professional and helpful feedback that helped me see where I could strengthen my story so it hits every note I want it to hit.

“Alyssa and her team provide a white glove touch rarely found in consultative services of any category. If you are serious about your story, you should seriously consider her services.”

— Edwin John Leskin, fantasy author

Let's work together

2. Rejection isn’t personal, it’s business

Here’s one for all the querying authors feeling down about a growing rejection pile:

“Cultivate your patience, and learn to reframe rejection into something normal rather than personal. Everyone has constraints put on them. Editors might love your book but it’s not their imprint’s brand. It’s not personal. Sales people might love your book but the profit and loss statement doesn’t work out to benefit the publisher. It’s business.”

— Heather Cashman, Senior Literary Agent at Storm Literary Agency

3. If your first book fails, try, try again…

So many authors publish their “breakout” book after several pivots. So what do you do if your first book isn’t as successful as you’d hoped?

Read more