Do I write a new book... and how?
To write on spec or not on spec?
Hello!
It’s time to write and sell another book! I know this sounds crazy since Where Are You Echo Blue? just came out two months ago.
But to keep getting paid as an artist you have to create art and you have to create it on a schedule. (Or do you?) I pitched a new idea to my editor and she loved it. Now she wants to see a sample chapter and a synopsis. This sounds super easy, but it’s not. I plotted the whole book out with my agent, and then wrote and rewrote and rewrote a sample chapter.
Did I mention that I already pitched another book to my editor, sent her a sample chapter and a synopsis and she turned it down? She wanted something more “Hollywood” more in the vain of Echo Blue. I get it. She’s in the writing business, but also in the business of selling books.
So we sent this sample chapter and synopsis to my editor last week. In the writing world this is called a “partial.” I have been thinking about it non stop. I have two author friends who both told me they never sell a book on a pitch and that they choose to write the entire book first before they send it to anyone. One friend, Laura Sims, who wrote the books Looker, and How Can I Help You? told me she doesn’t even like to send her book to her agent while she’s writing it because she doesn’t want her agent’s voice “in her head.” I can understand this. I’m already having second thoughts about the first chapter I sent to my editor. Is that even where I want to start the book? You can see how this is a problem.
Then, as I was reading Courtney Maum’s wonderful substack on publishing, I saw this:
What I’ve discovered since getting a book deal off a partial ten years ago is that I need two years to write a novel. The first year is spent writing the wrong story. The second year is spent writing and revising the correct one.
I was shocked by this. Shocked! I thought every writer is dying to sell a book on a partial because it means they don’t have to write the entire thing. But maybe that’s not the point of art. Maybe the point of art is to have your own creative control of the project without your editor or agent directing the process. After all, the messy first draft that I send to my editor usually gets cut up, edited and chopped in pieces. By me and my editor, yes. The first chapter is sometimes not even the first chapter. Usually the first chapter ends up being the third chapter.
Yet it feels so good to say, “I have a contract. I have a book deal. I have security.”
Ding ding ding. I think I hit the nail on the head here. Getting the book deal is not just about the excitement of writing. It’s about your career. It’s about money. How can you turn down money if you have the opportunity to get it? And what does that money mean to your art?
I wrote Echo Blue on spec, which means I wrote the whole thing first. Then my agent sold it. I worked with an editor, after I had the contract. I woudln’t have changed a thing about that process. This is why I’m worried. I want the time to understand the story. See where I’m jumping into it. Really analyze the characters and delve into who they are. But I also want to get paid. And I also want a contract. It’s a conundrum!
I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself when Echo Blue came out this summer. I thought it was going to be on every list. I thought it was going to race up the charts. I thought I was going to be the next sensation. The book has been well-received. Goodreads reviewers even like it, which is shocking. I know Echo Blue is a good book. It poured out of me, that book, like a faucet. Once it was turned on, I couldn’t stop it. It was like a force of nature that took over me.
I’m not feeling that way with this new idea. Not yet at least.
Being an author is so overwhelming. It’s so much more complicated than writing. I’m checking my Amazon rankings, my author portal numbers, social media, calling bookstores, doing author events (even if no one shows up) reaching out to influencers, sending endless ideas to my publicist, hoping for reviews, hoping for good reviews, getting on some lists, but not getting on enough lists, getting submitted to book festivals, and also not getting invited to book festivals, selling myself, but not selling myself too much. I’m an artist trying to make a living in a very tough business.
It’s a wait and see right now. If my editor comes back to me and says, I love it. I want to see more, we want to give you a contract for it, then I can guarantee I’m not going to turn it down. How can I? I’m going to make it work just like I always do. Is there a secret part of me that is hoping she’s going to come back to me and say, this isn’t quite right? Kind of yes. No of course, but… yes? I know that sounds sick and destructive too.
More to come on this. Also, feel free to ask me any questions about the publishing industry. I’d love to talk about it openly with anyone.
Support me and Echo Blue?
Speaking of selling books! I’ve gotten so many texts and personal emails from people telling me how they loved Echo Blue. I know it’s hard and feels weird to write a review, but if you loved Echo Blue, and if you want to support me, I hope you’ll write a review on Goodreads, Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
Some New Work
Speaking of selling books on partial, I wrote my latest YA, You Belong To Me (pre-order it now!) on partial.
Here’s the elevator pitch:
After falling in love with the beautiful daughter of a famous guru, an awkward high school girl gets sucked into a wellness and beauty cult.
You know how I love Goop. And I’m not supposed to say Goop in any mention of this book but GOOP GOOP GOOP. You can also request it on Netgalley now, or email me and I’ll send you a pre-approved Netgalley link.
What I’m Watching/Reading
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe; God of the Woods by Liz Moore; Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodessor-Akner; The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; The Knock Out Queen by Rufi Thorpe; Slow Horses; The Substance (Demi Moore is amazing); Blink Twice; The Great British Baking Show; The Perfect Couple; The Penguin.
P.S. In my last newsletter, I said Celine Dion was French and… how dare I? Of course she’s Canadian. Maybe I meant French Canadian. Anyway, I’m sorry that I insulted the Canadians!
Thanks for reading,
Hayley