publishing

Battling the Blahs

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on August 4th, 2023. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Earlier this week, I was feeling a little bit...blah. 

Not because of what I'm currently writing—I am absolutely crushing my drafting deadline, and will finish chapter 20 (out of 20) today! More on that next week...

No, the reason for this week's brief case of the blahs was that, once again, I am nearing the end of my contracted book work. "This happens to you a lot," my husband joked, and he's not wrong! Part of being a traditionally published author is never being sure (unless you are wildly, wildly successful) that you will get to publish another book.

This is why all the authors I know were so obsessed with Leigh Bardugo's recent twelve-book deal: that kind of thing simply does not happen. These days, a lot of publishers are loathe to offer even three-book deals! Of course, Leigh Bardugo is a safe bet for her publisher, especially since the Netflix "Shadow & Bone" series launched. Most, if not all, of those dozen books will hit the bestseller list. Macmillan will earn their money back, and then some. 

To me, the dream isn't just to make millions of dollars. (Though that would certainly be nice!) To me, the dream is...security. A multi-book deal means you know what's on the horizon. It means you have a horizon. Each time a contract comes to an end—unless you have multiple contracts with different publishers at the same time—what's next is up in the air. You're back in the trenches, submitting projects as proposals or full drafts and praying something will land on the right person's desk at the right moment. 

I have a few "possibles" out there now. MarcyKate and I have submitted a proposal for a second and third book in the Science & Strange series, which launches in January with The Thirteenth Circle. I'm hoping to get hired to do more books in the write-for-hire series I've been working on this year. And I do have a few more things of my own up my sleeve. (A proposal for more Class Critters books! A standalone magical middle-grade novel I've been working on for years! Another standalone magical MG idea I have to start from scratch!) 

As of writing this, I'm not feeling quite so blah. Yes, I would love to receive some immediate good news in my inbox! But when I take a step back and look at that list of "possibles," I actually feel quite encouraged. When I started writing fiction seriously, I was a "one book at a time" writer. Maybe I could start brainstorming something new while revising my current project. In general, though, I worked very linearly. 

Now, at any given point, I've got a lot of irons in the fire. Writing books of different lengths has helped. So has coauthoring. And I'm able to alternate projects I've been working on for years with books I must write from start to finish in a span of months. Some things are quickly pushed off my plate; others continue to simmer on the stove. 

All of that means that while what's next might not turn out to be exactly what I'd envisioned...there's more where that came from. More ideas, more works-in-progress, more things I'm willing to try while I wait. 

How do you battle the blahs in your personal or professional life? 

~Kathryn 

What I'm: 

Reading: I read a thriller this week: Andrea Bartz's We Were Never Here, about two friends who travel together...and end up covering up murders (in self-defense, ostensibly) together. It's been a while since I read an adult thriller, and I've added a few more to my library holds list. Now, I'm listening to Ali Hazelwood's Love, Theoretically, the latest in Hazelwood's series of STEM-focused romance novels. 

Watching: Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 finally came to Disney+, and I really enjoyed it! But be warned: it does have a lot of flashback scenes of animal abuse (the main plot relates to how Rocket Raccoon ended up the way he is). It's fun and zany, but also about grief and trauma, and I teared up as much as I laughed. Did you like this latest Marvel installment? 

Loving: My summer reading challenge!

Welcome to End-of-Year List Season

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on November 18th, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

It happens around this time every year: the "Best Of" lists start showing up.

Every author I know has a love/hate (let's be real, it's mostly hate) relationship with these end-of-year lists. Hundreds upon hundreds of books are traditionally published in a given year, and in mid-November, every media outlet that discusses books starts rattling off the titles you absolutely can't miss.

Why does this occur in mid-November? To jump-start holiday gift-giving season, of course!

And why do most authors groan and hide their heads in the sand as the lists start popping up online? Because very, very few of us will ever appear on one.

It can be easy to feel, as these lists get bandied about by every influencer in the biz, that your own book is a flop. That no one read it, and since it didn't hit a "Best Of" list, no one ever will.

That's simply not true. Books do tend to find readers, whether or not they receive the world's biggest promotional push. (Do they find more readers with heavy promo from the publisher and media outlets? Obviously! But the number without that backing is still not zero...) The lists tend to be highlights reels, featuring the same couple dozen books that have gotten attention all along—and there's much more to this industry than the highlights reels.

I've had two books be named Editor's Picks for Best of the Month by Amazon: The Distance Between Lost and Found (in February 2015) and Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle (in September 2021). Neither of those books went on to make the site's year-end roundup. But that doesn't diminish the accomplishment of being a monthly pick! Nor does my other books not being chosen by Amazon's team as Best of the Month upon their respective releases mean that those books are of lower quality. Getting starred or listed or featured is amazing, but it's not everything.

I will admit, I've been struggling with how much the Class Critters series seems to have flown under the radar. I'd expected a bit of a slow build for a new series, especially launching during an ongoing pandemic, but the momentum never did pick up with each new book release the way I'd anticipated and hoped.

And yet! The readers that have found the series seem to have really loved it. I haven't come across any bad reviews online. (I just got an incredibly positive mention for Tally Tuttle on Twitter this week!) Compared to my YA novels (each of which earned its fair share of one-stars on Goodreads...), my chapter book series has been incredibly well-received.

All of which to say, I will be very, very surprised if either David Dixon's Day as a Dachshund or Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! shows up on any Best Children's Books of 2022 lists. (I will eat crow and share everywhere if I turn out to be wrong!!) But I've been doing this long enough now that it's no longer a disappointment not to, say, be nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award. I can be happy for my friends who are getting the honors and mentions, and then I can get back to work.

~Kathryn

What I'm:

Reading: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. This is romance/women's fiction about a ghostwriter who can literally see ghosts. Florence Day writes romance novels, but after a bad breakup, she no longer believes in love herself. After her father dies, she finds herself back in her hometown with a to-do list of eccentric requests for his funeral, a manuscript that she can't seem to finish, and a host of literal and metaphorical ghosts—including, surprisingly, her new book editor, who seems to have died right after she last saw (and kissed) him. I'm not done with this yet, but I feel confident recommending it to you even without knowing how it ends!

Writing: Remember how, last week, I got to the last page of the manuscript I'd been revising? Well...I started a reread from page one on Monday, quickly found a new plot hole, and had to rework a bunch of things. That's what I get for writing triumphantly about momentum last week! *facepalm*

Watching: We're about halfway through season 5 of "The Crown." From what I understand, a lot of Brits are up in arms about how the royal family is portrayed...but honestly, the Windsors were a total mess in the '90s! The depiction of now-King Charles doesn't shy away from his many scandals, but does show someone who is eager to support charities and modernize the institution. Maybe it would hit differently if I were a monarchist...

Loving: This "koila" my daughter drew as part of her kindergarten homework. ("Draw something that starts with K and try to sound out and spell the word.") It just makes me smile. :)

Behind the Scenes: Signing the Contract

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 23, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Remember when I promised to give you all the behind-the-scenes details about producing The Thirteenth Circle, which will be my sixth published book when it comes out in 2024?

Well, this week, I signed the contract!

Wait, you might be saying. Didn't you announce The Thirteenth Circle weeks ago? And sell it back in April? And already do a full revision with your editor?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Here is something you may not know about the publishing industry: everything moves at its own pace. (And that pace is, generally, SLOW.) It is not at all uncommon to sign a contract having already done the bulk of the work.

After the publisher makes an offer and the author accepts it, the contract has to be drafted and submitted to the author's representative for approval. The literary agent generally asks for tweaks to the language to make it more favorable for their client. Those revisions must then be approved by the publisher's legal team...and so the contract goes back and forth and back and forth until everyone is, well, if not completely happy, then at least satisfied. In the meantime, if the book is going to be published within 1.5-2 years (the average time from offer to publication), the author and the editor have to get to work doing their part!

So, if MarcyKate and I are already hard at work with our editor, why is officially signing the contract actually a big deal?

Because now we can get paid.

Hooray!!

Here's a little bit more you might not know about book contracts: one of the things they specify is when payments will be disbursed. In traditional publishing, you are generally offered what is called an "advance." This is money you are paid before the book releases, i.e. in advance of publication. The advance is divided into multiple payments. For The Thirteenth Circle, we are being paid 1/3 of the advance upon contract signing, 1/3 upon delivery and acceptance of the final manuscript (a.k.a. when our edits are done), and 1/3 on or around publication day.

For my first book, which published in 2015, the advance was split in half, with payments on signing and delivery/acceptance; a 50/50 split is now rare. Some publishers are even dividing advances into fourths, with the final payment occurring months after publication! Which makes it no longer an advance...but I digress.

Getting paid is one big, exciting reason to be happy about signing the contract.

But there's also an emotional component, at least for me. Signing the contract means this thing is officially happening. This book that I love will, barring an unforeseen disaster, hit shelves. Everyone is committed. Contract-signing is a moment that feels full of potential. Where will this book take us? How will we reach and connect with readers?

Last week, I talked about celebrating the small things. Signing a contract isn't so small—but given that we've already announced the book and begun revisions with our editor and even started talking with our team about possible cover illustrations, it can feel like just another step in the journey. So, I wanted to take a moment to commemorate the milestone! My fourth book contract; my sixth published book. What an amazing feeling.

~Kathryn

Pictured below:

Top: contracts for The Distance Between Lost and Found (left) and How It Feels to Fly (right)—back when they were mailed on paper! Bottom: Digital contract signing for Class Critters (left) and The Thirteenth Circle (right).

What I'm:

Reading: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Sepetys is a YA author who primarily writes historical fiction. She often tackles historical events that are lesser-known. This book is about the evacuation of East Prussia at the tail end of World War II, and the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff—one of the worst naval disasters in history. Sepetys tells the story through multiple narrators, including Lithuanian, Polish, and German points of view. Her prose is beautiful and her research is impeccable. What's your favorite work of historical fiction?

Watching: "Andor," the prequel series to Rogue One featuring rebel Cassian Andor's backstory. It dropped this week on Disney+, and it surprised me: first, that it was already releasing, and second, that it was good! Episodes one and two are a slow burn, but episode three was amazing. I initially questioned whether this show was even necessary, and now I am all in.

Craving: Red velvet cake. This is a favorite of mine. It made an appearance on the newest season of "The Great British Baking Show" last week, and now I desperately want some. My birthday is coming up...

Loving: Getting as much sunshine as possible before the days get short and cold and dark. I love fall, and it's nice to be cozy indoors in winter, but oh, how I miss the sun...