🚨 News alert: THE LAST GODDESS is officially out on submission (see the pitch: IG / X) via my fabulous agent, Amy Collins at Talcott Notch!
For aspiring writers, searching what “going on to submission to editors” entails is like trying to figure out what happens in the basement’s fight club. For most authors, you don’t know until you enter the ring. That’s because a shroud of secrecy has kept the process hush-hush for decades, though that is changing nowadays as writers, agents, and editors open up about it.
This is my second rodeo going out on sub, and I’ll admit that it’s not for the faint of heart. During this time, I am a full-blown Anxiety GoblinTM, gnawing on curtains at 3am and greasing up my phone with nose prints. Infinite praise goes to my partner for putting up with my wide-eyed obsessiveness during this period.
First, let’s breakdown the steps of what going out on submission generally look like:
Your agent reads your book. Obviously, at some point you have to let your agent pluck your book out of your tight little hands and read it. This is the fun part, because she’s contractually obligated to say something nice about it. *Little does Amy know I snuck this into our contract in size 2, white font.
Your agent gives her thoughts. After your agent is done issuing your contractual 45-minutes of unadulterated praise, she gets to tell you her real feelings (i.e., you did not just feverishly pump out the world’s most perfect novel). Some agents are editorial, others may bring on developmental readers.
You revise. A fantastic dev reader/editor named Joe Hall (highly recommend his editing services!) combed through TLG and provided high-level feedback on the plot, characters, and pacing. I incorporated his keen insights and fleshed out scenes, added another chapter, and fixed a blind spot of mine as a writer. It was immensely helpful and brought out the best version of the story. (For those wondering if you have say over the suggested edits: Yes, you do. You don’t have to incorporate notes you don’t agree with, but it’s almost always in your best interest to address the issues raised!)
You see the sub list. After revisions, your agent reads the book again and compiles an exciting list of editors to be pitched. In my case, Amy also lets me suggest some editors whom I’ve been secretly gushing over.
Your agent pitches your book. Often these pitches go out in waves, or sometimes all at once! Some agents send the MS along with the pitch; others send only the pitch and then the MS if it’s requested. (And yes, you’ll still need to write up a synopsis of your novel for your agent to send along!)
You’re updated. For me, a Google Sheet shows who all have been pitched and what the responses have been so far. This is a live document, so I can see instantly whenever it’s updated.
And then you wait. And wait. And wait. And w….ait…for any morsel of good news. 👀 Meanwhile, your skin molts, your hair falls out, and fangs punch through your gums as you transform into the Anxiety Goblin.
🙉 Now, let’s talk about what they don’t tell you about going out on submission:
🔮 You will turn to the occult. You’ll drink a cup of tea and then squint at the soggy leaves, wondering if that squiggly bit is an omen you’ll hear from an editor this week. You’ll suddenly be nudging your friend who’s an amateur tarotologist for a quick read — just for fun, you swear! You’ll make strange bargains with the Universe: If I write 1,000 words today, good news will come. Deal?
⚔️ You’ll discover it’s both easier and worse than querying. Overall, the feedback is similar to querying agents: a couple of sentences that make it impossible to know how much of the materials the editor read before passing. On one hand, the feedback is usually more personalized and encouraging, and these rejections hurt far less than those from the querying trenches. On the other hand, the waiting and the near misses (such as going to acquisitions three times and not getting through) are a form of torture that I would gleefully inflict upon my worst enemy.
🙌 You’ll receive the best rejections of your life. The biggest surprise for me has been how thrilling some of these passes have been. A Big5 editor may reject the manuscript but end up complimenting your voice, writing style, or imagination. It’s a strange mixture of disappointment and floating on air. So, maybe you didn’t get an offer, but a big-name editor you admire still read your book and enjoyed it! I call that a win.
😶🌫️ You will obsess over the greatest mystery of all: The Unquantifiable Timeline. The hardest part of being on submission is how unknowable the wait is. Every editor, every imprint has their own secret pace with which they go through manuscripts. The editor’s current workload, your agent’s nudging, the time of year, the flap of a butterfly wing are all factors that shorten or lengthen the wait. And I know this because I’ve asked my agent and researched “sub wait times” so many times that DuckDuckGo now only spits out self-help articles.
Between reddit, social media, Substack, newsletters, and blogs, I have seen every response under the sun: You’re most likely to get editor interest within the first month. Average response time is 8 weeks. Actually, 8 months. Er, no, wait times are typically 2-4 months. Okay, but really, you’re either a 10-day unicorn or DOA. The maddening answer is that it depends. Last time I was on sub, response times ranged from a few weeks to never, but most trickled in within 2-6 months.
🐌 You will work on something new. Not because you want to. Not because you’re in the headspace to do so. Not because you have any semblance of focus. But because you damn well have to in order to keep sane. When you’re on sub, the trickling of time is a million carnivorous snails that will devour you unless you put your mind to something else. For me, this has been working on The Witherwood Choir and binging an unholy amount of X-Files episodes. Am I at peace? NO. But at least I’m distracted.
Let me end by giving a huge shoutout to my wonderful agent, Amy, who has been incredibly patient with me throughout this process. You’re only seeing 10% of the Anxiety Goblin she gets to deal with. 😈
Hope that brings a bit of clarity to the submissions process! If you want to ask me anything in particular, feel free to do so in the comments or on X (@autumn_inkblood) / Threads (@autumn.bauman).
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