Avoid Editing Fails: Join Me on YouTube with Dale L. Roberts
And a LIVE NOW Interview on Romance Writing!
Tales From the Inbox…
There has been so much great news coming in from the Book Genie community: authors signing with agents, finished drafts going on submission, new breakthroughs on genre and craft, and even new pen names. But along with the positive, my inbox has been overflowing lately with a lot of the same questions:
I keep hearing the same feedback from agents, but I’m not sure what it means. Can you decode this rejection? What do I need to change about my book?
And even more heartbreaking:
My agent keeps receiving the same feedback from editors, but we haven’t talked about substantially revising the book. Based on what we’re hearing, what do you think we should do?
Unless you work with authors across genres and platforms (trad, indie, and hybrid), it might be difficult to contextualize “pro forma” feedback. Polite but non-specific rejections like, “I don’t think I’m the best advocate for your work,” or, “As much as there is to love in this piece, I didn’t resonate with it the way that I’d hoped,” can leave an author feeling confused about what exactly is wrong with their book.
The truth is that it is rare to receive specific feedback in today’s market. With the volume of submissions both acquiring editors and agents receive, it’s simply not a sustainable business model to provide editorial feedback on work that isn’t an immediate and obvious yes. Simply put, a no is a no, and it’s up to the author and maybe their agent to figure out what to do with a book that’s facing one closed door after the next. But you’ll find not even all agents take an editorial approach to their job; sometimes the easiest strategy for an agent to manage a broken book is to move on to the next and hope for better results.
That is also a business model for agents who take a more hands-off approach. How can an agent make money if they are paid on commission and they are spending months, maybe years navigating a book through revisions? They can’t! If you’re in this position, your agent might urge you to move on to the next project rather than spin your wheels on one that seems stuck in the mud. But have you really learned anything? How do you know you won’t make the exact same mistakes and have a second book suffer from the same problems and stall out on submission?
The work I do with authors not only decodes what these unclear messages mean, but I offer actionable revision plans to fix the book, the query, or even simply the pitch.
If you’re struggling to launch your novel in the trad space or if your self-published novels aren’t resonating with readers the way you want, join me on Monday, July 21, at 6:15 p.m. EST on YouTube. I’ll be the guest of the fantastic self-publishing guru and YouTuber extraordinaire,
. Subscribe and do all the notification things so you don’t miss anything!Want to Save Time and Money on Edits? Join me LIVE with Dale L. Roberts Monday, July 21 on YouTube!
I’ll give you some specific examples of what you can do to self-edit your book today so you avoid the pain of the pro forma rejection or the dreaded lukewarm sales numbers. If you’re considering hiring an editor, these are steps you’ll want to take before you submit an underperforming draft to save yourself time and money. Why prepare your manuscript for editing if you’re going to pay a pro? The same reasons! You can pay me to start from the very beginning of the process, or shortcut both my time and your costs by self-editing for structure, pacing, arcs, and voice—some of the key essentials that will sell your book by a certain page count or will have you on the receiving end of the polite but nondescript no.
I love sitting down with Dale and getting into the weeds, so I hope you’ll join us, chat us with any questions you have real-time, and apply some of the techniques I use to help clients while your book is still in progress.
Get Hot with Teacher!
I met the hilarious, brilliant, and talented comic, writer, and romance reader Becky Feldman years ago at The Ripped Bodice Bookstore, and since that time she’s been one of my favorite people to talk to about any thing, any place, at any time.
When Becky invited me to answer all her burning questions about romance writing, I threw on my Read Smut T-shirt, flew to my desk, and pressed record. (Well, Becky did all the hard work of recording and editing… I just joined the room!)
What resulted was a thoughtful and honest, hilarious, and really loving discussion about the genre that gives so much to its readers. The episode is live today on all podcast channels, and I hope you’ll give a listen to me and Becky working through concepts of learning to do something that is fun but also really technically demanding, how to get better at craft and stay passionate about story, and also why I didn’t have T-shirts made that say “I teach smut at Stanford.”
Follow Becky and her review of romance novels on
Podcast (a lovingly humorous nod to the TSTL trope) here on Substack, too!Other Updates!
The summer has flown by and we’re gearing up for a new series of private workshops and a very special new on-demand course. Looking for monthly feedback, accountability, Zooms, and robust hands-on editing? Let me know or stay tuned to this space for announcements when enrollment goes live!
The summer has been a wonky one! Work has been fantastic and very busy, but between a bout of Covid (I thought that was really a thing of the past…nope!) and the general busy-ness and recovery of life in Los Angeles, Book Genie has hardly blinked and now it’s July!
Some of the books I’ve been reading that have had a huge impact on me so far this summer include a nearly perfectly crafted romance by Tara Tai, Single Player.
Two video game creators go head-to-head in this delightful, queer enemies-to-lovers workplace romance debut, perfect for fans of TJ Alexander and Helen Hoang.
Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn't been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow—the next big thing in games—she knows it’s all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who’s not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.
As Compass Hollow’s narrative director, Andi couldn’t care less about love—in-game or out. After getting doxxed by internet trolls three years ago, Andi’s been trying to prove to the gaming world that they’re a serious gamedev. Their plan includes writing the best game possible, with zero lovey-dovey stuff. That is, until the man funding the game’s development insists Andi add romance in order to make the story “more appealing to female gamers.”
Forced to give Cat a chance, Andi begrudgingly realizes there’s more to Cat than romantic idealism and, okay, a cute smile. But admitting that would mean giving up the single-player life that has kept their heart safe for years. And when Cat uncovers a behind-the-scenes plot to destroy Andi’s career, the two will have to put their differences aside and find a way to work together before it’s game over.
The book is perfectly crafted in terms of structure, pacing, and beats, and the nods to gamers, fandom, and romance novels are respectful, hilarious, and un-putdownable. This was a 5-star plus read for me, and I highly recommend even non-gamers pick this one up. Loved!
I’ve started and stopped or finished but didn’t gush over a lot of horror and thrillers this summer, so the only rec I’ll make right now is Single Player. Check back with me soon, though, because my summer TBR is LONG!
I’m relentlessly (but adorably?!) annoying the people in my life by humming every song from Kpop Demon Hunters (which, if you have not seen it, don’t get me started… Trust me!)
If you’re a poetry fan, it would be impossible to miss the passing of nonbinary poet laureate of Colorado, Andrea Gibson, this week. Whether you heard their spoken word poetry on social media or read their work, to encounter their writing is to feel the power of life, the poignancy of loss, and the passion of love in every form. Their writing, voice, and poetry are freely available in excerpts on social media and YouTube, so if you need a soul boost, a brain kiss, or even just a moment to breathe in beauty, catch some of what this brilliant soul has left behind for us.
Stay well, be in touch, and keep writing! I’ll be hoping to chat with you real-time on Monday, 7/21 when I’m hanging out with Dale!
And thank you, Becky Feldman, for an absolutely fantastic time on Too Stupid to Live, A Little Extra Spice Edition!
Loved this newsletter update, Jeanne!
K-Pop demon hunters!!! Yes!! My daughter has been watching that on REPEAT, and it sucked me in enough that I watched the entire thing start to finish! It's so fun, and now we're listening to the soundtrack on the way to school most days.
I look forward to listening to the podcast episode... professor of smut... you should be very proud of that title lol.