Unwrapping May secrets
(Is that click-bait? Will you click anyway?)
Hello, friends! The embargo has been lifted! I have news.
(If you’ve been added to this Substack recently you are likely someone who has emailed me about the topic of publishing or worked with me as a book coach; feel free to unsubscribe if your inbox is out of control!)
Everything in publishing goes slowly for seemingly forever, and then, for a few days every few years, it speeds up. My first foray into suspense, THE DEEPEST LAKE, came out a year ago. I’m going to be honest (because I err on the side of too much candor in this newsletter): the reviews were good, but the hardcover sales were slow-ish. I mean, book sales are always slow except for that dozen or so titles you can’t stop seeing everywhere. Publishing, like Hollywood, thrives on a handful of blockbusters.
We all like to pretend there are second chances in publishing. A new edition can take off, or new rights can be sold.
But again, more honesty: if there hasn’t been a ton of action with your hardcover, that’s usually the end of the story until you sell your next book—if you can sell your next book. There is no job security for authors. In some cases, a publisher doesn’t even release the paperback.
ALAS, a few months ago I got news that Barnes & Noble had chosen the new paperback edition of THE DEEPEST LAKE as a May “Our Monthly Pick.” Why? How? I’ll never really know. To be clear: I did not engage in human sacrifice or commit any crimes to make this happen.
What it means is that 600 stores around the country ordered my paperback and will have it in large, lovely, visible stacks this month. It’s a lot easier to sell books when people can actually see them.
I’m also having a mid-day virtual event. And I am hoping hoping hoping people will show up for it. My conversation partner, Erin Flanagan, is a fantastic Edgar-winning writer who is funny, energetic, and smart. (If you’re at work or half-occupied while the B&N event is online, might I suggest you could still put it on in the background, to help me signal to the chain that I do have some fans out there?)
REGISTER HERE: THURSDAY MAY 8 (that’s in one week!), 12 Pacific (3 Eastern): BARNES & NOBLE VIRTUAL MID-DAY MYSTERY SERIES.
For those of you curious how the sausage gets made, the B&N Our Monthly Pick news—which was strongly embargoed until today—also lit a fire under my publishing team to make sure we make the timeline for my next book, WHAT BOYS LEARN, due out in January 2026. I’ve never even officially announced that book, though I have whispered about it here and there! And already we are accelerating to that moment when we beg people to pre-order it. (B&N is offering 25% off.)
Pre-orders are essential to a book’s success. How do you get people to pre-order, aside from asking them directly? (If any of you have the definite answer, please email me and I will hire you. Ha!)
Suddenly, it was essential to finalize the first chapters so we could get a sneak preview of WHAT BOYS LEARN in the new paperback of THE DEEPEST LAKE. Yes, this made me happy. Suddenly, also, I had a few more promotional tasks to handle. Suddenly, I needed new author photos. Suddenly, I could start developing that excited-but-also-anxious feeling I get when a new book launches.
Having a new hardcover on the way just when a new paperback has landed in stores is something I started trying to finagle several years ago. For a while, I felt like I was talking to myself, because everyone in publishing was too busy to say, “Well, yes, Andromeda, if you could write and sell your second thriller within one or two years of the first, you might get some traction in a new genre. That’s a smart experiment!”
To make this happen, after selling THE DEEPEST LAKE I worked hard to get a two-book deal, even though it was complicated. For the first time also, I sold a book (WHAT BOYS LEARN) on proposal, so that I could start working with an editor sooner, even if it meant the book got less hands-on attention from my agent, requiring a lot of trust from my editor, who happens to be a person I love working with.
I voluntarily backburnered a completed and sold novel (the first book in that two-book deal)—it’s been written for several years now!—so that I could get my BOYS book out more quickly.
I also fought for the title. This new book is about boys in our culture, from the perspective of a middle-class single mom who is worried her son did something very wrong, and I felt sure there was a timeliness angle to that. And lo and behold, the Netflix show “Adolescence” just came out and confirmed that. In a few days, Netflix is releasing an Israeli TV show called “Bad Boy.” I hereby christen this the decade of THE BOY! (It was time to say goodbye to all those Gone Girls and Girls on the Train.)
So, there’s the inside scoop! Please join me as I try to strategize my way into the world of suspense fiction while writing about significant topics that mean a lot to me—the power of story and the danger of cultish environments in THE DEEPEST LAKE and the difficulty of raising boys and living in toxic times in WHAT BOYS LEARN.
ALSO ON MY MIND
Podcasts! I have been dipping a toe (only a toe so far) in the world of podcast making, and it’s made me appreciate other podcasts—especially ones that understand the importance of having a very particular niche.
Essayist and picture book author Patrice Gopo, with whom I shared a stage in Anchorage while on book tour in 2018, has a podcast called Picture Books Are for Grown-Ups, Too. Isn’t that clever? Her title effectively communicates her angle and audience, exactly. She interviews all kinds of authors, with an emphasis on multicultural books. If you love picture books, you’ll want to check it out!
A newer acquaintance is Jena Martin, whose podcast The Memory Hole wowed me with its first-season exploration of the controversial recovered memory movement. In season two, which has just started to drop, she explores fallible memory in fiction and memoir—one of my all-time favorite topics! I’m quoted briefly in episodes one and two, but especially in episode three, which talks about memoir, the inaccuracy of memory, and the danger of settings in which people’s memories and identity can be easily manipulated. This is DEEPEST LAKE territory. Thanks to Jena for letting me plunge into that topic with her.
P.S. Anyone attending North Words in Skagway, Alaska? I’ll be there—and I believe a few participant spots are still open!
Looking for a developmental editor or a book coach? I do that.
I am loving THE DEEPEST LAKE! It's such a compelling read. Ordered a copy for a friend. Your skill as a writer is breathtaking!
Congratulations on all your recent successes. Well-deserved in my opinion. I'm a big fan.