After the Query: What Happens When Your Agent and Editor Leave You?
You got the agent.
You’ve talked to all the interested editors.
You sold the book to the editor you connected with and who you felt really got your book and what you were trying to do with it…
And then they leave.
(I Got 8 Agent Offers; Then, My Book Died on Sub.)
You’re happy for them, of course! You like them and wish them well in the next phase of their life and whatever comes next but…what about you? And, more importantly, what about your book?
That’s the exact situation I found myself in after selling my first book, Something Kindred. All of my anxiety-tinged excitement turned solely into anxiety. My acquiring editor, Elizabeth, was my main contact at Macmillan, kind of like the one friend you know at a house party. Without her, I was certain I’d be floundering somewhere in a corner by the snacks, warily eyeing the host’s cat and counting down the minutes until there was an appropriate time to leave.
In less silly terms, I thought things were over. I was almost certain my book would fall through the cracks and that whoever took it over would be doing so out of obligation. My hopes for having an editor who loved and cared about my book and my characters were dashed and I’d have to just suck it up and be professional and make the edits they asked for (and how different would they be? Would our visions align? Would they even like my writing?) and continue on with my life.
Thankfully, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Grace and Asia, my new editors, were lovely from the very beginning. They, and Elizabeth, made the transition as easy as possible, assuaging my fears before I could even ask my questions and assuring me of their love for the book. In fact, there was such heartfelt and often quick communication that from our first video call, I never had much time to feel like I’d slipped through any cracks at all! Something Kindred, under a different title then, felt more like a torch being passed from one person to the next, always keeping me in its glow—acknowledged and illuminated on the goings on involving edits and season changes.
Grace is amazing at making me think about things I’d never considered before, especially in the magical realism aspects of Something Kindred and how the echoes in the novel both connected to and represented the town of Coldwater. Asia was a wonder in making me hone in more on the familial and romantic relationships at the heart of things, offering up her feelings as a reader and a fellow Black woman that provided a lot of helpful insight for me outside of my own imagination and writerly ego.
Check out Ciera Burch’s Something Kindred here:
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Even when things shifted more and Asia became my primary editor, the communication chain never wavered. Not only did I learn so much from working with them, but Something Kindred grew into something miles and miles ahead of what it originally was and everything helped me realize that editor calls, and even acquisition, aren’t the end all, be all.
Pre-acquisition, I asked all the questions I possibly could have that other aspiring authors recommended on writing forums and Discords and subreddits and felt certain I had cracked the writer’s code.
This was it.
Elizabeth and I would work together for my two contracted books and then beyond that! We’d have bestseller after bestseller spanning years and our careers would thrive together.
I considered all that for myself—but only myself. Elizabeth was my editor and I didn’t consider her goals or ambitions outside of myself. Like I said before…writerly ego. But as much as reality can shock you when you come face to face with it in an instant, it was very indicative of that old saying about doors closing and doors opening.
Publishing is a changing industry just like any other, and people are always going to come and go—sometimes people you really like and expect (or hope!) you’ll work with forever. If you’re lucky, and you will be, there’s a whole network of people behind your amazing, initial editor—behind your book!—there to be your new team.
Grace and Asia and so many others made an experience I dreaded and feared into an amazing one. Something Kindred wouldn’t be the same without them. Nor would my entire publishing experience. I’m grateful to Elizabeth for believing in me and my book from the very beginning and also for helping to shepherd me into their very capable hands.
So, if you find yourself momentarily in dismay by editor change, or any sort of publication change…take a deep breath. Hold it for the count of three. And then let it out and keep an open mind.
Great things, and people, can reach you better that way.
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