The Manuscripts Editors Are Fighting Over
What do they have in common?
Tales from the submission trenches are often bleak. Many authors are getting fed up with being ghosted by editors and waiting a year or more to hear anything. Their frustration is understandable, and it’s obvious that so much radio silence is taking a psychological toll: sleepless nights, bouts of anxiety and self-doubt and more.
That said, for some authors, submission is an experience of thrills and validation. Each year dozens of authors skip to the head of the line and are hotly pursued by editors, while the rest are rattling empty bowls begging for a morsel of attention.
Easy to be jealous of these scribes who seem to be born under a skyful of lucky stars. Who are these people and what do they have that other authors lack?
I decided to study this year’s hot deals at Publishers Marketplace to see what kind of books are causing editors to drop most everything and read. I looked at major advances ($500,000 or more) and significant deals (advances of $251,000 to $499,999) for the last six months.
My analysis didn’t include bestselling author deals. I only looked at debut authors and authors who have modest sales before they landed their big deals.
Hot Genres:
Romantasy is killing it when it comes to lucrative deals. There were nineteen in the last six months but before you decide to bone up on dragons or faes, realize that many industry insiders say the genre is already on the wane. Anecdotal evidence indicates that some editors and agents are wearying of romantasy, and that’s also the word in the blogger world.
A look at this week’s USA Today bestselling list shows thirteen romantasy titles out of 150 books, but most of those spots are dominated by the leaders in the genre like Yarro, Maas, and Schwab. Once a market becomes crowded, it’s harder to break out new voices.
Dark romance is also a hot genre (four deals) and that might increase as the year goes on. Both romantasy and dark romance genres are Booktok-driven.
Cozy fantasy with three deals is holding its own and there was one femgore deal.
Self-published authors who are already bestsellers
Twelve self-publishers found themselves courted by trad publishers. Most were romance authors who write in the following genres: spicy small-town, romantasy, omegaverse (wolves) and dark. One mystery writer also got the nod.
Prestigious Agent
There were six lucrative deals in which the commercial appeal wasn’t evident from the pitch or genre, but the single commonality was they were all brokered by prestigious agents. Some agents are so powerful and their tastes so trustworthy, editors prioritize their submissions and are more likely to pursue them.
High Concept
Seventeen deals could be categorized as high concept, which means that the pitch for the novel is easy to summarize and immediately understandable. Extra points if the concept is part of the zeitgeist. No particular genre stood out among these deals because these books rely more on an intriguing premise than trends. Here’s an example from the data:
Kate Eberle's IF BOOKS COULD KILL, a high-concept romantic comedy following an adventure-loving woman who makes a tongue-in-cheek wish to live inside of a romance novel, but finds herself dropped into a crime thriller instead.
Excellent title and you can imagine the story playing out in your mind. Even though rom-coms are hard sells right now, the elevated concept made this one stand out.
Here some deals that are not only high concept, but they’re also in the zeitgeist
Brooke Fast's TO CAGE A WILD BIRD, the author's debut, pitched as THE HUNGER GAMES meets Prison Break, set in a dystopian city in which all crimes are punishable by life in prison and the wealthy hunt inmates for sport, following a bounty hunter trying to escape with both her brother and her heart intact.
Karisa Tell's HELLO, WORLD!, a speculative novel pitched as Emily St. John Mandel meets The Matrix for fans of TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW and THE CANDY HOUSE, following a group of people living in a simulation fully customized to their preferences, and what happens when a young mother disappears and a series of strange glitches begins to reveal the true cost of getting everything they ever thought they wanted,
On the importance of titles
Several manuscripts that had such catchy titles that you can’t help but wonder if they helped seal the deal
DOOMSDATE, a paranormal rom-com pitched as ZOMBIELAND with sex lessons, about a sheltered doomsday prepper and the widowed professor she rescues when their awkward first date careens headfirst into the zombie apocalypse, forcing them on a cross-country road trip for survival that brings them both back to life, concept
I HOPE THIS EMAIL FINDS YOU IN HELL, about a down-on-her-luck receptionist who discovers her uptight boss is a demon hunter when she catches him performing an exorcism after hours, and then joins him on a chaotic road trip through hell to rescue their missing coworker, save the world—and maybe fall in love.
THIGHS WIDE SHUT, pitched for fans of Sarah Hogle and Rosie Danan, a romantic comedy about a young woman who reunites with her ex-best friend, only to discover that their lingering tension masks deeper feelings—and that to reconnect, she must confront the barriers that have long kept her from authentic intimacy
Bottom line?
High concept pitches tend to seize an editor’s interest. Next week, I’ll take a much deeper look at the topic of high concept novels and the pros and cons of writing one.
P.S. If you want some perspective on why editors are so unresponsive these days,
wrote an excellent piece on their endless work load.NEWS YOU CAN USE
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