Thoughts on post-submission waiting

Only a brief update since the new year has so far been quiet for writing-related things. One positive was that I had a a lengthy and very interesting conversation with Brandon and Ash over at Quill & Query. In addition to craft questions, we talked about our perspectives on high versus low fantasy and where our individual writing falls. We also discussed hard versus soft magic systems, which I enjoyed. What I like about their style of podcasting is that they take a slow and thoughtful approach on a given topic and give interviewees a lot of time to explore an idea they want to talk about. Overall, a great experience and a YouTube channel that I will continue to follow.

The submission window for Apprentice House Press officially closed February 1st, so now the real waiting begins to find out if my newest manuscript will be offered a publishing contract. Given that it's the option from my last contract there is no guarantee it will be picked up, and every year the competition to get one of the ~20 slots is becoming harder. With my first book, the acceptance rate was about 10%, and with my second I was told it was a bit less. If that trend holds, then the chance of my book being published by Apprentice House is now in the single digits. Maybe being a returning authors helps, but I've never been told that is the case. What that means is that I'm waiting and worrying just as much as a first-time submitter.

Even after having two books published with Apprentice House, I'm still not entirely sure how the sausage gets made. What I've been thinking about since I hit the "Submit" button is when decisions are finalized and when an author is told. The process is an unknown, so it's unclear how (or if) manuscripts are grouped in any fashion. I also have no idea the speed at which they are reviewed. Do the acquisitions editors send out acceptances on a rolling basis or wait until they have a full roster and then send notices? The submission form says authors will be contacted by mid-April, but have decisions already been made (possibly weeks ago) and the editors are just waiting for a designated date? Philosophically, I think that is the maddening part for me - The possibility that a decision has already made about my manuscript, but I can't know about it immediately. There are plenty of reasons why this could be the case, most likely because books are not put into binary "Accept" or "Reject" piles, but ranked. That way if an author decides to not accept an offered contract then the editors can go to the next author on the list. I'm sure that most authors would agree with me that they would rather be near the top of the list so the waiting is kept to a minimum.

To stop me from worrying about things I can't control (like when I'll be notified about a decision), I've been playing some old PS1 games. Right now I'm enjoying Megaman Legends 2, which came out in 2000. I think it's wild that the game is more than a quarter century old. Maybe I'll post some thoughts on playing old games in the future.

Thanks for stopping by.