What to expect when a book dies on sub

Lessons learned from one of the most unfortunate publishing outcomes

A bit of house-keeping before we dive into today’s newsletter: I’ve turned paying subs back on, which means monthly AMAs have returned! Paying subscribers: head to the chat to ask your questions. If you’re at the free tier, nothing changes for you; you’ll continue to get monthly newsletters in your inbox. But if you’re considering upgrading, now is the time. I’m currently running a deal for 30% off one year.

Okay. Back to the newsletter at hand…

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It’s officially a new year! And as is true every year, writers are hoping to sell their book to a publisher during the next twelve months. There’s nothing quite like the turn of the calendar to get a writer thinking about their manuscript and its chances of snagging editor interest and, ultimately, a book deal.

Naturally, I hope the best for all of us. If I could guarantee everyone a book deal, and the joy and elation that comes with seeing a dream come true, I would. (Cue Oprah gifs. You get a book deal. And you get a book deal!)

Alas, there are only so many publishers and editors out there, and each imprint has a limit to how many books they can publish each season.¹ This is just business. Many writers will hear “no thanks” when they send their books on sub this year. Many have already heard it in the past.²

I’ve heard it a lot lately. The last three novels I wrote did not end up published by a traditional publisher. Two died on sub and one snagged a book deal, only to be cancelled about a year later when the publisher restructured. (We were still waiting on my contract, and without a signed contract in hand, my deal evaporated.)

I didn’t talk about these heartbreaks as they happened because I needed time to process them—and distance from the experiences in order to discuss them without getting emotional. Looking back now, I can see common ground across each experience, especially with the two books that died on sub.

So without further ado, let’s talk about what it it really feels like to have your book “die” on submission.

First and foremost:

Your book’s death will likely be long and drawn out

All authors know that not every book going on sub can sell, but we still hope to be one of the lucky ones, our book part of the special, chosen few. This means the first several weeks on sub are exhilarating and full of promise. The sky’s the limit. Anything can happen. After the first few rejections roll in and the months begin to pass without good news, doubts begin to surface. By 6+ months most writers are beginning to truly worry, and come the one-year mark, things often feel particularly bleak. It’s at this point that writers start to really grapple with the very real possibility that their beloved novel might not sell.

Even still, you’ll be holding out hope. Especially if your agent is still pulling together another list of editors to approach and/or chasing editors who have gone quiet. (Response times are slower than ever these days, so being on a sub for longer than a year is not unheard of. ) Eventually, though, your agent will start talking about what’s next (instead of sub strategies for the mostly dead book), and you’ll realize, “Oh gosh, this is it. It’s time to shelve the book.”

By this point, you’ve already spent months trying to make peace with the book’s fate. Even still, this moment will hurt like hell—and you’ll still probably find yourself hoping for a miracle. And perhaps worse than continuously hoping is the fact that…

You might never get true closure

It is sadly becoming more and more common to never get a response from an editor. Not even when your agent chases and nudges. Plenty of editors do still respond! But given my recent experiences (and the experiences of some friends), some simply never get back to the submitting agent.

I know editors are terribly overworked, but I hate this growing trend, and I know it’s frustrating for agents, too. The author is left hoping/wishing even when a book appears dead. Because truly, how can you not hope for a miracle when certain editors have your book and still have not responded to your submission? Without closure—without rejections/passes from all editors—it’s very hard to mentally and emotionally move on.

You’ll be angry/disappointed/devastated and this is NORMAL

Having a book die on sub sucks. There’s rarely a silver lining. You spent months (or years) of your life writing and polishing a story that you hoped would be published, and now that’s not happening. It hurts. Badly.

Let yourself feel whatever it is you’re feeling in this moment. Have a good cry. Vent to friends you trust. This part is crucial, because you want to keep any reactive, impulsive feelings offline. Once you post things on the internet, you can’t take them back, and you don’t want to burn a potential future bridge. But by all means, let yourself grieve. This is a loss. An actual loss. Things didn’t go your way, and the thing you dreamed about happening is not, in fact, going to happen.

You’ll try to figure out what went wrong

Why didn’t it sell? Was it just not good enough? Maybe. Maybe not. A hard truth of publishing is that rejection often has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Sometimes your rejections will be glowing. Sometimes the reason for the pass will be that your book is too similar to something already on the list, or not quite right for that imprint, or too quiet/niche, or not commercial enough, or the market is over saturated, or sales of your previous novel(s) gave the editor reason to pause, or, or or.

When there is constructive feedback on your book that resonates with you, that is worth taking to heart. But even if/when you revise, the responses following an R&R or additional rounds of sub could be the same: passes.³ For whatever reason, your book failed to get those magic “yes”es. Securing a book deal comes down to quality of story, true, but there is also a luck and timing factor at play. Unless every rejection points to a craft issue—an actionable, fixable issue with your story—be kind to yourself and assume luck and timing wasn’t on your side. You didn’t do anything wrong—nor did your agent. The book just didn’t get lucky.

You may find it hard to write the next thing

This is especially true if you really, deeply believed in your book’s chances. Even if you started writing the next thing as soon as the book went on sub (which you should always do, because sub is long and slow, and you’d be wise to keep busy), it can suddenly become difficult to work on that newer project. You might backslide a lot, finding yourself angry again, or trying to puzzle out—once more—where the sub strategy failed you.

You’re basically working through the stages of grief, here. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. When writing something new, it’s easy to become resentful that you’re back to square one, working on a fresh draft rather than revising your sub book for an editor while counting down the days until publication.

While these mental backslides are normal, the only way to truly move forward and have a new shot at publication is to write the next thing. It can feel daunting and hopeless. But most of us get better with every book we write, and it’s very likely you’ll love whatever you write next just as much as—if not more than—the book that didn’t sell.

You may resent other people’s success(es)

It is hard to see other people getting what you want. During the first few months after you shelve your book, be prepared to feel complicated feelings when your peers announce their own book deals. Taking a break from social media so that you’re not overwhelmed with a constant stream of other people’s good news can do wonders for your mental health during this time period.

That said, you’ll likely still be in touch with close writer friends (via text/discord/etc), and you’re likely to have complicated feelings when they sell a book, too. Even when you are happy for them, you’ll also feel deeply bitter and sad about how your sub experience went. This is normal. Try to navigate it with grace and humility. This career is filled with peaks and valleys. Your friend is experiencing a high while you’re experiencing a low. The tables could be turned in another year. Or maybe you’ll both be flying high. (We can only hope!) Good friends support each other through the ups and downs, but it’s normal to grapple with complicated feelings along the way.

You will survive this experience

As crummy as it is and as much as it hurts, you will survive having a book die on sub. I’ve survived it two times in a row. (Three if you count my book that “sold” but then fell apart before we had a contract.) Each time I sent a new book on sub, I said to a friend, “If this one doesn’t sell, I don’t know what I’ll do.” And guess what? I somehow figured it out. I survived each disappointment. I kept writing. And I now have another book written and polished and ready to send out for consideration. It’s terrifying because gosh, I do not want to go through another failed submission experience. But if that’s what the cards have in store for me, I know I can survive it. And you can too. It sucks, but it won’t kill you. I promise.

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I know this post might seem like a bit of a downer, but that’s not my intention. This is something I am (unfortunately) keenly familiar with, and I hope that sharing my experiences might help others mentally prepare for submission and/or get through an unwanted outcome.

Having a book die on sub sucks. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. But at the same time, I want to leave you with this final reminder:

“No” doesn’t mean “Never”

When you shelve a book, it doesn’t mean it’s nails-in-the-coffin dead. You can always return to the story down the road—to reimagine it, or rework it for another submission, or maybe even publish it yourself. Of the three projects I mentioned at the start of this post, one of those dead sub books went on to be In the Dead of the Night, the YA psychological thriller that I self-published in the fall of 2024. I also know of an author who gave their editor an older “died on sub” book as their option novel and received the green light. Books can have lives after a failed submission attempt.

Lastly, keep in mind that just because an editor rejected this novel doesn’t mean they’ll reject all your future novels. It often helps me to think of the submission process like a job interview. If I make a good impression, the editor will be happy to see my resume—ahem, manuscript—come across their desk again in the future. And maybe this time, their answer will be different.

Publishing is a long game. A marathon, not a sprint. Each time you put a manuscript out there, you are (re)introducing yourself to editors. Sometimes the stars align. Sometimes they don’t. But books are never truly dead—they’re just hibernating.

Keep writing.

Until next time,

Erin Bowman is the critically acclaimed author of numerous books for children and teens, including the Taken Trilogy, Vengeance Road, Retribution Rails, the Edgar Award-nominated Contagion duology, The Girl and the Witch’s Garden, and Dustborn. A web designer turned author, Erin has always been invested in telling stories—both visually and with words. Erin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and children.

1. This post is about traditional publishing, hence these limitations.

2. Truly, this is not a unique experience. Many, many authors (aspiring and veteran) have had an unsuccessful sub experience.

3. This has definitely happened to yours truly.