Words, Words, Words, & a Title
Navigating the triathalon of publishing a trilogy & sneaking y'all the title of Book 2
Hey Y’all!
Thanks to everyone who played the Pass Pages Game with me! It was fun sharing some bits of the sequel to That Self-Same Metal and there’s much more coming like the release date, title, and cover. I’ve turned in my edits on this latest version of Book 2 and am feeling so many things. I’m excited having re-read it and humbled having noted all my mistakes and restless because I’m on deadline for the first draft of Forge & Fracture Saga Book 3. Yes, y’all, I’m already writing the closing book of the trilogy. Isn’t that wild? Yeah, I’m T-I-R-E-D.
Draft, Edit, Print, Rinse, Repeat.
I never really understood the publishing process before I was in it. I knew my original idea that books just sprang from an author’s brain fully formed and landed on the bookshelf was wrong but now I know how wrong I was. Working on That Self-Same Metal was a four-year process from starting my first draft to y’all being able to hold the finished copy in your hands. I made edits before I found my agent, spent a year working on it with Allie, then worked on it some more once I sold it to Abrams. Then we had the fine-tuning with copy edits, pass pages, proofreading, and ARCs (advance reader/review copies) which took another several months. The whole timeline for TSSM looked like this:
November 2018 - Started the 1st draft of “Shakespearean YA Fantasy” for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)
June 2019 - Finished the 1st draft of the newly titled That Self-Same Metal
August 2019 - Finished the 2nd draft of That Self-Same Metal
September 2019 - Participated in #PitMad on Twitter & signed with my agent
September 2019 - November 2020 - Revised That Self-Same Metal several times with my agent
November 2020 - Went on submission to 23 editors
January 2021 - Received a preempt offer from Abrams Books
October 2021 - June 2022 - Revised That Self-Same Metal with my editor, the copyeditor, & the proofreader
November 2022 - Turned in the 1st draft of Book 2 in the Forge & Fracture Saga
January 2023 - July 2023 - Revised Book 2 with my editor, the copyeditor, & the proofreader
April 2023 - That Self-Same Metal was published
That’s a hell of a timeline, I know, and it’s not even finished. Like I said earlier, I’m starting the 1st draft of Book 3 so I’m IN IT, in it. I’ll break down each of those steps more in later letters, but let’s start with the first.
Losing but Winning
Every November thousands of people participate in the absolutely wild-gurl shenanigans that are writing 50k words in 30 days. That’s National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. It’s exhilarating and brilliant and completely terrible. I’ve only succeded with my word count twice in the 10+ years I’ve attempted it and never finished one of the novels I started. Until That Self-Same Metal. But…I also epically lost the year I worked on TSSM, finishing the 30 days with only 12k words…1/4 of the goal, and an even tinier fraction of the 78k in the finished novel.
Was I ashamed of failing NaNoWriMo 2018? Yes. Should I have been? Absolutely not. NaNo should be fun and with this, more than any other time, the important parts are discovering your story, shutting up your inner editor, and getting words on the page. Even with so much more of TSSM to go, I learned so much furiously trying to write 1667 words a day. I feel just as good looking back at those meager 12k words knowing that I made it to the end of a completed novel as I do looking back at those two times I hit my 50k in 30 days.
If you’ve never tried NaNoWriMo, I suggest everyone should attempt it at least once. It’s an immense undertaking but it offers an incredible community that can be difficult to find as a writer. It’s you and over 400 thousand people worldwide trying this impossible thing at the same time: the site offers pep talks, local groups form to do write-ins, and there are rolling word sprints happening across social media. If you’ve ever found yourself feeling lonely and isolated in your writing process, this wild ride might be the connector you need. Just remove the pressure of winning and it’ll be so much better. You can even add me on the site: I’m BrittanyActs there too.
A Title & A Release Date
Okay, y’all, here’s the good stuff. I wanted to share the title and release date of Forge & Fracture Saga Book 2 with my lovely subscribers first so, here goes.
Saint-Seducing Gold (Forge & Fracture Saga Book 2)
April 30, 2024
There’s danger in the court of James I. Magical metal-worker Joan Sands must reforge the Pact between humanity and the Fae to stop the looming war. As violence erupts across London and the murderous spymaster Robert Cecil closes in, the Fae queen Titanea coerces Joan into joining the royal court while holding her godfather prisoner in the infamous Tower of London. Now Joan will have to survive deadly machinations both magical and mortal all while balancing the magnetic pull of her two loves—Rose and Nick—before the world as she knows it is destroyed forever.
The cover will be revealed soon and it’s another gorgeous one by Fernanda Suarez and Chelsea Hunter. I can’t wait for y’all to see it!
Easy Listening
Folks who follow me on IG or Twitter may already know this but I started a podcast with my husband and fellow author
. It’s called Inkbottle and it’s about being a creative, working in the publishing industry, and being a parent. Our first episode is up on Substack and wherever you consume your podcasts. Give it a listen and shoot us any questions you may have.
Events
This party is hitting the road! Come through and talk books with me. Swing on by and say hey!
August 12: National Book Festival - Washington, DC
12 - 1pm Will and Jane 2.0: Classics Updated – In conversation with Sayantani DasGupta talking about the importance of diversity in fairy tales and classics in Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute and That Self-Same Metal.
1:30 - 2:30pm Book Signing
That’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll be back in your inboxes next month talking through more of the publication journey and updating you on my progress with F&FS Book 3.
Love y’all!
Brittany
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