20 Comments
User's avatar
Mica Merrill Rice's avatar

Thank you for sharing this part of your journey! It’s eye opening.

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Thank you, that was my goal! 🖤

Expand full comment
A Life of Prose's avatar

This was an insightful read; thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

All I wanted was for one person to find it useful! ❤️

Expand full comment
Christy's avatar

Now that your publishing date is nearing, it would be awesome if you did maybe some month by month updates or something. Thank you for sharing!

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Good idea! I will!

Expand full comment
Christy's avatar

So awesome! It would be really cool to share in your excitement!

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

❤️❤️❤️

Expand full comment
Matthew's avatar

First congratulations! Second what makes your novel "adult"? Sex? How much? How explicit? How did your agent and publisher relate to your original MS and what will end up published?

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Thank you! It’s considered adult because the main character is adult. And my original MS changed very little from what my agent and I submitted to my editor—it was in really great shape already since I’d done so much editing!

Expand full comment
Matthew's avatar

Thank you for the clarification Marisa. Referring to literature, the word “adult” can have several meanings.

Expand full comment
Jim McKee's avatar

So writing the manuscript is less work than the months of follow-up with a publisher, agents, and others?

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Yep 😭

Expand full comment
Evelyn Griffith's avatar

Thank you! I don't think I've ever seen this sort of thing laid out in a list like this and it's both terrifying and exhilarating. I personally haven't even gotten an agent yet, and am just now starting to think about the Query process, so I might have put my cart a bit ahead of the horse by reading this, but I really like to be informed. Thanks so much again for taking the time!

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

This made my day because my only hope was it would be helpful to at least one person. 🖤

Expand full comment
Andrew Kennedy's avatar

Exhaustive and informative. There is also a podcast called Publishers Rodeo hosted by two debut fantasy writers that reviews debut writers journals. It’s hosted by two writers who interview a ton of people.

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Surprisingly I haven’t heard of it yet—thanks for putting it on my radar!

Expand full comment
Andrew Kennedy's avatar

Sunyi Dean whose book hit the Sunday Times bestseller list started it. I am btw enjoying reading about your journey

Expand full comment
Marisa Walz's avatar

Awesome! And thank you!

Expand full comment
Mica Merrill Rice's avatar

Thank you for sharing this journey! I’m a self-published thriller author, but I love learning about both sides of the publishing world. The hardest part for me in this game is meeting other writer friends in the same space. Maybe that part is easier when you’re traditionally published because of the access to agents, etc.? I don’t know, I haven’t figured this part out yet.

Anyway, congrats on the upcoming release next year! It’ll be here before you know it.

Expand full comment