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WELL SAID

Not trying to spark controversy or anything, but why do people want to JAIL LIBRARIANS??? What is even the “logic” behind that??

I linked to several articles in that post about librarians yesterday -- beyond that, I don't think I can really put myself in the head of people who are clearly off the rails. I *imagine* if you ask the nitwits who are calling the cops on librarians, they would probably say that they feel that the librarians are "giving pornography to their children" and are "pedos/groomers." So then people who don't know much about books (which is A LOT OF PEOPLE) hear that and they think, yikes, well, obviously, I want to protect children from groomers! Who would want to be on Team Groomer? I'm on Team Protect Children!"

Which means that suddenly, the LIBRARIANS are by default on Team Groomer, when what they did was... just be a regular librarian with regular books.

Here's another article about the multiple current bills that could affect librarians in Louisiana -- one could result in fines or jail time for libraries/librarians affiliated with the ALA (which the lawmaker claims is "a Marxist organization" -- uh ????) -- another would make librarians liable if a book is deemed "obscene" (presumably by a bunch of people who think EVERYTHING is obscene).

Again, we are not dealing with "logic" here.

As I said yesterday -- Conspiracy Theorist Me says: It's easy to dismiss these people as fringe conservative kooks. And they are. BUT, somebody bigger is pulling their strings. The Kooks are just the foot soldiers of the rich people / politicians, and what THEY want, ultimately, is to get rid of public libraries and public schools altogether. (Presumably for $$$ and Control.)

So they gather their kooks into these incredibly well-organized groups and get their weird members onto school-boards and whatnot across the country, and target their barrages of frivolous complaints in such a way (and in such ludicrous volume -- the majority of the THOUSANDS of complaints in 2021-2022 were made by the same 11 people) -- that it is easier for the school board or library board or whomever to just cave than to keep fighting it. And once you start removing this book or that book, it's a slippery slope.

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I was on a panel recently. Sessions are available to view online but don’t seem to be downloadable. I found a way to record it and have a copy. Would it be bad to put it on my website or something? I’m wondering if there’s a reason it can’t be downloaded. Plus, the panel was for educators. But I feel like it was a good panel, and I liked talking about my book and hearing from everyone else, so I’m conflicted!

Would it be "bad"? I mean -- it might be WEIRD. Let's unpack it:

If the sessions are available to view online -- is it behind like a password protected thing, or a paywall? If so, then very clearly you are not meant to make that public and it would definitely be shitty to post the recording of it on your own thing. If it ISN'T -- ie, it is free to the public -- then why not drive traffic to them AND promote your panel at the same time? Just write a post about how much you enjoyed the panel, and then GIVE A LINK so people can go look at it if they want to, and that might possibly be a benefit to the organization!

If that isn't good enough for some reason:

It's a panel -- so you are not the only participant. The participants were, presumably, targeting their remarks to the group they were speaking to -- perhaps they would have phrased things differently if they knew that their audience was not just the people in that zoom or in that room, but the whole world. Did you ask the other participants if they are OK with your posting?

It's a panel, so it was organized / hosted by somebody. Let's say it was a seminar during a conference for educators who had paid to be there. That organization might well feel that the panel was for the benefit of the people who paid to attend, or for their members specifically, and wouldn't care to have it free to the general public. That's why they didn't make it available for anyone to just download, right? Did you ask the organizer if it was OK to post?

If you asked the other participants and the organizer if it was OK and they said yes, then I guess do what you want. But otherwise -- welp, no is a valid response, and I'd respect that.

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Do author-illustrators need to include illustration notes in manuscripts while querying?

For the most part, if you are a writer submitting a text-only manuscript, you should keep your illustration notes to a minimum -- unless it's something where the story literally wouldn't make sense without it, you don't need to put it in there. (So for example, a joke where the punchline is visual, you could put an illustration note there). Other than that, I'd suggest keeping the illus notes to a dull roar -- you don't want to tell the illustrator what to do, they have their own job!

If you are also the illustrator -- same, really? Like, presumably you are making a dummy of the book, so I'll SEE whatever it is, so I won't need illustration notes because there's an illustration there -- but I guess if it is just a text alone, same with the above -- I would really would only think it was necessary to include if it is something important that cannot be gleaned from the text alone.

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Not trying to spark controversy or anything, but why do people want to JAIL LIBRARIANS??? What is even the “logic” behind that??

I linked to several articles in that post about librarians yesterday -- beyond that, I don't think I can really put myself in the head of people who are clearly off the rails. I *imagine* if you ask the nitwits who are calling the cops on librarians, they would probably say that they feel that the librarians are "giving pornography to their children" and are "pedos/groomers." So then people who don't know much about books (which is A LOT OF PEOPLE) hear that and they think, yikes, well, obviously, I want to protect children from groomers! Who would want to be on Team Groomer? I'm on Team Protect Children!"

Which means that suddenly, the LIBRARIANS are by default on Team Groomer, when what they did was... just be a regular librarian with regular books.

Here's another article about the multiple current bills that could affect librarians in Louisiana -- one could result in fines or jail time for libraries/librarians affiliated with the ALA (which the lawmaker claims is "a Marxist organization" -- uh ????) -- another would make librarians liable if a book is deemed "obscene" (presumably by a bunch of people who think EVERYTHING is obscene).

Again, we are not dealing with "logic" here.

As I said yesterday -- Conspiracy Theorist Me says: It's easy to dismiss these people as fringe conservative kooks. And they are. BUT, somebody bigger is pulling their strings. The Kooks are just the foot soldiers of the rich people / politicians, and what THEY want, ultimately, is to get rid of public libraries and public schools altogether. (Presumably for $$$ and Control.)

So they gather their kooks into these incredibly well-organized groups and get their weird members onto school-boards and whatnot across the country, and target their barrages of frivolous complaints in such a way (and in such ludicrous volume -- the majority of the THOUSANDS of complaints in 2021-2022 were made by the same 11 people) -- that it is easier for the school board or library board or whomever to just cave than to keep fighting it. And once you start removing this book or that book, it's a slippery slope.

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Is it bad if my agent never seems to pick up the phone and call editors to follow up? Sometimes, she’ll be like “Well, we never got a response to my email” and I’ll wonder if she just… never calls anyone?

Ha! To the person who complained two weeks ago that agents are obsessed with the phone and literally nobody else ever wants to call anyone and why are agents so ridiculous as to want to sometimes speak to another human? PACK OF LIES!!!! WE ARE JUST AS ANTISOCIAL AS EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!

But in all seriousness -- here's what the phone is best for IMO:

things that cannot be written down because they could be misconstrued, taken out of context, or used against somebody else should they be in writing. (HOT GOSS and sensitive subjects, in other words.)

things that are kinda complicated, but a conversation can just cut through the noise quite quickly rather than having to type out a whole THING.

a last resort when you literally MUST get hold of somebody

With a few exceptions, most editors, like most agents (and like most human beings in the year of our lord 2024), generally prefer email and screen their calls -- since many/most are often/always working from home, we may not even have a phone number for them these days, or its their cell phone and I really would not feel great about harassing them on there unless it was one of those things above, and even then I'd email first / try to schedule a call.

And maybe it IS one of those things, and your agent SHOULD just pick up the phone. But if it is about responding to a submission, that rarely rises to the level of "OK I need to call them" unless something major is happening, like there is an auction and they have said they are participating but then they vanish or something like that. The only times I have ever nudged by phone is if they are ghosting an author on a project they already bought -- and I would try SEVERAL emails before I went phone mode.

An unscheduled phone call is like -- I have put my leather jacket on and I'm getting AGGRESSIVE. *flicks match*

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Hi, Jenn. I’m an idiot. I subbed to an agent’s QueryManager and accidentally left out my author bio. I have a book coming out soon in another age category and didn’t mention that or anything about my background in my query because I DELETED IT by accident before submitting. I sent an additional message apologizing and added my bio as an “Other” message, but should I have just let it go? (Not that I plan on messing up like this again.)

You're fine, don't worry about it -- everyone messes things up sometimes, that's part of the glorious tapestry of life, they now have the info, they will understand. :-)

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With parents/guardians regulating  (I hate the word but I think it's accurate) what they want kids to have access to, it makes libraries and the poor librarians have to fall in line and carry what only certain parents 'approve of' (to the detriment of us all). And publishers and writers might not take chances on books they know might be banned or challenged. 

Sooo how much power/influence do publishers really have? I mean in society and pop culture, I guess. I feel like publishers are beholden to everyone no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on. 

And that old adage 'if you try to please everyone you will please no one' is starting to really be the truth. The recent Scholastic fiasco comes to mind.

(so sorry in advance this turned into a lengthy rant that doesn't answer the question) (but then again, I am not even sure I get what the question part is, so OH WELL, strap in for some book ban talk!)

A very small minority of unhinged, ridiculous parents and horrific politicians are actually trying to ruin schools and libraries for everyone. I mean:

Louisiana has current legislation that would criminalize libraries joining the American Library Association. (ie, yes, a librarian could be ARRESTED AND SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS HARD LABOR what the actual fuck???)

Utah has a law that allows any district to pull any book that any other district has pulled

Florida "moms for liberty" (LOL - FU) are trying to have librarians arrested -- Again and again -- etc etc --

I could keep going but I actually have to work at my job THWARTING BOOK BANNERS today!

So just for what it's worth -- I don't think most librarians want to or are "falling in line" and bowing to these parents. Librarians, hopefully, want to make a library that has a collection of material that will best serve all their patrons. And it truly is a very small number of patrons that launch these bizarre campaigns against books.

They do have budgets though, which are also being slashed in many cases, and obviously if they know that their particular community leans toward a certain mindset, they might make choices that reflect that when curating their collection, sure. But yeah -- all the librarians I know are big fans of free speech and freedom to read, and are willing to go to bat for that -- that's why some places are going so far as to pass LITERAL LAWS against librarians, because short of that, librarians are tough to stop!

I would say, too -- Publishers are not trying to "avoid bans" (I mean they aren't ENCOURAGING them either obviously!) -- but in my experience, they simply don't think that way when deciding what to acquire. They can't, because the fact is, it doesn't MATTER what the book is about. A book doesn't have to have "scandalous content" for people to want to ban it -- PICTURE BOOKS are being taken off shelves -- books with themes like embracing your own beauty. Or making stew with neighbors. Lots of times books are challenged for pretty blatantly racist reasons -- no reason at all, actually, other than a BIPOC person wrote it so it must have "critical race theory" (???) in it. For reals.

(Also -- these "banners" / "moms for liberty" aren't READING the books. It is a few people using canned language that somebody else came up with to paper objections to books across districts where they don't even have children. I'd argue that whoever is pulling the strings here doesn't actually even care about ANY of this -- they are using some batshit people who have too much time on their hands to just heap school districts and public libraries with challenges about every last thing because they want it to become so difficult and annoying that the librarians and library boards just give up. They want all libraries and schools to be privatized. I dunno - follow the money.)

Ugh. Again -- this is probably not answering your question??? Sorry, and I really do have to stop typing now. I guess my point is :

Publishers are beholden, in some cases, to their shareholders -- but really, to readers at the end of the day -- most readers want freedom to read and the free exchange of ideas and freedom of speech, etc -- those are the people who pay for books -- so that's who publishers cater to.

Librarians are mostly pretty staunch advocates for free speech and freedom to read, and publishers are supporting them as well.

Writers hopefully, same!

(In the case of the "Scholastic Fiasco" -- Scholastic wasn't trying to bow to nasty parents, exactly -- they were trying to protect the educators who might get harassed, fired, or potentially arrested by those nasty parents. Unfortunately, as you say, it blew up, because you can't have it both ways, etc etc.)

I really do have to go now sorry I couldn't solve book banning this morning :-/

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Hi, Jenn! Hope you’re well. I’m writing an MG that talks about what is essentially COVID, but I’m afraid specifically mentioning it will either make people roll their eyes or date the book. Should I just be more general and talk about pandemics and disease? Would that just make it look like I’m tiptoeing around the real word?

I don't know? Again, as I answered a few days ago, there are certainly books that have been and are currently bestsellers and also mention or are set during COVID, that's a real thing that happened, like... ?????

If the book is set within the last few years, where COVID is a big concern, and there was a world-wide shutdown, etc, like, yes, I guess it will date the book, but if that's what the book is about, why not just mention it ? LIKE THAT'S WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT? No need to tiptoe.

But there are plenty of diseases. There are diseases that aren't discovered or named yet I'm sure. There could be an outbreak of any kind of disease. There are various illnesses going around schools and whatnot all the time.

So if the point of the book is not specifically the COVID pandemic, rather, you are just mentioning the fact that there is some disease going around that doesn't have to be this one, then whatever, put anything you want, I guess. People I know with young children seem to get a different disease every week, so... (HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE? REALLY????)

(I have no idea if that's answering the question you were even asking, by the way, sorry if not lol)

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i know a lot of writers lament about publishing nowadays, especially the promotion of yourself on social media. But are there things in contemporary publishing that you are glad changed and would NEVER want them to be 'like it used to be'?

Totally!

First of all, when I started as an agent, email querying and submitting was JUST coming into play as a normal thing, and there was pretty scant info about agents and whatnot online (no QueryTracker or anything like that) -- before around Y2k, authors had to, you know, type their queries, do research on agents in physical books, mail queries through the post -- and worse, agents had to print out full manuscripts and post THOSE to editors. Booo! So, a bigger barrier for entry to authors, a bigger pain in the ass for agents and editors, and all around, yuck.

Contracts -- when I started, most all contracts were still required to be multiple copies of wet ink signatures on paper -- the printing, the mailing, what an UNBELIEVABLE pain that was. (And while this was STARTING to change ten years ago or so, it didn't change across the board until the pandemic, honestly.)

Payments and statements -- when I started, no publisher or agency had direct deposit. They'd send us paper checks, and we'd in turn send paper checks to authors. All the hundreds and hundreds of pages of royalty statements came on paper, which we'd have to copy and send to authors, or scan into our own computers to email and file the paper somewhere. (I still have multiple large filing cabinets STUFFED with paper statements and contracts I'm afraid to get rid of!) -- This started to change maybe 10 years ago, as the largest publishers got electronic statements under control and some publishers and agencies got direct deposit, and then the pandemic happened, and now almost (ALMOST) everyone has both. This means people get their money more swiftly and safely, and I'm not swimming in piles of horrible paper statements come royalty time, THANK GOD.

Also, in my early days and before that, there was a LOT more open, toxic behavior tolerated. Straight up racism, misogyny, handsy men... you get the picture. Like, obvs there's still definitely some misguided statements that get made by publishers, micro-aggressions for sure exist in corporate workplaces, etc, but -- trust me when I say, back in the day, people were absolutely unafraid to say VILE things in totally matter-of-fact ways, like, just MACRO-AGGRESSIONS during business meetings and stuff, which I HOPE and believe they'd think twice about today or face repercussions for. There was also a huge drinking culture in publishing back in the day, which is far less normal today -- that can't have helped! So while, yes, I do miss the lavish parties and dinners we used to have, I definitely DON'T miss some of the stuff that came with that!

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The main character in my story is a girl who's crazy about math and technology. There's an element of fantasy but mostly focused on the character's passion for STEM. Should I be querying agents in a more general way saying it's a 100,001 word "Middle Grade" rather than specifying MG Fantasy? Does it even matter? Your advice is very much appreciated :-)

If it's not a straight-up contemporary MG, but it's also not a full-on FANTASY fantasy, maybe just describe what it actually is in the query? Like it's a MG with a focus on STEM and some light fantasy elements? Or it's a MG with some light fantasy elements about a girl who is crazy about math and technology? Or something like that.

But also, don't tie yourself up in knots over it. If you have to tick a box, and the options are like:

MG

MG Contemp

MG Fantasy

MG Magical Realism

I'd probs go for JUST MG, or MG Magical Realism, but not "contemporary" or "fantasy" -- and then describe it more fully in the query itself.

(And yes I know that Magical Realism in its more formal/original meaning specifically refers to a subgenre of Latinx literature, so I would NOT SUGGEST just randomly using the term to describe your own work if it isn't that -- HOWEVER, in the very general/colloquial way that many people do use the term, it's more like "mostly contemporary / grounded in reality, but with some element of MAGIC/fantasy sprinkled in", and if that's an option on a form or something, IMO, it's OK to choose it for lack of a better option, and it will be clear in the query itself what you mean by that!)

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I never nudge agents because I'm of the mindset if they were interested they would let me know & we're all too busy as it is. I now find myself in a situation where I queried Agent A with a pb & didn't hear anything for six months and then queried Agent B at the same agency with a mg manuscript. Agent A finally sent a rejection, praising the pb ms and suggesting I query Agent B when they return from leave in May. Agent B still has my mg query from November, but, again, they've been on leave. What should I do about Agent's A suggestion considering the status of the mg query? And is Agent's A recommendation a "referral?" Thanks!

This is complicated and it gave me a brain attack. My gosh.

OK, Agent A is out of the equation. Agent B is back from leave in May. So in May, why not send a query to Agent B for the PB, and use that opportunity to ALSO nudge, saying something like, "Agent A suggested I query you with my PB -- full disclosure, I also did query you back in November with a MG [about whatever], but I didn't realize you were about to go on leave, so that might also be in the bottom of your inbox; let me know if you'd like me to re-send" or some such.

Alternatively, in May, NUDGE ON THE MG, and say, "I realized after the fact that you were on leave, so this might have drifted to the bottom of your pile, just checking in. Full disclosure, last month Agent A also suggested I query you with a PB [about whatever], so I'm happy to send that along if you'd like."

(I don't think I'd CALL it a "referral" -- but A did SUGGEST you query B, so just say that!)

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Hi, Jenn! Would you ever withdraw a submission from an editor and resubmit to another at the same imprint if the first one just… wasn’t responding? I’m talking, like, more than six months of silence.

Typically, imprints consider a no from one to be a no from all in the imprint, unless they specifically say "you should send it to so-and-so."

So, tbh, I would probably just consider it a no and have moved on to other sister imprints, unless the work had changed substantially so it seemed like a totally fresh start. OR, I'd endeavor to find that editor by hook or by crook (like, maybe by just picking up the phone??) and ASK them if it was fine to sub to somebody else at the imprint.

The reason for that being, if they are just silent, I have no way of knowing who else they might have already shared the material with or anything else -- and if they DID by chance already share with their colleagues, I might look like an idiot if I sent it to one of them.

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Hi there! So, I am an indie author. My debut released this October. I got an email from a top foreign publisher inquiring about foreign rights. I had this checked by two agents to see if this was legit, and they both confirmed this is a legit editor and publisher!

But, I am am indie. I don't have rep, but I feel like I would only feel comfortable purshing foreign rights WITH an agent on my side.

I have no idea how that would work! Would I query the book but tag it with interest in foreign rights? For context its AST Publishers (based in Moscow)

I thought I'd ask since I'm not sure who else to ask other than trusted agents who are open to answering questions from authors

(Also hello! I'm the indie author who was asking about blurbs etc a few months ago and sent a follow up a few weeks ago! Tysm for all your help!)

With the caveat that I don't know much about the indie publishing world, so maybe there's a set-up for this (check on indie author forums, etc!) -- from MY perspective as a literary agent, it's highly unlikely that most regular agents would be interested in repping ONLY the foreign rights for an indie title. Now -- if you have new material that you want to go out with to traditional publishers, and you get an agent with that material, they'd probably also be happy to handle your foreign and other subsidiary rights for your indie titles -- they just are probably unlikely to jump at JUST those foreign rights. (It's a fair amount of work, for very little commission! So there's not much upside if we don't have the ability to shop the book itself as well.)

I would suggest you inquire with agencies that specifically work on Foreign/Translation rights -- they are much more set up for this kind of deal and used to it. Typically they work with regular literary agencies and smaller publishers to sell their work in translation, but they might be open to repping an indie published book if it seemed to have foreign potential? Seems worth investigating, anyway. A few such agencies: Taryn Fagerness Agency, Baror International, Rights People. (There may be others, these are just the ones I am familiar with -- again, you can research this on publishing/indie publishing forums, I'm sure!)

Good luck!

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Hi, Jenn! I’ve been out of the query trenches for a while, and I’m wondering if I forgot how one thing works. If an agent uses email (not QM) and responds with a full request, am I supposed to start a whole new email with the requested manuscript? I accidentally replied to the query email, and now I’m wondering if I messed up.

Personally, I think that if they haven't said any differently, you did exactly the right thing -- if it's attached to the original email, they will see the original info, what they requested, when, etc, and be able to find it again easily, whereas if it is two separate emails floating unattached to one another, one of them might get lost or it might get confusing.

(Obviously if they request you to do it a different way, follow those instructions -- they know their own workflow! I just know that FOR ME, I'd find the same email thread easier to navigate!)

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Hi Jenn, I wanted to follow up on your answer about the query letter--you said you take a quick look and one of the things is if the writer was published before...would no other published works be considered a negative in your assessment of their query??

Not at all -- we love debut authors. :-)

It's just a point of interest, neither automatically good nor automatically bad, nor anything else for that matter.

If they have never been published before, that's totally fine.

If they have been published, but not in a genre/category I rep, that's totally fine.

If they HAVE been published before in this category, have I read their books and did I like them? That might affect my feelings. Do I know the publisher/editor they work with? That might affect my feelings. Have I not heard of the books? Well, if I like this query, maybe I want to look them up now! Etc.

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Hi Jenn, hope you’re well. I’ve been on sub for a grant total of 3 days and I’m already losing it. This isn’t my first rodeo, back in ‘21 my first book died on sub but I’ve since moved agents and feel in a much better space. The first time around I asked my agent to send me all rejections but quickly felt demotivated when there was basically lots of, “Nice but not for me” type stuff. So I asked my current agent to only update with positive stuff and now I’m regretting that. I am also trying not to fixate on the idea that if stuff is going to sell it will sell super quick and my agent tells me it could be several weeks until we hear anything at all. What are your tips for coping with sub? Is it slower than ever? And yes, I am indeed already working on the next thing. Thanks so much!

So I asked my current agent to only update with positive stuff and now I’m regretting that. You're allowed to change your mind. Or, split the difference, and ask them to update you on positive stuff (obviously!) -- like, really especially nice passes, or "loving this!" or whatever -- but update you periodically regardless, or when you ask. And you can always ask! (I'd advise NOT asking more than like, once a month or something, just to not drive yourself crazy, because the reality is, you originally asked for them to not update you on every little thing in the moment for a good reason, so...)

I am also trying not to fixate on the idea that if stuff is going to sell it will sell super quick and my agent tells me it could be several weeks until we hear anything at all. Perhaps it would help if you knew that not only is your agent correct, to go further, "several weeks" would be "super quick", especially for a novel!

It could take several weeks for somebody to even glance at it, let alone get multiple reads from multiple folks, take it to multiple meetings, etc etc.

Also, I quite often get offers several months after being on sub, and I don't consider that particularly slow, either... that's normal. (Very slow would be like, nine months, or A YEAR -- but I have definitely gotten offers that took THAT long, too!) -- and this timeline might be a little longer if it's a very long book, or possibly a little shorter if it's a PB or something, but in general:

Insanely quick, and you've heard about it because it's quite rare = within a week

Super quick = several weeks

Normal = 2-3 months

Slow = 4-6 months? But if they do respond to nudges and say they are still considering, it stays in the "slow lane" for as long as it takes, which could be longer.

Consider it a pass, move on = 6 months+ with no response to nudging? (but you STILL might get surprised, for real)

What are your tips for coping with sub?

You just have to put it out of your mind as best you can. Writing the next thing is a great start! Doing literally anything else besides haunting your inbox and fretting is the important thing. I dunno. Take up a hobby? Hike? Play pickleball? This is "a watched pot never boils" writ large.

Is it slower than ever?

Yep!

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This is so stupid, but a while back, this editor told my agent she was bringing my work to an acquisitions meeting. Then she went silent. Nudges revealed she was busy or OOO or just not responding. It’s been almost two years, and we considered it a pass a long time ago, but for some reason, I’m just STUCK on it. I think it’s because I also received an R&R that then led to a pass, and that book was really personal to me. How do I move on? I know I have to. We’re subbing other projects now, but I’m still stuck on it mentally.

I mean probably you should unpack this with a licensed therapist, not me, but hey, until you get there, I guess I can weigh in:

She ghosted you, and beyond your agent presumably nudging / trying to get hold of her, there's not really anything you can do about it. Frustrating and upsetting, I know. So I googled "getting over getting ghosted" and this article came up. I don't know the author or if they are generally good or what, BUT, this is pretty good advice I think, though it's about relationships I've summarized and bookified it below, or you can read the whole spiel at the link.

Realize that no response IS a response. (It's a sucky and disappointing response! But it's still a response.)

Reframe the ghosting: Try not to take it personally. (This truly is them being avoidant or dealing with some kind of crisis badly or whatever -- it's NOT ABOUT YOU or your book! And by the way... perhaps you dodged a bullet, actually, and you should be THANKING them in your head. They showed you a taste of what working with them might have been like!)

Avoid the temptation to generalize future [bookish] outcomes. (Just because this happened doesn't mean the next book won't sell or even that that book will never sell -- if you're passionate about it, then let it rest for awhile and then consider tackling a revision and starting from scratch with that one. Or, maybe you will return to it and realize, actually, your new work is even better. Who knows?)

Use mindfulness and self-compassion to heal. (Sure, why not? Don't be hard on yourself anyway - YOU didn't do anything wrong!)

Find people who love and accept you -- and/or, your book. (Your agent, your critique partners and friends, the wonderful new editors you are submitting to... Also, potentially, a therapist!)

Set boundaries. (You know this person is probably going to do this again when push comes to shove -- so maybe DON'T submit to them in the future or spend more mental energy on them. You are letting them live rent-free in your head and you need PAYING tenants in there!)

Understand emotional immaturity. (Hopefully, you have empathy and perspective, and you are an emotionally healthy adult who is a good communicator and knows how to have hard convos. You probably would never ghost. It's a shame that not everyone else is that way. Hopefully, this phantom is on their own growth journey and will be better in the future, but that's not up to you.)

MOVE ON. (Which is what you are doing now! Kudos!)

Good luck out there!