Breaking In: September/October 2025

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Marrow

(Adult literary fiction, September, G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

“A searing take on femininity and power, Marrow transports readers to a small island off the coast of Maine, where a coven has done the seemingly impossible: given childless women the chance to become mothers.”

Writes from: Fairfield, CT.

Pre-Marrow: My husband and I had just made the difficult decision to begin fertility treatment after trying, unsuccessfully, to conceive for over a year.

Time frame: It took me a little less than two years to research and write the first draft (roughly a year of fertility testing, failed IUIs, and two rounds of IVF; and then another nine months while I was pregnant with my first daughter). I spent my maternity leave with my first daughter, diving into edits given to me by my agent! Then we sold the book when my oldest was about 18 months and I was pregnant with my second. During my second maternity leave, I completed edits given to me by my editor!

Enter the agent: My agent is Marya Spence at Janklow & Nesbit. I’m also a literary agent (I’ve been at Georges Borchardt, Inc. for 15 years now), so when it came time to find an agent for my own work, I was pretty nervous. I felt like I was risking not just rejection, but professional humiliation if it turned out no one liked my work! But happily, Marya and I clicked right away, and she’s been an incredible champion for my writing ever since!

Biggest surprise: Having worked in publishing for fifteen years, there hasn’t been too much that’s surprised me, necessarily, but I feel like I’ve gained a real appreciation for how it feels when things don’t go quite how you’re hoping they will as a writer. About a week after my book sold at auction to an editor I was SO excited to work with, that editor ended up taking a new job and leaving Putnam. As an agent, I completely understood. Editors often have to move houses in order to get promoted. And I was thrilled for the editor and their career. But as a writer, I was devastated. Not long after, the Publisher also left for a new job. Again, I was thrilled for her, but sad for me. I’d had similar scenarios happen with clients’ books throughout the years, but this was the first time I felt that particular brand of disappointment as a writer. I got really lucky, though, and ended up with an editorial team I love: Kate Dresser, Tarini Sipahimalani, and Lindsay Sagnette. It’s been such a pleasure and an honor working with them!

What I did right: When I first started working in publishing, I was afraid to tell anyone that I also wanted to be a writer, but it’s been really affirming, over the years, to see how others have navigated balancing careers as both writers and publishing professionals: writers like Megha Majmudar and Danny Loedel (who were both editors when their first novels were published), Jenny Jackson (editor at Knopf), Betsy Lerner (literary agent), and Danya Kukafka (literary agent).

What I would have done differently: Honestly, nothing. I’m just so grateful to be where I’m at right now: working my dream job, publishing my first novel, and mother to two brilliant (and mischievous) little girls.

Advice for writers: Just keep writing! As a young agent, Georges told me stories all the time about writers he’s represented whose careers didn’t “take off” until book number four, or five, or six. He’s always said it’s not talent that makes a writer, it’s tenacity. And I believe that. In fact, Marrow isn’t even my first novel. I actually wrote a novel before Marrow that didn’t sell.

Next up: I’m at work on what I hope will be my second book, inspired by a true crime story.

Website: SamanthaShea.com

Dust Settles North

(Literary fiction, September, Bindery Books)

"Dust Settles North is the story of two siblings navigating their second-generation Egyptian American identity, family trauma, and grief in the wake of their mother’s sudden death—and father’s shocking betrayal."

Writes from: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Pre-Dust: This book started out as a short story that I wrote for a fiction workshop in my MFA program. I had previously only written short stories, and then while I was in the MFA, I started to expand this into a novel. So, very early drafts of some of these chapters were actually workshopped by my classmates, and it ended up becoming my thesis project in grad school. I think I had almost 200 pages written by the time I graduated.

Time frame: I spent nine years working on this book—counting my time in grad school, all the way up to when the book was sold. I finished the first full draft almost a year after grad school, and then I spent a lot of time editing. Then I started querying agents, many of whom requested the full manuscript, which was great, but I only got rejections at that time. So I went back and started editing some more, maybe for another year before querying again.

Enter the agent: I did a lot of research. I had a spreadsheet with a list of agents that I just started cold querying, and then I finally got an offer. But while my book was out on its first round of submission, my agent actually quit agenting altogether, which put me into a state of panic. Luckily, though, she gave my manuscript to one of her colleagues, Monica Rodriguez, who loved my book and wanted to represent me. And I couldn’t be happier working with Monica. She’s been amazing through all of this. We then worked on some more edits together for a while before Monica sent my book out to a new list of editors.

Biggest surprise: Publishing moves so slowly. I had to really learn to be patient and accept that some things were out of my control. My book was out on submission for a long time, and sometimes editors would receive the manuscript and take months just to start reading. During that time, there was nothing I could do, which was really difficult for me. It was completely out of my hands, and all I could do was wait.

What I did right: I joined a writers’ group. I’ve been in my writers’ group now for over seven years, and I’ve learned so much and grown so much from being in that group. When we started, none of us had books published, and most of us didn’t have agents yet. Now, everyone has at least one book published. Seeing my friends in the group go through that process taught me a lot about what publishing is like and what to expect. So actually, not a lot of things were a surprise to me about the publishing process because I’d already seen how everything plays out through my writers’ group.

What I would have done differently: I want to say I would have stressed out less, or not given myself so much anxiety about the publishing process, but I think in some ways, that was out of my control. So I don’t know that I would do anything differently. I think I learned a lot through this journey.

Platform: I’ve been doing arts and culture journalism on and off for about seven years now, so I’ve built somewhat of a platform through that work. It’s a little bit harder now because so many publications have shuttered, and others are just not accepting freelance work like they used to, unfortunately. My publisher, Bindery, though, is really focused on building a platform for their writers. They work with book influencers who are constantly posting about Bindery books and are invested in our success. I’ve been really impressed and happy with how much marketing and publicity they’re putting into their books, and hopefully that will help me grow my platform.

Advice for writers: I would say just don’t give up. I worked on this book for a really long time, and I got plenty of rejections along the way. I could have just stopped trying, but instead I took the rejections, took the feedback, and kept improving my work, and I’m glad I did because my writing is better for it.

Next up: I’m working on a second book right now—another novel—but it’s still very early stages. 

Website: DeenaElGenaidi.com

Same

(Poetry, October, St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan in the U.S./Canada; HarperCollins in the U.K.)

"A collection of poems about finding magic in the ordinary and celebrating the relationships that make our lives beautiful."

Writes from: Philadelphia, Pa.

Pre-Same: I have been sharing poetry on what I was calling (whenever anyone asked!) my poetry blog since 2020. I always loved writing poetry and prose and used it as a way to help me process and make sense of life, so I started sharing poems weekly (and sometimes even more than weekly) that really were just about what was on my mind at the time. I thought of them all as drafts, so I wouldn’t be afraid to hit the “share” button (many times, I would go back and edit old poems). 

I had my first child in Spring 2023 and was sharing a lot of poetry on new motherhood. Both of the editors that I have now at St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan in U.S./Canada and HarperCollins in U.K. reached out to me when they, too, were experiencing first-time motherhood, so it was a kind of life meets art meets work meets life type thing.

Time frame: I was so excited to get the book deal, but then terrified about the prospect of writing a collection of poems instead of what I had been doing before (writing then sharing then writing then sharing). I had no idea how it would go, but it ended up being a really fun and fulfilling experience. I’ve always been someone who likes to set goals and meet them, so I kind of set it up like a project plan and found that as I wrote, the book started to come together all on its own. Not to say there weren’t hard days where I felt like I had no more interesting ideas—I definitely did have those—but I realized if I had a structure for working on it, then I didn’t have to have it all figured out before I began writing.

I wrote a small excerpt for the book for the proposal between February–April 2024, and then the majority of the book between June and October 2024.

Enter the agent: Sarah Cantin, my editor at St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan, was the first to reach out to me. We had a brief conversation about pursuing a book, and she connected me to a few agents that she thought might be a good fit. I instantly felt so comfortable with Sarah (and my instinct was right, she has been the most incredible editor!), so I trusted she would connect me to great people. I was able to talk on the phone with them and really felt a strong connection to Ariele Fredman, whom I signed on with. Ariele is amazing and helps me to dream big while also navigating the basic things about the publishing world, which is totally new to me.

Biggest surprise: I was surprised how scary finishing the book would feel- a book (unlike my poetry blog) feels so final. I’m in the last stages of editing, and I keep procrastinating on all of my final edits because it feels so scary to hit “done.”

I was also surprised by the importance of pre-orders. It didn’t occur to me that it would be important to “sell” your book before it was out, and how that would influence so much ahead of time.

What I did right: Definitely creating my own writing account and building my own audience was the best thing I did. Writing every week helped me practice the craft of writing and build a readership along the way, which, ultimately, led me to my publishers.

What I would have done differently: I think I would have tried to create a peer writing community earlier on—I had (and still have!) imposter syndrome and felt like other writers wouldn’t want to talk to me, so I held off on reaching out to chat. I’m working on that now, but I feel like I would have been more prepared and understood more going into the book-writing/publishing world if I had reached out to writers and tried to set up coffee chats earlier on.

Platform: I share my writing on Instagram (@hannahrowrites). I post poems weekly and engage with readers—I try to respond to messages and comments people leave, so it’s more like a community (which is what I hope people will feel it is!)

Advice for writers: For me, creating project plans and timelines helps with creativity instead of hindering it. I used to write “when I felt creative” and found (especially early on when I was just beginning the process of regularly writing) that if I didn’t set aside time specifically for writing and I didn’t have a goal I was working on, I would make up excuses for not doing it. Once I got serious about goals, it helped me prioritize my writing.

Next up: I love writing poetry and prose—it never feels like work to me. I hope others love reading it enough that I can publish future books.

Website: HannahRoWrites.com