“It really broke my heart, actually. And it will—for the rest of my life, it will break my heart.”
That’s what A.S. King told me when we sat down to talk about the launch of her most recent novel—a book she revised with extraordinary care and released into the world with the full backing of a traditional publisher.
I knew going into this conversation that things hadn’t gone as planned. But I didn’t expect the depth of heartbreak, or the clarity she brings to what it really means to succeed as an author.
This isn’t a conversation about revision—it’s about what comes after. It’s about publishing promises, creative integrity, and the courage it takes to keep writing when the industry lets you down.
A.S. King’s Book Launch Did Not Go as Planned
This episode is a bit of a departure from the typical conversations I share on this podcast. I love editing. And so this podcast is all about revision—not writing, not publishing, not marketing, but revising excellent novels.
But in today’s episode, we’re going beyond revision to talk about publishing. I’m sharing the second part of my conversation with author A.S. King, where we talked about her experience during the publication and launch of her latest novel, Pick the Lock.
Can I be honest? As an independent editor and book coach, as an avid reader, as a person who cares deeply about excellent books and creative support for the authors who write them, I found Amy’s experience harrowing.
She’s the multi-award-winning author of fifteen outstanding novels for middle graders, teens, and adults. She’s in the prime of her career. She’s traditionally published, and she’s gathered a team of an agent, editor, and publishing house to support her in her career and launch her books into the world.
But when Pick the Lock was released in September of 2024, her launch did not go at all according to plan.
What Revision and Book Launches Have to Do With Each Other
I heard her speak about that experience on the #AmWriting podcast with Jennie Nash back in the fall. And I knew then it was a conversation I wanted to bring to Your Next Draft.
But again—this is a podcast about editing, not publishing. So I had to really ask myself, why? This is an important conversation—that part was never in question. But why is it important for me to share Amy’s story of running the gauntlet of publishing here?
Here’s where I landed, and what I really don’t want you to miss.
Many of the writers I work with, and many of the writers listening to this podcast, are aiming for traditional publishing. You want to get picked up by an agent, sign a deal with a publisher, see the publisher’s colophon on the spine of your book, and find your name on the shelves of Barnes and Noble.
And because that’s your goal, it’s easy to measure the success of your revision process by whether that happens. To say that you’ll know whether your revision worked or not, whether it was good enough or not, whether it’s done or not, by whether you sign with an agent and get a publishing deal or not.
And yes, there’s a kernel of truth there. Publishing is a competitive field. Agents and publishers are looking for well-told stories and well-refined manuscripts. And a lot of times, when agents reject queries, it’s because the books they’re rejecting aren’t yet ready for prime time.
But if you treat the industry’s support and approval of you and your book as the measure of your success, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and even harm.
Amy’s going to talk about that more in our conversation, so I won’t steal her thunder.
But I want you to go into this knowing that one reason why I think this matters, and why it’s relevant to revision even though we won’t talk about revision hardly at all, is because landing the agent, landing the publishing deal, getting the book launch—that is not the only measure of your success in revising your novel. It’s not even the most important measure of your revision success.
It’s a really big deal, for sure. But it involves so many other factors outside of your own work revising your novel.
And if things in your publishing journey don’t go how you planned, I want you to know with absolute certainty and unshakeable confidence that you have created the book you want to create. You have told the story you wanted to tell, and you have told it to the very best of your ability.
Hear Amy’s Full Revision Process
One more thing I want to mention—Amy and I had a long, rambling conversation for over two hours. I shared the other part of that conversation, where we talked about revision, in episode 82 of Your Next Draft.
You don’t have to listen to that episode in order to understand this one. But we do occasionally reference it. So if it sounds like we’re calling back to things you haven’t heard us talk about here, you can find the rest of the conversation in How Surrealist Pantser A.S. King Revises Award-Winning Novels.
What I’m Taking From Amy’s Book Launch
The things a publisher promises are unlikely to take place exactly as described. Yet you define your own career.
You could write an excellent book, the book of your heart, worthy of all the awards, and still not be recognized by bestseller lists or given publicity support from your publisher. Yet the most important thing is to tell the story that you truly want to tell in the way you want to tell it.
The industry will treat your book with the impersonal carelessness they would treat any other product. Yet writing is always, always worth it.
That’s what I’m taking from this conversation.
I would love to hear what you’re taking from it—what stood out to you, or maybe how you feel after listening. (Because I had a lot of big feelings for sure.)
I’ve opened up the comments on the blog post for this episode so you can share and we can chat. If you’d like to share your thoughts, scroll down to the bottom of this page and leave a comment. I’ll be reading and replying to every one.
Hear More of Amy’s Launch Story
If you’d like to hear more from Amy, I have two more episodes for you.
First, go check out Amy’s conversation with Jennie Nash on the #AmWriting podcast. They recorded that episode back in October of 2024, just weeks after the Pick the Lock pub date, so Amy was still very much in the middle of the launch falling apart around her. You’ll hear some more details about what happened, and you’ll hear how her perspective has shifted in the five months between that episode and when she and I recorded our conversation.
And second, go check out Amy’s episode about revision here on Your Next Draft. She’s a master at revising excellent novels. And in that episode, she goes behind the scenes in Pick the Lock and several of her other books to share specific editorial changes she made to shape them into the stories she wanted to tell.
And if you want to support Amy, and discover an excellent novel you might not have heard of, pick up a copy of Pick the Lock. You can order it from Aaron’s Books, Amy’s local bookstore, and she’ll even sign it for you.
Above all, I hope you boldly write the stories that are important to you.
Because the most important thing is to tell the story that you truly want to tell in the way you want to tell it.
You define your own career.
And writing is always, always worth it.
Share Your Thoughts Below
If this episode stirred something in you, you’re not alone. I’d love to hear what it brought up—what resonated, challenged, or stayed with you.
Share your thoughts in the comments—I’ll be reading and replying to every one.
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