Every author has a different experience when their book goes on submission to editors. It is stressful and can cause so much anxiety. Today, we’re hearing from 2026 Debut Authors on their submission experience and how you can survive when it is your turn!

I asked several of my fellow 2026 Debut authors to pitch in for this video. A debut is an author whose first book is coming out this year. In some ways, I am a wise old author – maybe not so wise. But I’ve been self-publishing since 2015. But my romance debut under a totally new pen name comes out this June. I’ve connected with some of these amazing authors. And wow! Your local bookstores are going to be chock-full of awesome reads.

Before any of these books could hit your shelves, they first had to be acquired by a publisher in a process called submission. This is when your agent sends the book to editors; the book is out of your hands – in more ways than one. I’ve mentioned this a bit on the channel before, but not too much. The first rule of being on submission is you don’t talk about being on submission. Which makes it lonelier and more stressful.

Without any further delay, this is how you, as an author, might survive this very nail-biting process:

Julie Bianco, Witch Season: https://read.macmillan.com/lp/witch-season-9781250384393/

Alexandra McCollum, Into the Midnight Wood: https://alexandramccollum.com/

Heather Eng, Double Happiness: https://www.heathereng.com/

Samantha Chong, Prodigal Tiger: https://bookshop.org/p/books/prodigal-tiger-samantha-chong/5f16d530bb12eb63

Delali Adjoa, The Free Verse Society: https://delaliadjoa.com

Mia Moss, The Heresy of Thieves: https://www.magicrobotcarnival.com/

Angelica Cheng, The Fast Track; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Fast-Track/Angelica-Cheng/9798347107445

Kate Williams, Fake Out Make Out https://lnk.to/FakeOutMakeOut

A big thank you to Alexandra, Julie, Heather, Samantha, Delali, Mia, and Angelica for sending in your tips for fellow authors. I have links below so you can check out their debut books as well as the 2026Debuts website so you can support all the amazing authors with books releasing this year.

2026

I’ll have two more class notes videos coming out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. And as always, comment below with your questions. They fuel future videos.