Not-so-fun fact: my books were among those that Meta used to train their AI without my permission. You can find the list here. (My books are listed under Hayley Chow.)
Personally, I can guaranteeyou that I will never use generative AI in my books or literally anywhere else. When I write anything, be it a story, a social media caption, or even this post, it is me talking to you.
This is one human being trying to connect with another. My stories are me trying to make sense of the world we live in, my experiences, and my perspective, and bottle all of that into a narrative that helps me (and others) process our human condition. Yes, I write science fiction and fantasy and romance, but when you boil a good story down—the characters, their struggles and emotions—you will find our humanity. When you read my books, at their heart, you will find me trying to sort out how I feel about the realities of being human in this world.
And humanity is something I have no desire to be replaced by a machine.
I do not need a machine to tell me how or what to think and feel. I don’t need a machine to tell me what it’s like to fall in love or get my heart broken. What it’s like to feel on top of the world. When I need to feel seen in the pages of books, I’m looking for my reflection in the eyes of another person. I’m looking for those author’s words to tell me I’m not alone.
Because in the mouth of a machine, those words only ring hollow and false.
But then of course, the next question you might ask is, “but Hayley, what about visual art?” Because people have asked this. And honestly, I feel like it’s amusing that people feel the need for this follow-up.
It’s no secret that I commission lots of character art to help promote my books. But I only commission human artists. I love to see how visual artists take my books and my characters, and, using their own human perspective, bring them to life on paper. It is their world connecting to mine with honest emotion and skills that I cherish.
After all, what is art?
The answer, of course, is subjective, but for me, art is human expression through a skilled medium with the intent to connect to another human being.
You see, there’s no room for AI in that definition.
Because I’ve been lucky enough to stand beneath the Sistine Chapel, to see the Raft of the Medusa in the Louvre, and Michelangelo’s David. And the wonder, for me, is not that those things exist. (Because, of course, I’m sure in this day and age a machine could replicate them.) But rather, that a person crafted them, with the intent to communicate across time and space with me and so many others.
So yeah.
I’m not here to tell you what to do. Rather, I’m here to explain while no matter how AI advances, I will always support human authors and artists.
To me, they are the bedrock of a vibrant culture of humanity that reminds us of what it is to create. What it is to mourn. To imagine. To transcend from one singularly unique mind to many. What it is to be alive.
And they are irreplaceable.
You do you, friend, but if it’s generative AI, leave us out of it.
So I usually try to include my writing updates in my bi-annual author newsletter (which you can sign up for here), but it’s been a while since I dropped one in the blog, and I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, I figured I’d post a little recap.
As of this writing, I currently have ten books published.
The 5-book Odriel’s Heirs series is complete. Reading order: Odriel’s Heirs, Burning Shadows, Idriel’s Children, Night of Ash, Time’s Orphan. And honestly, I’m actively trying to step away from further investment in this series in the way of time or promotion. (It’s hard because I do love them so much, but I’m trying to look forward.) They’re all free to read somewhere, and Odriel’s Heirs pretty consistently lives in the top twenty of Amazon’s Free Teen & Young Adult Dark Fantasy ebooks and Teen & Young Adult Epic Fantasy ebooks. It’s downloaded regularly and has over Amazon 200 ratings with a 4.5 star average, so I’m pretty happy with that.
The Gatekeeper of Pericael remains as my only upper-middle-grade adventure, and again, I’m trying to actively step away from further investment. Also permafree, it still gets downloads on a weekly basis, and some reviews trickle in. An agent once told me, “You’ve written a beautiful book, but I have no idea how to market it,” and I completely agree with her. I love the creepy little monsterific book, but its target audience is strong middle grade readers who are looking for a good scare in their fantasy… which is a hard group to reach. As someone who was a horror-loving middle-schooler myself, I do absolutely love it though when it finds its way into the hands of the right reader. *So satisfying.* Strangely this “middle-school boy fantasy” is the only one I’ve sold out of at book signings, so that’s pretty cool too.
The 5-book Into the Churn series is also on the verge of completion. Reading order: Into the Churn, Into the Fire, A Churn in the Dark, Into the Abyss, A Churn in the (Virtual) Society. That last one now available for preorder and will release on September 16th. Since this is still a very new completed series, it’s currently the one I’m marketing most, and with Amazon ratings creeping up (184 now) I finally feel like it’s finding its audience. Overall, I’m super proud of this series, I can’t wait to hold that 5th book in my hands, and see what readers think of our last adventure in the Casolla system.
So where are we going here? Well, this year, my coauthor (E.P. Stavs) and signed a 2-book deal with Charlesbridge Publishing for Midnight Falls, our YA Paranormal Mystery (think of it as Gilmore Gils + Spirited Away + Addams Family.) But that won’t be coming out until Fall of 2027. Erin and I have two more Paranormal Adventures in that same universe—Borrowed Magic & Other Catastrophes (complete and with our agent) and A Witch’s Guide to Mischief and Moonlight (hoping to complete the first draft in June)—that we’re hoping to package together into a magical tourism series, but we’ll see how it goes.
But what about a 2026 release?! Well… I may have a little secret up my sleeve. It’s a little too early to say for sure, but I’m thinking my other Paranormal Mystery (think Veronica Mars + Bride + The Office) maybe be launching into the world in September 2026. The first draft is complete, but I’m still working on the first revision before I send it off to the powers that be. If all goes well, the official announcement will go out in October, and that will be part of a trilogy slated for 2026, 2027, & 2028 release. Fingers crossed!
But what about all of these other books you talk about? Indeed, dear reader, indeed. The traditional publishing pipeline is a long one with many ups and downs. My contemporary YA romcom, Inky & Heater IRL (think You Got Mail + Falling Into Your Smile), is technically on sub, along with my creepy YA Paranormal, The Ninth Circle (Stranger Things + Supernatural + Buffy), but we’ll be pivoting our energies to focus on my other WIPs ready to launch into the sub trenches.
Most notably, Codename: CNDRLA (Ever After + Mission Impossible) is the newest penguin to jump off the iceberg into the unpredictable waters of submission, and my agent (Kristen Terrette) and I are super excited for it!
Exit Seats (When Harry Met Sally + Fangirl) is next in line. And then I also have a *dark* NA Fantasy, House of the Chosen, (Gideon the Ninth + Phantasma) that I’m hoping to send my agent at the end of the summer.
And that’s basically the long and short of it. To sum up: 10 books published 1 book scheduled for September 2025 release 1 book planned for a September 2026 release 2 books planned for 2027 release 2 books planned for a 2028 release 3 books on sub 1 book with agent 2 books on route to my agent this summer
So where is my energy concentrated right now? – Promoting the Into the Churn series – Bagging that September 2026 contract – Crossing my fingers SUPER hard for Codename: CNDRLA (like SUPER hard. It’s seriously one of my favorite book children)
Anyways, thanks for coming on the journey with me! And if you want to make sure you hear about my releases, remember to sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Amazon for notifications when I have another book published!
If you’re looking for ways to support me and enjoyed my books, ratings & reviews help a ton.
This was originally on a page on my website, but since I’ve mostly gotten out of writing flash fiction except for the NYC midnight challenge, I thought I’d move the little stories here instead. This one’s a microfic I wrote for the monthly 100 word story challenge years ago.
Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay
Current Events
Nana sits me down at the table before bustling off to the kitchen. Glancing around, I notice The Mueller Report wedged underneath the table leg. “Nana, I can fix the table wobble for you.”
She shuffles back with a plate of cookies. “Don’t bother. I saved the book from the neighbor’s recycling, and now it’s actually doing some good.”
“I didn’t know you cared so much about current events,” I tease.
Nana doesn’t smile. “It’ll be hurricane season again soon, and I still have a tarp on my roof.” Her eyes sharpen. “These are the current events I care about.”
This was originally on a page on my website, but since I’ve mostly gotten out of writing flash fiction except for the NYC midnight challenge, I thought I’d move the little stories here instead. This one’s a microfic I wrote for the monthly 100 word story challenge years ago.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
The office clown
I squint for a moment, then my eyes widen with recognition. “Susan?” The garish orange clown pockets her juggling balls, her painted smile faltering, but I press on. “From accounting?”
Her shoulders fold in as she looks down her red nose at the ground, looking just like she did when I caught her eating a cheap tv dinner in her cramped corner cube yesterday. But in another beat, she straightens and puffs out her chest, jaw set with defiance before pulling a banana out from behind my ear and cartwheeling away.
Well, tomorrow’s staff meeting is going to be awkward.
This was originally on a page on my website, but since I’ve mostly gotten out of writing flash fiction except for the NYC midnight challenge, I thought I’d move the little stories here instead. This one’s a microfic I wrote for the monthly 100 word story challenge years ago.
Image by Hans at Pixabay.
GOldie
Jesse never wanted a goldfish. He had asked his mother for a puppy for his birthday, and she had gotten him a hard glass bowl with the floating orange gawker—a thirty cent companion from Walmart.
He blinked at the fish, and it blinked back. And yet, when his brother had knocked it off the table to flop helplessly on the linoleum, Jesse had scooped it up in a panic. Once rescued, it did not purr or wag its tail in thanks.
But that was okay. Apparently, a thing didn’t have to love you for you to love it back.
Save the Cat writes a novel completely changed my writing process for the better. So I decided it was time for a reread and I wanted to get a hard copy instead of an ebook, so I figured I’d pick up the YA version (since I write almost exclusively YA.) While I still find the plotting and the beatsheets to be incredibly helpful, I preferred the non-YA version. (It just felt more universal with sharper examples.) But I was glad I reread it to brush up on plotting tools, archetypes, and devices.
Since it’s a craft book, no star rating for this one.
All for saving the cat, but not super into the YA version.
So I became a WriteHive mentor because I wanted to pay forward all the wisdom and experience the writing community had gifted me over the years. And since I’ve done quite a lot of beta reading, critique swaps with partners, and also worked with quite a few editors over the years, I felt pretty comfortable that I’d be able to help someone improve their manuscript.
But what I totally wasn’t expecting was everything I learned during the manuscript selection process. I hadn’t considered that this was the first time I was on the other side of an acceptance/rejection decision. And what it brought it really home for me was that authors had actually requested me as a mentor in their queries!🤯I was so completely flattered and blown away.
In this article, I’m going to break down how I narrowed the submissions to select my mentee, the materials I looked at, and the questions I asked myself along the way. I found this a very enlightening process and thought it might be helpful for others going through the querying or submission trenches. However, please keep in mind, everyone has their own methods for selecting manuscripts for both representation, mentoring, and publication. This was simply the process and realizations I had during mine.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how many submissions came in for 17 mentors:
140 submissions (a 52% increase over 2024 – yay!)
Age demographic submission breakdown:
MG: 12 (8.6%)
YA: 39 (27.9%)
NA: 15 (10.7%)
Adult: 74 (52.8%)
Publishing path submission breakdown:
Unsure about Publishing Path: 21 (15%)
Self Publishing: 14 (10%)
Indie / Small Press: 20 (14.3%)
Traditional: 85 (60.7%)
And genre breakdown:
Fantasy: 51 (36.4%)
Romance: 23 (16.4%)
Romantasy: 23 (16.4%)
Contemporary/Literary/Nonfiction: 17 (12.2%)
Horror/Suspense/Mystery: 16 (11.4%)
Sci-Fi: 10 (7.2%)
Each submission included their bio, the state of their manuscript (where was it in the writing process), pitch, their query letter, a synopsis, and their full manuscript. But how to narrow it down? I really wanted to make sure I picked the mentee who I could help most. A manuscript I could really fall in love with, but also one that I could help in a concrete way.
The first cut
So, even though I had outlined my general preferences in my MSWL (manuscript wishlist), I read the pitch, query, and first page of all 140 submissions, with one question in mind:
Does the premise grab me?
Based on that question alone (which, by the way, had *nothing* to do with the talent of the author or the quality of writing and everything to do with personal preference), I was able to cut my list down from 140 to 26.
That, in itself, blew me away. After all, I’ve received many rejections, and of course, every time, I assumed it was because I wasn’t a good enough author. My writing wasn’t good enough. The story wasn’t good enough.
But here I was, cutting 81% of the submissions with no regard to quality at all. Honestly, I probably could’ve done it based on the pitch alone.
Interesting.
So with that cut, my list was down to: 3/12 Middle Grade: 25% 9/39 Young Adult: 23% 2/15 New Adult: 13% 12/74 Adult: 16% Total Longlist: 26/140
The Second cut
For there, I reviewed the bio, the state of the manuscript, their synopsis, and their query again. From these materials, the mentees included information on if they’d started querying it, which paths – traditional, small press, or self-publishing – they’d consider pursuing, and what they were looking for in a mentorship.
On my second cut, I was asking myself: Is this a mentee I can help? Am I the type of mentor they’re looking for?
Once again, I was not considering the quality of the story or writing at all. I was simply trying to ascertain at this point if we could be a good match based on my strengths and the kind of mentor they were looking for.
In the second cut I went from a longlist of 26 to a longlist of 12.
So at this point, I had cut 91% of the submission without considering quality of writing or story.
The third cut
The third is where I finally read the entirety of the first chapter and then asked myself: Am I drawn to keep reading? This is the first question I’d asked that could have been attributed to writing quality.
The third cut took me from a longlist of 12 to a short list of 7: 2 Young Adult Manuscripts and 5 Adult Manuscripts. From there, I read further into the manuscripts, and once again, this time, looking for the manuscript that I thought would be most suited to my tastes. In the end, I chose the story I had extremely concrete recommendations for, one which was very much suited to my personal taste, and had an author who was searching for knowledge areas I had. And just as an aside, only one of my top 3 choices showed up on another mentor’s top 3. For the most part, all of our top 3 choices were radically different.
So what’s the point?
When it came to publishing, I’d often heard the phrase “right eyes, right time.” Meaning essentially, that there are tons of quality stories out there, but you need to find the right agent/editor that’s the best fit to champion yours at the right time in the market. Which… comes down to a lot of factors outside of your control.
But once again, every time I faced a rejection, it was so easy to take it as a sign that I wasn’t good enough to be an author. Or the story wasn’t good enough to be published. But the truth is, writing, as an artform, is so personal. No one book is for everyone – and that fact is as true before publishing as after it.
So, if you submitted to the WriteHive mentorship, please don’t be discouraged in any way if you weren’t selected as a mentee. It really has no reflection on your ability as a writer or a storyteller, but rather simply, if your story was a good match for the mentors reading submissions this year.
And as I continue to trudge on in the submission trenches, I’m trying to keep the very same lesson in mind. That my stories need to find the right eyes at the right time. Whether that’s next week or next year or in three years really isn’t up to me. All I can do is be patient and keep writing the best stories that I can.
Hopefully, if you’re in the query or submission trenches, this has been helpful in some way and can also help you to find the mindset and perseverence you need on your writing journey.
Rejections are tough. There’s no two ways about it. Just remember to take care of yourself, take lots of breaks, and keep on keeping on. Begin. Grow. Persevere.
So, this year marks a new chapter for me as an author. Though still battling imposter syndrome (as I think most authors do to some extent), I’m making a conscious effort to give back to the writing community this year.
As such, I’m officially a judge for the WriteHive Indie Ink Awards! As a judge, I’ll be reading six books in the next six months, scoring them in a rubric and rating them in the categories they were nominated. Out of the nominees, I’ve actually already selected the six I intend to read and downloaded my first read. Best Audio Narration & Best Light Read are the two categories I’m feeling in this season of life, so that’s where I’ll be hanging out.
But personally, I’m a big fan of book awards as a way to distinguish and lift up authors (indie authors especially) and I’m so excited to be a part of it.
But that’s not all!
This year, I’m also a 2025 WriteHive Mentor! This is an extra special opportunity for me since I was actually a 2023 WriteHive Mentee with EJ Dawson as my mentor, and I learned so much! I was so excited to pay it forward, and even more excited to pick Erin Scheuer as my mentee. I absolutely fell in love with her rock star/celebrity romance Love Songs and Other Lies, (which reads JUST like a K-drama, you all—squeee!!!), and we clicked instantly on our first call.
She’s entering into the revision phase, and I’m so excited to see her take her manuscript to the next level. Everyone is absolutely going to love her sweet, complicated characters, and I’m so excited for the world to meet them! Check out the mock cover and moodboard I put together for her!
It was also super interesting to be on the other side of the submission/rejection process, and I learned quite a lot. (Separate post coming on that soon!)
All in all, this has been such a positive experience so far, and I’m so glad I was able to take the leap to jump into these opportunities! I’ll be posting the books I review for Indie Ink awards here just like any other book, but when the results come out I’ll definitely post an update on the winners! And of course, if anything exciting happens with Erin’s Love Songs & Other Lies, I’ll be sure to post about that too, because I’m pulling hard for it!
If you’re a writer with a manuscript you’re trying to whip into shape for querying or self-publishing, this free program is for you! I was a mentee back in the 2023 with the wonderful E.J. Dawson as my mentor, and the help really transformed my manuscript. (And since then, I’ve gotten an agent and that manuscript is now on sub! 🎉)
Basically, you submit your query, manuscript, & synopsis, and if you get picked up by a mentor, you’re essentially getting a free critique/edit of your manuscript from someone who’s been in the publishing world for some time.
And the big news is, I’ll be joining the WriteHive team as one of the mentors this year! 🎉 I really love this program and I’m so excited to pay forward all I gained from it to a new mentee. I’ve included my bio, expectations, and MSWL wishlist below, but you can find the info on all the mentors here.
The big dates to remember are: Nov 11-18: Mentor AMA Nov 21-24: Mentee Submission Window Jan 1, 2025: Mentorship pairings announced
So, be sure to check this one out, add it to your calendar, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Okay, obviously this is a very personal decision, but this is a question I’ve wrestled with several times since I started publishing in 2020, and my opinion has changed over the years! So I figured I would write what I wished I had known when I started putting books out into the world.
So you’ve written a book! Congrats! Now how do you decide if you should write a sequel or leave it as a stand-alone? When I wrote my first book, Odriel’s Heirs, I had the series more or less planned out in my mind. I remember telling my husband if even *one stranger* liked it, I would write the sequel. This… is a low bar. But at the time, as a brand-new self-published author, I had exactly zero confidence anyone would read it.
Fast-forward to when I wrote Idriel’s Children, my second novel, and I thought I had made a mistake. While I had been at peace with publishing Odriel’s Heirs after attempting to query the book, it felt like a let-down to not be able to query agents with it.
Adding to that, I quickly realized that the audience for a *true* sequel (dependent on the events of book one) is extremely small, because you’re essentially only marketing it to the readers that enjoyed the first book. Therefore, if you look up nearly any series on Amazon, book 2 will have MUCH fewer reviews than book 1, and book 3 will have even less!
Now, luckily for me, each novel in the Odriel’s Heirs series has a different main character, takes place after a generation gap, and can stand alone, so I didn’t have to grapple with that particular problem. But just the very idea of it floored me.
Secondly, if the second book bombs, it would be very difficult to get readers to pick up book three. So there’s a lot of risk in writing all the books up front before you publish and see the reaction.
It was with all these thoughts swirling around my head that I decided that after I completed the Odriel’s Heirs series, I would never again self-publish a sequel.
It was that thinking that led me to leave The Gatekeeper of Pericael as a stand-alone and not pursue a sequel which would not have stood alone. (Along with the fact that I found a creepy MG fantasy incredibly difficult to market.)
Okay, well let’s fast-forward again to now when I’m marketing a completed YA Fantasy series (which feels incredibly satisfying, by the way.) And… I realize two things very quickly. Whereas previously I was thinking that I *can’t* market books #1.5, #2, #2.5, and #3… now I’m thinking I don’t have to. Because when I market book 1, there are many readers that will go ahead and pick up the whole series! Then, there are other readers, who will immediately buy the next book after finishing the previous one.
Which is to say, basically in marketing only book one, in reality, I’m marketing *5* books. This means, suddenly, my BookBub promos are actually turning a profit. And did I mention that people love series? The more time they spend in a world, the more invested they become in it, and the more likely they are to shout it out the rest of their reading friends. Plus, every time another book is released, it only reinvigorates interest and sales in book one, which of course means, more readers! Also, there’s a whole other section of readers who won’t pick up a series until it’s officially complete, which opens up even more possibilities after all the books are released.
If a stand-alone is a *really good stand-alone* that just means you’re leaving people wanting more.
Which is all to say, I get the series train now. Disney, I understand.
That said, I still prefer for each entry to end on a satisfying note. (I’m anti-cliffhangers.) So that, in case it bombs, or due to marketing reasons, it doesn’t make sense to finish the series, the fans of the books aren’t left dangling and unfulfilled.
And despite my general lack of knowledge, I don’t regret how my publishing journey has progressed. I’m SO glad I completed the Odriel’s Heirs trilogy. From a marketing standpoint, it was the right thing to do, and I wanted to prove to myself I could to it.
However, it was also the right move not to pursue the Gatekeeper series. As a self-published author, I wasn’t able to reach an upper MG audience effectively through social media (my primary mode of marketing.) The book stands alone well, and it allowed me to focus my brand on Young Adult books.
Similarly, Into the Churn started out as a stand-alone, and when sales struggled at first, the publisher and I weren’t sure if we move forward with a series. However, the second book reinvigorated both interest and sales in a way that allowed us to greenlight the full trilogy! Now that I’ve seen the 5 for 1 BOGO (buy one get one free) marketing deal with my Odriel’s Heirs series, I’m excited to be able to market the completed Into the Churn series in a similar manner.
That said, that was a lot of stream-of-consciousness. So for those who just want the straight pros and cons, here’s the TL;DR version:
Pros of a Series – In marketing one book, you’re actually marketing the entire series – It gives the readers more time to get invested in the world and characters – Each release reinvigorates sales of book one – Some readers greatly prefer series and some readers only buy complete series – Because you’re marketing the same series over the course of years, it’s more like to gain momentum and attention
Cons of a Series – The sequels, themselves, won’t attract new readers, so the sequel will always have less reviews than book one – If you self-published book one, you can’t query a sequel – You cannot enter sequels into awards contests unless they can stand alone – If book one is hard to sell or market for any reason, selling book two will only be harder – It takes more time/investment to write a series
Anyways, that’s just my two cents from where I stand right now—a small press author on submission, always planning trilogies but making sure each book has a satisfying ending. I’m also going to throw in the reminder that if you *do* love a series, make sure you shout it out and recommend it to your friends, because series *do* get canceled or postponed in the middle sometimes due to lack of sales, reviews, or perceived interest. So if you love a book, be sure to support it with your ratings and reviews!
Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, just let me know!
Hayley Reese Chow 