A New Publishing Conversation Begins

September 2026

There are moments in an author’s career when several paths seem to open at once. This week feels like one of those moments.

I’m excited to share that I have an acquisition call with a new publisher this week to discuss my work and the possibilities ahead.

At this stage, I’m keeping the details close until there is something definitive to announce, but I’m incredibly encouraged by the continued interest in my writing and the conversations that have developed around my growing body of work.

For an author, an acquisition conversation represents something particularly meaningful. It is an opportunity to move beyond a manuscript on a page and begin discussing where a project might belong, how it could reach readers, and what a potential publishing relationship could look like.

And, as anyone familiar with publishing knows, there is still plenty of road between an exciting conversation and an announcement.

So, for now, I’m allowing myself to appreciate the moment while continuing to move forward.

The Search for Literary Representation Continues

Alongside these publishing conversations, I am actively seeking literary representation.

I currently have work under consideration with literary agents and am awaiting responses from several queries and submissions. I am also continuing conversations and submissions with publishers regarding current and future projects.

Finding the right literary agent is important to me because I am not simply looking for representation for a single manuscript.

I am building a career.

My body of work continues to expand across genres, themes, and audiences, and I am looking for an agent who sees both the individual potential of these projects and the larger trajectory behind them—someone interested in developing a long-term author-agent partnership built around strategy, advocacy, and a shared vision for the work.

That means I am willing to be patient enough to find the right fit.

More Than One Story

One of the most exciting developments of the past year has been watching my writing evolve from individual manuscripts into something much larger: a catalogue.

Every project has its own identity, but certain questions continue to follow me from one story to another.

Who do we become because of what happened to us?

What happens when we finally confront the things we were taught not to discuss?

What does it cost to reinvent yourself?

What does family give us—and what does it leave us to overcome?

How do we find humor in circumstances that probably should have broken us?

And what happens when someone finally decides that the life they inherited is not necessarily the life they have to keep?

Those questions have taken me into contemporary fiction, memoir, comedy, Southern Gothic storytelling, and beyond.

The genres may change.

The voice may change.

But the fascination with complicated, imperfect, deeply human people remains.

The Waiting Is Part of It

Publishing involves an extraordinary amount of waiting.

You write.

You revise.

You submit.

And then you wait.

You send another query.

You wait again.

Someone requests material.

More waiting.

A conversation begins.

Then comes another period of uncertainty.

It can be maddening, particularly when so much of the process takes place beyond the author’s control.

But I have also learned that waiting does not have to mean standing still.

While submissions are being considered, I keep writing.

While conversations develop, I keep building.

While one manuscript is being read, another story is taking shape.

That may be one of the most important lessons this journey has taught me:

You can be waiting for an answer without waiting for your life to begin.

Something Is Moving

I don't know exactly what will come from every conversation currently underway.

That is the uncomfortable—and occasionally exhilarating—reality of this business.

Some doors will open.

Some won't.

Some opportunities may arrive looking completely different from what I originally imagined.

But something has undeniably changed.

There are more manuscripts.

More conversations.

More submissions.

More people reading the work.

More possibilities sitting on the other side of an email, a phone call, or a manuscript under consideration.

And this week, there is another conversation to have.

An acquisition call.

A new publisher.

Another possibility.

I am still seeking the right literary agent.

I am still waiting to hear from agents and publishers currently considering my work.

I am still writing.

And I am still extraordinarily curious about where all of this leads.

For now, that is enough of an announcement.

More soon.

— John Erik Dunnam