On Book 2

and coming to terms with a difficult dream + when it rains it pours

The TDLR

This newsletter is one I desperately did not want to write. Yet despite all my efforts, we ended up where I never wanted to be.

If you’re new here, my name is Elora and I’m a debut author of a YA novel that released March 18th 2025 titled, In the Company of Killers. It’s a romantic drama/thriller that’s Gossip Girl x The Sopranos. I sold it in April 2023 initially as a standalone, but within development edits, I had a vision for a second book to expand upon the story. Not long after I had this big idea, I asked my team if I could revise the ending to make it a cliffhanger. I was green lit to do so and, very naively, thought that meant the second book was a done-deal.

Reader, I was deeply wrong.

The TLDR of this newsletter is that In the Company of Killers will not get a sequel. At least, not in the traditional sense. And to my dear readers, I am so sorry and ashamed to tell you this after stringing you along while waiting (and hoping) things would end the way we both wanted them to.

More Details + When it Rains it Pours

After spending nearly a year going back and forth, it was confirmed ITCOK would not get a Book 2. To say I’m devastated is an understatement. While there were many aspects outside of my control, this situation still feels like an utter failure on my part. I took a risk and that risk led me to heartbreak.

*August 19th Update:* This, unfortunately, wasn’t the end of my heartbreak. Things took a very sudden, very painful turn two days after I initially drafted this newsletter at the end of July. On August 2nd, I went to bed with my partner, and at 3AM the next day, we were awoken to the sounds of panic in the hallways and the fire alarms going off.

Our apartment building was on fire.

When I received the devastating news my publisher would not be picking up ITCOK 2, I thought that would be the hardest part of my summer. Turns out, the experience of running out of your apartment with nothing but the pajamas on your back and the cellphone you hastily thought to grab to run through thick, toxic black smoke billowing up the fire stairwell and throughout the hallways is much, much more devastating and terrifying.

Uncontrolled fire is devastating no matter the size of it. No matter how salvageable your things are or how quickly you can get back on your feet. The shock of first seeing that black smoke is still with me, of realizing, this is real this is not a false alarm sits at the forefront of my mind. We are “lucky” the fire didn’t spread outside of the garage, but black soot has covered everything. It follows you out of the apartment like an angry ghost determined to haunt you, not visible until you disturb it. Even when you cannot initially see it, the soot is there as a harsh line in the sand between the before and after when you press your hand to each item and it comes away black, letting you know that this is the reality life has taken you down.

Every time I have to walk up those sooty three flights of stairs to retrieve a few more of my things (and my god, do you accumulate so many things), I am taken back to that traumatic night each time and reminded that my home of four years is gone. We cannot move back in—no one can—for many months. If ever. The building was old and had its warts, we knew this, but the fire may have damaged it beyond repair. No one fully knows yet, but what we know is we need to move on. Without any warning. Without any notice. The goodbyes had started long before we were made aware they were happening.

And I keep thinking about how I went to bed that night expecting to make pancakes the next morning, the summer walk my partner and I wanted to take in our bustling area, the rom-com I wanted to continue to read, the fresh tomatoes I had just bought the day before waiting to be cooked. Instead of doing any of those things, I was left standing out on the cold, empty street watching black smoke bloom out of the underground garage as the fire raged inside it realizing my home quite literally went up in smoke overnight.

But this isn’t why you’re reading this newsletter, right? You want the tea on my current publishing situation, my feelings around it, etc. Which is all written below when I wrote this prior to my world turning on its head two weeks ago. We’ll get back to it now, but let me reiterate again how fragile your daily life is. Don’t take it for granted. Try to let go of the little things and remind yourself how wonderful it is to wake up and make yourself breakfast after snuggling in a warm, clean bed all your own. And good god, make sure you are prepared if ever there is a fire in your home. Test those fire alarms. Get a fire blanket. Get a fire-proof safe for your most precious valuables. You don’t think it’ll happen to you until it does.

Photo of one of my many books with the black soot that came off it that is on everything we own and cherish

Back to Our Scheduled Programming

Traditional authors are expected behind-the-scenes to always be smiling and sharing only the good that happens in their careers. We are the figure heads for the publishing industry after all. I’m here to tell you there is so much pain that this industry throws at you no matter who or where you are in the publishing hierarchy. I have faced difficulties with physical & mental health for years prior (since pursuing trad pub, honestly), but the worst of it all began once I finally achieved my dream-come-true of that first book deal.

Why did this have to be my dream?

The question I’ve kept asking myself this week and during all the slaps-in-the-face I’ve endured is this:

Why did *this* have to be my dream?

I’ve loved telling stories since I was six-years-old. I knew then I wanted to be an author and write books like the ones I eagerly consumed with my eyeballs every second I could. I can still very clearly see myself in the classrooms of my elementary school scribbling down short stories, secretly reading under my desk, and envisioning a future where I was a published author. That little girl had no idea the intensely rocky road that awaited when she decided to seriously pursue her dream. And yet, there is a large part of myself who wishes younger me had found a different dream to hold close to her chest.

Because I achieved it. I am a published author. And it’s caused me more pain than I ever thought possible.

I am by no means an overnight success and—clearly—the bit of success you can eventually find isn’t a guarantee of a door staying open forever. I’ve written six books total over ten years of pursuing traditional publication. ITCOK was #3 and died twice on submission before being picked up in an unconventional way. I thought for sure after the rollercoaster of an experience I had selling and publishing this book that it meant big things were in store for it and me. In some ways, that happened. It gave me my dream I’d been so desperately fighting for and readers who loved it. It connected me to author friends and places I might’ve never otherwise had. The book is in bookstores in places I have only ever dreamed of going to.

My biggest takeaway from all this is to know your worth and demand respect for it. If a publisher (or any company or person this applies to in life) wants me in the room with them, they’ll make it known right away and with excitement.

Now where does that leave things? I genuinely don’t know for the long-term. Short-term, well…

What the future holds

As I said above, Book 2 won’t be published traditionally. I’ve received DMs asking me if there will be a Book 2 because you (rightfully) expect one after the way I ended Book 1. You deserve that. I’m still deep in the grieving process of this path I’ve been forced down, but there is a small light I can give you for the time being.

Book 2 is written. Only the first draft, but still, it exists, and I know the changes I want to make to it. Despite the short-sightedness on this publisher’s part, I will not let Book 2 collect dust on my laptop without ever giving you readers what I promised when I rewrote the ending of In the Company of Killers. When I can go back to it, I will revise Book 2 to the best of my abilities and then I will self-publish it for any eager readers who want to know what happens to Tasha & Leo and all the other characters in In the Company of Killers. I have never ventured into the world of indie publishing before, but for my dear readers (and because of my stubbornness), I’ll put aside my fears and navigate my way in.

While you wait, please let me indulge in a bit of self-promo here and encourage you to grab a copy of Book 1. All sales are incredibly beneficial in getting me closer to earning out so I can one day make royalties off this debut.

And hey, the one silver lining here is now I can tell Book 2 the way I want to tell it. No stifling. No boxes. No bullsh*t.

For your enjoyment and mine, I’d like to share some aesthetics I made of it. Expect things to kick off right after the ending in Book 1 with more drama, higher stakes, lots of romance and complicated dynamics. And of course, what path (or who) will Tasha choose?!

This small silver lining doesn’t take away the grief I feel. I’m not sure if that will ever go away. But it’s something. And right now, I need to cling to anything to keep me going.

Future books I’m working on

Aside from this painful news, I have a New Adult book proposal I’m preparing for submission. Something based on an old YA idea I shelved years ago after hitting a roadblock with it. I feel cautiously optimistic about it along with another NA idea I’m excited to explore beyond the thirty pages I’ve written. Both these books encompass my original love: fantasy. I was named after Elora from the movie Willow and grew up reading fantasy books, playing all the fantasy video games, loving all the movies & TV shows (special shout out to BBC’s Merlin in high school) with fantasy in it and dressing up as fantasy characters whenever I could. The first novel-length book I ever wrote was a YA high fantasy, too. So going back to this genre feels in a lot of ways like coming home.

To spark some enthusiasm in you (and me), I’ll share some aesthetics I’ve made of these two new books below. I won’t be sharing the names quite yet or any concrete details about them, but know that one is a beauty pageant fantasy and the other an angel & demons fantasy with criminal brothers. 🔥

While I won’t have trad pub updates to share about ITCOK 2 in the near future, I sincerely hope this won’t be the case for the new age category + genre I want to try and make a name for myself in. I’m grateful for my new agent who believes in my books in a way I’ve desperately needed for some time and will fight for them so I don’t have to bear that burden. I’m grateful that I started working on these other books prior to this heartbreak, so I have some substantial new work I can jump back to once the pain of this rejection (somewhat) subsides.

And I’m grateful to my readers. The ones who took a chance on a debut and shouted their love for my first published book in my DMs, on their socials, to their friends. There are thousands of books they could choose from to spend their time & money on. Yet they chose mine. I hope all of you will still be there when I’m ready and able to share a new (and returning) story with you. Because I may have been shoved down, but I will try my hardest to get back up. At least, for now.

In the meantime, see you when I see you.

Elora xoxo