A week before Christmas in 2024, I was in the middle of making mince pies while simultaneously negotiating this particular book deal. I’m so pleased to finally announce here on the blog (the news has been live since early 2025) the sale of Lynn D. Jung‘s Mothsblood!

Lynn D. Jung’s MOTHSBLOOD, set in modern-day Paris, following an ambitious alchemist who must uncover the dark secrets of her university when the murder of an immortal professor forces her to confront the mysterious past she’s trying to escape, pitched for fans of THE STARLESS SEA and NINTH HOUSE, to Kenli Manning at Bloomsbury, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2026, by Laura Crockett at TriadaUS Literary Agency (NA).

Lynn D. Jung’s MOTHSBLOOD, to Sam Bradbury at Del Rey UK, with Feranmi Ojutiku editing, in a very nice deal, at auction, for publication in fall 2026, by Laura Crockett at TriadaUS Literary Agency (UK Comm). 

Lynn has her own YouTube channel where she talks about writing and shares her querying, representation, and publishing journey. This video is such a great explanation for how Lynn and I found each other from a writer’s perspective. This video is a neat client perspective on selling Mothsblood to Bloomsbury, and this one is about the auction I held in the UK selling the same project to Del Rey UK. Basically Lynn already said it all!

But I do want to share a small snippet of an agent’s perspective in all of this. Lynn came to me from a client referral. I trust my clients’ character references and reading taste, and they know mine well too. So when a client tells me to keep an eye out for a particular name and query, I do so. Lynn’s Mothsblood reached my desk and I requested right away. But admittedly, I wasn’t very fast with it––lots of other things were going on at the time taking up my attention (other clients’ manuscripts, submissions, foreign rights).

So when Lynn shared she had an offer of rep on the table, I pushed everything aside and read it along with my intern. We fell in love, head over heels for this wonderful project, and I threw my hat into the ring! It was exactly the kind of dark academia I was seeking. Lynn and I spoke on the phone and we had a lovely discussion about the manuscript, about Lynn’s expectations for an agent and my expectations for a client (as I knew she was previously represented), about her other WIPs. When she chose me, I was over the moon. I had no doubt in my mind that we’d sell to a wonderful publisher.

And we did! About 4 or 5 months after securing representation, revising, and going on submission, we sold to Bloomsbury for North American rights. And the first week after the holidays I submitted to the UK for Commonwealth rights, which led to (I was not surprised whatsoever) a rather heated auction in late February. Lynn’s project is so spectacular, I knew it would resonate with readers on both sides of the pond.

Congratulations, Lynn! You’re going to be a published author!!

Keep your eyes peeled for Mothsblood in Fall 2026!