I'm not in publishing, but On Submission made me feel like I’d accidentally wandered into its darkest corners—and locked the door behind me. This is blood-soaked, unhinged industry horror with sharp writing and even sharper satire.

It didn’t fully land for me—some parts felt forced, and a lack of content warnings threw me off—but the concept? Absolutely wild and weird in a way I enjoyed. A messy, fascinating takedown of an industry built on rejection and obsession. Overall: 3.5 stars

*Note I received this as an ARC on Netgalley & leaving this review voluntarily.

I found this on Netgalley, and the synopsis had me hooked.
Henry our MC has done as he always does, rejected another new up and coming writers manuscript, its part of his job, and someone has to do it, right ?

Not this time, this time its a little more serious, especially when his successful clients turn up dead.

I enjoyed the idea a lot, but something about the story itself just did not hit for me, and I love thrillers, I read them regularly for fun.

It felt like instead of drawing a picture it was more forced and the story just didn't land like I had hoped.

Some of the details seemed a little pointed but maybe that was meant to be, this is a guy killing people.

What I did enjoy though was this wasn't like other thrillers where everything is wrapped up with a bow and black and white.

It was ugly and messy and real life, and those poor characters really reflected that.

That said this was by no means a bad one, very solid 3 star.

After rejecting the query of hopeful young writer Alexander Moyer, senior literary agent Henry Richmond Pendel finds himself the target of a one-man stalking and harassment campaign. He knows it's Moyer, but he's used to the obsessive behavior of jilted authors. Telling his assistant to not interact with Moyer and contacting his lawyer about getting him a restraining order, then going back to intimidating editors into settling on six-figure deals. And then his top-selling author, J.D. Church, is found murdered in his Manhattan hotel room. Told between Pendel's third-person and Alex's first-person perspectives, 'On Submission' chronicles the relationship between an abrasive jackal of a literary agent and his obsessive and murderous stalker.

I'm not really into the thriller genre, so a lot of my qualms with 'On Submission' resemble Michael Bluth being disappointed that there was, in fact, a dead dove in the thoroughly labeled bag. The murders are gratuitous, but that's par for the course, and it's not really the principle of side characters being killed off graphically every other chapter that's a turnoff for me. What -is- is the very detailed sexual assault of the second and third victims... I guess credit for the equal opportunity of having both a female and male sexual assault victim, but do really need the focus on the dead woman's vagina and how Alex can tell she was sexually assaulted by her brother previously? I get that both of these murders are supposed to reflect the novels that the authors had written, and while Seidlinger's writing doesn't feel overly fetishistic it does add a flavor too serious in what is an almost campy murder spree.

Moyer's MO reflects the rise of generative AI--he gets an author's manuscript, makes gratuitous cuts to both the author and the art, then publishes the shortened massacre of their writing under his own name. Maybe it says a lot about me that I found his plagiarism to be a much worse crime than the murders, and one that didn't get addressed much (since apparently his actual writing was decent?). I was sort of hoping, with how much Seidlinger draws from internet fan culture, that Moyer would get James Somerton'd.

Overall, not a bad novel, but definitely not for me.

I have read many books about murderous authors and I have yet to find one that I really enjoyed. On Submission by Michael J. Seidlinger follows an aspiring author who, after being rejected by a publisher, decides to murder all of his big authors. Once I finished, I felt hollow, as if my brain deleted all knowledge of the book once I closed the last page. A murder workshop won’t be necessary, but some cuts can be made.

Full review at fanfiaddict.com : https://fanfiaddict.com/review-on-submission-by-michael-j-seidlinger/

"If I were to sum up Michael J Seidlinger “On Submission,” in a word, it would be unhinged. Full-blown, blood-in-the-margins, unhinged industry horror. A breakdown in book form. If I were to expand upon that I would say that “On Submission,” is a novel that revolves around the most unlikable, moral-lacking, ambitious and thus dangerous characters I’ve read in a while, and for those who work in publishing, they’re perhaps familiar ones. I am lucky enough to work with authors and publishers on occasion, but by every conceivable notion I am absolutely winging it. I’m really quite unfamiliar with the world of agents and editors and publisher’s marketplace. Let me tell you, “On Submission,” is a baptism by fire and ink. Were it not for Seidlinger’s stellar writing and insane plot mechanics, I’d perhaps wonder if this one was sold, edited and published under duress… Lane Heymont, blink twice if you need help. Short, sharp, bizarre and brilliant, “On Submission,” is a scathing autopsy of the publishing industry, and I delighted in it. It’s coming from Clash Books October 7th."

First I wish to thank Netgalley and Author Michael J. Seidlinger for providing me with an advanced e-copy of On Submission.

Initially, I was excited to read this, as I am a fan of Yellowface and stories surrounding the publishing world. I appreciate the way the author beings forward the struggle of the industry, but also gives life to the characters and how their life actually is.

However, this was not a hit for me, and I believe that the book need to have a page for trigger warnings, especially for the scenes in section two. This is what threw me off the most, leaving me to give the rating I did.

On Submission by Michael J. Seidlinger absolutely floored me. As someone who writes, creates, or just grapples with the anxiety of putting anything out into the world, this book hits like a gut punch—but in the best, most cathartic way.

It’s raw, vulnerable, and almost painfully honest. Seidlinger doesn’t just explore the process of writing—he exposes the mental minefield of doubt, obsession, validation, and rejection that comes with it. The narrative is fragmented in a way that mirrors the creative mind at its most restless and self-critical, and that structure really worked for me. It felt like I was reading someone’s unfiltered internal monologue, and at times, I saw too much of myself in it.

What makes this book so powerful is how it refuses to romanticize the struggle. There’s no neat arc or inspirational takeaway here. It’s just the truth: writing is submission—not just to editors, but to fear, failure, and the hope that someone, somewhere, might see you in what you’ve made.

And yet, despite the darkness, I found it oddly affirming. There’s a strange comfort in realizing you’re not alone in the madness, that the doubt and the waiting and the endless revisions are all part of the deal.

On Submission is not a how-to guide. It’s a mirror. It’s a scream in the void that somehow sounds like your own. And for that, it deserves every star. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

Michael Seidlinger really hit this book out of the park. Revenge, obsession, fucked up relationships with extensive dashes of sadism all centered within the book world. What is not to love? There was one specific scene for me that absolutely made my skin crawl!

This book was a damning parody of the book industry while being an extremely tense and disturbing horror novel. The way that the killer hunts, plans, and carries out the murders, all while truly believing he is helping them do their best work while furthering his own aspirations to be a published author is terrifying but all too believable. This is a ride!