On Monday, I asked if you guys had any questions for me, and boy did y'all come up with some good ones! Thanks so much! Here are my answers:
Was there any part of the process that you were surprised by/didn't expect? We all read a lot of blogs about these kinds of things, but every so often I'm still really surprised by some part of the process. Did it all go about the way you'd understood it would?
I’m not sure I knew what to expect honestly, but I would say the part that surprised me the most was the speed with which it all happened. I’d gone through querying before with my first book. Then with my second, I submitted it to Harlequin, they requested the full, and I haven’t heard back yet (it's been almost a year, which, from what I've heard is a pretty standard wait. They have sent update letters letting me know I'm still in consideration when I've checked in.)
So when I started querying this time and Sara requested my full—I figured I had a wait ahead of me. But she got back to me on the full in 4 days! Four! (Sara's awesome.) Then I signed with her and started on revisions. We were both uber motivated to get this on submission before the holidays when publishing slows down, so I busted out the first major revision (cutting 20k words and adding 20k new ones and changing a whole bunch more) in three weeks. Then we did one more significant revision, which took me about a week. Then it was submission time. I expected a 4-6 week wait, but then the offer came in two weeks after we went on submission. A week later I officially sold. So from query to sale: almost exactly three months. Crazy.
OK, here's a question: what's your secret?
Faustian bargain—don’t let anyone tell you it’s unwise to make one. :)
So did the editors call YOU or Sara? I'm thinking Sara, but I'm just asking b/c you're calling it THE CALL, and that's usually reserved for you know... the call to you.
Sara called me to tell me about the offer. Once I let her know I was interested, she set up a conference call between me, herself, and the editor to make sure we were all on the same page and that all my questions were answered.
Thank you for sharing your great news! When is your book going to be available???
First book will be out early 2012. The second is tentatively scheduled for summer 2012. :)
Do you think your blog helped the process of finding a publisher and agent?
Yes, on a number of fronts:
- Natalie Bahm gave me a referral to her agent (now my agent) based on getting to know me via my blog and reading my excerpts on blogfests. This allowed me to get in front of Sara more quickly. So I never would’ve gotten the referral without the blog.
- Blogging has made me a better writer. When all I blog about is craft, it forces ME to learn too, lol.
- Sara is very big on web presence. It is a deal breaker for her if an author doesn’t have a professional website (meaning a dedicated site—not just a blog.) After she read my query and partial, she sent me an email letting me know how much she liked my sites. So she was researching my presence.
- Without the support of my bloggy/writer friends, I may have gone nuts by now! :)
As someone that writes romantic erotica, I'd like to know more how you found and landed an agent. I didn't know there were any and I'd love to know where to start looking and what your process was.
There are definitely agents who rep erotic romance and erotica. I signed up for QueryTracker.net and did my research on there. However, I also looked at the acknowledgement pages of some of my favorite EroRom authors because they always thank their agent. Sometimes it takes a little digging, but if someone says they rep romance, look deeper—many will rep erotic as well. Some agents off the top of my head besides Sara—Paige Wheeler, Laura Bradford, Roberta Brown, and Jessica Faust. But there are a good number more. I also saw recently that one of the agencies has a dedicated agent for selling to epubs.
Karla said...
How many queries did you send out before Sara requested your manuscript?
I sent out ten total. (2 requests, 6 form rejects, 2 still pending)
Was the multi-book deal part of the initial offer, or something your agent negotiated?
The two-book deal was part of the initial offer. :) My book is set up to be a series.
When your book comes out, what would you prefer I buy, a paper copy or a digital copy?
I’m an avid ebook reader, but Berkley’s covers are almost too good not to buy the hard copy of the book, so I really don’t mind either way! I’ll just be thrilled that you bought it!
I'd like to offer to be a model for your book cover. I've got a bustier around here somewhere and I look great in it. Last time I saw it, it was next to the snow shovel in the downstairs coat closet.*rustles about in the closet looking* Well, I'll let you know when I find it.
You’re hired! Lol
Is this the way you imagined the journey, or what? Some of us want to know if your dream lived up to the reality, ya know? ;)
I’m not sure how I imagined it, but I have to say the last few months have been REALLY exciting. I’ve jumped up and down a lot. (Also paced the floors a lot.) I just feel so thankful to have reached this point. I know that no matter how good of a writer you are, the stars have to align—right place, right time, right genre, right story, right market, right agent, right editor, right phase of the moon, and on and on. So I feel blessed and lucky that everything lined up for me. I don’t take it for granted for sure. I’m very, very thankful for everything and hope that I get to do this for a living for a long time.
Thanks for the questions everyone! Feel free to ask anything else in the comments.
**Today's Theme Song**
"Answer" - Sarah MacLachlan
(player in sidebar, take a listen)
