The Road to Publication - What Happens After "The Call"

So, evidently once you write a book and the publisher accepts it and agrees to publish it, you have to do more than just sit there and wait for the royalty checks to come rolling in.

Go figure.

Since I got “the call” a couple of weeks ago that Harlequin wants to publish my book, I’ve had to convince my four kids (and some of my most-supportive/naive friends, bless them) that I am not going to be famous just because I publish one book.  Kiddo #3 wanted to know if people were going to stop me on the street and want my autograph (and, you know, perhaps his too…  since he’s my son).

I think I put the issue to rest by taking them to the library and pointing out the 1000s of books there. Could they picture the face of one single author enough to be able to recognize him or her in the street and ask for an autograph?

Kiddo #3 again: Sure, Mom. You. I love that kid. Seriously.

The point is, I don’t think there’s any danger of the paparazzi following me around any time soon. Or ever.  As a matter of fact, this is the most accurate statement I’ve seen about writing in a long time:

But don’t get me wrong, it’s still exciting.  Especially on days like today:  I received my request from Harlequin to complete the Art Fact Sheet for my book .  

 They need all sorts of details. A brief synopsis. Detailed description of the characters, settings, and themes (which, interestingly, are from choices in a pull down menu --  evidently, there really isn’t anything new under the sun).  They even want celebrity look-alikes for my characters, if I can provide them.  Um, you mean like Shane West?

Hehehehe. No problem.  

I also have to write a couple of scenes, not that necessarily happen in the manuscript itself, that capture the book’s essence.  All of this to give the artists an idea of what my book is about because they don’t actually read it. Which I guess is right, but not what I expected. I'm so excited to see what they come up with. But that probably won't be until near the end of 2013.
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I also have to create an Online Retailer Biography - info sent to booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. and will appear on their websites about me when my book is released. They want to know everything that can be known about me!!  In 500 characters or less.  :-)

Next week, I head to Atlanta for the Romance Writers of America national conference. I’m excited that I’ll be able to meet my editor face-to-face, as well as a number of writing friends I’ve been talking to for months now.  I’ll get to attend multiple writing workshops, a Harlequin-author-only dinner, and even a… pajama party?  Ummmm… okay.

It’s a little nerve-racking, navigating this road to publication. But exciting most of all.

"The Call" - I'm Going to be a Published Author!

I got “the call” today. It’s official, Harlequin is going to publish my novel See No Evil (although the title will probably change) as part of their Intrigue line!!!!  The book will be on shelves in April 2014.

To give you an idea of what Intrigue covers look like. :-)

It has been a long journey just to get to this point. The Harlequin eBoards has been a place of constant support for me over the last year. Published and aspiring authors convene there to rejoice, commiserate and sustain each other during the highs and lows of publishing navigation. We pass the virtual chocolate (or in my case, cream-cheese frosting) during rejections and throw virtual parties when someone receives an offer for publication.

Today was my party! And my online friends have requested my “call story.” What can we say? We’re romance writers. We love to hear of someone being swept off their feet and carried off into the sunset bookstore shelves.

It starts back in May of 2012, when the Harlequin Intrigue editorial team had a writing contest. They wanted unpublished writers to send a back-cover blurb of a potential book, as well as a 100-word snippet from the work itself. They would choose the top 5 and ask to see more. This is the blurb I sent:

Ten years ago Adrienne Jeffries was a profiler for the FBI with a talent so remarkable she became known as the bloodhound -- someone who could sense and track evil. But the price she paid for her abilities was too high, costing her almost everything. So she left the Bureau with no intention of ever returning.

FBI Agent Conner Perigo is trying to catch a killer who has eluded his team at every turn. He will use any means available -- including an unwilling ex-profiler with some sort of hocus-pocus abilities -- if it means finally getting ahead of the killer. What he doesn't expect is his attraction to Adrienne or his desire to protect this vulnerable beauty.

And she needs his protection, especially now that it seems the killer has targeted Adrienne as his next victim.

I was chosen for the top 5. After a chat room meeting with the editor discussing more details of the book, she requested a partial, which is a synopsis and first three chapters. I sent those in June.

In October, I received  (via snail mail) my request from Harlequin Intrigue for my FULL MANUSCRIPT. For those who don’t hang out in the Harlequin eBoards, a full request is a big deal. No publication offer is coming unless you first have a request for the full manuscript.  Of course, no offer may come even if they do…

So I took about six weeks to complete and polish my manuscript and sent it off in mid-December. 

Then the waiting game began again. The general rule of thumb is that it will take up to six months to hear back from an editor.  It’s hard. I even heard the story of a lady who had sent her manuscript, waited six months, emailed the editor only to find out it had never been received at all.

Never been received at all? I woke up in the middle of the night in February in a panic. What if the editor hadn’t received my manuscript at all like the other lady?  (That this had only happened one time of the 1000s of manuscripts received by Harlequin, made no difference to my psyche – don’t interrupt my neurotic fit with facts and logic!) I ran downstairs to look at December’s snail mail receipt signature from their office.

It was signed by Bob. Unreadable last name.

Bob.

Although I was sure Bob Nolastname was stellar at his job and not just some homeless NY person who had wandered in off the street and taken refuge in the Harlequin mail room, I decided maybe I better double check. Not having a direct phone or email address, back onto the Harlequin eBoards I went. I finally posted under “Ask the Editors” section asking what I should even do.

Allison Lyons, Intrigue line editor, responded directly. She had my manuscript on my desk and was currently reading it.

Yay! – she had it! Terror!! – she was reading it!

At the end of April, Allison Lyons contacted me again. She liked See No Evil and wanted to pass it up to the Senior Editor for possible acquisition. So up to the Senior Editor it went. Finally the person who would ultimately decide.

At the Smithsonian just before The Call

Time slowed to an almost halt as I waited to hear.  Each Monday I said to myself (and anyone around who would listen): THIS is the week I will hear from Intrigue. I said that to myself for SEVEN Mondays. I checked my email incessantly, hoping for word.

Finally, this week we took a family trip to Washington DC for a couple of days. I decided I wouldn’t take my laptop or iPad or anything that would ping me when I got an email.  If Intrigue emailed me, it would be there when I got back.

Ends up they didn’t email. Allison, the editor from Intrigue, called. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered.

So there I was in the middle of the dinosaur exhibit in Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – surrounded by dozens of blaring children – receiving one of the most important phone calls of my life.

Intrigue wanted to buy my book and hopefully publish more of my works in the future!

We didn’t talk for long, between my giddiness and all the T-Rex madness, it was hard to converse effectively. But Allison was very gracious and enthusiastic.

Before we hung up, her last words were: Welcome to the Intrigue Family. 

I feel like little orphan Annie running around Daddy Warbucks house:

"I think I'm gonna like it here!!!"

The Road to Publication: Jumping Head-First Through the Open Window

"When God closes a door, He always opens a window, because you can't throw yourself out of a door."

That pretty much summarizes my life. This week particularly in my writing.  One door very definitely closed. I was not a finalist in the “So You Think You Can Write” Contest. I blogged about the insanity that completely overtook me my experience during this contest a few days ago.  I was shocked by the number of people who contacted me via comments, Twitter, or Facebook about how crazy they also had become during the contest also.

We unpublished authors? Evidently we’re a fanatical lot. I blame it on listening to all the voices in our heads.

But even as I posted about my utter idiocy SYTYCW experience, I was STILL secretly hoping that I might be one of the Top25, since the official list had not been released yet. So for four more days I still spent more time on Twitter than I did anything else. A taste:

 

(That's right, you saw the important one: can we please get a shirtless shooting match between Aarow & Hawkeye?? Pretty please?) Anyway, finally on Friday, the official list did come out. And guess what? I wasn’t on it.   My very adult response:

AND THEN, not two hours later, I kid you not, my husband walks in with the mail. In his hand is a letter from Harlequin.  I knew it had nothing to do with the SYTYCW contest, but I had three other partial manuscripts in with them, and I knew this was news about one of them.

I was sure it was a rejection, since it was in an actual envelope and very official looking. I didn’t even want to open it since I was still reeling from not making it into the Top25. But I did open it.

Lo and behold, it was a request from an editor for me to send in the FULL MANUSCRIPT for a book I’ve been working on (not the same one as for SYTYCW) called See No Evil.  They had read the first three chapters and synopsis, and thought highly enough of it to want to see the entire thing.

Now this doesn’t mean they’re going to offer me a contract or publish my book (want more details about rejections in publishing: see here), but it is definitely a big step towards my publishing goal.  I was excited! I was thrilled! I was like, What SYTYCW contest??!!

And that was about when Karma bit me in the… ahem, Karma bit me. I realized I need to finish the book the editor requested. It isn’t long enough or polished enough or… finished.  Definitely not in any shape to send to an editor any time soon.  So I’ve been writing like a fiend and will continue writing/editing like a fiend for the next few weeks.

And I will offer my sincere apologies to the lady who I derided in my last post because she didn’t have her manuscript finished.  Because… Pot, meet Kettle and call her black. That’s what I get for being mean.  (And btw, the lady who hadn’t finished her manuscript is a lovely and gracious person and quite talented. Well deserving of being in the Top25).

For me it’s time to refocus. Get serious and get writing.  Get that manuscript into the editor.

And try something new like lowering myself carefully out of the window that has been opened rather than flinging myself out headfirst. 

But not too carefully. Because where's the calamity in that? :)