Thanks to Stephen for letting me know the announcement was all out and official-like!
From Publisher's Marketplace:
Foreign rights: UK Fiction
Rachel Hawkins's DEMONGLASS, to Venetia Gosling at Simon & Schuster UK, in a three-book deal, by Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency.
I'm SO excited to be working with S&S UK on Demonglass! They handle all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer stuff for the UK, and that was really all I had to hear! ;)
Showing posts with label The Biz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Biz. Show all posts
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Micro Blog: "Black Wednesday"
Okay, so I didn't blog yesterday because I was buy wrestling Rebel Belle to the ground and punching it repeatedly in the face (or, in non-violent terms, I realized that I'd hit a big snarl and undoing that snarl meant deleting a whole day's worth of work and replacing it with other, less sucky stuff. It was hard, but the book is so much better now, AND I was able to get past the snarl. So yay.)
Then, once I was through smacking RB up, I decided to reward myself with Danish Wedding Cookies and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The movie was kind of meh, but then I was meh on the first one, too. I LOVED The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a kid, so much so that I was SO EXCITED the first time I actually saw Turkish Delight in a store. I snapped it up only to realize that Turkish Delight is ASS, and so not worth selling out an entire country for, EDMUND. (Have any of you ever tried it? It's this rose-flavored nougat stuff covered with chocolate. So basically, it's like eating old lady perfume. With chocolate.)
But the movie didn't work for me. The Husband said he couldn't figure out who the movie was for because it's kind of deep for kids, but too sanitized for adults. And the second one was that way, too. HOWEVER, the guy who plays Prince Caspian? He is Teh Hot.
In fact, one of the main reasons that I wanted to watch it was because a friend told me that this guy was who she imagined as the love interest, Archer, in Demonglass. And I have to say, I can totally see it! (Even if he would be WAY too old to play Archer should they ever make a movie of Demonglass. This is a problem I have whenever someone asks me about my fantasy casting for Demonglass. All the guys I think are hot are, like, 30, because after years of teaching high school, I am incapable of finding teenage boys attractive.)
"I could totally be Archer...if Archer had been held back 12 years."
All of that is the reason I was blog-free.
Now, let's gte down to serious business, namely the fact the publishing went KABOOM on Wednesday, what with a major reshuffling at Random House and lots of firings at other places, and what have you. My heart goes out to everyone who lost their job sue to all this craziness, especially since it's here near the holidays, and that's always a crappy time to be out of work. There's been a lot of teeth-gnashing and rending of garments over waht all this means for writers, especially writers who are in query hell or on submission. However, the general consensus smongst People Who Know A Helluva Lot More Than Rachel (i.e. agents, editors, etc.)seems to be this: DON'T PANIC. After all, publishing is a business that works in the future. The books that are coming out right now are all books that were bought back in 2006, maybe even 2005, back when no one knew this shitstorm was coming. Likewise, no one knows what the economic picture will be in the next few years, and publishers will definitely want to have books coming out in 2010, 2011, and so on. And readers aren't going to quit reading. So I think the best thing to do is hunker down, write good books, and keep putting your stuff out there. And (nerdy reference alert!) bring your towel. ;)
If you'd like to read more about all this craziness, here are people who know more than me.
Then, once I was through smacking RB up, I decided to reward myself with Danish Wedding Cookies and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The movie was kind of meh, but then I was meh on the first one, too. I LOVED The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a kid, so much so that I was SO EXCITED the first time I actually saw Turkish Delight in a store. I snapped it up only to realize that Turkish Delight is ASS, and so not worth selling out an entire country for, EDMUND. (Have any of you ever tried it? It's this rose-flavored nougat stuff covered with chocolate. So basically, it's like eating old lady perfume. With chocolate.)
But the movie didn't work for me. The Husband said he couldn't figure out who the movie was for because it's kind of deep for kids, but too sanitized for adults. And the second one was that way, too. HOWEVER, the guy who plays Prince Caspian? He is Teh Hot.
In fact, one of the main reasons that I wanted to watch it was because a friend told me that this guy was who she imagined as the love interest, Archer, in Demonglass. And I have to say, I can totally see it! (Even if he would be WAY too old to play Archer should they ever make a movie of Demonglass. This is a problem I have whenever someone asks me about my fantasy casting for Demonglass. All the guys I think are hot are, like, 30, because after years of teaching high school, I am incapable of finding teenage boys attractive.)
"I could totally be Archer...if Archer had been held back 12 years."
All of that is the reason I was blog-free.
Now, let's gte down to serious business, namely the fact the publishing went KABOOM on Wednesday, what with a major reshuffling at Random House and lots of firings at other places, and what have you. My heart goes out to everyone who lost their job sue to all this craziness, especially since it's here near the holidays, and that's always a crappy time to be out of work. There's been a lot of teeth-gnashing and rending of garments over waht all this means for writers, especially writers who are in query hell or on submission. However, the general consensus smongst People Who Know A Helluva Lot More Than Rachel (i.e. agents, editors, etc.)seems to be this: DON'T PANIC. After all, publishing is a business that works in the future. The books that are coming out right now are all books that were bought back in 2006, maybe even 2005, back when no one knew this shitstorm was coming. Likewise, no one knows what the economic picture will be in the next few years, and publishers will definitely want to have books coming out in 2010, 2011, and so on. And readers aren't going to quit reading. So I think the best thing to do is hunker down, write good books, and keep putting your stuff out there. And (nerdy reference alert!) bring your towel. ;)
If you'd like to read more about all this craziness, here are people who know more than me.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
New Blog!
I don't know about y'all, but I am OBSESSED with agent/editor blogs. They're always so fun and informative. Also, if you're on the agent hunt, they're extremely useful. I actually got the model for my query letter from Rachel Vater's blog. Even now that I ahve an agent and a book deal and all of that, I still read Kristin Nelson, Colleen Lindsey, and Nathan Bransford every day. And now, thanks to my fellow Awesome Alabama Writer Stephen, I've learned that my agency, Waxman Literary, has a new blog up! Agent Holly is blogging today about rejection, that suckiest but most inevitable part of the writing biz. And, oh yeah, Scott Waxman mentions Demonglass in his first blog, and it fills me with joy. :) So if you heart agent blogs as much as I do, please go check it out!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Demonglass Goes International!
Okay, so today, I decided I was going to talk all about foreign rights, seeing as how Demonglass has started selling in some other countries, which is ridiculously excting. But, as I sat down to write about foreign rights, it occurred to me that I actually know very little about them, not that that should be a shock! After all, this is a blog by a newbie writer for newbie writers or aspiring writers (and my friends and family who just wanna know what I'm up to!) So instead, I'll give you some links about foreign rights by people who are experts, such as this one, which is a little dry, but very informative, and there are several posts here by agent Kristin Nelson that are very cool and helpful.
As for my own experience in selling foreign rights (and I cannot even tell you how many times I've already misspelled foreign. Damn, that's a hard word. Thank you, Spell Check!), it's been really fun to note the difference between selling those and the first sale. When Demonglass was all out there in the publishing world, getting looked over by Important Publishing Types, I was beyond stressed out. Every time Agent Holly called, my heart went into my throat, my hands started shaking... oh, it was bad.
With foreign rights, Agent Holly shoots me an email that says, "Country X wants to buy Demonglass and the sequels for X amount of dollars/Euros," and I say, "Sweet!" usually around a mouth full of cereal. So basically, that first sale is like trying to find your book a home. Foreign sales are like your book getting to go on a kick ass vacation to an awesome place. And I'm beyond thrilled at the places Demonglass is getting to go! (I'll be more forthcoming about the actual countries it's sold to after I do official stuff like sign contracts.) It's still very weird to think that a book I wrote on a metal folding table in Harvest, Alabama is going to be read by teenagers in Europe and South America.
So, with all of that in mind, here are the only things I know about Foreign Rights Sales.
1) Not every book sells overseas, and it's really hard to pinpoint why some books sell and some don't. Some of it has to do with your agent and/or publisher and their international connections. Some books are viewed as "too American" for international audiences. I was kind of surprised that Demonglass would appeal overseas, seeing as how it's set in Georgia, and it's pretty entrenched in the Southern Gothic tradition (or so I tell people when they make fun of me for writing a book about witches and faeries and vampires and what have you.) However, London plays a pretty big part in the book as it's sort of "headquarters" for the big wig witches and faeries and vampires and what have you. Plus, almost all of Book 2 is set in England. So I think that might help. Not that I had any idea of that when I was writing the book. I just picked London because A) It is my favorite city in the whole wide world, and B) the evacuation of children from London during WWII played a big part in the history of my characters. So, you know, if you wanna sell your book overseas, throw in some international flava. ;)
2) Sometimes your publisher buys your World Rights when they buy your book. If that happens, any money you get from foreign publishers goes back toward your advance from your original publisher. In some cases, that can be a good thing, but that's why it's very important to really read your contract so that you know exactly what your publisher is buying from you. It's easy to get so excited that someone is going to publish your book that you can end up giving away more than you should. And, of course, talk to your agent about it, and asks lots of questions. I'm all for asking questions. Agent Holly is lucky that I don't email her every morning and ask her how I should wear my hair.
3) Your agent will probably get a bigger commission on your foreign rights, as there are other agents involved in that process, and they need a cut of that, too. Check your agency agreement to see how much more of a commission your agent gets. (This usually applies to film and tv rights, too, and for the same reason: more agents = more money.) Oh, and that reminds me. A lot of the time, people complain about getting an agent because the agent does get a commission (usually 15%, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less), and why should they get an agent when they could just sell to publishers themselves and keep their 15%?
And to these people, I say: DUDE. You NEED an agent. Yes, people do sell to publishers without one, but it's hard, and the author almost always gets screwed. It's much better to have someone knowledgable and awesome on your side to handle all the scary business parts. A good agent is so very worth his or her 15%. Trust me, if you have a great agent, you'll be happy to hand over that 15%. (Not that you actually hand it over. The publisher sends the check to your agent, who takes the commission out, and then sends it on to you. In case you were wondering.)
So there it is. The complete sum of my knowledge of foreign rights. Expect future posts dealing with Stuff Rachel Knows Almost Nothing About, such as rugby, and The War of 1812, and knitting.
As for my own experience in selling foreign rights (and I cannot even tell you how many times I've already misspelled foreign. Damn, that's a hard word. Thank you, Spell Check!), it's been really fun to note the difference between selling those and the first sale. When Demonglass was all out there in the publishing world, getting looked over by Important Publishing Types, I was beyond stressed out. Every time Agent Holly called, my heart went into my throat, my hands started shaking... oh, it was bad.
With foreign rights, Agent Holly shoots me an email that says, "Country X wants to buy Demonglass and the sequels for X amount of dollars/Euros," and I say, "Sweet!" usually around a mouth full of cereal. So basically, that first sale is like trying to find your book a home. Foreign sales are like your book getting to go on a kick ass vacation to an awesome place. And I'm beyond thrilled at the places Demonglass is getting to go! (I'll be more forthcoming about the actual countries it's sold to after I do official stuff like sign contracts.) It's still very weird to think that a book I wrote on a metal folding table in Harvest, Alabama is going to be read by teenagers in Europe and South America.
So, with all of that in mind, here are the only things I know about Foreign Rights Sales.
1) Not every book sells overseas, and it's really hard to pinpoint why some books sell and some don't. Some of it has to do with your agent and/or publisher and their international connections. Some books are viewed as "too American" for international audiences. I was kind of surprised that Demonglass would appeal overseas, seeing as how it's set in Georgia, and it's pretty entrenched in the Southern Gothic tradition (or so I tell people when they make fun of me for writing a book about witches and faeries and vampires and what have you.) However, London plays a pretty big part in the book as it's sort of "headquarters" for the big wig witches and faeries and vampires and what have you. Plus, almost all of Book 2 is set in England. So I think that might help. Not that I had any idea of that when I was writing the book. I just picked London because A) It is my favorite city in the whole wide world, and B) the evacuation of children from London during WWII played a big part in the history of my characters. So, you know, if you wanna sell your book overseas, throw in some international flava. ;)
2) Sometimes your publisher buys your World Rights when they buy your book. If that happens, any money you get from foreign publishers goes back toward your advance from your original publisher. In some cases, that can be a good thing, but that's why it's very important to really read your contract so that you know exactly what your publisher is buying from you. It's easy to get so excited that someone is going to publish your book that you can end up giving away more than you should. And, of course, talk to your agent about it, and asks lots of questions. I'm all for asking questions. Agent Holly is lucky that I don't email her every morning and ask her how I should wear my hair.
3) Your agent will probably get a bigger commission on your foreign rights, as there are other agents involved in that process, and they need a cut of that, too. Check your agency agreement to see how much more of a commission your agent gets. (This usually applies to film and tv rights, too, and for the same reason: more agents = more money.) Oh, and that reminds me. A lot of the time, people complain about getting an agent because the agent does get a commission (usually 15%, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less), and why should they get an agent when they could just sell to publishers themselves and keep their 15%?
And to these people, I say: DUDE. You NEED an agent. Yes, people do sell to publishers without one, but it's hard, and the author almost always gets screwed. It's much better to have someone knowledgable and awesome on your side to handle all the scary business parts. A good agent is so very worth his or her 15%. Trust me, if you have a great agent, you'll be happy to hand over that 15%. (Not that you actually hand it over. The publisher sends the check to your agent, who takes the commission out, and then sends it on to you. In case you were wondering.)
So there it is. The complete sum of my knowledge of foreign rights. Expect future posts dealing with Stuff Rachel Knows Almost Nothing About, such as rugby, and The War of 1812, and knitting.
Monday, September 8, 2008
My Route to Publication! Part II: Electric Boogaloo.
Okay, so I know I said I would tell the whole story about how I got published last week, but...um... I'm a lazy blogger. Also, I got completely sucked into a new series of books last week, so any free time I had was spent frantically reading. Seriously, this book right here? 
Sweet, sweet crack. And I'm not a huge fantasy person, which is odd, considering The Husband is a sci-fi/fantasy Geek Extraordinaire. But these Jacqueline Carey books are AWESOME, and remind me a lot of the other fantasy author I love to distraction, George R. R. Martin. So if you're looking for some highly addictive fantasy, with lots of sex and political intrigue thrown in for good measure, check either author out!
Now back to my story, in which not nearly as much happens, but where what DOES happen is extremely awesome!
MARCH 2008:
Super Awesome Agent Holly and I begin discussing some of the edits the book then called Too Near the Glass might need. The first thing to go is the title, which Holly and I agree is a little too heavy for a book that's relatively light. Holly and I toss around various ideas for a couple of days, including my favorite "joke" title. I just realized I can't actually say it here, because it would spoil the entire book, but it was a take off on a Britney Spears song, and once the book is out (only 17 more months! Ha ha!), I will share it with all of you, and lo, we shall laugh merrily.
Anyway. After several titles incorporating word like "hex," "spell," and "witch" are discussed, Holly comes up with Demonglass, and I immediately fall in love with it. It's relevant to the book- there's actually a substance called Demonglass that plays a very important role in the book- and it's kind of sexy and mysterious. Loves it.
Other than the title, we make a few more minor changes. One of Holly's best qualities as an agent- and she has bunches!- is her editorial eye. The changes she wanted were simple, but they improved the book tenfold.
So, changes made, Demonglass waits its turn to go on submission!
APRIL 2008:
Around the second week of April, Demonglass is officially submitted to editors. This is probably the most exciting, if most nerve-wracking, step in the process. Holly sends me a list of the houses she's submitting to, and every name on that list makes me do a happy dance. They are all houses I'd be thrilled to work with, and it's ahrd to imagine even one of them would actually want my little book!
Within a couple of days, we get our first rejection, which is a little disheartening, but unlike those awful form letters you get from agents who reject you, editor rejections are actually pretty nice.
So that rejection happens on a Monday. By Thursday, we have some MUCH better news: a house makes an offer on Demonglass. Then, on Friday, a SECOND house makes an offer. Much rejoicing occurs at Chez Hawkins.
Then things really heat up. After that first offer, Holly lets the other editors know that there's an offer on the table. I kind of expect everyone to say, "Oh, well, good for y'all then, we pass." And a couple of houses do just that. But several of the others say that they also want in on the action. Holly gives them a deadline for the offers, then lets me know that we officially have an auction on our hands.
Now, the idea that ONE house might want Demonglass blows me away. The idea that SEVERAL houses want it and are, like, going to fight for it, is truly shocking. I've said before that writing is a pretty lonely pursuit, and it's a self-doubt filled journey. To have other people love that book that you've slaved over is beyond gratifying!
The days leading up to "A-Day" as we call it are equal parts thrilling and stressful. The Husband and I have many talks about what the end result could be. The main thing both if us want is to get an offer that is large enough to allow me to write full time, with The Husband planning to get back into teaching in the fall. It would also be nice if we could move, since both of us were, by that point, kind of over Huntsville and wanting to move back to Auburn, where we'd both gone to college. The Husband plans on taking a few classes if we're able to move so that he can eventually live his dream, and get out of teaching for good. However, we're both realists, and we know that this is the first book, and the average book advance for a first time author is around $10,000. Nothing to sneeze at, but not exactly quit your day job money!
APRIL 22, 2008:
A-Day. I know Holly has given the houses interested in Demonglass until noon that day to get their offers in. I wake up early, feeling like it's Christmas morning and the first day of school, all rolled into one! In fact, my nerves are so bad that I work out for over an hour that morning, which, if you know me and my aversion to all things exercise, is a major sign of how freaked out I am.
Around 10-ish, I send The Husband to the grocery store, because he is making me crazy as we both wait for the phone to ring. After he leaves, I take a shower, and am in my bathrobe with a towel on my head when I hear my cell phone. It's Holly's ringtone (The Pet Shop Boys' "Opportunities." Hee!)
I answer the phone with shaking hands, and manage to croak out, "Hello?"
And then Holly says the words every author longs to hear: "Are you sitting down?"
I assure her I am. I kind of have to, because my knees ar shaking. Then she says (showing how well she knows me, ha ha!) "You're going to freak out."
"I love freaking out," I reply.
And then she tells me that Hyperion has come in with a pre-empt. She tells me how much it's for multiple books, and then tells me the amount they've offered.
"So that's for 2 books?" I ask, confused.
"No, they want all 3," she answers, which makes me very happy. I'd always planned on Demonglass being the first of a trilogy, so I really wanted a house that would take all 3.
"Wow," I say, my mind reeling. "And that's what they want to pay for all three?"
Holly kind of laughs. "No, Rachel, that's what they're going to pay for each one."
And that's when my stomach drops and I yell, "HOLY SHIT!"
Holly just laughs and says, "Yeah, that's kind of what I said."
After we get off the phone, I immediately call my mom. I tell her. She cries. I cry.
Then The Husband gets home.
I tell him, in the most nonchalant voice I can muster, that the auction is over.
He asks what happened.
Keeping my voice calm, I start to tell him, but by the time I get to the money part, my voice gets all high and loud and I nearly start to cry again.
"You're shitting me," he says, his eyes wide.
Finally, it sinks in, and there is much yelling and jumping and exulting. Not only can I write for a living, but we can move, and The Husband can go back to school full time.
In the course of seven months, we'd gone from being miserable in our jobs, to unemployed and depressed, to achieving the dream.
Needless to say, we immediately got dressed and went out to lunch, and much wine did flow. ;)
MAY-JUNE 2008:
After all the excitement of the deal happening, the next couple of months were kind of boring. My announcement hadn't come out yet, so I couldn't talk about the book. You may remember this as a rather dead time on the blog! By then end of June, I had my contract, which was another highly exciting time. John took pictures of me signing it that I'll post to the blog soon. Then I sent the contract off to Holly, and more waiting ensued.
JULY 2008:
More waiting, until the very end of the month. I am in the car with my mom, on my way to Selma, AL for a wedding, when The Husband calls to tell me that my first check has arrived. I briefly consider telling him to wait to take it to the bank so that I might see it.
I then remember that we are stony broke by this point, and I tell him to hustle that bad boy to the bank ASAP!
AUGUST 2008:
We move to Auburn and there is much rejoicing. I'm especially happy because this means The Husband gets to live his dream, too, and he is a big reason of why I succeeded at my dream. I mean, how many spouses would hand over their retirement fund so that you can write a book? That kind of faith is pretty humbling, and I'm so glad that I got to repay him for it.
Then, as you all know, on August 28th, the announcement finally comes out in Publisher's Marketplace and Publisher's Weekly! And there is much MORE rejoicing!
So there you have it: how, in less than a year, I pretty much dynamited my whole life and started over fresh. As J.K. Rowling herself said, sometimes, rock bottom makes a great foundation for something new!
If there's one thing this whole experience has taught me, it's the importance of taking risks in life. I know now that if grad school hadn't gone KABOOM, and if the place where I taught hadn't become a Black Hole of Suck, I would've gone on my merry little way, being a teacher forever. And it would have been okay. It was a good job, with good benefits, and the pay was far from horrible, despite what you may have heard. But it wasn't what I was meant to do. A lot of people gave me a hard time about not doing student teaching, and cashing in my retirement, saying what would I do if I didn't teach? What would I do when I was 65? Well, I was more concerned with what would I do at 28. While it's important to plan for the future, you can't live there.
Coming up later this week, provided I don't get sucked in by anymore sexy, epic fantasy, I'll be talking in depth about what to look for in an agent, as well as my own writing process. Also, I'm working on building an FAQ for my website, so if there are any questions you'd like to see on that, please feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at rachel@rachel-hawkins.com
Sweet, sweet crack. And I'm not a huge fantasy person, which is odd, considering The Husband is a sci-fi/fantasy Geek Extraordinaire. But these Jacqueline Carey books are AWESOME, and remind me a lot of the other fantasy author I love to distraction, George R. R. Martin. So if you're looking for some highly addictive fantasy, with lots of sex and political intrigue thrown in for good measure, check either author out!
Now back to my story, in which not nearly as much happens, but where what DOES happen is extremely awesome!
MARCH 2008:
Super Awesome Agent Holly and I begin discussing some of the edits the book then called Too Near the Glass might need. The first thing to go is the title, which Holly and I agree is a little too heavy for a book that's relatively light. Holly and I toss around various ideas for a couple of days, including my favorite "joke" title. I just realized I can't actually say it here, because it would spoil the entire book, but it was a take off on a Britney Spears song, and once the book is out (only 17 more months! Ha ha!), I will share it with all of you, and lo, we shall laugh merrily.
Anyway. After several titles incorporating word like "hex," "spell," and "witch" are discussed, Holly comes up with Demonglass, and I immediately fall in love with it. It's relevant to the book- there's actually a substance called Demonglass that plays a very important role in the book- and it's kind of sexy and mysterious. Loves it.
Other than the title, we make a few more minor changes. One of Holly's best qualities as an agent- and she has bunches!- is her editorial eye. The changes she wanted were simple, but they improved the book tenfold.
So, changes made, Demonglass waits its turn to go on submission!
APRIL 2008:
Around the second week of April, Demonglass is officially submitted to editors. This is probably the most exciting, if most nerve-wracking, step in the process. Holly sends me a list of the houses she's submitting to, and every name on that list makes me do a happy dance. They are all houses I'd be thrilled to work with, and it's ahrd to imagine even one of them would actually want my little book!
Within a couple of days, we get our first rejection, which is a little disheartening, but unlike those awful form letters you get from agents who reject you, editor rejections are actually pretty nice.
So that rejection happens on a Monday. By Thursday, we have some MUCH better news: a house makes an offer on Demonglass. Then, on Friday, a SECOND house makes an offer. Much rejoicing occurs at Chez Hawkins.
Then things really heat up. After that first offer, Holly lets the other editors know that there's an offer on the table. I kind of expect everyone to say, "Oh, well, good for y'all then, we pass." And a couple of houses do just that. But several of the others say that they also want in on the action. Holly gives them a deadline for the offers, then lets me know that we officially have an auction on our hands.
Now, the idea that ONE house might want Demonglass blows me away. The idea that SEVERAL houses want it and are, like, going to fight for it, is truly shocking. I've said before that writing is a pretty lonely pursuit, and it's a self-doubt filled journey. To have other people love that book that you've slaved over is beyond gratifying!
The days leading up to "A-Day" as we call it are equal parts thrilling and stressful. The Husband and I have many talks about what the end result could be. The main thing both if us want is to get an offer that is large enough to allow me to write full time, with The Husband planning to get back into teaching in the fall. It would also be nice if we could move, since both of us were, by that point, kind of over Huntsville and wanting to move back to Auburn, where we'd both gone to college. The Husband plans on taking a few classes if we're able to move so that he can eventually live his dream, and get out of teaching for good. However, we're both realists, and we know that this is the first book, and the average book advance for a first time author is around $10,000. Nothing to sneeze at, but not exactly quit your day job money!
APRIL 22, 2008:
A-Day. I know Holly has given the houses interested in Demonglass until noon that day to get their offers in. I wake up early, feeling like it's Christmas morning and the first day of school, all rolled into one! In fact, my nerves are so bad that I work out for over an hour that morning, which, if you know me and my aversion to all things exercise, is a major sign of how freaked out I am.
Around 10-ish, I send The Husband to the grocery store, because he is making me crazy as we both wait for the phone to ring. After he leaves, I take a shower, and am in my bathrobe with a towel on my head when I hear my cell phone. It's Holly's ringtone (The Pet Shop Boys' "Opportunities." Hee!)
I answer the phone with shaking hands, and manage to croak out, "Hello?"
And then Holly says the words every author longs to hear: "Are you sitting down?"
I assure her I am. I kind of have to, because my knees ar shaking. Then she says (showing how well she knows me, ha ha!) "You're going to freak out."
"I love freaking out," I reply.
And then she tells me that Hyperion has come in with a pre-empt. She tells me how much it's for multiple books, and then tells me the amount they've offered.
"So that's for 2 books?" I ask, confused.
"No, they want all 3," she answers, which makes me very happy. I'd always planned on Demonglass being the first of a trilogy, so I really wanted a house that would take all 3.
"Wow," I say, my mind reeling. "And that's what they want to pay for all three?"
Holly kind of laughs. "No, Rachel, that's what they're going to pay for each one."
And that's when my stomach drops and I yell, "HOLY SHIT!"
Holly just laughs and says, "Yeah, that's kind of what I said."
After we get off the phone, I immediately call my mom. I tell her. She cries. I cry.
Then The Husband gets home.
I tell him, in the most nonchalant voice I can muster, that the auction is over.
He asks what happened.
Keeping my voice calm, I start to tell him, but by the time I get to the money part, my voice gets all high and loud and I nearly start to cry again.
"You're shitting me," he says, his eyes wide.
Finally, it sinks in, and there is much yelling and jumping and exulting. Not only can I write for a living, but we can move, and The Husband can go back to school full time.
In the course of seven months, we'd gone from being miserable in our jobs, to unemployed and depressed, to achieving the dream.
Needless to say, we immediately got dressed and went out to lunch, and much wine did flow. ;)
MAY-JUNE 2008:
After all the excitement of the deal happening, the next couple of months were kind of boring. My announcement hadn't come out yet, so I couldn't talk about the book. You may remember this as a rather dead time on the blog! By then end of June, I had my contract, which was another highly exciting time. John took pictures of me signing it that I'll post to the blog soon. Then I sent the contract off to Holly, and more waiting ensued.
JULY 2008:
More waiting, until the very end of the month. I am in the car with my mom, on my way to Selma, AL for a wedding, when The Husband calls to tell me that my first check has arrived. I briefly consider telling him to wait to take it to the bank so that I might see it.
I then remember that we are stony broke by this point, and I tell him to hustle that bad boy to the bank ASAP!
AUGUST 2008:
We move to Auburn and there is much rejoicing. I'm especially happy because this means The Husband gets to live his dream, too, and he is a big reason of why I succeeded at my dream. I mean, how many spouses would hand over their retirement fund so that you can write a book? That kind of faith is pretty humbling, and I'm so glad that I got to repay him for it.
Then, as you all know, on August 28th, the announcement finally comes out in Publisher's Marketplace and Publisher's Weekly! And there is much MORE rejoicing!
So there you have it: how, in less than a year, I pretty much dynamited my whole life and started over fresh. As J.K. Rowling herself said, sometimes, rock bottom makes a great foundation for something new!
If there's one thing this whole experience has taught me, it's the importance of taking risks in life. I know now that if grad school hadn't gone KABOOM, and if the place where I taught hadn't become a Black Hole of Suck, I would've gone on my merry little way, being a teacher forever. And it would have been okay. It was a good job, with good benefits, and the pay was far from horrible, despite what you may have heard. But it wasn't what I was meant to do. A lot of people gave me a hard time about not doing student teaching, and cashing in my retirement, saying what would I do if I didn't teach? What would I do when I was 65? Well, I was more concerned with what would I do at 28. While it's important to plan for the future, you can't live there.
Coming up later this week, provided I don't get sucked in by anymore sexy, epic fantasy, I'll be talking in depth about what to look for in an agent, as well as my own writing process. Also, I'm working on building an FAQ for my website, so if there are any questions you'd like to see on that, please feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at rachel@rachel-hawkins.com
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Shameless Self-Promotion
So later today I'll be continuing my blogs about getting published, but before I do that, I HAD to post a link.
I was Googling myself this morning- ooh, dirty! (Sorry. That joke will never get old to me!)- and ran across this little mention on a sci-fi site! TOO COOL! And this here little blog even gets a shoutout!
Also, this is a VERY good lesson on why you should always have the most flattering picture you can find on your blog! You never know who's going to use it! I mean, what if I'd had a picture of me, like, drinking a beer with all of my pale skin on display at the beach? A picture like this one:
I mean, what if THAT picture was all on the interwebz where people could see it? Man, that would be AWF-
Oh. Wait.
Dammit.
I was Googling myself this morning- ooh, dirty! (Sorry. That joke will never get old to me!)- and ran across this little mention on a sci-fi site! TOO COOL! And this here little blog even gets a shoutout!
Also, this is a VERY good lesson on why you should always have the most flattering picture you can find on your blog! You never know who's going to use it! I mean, what if I'd had a picture of me, like, drinking a beer with all of my pale skin on display at the beach? A picture like this one:
I mean, what if THAT picture was all on the interwebz where people could see it? Man, that would be AWF-
Oh. Wait.
Dammit.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
My Route to Publication! Part I!
So, in honor of my happy little self finally getting all announcified, I'm devoting the next few days of blogging to The Story of How I Got Published. Okay, I know the book isn't TECHNICALLY published yet, but it will be soon, and I need to get this all down now before I get swamped in edits and what have you.
Also, I realize that most of my path to publication is scattered throughout my blog archives, but that would mean sifting through my ramblings on Xanadu, and Neil Diamond, and what shenanigans Small Son has gotten into lately. So let's just make it all nice and streamlined, shall we?
Oh, and I find this story is much more enjoyable if you imagine it as a montage, complete with an inspiring song in the background, like "Eye of the Tiger", or, my personal favorite, "You're the Best" from Karate Kid. Of course, I find playing "You're the Best" to be inspiring even while doing small things like fixing my hair or cleaning the kitchen. As Cracked said in their article about Inspirational Songs of the 80s,
So let's do this!
JANUARY 2007:
MLK day. Off work, Small Son and The Husband both elsewhere, cold and rainy day. I feel inspired to sit down and write something, making it the first time I've written anything since summer 2004 when I worked on about 150 pages of a completely schizophrenic romance/adventure novel. I abandoned that due to getting a new job teaching high school English AND starting grad school. I resolved to get back to it in early 2005, but fate laughed at me, and I got pregnant in February of 2005. SURPRISE. (Sidenote- this experience is why I'm SO looking forward to my agent-mate Maureen Lipinski's upcoming book, Was It Planned? Because her premise totally happened to me!) So yeah, no writing for a couple of years until that quiet January morning. Inspired by my love of creepy boarding schools and Southern Gothics, I write about 5 pages about a girl named Sophie who ends up at Prentiss Academy off the coast of Georgia where All Is Not As It Seems. After those five or so pages, I abandon the idea, as I have no idea where to go with it and, other than Harry Potter and the Gemma Doyle books by Libba Bray, I haven't read much children's/YA lit.
MAY 2007:
Grad school goes KABOOM! I'm supposed to graduate, HAVE to graduate in order to get a teaching certificate and keep my job (I was on an Alternate Certificate, which you can only have for 3 years, because I had a B.A. in English, not education. I was getting an M.Ed in Secondary Education), and when I register to graduate, the school suddenly goes, "Nope! We have all these EXTRA classes you have to take now that NO ONE told you about! Oh, and you also have to do student teaching for a semester- WITH NO PAY- even though you've been a teacher for 3 years. Suck it!" So despite having a B.A in the subject I wanted to teach, 45 hours of grad school, 3 years of experience, and scoring in the top 5% in the nation on the Praxis II exam, I am somehow not qualified to teach English in the state of Alabama. No graduation means no certificate, and no certifiate means no job.
I freak out.
JUNE-AUGUST 2007:
I continue to freak out while the only decent principal at my school attempts to find a way to keep me. Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to take those extra classes. In all of this, I also start writing a romance novel, mostly in the desperate hope that I can sell that and have some income should I have to do that whole "No Pay For You!" student teaching. I now realize how insane this idea was, but, like I said, I was desperate. But, hey, during this time, I met Jolie, who was a rockin' critique partner, and became an excellent internet friend! So my romance attempts were not in vain! Luckily, by August, the only decent principal at my school had pulled some strings and gotten me hired back as sort of a permanant sub, but that was still pretty temporary, so my freaking out was only slightly abated.
AUGUST 27, 2007, 8:30 AM:
After several bomb threats, there's what the Madison County BOE refers to as a "little fight" at the school where I work. In truth, it was a mutha effin' riot, complete with teachers having to tackle kids, and cops shouting obscenties and macing kids. Kids are crying and running, and several are shrieking that they saw guns. I somehow end up very close to this fracas and basically think I might get killed.
AUGUST 27, 2007, 8:33 AM:
I rub my stinging eyes and begin to suspect that my job might, um, totally blow.
SEPTEMBER 2007:
The Husband, who was also worked as a teacher at my school, quits his job there due to issues he has with the administation. We both freak out, but we both know that teaching in that toxic- literally!- enviroment has left us stressed, frustrated, and profoundly unhappy. Not to mention that I was still fretting over what to do about getting certified. And it was in this pretty freaking dark moment that The Husband looks at me and says the words that, no exaggeration, change our lives: "Quit. Quit that job that you hate, we'll cash in our retirement, and you can stay home and write that book."
So I do.
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2007:
During these 2 months, I turn back to those five pages I wrote in January. I remember how fun they had been to write, how easy the YA voice felt to me. So I figured I'd turn those 5 pages into a book and it would be, like, totally easy!
Ha.
HA!!
During those 2 months, I pretty much write the first half of the book that became Demonglass. It is much, much harder than I'd ever imagined. For one thing, anyone who has written a book knows that it's a pretty lonely process that involves you spending a lot of time in your own head, and that can sometimes be dangerous, ha ha! During these two months, I probably quit Demonglass 3 or 4 times, convinced that it was too hard, too complex, too craptastic. Every time I quit, I start working on some new idea, convinced that THIS would be the one. This, from what I hear, is a common trap for writers to fall into. New ideas are slutty things. They whisper in your ear, "Hey, there. Aw, is this book you're working on too difficult? I wouldn't be hard to write. Oh, no, no, no. I'd be easy. You'd finish me in 2 weeks, tops. I promise. Now let my buy you another drink..."
Do not fall for the Slutty New Idea.
DECEMBER-JANUARY, 2007-2008:
I fall for the Slutty New Idea.
I actually, um, fall for 3 of them, and Demonglass fell by the wayside, until all I really had to show for my months of not working was half of a book that I thought wasn't any good, and 20 or so pages of three different books that weren't going anywhere. This is pretty much the lowest point, the point where I think very seriously about just doing my damn student teaching and getting another teaching job at a less shitty school.
FEBRUARY 2008, IN WHICH MUCH HAPPENS:
This is a crazy month as it was the month I gave up on my writing dream, revived my writing dream, finished Demonglass, AND got an agent. Whew!
The first week of February, I freak out about my jobless status and go and get the first job I could find. That, as I mentioned here, went KABOOM. And strangely, that experience is what gives me the last push I need to resurrect Demonglass. Working that crappy job makes me see that I could potentially have a lifetime of crappy jobs in front of me if I don't give this writing thing my all. I see in a flash that writing was what I was MEANT to do. I mean, hello? Look at all the roadblocks I was hitting in trying to become a teacher! Was the universe trying to tell me something? So I hit Demonglass and hit it hard. 2,000-4,000 words a day.
And then I do something very stupid that aspiring writers should NEVER EVER do, as I nearly derailed my career before it started.
On Februaary 15, I decide I was pretty damn close to the end of my book, so why not start querying agents, even though I was a first time author WITHOUT a finished manuscript? Ugh.
My 1st query letter blew. It blew so hard, I don't even have a copy anymore. Although, in my defense, it was written for a specific agent, and that agent did request a partial based on that query, so that was good.
But yeah, lots of rejections.
So after a couple of days of this, I go searching for new query letters. On Rachel Vater's blog, she uses an example of one of her client's queries. It iss cute, concise, and very professional. So using that as my model, I make a new query letter.
At around 9 p.m. on February 19, I get a request for a full manuscript from an agent at Writer's House.
I freak out. Again. Some more.
See, Writer's House is big. HUGE even. So this is very exciting. And very scary. Because, if you'll recall, I DO NOT HAVE A FULL MANUSCRIPT TO GIVE SUPER AWESOME WRITER'S HOUSE GUY! Because I am dumb.
So that night, I start frantically editing, and the next day, February 20th, I finish Demonglass. I write over 100 pages in a 24 hour period. I start smoking again, mainlining coffee, and I cry a lot. If it hadn't been for Felicia's delicious peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes, I never would have made it!
Again, aspiring writers, DO NOT DO THIS. I've never been so frantic in my life as I was between the night the request came in and the time I sent it off.
On February 23, Super Awesome Writer's House Agent passes on Demonglass, but he does give me 3 agents who might be interested. One is not, turns out, but one asks for a full, and the last of the three, Jenny Bent, says she wasn't feeling it, but she'd shown my query to her colleague, Holly Root, and Holly wants me to get in touch. So on Febraury 25, I email Holly, and she asks for the full.
Then, on Febraury 27, I'm sitting at my computer when my little Gmail notifier pops up on my tool bar, saying I have an email from Holly. She had read all of Demonglass in less than 48 hours and she wants to offer me represenation.
I- sing it with me!- freak out. And then I talk to Holly over the phone, and I immediately know she is the gal for me.
So, in almost exactly 2 weeks, I started querying agents, finished the book, and got an agent.
Like I said, February was a BIG month!
And coming up tomorrow, the path from acquiring an agent to sold book!
Also, I realize that most of my path to publication is scattered throughout my blog archives, but that would mean sifting through my ramblings on Xanadu, and Neil Diamond, and what shenanigans Small Son has gotten into lately. So let's just make it all nice and streamlined, shall we?
Oh, and I find this story is much more enjoyable if you imagine it as a montage, complete with an inspiring song in the background, like "Eye of the Tiger", or, my personal favorite, "You're the Best" from Karate Kid. Of course, I find playing "You're the Best" to be inspiring even while doing small things like fixing my hair or cleaning the kitchen. As Cracked said in their article about Inspirational Songs of the 80s,
There are no lyrics in this song that aren’t about how completely, utterly, and thoroughly, f&%@ing awesome you are at everything from fighting to gambling to sports.
So let's do this!
JANUARY 2007:
MLK day. Off work, Small Son and The Husband both elsewhere, cold and rainy day. I feel inspired to sit down and write something, making it the first time I've written anything since summer 2004 when I worked on about 150 pages of a completely schizophrenic romance/adventure novel. I abandoned that due to getting a new job teaching high school English AND starting grad school. I resolved to get back to it in early 2005, but fate laughed at me, and I got pregnant in February of 2005. SURPRISE. (Sidenote- this experience is why I'm SO looking forward to my agent-mate Maureen Lipinski's upcoming book, Was It Planned? Because her premise totally happened to me!) So yeah, no writing for a couple of years until that quiet January morning. Inspired by my love of creepy boarding schools and Southern Gothics, I write about 5 pages about a girl named Sophie who ends up at Prentiss Academy off the coast of Georgia where All Is Not As It Seems. After those five or so pages, I abandon the idea, as I have no idea where to go with it and, other than Harry Potter and the Gemma Doyle books by Libba Bray, I haven't read much children's/YA lit.
MAY 2007:
Grad school goes KABOOM! I'm supposed to graduate, HAVE to graduate in order to get a teaching certificate and keep my job (I was on an Alternate Certificate, which you can only have for 3 years, because I had a B.A. in English, not education. I was getting an M.Ed in Secondary Education), and when I register to graduate, the school suddenly goes, "Nope! We have all these EXTRA classes you have to take now that NO ONE told you about! Oh, and you also have to do student teaching for a semester- WITH NO PAY- even though you've been a teacher for 3 years. Suck it!" So despite having a B.A in the subject I wanted to teach, 45 hours of grad school, 3 years of experience, and scoring in the top 5% in the nation on the Praxis II exam, I am somehow not qualified to teach English in the state of Alabama. No graduation means no certificate, and no certifiate means no job.
I freak out.
JUNE-AUGUST 2007:
I continue to freak out while the only decent principal at my school attempts to find a way to keep me. Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to take those extra classes. In all of this, I also start writing a romance novel, mostly in the desperate hope that I can sell that and have some income should I have to do that whole "No Pay For You!" student teaching. I now realize how insane this idea was, but, like I said, I was desperate. But, hey, during this time, I met Jolie, who was a rockin' critique partner, and became an excellent internet friend! So my romance attempts were not in vain! Luckily, by August, the only decent principal at my school had pulled some strings and gotten me hired back as sort of a permanant sub, but that was still pretty temporary, so my freaking out was only slightly abated.
AUGUST 27, 2007, 8:30 AM:
After several bomb threats, there's what the Madison County BOE refers to as a "little fight" at the school where I work. In truth, it was a mutha effin' riot, complete with teachers having to tackle kids, and cops shouting obscenties and macing kids. Kids are crying and running, and several are shrieking that they saw guns. I somehow end up very close to this fracas and basically think I might get killed.
AUGUST 27, 2007, 8:33 AM:
I rub my stinging eyes and begin to suspect that my job might, um, totally blow.
SEPTEMBER 2007:
The Husband, who was also worked as a teacher at my school, quits his job there due to issues he has with the administation. We both freak out, but we both know that teaching in that toxic- literally!- enviroment has left us stressed, frustrated, and profoundly unhappy. Not to mention that I was still fretting over what to do about getting certified. And it was in this pretty freaking dark moment that The Husband looks at me and says the words that, no exaggeration, change our lives: "Quit. Quit that job that you hate, we'll cash in our retirement, and you can stay home and write that book."
So I do.
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2007:
During these 2 months, I turn back to those five pages I wrote in January. I remember how fun they had been to write, how easy the YA voice felt to me. So I figured I'd turn those 5 pages into a book and it would be, like, totally easy!
Ha.
HA!!
During those 2 months, I pretty much write the first half of the book that became Demonglass. It is much, much harder than I'd ever imagined. For one thing, anyone who has written a book knows that it's a pretty lonely process that involves you spending a lot of time in your own head, and that can sometimes be dangerous, ha ha! During these two months, I probably quit Demonglass 3 or 4 times, convinced that it was too hard, too complex, too craptastic. Every time I quit, I start working on some new idea, convinced that THIS would be the one. This, from what I hear, is a common trap for writers to fall into. New ideas are slutty things. They whisper in your ear, "Hey, there. Aw, is this book you're working on too difficult? I wouldn't be hard to write. Oh, no, no, no. I'd be easy. You'd finish me in 2 weeks, tops. I promise. Now let my buy you another drink..."
Do not fall for the Slutty New Idea.
DECEMBER-JANUARY, 2007-2008:
I fall for the Slutty New Idea.
I actually, um, fall for 3 of them, and Demonglass fell by the wayside, until all I really had to show for my months of not working was half of a book that I thought wasn't any good, and 20 or so pages of three different books that weren't going anywhere. This is pretty much the lowest point, the point where I think very seriously about just doing my damn student teaching and getting another teaching job at a less shitty school.
FEBRUARY 2008, IN WHICH MUCH HAPPENS:
This is a crazy month as it was the month I gave up on my writing dream, revived my writing dream, finished Demonglass, AND got an agent. Whew!
The first week of February, I freak out about my jobless status and go and get the first job I could find. That, as I mentioned here, went KABOOM. And strangely, that experience is what gives me the last push I need to resurrect Demonglass. Working that crappy job makes me see that I could potentially have a lifetime of crappy jobs in front of me if I don't give this writing thing my all. I see in a flash that writing was what I was MEANT to do. I mean, hello? Look at all the roadblocks I was hitting in trying to become a teacher! Was the universe trying to tell me something? So I hit Demonglass and hit it hard. 2,000-4,000 words a day.
And then I do something very stupid that aspiring writers should NEVER EVER do, as I nearly derailed my career before it started.
On Februaary 15, I decide I was pretty damn close to the end of my book, so why not start querying agents, even though I was a first time author WITHOUT a finished manuscript? Ugh.
My 1st query letter blew. It blew so hard, I don't even have a copy anymore. Although, in my defense, it was written for a specific agent, and that agent did request a partial based on that query, so that was good.
But yeah, lots of rejections.
So after a couple of days of this, I go searching for new query letters. On Rachel Vater's blog, she uses an example of one of her client's queries. It iss cute, concise, and very professional. So using that as my model, I make a new query letter.
At around 9 p.m. on February 19, I get a request for a full manuscript from an agent at Writer's House.
I freak out. Again. Some more.
See, Writer's House is big. HUGE even. So this is very exciting. And very scary. Because, if you'll recall, I DO NOT HAVE A FULL MANUSCRIPT TO GIVE SUPER AWESOME WRITER'S HOUSE GUY! Because I am dumb.
So that night, I start frantically editing, and the next day, February 20th, I finish Demonglass. I write over 100 pages in a 24 hour period. I start smoking again, mainlining coffee, and I cry a lot. If it hadn't been for Felicia's delicious peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes, I never would have made it!
Again, aspiring writers, DO NOT DO THIS. I've never been so frantic in my life as I was between the night the request came in and the time I sent it off.
On February 23, Super Awesome Writer's House Agent passes on Demonglass, but he does give me 3 agents who might be interested. One is not, turns out, but one asks for a full, and the last of the three, Jenny Bent, says she wasn't feeling it, but she'd shown my query to her colleague, Holly Root, and Holly wants me to get in touch. So on Febraury 25, I email Holly, and she asks for the full.
Then, on Febraury 27, I'm sitting at my computer when my little Gmail notifier pops up on my tool bar, saying I have an email from Holly. She had read all of Demonglass in less than 48 hours and she wants to offer me represenation.
I- sing it with me!- freak out. And then I talk to Holly over the phone, and I immediately know she is the gal for me.
So, in almost exactly 2 weeks, I started querying agents, finished the book, and got an agent.
Like I said, February was a BIG month!
And coming up tomorrow, the path from acquiring an agent to sold book!
Friday, August 29, 2008
AT LAST!
Well, faithful blog readers, it's official!
Demonglass and the next 2 books in the triolgy sold to Jen Besser (who works on the AMAZING Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, as well as the equally fab Blue Bloods books) at Hyperion, in a pre-empt. Don't believe me? Well, hurry up and go check it out in Publisher's Weekly! ;)
Thanks SO much to Amie and Carrie, both of whom saw the announcement in Publisher's Marketplace before I did, ha ha! I had no idea it was all out and announced and what have you!
Sometime over the weekend, I'll be posting the FULL story of my road to publication, but for right now, I'm gonna go have some champagne. Oh. Wait. It's 9:30 AM.
In that case, I'll go off to have a Mimosa.
Demonglass and the next 2 books in the triolgy sold to Jen Besser (who works on the AMAZING Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, as well as the equally fab Blue Bloods books) at Hyperion, in a pre-empt. Don't believe me? Well, hurry up and go check it out in Publisher's Weekly! ;)
Thanks SO much to Amie and Carrie, both of whom saw the announcement in Publisher's Marketplace before I did, ha ha! I had no idea it was all out and announced and what have you!
Sometime over the weekend, I'll be posting the FULL story of my road to publication, but for right now, I'm gonna go have some champagne. Oh. Wait. It's 9:30 AM.
In that case, I'll go off to have a Mimosa.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Blog-cation, all I ever wanted...
Hey, all!
Well, as of today, I am off to the beach with my ladies. There will be many tears (of laughter) shed, many fried things eaten, and many (many, many) vodka tonics down the hatch! As a consequence of all of this, Reading Writing Rachel will be kind of quiet until after the 4th, wherein, hopefully, I will get to make the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT that I've been waiting since APRIL (when the deal was struck) to make. Fingers crossed!
Have a happy and safe 4th!
Monday, April 21, 2008
I Rulez the Internetz!
Okay, so actually The Husband, aka John, rulez the internetz. He built me a super purty website that I hope you will all go check out here
It doesn't do much yet, but I LOVE the way it looks. Check back often for new content!
And hopefully I'll have good news to impart very soon!
It doesn't do much yet, but I LOVE the way it looks. Check back often for new content!
And hopefully I'll have good news to impart very soon!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Name That Book!
On Thursday, Agent Holly emailed me with a few edits that I needed to do on teh book, and one ofher suggestions was that we needed a new title. I agree with her that Too Near the Glass is a much...heavier title than the book really needs, so now I'm wracking my brain to come up with a new one. Any help would be graiciously appreciated! So if any of my talented readers out there can come up with anything, you will SO go on the acknowledgment page. Of course, I realize that when the book sells, the publisher will change the title to whatever he/she wants, so this may all be for nothing. Still, I'd like to have an awesome title to send out. So if you have any ideas, based on the excerpts you've read here, please let me know!
Oh, also, I was Googling myself yesterday (which sounds dirty, and yet is not) I discovered that this blog pops right up, as does a page from Fanfiction.net for another Rachel Hawkins who writes Lost and ER fic. That is not me. However, my horror that someone might think it is me led me to have lots of thoughts about fanfiction that I will soon be sharing with all of you. But not now. Now I must get out of my freakin' pjs and put on real clothes. Ah, the life of a writer! ;)
Oh, also, I was Googling myself yesterday (which sounds dirty, and yet is not) I discovered that this blog pops right up, as does a page from Fanfiction.net for another Rachel Hawkins who writes Lost and ER fic. That is not me. However, my horror that someone might think it is me led me to have lots of thoughts about fanfiction that I will soon be sharing with all of you. But not now. Now I must get out of my freakin' pjs and put on real clothes. Ah, the life of a writer! ;)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Secret Agent (Wo)Man
Okay, so this post may be only slightly coherent due to extreme levels of excitement.
As of this afternoon, I have a completely fabulous agent!! That's right- I landed myself an honest-to-god New York agent, Holly Root of the Waxman Literary Agency! She's funny and cool and very professional, and best of all, she loves the book! An enthusiastic agent is worth its weight in gold!
More to come soon!
As of this afternoon, I have a completely fabulous agent!! That's right- I landed myself an honest-to-god New York agent, Holly Root of the Waxman Literary Agency! She's funny and cool and very professional, and best of all, she loves the book! An enthusiastic agent is worth its weight in gold!
More to come soon!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Query Go-Round
Just to keep y'all (and me!) up to date, so far, the stats are thus:
Full Manuscripts requested: 3
Partial Manuscripts requested: 1
Full Manuscripts rejected: 1
Queries rejected: 4
Rachel's excitement/stress level: 11. You know, because it goes one higher than 10 (Spinal Tap reference for you sad souls who've never seen that movie!)
Full Manuscripts requested: 3
Partial Manuscripts requested: 1
Full Manuscripts rejected: 1
Queries rejected: 4
Rachel's excitement/stress level: 11. You know, because it goes one higher than 10 (Spinal Tap reference for you sad souls who've never seen that movie!)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Excitement!
So I had a big time New York agent want to see the full manuscript of Too Near the Glass (thank you, new query letter!) He ended up passing, but he had some very nice things to say about the novel, and passed on the names of two other agents he thought might like it. So I of course wrote him a thank-you email, and about fifteen minutes later, he wrote back recommending another agent there at his agency and gave me that agent's email. So I emailed Agent 2 and got a request for a full manuscript from him!
Now, I always go into these things expecting rejection, because...well, rejection is a HUGE part of the writing business. That's why you have to send out your stuff and not be afraid someone will say no. They WILL say no. You just persevere until somone says yes. You just need one! That said, I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but this is really exciting news because it means agents are viewing my work as a saleable commodity, and that's a big thing. I feel like those people who get to the top 50 on American Idol; I may not "win," but I've made it further than a lot of people!
So please keep up prayers, thought, vibes, etc. They seem to be working!
Oh, and this is the agency is question: www.writershouse.com Go there and check out some of their clients and you'll understand why I'm freaking out.
Love!!
Now, I always go into these things expecting rejection, because...well, rejection is a HUGE part of the writing business. That's why you have to send out your stuff and not be afraid someone will say no. They WILL say no. You just persevere until somone says yes. You just need one! That said, I'm not getting my hopes up too high, but this is really exciting news because it means agents are viewing my work as a saleable commodity, and that's a big thing. I feel like those people who get to the top 50 on American Idol; I may not "win," but I've made it further than a lot of people!
So please keep up prayers, thought, vibes, etc. They seem to be working!
Oh, and this is the agency is question: www.writershouse.com Go there and check out some of their clients and you'll understand why I'm freaking out.
Love!!
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