Pub Rants

5 In 4 Weeks

by Kristin Nelson

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STATUS: Feeling a bit better today. The next day is always the real test with this cold.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? CONSTANT CRAVING by k.d. lang

At the beginning of the year, I think most of us in publishing, especially agents, were assuming there was going to be a big slow down in the deals done, books bought, new authors breaking in etc. At the very least, one assumed that any submission might take a few more weeks or a few more months to place.

And all of the above may be end up being true but here’s some good news. In the last four weeks, we’ve done 5 book deals.

For the stats, four of those deals were for already established clients but one of the deals was for a spanking new writer. A debut.

So hey, if you’ve been feeling the pinch, sensing the negativity in the air, worried about whether you’ve got a shot at getting your dang novel published, I’m here to say that business is happening.

And on top of that, I signed a new client last week. Never-before-published writer and
this new novel is brilliant. I can’t wait to shop it.

I’m feeling very optimistic and so should you.

34 Responses

  4. Tara Maya said:

    Oh, my goodness, and while you were sick, too. This is wonderful news. I can’t wait to read about the newbie. Might there, perhaps be a new successful query to be dissected? #queryfail on Twitter was fun, but I honestly think reading good queries is more useful than reading bad ones.

  5. Marie said:

    This is all so exciting to hear about–I’m feeling butterflies (the good kind)! It’s so refreshing to read about a ray of sunlight amidst the economic doom & gloom. 🙂 Really brought a huge smile to my day.

  9. Eyhdon Acuna said:

    I think that is wonderful. Lately I’ve been feeling down- but now im back on track and that just made it even better! Congrats!

  10. Marie said:

    When everything is going to pot, there’s nothing like escaping into a good book.

    Maybe this is a foreshadowing of what’s to come. In a bad economy, people are willing to pay for a few hours of escape.

    Yah for writers and agents!

  13. DebraLSchubert said:

    5 book deals in 4 weeks? Unbelievable! If anything could temper being sick, I imagine it would be signing multiple book deals. We writers greatly appreciate these rays of sunshine. Thanks!

  18. Joseph Paul Haines said:

    http://irosf.com/q/zine/article/10519

    Great article from Kristine Kathryn Rusch on the negativity we’ve all decided to embrace. While this article speaks more about the short fiction market, I believe it applies to longer forms as well.

    Gloom and Doom can always be found; one never has to break out the microscope. Then again, we writers have a bad habit of listening only to the negative. I had to learn to write down the good comments about my fiction as well as the bad when receiving a critique.

    And then a friend of mine got signed to a “Good,” 3-book deal in December, and as we all know, NOTHING happens in publishing in December. 🙂

    If you’re going to look for news, look for good news.

  19. HeatherM said:

    Congrats on your sales! That is encouraging, thank you so much. For one who is waiting on that call from their agent that is a bit of a de-stresser to hear. Glad you’re feeling better, hopefully the good health continues!

  22. Kristin Laughtin said:

    I’ve got to thank all you agents who keep making posts like this. With all the dire gloom-and-doom talk, it’s refreshing to see that publishing isn’t impossible at the moment (especially for new authors).

    And congrats on so many sales!

  23. Christina said:

    I’m all for the positivity. God knows, there is a shortage of it, especially in the writing industry. So thanks for the ray of sunshine.

  25. Stephanie said:

    Thanks so much for sharing this!!! As an unpublished author who is hoping and praying for this next novel to be the one that makes it…this is so encouraging! I’m perfecting my query now, and hopefully I’ll be one of those success stories too!!

    Hope you kick this nasty cold!!

  31. C.R. Evers said:

    Thnx for sharing this. I was feeling particularly down about this very thing just a few days ago. It’s refreshing to hear something positive for a wanna-be-break-in-newbie-author.

    Christy