STATUS: Ack! Can’t believe it’s 5 already. Where did the day go?
What’s playing on the XM or iPod right now? CALLING ALL ANGELS by Train
Once an author is established, it’s kind of hard to think of them as having a beginning but every successful author has a fun fact about their beginning. I thought it might be fun to share today.
Gail Carriger—Four years before she sent me SOULLESS, I had read a YA novel from her, passed on the manuscript but sent along a letter with feedback. She remembered that fondly and so queried me with SOULLESS.
Ally Carter—I signed Ally for a novel (adult) that we’ve never shopped.
Sara Creasy—(who by the way was just nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award—HUGE!!!) I made her revise SONG OF SCARABAEUS twice before I signed her and then went on to sell it.
Jana DeLeon—For her first book, RUMBLE ON THE BAYOU, had an editor who so wanted to buy her. Got shot down at her house. It sold elsewhere but just recently, this editor asked for every book she’s written since so she would have them on her vaca. Oh yes, we obliged@
Simone Elkeles—had only one offer to buy PERFECT CHEMISTRY. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to sell it!
Jamie Ford—When he first submitted HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, he had the manuscript entitled THE PANAMA HOTEL. Sounds like it’s set in Latin American. We went through about 100 titles before settling on the one it was published with before submitting it to editors. Now people can’t imagine any other title for it. One bad suggestion was Burning Silk—after the one scene where Japanese women start burning their wedding Kimonos after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Janice Hardy—Sold me on her manuscript during the 10-minute pitch session at the Surrey Writers Conference. Right after the pitch appt. I called my assistant (Sara at the time) and asked her to send it to me the minute it came in. She did. I read it and immediately offered rep for it. It’s rare to take on a novel from a pitch session but it happens.
More to come tomorrow!
Out of curiousity, why did you never shop Ally’s adult novel?
Gotta love the backstories! Thanks for today’s fun read.
What a fun post, I love hearing about how authors started out. Thanks for sharing!
It is really neat to hear about things like this.
Oh, this is cool stuff! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Ah…Janice Hardy is awesome!!!
I feel like I just got a glimpse into “God’s people-making factory” or something.
Except it’s Kristin Nelson’s author-making factory.
Still pretty good 🙂
Fun and unique histories–just like the authors! I notice there aren’t any stories of someone who re-queried a massively over-hauled manuscript years after a pass. Now I’m wondering if I dare attempt to give you a new data point!
Wow. That’s very interesting. Thank you for sharing! Four of the authors on that list are some of my very favorite. The others I just haven’t read yet. I’ll have to fix that.
I’m curious to see tomorrows post.
Thanks for sharing this–I couldn’t imagine Perfect Chemistry not being in the world! 🙂
Huh. I already knew most of that. Now it’s official – I’ve been reading your blog forever:)
I love Janice Hardy! There’s something about knowing how she started that makes me feel lighthearted. Thanks for the post!
All great stories, and Janice Hardy wins!
This gives me hope!
I love collecting these kinds of stories, and it’s even better when I’m familiar with the authors involved! Can’t wait to see more tomorrow (today by this point, I think–so even better).
Congrats to Sara for making that short list!
That’s awesome how you found Janice. Glad you did because I love her books.
Interesting to read how things evolve. I can’t imagine Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet anything else. And in this case, though I’m not always like this with all books, it was the cover and the title that caught my attention and made me want to read it.
This is so encouraging!! Thanks for sharing.
“the one scene where Japanese women start burning their wedding Kimonos after the bombing of Pearl Harbor”
I’ve been seeing this book around, but this is the line that I think has convinced me to pick it up.
There are so many interesting and also some inspiring stories from newly-published authors… 🙂