Last night I started getting a wicked sore throat and it's no better today. Maybe it's the change in weather that's making everyone sick. In any case, I have a hugely busy work week and can't afford to lie around in bed so hopefully I will get better soon.
In happier news, my agent is sending out a brand, spanking new book proposal to editors this week. It's a totally different story - not one of the vampire books - but I think it'd be really cool to write so I'm hoping an editor wants to buy it!
Basically how it works is I write a partial (which is about 50 pages) of a new book and a summary of the book (describing the whole story- about 7-10 pages) and then the editor decides if she wants to buy the book based on what we sent her. We send out to several editors at once so then if more than one of them likes the idea they have to bid against eachother in what's called an auction. This is good for authors cause it means a better deal for them. :) We then sell the book to the editor with the best offer and then I get a deadline to finish it.
Sometimes only one editor will be interested. Or none at all. You never know. It depends on the quality of the book, the subject matter, what the editor has already bought that month, if the idea hasn't been overdone, etc. etc. Sometimes a sale can happen within 2 days of submission (like what happened with Boys that Bite) sometimes it can take months and months.
So cross fingers and wish me luck as we send this new baby out into the world!!!
MARI
PS The reason it can sell on a partial manuscript is because I already have other books out. If you're a first time author you have to write the whole book first.
4 comments:
Good luck with the submission. That's a bummer about having to write the whole book first. Grr... It would be nice to know it was wanted before it was born but whatchya gonna do? Anyway, much luck!!
Susan
I hope it works out for you. It would be great to read another one of your awsome books!
Savannah
Yeah Susan, it does suck to have to write the whole book first the first time around, but the reason is that editors want to make sure you CAN finish a book. Cause it's easy to start writing a book - what if you sold it and then couldn't finish writing it?
But once you get that first one out of the way it's easier to sell on a partial. (50 pages or so.) But you'd still better have a good idea of all that happens in the book cause eventually you have to write the whole thing -- and usually under a tight deadline.
MARI
That's so true, Mari. I whipped out the first fifty pages, but next fifty went s-l-o-w and now things have stalled around a hundred. I'm going to take a break, go out, have some fun and hope it picks back up when I get back at it. :)
Susan
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