i got a book deal!
Hi there—
I suppose my subject line has given the big news away, if you haven't already seen it on one of my social accounts: I'm officially going to be a published novelist! [Pause for hyperventilation.] The past few weeks have been surreal—I thought I'd share some of the behind-the-scenes process with you.
My agent Maddy sent the manuscript (the term for an unpublished novel) to US and UK publishers on Wednesday, February 27th. Her foreign rights team, who's responsible for selling the manuscript to publishers in languages besides English, also began sending it out to their markets. The next day, a number of the UK publishers began responding to Maddy's email, full of excitement about my novel. Some of them had stayed up overnight to read it (!), which is about the nicest compliment a writer can receive.
A week later, on Tuesday, March 5th, Maddy had received offers from 8 UK publishers, so the sale of my book went to auction in the UK. A publishing auction is just what it sounds like: the different publishing houses try to outbid one another so they win the rights to publish the book. After the first round, 5 publishers were left. I went to meet all five of them at their offices in London, and was blown away by the amount of enthusiasm and passion from every team. There's something slightly eerie (but so cool!) about having 6 people in a room all stare at you, trying to gauge your reaction as they make their pitches.
In the end, I chose Michael Joseph, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House. Their creativity blew me out of the water. Case in point: 48 hours after Maddy had sent them the manuscript, a basket of muffins arrived at my door. Along with the muffins were 20 cards, half labeled Patty and the other half labeled Rose Gold (my book's two main characters).
On the flip side of each card was a quote from my novel on the left side, and a comment from a Michael Joseph employee on the right. The Little Mermaid is referenced several times throughout the book, hence the Ariel/Ursula stickers. I could not believe how quickly and beautifully they pulled everything together!
Three days later, I received another package from the Michael Joseph team. A little explanation is required here: Chapter 1 of my book opens with Patty Watts being released from prison. A prison employee hands her a box of the personal effects she brought with her on the day her sentence began. Michael Joseph brought the box to life, down to the Illinois Dept. of Corrections logo.
Inside the box was a penguin (a reference to Penguin Random House), plus a heart-shaped locket and inventory of items, every one of which is actually mentioned in Chapter 1. They even put a poison reference (a big part of the book) inside the locket!
Needless to say, I was completely floored by this point. And yet the next day, the Michael Joseph team sent me a 2-minute book trailer, splicing creepy footage with an actor reading lines from my book aloud. And who was that voiceover actor? None other than Gemma Whelan, aka Yara Greyjoy from Game of Thrones! (Insert exploding head emoji.) My sister pointed out I am now two steps removed from the Mother of Dragons—ha! All of this is to say the team at Michael Joseph had shown me what they were capable of, and how excited they were, so many times over the course of one week. I was very, very happy to accept their offer on Friday, March 8.
The offers from other countries have been more straightforward. I spoke to a handful of US editors on the phone, but ended up accepting a pre-empt (when a publisher offers a high bid upfront to prevent the sale from going to auction) from Berkley, which is also an imprint of Penguin Random House. In Canada we accepted a pre-empt from Simon & Schuster. The UK, US and Canadian deals were all offered and accepted on March 8!
As for foreign rights, aka foreign language deals, so far Maddy's team has secured two-book deals in Italy, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Brazil, the last of which I found out about a couple days ago. (Fun fact: Italy was my very first deal, even before the UK or US. Some of you might know I got married in Italy, that it's my favorite country to visit, and now this! At this point I should just move there, right?) I was thrilled by the possibility of having a book published in English, but am flabbergasted by the idea of my story being told in 6 languages! I cannot believe my luck with this whole process.
I don't have an official publication date yet, but it looks like March 2020 in the UK and April 2020 in the US. This email is getting pretty long, so I'll save next steps for next month's letter. For now, I'll leave you with a couple bits of press. The deal was first announced in The Bookseller, which is the go-to news site for the UK publishing industry. And the other day I found out I was listed in a round-up article in THE GUARDIAN for books to watch out for next year. My book was mentioned in the same list as Elton John's memoir—how is this real life?! I am just so, so, so excited. And I cannot wait for you all to read it!
A mug from Michael Joseph. I can't believe I share a publisher with CHARLES DICKENS!
Let me know if you have any questions! And I hope spring is springing wherever you are...
Stephanie