So you may have seen my new YA sci-fi announcement. I sort of wrote up a little story behind the sale for that book, because it's had a Journey.
This story is different. I thought it would be fun to showcase both stories, simply because they are different, and every journey toward publication is unique, even for a single person.
So here's the deal:
Yes, it's a romance deal. Yes, it's adult. My debut, in fact, into the full-length adult romance genre (I have a novella in an anthology right now, and 3 more coming next year).
The book is called UNTIL SUMMER ENDS, and it begins the Redwood Bay series, which will have at least 3 books.
These past two book deals -- this one and my YA sci-fi one -- are big firsts for me, because they're multiple book deals, something I've never gotten before. It's both exciting and terrifying. I've never had to write a book under contract, and that pressure is intense.
Anyway, I wrote Until Summer Ends only a year ago. That's right. I started it in November 2014, and I finished it at the beginning of December. It was the second romance novel I'd attempted (the first was horrific!).
Over the next couple of months, I wrote a few more romance novels, but Until Summer Ends was the one I was preparing to shop. I sent the first few chapters to critique group, and then I had a professional editor work on the whole thing.
With their feedback -- which was mostly positive -- I felt encouraged to start querying. So I did, to both literary agents and publishers that accepted unagented submissions. On April 1, no less. No April Fool's Day here!
I got quite a few requests, mostly because I did my homework. I researched the agents and publishers, looked at the things they'd sold or published, and tailored my queries to them. I went wide, don't get me wrong, but I still did my homework. And in romance, there are quite a few publishers you can submit directly to.
I went to a local conference and pitched my book to an editor at St. Martin's Press. She requested it. Things were looking up!
Especially when I got an offer on the book the second week of May, from one of the publisher's I'd submitted to. That spurred me to let other pubs and all the agents considering the full know about the offer.
A couple of weeks later, I got another offer, from another publisher. The day after that, I got an offer from a literary agent. She was one of the top ten dealmakers in romance on Publisher's Marketplace. Even if she couldn't sell the book (hey, I'm realistic -- I've had several books on submission through an agent in New York that didn't sell), I figured I had the two publisher offers to choose from.
So we submitted, and we actually ended up getting several offers. I was sort of shocked. Ha! We ended up going with Cleis Press, because the editor there, Karen Thomas, was incredibly enthusiastic about the project, and after speaking with her on the phone, I knew it was the right place to be.
So that's how I went from the drafting of a novel in November 2014, to querying only 5 months later, to an offer just a month after that. It was fast. MUCH faster than any of my other book deals, that's for sure!
But it just shows that the journey is different for each book, and each person! And UNTIL SUMMER ENDS will be out in July 2016! Which is also fast! Meanwhile, I have two more novels to write, so... I better get doing that!
Okay, so you may have seen my Facebook post last week about a new book deal. It went something like this: So I sold two YA novels to Jolly Fish Press! RIFT will be out in the fall next year, and MEND in the Spring of 2017. #booknews #JFP #timetravel #RiftWalkersseries
You can read the entire press release here.
Yes, I'm super-excited about it. I can't wait to see the awesome cover JFP will make, and hold the book in my hands. That's all awesome.
But really, you want to know which emotion was the most prevalent when I signed the contract? Relief. I think I probably wept.
See, this book has A Story, as most do. And this Story was HARD. And I wanted to quit about a million times, and no one ever gets to read That Story. I'll make it brief.
So I started writing this YA time travel novel at the end of 2011. I must've been certifiably insane. Because who writes a time travel novel? Oh, yes, someone who enjoys torture. Apparently, that's me.
I had an agent, and she liked the premise. So we revised. And revised. And revised. We gave the shiny new manuscript to my editor at Simon & Schuster.
And they said no.
I broke up with that agent, and decided a few months later to query using RIFT. Success! I got another agent with the manuscript. She wanted revisions. Times two.
Once those were done, we went out on submission. Lots of bites. Lots of rejections. Some close calls.
No offers.
I didn't quite know what "it" was in the book that didn't work for people. There had to be something, though, you know?
I broke up with Agent #2, and sat on RIFT. I thought it was a good book. Both of my agents thought so too. So I decided to submit to smaller houses myself. And I got an offer. I wasn't super-satisfied with the house, so I kept it in my back pocket while I continued to explore.
At this time, I was unagented and writing in another genre. I'd self-published some of my work -- I still do. But a time travel novel? No way I was self-pubbing that. I really wanted to have a clever, savvy editor for it, because again, I felt like it was missing something.
I had my finger on the pulse of all the query contests, the Pitch Wars, etc. I had created a dedicated column in my Tweetdeck just for #MSWL.
And that's when I saw this tweet:
And I thought, I have a time travel novel. Could be a good fit. So I went to Jolly Fish Press's website, and I liked what I saw. I should! They're right here in Utah, and I've sat on panels with the owner, Christopher! I don't know why I didn't think to submit to them.
But based on that #MSWL tweet and my research, I did. A few days later, they requested the full manuscript.
And just a few days after that, I got this tweet:
It took about another month to get the official offer, and bit more time to get things going from there. By the time I signed the contract, I just wanted the heck off this RIFT Rollercoaster. So many ups and downs and yeah. The tears. They were of relief that I didn't have to keep riding.
And now you'll get to read RIFT next fall! And now I have to write ANOTHER FREAKING TIME TRAVEL NOVEL. What was I thinking? Ha! Thankfully, I started on MEND during NaNo in 2013, so I have about 55,000 words. They might all need to be deleted and rewritten, but whatever.
And that's The Story. I know I'm not the only one on this crazy writing, querying, submitting, publishing roller coaster. How's your journey going?
TODAY'S CONTEST IS OPEN UNTIL NOON (mst).
And my query letter for CONTROL ISSUES is being broken down on Matt's blog today. Go. Follow him. Read. Comment. Whatever.
Yes, someone's going to publish my book. I can barely contain the tremors, trust me. Since you guys have been around for a lot of my journey, I'm giving away some mind-blowing loot (oh, man. *hangs head in shame*).
My book is a young adult dystopian novel in the vein of The Giver and The Hunger Games. Therefore, my giveaways are young adult/middle grade dystopians.
Each day this week there will be two prize packages available. The rules to enter are super-simple.
1. Go to The League of Extraordinary Writers blog. (I'm a co-author.) Follow.
2. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.
Winners will be chosen from the comments of this post. I will check to make sure the winner has followed the League blog.
What can you win? What can you win? WHAT CAN YOU WIN??
GONE prize package:
1. A copy of Gone by Michael Grant (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Handmade, personalized notebook (sans scribbling *embarrassed* You would not believe what my kids do to their notebooks! Don't they know they're like, sacred artifacts or something?) for all your writing scribbling needs (6 x 9 inches)
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a query critique by Elana
1. A copy of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Handmade, personalized notebook for all your writing needs (6 x 9 inches)
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a 10-page critique by Elana
Again, all you have to do to win is 1) Follow The League of Extraordinary Writers and 2) Leave a comment on THIS POST. (Tell me which prize package you'd like most. If possible, I'll give it to you.) and 3) Tell me my hair looks great. (Ha! We'll see who's reading carefully!)
This giveaway will remain open for 24 hours! That's it. You snooze, you lose. Because tomorrow, I have TWO more prize packages to give away! Winners will be announced at 1:00 PM tomorrow. And the new giveaway will go live at 2:00 PM.
Thanks for celebrating with me!
Yes, someone's going to publish my book. I can barely contain the tremors, trust me. Since you guys have been around for a lot of my journey, I'm giving away some cray-zy amay-zing stuff (okay, that's worse than epic. Srsly, people! We need another word for epic).
My book is a young adult dystopian novel in the vein of The Giver and The Hunger Games. Therefore, my giveaways are young adult/middle grade dystopians.
Each day this week there will be two prize packages available. The rules to enter are super-simple.
1. Go to The League of Extraordinary Writers blog. (I'm a co-author.) Follow.
2. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.
Winners will be chosen from the comments of this post. I will check to make sure the winner has followed the League blog.
What can you win? What can you win? WHAT CAN YOU WIN??
THE GIVER prize package:
1. A copy of The Giver by Lois Lowry (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Sweet shoulder bag - fits a trade paperback!
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a query critique by Elana
UGLIES prize package:
1. A copy of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Handmade, personalized notebook for all your writing needs (6 x 9 inches)
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a 10-page critique by Elana
Again, all you have to do to win is 1) Follow The League of Extraordinary Writers and 2) Leave a comment on THIS POST. (Tell me which prize package you'd like most. If possible, I'll give it to you.)
And I'm not expecting you to congratulate me over and over. I mean, I like it, but yeah. You can just tell me what you had for dinner or your favorite flavor of bubble gum or whatever. Or just a :) works. I swear I'm not groveling for congrats.
This giveaway will remain open for 24 hours! That's it. You snooze, you lose. Because tomorrow, I have TWO more prize packages to give away! Winners for Day 3 will be announced at 11:00 AM tomorrow. And the new giveaway will go live at Noon (all times MST).
Thanks for celebrating with me!
Yes, someone's going to publish my book. I can barely contain the tremors, trust me. Since you guys have been around for a lot of my journey, I'm giving away some epic stuff. At least I think it's epic.
My book is a young adult dystopian novel in the vein of The Giver and The Hunger Games. Therefore, my giveaways are young adult/middle grade dystopians.
Each day this week there will be two prize packages available. The rules to enter are super-simple.
1. Go to The League of Extraordinary Writers blog. (I'm a co-author.) Follow.
2. Leave a comment ON THIS POST.
Winners will be chosen from the comments of this post. I will check to make sure the winner has followed the League blog.
What can you win? What can you win? WHAT CAN YOU WIN??
THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX prize package:
1. A copy of The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Sweet shoulder bag - fits a trade paperback!
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a query critique by Elana
1. A copy of Feed by M.T. Anderson (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of thin mints -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Handmade, personalized notebook for all your writing needs (6 x 9 inches)
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a 10-page critique by Elana
Again, all you have to do to win is 1) Follow The League of Extraordinary Writers and 2) Leave a comment on THIS POST. (Tell me which prize package you'd like most. If possible, I'll give it to you.)
This giveaway will remain open for 24 hours! That's it. You snooze, you lose. Because tomorrow, I have TWO more prize packages to give away! Winners will be announced at 9:00 AM tomorrow. And the new giveaway will go live at 10:00 AM.
Thanks for celebrating with me!
Yes, someone's going to publish my book. I can barely contain the tremors, trust me. Since you guys have been around for a lot of my journey, I'm giving away some epic stuff. At least I think it's epic (and we really need to come up with another word for epic).
My book is a young adult dystopian novel in the vein of The Giver and The Hunger Games. Therefore, my giveaways are young adult/middle grade dystopians.
Each day this week there will be two prize packages available. The rules to enter are super-simple.
1. Go to The League of Extraordinary Writers blog. (I'm a co-author.) Follow. Oh, and there's a little giveaway going on over there too...
2. Leave a comment ON THIS POST. Contest is open internationally!
Winners will be chosen from the comments of this post. I will check to make sure the winner has followed the League blog.
What can you win? What can you win? WHAT CAN YOU WIN??
CANDOR prize package:
1. Candor by Pam Bachorz (hardcover)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of peanut butter patties -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Sweet shoulder bag - fits a trade paperback!
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a query critique by Elana
AMONG THE HIDDEN prize package:
1. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix (paperback)
2. Matching bookmark created by Elana
3. A box of thin mints -- Girl Scout Cookies!
4. $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble
5. Handmade, personalized notebook for all your writing needs (6 x 9 inches)
6. Copy of From the Query to the Call OR a 10-page critique by Elana
Again, all you have to do to win is 1) Follow The League of Extraordinary Writers and 2) Leave a comment on THIS POST. (Tell me which prize package you'd like most. If possible, I'll give it to you.)
This giveaway will remain open for 24 hours! That's it. You snooze, you lose. Because tomorrow, I have TWO more prize packages to give away! Winners will be announced at 7:00 AM tomorrow. And the new giveaway will go live at 8:00 AM.
Thanks for celebrating with me!
December 2007: Girl is about to turn thirty. That's right. The big 3-0.
Girl decides to write about the first three decades of her life.
Girl likes this writing thing.
Girl writes, girl writes, girl writes. A whole book, she writes.
Girl researches, girl researches, girl researches.
Girl queries, girl queries, girl queries.
Girl waits, girl waits, girl waits.
Girl discovers blogging.
Girl blogs, girl blogs, girl blogs.
Girl queries, girl writes, girl waits.
Girl blogs. Girl shelves first failed novel.
February 2009: Girl enters ABNA 2009 with a new novel. Makes it to the quarter-finals.
Girl screams. Girl celebrates. Girl finds much needed confidence.
Girl rewrites, girl rewrites, girl rewrites.
Girl queries new novel.
Girl waits.
Girl blogs.
Girl revises, girl revises, girl revises.
Girl queries.
Girl waits.
November 2009: Girl signs with the amazing Michelle Andelman at Lynn C. Franklin.
Girl screams. Girl celebrates. Girl finds much needed confidence.
Girl writes.
Girl blogs.
Girl rewrites another novel while waiting and blogging.
Girl checks email, checks email, checks email.
Girl waits. Blogs. Breathes -- involuntarily.
February 25, 2010: Girl gets an email.
Opens it.
Girl can't breathe. Black spots crowd her vision.
Phone rings.
Girl snaps to attention. Looks at caller ID. It's a 212 area code.
Girl shoves peanut butter M&M's at girl kidlet and races upstairs, locking the bedroom door behind her. (Super parenting there! Nominate girl for mother of the year!)
Girl talks to agent.
The email is really true.
Girl.
Has.
Book.
Deal.
Girl screams. Girl celebrates. Girl might faint.
From Publisher's Marketplace: Elana Johnson's CONTROL ISSUES, set in a brainwashed society where those gifted with mind control best join the powers that be, but one rebel girl tries to beat them at their own game, to Anica Rissi at Simon Pulse, by Michelle Andelman at Lynn Franklin Associates (NA).
(Girl blogs.)
Girl gets gifts from editor:
Oh yeah.
Sleep. (Girl sleeps. zzzzzzzzz)
