Well, here it is…the news I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks now.
I was fortunate enough to be picked up by Penguin-Putnam in a two-book preempt deal. See it here: Book Deals: Week of November 17, 2014
Okay, so what does that actually mean? That means that BAD LAND is going to be published as my debut novel next year, and at least one sequel will be on the way (oh, and in the announcement, ignore that stuff about former – trust me, I still have my day job).
The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster. In fact, this whole last year has been one long carnival ride, with DEAD AIR out on submission for nearly 8 months (and not selling – oh, I didn’t tell you that? That’s because I’ve learned that we don’t really talk about being on submission, either good or bad), followed by BAD LAND being out for just a few weeks and selling almost immediately.
As a person who writes as much as I do, you’d think I’d never be at a loss for words, but I am. Beyond being a dream come true, it’s still hard to imagine that all those words I’ve already written are going to be released into the wild. It’s exciting, and more than a little scary.
So what happens next? Well, a helluva lot of things…which, I hope mean a lot of blog posts. This whole process is 100% new to me, and if you want to come along for the ride, you can. I’m going to post here about the significant mile markers along BAD LAND’s slow roll to publication. I know this is tricky stuff (and this blog post here, The Cool Table, in the Debut Author section, suggests some of the reasons why); after all, who wants to read a bunch of self-congratulatory blather? But if you’re a writer trying to make that leap to published author, as I still am each and every day, hopefully there will be something worth seeing along the way.
That’s why in my next post I’m going to start with the first detour – what happens when that first, first book doesn’t sell.
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