It’s been a bit and for that I apologize, but I do have a good reason!
Spoiler alert: I sold my book!
At auction!
In a significant deal!
To Simon & Schuster!
If you missed my Instagram and YouTube announcement, they’ll be linked. But I will be going over every detail in this newsletter too.
I also joined my friend, Wallis, over on TikTok and I’m hoping to post more on there too, if you’d like to continue to follow my journey on all platforms!
Before we get started, if you have any questions or topics you’d like me to write about in future newsletters, feel free to comment or message me privately!
Without further ado, let’s get started.
CRUEL SUMMER
Although, now I’ll be calling it by its OFFICIAL TITLE - BACKHANDED COMPLIMENTS.
Back in April, I sold Backhanded Compliments to Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. I’ll go more in-depth about them later, but first, let’s go over the timeline.
I signed with my agent, Trinica Sampson-Vera on January 24th, 2024. While I was waiting for the contract, I did another revision of Backhanded Compliments. I did one more revision with Trinica’s in-line comments and finished that on March 21st. With one final read-through and making a few minor tweaks, we were ready to go on submission!
On March 29th, I got sent the pitch and my submission list. So many big publishers were on the list and five of them had already requested the full manuscript from my agent giving them teasers on calls. On April 11th, at 11:42 AM, Backhanded Compliments officially went on submission.
Then, on Friday, April 12th at 6:29 PM, I got an email from Trinica. We had our first interested editor. I was on submission for a little less than 30 hours! I won’t be revealing who the other editors are, but this editor (Editor A) had already finished reading, was getting second reads, and was taking it to acquisitions.
As an explanation, second reads is when the editor shares it with their team to get thoughts on how the book might fit on their list of other titles. Acquisitions is a more formal meeting with marketing, sales, finance, publicity, and editorial to decide whether an offer should be made.
By April 16th, we had two more editors (Editor B & Editor C) sending the book to second reads. At this point, I was feeling so hopeful, so optimistic, but there was still a big chance that they wouldn’t want to offer. There are so many people involved in publishing and so many hurdles to face.
On April 17th at 1:30 PM, one of the editors (Editor B) from the previous day told us that they had already taken the book through acquisitions and they were approved to offer! Editor A had also sent the book through acquisition but was waiting for the final approval from their boss, so we set up two editor calls.
Editor calls are really a vibe check. Do we vibe as people? Does the vision align? Do they understand my novel? This was a nerve-wracking time, but it’s also so exciting. They wanted to hear about my future books, and what my workflow is like. And I wanted to know what being an author for their publishing house would be like.
Then, at around 3 pm on the same day, we had confirmation from Editor C that they wanted a call too! We also decided that our closing date was April 24th. And because we had multiple offers, we went to AUCTION.
Basically, the editors get to fight over me and send my agent their offers in order to convince me to choose them to publish my novel. There would be three rounds in this auction. First, would be preliminary offers at the end of the day on Wednesday, April 24th. Then, the next day, Thursday, April 26th, their counteroffers would be due at noon, and the final and best offers would be due at the end of the day Thursday.
Then, I would have Friday and the weekend to decide who I wanted to publish Backhanded Compliments.
Each of my editor meetings went very well. Editor C also brought a person from their marketing and publicity team, which is pretty unusual for an editorial call! They gave me an idea of some of the ideas they already had about marketing the book and all of them expressed such love for Backhanded Compliments.
At this point, Editor A decided not to put in a formal offer because of the interest from Editor B and C. And thus, the auction on Wednesday began!
And the offers were a lot. Two books, six figures. It was overwhelming.
I am so grateful and lucky to have Trinica as my agent. They ran everything so smoothly and kept me in the loop with such excellent explanations of everything that was happening. We debriefed after every editor call and they understood what I wanted, what I was looking for, and they ensured that I got the best deal possible.
On Thursday evening, I got the notification that Trinica was updating my auction spreadsheet again. This meant that the final offers were in. As I stared at the email, hesitating to open this sheet, I took a deep breath. What did I want? What did I feel like was the correct choice?
Editor B was the one that I had been dreaming of. I hoped and prayed they’d offer for the book and then, they did. But, as I actually thought about it, I knew Editor C was the one I wanted. I was hoping they’d put in a better offer. That they would make the choice easy for me.
And…they did.
I knew, in an instant, that Atria was going to be my publisher. I celebrated with my friends, my family, my agent. I still had time to decide, of course. Monday was when we’d officially let Atria, Melanie Iglesias Perez, and Editor B know my decision, but I was set.
The next day, I went to see Challengers with my mom. Before we went, we headed into our local Barnes & Noble. I made a beeline for the romance section, staring at the place where my novel would be sitting. (At eye level thanks to my choice of pen name!) And as I picked up one of Atria’s titles and stared at their emblem on the spine, Trinica called me.
They asked who I was selecting to publish Backhanded Compliments and I have never felt more sure of my decision. So, standing among my publishing siblings, I decided.
And now! We have cover sketches! (They’re so incredible! I can’t wait to share the final, colorized version!) We have a date! (June 2025!) And I know what my second book in the deal is going to be!
So, by this time next year, I will be a published author. I will have achieved my lifelong dream. And I will have fully started my career.
And I can’t wait to take you all along the journey with me! 🥹