Book deal for my CP

So I have this amazing critique partner, Jessie Humphries, who wrote an incredible book. Not only did she write a book that was amazing, but she EDITED IT like editing was an extreme sport. I have never seen-- or even heard-- of anyone working as hard as she did on making a book as fabulous as possible before they got a book deal. I thought I was insane in my pre- submitting to editors edits, but Jessie blew me out of the water like nobody's business. This girl went to unbelievable lengths on her book, and it paid off big time.

Her publisher had been scouring through submissions for many months to find the perfect one to launch a new, unique, groundbreaking line, and found the perfect book in Jessie's submission, and snatched it up in a heartbeat.

And because her book was perfected before even going on sub (I'm talking perfected in a way that blew away her agent. In a way that her editor said he's never witnessed before), it's coming out in a mind-blowing TWO MONTHS FROM NOW!

The power of revisions.

So go congratulate her! The girl is an incredible example of what to do so editors can't bear to tell you no.

Jessie Humphries' book deal announcement

Pub Talk: Of Money & Book Deals

This may be my favorite origami ever.

Let's talk about money.

And book deals.

Because as writers, we LOVE to talk about those two things together.

Someone emailed me a little bit ago, asking about this, and I realized it was a great topic for a Pub Talk post. Also because even though I had read a few posts about how money works with book deals before I got mine, there were still things I learned along the way.

Okay, let's say you get a book deal for a single book, and to make the math easy, let's say you get an advance of $15,000. (An advance is just what it sounds like-- an advance on future royalties. Once your book goes up for sale and you start earning royalties, you have to "earn out your advance" before you start getting royalty checks.)

So does that mean that as soon as you get the call that your book sold that you can go out and spend that $15,000? Not quite. It doesn't come in one chunk. Sometimes it comes in two payments, sometimes in four, but most often in three. (At least that's what's most common with mid- to large- sized publishers.)

1/3 Comes within 30 days of signing your contract,
1/3 Comes within 30 days of your book being "accepted," and
1/3 Comes within 30 days of publication (although occasionally that date is bumped up, but not usually).

Let's talk about a few things.  

First: contracts. Smaller presses usually have a boiler-plate contract that they send out pretty much the day they offer. Most mid and large publishers will work with the agent on the contract, so it takes longer to get it finalized. I got mine from Random House two months after they offered, and apparently that's insanely fast. Some publishers take 6 months. I've even heard of some taking 8-9 months. Then you sign it, send it back, then wait 30 days for the check. (It goes to the agent first, they take their cut, then send you a check for the rest.) So sometimes, it can take A LONG TIME to get that first check. You might even be close to your book going to copy edits by the time you get it.

Second: if you have an agent, the publisher will send the check directly to your agent, (s)he will take his/her 15%, then a check for the remainder will come to you from the agency. No taxes are taken out, so you have to plan for that part on your own. So in our example, you'd get three payments of $4,250. Make sense?

Third: "Acceptance" doesn't mean that you've just emailed your book to your editor. It means that you have gone through however many rounds of edits with your editor that it took to make it shine. It means that it's essentially ready for publication. You'll still have to go through one or more rounds of copy edits, and first pass pages (and maybe second pass pages), of course, but those are just minor things. The bulk of it is done.

Now, just for fun, let's say that you get the coveted six-figure, three book deal from one of the Big Six. We'll say $35,000 a book, for a total of $105,000. These numbers work out awesome, because on a $35K book, the agent cut is roughly $5K, leaving an easily divisible by three $30K. Nice, huh? Let's get some timing in the mix, too. Let's say you got your book deal this month (January 2013), with your books slated to come out December 2014, December 2015, and December 2016. This is how it would break down with a totally made up but realistic time table.

On signing, you'd get 1/3 of the $35,000 for each book (or 3/9 of the $105,000). So your first payment would be $35,000. (Or, once your agent takes his / her cut (and honestly, you aren't going to get this deal without an agent and yes, they are totally worth the 15%), you'd get around $30,000.) Let's say they're pretty fast, and get you your contract in April. So you'd get your first check in May 2013.

May 2013: $30,000  (Signing for all three)
Jan 2014: $10,000 (acceptance of book 1)
Dec 2014: $10,000 (publication of book 1)
Jan 2015: $10,000 (acceptance of book 2)
Dec 2015: $10,000 (publication of book 2)
Jan 2016: $10,000 (acceptance of book 3)
Dec 2016: $10,000 (publication of book 3)

So, as you can see, those advance payments can be spread out quite a bit. A very important thing to think about before you quit that day job.

Any questions? I know I left about a million things unanswered. If this brings up any questions for you, ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them. And if you have an experience that's different than this, tell us! I think it really helps everyone to not walk into this industry blind, so we would all love if you shared.

photo credit: Jon_Tucker via photopin cc

The Hardest Part So Far

Hi, guys! I'm over at The Lucky 13s today, talking about what's been the hardest part of this publication road so far. Come join me!

From "I can't wait!" to "No. I can't wait..."

The secret to getting a book deal

Want to know what the secret is to getting a book deal (or to selling lots of copies if you decide to self-publish)? What the number one thing is that you have to have?

A lot of people will tell you it's persistence. I'll agree that you most certainly have to have that! It's a solid #2. Especially when you send out query after query and get rejection after rejection, and you think your book must be a pile of crap. That definitely takes persistence!

But I don't think it's the number one thing. Hands down, I think the number one thing is.... are you ready? It's...

Being teachable

After all, if you persistently do something wrong, that's not going to get you where you need to go, is it? And the only way to make persistence work is if you're teachable every step of the way.

Even when your critique partner tells you something you don't want to hear.
Even when it comes from someone "behind" you on this road we're all traveling.
Even when it's constructive criticism.
Even when you think you have it made.
Even when it comes along with a rejection from an agent / editor.
Even when you're a NYT bestseller.
Even when it means a major overhaul of your manuscript.
Even when it hurts your pride.
Even when it is ohmygosh so. very. hard. Because really, sometimes it just is.
ESPECIALLY when it's so. very. hard.

If you can stay teachable every step of the way, YOU WILL MAKE IT. You will reach your goals. And when you do reach your goals, it'll help you reach the next ones. And the next, and the next....

One year from today! And the implications thereof.

Guess what happens exactly one year from TODAY?

My book releases!

Yes. I'm a little excited.

It feels like I've had my book deal for FOREVER (it's been 10 months and one week), yet I still have a year to go. In case you were wondering, yes, a year and ten months is a crazy long time when you're waiting for your book to come out! And yes, it's a completely normal length of time to wait if you're with a big publisher. Many of the people in the Lucky 13s have wait times over two years long. But now, to have that number be a year or less, feels MAGICAL. (Seriously-- anyone need any magic done? Today I feel like I could do it.)

There's a lot of implications, though, that come with the one year before mark that I can't say I had thought of before this point. Let me tell you where I'm at right now:

• Book 1 has been fully content-edited. 
• Book 1 has gone through the first round of copy edits, and ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies that go out to reviewers) are printed based off of that. It has gone to production for ARCs, even though they won't be out until spring. It has also gone back to copy edits for the second round. At this point, other than a few sentence wording things, it's pretty much set in stone.
• Book 1 HAD a cover.... until it was shown at list launch early August, and they decided that the cover wasn't strong enough for the book, so they started over with a different illustrator. That's a story for another time, but basically, it would've had a cover by now, if it went according to plan.
• Book 2 is two-thirds of the way drafted.

What does that have to do with anything, might you ask? A lot, actually. Like many, my books will come out almost exactly a year apart, which means books two and three will be on roughly the same schedule. Which means that when my book releases a year from now, this is what will be happening:

• Book 2 will be fully edited
• Book 2 will have gone through copy edits, and onto production
• Book 2 will likely have a cover
• Book 3 will be in the drafting stage.

Why that is significant?

Let's talk about reviews. Or, more importantly, constructive reviews. Have you ever read a book that was great except for one thing? Let's say it's an annoying tic the main character has that drives the general population nuts. Or something in the plot or with the world that seems to not fit, and desperately needs some explanation in the next book. By the time people start reading the book, and reviews start coming in, the next book is already to the point where everything is pretty much set in stone. So anything that needs to be addressed specifically, for the sake of the reader, can't be addressed until the third book.

Kind of mind-blowing, no? (Does it freak me out? A little. Yes.)(But it also helps stave off the Sophomore Slump, which is TOTALLY a story for another day.)

For a moment, I'm going to forget all that. Right now I need to go make one of those paper chains you made in December in elementary school to count down the days until Christmas by ripping off one link of the chain every day. Only this one will count down the days until TTBB releases. Then I'm going to wrap it around the walls in my office. And around... and around....

The Obligatory Pic

First off, crazy thanks to the lovely Paige Kellerman from There's More Where That Came From for the Kreative Blogger award!

And second.... I got my contract! It's kind of a thick stack of papers filled with legalese, but I'm pretty sure it says somewhere in there that if I blog, I'm somewhat obligated to post a picture of me signing it. (It's hard to say, exactly. I was too distracted by the fact that something written by lawyers had both my name and my book's name on it.) Surreal? You betcha. Made me do an embarrassingly giddy dance? Um... yeah. Does it feel like it's not really me and I'm just writing a book about someone who wrote and wrote and then one day got a contract? You could say that.

To everyone who is an aspiring author seeking traditional publication, I want to pass along a couple of things I've learned recently.

• As far as normal goes with this kind of thing: there is no normal. Of course, there's a normal range. Two months is at the Lightning-Fast end; Six months is at the I-Might-Die-Soon end, but both are entirely normal. I have a friend who got a book deal with a publisher who wanted to open a new line and lead with her book. Speed for her book was really important to them. Her MS was already in great shape, so it went through edits, went to copy editing, and she got her book cover, all before she got her contract. Incredible, right? Yet at the same time, still within normal. The point? Expect the unexpected, because it's probably "normal."
• There are very few agent / publisher combinations that allow for announcing the book deal before the contract is received, signed, and returned. I just happened to luck out. To everyone who has / will have to wait six months for a contract and somehow manage to keep quiet about the book deal the whole time, I bow down to you. (I'm talking one like in the olden days where they almost laid on the ground.) You will never cease to impress and amaze me.

I hope you all are loving writing you own author story! I especially hope the really frustrating parts that get you down feel like they're just happening to a character you're writing. And I hope the incredible parts bring you bucket loads of bliss. Even if they also feel like they're happening to a character you're writing. :o)

Q&A: Publication Questions

Thanks to everyone who emailed me questions! You saved me from sitting here, staring at a blank screen, wondering what I should share. (Although I STILL wondered that.) I know y'all don't love really long posts, so I kept this one to mostly publication stuff. Tomorrow I'll talk a little about the agent questions I got (because I had never really figured out what to share about that before, either). I got some query-related questions, too, but we're going to have a query writing extravaganza next week! Okay, maybe not an extravaganza, but we'll talk, okay?

When will Through the Bomb's Breath be on shelves? / Is there a launch date?
2013, more than likely fall.

How many words is your MS?
60,000. -ish.

Have you been sent more revisions from Random House?
Nope. Nothing will happen until January. Then I’ll get my editorial letter, and jump right into revision mode. (And have I mentioned how much I love revisions? (You read that without any sarcasm, right? I really do love revisions.))

What does pre-empt mean? / Did it go to auction? / Didn’t that happen fast?
I’d actually love to answer this one, because before I went through this, I'd THOUGHT I'd understood what a pre-empt was. It turns out I really didn’t.

Yes, it did go quickly. I had originally guessed that we wouldn't even go on submission with TTBB until January, but Sara felt that right now was the right time for it. Still, though, I hunkered down for the long haul, because these things take forever, right? I was taken completely by surprise at their speed. Sara told me on a Monday that Random House was interested, after being on submission less than a week. By Tuesday morning, Sara called me at work and told me that the editor, Shana, wanted my query and synopsis of book two that day if possible. I got off work at lunchtime and went home and worked like crazy, every muscle in my body tensed. (Apparently when I need to focus tons and work fast, I tense EVERYWHERE. Seriously. When I finished, I was exhausted in every muscle from the top of my head to the ends of my toes.) I got the synopsis to her that night, but the query wasn’t in a good enough state yet, and my exhausted brain couldn’t see a way to fix it. Sara told me that the three page one was good for that night, and the query could wait until morning. I emailed her the query at 7:03 Wednesday morning. At 7:20 am, she emailed to say that both were in the hands of Random House. At 9:00 am, she called me with their offer. By 9:09, I had nearly passed out from shock and excitement.

So why the speed? Random House’s offer was a pre-empt, which took it off the table for everyone else. They offered the pre-empt so quickly to prevent it from going to auction. (I had thought  pre-empts only happened when an auction was scheduled.) Would an auction have been fun? Of course. I mean who wouldn’t love an auction? When Sara told me about the offer, she said that we could turn down Random House’s offer and push it to auction if I wanted to, but that I should talk to Shana before deciding. She was convinced that my mind would be made up if I did. But really, it was already made up. I could tell by the way Sara talked about Shana that she thought it was an amazing match up, and every single part of me felt that turning them down was the exact wrong thing to do.

So when I got off work at noon, Shana called. Sara was so right! I was pretty much convinced at “Hello.” Shana had so much excitement for TTBB, wanted to push it great directions, and was someone I could talk to like I talk to you guys. She’s unstressful, amazing, positive, helpful, and I knew instantly that I would love every minute of working with her. Was it hard to turn down an auction? Not one tiny little bit. It was the easiest decision in the world to make. I mean I had already struck gold with RH! Plus, I couldn’t imagine another editor ANYWHERE who would be as perfect of a fit as Shana is. I love her. I love Random House. And to have a publishing house love my book enough to push it with that kind of speed? Yeah. There was no way I was going to turn that down.

The announcement said it was a two-book deal. Will the second book be the M.I.S. HAVEN you've been so cryptic about in your "What I'm Working On" page, or will it be TTBB 2?
Hahaha! Cryptic. I actually didn't mean to be cryptic. Writing the summary for that page is a lot like writing a query. It's just a little bit possible I may have been procrastinating... But to answer your question, it is THROUGH THE BOMB’S BREATH number 2. It’s a trilogy. Although I love M.I.S. Haven, it will have to go on hold for a little while. Instead, I'm going to go have a blast writing a book I have been dying to write.

Any questions I missed? Just ask me in the comments.

Yes. This is *THAT* Announcement.

 From Publisher's Marketplace:

Children's/ Middle Grade: Peggy Eddleman's debut THROUGH THE BOMB'S BREATH, about twelve-year-old Hope, the worst inventor in a town of great inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of WWIII that wiped out nearly all the earth’s population; but when the town is invaded by bandits, they find that inventing won't save them, but Hope's daring and recklessness that usually gets her into trouble just might, to Shana Corey at Random House Children's, in a pre-empt, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger, Inc (World English).

Oh my gosh, you guys. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. RANDOM HOUSE! (Did I die of happiness when I heard who offered? Why yes, actually, I did. Am I still? Um, yeah. Little bit.) And I'm not kidding when I say that Sara found the one editor in all the world who was most perfectly matched to ME and most perfectly matched to THROUGH THE BOMB'S BREATH. I couldn't be more thrilled. I am so incredibly grateful to Sara, and to Shana, and to Random House-- so full of gratitude, I'm ready to burst! (And seriously-- could this huge amount of gratitude come at a more appropriate week? I think not.)

Thanks for hanging out with me on this journey, guys. And thanks for being here with me to celebrate! You all rock my world.



P.S. I'm going to do a question and answer day after Thanksgiving. Like next Monday. So if you have any questions you'd like me to answer-- about the book deal, or meerkats, or querying, or why having every light on in the house is a good thing-- just email me at peggyeddleman [at] gmail [dot] com.