Offers, Offers, Offers Galore!

One YA Author’s Journey to Publication

After almost a year of revisions, my agent finally told me that my book was ready for submission to editors. It was one of the greatest moments in my life.

What did I do to celebrate?

A five-dipper (chocolate ice cream, of course) Reese’s Pieces sundae at Friendly’s – add marshmallow sauce, hold the nuts.

Here’s evidence:

(While I’m beaming from book news, my children, no doubt, are screaming for ice cream.)

And then, content with my calorie overload, I hunkered down for the long wait.

But I didn’t have to wait long. At the one week mark – a Thursday to be precise – I received my first offer. The next week, I had a second offer. And week three landed me yet another. Freaking out does not even begin to describe the emotions I experienced as a mini-auction ensued. For roughly three weeks, I was hearing from my agent on what felt like a daily basis.

It went something like this:

Editor A offered X amount of dollars. Editor B offered more. Editor C came in higher. And then the rounds began again. Editor A came back to beat Editors B and C. Editor C countered with even more. And then editor A came back with an offer that topped them all. Round and round we go, where we’ll stop, nobody knows.

I was spinning with giddy disbelief. I mean, REALLY? And then my agent told me it was time for me to speak with each of the editors – kind of like an interview – in reverse! I had to figure out who I thought I might work best with. Which, I have to add, was incredibly difficult, because once I had them on the phone, each editor was AMAZING and I could have seen myself working with any of them. It was crazy – all these hugely successful people in NYC thought MY book was worth something. Enough to fight for it, and even do some really cool stuff like send me ARCs to show me examples of books they produce.

I felt mighty fancy during those few weeks last summer, let me tell you.

So it all came down to this. After about three weeks, we had final offers. Egmont USA – with a 2-book deal, a really wonderful group of people (including, of course, my lovely editor Regina Griffin), an amazingly close release date, and a really fun advance won the battle for The Tension of Opposites.

What, you ask, did I do to celebrate? 

Well, a five-dipper Reese’s Pieces sundae at Friendly’s – add marshmallow sauce, hold the nuts, of course!