Today’s post focuses on what it was like to receive an offer on my debut picture book, WHERE WILDFLOWERS GROW.
When I received an offer for representation by my agent, it felt like I was finally SEEN for the very first time as an author. Every draft that I ever written in my head, every line that I had ever typed out, and every story that I ever poured my heart and soul into it finally led me to this very moment of feeling recognized and appreciated by someone in the publishing world who wants to champion my work.
That moment for me was UNBELIEVABLE, but the moment that I received my first offer for my debut picture book, was simply UNFORGETABLE and MAGICAL!
Just a month earlier, my agent and I had submitted the manuscript to a list of editors whom we thought would love the story. After waiting and waiting and waiting some more, passes started coming in and being that I was on sub for the very first time, I was completely devastated. My agent had prepped me up for rejections as it was expected and always expected in subbing, but it didn’t make the rejections sting any less.
Then on a very ordinary Monday, I received an offer from an editor who thanked us for sharing my story with her and that she loved it. Receiving the text from my agent and then reading the initial offer in my inbox was one of the happiness moments of my life. After a lifetime of working on this dream, my story would be a published. I cried happy tears and then I danced and jumped and hugged my husband and kids. It was FINALLY happening!
So what did the offer email look like?
Well, I’m not able to go into exact details, but it included some brief insights on the editor’s thoughts and reactions to why she was drawn to the story and what her publishing house could offer as an advance, rights, royalties percentages, comp copies, and the slated time for publication, which for picture books can be 2 or 3 years out.
Some time after I received this offer, I received another and we proceeded to an auction.
Stay tuned to see what it was like to go to AUCTION!