Book Contract Details

THANK YOU ALL for celebrating the news of my book contract with me! I read each of your well wishes and am treasuring them in my heart!

Some of you asked for me to share more of the details of my book contract. Those who use Twitter already got a sneak peek! A few of my sweet tweeting friends (you know who you are!) pulled the information from me in short bursts of 140 characters or less.

On the one hand, I'm super excited to share the news and want to tell everyone, everywhere! But on the other hand, I'm struggling with how to broach such life-altering information humbly (aka without pride or boasting!). Even though I know it's important to build a web presence and market ourselves, I don't want this whole experience to be just about me.

It's my desire that by sharing my experiences I can encourage and give hope to other writers; if dreams can come true for an ordinary writer like me, they can come true for you too.

I also hope through blogging about the ups and downs of my journey I can provide an inside glimpse of what the steps to publication look like. It's never my intention to boast, so if I ever sound like I am, I give you permission to email me and scold me!

On that note. . . I would love to share more of the details of what my book contract contained:

1. Bethany House Publisher (BHP) is the publisher that I'll be working with. They are a large, traditional Christian publishing company. They publish both fiction and non-fiction and have authors like Beverly Lewis, Tracie Peterson, and many others.

2. They've offered me a three book deal. As part of the contract, they agreed to publish one of my completed books and would like for me to write two additional new books for them.

If you remember from previous posts, I had another completed book as part of my book proposal. While BPH liked it and might possibly consider it for future publication, it was set in the middle ages in Europe, not the greatest time period and setting for an author trying to break in and build a readership.

They would like to have some input into the direction of the next books with the intention of helping me develop the most marketable novels possible. Since they're good at selling books, I'm going to trust their advice!

3. My first book is slotted for publication next fall. That means, one year from now, I could be kissing the cover of my book. That is truly an amazing and humbling thought. Over the next months I'll begin the editing process. I've already spoken on the phone with the one of the editors I'll be working with, and he did an incredible job of immediately making me feel apart of Bethany House.

4. My synopsis for book number two is due by November and the completed book next fall. I'm in the process of gathering ideas to present to the editorial team. After I get their seal of approval, then I'll jump into writing the next book. My agent and now my new editor have both had to listen to me whine about how READY I am to start writing it!

5. And finally, my advance pleased my agent. Of course it pleased me too! But I since I'm a flop at financial issues AND since I had no idea what to expect, I would have been happy with a couple of pennies. What's most important to me is getting this awesome privilege of publishing a book. However, advances are part of the deal and I'm very grateful for what I was offered! (See Rachelle's recent blog post More About Advances.)

Thanks again for sharing in this joyful experience with me! Most days I wake up and wonder, is this REALLY happening?

If you have any words of wisdom for me as I start this new path of the writing journey, I'd love to hear them! And let me know if you have any other questions about the details of my contract.