THE ONE THAT SOLD AFTER FOUR YEARS
Cat/genre: YA Thriller
This is the story of the book that went on a long sub journey before eventually selling fast—a contradiction, I know, but trust me, it’s a good story.
This started with me, finally, after four years of writing myself into circles (same basic WIP but plot versions that didn’t work), having a YA novel that I loved, that my CPs loved, and that managed to land me a big-name agent.
I had been on submission with another agent twice before, but neither of those books sold, so I knew not to get my hopes up too high, but I was also optimistic—lucky YA number three here we go!
I did one revision with my new agent, then out on submission it went in 2016! YAY! She sent it to six editors at the Big 5—so a fairly modest round—but I was excited because this was the one. I could feel it.
The first rejection came fast, followed by another. And then . . . silence.
Then—surprise!—my agent moved agencies and her new agency didn’t really get my writing and so she let me go. We parted amicably but it was still a shock. And though she relinquished her agenting rights over the YA and wished me luck, it still felt like my shiny YA was now dead-on-arrival. Because everybody knows you can’t sub a novel twice, right?
I put it in a drawer and played around with some picture book ideas. Meanwhile, I was helping organize local author events and booked an up-and-coming agent to give a talk on querying. She also offered to give query critiques post workshop so I figured what the hell, I’d pitch my YA and see how the concept played out. This was not supposed to be a ‘real’ query to an agent, just a critique—she made that very clear! BUT . . . she loved it! And wanted to read the whole thing!
Ahhhhhhhh!
I told her its history, but it didn’t seem to phase her (I guess that modest sub round had its perks), so I sent the full and she offered an R&R. At the same time, I entered the first ten pages into a national conference to be critiqued, because why not find out what worked and what didn’t?
Then the organizer of the critiques called me up to say how much she loved it—I was stunned!
I ended up having a face to face with another amazing agent at the conference, who also loved it and wanted me to send it to them after I’d done the R&R.
I’m sorry . . . what?????
This agent was presenting at the conference with one of her clients, a New York Times bestselling YA author, and she wanted me to query her!
With this much positive interest, I decided to widen my agent field, and after my revision I queried ten agents and got eight full requests. The agent who requested the R&R gave me an offer, so I quickly and happily did the ‘Under Offer’ email to the rest of the agents and got another request for a call. And that agent made me an offer, too!
This was so surreal; my YA was alive again! After speaking to both agents, I went with the one who was most passionate about my work, and fearless about subbing it. She also seemed really invested in me as a career author rather than just this book, and she was with a great agency.
We did one round of revisions together, then my YA went back out on sub in March 2019, to six editors.
And then . . . nothing.
My agent nudged again about two months later.
More silence.
She subbed to three more editors in June.
At this stage, one editor let us know she’d passed it on to another editor at her imprint, but the rest were silent. No rejections, no editorial notes, nothing. My agent said not to worry, we just had to find the perfect editor.
Then 2020 happened which was like a black hole of strangeness for everyone. I had a debut picture book come out two weeks into lockdown and entered the brave new world of zoom visits and online promotions (I sold it myself before getting an agent, a whole other story!)
I also threw myself into another YA novel that I absolutely loved. My agent loved it too, and after a couple of revisions, we sent the new YA out on sub in February 2021. It seemed to me that the first YA was dead, and that was sad, but hey, it did get me my new agent, so I was okay with moving on.
But my agent was . . . not. When I suggested that maybe we put it back in the drawer she said, nope, I know we just have to find the right editor. She sent it to two more editors in March 2021, one whose manuscript wish list I’d noticed on Twitter, and another from an imprint my agent thought sounded promising. Two weeks later, we heard back from one of those editors asking if I would consider doing an R&R.
Erm . . . YES! I know an R&R from an editor often results in a no, but if it made the book better, it was worth doing. Also, I loved this editor’s ideas and found it totally brought the book a new exciting energy. All I had to do was switch out one character for a different one. It worked so well I totally fell in love with this new character. I turned it in mid-April and the editor loved it!
Two weeks later, it went to acquisitions and we heard back that same day—an offer was coming. The very next day, I got a two-book deal! It felt completely unbelievable!
It took two years on sub with my new agent to find that editor, but once we did, the R&R offer came within three weeks, and the publishing offer three weeks after I’d turned that in. And now it’s coming out in 2022—so in publishing terms it happened fast—even if technically, I’d been shopping this novel since 2016.
I know when you’re on sub it can be so disheartening to have people say it just takes one, but sometimes, it really does—well, that and an agent who never gives up on you or your work!
Hang in there, it seriously could all change over night!
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The stories on this blog are posted anonymously so that authors can speak candidly about their experience. If you have a sub story you’d like to share, drop me an email at: katedylanbooks@gmail.com
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