The Submission Process

Last week, I left off with a polished final draft of Love Can Come in Many Ways, ready to send to my agent. For me, this part of the writing-submission process is just as stressful as submitting to an editor. Despite feeling like I had written a strong piece, there were no guarantees that she (or an editor) would feel the same way! We work in a highly subjective business, after all. But as I once heard author and editor Arthur Levine say, “Nobody is going to show up at your door and ask to look in your file cabinet so you have to submit your work.”

So, off it went! I let her know I envisioned the manuscript as a picture book or a board book, depending on an editor’s vision. And of course, I’d be happy to revise. I crossed my fingers after hitting “Send” and, between you and me, was hoping she’d read it right away, especially since it was only 104 words. (by the way, shorter word counts don’t seem to affect how quickly editors or agents will read your work!).

Approximately six weeks passed without a response to Love from my agent (in all fairness, we were discussing other manuscripts as well—Love just hadn’t come up.). But I was so convinced, so completely certain, that Love would sell, I emailed her(after the six weeks) and essentially begged her to send it out. She soon wrote back and said she was still thinking on it. I put on my “patience” cap and waited…

Have I ever mentioned how much patience a writer should have? (probably true for editors and illustrators, as well!).

A week later, she wrote me back with lovely things to say about the manuscript, including that she was going to send it out to five editors THAT DAY. I was so happy to finally have Love out on sub…

…but when we got interest from Chronicle Books FIVE DAYS LATER, I knew my gut was right—it was going to sell.

Woo-hooooo!

Now, getting “interest” is exciting, but it’s no guarantee. And I knew not to get my hopes up too much, after the initial excitement. The editor wanted to share it with her team, and show the manuscript to one of their illustrators. Again, I put on my patience cap (by the way, I don’t really have an actual cap).

A month later, we received an email from Ariel Richardson, editor extraordinaire, letting us know the illustrator, Suzy Ultman, loved the manuscript, so we could expect an offer. But…here was the surprise—they wanted to publish it as a novelty book! A NOVELTY BOOK! They loved the idea of having movable arms, paws, tails, etc. for little ones to manipulate. I’d never published a novelty book before (although I’d certainly thought about it), so this was icing on the cake for me!

Another month passed, and we received the official offer letter with all the details. And I’ll say here that based on that letter alone (positive, enthusiastic, professional), I knew working with Chronicle was going to be amazing. And it has been! Seriously, it’s this writer’s dream.

At that point, we worked out some minor changes to the terms of the contract, so the contract process could move forward. (it can take anywhere from a few weeks to few months for an agent and publisher to finalize a contract). I was walking two feet above the ground, elated that Love had sold, and knowing I was going to get to work on a novelty book with one of the best editors in the business!

I should also note that the process up to this point had happened quickly. I don’t usually get a manuscript to perfection in a couple of months. And this was the second fastest submission response I’d ever received.

Next post, I’ll talk about the collaborative process with the book’s production (warning: the collaboration process took over two years—my post won’t be that long, I promise.).

If you’d like to preorder Love Can Come in Many Ways, just click HERE.