By day, I'm a copy chief for a business management journal. Nights and weekends, I am the fantasy editor at Wild Child Publishing.
I've been published in Farthing, From the Asylum, Ruthie's Club, Tenebres, Peridot Books, Wild Child Publishing, and Byzarium, and another story will appear in an upcoming issue of Realms of Fantasy.
My paranormal romance novel, HELL'S BELLES (which I still think of as urban fantasy), sold in a three-book deal to Kensington. It will be published in January 2007. The next in the series, THE ROAD TO HELL, will be published in November 2007.
My website is live, huzzah!
My blog!
And another blog!
You guessed it: another blog!
| Congratulations! |
| Congrats! That's a HELL of a way to start out the new year :-P |
| Wow, I've been away for a long, long time. I have to go through all the acceptances posts -- a belated congrats to all sellers! And happy 2007!
It's official: HELL'S BELLES is on the shelves. I'm psyched, thrilled, and stressed. Yay! And my editor accepted THE ROAD TO HELL; that book will be out in November. Working on the third book, HOTTER THAN HELL. (Sense a theme?) Separately, my YA urban fantasy is still on submission. Hoping to hear something this month (er, something positive). Fingers crossed. This book is a revision of my first-ever novel -- the 16 (okay, 17) year love affair known as the Great American Novel (or the GAN). The official title (now) is THE MAGIC BRIGADE. Hope to have good news soon. Here's wishing everyone here obscene success in 2007! |
| Belated congrats, Jackie! |
| Thanks, Melissa and Lisa! |
| Way to go, Jackie! |
| That's fantastic! Congratulations! |
| Thanks so much, everyone! |
| Well done. Great sale. |
| Congratulations, Jackie! Realms was a huge goal of mine, too, with much gnashing of teeth over the years before I finally cracked it. Isn't it a great feeling? |
| Awesome, Jackie! |
| Comgratulations, Jackie! What a great sale!!!! |
| I'm utterly thrilled. I just sold a short story to Realms of Fantasy. This has been a dream of mine for about 15 years. HUZZAH!!! "Red" is dark literary fantasy, a retelling of sorts of Little Red Riding Hood.
I'm swooning! |
| Thanks, Martin -- and uber congrats on your latest sale! Black Gate, right? |
| Cool website Jackie |
| ((smooch)) You're a sweetie, Jim! And thanks for the spiffy link thingie! |
| http://www.jackiekessler.com/
Ooh ... just glanced at it, but that's a pretty little website, Jackie! You're gonna give all of the other authors website envy! |
| I'm thrilled to announce that my website is live! HUZZAH! I can't do the link thingy because I'm brain dead. But I invite you all to check out...
http://www.jackiekessler.com/ |
| Can't get it. Darn. :-(
But thanks for the cover love, Jim! Yours is fabulous...! |
| Thanks, Jim--except I can't get the picture thingy to show up. I get a question-marked box. Hmmm. Maybe the size is too big... |
| Or in your case, try:
[img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2389/1194/400/HBCover480.0.jpg"] Wonderful cover, by the way! |
| Jackie,
The picture has to be online somewhere already. Then you use code like this (replacing the square brackets with angle brackets). [img src="http://www.sff.net/people/jchines/NiftyPicture.jpg"] |
| Hey...can someone tell me how I can upload a picture here? What code do I need to put in?
(I'm psyched -- just got my cover yesterday for HELL'S BELLES, and I want to share with the world...) |
| Thanks, Melissa! :-*
Jackie |
| Congratulations! |
| Whee! Here's TANGENT ONLINE's review of FARTHING, which includes a short story from yours truly.
((Sorry, don't know how to do the link)) http://www.tangentonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task;=view&id;=745&Itemid;=261 Jackie |
| Okay, so that YA urban fantasy that my agent said "meh" on? You know, based on the synopsis and the overall pitch, and the growing sentiment from book editors that they're up to their eyeballs in YA fantasy and they are getting sick of it?
Well, my faboo crit partner just read the 11 chapters of the story that I've written so far. And she freaking LOVES it. She called it "the perfect urban fantasy." I'm taking her word for it -- her debut YA fantasy comes out in 2007, and she's already gotten some FABULOUS blurbs from big names. So...I'm a bit sad. But I'm also encouraged. Because once I have my first two contracted books on the shelves and the chapter outline for the third is accepted, I'm going to push to get this YA finished and in front of my agent. Maybe the market will be less groaning. And maybe he'll let the writing speak for itself. ((sigh)) Jackie |
| ((snort)) Please, no one sell anyone's mother. Not even on Mother's Day...
Thanks for the encouragement, guys. Clyde, the playing field's all yours... :) And Jim: dude, you're on. BTW, when does your first book hit the stores -- this November? Jackie |
| re 483938 - I will gladly sell other peoples' mothers to buy Jackie's books. ;)
|
| Bleah. I had that happen with a modern-day fantasy I spent more than a year writing. My agent loves my funny sword & sorcery stuff, but this one ... they firmly suggested I stick with the funny, since that seems to be what I'm best at.
Sucks, doesn't it? But just think, once we're big and famous and have people begging to pay us lots of money for our work, we can dig those manuscripts up, do a quick rewrite, and use the advance to buy a new house :-) |
| Sorry to hear about the YA novel... Now, don't write another word on it... that way MY YA work, will have a chance in the market place. Muhahahha!!! LOL!
Seriously, I'm sure you will find a decent home for it. And yes, you will be famous and people will sell their mothers to buy anything you produce. Clyde. |
| My agent isn't enthusiastic about the WIP synopsis (for the YA urban fantasy). *sigh* I asked if he would read the first few chapters -- heaven knows my synopses skills, er, stink. We shall see...25,000 words, pushed aside, alas...
Meanwhile, in May I go back to writing the second of my contracted novels, THE ROAD TO HELL. The chapter outline was already approved by my agent and my editor, and I've got 40,000 words in the rough draft. That's not due to my agent until October -- lots of time. Still bummed about the potential stall of the YA urban fantasy. ((fret)) Ah well. Can't win them all. Maybe HELL'S BELLES will be a bestseller (hey, I can dream...and all you lovely people will buy at least one copy, right?), and then my agent would be happy to hawk the YA fantasy... ((cue dream sequence...)) Jackie |
| Thanks, Terry. :)
Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear from my agent about the synopsis of my proposed YA urban fantasy novel. This is a complete rewrite of my poor li'l 16-year-in-the-making adult contemporary fantasy novel. He tentatively approved of the overall concept. The synopsis is the next step. Hope he approves, because I've got 22,000 words of the novel so far... ((grin)) Jackie |
| Good show, Jackie, keep it out there! |
| Thanks, John and Melissa!
Alas (heh), Chizine took a pass. But the editor gave me some terrific feedback and suggested another market. I promptly sent it off. Fingers crossed (again)... Jackie |
| Good luck, Jackie! |
| Wow, that's great! Good luck with all of it! |
| So FARTHING 2 is coming out, like now. It was at Eastercon; I should be getting my copy in the mail soon. I'm so psyched!
One of my stories made it to the quarter finals for WotF. First time I got that far, so that was pretty cool. I just subbed the story to FANTASY. Fingers crossed. Got another story under consideration at CHIZINE. Ah, what I would give to get into that mag... And...best of all, Doug emailed me to say that Shawna would be reading the story I subbed to RoF in a few weeks. Huzzah! Meanwhile, my editor approved the chapter outline for the second contracted novel, and I've been working on a YA urban fantasy novel, which has been a blast. I'm almost halfway done with the draft. Good things are happening, my friends. Jackie |
| Jackie, I'm so happy for you!
Good luck on the rest of the series. Yay, something to read later!!! Kaori |
| Christine and Sue, I absolutely believe the best thing a writer can do is to study the market. The award-winning author Joe Konrath suggests that we approach writing as a business, not just as an art. That really resonated with me. The two tools that I believe are essential are Publishers Marketplace and Media Bistro's Avant Guild membership--worth their fees, in my most humble opinion. :-)
Separately, I still have hope for Book 1, the contemporary fantasy. That will always be my book of the heart, so to speak. Maybe I can pull a Grisham. Heh. And Book 2 I will be folding into the third book of the paranormal romance series (at least, a good chunk of it), so that's not completely lost. But for now, it's all about the paranormal romance. (Still an urban fantasy to me.) Jackie |
| Jackie brings up an interesting point ... knowing the market, or perhaps, anticipating the market.
SueO2 |
| Thanks, Jackie! Interesting that the right manuscript at the right time can sell so quickly. And three is often considered a magic number. I guess that means I should hurry up and finish my second novel so I can get to the magical one. :-) |
| Thanks, Lavie! :-)
Jackie |
| Go Jackie!!
:-) |
| Clyde, that's terrific! Isn't it wonderful when the characters demand to live on in their own stories? Great news for you--and best of luck with the second novel! |
| Thanks, Terry! Hmm. Maybe there's a book in all this... (kidding!)
:-) |
| Thanks, Clyde! It's been a hell of a ride! |
| Wow, great story, Jackie! You ARE an inspiration. Thanks! And congratulations again! |
| Jackie, by the way,
My first novel became a series of six short stories now being published on Bewildering Stories.( I just loved the characters so much that I decided to do that -the story of the actaul novel was naff! So I revamped it) My second novel has been received well, but needs a lot of work (it is only in the first draft stage anyway) Anyway, that's what I'm up to -just thought you'd like know. Clyde. |
| HOW I SOLD MY NOVEL, continued:
Picking an agent is a discussion unto itself, so I'm going to skip over that agonizing part of the story. Suffice to say it was one of the toughest decisions I've made in my life. My agent had no changes to the manuscript, and the next day he had a list of editors he wanted to contact about my novel. He told me to give him my writing CV, a detailed (4 - 6 page) synopsis of the novel, and a 1-page series overview. I spent the day writing the overview and brushing up my CV. I already had the synopsis. (Evil thing that it is.) I sent him the documents via email, and he gave them his seal of approval. He made his phone calls, and the next day (Thursday), he sent out the submission package to 11 editors. And the wait began. He told me on average, the submission process takes 8 - 12 weeks, so I prepared myself to not hear anything until the end of February at the earliest. (But I checked my email every thirty seconds, just in case.) And...on Friday, December 9, he called me to say there was an offer. It was a pre-empt, so the editor wanted me off the market. And it was a damned nice offer. But, but, but...my agent and I both wanted to think about it. Over the weekend, we exchanged emails about the pros and cons...and basically, it came down to whether I wanted to take a risk or not. So I thought about it, a lot. On Monday, after a lot more thinking, my agent asked if I wanted to speak with the editor. I did, and we talked on the phone. I liked the editor immediately--his enthusiasm for my writing was infectious, and he has a terrific track record. He called my work "edgy and dark." And I loved what he had to say about the publishing house. After the call, I knew I wanted to accept the offer. I called my agent, and the contract negotiations began. Late Tuesday evening, my agent called me to say they reached an agreement for the contract and the payment schedule. All he needed was my OK. I agreed with the terms and gave my thumbs up. This morning, my agent confirmed that it's official--we have a deal. And thus, my posting began. :-) -- I don't know if this answered your questions, or if the process is like this for other authors. I get the feeling that this was extraordinarily fast all around, both for getting an agent and for getting a publisher. I'm excited, a bit overwhelmed, and a touch (okay, more than a touch) anxious. But I'm thrilled to be here. It happened to me. It can happen to others. I wish everyone the best of luck with their writing. Sixteen years for the first book. Two months for the third. Man, I hope I can find a happy medium going forward. :-) |
| Wow, what hard work you put in, Jackie. You are an inspiration to us all. Well done!
Clyde. |
| Thanks, Sue and Christine!
And OK, Christine, you asked for it... HOW I SOLD MY NOVEL by Jackie Kessler Well, I didn't. Not my first one, a contemporary fantasy that I struggled with for 16 years (yes, years--10 revisions, and 3 complete reimaginings--and nearly triple digit agent rejections, mostly from the query). And not my second one, which I completed in 5 months--and missed the chick lit boom by about 3 years. Again, no agent representation...but this time, I was getting personalized feedback on the rejections more often than not. Okay, progress. As I reseached agents for my doomed Book 2, I read an article from Media Bistro's Avant Guild series about editors at publishing houses. In one interview, a Random House editor mentioned how one of her editorial board colleagues was saying during their last meeting that he was positive that "magical chick lit" was the up and coming wave. This is back in June 2005. As I continued trying to get an agent for Book 2, I thought about this magical chick lit thing. I wrote a contemporary fantasy, which I loved, but couldn't get agent representation for. And I was getting terrific feedback on my voice for the chick lit novel, but the overall plot was tired/done to death. I thought about merging the two, and writing a magical chick lit. This is now July. Then I started thinking about what sort of book to write. I came up with two ideas, one of which was the springboard for Book 3. So I wrote a paragraph blurb, and I pitched it to an agent who was still kindly considering Book 2. She was very interested, and told me I should send her the first few chapters when I was ready. Boom, instant motivation. The beginning of August I spent doing a lot of story research. And then I started writing. A lot. I gave myself the ridiculous deadline of October 31 for a completed draft. I didn't sleep much. I took longer lunch breaks than I should have, and I wrote whenever I had a free moment. And I finished the draft a few days before my deadline. I gave myself a mandatory week off, during which I came up with a killer query letter and a painful synopsis. I also created an agent list with about 50 names, and I cut the first tier down to about 30. Then I did my revisions in one week. It just flowed. I added about 3,000 words and cleaned up some of the messy parts. I wasn't aiming for a perfect manuscript--but I was aiming for a damned interesting one. I was going to give myself another week to read the entire piece cold, but then the unimaginable happened: an author sold a book very similar to mine to Kensington. (Publishers Marketplace. If you don't subscribe, I highly recommend that you do so. It's worth it.) In a panic, I decided it was God's way of telling me to query, now. So I did. I sent out my first batch of 20 e-queries and 10 postal queries. And the responses came in quickly. I had, in the end, about 14 requests for partials or fulls, about 5 rejections on the query, and about 10 non responses. Out of that, I had 10 agents seriously consider the manuscript and 1 agent request that I let her know if an exclusive read became available. I had my first offer 8 days after I queried that agency, on a Friday afternoon. The second offer came in the following Tuesday. The third on Wednesday. This is right before Thanksgiving. The next week, I had two more offers come in, three agents took a pass because they would have requested revisions, and two agents didn't respond quickly. I made my decision the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Whew, I better post this, then continue... |
| Wow! I love success stories, it gives me hope!
So, for those of us still struggling to sell our novels, would you mind describing the process for you? (How long, how many rejections, did you have an "in"?) |
| Congrats! It's great to watch all that hard work (writing and agent searching) coming to a fruitful end. Keep us posted.
SueO2 |
| Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone! :-)
Jackie, doing the happy dance |
| Way to go!!! That's awesome news!!! |
| FANTASTIC! Congratulations! |
| Woohoo! *confetti* HUGE congrats, Jackie!!!! |
| Keep SpecRom in mind for reviews!
I forget to post that when I was clapping and stomping. |
| Thanks so much, everyone! I'm dancing with the congo rats amidst all the sparkling bon bons! :-) |
| OMG, that is so wonderful!!!!!
*scatters lots of sparkly bon-bons* --Beth |
| Jackie!!!! That's fantastic news! Congratulations!!!!!!!
Justin |
| Wow!!! You GO, Jackie!!! What is so cool!!
Multitudes of CONGO-RATS to YOU!!! |
| Thanks so much, everyone! :-) |
| Congrats! |
| Wow. Congratulations!!! That's great, Jackie! |
| Clapping and stomping!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Holy Cow! Congrats congrats congrats, Jackie!! I'm so happy for you!
Lon |
| Thanks, Amanda! :-) |
| Way to go, Jackie! Congrats, congrats! |
| Thanks, Tina! :-) |
| w00t! Congrats Jackie!! |
| IT'S OFFICIAL!
Kensington will be publishing HELL'S BELLES, my paranormal romance, along with the next two in the series! WOOT! I'm so thrilled. My novel's getting PUBLISHED! HAPPY DANCE!!! First print will be in trade paperback format. HOORAY! No specific date yet. Some time in 2007. More details as I know them. Life is good, my friends. Life is good. :-) |
| Drat! Sorry about the MG double post--that was me, forgetting that by refreshing on this post, it would resend the message. Oops...
Many thanks, Jim. :-) You're a sweetie. |
| Thanks, everyone!
Michael, you know I spluttered coffee all over when I read your post, right? Evil, evil person... ;-) Jim, it's Ethan Ellenberg. :-) Terry, I love the confetti! Okay, I just realized I have to make a change to what I posted below. I'm *working* on what I aim to be a five-book series. No idea if the first book will sell and, you know, lead to said series. But that's the goal... |
| Oohs and Ahs. EE was way up on my list when I was doing my agent hunt. Go you! |
| Thanks, everyone!
Michael, you know I spluttered coffee all over when I read your post, right? Evil, evil person... ;-) Jim, it's Ethan Ellenberg. :-) Terry, I love the confetti! Okay, I just realized I have to make a change to what I posted below. I'm *working* on what I aim to be a five-book series. No idea if the first book will sell and, you know, lead to said series. But that's the goal... |
| Congrats, Jackie. :) May your book rise above all those romance novels with the neon pink covers and pictures of Fabian holding a half-naked damsel in distress on a horse. |
| Jackie!!! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!
Kaori |
| Congratulations!!!
--Beth |
| Congratulations!!! So are you going to tell us who the lucky agent is? :-) |
| Jackie!!!!!!!!
You go girl!!!!! *flings confetti* : : : : : : : : : : : .:* :> * >: :: * ***! |
| Thank you, everyone! :-) |
| Way to go! |
| Oh... My... God...!!!!!
My many, many hearty congratulations, Jackie. Clyde. |
| WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Justin |
| Wow Jackie! This is HUGE. Way to go Girl. You must be on Cloud 9. I'm thrilled for you. :D :D :D :D
Fingers crossed for the publishers to bite sooner, rather than later. (There's no question that they WILL bite.) :) Lon |
| It's official. After contemplating five offers (yes, really) for my latest novel (a paranormal romance) I'm thrilled to announce that I am officially off the query-go-round. I have an agent. :-)
And...my novel is going to kick off a five-book series. Fingers crossed that it will get picked up by a publisher! Woot! |
| Change in stats: No. of fulls requested is now up to 2.
I'm floating... And I'm hoping the novel itself will prove a success. :-) Jackie |
| Ooo, nice! Good luck! |
| This is the one.
Good luck |
| Thanks, Melissa! And now the requests are up to:
partials: 2 fulls (based on quick partial via email): 1 OMG. Fingers and toes crossed... Jackie |
| Congratulations! |
| Okay, Book Three is officially out there, waiting for agents to read it! Come hither, agents!
I'm pretty psyched about this one. It's magical chick lit, or paranormal romance, or humorous urban fantasy. And it's not about vampires! Sort of a Katie MacAlister meets Laurell K. Hamilton. So I totally freaked out last night when I saw that an author sold a book very similar to mine to Kensington in a three-book, nice deal. YIKES. But hey, that shows there's a market for this, right? RIGHT??? That prompted me to send out the e-queries a few days early. The MS is completely done, anyway; I was just going to give it that One More Read. Ah well. Fingers totally crossed. And the cool thing? One agent emailed me last night (like not even a half hour after I'd sent the query) to request the partial. WOOT! |
| Thanks, Kaori!
Magical chick lit. You heard it here first. ;-) When I'm done with the revisions and I hop back on the query go round (ACK!!!), I'll keep everyone posted. Jackie |
| Jackie, wow, you finished it! I'm glad for you. I'm curious to see what's going to happen in that genre, because I've read my brains out in traditional chick lit in the last year and I need another fix.
Good luck with it, Kaori |
| Thanks, Clyde. You're right too! I know, let it sit and simmer. ::sigh::
Jackie |
| Jackie, that's my biggest problem too. Giving work the space it needs to breath for a while as I like to put it. Once I have completed something I want to rush it out straight away.
I have learned the hard way that this is sometimes not the best way to go. Having fresh interesting work does not mean sending out work where the ink is still wet so to speak... I like to give things a couple of weeks, work on something else and then go back to it... Clyde. |
| You're right, Martin. You're right. |
| Put it away for a while, write something else - you're too close to it.
It's a natural part of writing something, thinking it's not turned out how you wanted it to. It'll be fine - you just need space. |