How to Sell a Book in SIX SHORT YEARS (Or, How I Got My Second Book Deal!)

Once upon a time, in 2007, I wrote a novel. I filled it with everything I knew about life and love and relationships, about family and friends, about mystery and magic. Also, a faerie revolution. Also, a high school revolution.

I filled it with my heart and soul.

I called it “The Last Changeling,” and over the next few months, I edited the heck out of that puppy. Was the love story believable? Were the rules of magic consistent? WAS I USING THE RIGHT TENSE? (Spoiler alert: I wasn’t.) I posted the story on Critters.org and got some fabulous critiques from a handful of wonderful people. I revised based on (some of) their advice. Once I thought the story was in great shape, I started working on a query letter, and once I’d fussed over that for a time (with the appropriate help from Evil Editor and his minions, of course) I started reaching out to agents in 2008. 

Over the next few months I got form rejection after form rejection.

Okay, no worries, I thought. I’ll just revise.

And I did. I posted a revision on Critters, as well as a query revision at Evil Editor’s.

I renamed the story “Child of the Dark Court.”

I took people’s advice, revised, and queried again.

Again, I got rejections. Again, they were form rejections, with no comments on the story.

Okay fine, whatever, I can handle this, I thought, and I did it all again. In 2009, “Lather, rinse, repeat” was my middle name. I became obsessed with other people’s opinions, and tried to please everyone who offered manuscript advice (hint: don’t do this.) Still, in spite of my growing insecurity as a writer (EVERYONE HATES IT! STORY WILL NEVER SELL!) the novel did get smoother, sleeker, and more pleasing to the eye. Plot-holes were reworked. Characters began to jump off the page (not literally, you guys). Even the query letter got more coherent (Hey! Evil Editor called it “excellent!”)

I renamed the story “The Forbidden Fruit of Faerie.”

And guess what happened then?

That’s right. Everyone and their mom rejected it. (Okay, not everyone—in truth, I was only querying a few agents at a time—but it felt that way.) Month after month, I heard “no” after “no,” and still, I got only form letters.

Dear Author,

Unfortunately…

Best of luck.

A sane person might’ve thought, “This is never going to happen,” and just given up. But you know what? I never really entertained that thought. Sure, it might’ve flitted around my mind, like an annoying wasp, but I just kept swatting it away, shouting:

BE GONE, FOUL TEMPTRESS!!!

("Temptress" because, when trying causes pain, giving up can be tempting.)

Then 2010 came around, and you know what that means. I changed the title again! This time, it was, “How to Tempt a Faerie,” and I gave that baby the old run around on my favorite critique sites (including one new one!) I got more feedback, and it seemed like readers had less to critique this time. Some of them told me they read the whole story in one night, and couldn’t wait for the sequel.

SURELY, THINGS WERE TURNING AROUND THIS TIME.

So I revised, polished, and was about to send out queries again, when I decided to try something different this time. I was going to go to an actual real-life writers conference, and talk to actual real-life agents, and they were going to be so charmed by my actual real-life self that they’d request the full manuscript from me! (Okay, I didn’t actually believe that last part, but I was looking forward to making an in-person connection.) And would you believe it, of the four awesome agents I pitched to, each one requested material? 

Man, I tell ya, I was walking on air when I left that conference. I went home, spent the next few days giving the manuscript another read through, and then I sent it off.

A few months later, I’d heard from all four agents.

All four of them passed.

All four sent form rejections.

So…Yeah.

That happened.

Three months later, I had an idea for a new story. (A NEW STORY! Imagine THAT!) I decided I maybe shouldn’t spend my entire life fussing over one manuscript, and even if I put it away for now, it didn’t mean I was giving up. It just meant we were taking some time away from each other. You know, for the good of the relationship.

Then, in November of 2010, I learned about NaNoWriMo, and attempted to write my new novel in the span of one month.

I succeeded, logging in 50,000 words in just 29 days. I also ended up with the cleanest first draft I’d ever written. I called it “Suicide Slut.”

Three months later, I sent out my first round of queries on what I was now calling “The S-Word.”  One week later, I had a full request. Over the new few months, I got EIGHT MORE requests. And when I did get rejections, they were very sweet, and very specific.

By Mid-2011, I had an offer of representation. When we went out on submission, I returned to my previous manuscript, and applied what I’d learned writing “The S-Word.” I cut, revised and polished one more time.

Try as I might, I just couldn’t get the story out of my head.

Then, in February of 2012, when Simon and Schuster offered to buy ”The S-Word,” my agent asked if I’d been working on anything else. Reluctantly, but still stubbornly hopeful, I sent her what I was now calling “Immortal Sacrifice.” She wrote back within a month saying she loved it. We made a few (very small) revisions and went out on submission.

Fast forward to last week, and this happened:

“Chelsea Pitcher's IMMORTAL SACRIFICE, of The Faerie Revolutions duology, in which a princess of the Dark Faeries who plans to overthrow her tyrannical mother and bring equality to faeriekind must enter the human world disguised as a 16-year-old runaway to search for a young "leader of man" as a sacrifice to convince her mother's loathed enemy to join her cause, to Brian Farrey-Latz at Flux, in a two-book deal including THE MAGIC OF MORTALS, for publication in Fall 2014, by Sandy Lu at the L. Perkins Agency (World)."

Moral of the story? Never give up. Not in the face of rejection, not when times get hard, not when it feels like your heart is breaking, not even if it feels like the world is against you. It isn’t. It’s just testing you, seeing if you will rise to the occasion.

Seeing if you will get better. Work harder. Learn. Grow. Push yourself. Believe in yourself.

I believe in you.

Publishers Weekly reviewed THE S-WORD!!!

Here it is! (with my thoughts in red)

"Debut author Pitcher explores the consequences of bullying and social stigmatizing with swagger in this noirish mystery. ...They just said I have swagger! When Angie's boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend Lizzie, Angie is devastated and ends their friendship—never expecting that Lizzie will be branded a slut (someone repeatedly writes the word on her car and locker) and driven to suicide. Following Lizzie's death, the graffiti reemerges; eerily, the handwriting mimics Lizzie's and reads, "suicide slut." Pages stolen from Lizzie's diary also find their way into students' lockers (and into sections of the book). Love this next line: Angie launches a covert investigation, and her interrogations of her suspects—including a femme fatale who reclines on pianos in the drama department when she's not running the newspaper, a misogynistic math geek, and a hard-drinking cheerleader—put a playful spin on the detective genre. <~~ When I read that, I was so happy. I thought: this person understands exactly what I was going for. When Angie is immersed in her role as sleuth, her cynicism and blasé attitude toward school can come across as phony, but the vulnerability shown when she falls for a cross-dressing outsider and her reflections on her friendship with Lizzie soften the hardboiled edges. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sandy Lu, L. Perkins Agency. (May)"

You heard it here first. Swagger. 

If you need me, I will be listening to Jay-Z and getting the dirt off my shoulder ;)

MEGA MASSIVE ARC AND SWAG GIVEAWAY!!!

 Hey everybody! With less than a month until "The S-Word" comes out, I've got bunches of S-Word themed presents to give away. And this time, I'm not just picking one winner. I'm picking FIVE!!! Four runners up will receive their choice of four "The S-Word" themed Prize Packs*:

1. The "S is for Sweetheart" Prize Pack:

Contains keychain, "Sweet" button, and "S is for Sweetheart" charm necklace (with cupcake, S, and heart charms)

2. The "S is for Sassy" Prize Pack:

Contains keychain, "Sassy" button, and "S is for Sassy" charm necklace (with trench coat, S, and high heel charms)

3. The "S is for Smart Cookie" Prize Pack

Contains keychain, "Smart Cookie" button, and "S is for Smart Cookie" charm necklace (with book, S, and cookie charms)

4. The "S is for Spy Buddy" Prize Pack:

Contains keychain, "Spy Buddy" button, and "S is for Spy Buddy" charm necklace (with binoculars, S, and trench coat charms)

AND

(drumroll please)

One Grand Prize Winner receives the charm necklace of their choice plus

 ALL YOU SEE HERE!!!

Contains ARC of THE S-WORD, all four buttons, three bookmarks, one keychain and one choice of necklace.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Best of luck!!!

* Each "The S-Word" themed Prize Pack is based on a positive S-word (or phrase) from the novel.

WE'RE HAVING A BLOG TOUR!!!

"The S-Word" is going on a Blog Tour!!

    Woohoo!!! 

The S-Word's Official Blog Tour (April 29th-May 6th) is hosted by Itching for Books,
and will consist of interviews, guest posts, reviews, and more! But sign up quickly,
because spots are going fast!!!

 I hope to see you there!!

<3 Chelsea

Speak Up YA! Contest

Hey everybody! This week I'm doing a joint ARC giveaway with the fabulous Rachele Alpine (author of CANARY and fellow Lucky 13!) Both CANARY and THE S-WORD are contemporary YA novels that deal with speaking out against bullying and assault, even when it's hard to find your voice.

The winner will take home signed ARCs of both books, along with bunches of awesome swag!!!

There are lots of different ways to enter, and we'll run the contest until 12:00 a.m. Thursday (March 28).

If you have an example of a time you've spoken out against bullying or assault (or a time someone else has spoken out for you), we'd love to hear about it in the comments.  We think this is a great way to put some positivity back into the world and inspire people to take a stand!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for entering!!!

If you want to keep the conversation going, hop over to Twitter and use the hashtag #speakupYA to discuss books with characters who speak up against injustice, and books that inspire you to do the same!

ADD THE S-WORD         BUY THE S-WORD         ADD CANARY         BUY CANARY

Review: VENGEANCE BOUND by Justina Ireland

Description from Goodreads:

The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge… no matter how far it takes her.

Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.

My Review:

I LOVED this book!!!! From the first page to the last, this book had me on the edge of my seat!! Amelie/Cory is such a relatable character--wanting to be a normal girl with friends, a meaningful relationship and a future, but at the same time drawn to a life where the guilty and the wicked are punished and kept from doing harm. Really, that's what makes this book so special: it perfectly articulates that inner struggle we all face, between wanting to lead safe, happy lives, and wanting to stop terrible things from happening in the world. But if we should act on our desire for justice in a violent way, what does that say about our humanity? Do we remain the humans that we were, or do we eventually become monstrous versions of ourselves?

Well, read the book and find out! ;)

I loved, loved, loved the Furies! (Maybe a little too much.) They were so wonderfully drawn. I could really see Tisiphone's massive wingspan, hear Megaera's scales sliding across the floor, and feel the terrible heat that their presence invoked. Ireland definitely does justice to the mythology!! I loved, too, how their grip on Amelie affected her appearance. That was totally creepy and cool at the same time.

I thought that Amelie's relationship with Niko unfolded nicely--layer by layer. I loved, too, how complicated it was for them to be together. Both characters were so affected by their families, their pasts, and their current situations. This book really shows how hard it can be to balance love with our other obligations and relationships. So realistically done!!

The ending of the story was really satisfying to me. Without saying too much, I didn't expect certain things. I love when a writer is able to surprise me, while at the same time creating a conclusion that's believable, and Vengeance Bound accomplishes this in spades. I honestly can't wait to see what Ireland writes next. This was SUCH a great read.

5 of 5 stars!

Add to Goodreads     Pre-order from Amazon     Author Website

ARC GIVEAWAY: THE S-WORD

Hey everybody!

It's time for an ARC GIVEAWAY!!!

I've got one signed advance copy of "The S-Word" to give away when I hit 75 blog followers. All you have to do is follow this blog (click the blue "Join this site" button on the right) and leave me a comment below! 

And this could be YOU:

*

That's it! Best of luck!

*The surprise is simulated but the happiness is real.