A Speedy Editor

Debra is celebrating a new contract!

I love writing for a small press. I really, really do.

There are so many advantages...number one being the turn-around time-frame. As you know, I submitted a query to my editor right around the first of the year. Within hours I had a request for the full. Yesterday I received the offer for a contract!

(Feel free to pause here for a moment and share a cyber glass of champagne and do the Happy Dance with me.)

I mean seriously, to go from query to contract in less than a month is often unheard of in the publishing business. But this particular editor I've been working with for the past several years is quick on the draw. And I love it. For many reasons. One, it gets my books out there for my legions of adoring readers (LOL), and two it keeps me pushing to always have something else ready for her once a project is complete. My goal is always to have another mss to send to my editor once I receive a release date on the previous one. Sometimes this is easier said than done. But for the most part, it's a strategy that has worked well for me. This will be my eighth release with Wild Rose since first publishing with them in 2008. Out of the previous seven, four have been full-length print novels. Three have been e-book only novellas. As for this new one, it was intended to be a full-length(In fact I worked my arse off getting it up to the required word count.), however, my editor asked me to cut the epilogue. Which is fine. The story really does wrap up at the end of the last chapter...the epilogue was a little peek into the future. But omitting that reduced the word count. She thought it would still be published in print and e-book, but for some reason I'm not holding my breath on that one. Which is fine. My books sell better in e-format than print anyway. So, even though the book may be shorter now, I do trust my editor's judgment and am more than willing to make the change if it makes the story stronger.

But for now, it's time to wait again. Once my contract is received and recorded, I'll get my instructions and sheets to fill out for blurbs, excerpts, and the cover. And then the edits will start. I'm sure once things start moving, they'll move along at a good clip. It's just the way it seems to be going. And I'm all for it.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Coming soon: Family Secrets from The Wild Rose Press