So, Here's The Deal

On Friday, April 7th, RWA (Romance Writers of America) announced the addition of Triskelion Publishing to its list of approved publishers. This means Triskelion met a rigorous set of criteria (including sales figures) and became only the second e-publisher so approved.

That afternoon, I whipped off a query letter and synopsis on Stealing Amy by email. (By the way, when I got home I discovered a request for a partial by another publisher--insert eeeek here.)

By the time I rolled out of bed Saturday morning and checked email, Triskelion had requested the full manuscript. After spending most of Sunday editing and polishing, I emailed Stealing Amy to them. A week later I received a contract offer. (Insert double eeek here.) All told, less than two weeks between initial query and contract. I’m beginning to see the advantages of dealing with an e-publisher!

So, yes I signed the contract and yes, I sent a letter to the other publisher withdrawing my submission. To be honest, I had reservations, but here’s my reasoning: the print publisher could have taken up to a year or more to make a decision and that decision still could have been no. And although my dream is to be in print, Triskelion DOES do some print, and maybe my book will end up there. The bottom line? Somebody’s gonna pay honest-to-goodness money to read my book!

More importantly, the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a great training ground an outfit like Triskelion provides. Already, I’ve joined their author loops where I’ve found a community of supportive writers ready to hold my hand during the process of going from unpublished to published. Luckily, I’ve been around awhile so I know typing THE END doesn’t mean you’re done!

There’s a website to be designed and put up…promotional materials to choose…cover art to suggest…and revisions to be reviewed.

A whole new step in the journey, and I’m thrilled and eager to get started!

By the way, last year, at the RWA National conference in Reno, I vowed I wouldn’t attend another one until I could wear the coveted “first sale” ribbon. Yeah, goal setting. Who knew?