I never really know where to start when I’m asked what my First Sale story is. You see, my very first sale was to a very well known men’s magazine. Yes, a porn rag. One that paid very well, for very few words. And after I started delving into the publishing world a bit more, I found that some -okay, many authors looked down on that sort of writing as easy, and not really writing. Personally, in my opinion, writing is writing, and getting paid to write is even better, no matter what the content. And getting paid to write was my ultimate goal.
Anyway, to continue on …After that short story sold, I sold the next one I wrote sold to Black Lace, in England for their Wicked Words 8 collection. Over the next year, I sold over a dozen more short stories – to the magazine, to various erotica anthologies. My plan was to learn how to write, get some experience in the business. To build a resume. In my mind, writing short stories was easier than novels, because they were less words. (I later learned that not everyone sees things this way)
I’d started to think about writing for a career in 2002, and wrote my first story , and sold it in 2003. In 2004 I had sold four short stories, and attended my first writers conference, the Surrey International, where I discovered that many many people looked down on erotica, and erotica authors. That didn’t really bother me though, I tend to be pretty goal oriented, and I just came home, with the idea that the next logical step was a romance novel because erotica was very much a niche thing, and 5 years ago no New York Publishers were even hinting at an interest in that genre. So, with publishing a book, and not just a short story, in mind, I decided to write a romance novel.
Yes, I admit it, I thought the shorter the book, the easier it would be to write, so I figured I’d target Harlequin, and since I liked writing spicy, I’d aim for their Blaze line.
I started on my novel, with no-plotting, no planning, just a character in my head, and the goal of a Happily Ever After for her. I wrote that story in less than three months, but it was way short on their expected word count. I submitted it anyway and after a request for the partial, was rejected because of my writing style. What exactly that meant I didn’t know, but I took it to mean my “voice”. (And this is how I learned what Voice is!)
I didn’t bother to do anything with the manuscript for quite a while after that. It sat on my computer for a year while I started on my next project – a novella aimed at Brava, a new line that was aiming for a steamier market, but still romance. When I stalled on that one I pulled Gypsy Heart up again, and reread it. And at the urging of my new Critique Partners, decide to try for ePublishing. The story was too short to try to sell to a big NY publishing house, and too long to try to sell as a novella somewhere. I chose two ePublishers I liked and submitted to both, both requested the full within a week of each other. Gypsy Heart was originally published with Liquid Silver Books, and is still available from Samhain publishing.
It was around that time that I heard back from my then editor at Black Lace on a short story submission I’d sent in months earlier. They wanted it, but I was hesitant to sell. The characters in that story had stuck with me afterwards. I’d liked them, and for the first time, felt I might actually try to write a true full length novel with them. The editor said, “Sell me the short story, and when you write the novel I want to see it.”
“Cool,” I thought.
Then went back to writing my novella for my new e-publisher. This was in early 2005, and I was happy with the way my career plan was working out. I finished that first novella, and was getting ready to start on another one when I got an email from my Black Lace editor asking where my novel proposal was. I was like “Uhmmm, I thought you said when I write the novel.” I had no idea she was waiting for proposal from me. I’d never written a proposal before! I quickly emailed my new writer friends and asked advice. Then I pounded out three chapters and a one page synopsis that weekend, and emailed it to her – and got an offer for it.
An offer I thought was low, but I really had no firm knowledge of these things. When I mentioned I wanted a lawyer to look at the copy of the contract I’d been emailed, I was told it was silly to do that. “There’s no room for negotiations in that contract.”
I was clueless about the business, but I was smart enough to know I needed help. So I emailed the agent that I knew represented some best selling erotic authors, and asked her if she’d take a look at it. She did, and she offered to represent me. After talking business stuff about the first offer, and the fact that the editor who’d made the offer was leaving the publisher, and wouldn’t be the one I worked with. I admit it . I felt no loyalty to the publisher because they’d bought my short stories. If the editor would’ve stayed, I would’ve sold to her. I did feel loyalty to her, because she’d been the one pushing me. But with her leaving, I was fine with my new agent seeing if we get a better deal elsewhere – especially since, thanks to Jordan Summers yearly report of publishers Spotlights at conferences she attends, I knew that some NY publishers were looking to start up erotic lines.
My new agent sent out my proposal on Tuesday July 5th, 2005. And on Wednesday I had offers from 2 NY publishers. Within 2 weeks I had several contracts, and deadlines for the next 8 months. And I still had never actually written a full length novel!
That first single title novel was BOUND, and it still holds a special place in my heart. It’s the book I consider to be my First Sale, even though I’d been getting paid to write before that.
