A Deal . . . and What They Don't Tell You
First, I'll get it out of the way. Yes . . . my agent was finally able to post the deal I have:
The Magickeepers, by Erica Orloff, a middle-grade fantasy series about a rogue clan of Russian magicians who escaped Tsarist Russia, and who now hide their true identities in modern-day Las Vegas, and their battle against dark enemies to reclaim relics stolen from them by Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sold by Jay Poynor to Lyron Bennett, at Jabberwocky, in a three-book deal.
This is the "fantasy trilogy" I have been vaguely referencing. If you came to the online "chat" we had, I told the small group then about it. But I had to wait until counter-signed contracts arrived before I really spilled. Consider the cat out of the bag--it's on Publishers Marketplace (I actually didn't know that, but two people dropped by my Comments section last night and told me it was).
And here's the thing . . . I love writing for a living. But sometimes contracts take a LONG time. I actually had this deal last September. But things dragged on--clauses and so on. Then signing. Countersigning. Signing an addendum. This is the part they DON'T tell you about in Author School. Either that, or I missed that class. Slept right through it.
And you want to know why I am more excited about this than almost any deal? Because it's one I've wanted for a long while. To write something my kids could REALLY be a part of. The younger kids, that is. They get to be on the ride with me. And considering the writing biz is usually solitary . . . that's the sweetest perk of all.
So there you go. Is there anything else you wished they told you at Author School?
39 comments:
Erica, that's awesome! Finally, you've been teasing us with this forever. The kids, yours and others, will be so lucky you're writing them a story. I'll tell all my students about it. When did you say it comes out?
Author School ... honestly, I can't think of a thing. I didn't have any expectations, I guess.
Maybe that's it. No one ever told me writing was so addictive and fulfilling!
Erica, that sounds like such a fun series. And you'll be introducing a lot of kids to Sir Conan Doyle.
As far as Author School goes, I've had doors open before and I didn't realize it, so I didn't step inside. Now I'd leap across those thresholds.
I agree with Spy about this being addicting and fulfilling. That's the best part. :)
Congratulations, E! I look forward to reading them. :-)
Congratulations, Erica! That's wonderful news!
Hi Spy:
It won't be out until next year. I'm still writing furiously.
E
Edie, Spy . . .
Hmmm . . . you're right. No one told me how addicting it is. LAst night, I woke up at 1:30 with story crap filling my head. Couldn't sleep!!!
E
Hi Heather and Tena:
Thanks. I really "hate" posting my own stuff here, but when Alyson and Christine spotted it, I knew my secret was out.
;-)
E
Hi Heather and Tena:
Thanks. I really "hate" posting my own stuff here, but when Alyson and Christine spotted it, I knew my secret was out.
;-)
E
Erica, there's nothing wrong with spreading good news :-)
Hi Tena:
I know, but I actually am one of those weird people that it's enough for my kids to know . . . and me . . . and that's about it.
:-)
E
There's an author school??? No one even told me there was a school. I've been wandering lost for so long...
Yay for the done deal! Congrats.
Hi Aimless:
Apparently there's an Author School. I seem to sleep through most of the courses. Just like I also apparently dropped out of Domestic Goddess University.
E
Congrats on the deal, Erica! I like the way you're using real people from history in your work.
Author school. Hmmm. I guess I'm at the application for admission stage. They tell you how hard it is to get in, but you don't believe it until you experience it yourself.
Jude;
Yeah, the Admissions Board is a bitch.
E
That's fantastic news, Erica! Congratulations a million times over.
As for author school, I wish someone had told me about the dangers of networking on the internet and how it can suck the writing time out of you. All my teacher ever said was "Discipline, dammit! Discipline!" I had to keep reminding her that wasn't my name. ;-)
marcia:
Please. The blog and reading blogs are time-sucking bandits.
E
Sounds like fun. Congrats.
As for Author School, it's clearly not accredited because so many of its students flunk out.
Ooooooo Erica congrats!!!!!!!
Hmmmm Writer's School. Is that the School of Writing at the University of Hard Knocks? *ggg*
I'd have to echo how slow everything moves......
Mark:
Flunk out. Become drunks. A few who try to cheat. Yeah . . . the Author School definitely has some issues,
E
Amie:
Slow, slow, slow. Oddly enough, my FIRST sale was fastest of all. But even in the span of time from then to now, "committees" are much more powerful/the norm. I used to sense editors wielded a lot of individual power--and some still do. But the editors I know have meetings constantly--way more than they used to (!!!). Which even further bogs down the process because they're all so damn overworked and in meetings all the time and so on.
E
COngrats, Erica! The concept sounds perfectly fun. What a neat idea!
As for author school, I can only nod in agreement to the length of time it takes for some contracts to be completed, signed, sealed and delivered. Sigh...
michele:
It can be so slow--and it's hard to make a living unless you juggle more than one project unless you have a huge best-seller. Or . . . less than four children. ;-)
E
Congratulations, Erica!! That sounds like a FANTASTIC series. I can't wait to read it! And how exciting that you get to share this experience with your children.
Congrats!!
Whoot! Congrats, Erica! Hmmm, author school still remains a mystery to me at times. I'd have to say the wa...it...ing, hands down. I've never known an overnight wonder, I've heard those stories out there, but haven't actually met one. And I never knew subjective was such a popular word among the "enlightened." I eventually made peace with that word, though. As long as I never see it again on a piece of paper, I can live with in the English language. LOL.
First of all, congratulations Erica! It's nice to see that you can still have enthusiasm for striking the deal even with all your credits.
And that Author School thing...I guess I missed a bunch of those classes too. Recall how Stephen was down a few weeks ago over the fact that agent in hand, nothing has happened? I think it's important to emphasize for young / beginning writers that rarely does someone "catch lightning in a bottle". More often it is a slug race.
Even a now well-respected, and very rich, author like J.K. Rowling suffered years of rejections.
Hi Michele:
I am excited. It combines history with an adventure . . . and some magic tossed in. ;-)
E
ladonna:
I don't know any overnight wonders either. I'm sure they're out there.
Sometimes, too, the overnight wonders have an equally thunderous overnight fall.
E
Hi JLK:
Even being published is no guarantee against days where you feel like you are banging your head against the wall.
E
Dammit! I don't want to go back to school! :)
Really though, thanks for sharing about the series. It was amazing to hear about it on the call and even better that it is a full-blown deal now.
I understand what you mean about just keeping it in the family part. It's like actually telling anyone else about it makes it not such a special thing that you get to only share with your family.
And speaking of calls... aren't we due for another?
ewoh:
Yes, we are. When I get through Hell Week (deadlines . . . another thing they don't tell you in Author School) . . . I'll float a couple of dates/times by you all.
E
Congratulations on finally having it taken care of, and on receiving the long-awaited blessing to work on the series. It sounds like a good one. As for author school, one thing I never would have pictured before I started writing is that so many authors are such real, fun, interesting people--instead of, I suppose, mystical beings, looking down on the rest of the world from thrones atop the tallest mountains. Don't worry, though. I won't tell anyone.
Erica that is so awesome! Congratulations! Since I read middle grade and young adult extensively, I will be eagerly awaiting your books! They sound wonderful and justmy kind of books! congratulations!
Erica --
Wahoo!!!! This sounds like a fantastic series -- can't wait to read it with my kids :)
MicheleL
PS I'm still in Author school ;)
booklady:
I am most definitely FAR from mystical.
:-)
E
Hi Ello:
This is one series . . . that is very much my passion for history and weaving real people in with fictional.
E
Hi Michele:
Yeah. I'm still in Author School too.
E
Hey, leave some book deals for the rest of us, okay Orloff?
Having been one of those who participated in the chat, and got the pre-announcement, reading the books when they come out will be a treat.
Steve:
I am quite certain there will be PLENTY of room for your terrific book. ;-)
E
Late to add a comment, but I'm so excited by this news! Can't wait to read it.
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