Apr 20 2007

My First Sale by Jaci Burton

By Jane • Interviews • • Tags: ,

You’ll have to forgive me, but I didn’t realize that it was Friday until about three minutes ago. My nose has been in a book since yesterday and I have been reading it non stop. I think my Thursday and Friday melded together in my mind. Essentially, this could be sub titled, Jane’s An Ass, Part the Third, But She Can Blame It on a Book.

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But here’s the First Sale Story of Jaci Burton. I’ve been a bit hard on Ms. Burton in my reviews but she still comes around. She wrote me an email telling me I should read her May release, Wild, Wicked, & Wanton, because she’s convinced that I am going to fall in love with her writing, someday. Happily (as all romance stories should end happily), I did enjoy Wild, Wicked, & Wanton and would recommend it to someone looking for a hot (you should read it with lots of ice on hand) contemporary romance.

Jaci Burton’s official bio is that she is an award winning author writing paranormal romance and erotic romance for Bantam Dell, Berkley, Samhain Publishing and Ellora's Cave. She spent over 20 years in corporate life until she was lucky enough to live her dream of becoming a writer. Sadly, her husband still thinks she should to do dishes, laundry and bathe the dogs.

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I've always considered that I had two 'first sales' –" my first ebook sale, and my first mass market paperback sale–"because in my mind they're completely different, yet both 'firsts' in my life.

In 2003 I made my very first sale to Ellora's Cave, an epublisher. After reading their books, I had written a story targeted specifically for that publisher, submitted it, and four days later received an email saying they wanted to buy the book. In that email was their welcome letter and a contract.

I was stunned and utterly ecstatic. I was published! I ran outside where my husband was doing lawnwork and told him I was a published author now. Then I grabbed his hands and jumped up and down on the grass. Yes, I'm that corny. It was such an exciting moment for me, because I'd been writing for two years, had completed several manuscripts, submitted to several New York publishers, but hadn't been able to break through to New York.

When I found Ellora's Cave books, I felt I had a found a home for the heat level of my writing and I was so excited.

For the next couple years, I was perfectly content writing for Ellora's Cave. But in the back of my mind, I knew that someday, I wanted to try New York again. And in 2005, I lucked out, found an agent I clicked with, and submitted a couple proposals to her. She shopped a proposal called Demon Hunters, and several publishers really liked the proposal –" so much, in fact, that the book went to auction. Within a few days of the auction, Bantam Dell came out the highest bidder and bought the book. It was a whirlwind for me, because I had signed with my agent in May and she had me sold to New York by August. Kind of a surreal experience, one that took my breath away, but was truly the dream moment in my writing career. I was going to have a mass market paperback! Woo hoo!

I'm very, very lucky to have so many of my dreams come true.

Now I just need to hit a bestseller list and then I can retire. Heh.

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