Archive for 'first-sale'
Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. New York Times Bestelling Novelist Kerrelyn Sparks is on her 7th book in the “Love at Stake” series for Avon with the April 28, 2009, release of Forbidden Nights with a Vampire.
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My journey on the road to becoming a published author veers a little off the beaten track because my initial start turned out to be a false start.
When I first began writing, I gravitated toward historical romance because that’s the genre I grew up reading. At the time, my sons were playing a James Bond Nintendo game, so I heard the James Bond theme song nonstop for several weeks. I got to thinking, hmm, a James Bond type spy during the American Revolution with all sorts of fun spy gadgets! I wrote the book, blessedly unaware that I’d have a tough time ever selling an American-set historical. Meanwhile, a brand new editor in New York was also blessedly unaware that she’d have a tough time marketing an …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Today’s first sale story comes from well known bloggers, Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. Their nonfiction, women’s studies, literary criticism, comedy, technical manual, work of art can be found in some bookstores in various sections of the bookstore (sometimes on the manager’s desk so you might need to ask), is in stores now. You can buy the ebook version at BooksonBoard (I think the coupon code “SmartOnBoard” still works).
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Candy and I spent a lot of time on the floor – not with each other. And not in that way. But when we first received an email from Rose Hilliard asking if we’d ever thought of writing a book, when we signed with our agent, Secret Agent Dan at Writer’s House, when we had conference calls to talk about the process of selling a proposal, and when we finally had responses from publishers, we had to pick ourselves up off the floor. Repeatedly.
As we’ve often said, we never expected Smart Bitches to be as popular …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jocelyn Drake authors the Dark Days series published by Avon. The second book in her series, Dayhunter, is in stores on April 28, 2009. Â
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At what point do you throw in the towel? When do you finally admit defeat and start to move on with your life?
These were the questions that were rattling around in my brain just before The Call arrived. It had been over two years of continuous “no’s”. And to make matters worse, the rejections weren’t all impersonal form letters. Some were actually “good” rejection letters, with personal, hand-written notes complimenting my voice, which almost seemed to taunt me with how close I was. But in the end, the answer was still “no” and no one was telling me why.
I felt as if the door to the great world of the published was being cracked open for me, but I wasn’t allowed to enter. Without a little guidance from an editor or an agent, …
Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Monday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Dona Lea Simpson writes historical romances.  Her latest book, Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark, is in stores now.
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 The business side of romance writing is distinctly unromantic, and definitely a business. So ‘my first sale’ is really a story of several ‘first sales’, but among them, two are most important.
I had always wanted to be a writer. My first love was mystery writing, and I wrote and flogged two (Or maybe more? Have I blocked out others?) murder mystery novels with no great response. Around that time I discovered Regency romances. For someone who adored Jane Austen and had read all the works, including the partials and juvenilia, Regency romances were manna. I discovered the wonderful works of Mary Balogh and Jo Beverley, among many other gifted authors.
Something about the novels felt right to me. So… I set out to write one and—surprise, surprise—found out I could do it! I took what had begun as a historical mystery and ‘re-imagined’ it as a romance. …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. We used to host this on Fridays but starting now, we will be hosting these stories on Monday to make space for our new Friday Film Review feature.
In the First Sale series, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Ann Aguirre debuted with break out urban fantasy titles, author of Grimspace and Wanderlust. This month, Ann’s serving up Blue Diablo, a little more romance with your heaping of urban fantasy. On sale date is April 7, 2009, but may be in bookstores now.
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My First Sale: or How Defenestrating the Rulebook Worked for Me
Before Grimspace, I wrote a number of novels. I wrote to the market. I tried to please. I got a small break when I signed with my first agent, but I was still writing to the market. I tried my hand at contemporary romance, which wasn’t my strong suit. I was so frustrated. Some of the joy went out of writing too. I started to feel like, “What’s the point? Nobody but me …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Miranda Neville writes historical romances for Avon. Her latest book, Never Resist Temptation (excerpt), is in stores now.
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One morning my agent called with two rejections. In the afternoon she called again, with an offer from Avon. A mixed day, but on balance a good one. (Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!)
The story starts about five years earlier when I decided to write a novel. A fan since childhood of Georgette Heyer, I discovered they were publishing Regency romances again. Better still, the new ones had sex. It took me about two years and I slaved over every historical detail, certain no one would want to read my book if I didn’t say exactly how many painted roundels graced the ceiling of the drawing room at Syon House. Nothing much happened in the story, but when finished it had lots of frightfully witty dialogue, two and a half sex scenes and one hundred thousand words, which I’d read on some website was the correct length …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Rob Thurman writes urban fantasy for ACE. Â Her current release, featuring the Leandros brothers, is in stores now. Deathwish made it to #26 on the NYT Bestseller list. Â In the fall, Thurman will release a new series with a female protagonist. Â Stay tuned.
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When I received the call about my first sale I was just pulling into the parking lot of the theater to see Shrek 2, which was a dicey situation. A huge burst of pleasure like selling your first book combined with that movie, it could have led to an obsession with talking cats in thigh high leather boots. Fortunately, that didn’t happen…and dreams don’t count.
But before that, I first wrote a mystery, not so much because I was a big fan of mysteries overall, but of a particular subset of mysteries: the buddy/buddy genre. It didn’t sell. And in retrospect as it was my very first attempt at a full-length bit of writing, it probably sucked quite egregiously, and I’m better off. So, …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Samantha James writes historical romances for Avon. Her book newest book, Bride of a Wicked Scotsman, is a NYT Bestseller.
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I think it goes without saying that every writer is a fervent reader. When I was a kid, my brother passed along Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books and the Doc Savage series. In my teens, I read mysteries—and Gothic romance. I loved Virginia Coffman and Dorothy Eden. It took me a while to discover I wanted to be a writer, though. I was married, with three kids. I was the proverbial soccer – make that volleyball and softball – mom, shuttling kids to and from practices and games.
By the time I hit thirty, I was scrambling to find every historical romance I could lay my hands on. My husband once noted that every book that I read had “duke†in the title – not quite, but close. Kathleen Woodiwiss and Laurie McBain made me want to be a writer.
But I owe it to my big brother with …
Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between.  Tracy Ann Warren’s historicals were recently acquired by Avon and her latest release, Tempted by His Kiss, is in stores now.
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First sales have a touch of the miraculous about them . . . or at least that’s how it seemed to me when I finally got The Call. Obviously the heavens didn’t open up and angels didn’t literally sing, but for me they kind of did, since I’d been toiling in unpublished angst and obscurity for years with little to show for it other than a few contest wins and the occasional “good†rejection letter.
Prior to the blissful day I made that first sale, I’d been trying my hand at writing contemporary romance under the mistaken impression that it was “easier†to sell. After piling up rejections on three manuscripts, I decided to ignore the common wisdom that warned against unpublished writers trying to break into the single-title historical romance market. I’d always loved reading historicals and had an idea for a Regency-era novel about identical twin sisters, who switch …
 My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Award winning author Charlotte Hughes began her writing career publishing newspaper and magazine articles before becoming a New York Times best selling author. Charlotte makes her home in Beaufort, S. C. Best known for her FULL series with Janet Evanovich, she has written over 40 books, ranging for the 3 mysteries she wrote for Avon to Mira’s HOT SHOT. Her newest release, NUTCASE centers on Atlanta psychologist Kate Holly and the humorous antics of her friends, family and patients. In the process she learns that the life of a psychologist is enough to drive anyone nuts. Readers are invited to visit Charlotte online at www.readcharlottehughes.com, where she also blogs regularly. As part of the introduction of her newest work, NUTCASE, Charlotte is doing a virtual blog tour VIRTUALLY NUTS in February and March.
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I ran a licensed daycare at the time of my first sale. It was a way for me to earn income and stay home with my two little boys, both under the age of …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Â Jade Lee writes romances for both series books for Harlequin and paranormals. Â The Dragon Earl from Leisure and The Concubine which was a February Dear Author Recommended Read. Dragonbound is due out in April.
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The story of my first sale is a long and torturous one. For those people who have sold their first manuscript at auction for a ton of money…I say BTTTH! That wasn’t me. It took me fricking forever to break in!
It begins with a terminally bored technical writer we’ll call Sad Jade. Sad Jade loved romance, especially regency era. One day, she read a very badly written book. Sad Jade said, I can do better! And went on to write her very first screenplay.
 Yes, I said screenplay. Sad Jade wasn’t so bright. Actually, I just thought that film was way cooler than novels, and so that’s what I wanted to …
Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Â Today, of course, is Monday and we have an extra special First Sale letter because I double booked. Â Carrie Vaughn writes the New York Times bestselling series about Kitty Norville, a werewolf. Â Her most recent book, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand is out now with another release Kitty Raises Hell will be released March 1, 2009. Â
The first three books in the series is available in a bundle from Sony for $13.98.
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 I didn’t sell the first novel I wrote. Or the second, or the third. In retrospect, I think I could have if I had tried a little harder, but a funny thing happened: by the time I started getting rejections on the first novel, I’d written the second, and it was a lot better. So I stopped sending around the first one and started sending the second. Then it happened again — the third novel was much better than the second. I also wrote …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Carolyn Jewel writes historicals for Berkley and paranormals for Warner. Â Her latest, Scandal, is in stores now.
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Way back in the dark ages, I decided to write a novel after spending too much time thinking about writing and no time actually writing. So, single and with no children, I wrote what I loved to read: a historical romance. Somehow I was clever enough to get a hold of a Writer’s Market from which I learned how to go about selling a novel. I decided I could only stand two rejections at once. Therefore, I prepared two queries and mailed them off. A bit of literary foreshadowing here: I am slightly dyslexic (I have siblings who are far more severely affected) and as it happens, I transposed some digits on one of the query packages. About six months later, that one came back to me as undeliverable. Yeah. One query made it to its destination.
About two weeks (I am not kidding about the two weeks) after …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Susan Crandall writes romantic suspense. Her newest release, Seeing Red, is in stores now.
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Like so many things a person spends every waking hour working toward and every sleeping hour dreaming about, my first sale didn’t come in a thunderbolt from the sky. It arrived like a beautiful, slowly breaking dawn – after a very long cold night.
I had been writing and pursuing publication for nine (count ‘em nine) years. My first manuscripts were co-written with my sister (one of which was agented but never sold). I’d just finished my first solo women’s fiction novel, BACK ROADS. I’d decided if this book didn’t sell, I was through. (Big talk that would doubtless soon have dissolved into, “Well, just one more book, then I give up.†Once it’s in your blood, I don’t think there is any exorcising the need to write.)
The first step was finding an agent. Which for those of you going through the process know is …
Wow, what can I say? This is the first time that Dear Author has hosted royalty on the site. I mean, we’ve read books about Princes (usually angry bitter ones that are healed by the love of a woman who pretends to be brazen but is really a virgin who gives up her job so that she can provide the requisite heir and spare to the Prince) but this is definitely the first time we’ve ever posted anything by a Princess. I started reading Princess Mia’s diaries way back in 2000 and I got to meet Meg Cabot* who I think is Mia’s social secretary or something in 2002 in New York. When I read that Princess Mia would be writing a historical (and a steamy one at that), I literally laughed out loud. Brilliant. I hope you all enjoy HRH’s First Sale story.
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I’m not going to lie. Being a princess is pretty awesome sometimes. I mean, I get invited to things like balls and movie premieres, and I get sent beautiful clothes from top designers—for free!–to wear to all these events.
You …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jill Shalvis’s new series about the Wilder family is kicked off at the end of this month with Instant Attraction. Â SB Sarah and I have been running a promotion for this wherein if you spread the word about Jill’s book, you are entered to win a FLIP Video Camera. Â
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I first started writing just over ten years ago now, during a time I fondly refer to as the deep, dark years of hell. I had three kids under the age of five (don’t worry, we finally figured out what caused that problem J), I’d just lost my accounting job, and my husband had just officially burnt out on his job as a paramedic on the mean streets of downtown Los Angeles.
It was not a great time for either of to begin a new career. So of course we both did. I dove into writing with the same joy that reading romances had been giving me for years. I had …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Margo Maguire writes historical romances for Avon. Her fifth Avon book, Wild, is in stores now.
Wild, is in stores now.
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My road to publishing was not exactly the norm. In fact, I didn’t set out to be an author at all, and even after I started writing seriously, none of my walls ended up being papered with rejection letters. I sold the first book I ever wrote.
Now, before you get upset with me, allow me to explain.
My mother was a teacher, English being her primary subject, although she had a Master’s degree in Special Education. Because of her, my siblings and I were well-read, and used very good grammar all our lives. But I didn’t follow in Mom’s footsteps. I became an RN instead, and worked for many years in the Intensive Care Unit of a major receiving hospital. And for a change of pace, I went back to school and got another degree in a subject that had always interested me – …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jessica Andersen is medical doctor specializing in genetics who happens to write romantic suspense for Harlequin and a paranormal romance series for Signet (imprint of Penguin) based on the Mayan calendar. Her book, Dawn Keepers (excerpt) is in stores right now.
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As I tried to figure out where to start this post, I realized I sort of have two first sale stories- my first sale to Intrigue in ’02, and the sale of Nightkeepers to NAL in early ’07. More, I realized that both stories have the same fortune cookie message at the end. So here goes. . .
My first Intrigue, Dr. Bodyguard, arose from a spotlight at RWA national (in Dallas, maybe?), where the senior Intrigue editor talked about wanting cutting-edge stories. She said, “Give me high-tech, give me DNA, give me something I can sink my teeth into!†I sat up and thought, I can do DNA. So I went home and started writing a story set in …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jill Sorenson writes for both Silhouette Romantic Suspense as well as mass market originals with Dell. Â Her first single title romantic suspense, Crash Into Me, Â will be on retail shelves in February 2009, featuring a female undercover agent! Â In the meantime, you can pick up Dangerous Touch right now.
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My first sale story is a two-for-one. Both happened in 2007, a difficult and wonderful year for me.
At the end of 2006, I’d just completed my fifth novel, a romantic suspense with paranormal elements. I sent it to an agent I’d met at a writer’s conference with fingers crossed. She’d been on the fence about my last two manuscripts, but she liked my work and encouraged me to keep submitting.
In the meantime, I had a couple of other projects that required my attention. Namely, my two young daughters. With a toddler and a newborn at home, I wondered if I’d ever start another book, much less finish one.
The first …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jeaniene Frost burst onto the paranormal scene just three books ago with her Night Huntress series. The third and newest entry into the Bones / Cat saga, At Grave’s End, is available in stores starting December 30, 2009.
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Like most authors, I started out as a reader, but it wasn’t until I found my mother’s copy of Skye O’Malley by Bertrice Small that I became an avid reader. From that book on, I started reading every romance I came across. I even measured my allowance in terms of how many books it could buy.Â
My other love from an early age was horror movies. Vampires quickly became my favorite creature, to the point that I always rooted for Dracula to win over Van Helsing. My love of the paranormal was a bit of an oddity in my family. When we came home from school, my sisters would watch soap operas, but I’d watch Tales From the Crypt and then read one of my romance novels. *grin* My books …
Built into the Copyright Act of 1976, the Copyright Act, is the right of First Sale. First Sale powers eBay, Craigslist, used bookstores and garage/flea market sales all over the country. Essentially the right of First Sale says that if you bought something, you can do what you want with that item, even resell it!!! and not pay the original creator another dime. Obviously copyright holders are no fans of First Sale doctrine which is why ebooks and digital music should be such a crowd pleaser amongst those who earn their living based on first sales of their items. There is no way, really, for a purchaser of ebooks or digital music to legitimately resell their purchases. This is one argument readers make in pushing for lower prices. Bopaboo is a new entry into the digital social club market which seeks to carve out a place within the First Sale doctrine for digital purchasers. Is it lawful? Time and lawsuits will tell us.
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. J.L. Miles presents her newest project, Divorcing Dwayne, the first in the “Dwayne Series”, a three-book southern series featuring Francine Harper who is under felony assault charges for shooting at her husband Dwayne and his stripper/lover Carla from the Peel ‘n Squeal. Â Divorcing Dwayne is in stores now with the second in the series releasing on April 2009.
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When she first sent it out, we got an immediate response from a major publisher and boy was I excited. They raved about the author voice and the premise. They asked if the author had another book that could be packaged with it. Then they took it to committee, whatever that means, and the next thing you know they were saying things like, “It’s not for our list after all.â€
Bummer. I felt like dumping my head in the washing machine while it was on the spin cycle. That got me thinking about all the authors out there that now have N.Y. Times bestsellers. Did they ever want …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jeff Rivera was once homeless and writing in a car (he’s like Jewel, only writes books instead of music). Â His debut novel, Forever My Lady, was first self-published until the big wigs caught on and he was awarded a contract with Warner Books. Â It’s in stores now. Â
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I remember that night distinctly, as I lay cramped next to my mother in the front seat of our two door Buick. A tear rolled down my cheek, not just because we were homeless, nor because the only money we had was the loose change on the dashboard, nor because we shared our new “home” with our pet cockateil and turtle. No, a tear rolled down my cheek because my mother had just told me the story of how she was locked in a toy box when she was a little girl whenever she was “bad”.
I knew we had to do better. This was not where we were meant to be in our life. So, …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Carrie Lofty’s debut work, What a Scoundrel Wants, featuring a historical within the Robin Hood ouvre is out in stores now.Â
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When my husband moved to Virginia in 2006 for a summer internship, I stayed with our daughters in Wisconsin and actively maintained my blog. What started as a journal in 2005 had ballooned into hundreds of entries on everything from pacifiers to Plato. Early that summer, I read about the RWA national conference in Atlanta and wanted to be there. I made Nationals a benchmark of success…but for what?
Sure, I’d written enough blog entries to complete an epic, so I couldn’t use a lack of free time as my excuse, but I had yet to finish a manuscript. For years, procrastination and perfectionism had thwarted my attempts. That summer marked a turning point. By finishing Serenade some 88 days later, a romance about a widowed violin prodigy and the dishonored composer she loves, I proved my dedication.
I was ready to begin another project when my …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Karen White’s latest release, House on Tradd Street, is one part suspense, one part supernatural and you can buy it in stores now. Â
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In mid-December, 2003 I finally received the call from my agent that I’d pretty much given up hope ever getting. She left a message on my answering machine saying that she had a two-book offer on the table from my dream publisher, Penguin Publishing Group.
I stood listening to the message about a dozen times, holding heavy bags of groceries, wanting to believe in her sincerity while the whole time picturing my long-suffering husband standing behind her while she made the phone call with a weapon pointed at her head.
Let’s back up three years to explain how I got to that point. Granted, it wasn’t technically my ‘first sale’—but for me, it was the first sale that counted. Most people who know me know my story—how I entered the first book I ever wrote into a contest and it …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between.  Maya Rodale comes from a writing family.  She even toured with her grandmother, Ardie Rodale, promoting Ardie’s book, Every Day Miracles along with Maya’s debut book, The Heir and the Spare.  (I don’t know why but I find that totally endearing!) Her second in the series, The Rogue and the Rival, is in stores now.
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It all begins with the book of the heart, doesn’t it? Mine was a tale of duels, disguises, heiresses and fortune hunters, distracted chaperones, an American heiress snaring a duke, and true love conquering all. It was titled The Heir And The Spare.
Thinking a book deal was easier to get than a Real Job, I sent my beloved manuscript out into the world. Thinking Grad School was a great back-up plan, I applied to many institutions of higher learning. And then for the following six months I regularly received rejection letters. Sadness ensued.
There was only one thing to do: admit defeat and apply for a Real Job (the salaried sort with …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. In the last 10 years, New Orleans-born, Thailand-reared, Sabrina Jeffries‘ has penned 14 Regency romances and four novellas—becoming a regular on both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists in the process. A lifelong Jane Austen fan, Jeffries earned a doctorate in English from Tulane. She writes what she enjoys reading: “lighter, sexier historical romances, with more dialogue and more sensuality.†Her latest story can be found in the Christmas Anthology, Snowy Night With a Stranger.  (I know alot of Dear Author readers like Christmas Anthologies). Â
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Some of you probably know I started my writing career as Deborah Martin and Deborah Nicholas. Since that was nearly 18 years ago, I can barely remember my first call. So I’m going to talk about my first call as Sabrina Jeffries, because that was the one that really launched my career. And when it came, my life was in the toilet.
First, a little background—in 1996, my career was in flux. …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. New York Times Bestselling Author, Marie Bostwick, writes stories about women for women. Her latest release, A Single Thread, is in stores now.
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When my agent, Jill Grosjean, called to tell me that Kensington Publishing had indicated an interest in buying my first novel, I was elated. But as weeks and eventually months passed without an offer, my confidence began to waver.
“If they really wanted it,†I moaned to Jill, “they’d have said so by now. They hate it. Not the editor, she’s great, but somebody else. Someone in accounting. Or the mailroom. Or…I don’t know who, but someone read it, hated it, and put the brakes on the deal! Probably the editor hasn’t called because she doesn’t want hurt my feelings!â€
Jill made that growling sound she emits when she thinks I’m being overly dramatic, a sound I hear pretty often. “Don’t be ridiculous. Editors have no problem telling authors a book has been rejected. It’s their …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Julie Ann Long writes wonderful historical romances with her latest, Like No Other Lover, out in stores on October 28, 2008. An excerpt of the book is here.
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I found my first agent in a Laundromat.
Now, I should tell you that I’ve stumbled across a number of unusual things in San Francisco Laundromats over the years, on separate occasions: an ankle-deep mini-lake; a man nude apart from skirt made from a sleeping bag (the rest of his clothes were in the wash, he explained as I backed away); a Chihuahua dressed in a tiny Christmas sweater sitting by itself on a bench (perhaps its pants were in the dryer?) Bemusement is probably the default San Francisco emotional condition.
On this fateful day, the Laundromat I normally frequented was so crowded I was compelled to drag my dirty clothing two blocks farther to a different, more expensive Laundromat (a quarter more per machine! The nerve!), a detour I considered inconvenient as I was of necessity …
 Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Cindy Gerard writes romantic suspense. She has a trilogy, Black Ops, Inc., out this fall.
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Hey all. My first sale story probably mirrors a lot of authors. The truth is, it falls into the ‘if I knew then what I know now’ category, I probably wouldn’t be published. I was so naïve. Such a baby – rhetorically speaking – and so ignorant of the business. Long story short, I was in love with LaVryle Spencer’s work – who among us doesn’t love and miss LaVyrle?? Anyway, I’d exhausted her complete library – or so I thought until I discovered some old titles but couldn’t get them. So I wrote to her. That was before the days of e-mail (yes, Virginia, there is a pre-web era many of us survived, but just barely). But I digress. She wrote back. Told me she wrote to me personally because my letter was so articulate. In my mind that …
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