My First Sale by Shiloh Walker
Interviewsfirst-sale / Shiloh-Walker13 Comments
Shiloh Walker fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has translated that love into writing paranormal fantasy romances of her own. For those who don’t believe in Young Adult romances, Walker fell in love and married her high school sweetheart at the age of 19. She continues to serenade her fans with her happy ever after books but expect to suffer while getting there. Her recent release, Heart and Soul, is in bookstores now. Happy ever after doesn’t come easy but sometimes a first sale can.
***
My sale to Berkley is pretty cool.
I was online when I got an IM from my friend, Lora Leigh. She wrote, I need your phone number. Of course, I’ve given it to her…. uh… twenty times by now? But I know Lora so I sent it to her, along with my standard question, Why…what did I do now? She just replied, LMAO. I’m calling. You’re going to die.
Phone rings, I answer and she says, You need to call Angela Knight.
I asked, Why? What did I do now?
Lora said, Nothing. Just call her. Now. You’ll be so happy. Lora’s voice sounds really excited, so naturally, I start getting kind of psyched and I demanded more info.
Lora (who loves torturing me) I can’t. Just call her.
So I wait a second and then ask, Is this like a really, really big deal?
Lora says, Yup.
I said, The kind of really big deal that’s going to give me a heart attack?
Lora says, Yup. Now call her. This is the number.
I tried wheedling for a little more info and Lora finally gives in…Well, maybe there was somebody trying to figure out how to contact you about a book…an important somebody.
Ooooookkkkaaayyyy….at that point Lora isn’t telling me anything else, so I hang up. Call Angela Knight.
Hi, Shiloh! Cindy Hwang wants to talk to you but your email is bouncing….
(This is bad. Authors, don’t ever let your email get so full it bounces. Turns out, I just needed to empty the trash on my .com email account.)
I was quiet for a second and Angela laughed. Did you hear me?
I said, Yeah. But… uh…. why? I hadn’t sent anything to New York City. I had vague plans of doing such, but nothing put together, nothing ready, no deadline that I had set for myself that I would write something and turn it in. So while I was really hopeful and terrified and excited, I wasn’t quite sure why I needed to call one of the biggest editors in romance.
Angela just said, Here’s her number, her email… call her. Trust me. You’ll be so glad you did.
I think she talked to Lora about how to torment me.
All this happened on a Sunday night. Naturally I wasn’t waiting until Monday to call, even though I know she’s not in the office on Sundays. Leave a message, and how much do you think I slept that night….nadda. zip. zilch.
Around 9 or so Monday morning, the phone rings. Caller ID says, New York Call. I don’t know anybody in New York. The first few digits match the number Angela had given me for Cindy, though, so I pretty much know who it is. Which means my voice was probably shaking when I answered, Huh…hello?
Hi, is this Shiloh Walker? This is CIndy Hwang…I’m with Berkley Publishing…
Me, sounding stupid, I know you are.
Cindy: Oh, good. Okay, listen…I’ve read some your books thru Ellora’s Cave and I like them. I was wondering if you’d be interested in writing a novella for me….
*G* Gee… whaddya think my answer was?
Being a huge fan of Shiloh’s books, this was cool to read. And I can picture the whole thing happening. Very well deserved.
It’s been geez…. like three years almost since I got that phone call and I still grin like a fool thinking about it.
:o)
Thanks Ja(y)nes for letting me share the story.
What a great story. I can’t even imagine how exciting that would have been.
Dude, that’s such an AWESOME story, Shiloh! If any of you NY editors are trying to get a hold of ME, my phone number is (503)….
LOL
Good for you. You should be proud you got recognized for your e-published talent! :D That’s like… one of those “dream moments.” Did you pinch yourself? I think I woulda had bruises up and down my arms. :P
~~Becka
Great story, Shiloh! I’ve got HUNTER’S SALVATION in my teetering TBR pile!
Ann :)
That’s pretty damn cool! :-)
Sometimes I still think I need to pinch myself.
Ann, I’m reading Trouble right now. :P
this was pretty cool. I’m so happy to “know you” since the beginning. I love the way you write.
I think I got my call right after you got yours — and I remember squeeing when Cindy mentioned who else was in the anthology. I was like, OMG! I’VE READ HER AT ELLORA’S CAVE!! It was super-cool.
It’s just too awesome to be called out of the blue like that.
That is such a fun story! So she was asking for the novella that ended up in the Hot Spell anthology? (Just making sure I didn’t miss any)
That is so uber cool!
That’s the story I wrote for the Hot Spell anthology, Bev. At the time, it hadn’t been written. Well, maybe like the first page or two. I’d had this idea for a Romeo/Juliet sort of story, but with vamps and weres.
When Cindy asked for a novella, that’s the one I finished up and gave her.
:) Meljean, I’ll never forget that day… ever. ;)
Ahhh, Shi very cool. Yeah no matter how big you get that first sale will always be the most exciting.
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