Sold!

Several months ago, a friend of mine asked whatever happened to that paranormal historical that finaled in the Brava contest a year ago.

Oy. I completely forgot about it. We volleyed ideas back and forth on where it might find a good fit and settled on three likely prospects. Each of these publishers have something outstanding going for it and I would've been happy with any of them.

I picked one I had never worked with before because another friend had insider information and knew they were good about promoting their authors.

Maybe it was Fate, but I don't think my submission went through their electronic submissions portal. It kept buffering and never gave me a message that it had completed the transaction. (It was one of those weeks I kept having internet problems. --like that's anything new around here.)

I should've tried again, but that's when my royalty statement came in from Samhain. Touch Of Fire is old by publishing standards, yet it still brings in more revenue than my other books. Tweaking the nose of irony, I decided to submit the manuscript to them.

The editor offered a contract within days. And she said nice things, calling it "stellar writing", and how much she loved the characters and the high adventure. You know. The stuff that makes an author feel all warm and fuzzy.

I accepted for a multitude of reasons. I like Samhain's covers. (I hope saying that doesn't jinx me and doom me to a rotten cover now. :eye roll:)

As publishers go, Samhain's operations seem more transparent than others. They constantly keep their authors up to speed, and own-up when things go awry. I like that.

But there was a more important reason that made me choose Samhain. Even though True Believers (Carina) won top pick in two "Best of" reviewer lists, Touch of Fire continues to out-earn TB.

Getting all those kudos for True Believers was nice, but all it meant was that a couple of high-profile reviewers liked it. Whereas the book with higher sales meant more readers bought it. Given the choice, I'd rather have more people reading my book than getting critical acclaim.

I'll bring you more details as they emerge, but Mistress of the Stone finally has a home. They've even given me a release date already: August 28. Huzzah!

I'm glad I finally got off my tookus and submitted it.

PS  This post was actually written a month ago. That's how crazy my life has been. Sheesh.

Authors: How much do great reviews and accolades mean to you? Could you live without them if it meant more royalties, or do you wish for both? 

And I gotta know...does anyone out there forget about their manuscripts after they've written them or is it just me? I know I've had a lot of my plate this year, but really, this is bizarre even for me.   

Tank Update: The old man is going to be fine. After the terrible viruses took the two puppies, we were very worried when Tank started gagging. It turns out his tonsils were inflamed. The vet thinks it's allergy related. He's been on antihistamines and it seems to have helped. Thank goodness! 


He was a big hit at the new vet's office and behaved like a perfect gentleman despite all the poking and prodding.