Sunday, April 7, 2013

SOLD!

It's been a long time coming, but I'm thrilled, excited, ecstatic, and Happy Dancing to annouce I've finally sold This Feels Like Home to The Wild Rose Press! Home is the third installment in a 'series' that began with This Time for Always and This Can't Be Love. When I first conceived the idea for Always, it was with the intention of using the secondary characters in it for additional stories. With the publication of Home, another of my writing dreams will come true.

The road to publication has been a long one in this case. I first submitted Home to my editor at TWRP back in August of 2011. The timeline goes something like this:

August 2011 - I submitted to my editor.

September 2011 - The story was transfered over to another editor at TWRP because my hero is a bull rider. It was now being considered under the Yellow Rose line, which is for contemporary cowboy stories.

November 2011 - The new editor took a pass on the story, but mentioned some areas for change if I wanted to resubmit. The changes were some fairly major ones, and it took me a long time to decide if I wanted to go in this new direction for my story. And then it took me even longer to implement the changes.

June 2012 - I resubmitted the story.

September 2012 - I received another e-mail saying the editor liked the changes, but felt it still needed something more. She was kind enough to offer specific suggestions on areas that still needed improvement and to even do a partical unofficial edit. Even so, I was devastated. It seemed this book just wasn't meant to be. After I got over my sadness, I got to work on another round of revisions.

January 2013 - I submitted for the third time, hoping this was the 'charm'.

March 2013 - The e-mail I'd been waiting more than a year and a half for finally arrived: the offer of a contract!

Getting all of the revision requests wasn't easy. Each one, although not an outright rejection, was like a little stab in my heart. In the end, though, I know the story is a stronger one, and I really love the changes I've made to it.

Right now I'm in the process of filling out my Manuscript Information Sheet and Cover Information Sheet. Once those are submitted - hopefully later today - we can proceed with the first round of edits. Depending on how many rounds we go with that, my release date should be toward the end of this year or the beginning of next! I haven't had a paperback release in a few years, so this is all the more exciting. Soon, I'll have that trilogy sitting on my bookshelf.

See? Dreams really can come true!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com



7 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

Congratulations, Deb!
This has to be especially satisfying after all your hard work to get accepted!

Morgan Mandel

Morgan Mandel said...

Congratulations, Deb!
This has to be especially satisfying after all your hard work to get accepted!

Morgan Mandel

Debra St. John said...

It definitely is!

Will you be at the meeting tomorrow night? I'll have chocolate!!

Deb Larson said...

Congrats, Deb. All your hard work was worthwhile!! Celebrate your success!
DL Larson

Margot Justes said...

Deb, congratulations. Celebrate well-with chocolate.
Margot.

Debra St. John said...

Thanks, Ladies!

CA Verstraete said...

Congrats! Sometimes it seems like such a looooong process (and it is!) but worth waiting for!