Oct 09 2008
WOOT! for some fellow GH finalists
MOST RECENT NEWS FIRST
Another threefer this week!
Rebecca Clark (newly motivated to get cracking on that web site) has an offer from Wild Rose Press on her GH manuscript, Borrowed Stilettos!
Kit Wilkinson has sold her GH manuscript, Running from Trouble, to Steeple Hill!
Lynn Raye Harris has turned her win in the Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest into a 2-book deal with Harlequin, the first book out in 2009!
Tracey O’Hara’s paranormal GH manuscript, Night’s Cold Kiss, sold in a 3-book deal to Avon/Eos! Release date November 2009!
Kay Cassidy’s GH YA winner, The Cinderella Society, sold in a 2-book deal to Egmont USA for hardcover release in Spring 2010!
Jennifer Satterfield, paranormal finalist, has a book out NOW with Ellora’s Cave, writing as Jennifer North—Party Vamps!
Beth Trissel, historical romance finalist, has a 4-book deal with Wild Rose Press! Her short story, Nighthawk, is available FREE! Somewhere My Love and Enemy of the King coming soon!
Susan Seyfarth’s 2008 Contemporary Single Title Golden Heart Winner Money, Honey sold in a 2-book deal to Berkley! (Super excited because I have been dying to read this since judging it in the prelims!)
Courtney Milan, historical finalist, has sold Proof By Seduction to HQN!
Susan Gee Heino, 2008 Golden Heart Winner for Best Regency Historical, has a 2-book deal with Berkley!
Annette McCleave, 2008 Golden Heart Winner for Best Paranormal Romance with Soul Provider has a 3-book deal with NAL!
Lynn Raye Harris, series suspense/adventure finalist, won the Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest back in March with The Spanish Magnate’s Revenge, which is in her editor’s hands as we speak!
Kelly Gay, DOUBLE finalist in paranormal and YA, has a 2-book deal from Pocket for her urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness, and its sequel, release date Summer 2009!
Tracey O’Hara, Tha Wunda from Down Unda and fellow paranormal finalist, has a double deal with Spice Briefs, the first release, Tonight My Love, scheduled for May 2009 under the pseudonym Tracie Sommers!
Lavinia Klein (no web site yet, since she anticipates a pseudonym in her future), regency historical finalist, has secured the coveted 2-book offer from Avon! The first will be released in August 2009!
Kris Kennedy, 2008 Golden Heart Winner for Best Historical Romance with Wanting Finian, just received the coveted 2-book offer from Kensington! Pub date for The Conqueror May 1, 2009!
Helen Scott Taylor’s paranormal, The Magic Knot, is the American Title IV winner, and Dorchester is putting her book out in February 2009! (Wow, did they move fast on that one!)
Way to go, ladies!
!!!!!!!!!
Come on, people, I got plenty more exclamation points where these came from! Keep the good news coming!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Jealous?
May 1st, 2008 at 1:20 pm
No. Are you?
May 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
You fed the troll. For shame.
Do you have stats on previous Golden Heart winners who’ve gotten published?
May 1st, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I couldn’t help it. It popped up before I even got logged out of WP after posting. If my fan is that anxious to interact with me, it would be churlish of me to refuse…
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I’ve heard something like 30% of GH finalists (not just winners) get published, but I don’t have better details. That 30% could be all the category novels out of the finalist entries, which is kind of different than 30% across the board, I think. And is it pubbed EVER, or pub of the GH manuscript? Also, I don’t put much faith in the stats because not getting pubbed might be due to lack of effort toward that end by some writers rather than having an unpublishable manuscript. I’ve certainly met people who sit around waiting for NY to come knocking on their door, like editors have some psychic ability that alerts them to an available story. Sorry, chicky, but writing it was the easy part. Now you gotta hustle, and some people won’t do that.
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Like I’ve said a million times, the GH isn’t the magic key to publication, it’s just another way to bring some attention to your writing, and attracting the right person’s attention at the right time (full moon, Venus in the 7th house, at high tide when there’s a solar eclipse during the vernal equinox and the grunion are running, etc.) is what it all boils down to.
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Jealousy infers a rivalry I don’t believe exists. I am happy as hell for anybody who gets that break because I know they didn’t roll out of bed yesterday, hammer out 100,000 words, and have a contract in hand in time for dinner. They put in the work and earned the reward, and my WOOT! is entirely genuine.
June 21st, 2008 at 5:21 am
Hi Kerry,
Thanks for the mention!
Helen
August 9th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Thanks for the congrats! I hope you sell soon, too, Kerry. I’m itching to read your books because I love, love, love your sense of humor.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:56 am
The coolest thing about this experience for me is finding out that I can be this proud of people I’ve never even met. I’m so excited for all of you, I know I’m going to be in the book store on release dates taking pictures of your books on the shelves and handselling them to random strangers!
August 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Thanks for the mention, and the congrats, Kerry! And you’re so right about the GH stats. It’s a crapshoot at best. My UF that sold didn’t even final in the GH, but the two I haven’t be able to sell were the ones that finaled. Go figure.
August 10th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Hi, Kerry! Thanks for the mention! :) It’s been a great year for me after so many head-banging ones, you know? :) And FWIW, I believe your WOOT is entirely genuine. I know how I feel about my fellow finalists. It’s just dang cool to be in the group. Forget the trolls.
My Harlequin winner isn’t the same ms as my GH finalist. Who knows what will happen with the GH one? But the GH is a good way, as you’ve said, for attracting attention. Congrats on your finalist status!!
August 10th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Fabulous work, ladies!!! Huge congrats to all.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Yay! More congrats from me! I agree with you Kerry…there’s no sense of competition, just sisterhood (or Pixiehood) and pride.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Why in the world would a person think you were being disingenuous unless they were so themselves? I don’t understand that thinking.
Why compitition? There’s enough in the universe to go around, and like Kerry said, they worked for it.
Anyhoo CONGRATS!!!!
August 14th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Plus Beth Trissel’s amazing 4 book sale to Wild Rose Press! :) What a group we have.
August 14th, 2008 at 4:21 am
If I miss anybody else, somebody please let me know. I’d blame it on my inability to read in Yahoo (the format sends my eyes into auto-skim mode), but…
No, I’m going to blame it all on Yahoo.
If anybody’s keeping track, we’re almost at 20% sold for this group of finalists, just in the 5 months since finalists were announced. We’ll blow that 30% figure out of the water by the end of the year!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
There’s a 30% statistic? I didn’t know.
I absolutely LOVE smashing statistics. *runs to grab a hammer*
August 25th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Thanks for the mention, Kerry. You’re right about the I didn’t roll out of bed yesterday part. I’ve been at this for 12+ years. I love your sense of humor, btw. You are a hoot!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:02 am
October 7th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Holy wow, there are a lot of emoicons to choose from. Can person really feel all those different things? (going back to add more emotions to my mss)
Thanks for the WOOT, Kerry!! btw, my release date is May 1, ‘09, should it matter. (That’s a Tuesday, in case someone didn’t know. A Tuesday.)
Now, to practice *feeling*….
October 7th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Oh, and Kerry? I’m coming back here every day to play with the emoicons and to read ‘Kris Kennedy is so pretty.’
Thanks!!!
Kris
October 7th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
‘Course it matters! “TBA” adjusted accordingly.
And you can never have too many emoticons. I never saw a need for the barfing one, but just the other day, whaddya know, I was wishing I had one. I actually had to use words (always a scary proposition) to express my disgust.
Off to check for new ones…
October 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
It’s been an exciting week for the Pixies! Btw, Kit has a website up and running. There’s a link on my blog if you want it.
=)
We’re going to beat that 20% statistic yet. (Or have we already? Math is NOT my thing.)
October 9th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Linkage initiated.
The alleged stat to beat is 30%, and I think we’re somewhere around 25% so far. (I can never remember how many Pixies there are, which makes my calculations a little dodgy, but only by about half a percent.) Particularly since I think the alleged statistic is really for “GH finalists who sold EVER,” it’s not a bad 6 months’ work for the Pixies!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Holy cow–is that really true? Approx 30% of GH finalists who EVER sold? I’m glad I never knew it before. Keli Gwyn, double inspy finalist, is really good at figuring out our percentages.
Yay for the 3 most recent SOLD’s! And thanks for updating the world after every Pixie sale, Kerry.
No matter–bring it on, publishing world. The Pixies are ready for ya.
Kris