Sunday, April 22, 2007

A MAP OF THE JOURNEY

Networking on the coral reef.
The interconnectedness. One fish dislodges detritus and another fish scarfs it up.
I like to think writers are like this. Impacting one another to create totally new works.
It would be nice don't you think?

7:30 pm and 79 degrees.
This is a review of the time line:
July 20 Dorian Karchmar of William Morris Agency offers representation
November 28 Lottery went out on submission.
December 6 Lottery sold at auction to Putnam.
December 7 Informed that Lottery was to be released August 2007
December 26 First edits arrive hard copy
January 2 First edits sent back hard copy. Dutch, Israel, Italy and UK rights sold
January 3 Deal posted on Publishers Weekly
January 8 Deal posted on Publishers Marketplace
January 18 Second edits arrive via email
January 18 Sweden, Finland, Taiwan rights sold
January 22 Second edits emailed back
February 9 Cover art completed
Februay 12 Rights sold to Korea
February 13 Uncorrected bound galley arrives
February 16 Rights sold to Russia
February 20 Copy edits arrive
February 23 Copy edits FedExed back
February 26 Dutch contract signed
March 2 Italian and Swedish contracts signed
March 6 Putnam contract signed
March 15 Request by publisher for trip to New York in April
March 23 First pass pages received hard copy
March 26 emailed first pass page corrections
March 27 Putnam check deposited (wired)
April 5 UK contracts signed
April 7 Fly to New York
April 9 Meeting at William Morris Agency with agent
April 10 Meeting at Putam with publicists, editor, agent and the rest of the Putnam crew
April 11 Meeting with Publicist. See Wicked on Broadway
April 12 Fly back to Honolulu
April 13 Actually arrive in Honolulu
April 17 ARC (advanced reader copy) arrive. These look like trade paper backs and have the cover art and back flap copy. They go to authors, reviewers and others that have requested a read before the pub date.
April 19 First book signing officially scheduled for Honolulu August 2.
April 22...today...
What I have left out is the networking. The ongoing discussion about my other novels. Decisions about engaging additional publicists. Decisions about traveling back to New York and when.
Decisions.
Without the camaraderie and support of other writers this would be a long lonely trip.
Thank you for coming along for the ride.
Mahalo nui loa.

16 comments:

Bernita said...

A Bon Voyage, Pat!

Kimber Li said...

You busy, busy girl! Thanks for taking time to keep up this blog on your adventure for us.
;)

Linda C. McCabe said...

Pat,

Thank you for putting that calendar of events down for our benefit.

It is much more of a compact schedule than I would have expected.

Congratulations again, and be sure to enjoy every positive step of your journey. There are so many times in Life when things don't go the way we want them to that when things go well we should appreciate them.

Last night in fact, I opened a bottle of champagne because I was able to connect a good friend of mine with an awesome ghostwriter to help her with her memoir. That's not a genre I have experience in and knew that she needed someone else.

Due to some pluckiness on my part, I approached someone fabulous via email, made a compelling case about my friend, and she decided to sign on with my friend over a different client she had been considering.

(I don't want to jinx things just yet by giving specifics, once they have a contract signed I'll crow about this good news for my friend.)

So anyway, I not only celebrate when I reach some positive milestone, but pop open champagne with dinner when my friends have good fortune as well.

Le Chaim!

Linda

ORION said...

It seems compact when looked at in a list like this but I assure you there was much illusion of time passing slowly with nothing much happening!
This time line would have been significantly more leisurely if my book release was the more typical year to 18 months after acquisition.

Kanani said...

Hi
As far as being connected with others, I think the key is that you have to find the writers who have the best energy. You just can't let yourself get bogged down in negativity --which isn't to say that you don't take critical input, but that you do learn to discern the good from the bad, the generous from the toxic. Sort of like me and shellfish. I stay away from shrimps.

Great schedule. Go go go! I'll look forward to seeing you in June.

Aprilynne Pike said...

And what a ride it has been!! Thanks for letting u join you!!

Maprilynne

Wendy Roberts said...

It's great coming along for your journey, Pat!

Mary Akers said...

What a great blog!! I'm linking to it right now. :)

Lisa McMann said...

What a cool calendar -- thanks for posting this. It's so interesting! And congrats -- only 100 days left!

Lisa

Tyhitia Green said...

Pat, thank you for having us along for the ride! :*)

Adrienne said...

What an awesome timeline. And amazing how quick it all happens considering waiting for each step seems interminable.

So exciting!!

Diantha said...

Pat, it was really interesting to see the timeline laid out like this. As some of the others said, thanks for taking the time to share this with us. May I ask a question? If I overlooked this in the archives, my apolgies. What kind of timetable did you experience with the agent search? Also, why is LOTTERY not going by the more usual 18 month timeframe to get it on the shelves?

Lastly, I think you've been indirectly referenced on Kristin Nelson's blog today. She was talking about themes which are over used. She used winning the lottery as one of those, but added "a lottery theme coupled with some other interesting and original element could potentially capture our attention." Interesting. Very, very interesting.

D.

LadyBronco said...

It is amazing how quickly things happened for you Pat.

What a ride!

Brava. :0)

Mindy Tarquini said...

It really is a dizzying list. I'm amazed you found time to do your laundry.

ORION said...

I didn't.

Mary Akers said...

Laundry? What's that? Oh, yeah, the stuff that sits in that big machine so long that it has to be rewashed to get out the mildew smell. I remember now.