The Dream…What was it like going to auction with my book A Murder for Miss Hortense?
Book Cover for a Murder for Miss Hortense
It went something like this: I was still out on submission in the UK (this is when your agent sends your books to publishers to see if they are interested in buying it). I was away for a few days with my husband on a driving trip in Germany, when my phone rang again. Am I sitting down? Yes, I was in the car. No, I wasn’t driving. I could talk.
“There is a UK pre-empt” (as detailed in my previous blog, this is when an early offer for a publishing deal is made from an editor. If accepted by the author and agent, it will result in the book being taken off the market and no other bids from any other publishing houses will be accepted.) “WHAT!”
There was a decision to be made. Accept the pre-empt - all well and good or see what other offers would be put on the table but no guarantees and obviously the pre-empt could be withdrawn. We pulled over and parked up. My agent was supportive. It was my decision, no pressure. But unknown territory for me. Would it be like a game show where you take the prize on the table and then realise that behind the door there was much more? Or do you refuse the offer and then leave with nothing but a commiseration mug? Don’t overthink it, my agent advised.
A couple of weeks before, Nelle had told me which publishers she intended to send the book out to and over the past couple of weeks had been forwarding me the lovely responses (there may have been horrible ones but she didn’t forward those to me).
I understand if an editor likes a book they are not the only person that needs to decide whether or not to make an offer to buy it. There will be an acquisition meeting where sales and marketing also have to agree to buy the book. It means if you get through the hurdle of having an editor like a book, it’s not the end of the story there are other hurdles. So getting an offer from a publisher is a really really big deal.
But I decided to turn down the pre-empt and wait it out. There had been quite a bit of interest and I was conscious that this was potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity, to go to an AUCTION!!!.
So we went to AUCTION!!! In the end it came down to five FIVE publishing houses.
I’m not sure, even now, nearly two years later, I have the words to describe the experience.
There is no auction floor or gavel involved. No shouting. In my case there were a few rounds and a lot of emails.
And then meetings. Wonderful meetings. I think I must have looked like a rabbit in headlights in those meetings. No way are you pitching to me? It was like being in a dream. Whole teams of people in a room around a table and talking about my book? Six, seven, eight, nine people in a room, who had read my book, from marketing, publicity, and sales who prepared bags for me, with red ribbon and a bottle of rum and smelling salts. Tote bags to take away with wonderful books of their authors, a brochure for me. They were discussing marketing strategies, they were familiar with my characters. Telling me who their favourite character was and why. I was stunned. I’m not even sure if I was able to talk coherently during those meetings. It was one big blur. The other thing is you can’t really share the big blur with anyone until it’s public knowledge, which was months later.
And then another decision to be made. A hard decision but in the end we chose Baskerville an inprint of John Murray. An imprint that publishes books that haunt the imagination, that often feature characters who live in the shadows and offer an outsider’s view of society.
I was blown away by their pitch.
I was now going to have a book that would also be published in the UK. I might get to walk into my local bookshop or library and see Miss Hortense on their bookshelves!
Even in the writing of this blog it still feels like a dream!
What were my takeaways from going on submission:
I found the possibility of being on submission thrilling. Maybe a bit like buying a lottery ticket with the possibility that you might win but also a real possibility that you might loose.
Following on from that, there are no guarantees, and maybe it’s better to approach the whole process on that basis.
You can’t really measure yourself by others experiences - as much as I read what was available online, mine didn’t neatly fit into those examples.
Try to find a coping mechanism that works for you when you are waiting for news - sometimes it’s days sometimes it’s months or even years (trying to distract yourself with something else is a nice idea…) but at the end of the day just know that you will probably be completely obsessed.
At a basic level, being on submission means a new set of people, IN THE INDUSTRY are reading your work!
Work out how you are going to work with your agent - my agent kept in touch, explained the process to me at every stage and forwarded positive comments when they came in.
Your agent is really important - utilise their experience to navigate the space.
