Tuesday 20 May 2008

Two-Book Deal with Random House

Doesn't seem that long ago (it wasn't really) that I started with the goal to write a novel. I did and found a brilliant agent - Sophie Hamley of the Cameron Creswell Agency.

Sophie produced a great proposal and dispatched it for the first round of submissions. I have to admit I thought it would be around six months before we heard back from any editors. And then we would have to send the proposal off for few more rounds. Sophie was confident that we would find a great publisher to work with. Me, not so. I knew the odds were against me as a first time author securing a deal with any of the big publishers.

Three weeks later we received a two-book offer from Random House Australia. After picking myself off the floor, I asked a dozen questions or so that I can't remember. It just didn't seem that real. Sophie arranged a phone call with the acquisition editor at Random House, Larissa Edwards.

Larissa is wonderful to speak to and I can't wait to meet her in person. We had a great connection and she answered all of my questions in a very professional manner and outlined their plan for my novels. After the call I contacted Sophie and let her know that I definately wanted to work with Larissa and the team at Random House.

I would have never had made it this far without the wonderful support of the dedicated members of the Absolute Write Forum. And of course my critique partners and BETA readers. Thank you all and I look forward to keeping you updated on our journey to publication.

The next challenge is getting Lee Child to read Interrogated and to write a blurb that we can stick on the cover. Anyone have Lee's number?

Cheers team.

JJ

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

JJ, congratulations. E-mail me any time through LeeChild.com.

JJ Cooper said...

Hi Lee,

Thank you for finding the time to land on my blog and comment. Ironic, I'm re-reading The Visitor at the moment. Look forward to speaking soon. Enjoy the tour.

JJ

s.w. vaughn said...

Oh my God, JJ, that's freakin' AWESOME!!! Humongous congrats to you!!!

:D <--S.W., grinnin' cuz she knew you'd make it!

P.S. Holy crap, Lee Child commented on your blog!!! :-)

JJ Cooper said...

Hi S.W,

Thank you so much. Hadn't seen you around for a while and now I know why. Broken Angel has been sold. That's sensational. You even have a trailer already. You have been busy.

Your help when I started Interrogated was invaluable. Thank you.

Lee Child is fantastic. Just amazed that the time to drop me a line. And, follow it up. A great role model.

Talk soon.

JJ

Simon Haynes said...

What a great deal! Congratulations, and here's looking forward to seeing your books in the shops.

Anonymous said...

Congrats! There's nothing better than seeing your name on a book cover.

colbymarshall said...

Many congratulations are in order! Way to go! :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's awesome. Just great post and great achievement, and great news and wonderful. Excited for you.

The Word Faery said...

Complete congrats to someone who so utterly deserves greatness. Were you born into it, or should we thrust more upon you?? hehe, great news JJ, *claps*

JJ Cooper said...

Just want to thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments. Much appreciated.

JJ

Kerrie said...

Just letting you know that I have added your blog to my RSS listing and also to say I thought you would enjoy reading Michael Robotham's SHATTER

Kerrie from oz_mystery_readers

JJ Cooper said...

Thanks Kerrie. I was eyeing off Shatter the other day in the bookstore. Michael Robotham is a great author and I'll be adding that one to my list.

JJ

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Congratulations!