My Publishing Offers!

I wanted to share with everyone my experience receiving offers for my erotic romance series. I have previously shared my writing journey, and the painful submission process, which you can find on this blog.

I have been writing for three years, and have completed five manuscripts, (well some still need work and editing) but they are: two contemporary fiction novels, drama / crime novel, and erotic romance novels (part of a series.)

I have been submitting to agents and publishers this year, and the waiting period of 6-8, sometimes 12 weeks is so hard! I was constantly checking my emails. Some days I’d get rejection emails, and some days I’d get emails stating they found my writing interesting, enjoyed reading it, but it wasn’t for them.

I remember having had a really crappy day, the only highlight was sitting at a nice restaurant for dinner. I decided to check my emails, not really expecting anything, when I received an offer from a publisher – an imprint of a large publisher, of which you definitely would have heard of.

A couple of days later, I received another offer from another publisher.

And then after that, received another offer! I was absolutely ecstatic! Three offers, meaning that these publishers believed in my work. I have never felt so happy.

I’m going to keep the publishers anonymous, as it wouldn’t be fair to name them, but the emails I received from each of them were:

‘Congratulations on getting an offer from [publisher.] We also like your work very much. We are interested in taking your proposal forward.’

‘Sophia, after further review, [publisher] would like to offer you a contract for [book series.] Please let me know if you’re still interested and I will send the contract for you to review.’

‘I am impressed with the rewrite, and with your vision for a series, your instincts for erotica, the raw aspects of this story, and how you’ve paced the narrative and big set pieces that incrementally move the lead character into a new world of experience. On the strength of this, I would like to offer you a place at [publisher] for this book and the sequel.’

I sent off the usual questions, the most important being – would the book be available in paperback as well as eBook. As much as I like reading eBooks, I love paperbacks more. I have always dreamt of holding my own physical book in my hands, and that is what I was after.

They stated it would be. Choosing a publisher was one of the hardest decision I have ever had to make! They are all brilliant publishers. I researched them all for a solid week – their book cover designs, their authors, their social platforms etc. I asked so many people for their advice on what to do.

In the end, I decided to go for Limitless. I am excited to start my journey, and cannot wait to share my series on 16/02/2016! I am so nervous! It’s scary sharing something with the world that you’ve put your heart and soul into for years!

I hope you follow me on my journey, and would absolutely love your support, whether it’s just giving my Facebook author page a little like, http://www.facebook.com/SophiaValentineAuthor or following me on Twitter @SophiaVAuthor, it all helps! There were so many times when I felt disheartened receiving rejection letters, and when I felt like I weren’t getting anywhere, even though I really believe in my writing. Although, I never even thought of giving up, and I never will. Writing is my passion. So, for aspiring authors, it isn’t easy, but when you eventually get there (which you will through perseverance) you will see that it’s worth it!

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