Update on my books

We’re another step closer I’ve submitted the information for the copyright page, acknowledgments, author bio and reader thank you along with the cover art for the three versions of my book. They’re in the process of being formatted now and we should finally be able to submit them to the distributor over the next few days.

There has been a few delays here and there, mostly due to me being home for the holidays. People aren’t purposefully distracting me, it’s just hard to concentrate when I really just want to spend time with my family. As a result, today I’ve banished myself to a secluded corner of a coffee shop to get some work done. So far my plan seems to be working – I’ve got a lot accomplished.

I haven’t talked about my books yet, so allow me to introduce them.

PaperBox Books will be distributing my first novel in three editions. I know this sounds weird, but it does make a lot of sense. When I first wrote a novel, it was a romantic ghost story. This was back in ’95, so the stories were all a lot more innocent than they are now and there really was no such thing as Young Adult. I sent it off and it was rejected (for good reason, it needed a lot of work) but by then my life had taken a very unromantic turn and my novel was put on the shelf with the promise to re-write it one of these days.

Well, one of these days took a few years to arrive. But I pulled it down and dusted it off and fixed my woodenish characters and upped the excitement factor. Eager and hopeful, I pitched it in person to Valerie Gray, Senior Editor at Harlequin, Toronto. She peppered me with questions and decided that my hero wasn’t dangerous enough for the current batch of paranormal heros and suggested I might try to re-write it yet again as a Young Adult Romance.

It was harder than I thought it would be to take my 29 year old, regional manager of a heroine and switch her to a third year university student, but I did and am very proud of the result. I sent off my manuscript again to Harlequin, who at the time was about to launch teen series. It was rejected again, because the topic was still too old for their target market. They liked my writing.

So, now you know why I have two versions of the same story. But we’re not quite done. I mentioned there is a third.

Here is the advantage of e-publishing. The third version of my novel up for sale is a double volume including both novels. There are a lot of people out there, fellow writers, teachers, book clubs etc who are intrigued by the idea of keeping the story but changing how it occurs based on the ages of the main characters.

For example, in the original version, adult Kathryn my main character can simply head off to the rural village of White’s Bluff for the weekend. If she’s a teenage university student, this isn’t a believable option for her. Since the story takes place at White’s Bluff, this is a huge issue.

The books will be up for sale over the Christmas break. Now that my dream is becoming a reality, I’m excited and terrified all at once. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

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