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Monday, November 27, 2006

 

NavPress Expressed Interest!

First, the good news! It's the birth of Jesus. And more recently in my life, it's the title of this post. Jesus loves me, and NavPress is thinking about it.

Here are the details. Leslie Nunn Reed has been acting as an agent for me since January 2006 . . . sort of. We have no formal contract, but she pitched the proposal at the ICRS this summer. Tyndale and NavPress both expressed interest.

A senior editor at NavPress just got back with Leslie. To paraphrase his email, he is sorting through the large stack of proposals on his desk and he likes Into the Mountain by Marcus Greenberg. (I'm assuming he meant me.) This guy, a senior editor, wants to know if it is still available.

As if it might not be available anymore!

NavPress!? The same press that published Ragamuffin Diva's great Murder Mystery? Needless to say, I'm excited. Like dancing in my chair excited. I'm trying not to get too excited. I'm trying to limit myself to feelings like this: [clears throat and adopts a serious tone] I'm encouraged that someone likes the book or is thinking at least that they might like it.

I immediately told Leslie to jump on it. Half the book is polished. (I'm repolishing it a bit more this week.) She expects he'll want the first half. Which will give me time to finish polishing the second half. (New writers should know this: I have rewritten this book about five times.)

Second, the bad news. It's not really bad news. But you can imagine that NavPress may not want me posting an entire manuscript online before they publish it. So here's my plan. Lean in close, and I'll whisper it in your ear: If you subscribe to "Entire Book in a Blog," I promise to send you the pdf for the manuscript even if I have to shut the blog down.

I admit it is also a shameless marketing attempt to get people to subscribe to that blog. Don't worry about spam or anything. I just send one new chapter per week. You're only committing to about forty emails, plus a few more commentary posts. (I won't sell you anything. Ever.)

To be honest, I would also really really really appreciate your comments there. They will guide my work as I prepare it for NavPress.

That's it. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Comments:
Hey Mark, I myself used to be a senior editor for NavPress! I'll mosey on over to the other blog and I'll really really really try to leave some comments. But beware, I'm a freelancer now and I charge by the minute. :-)
 
Congratulations on the nibble. Now, let's pray they gobble the whole turkey. :) (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
 
Rachelle, I'd love to hear more about your experience as a senior editor with NavPress.

L.L. thanks for the encouragement. I'm hard at work, and already tweaking chapters 1-4.

I'll try to post the tweaks as I can. I want to make the process to be as transparent as possible--not because I'm some great model or anything. I think too many writers have this mystical view of writing. When really it seems to be about hard work and perseverance.
 
Charity, I saw that you had subscribed--these great sites notify me of everything through email. It's really wonderful.

I thought about sending you a note to thank you, but instead, I just went to comment on your blog. In the future I'll send a personal note to everyone who signs up. That would be a nice gesture, right?
 
Congrats on peaking some interest with your novel! Any encouragment is always a blessing as we travel down this unpredictable and winding road to publication. Keep us posted and if/when you do get a contract, be sure and let Writer...Interrupted know!
 
Thanks Gina. I will be sure to let you know details!

At this point I'm just working through revisions. That process is what I plan to talk about in the article for the Carnival.
 

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