Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I have good news today!

The announcement went up this morning that I have been selected as one of the judges for the YA Fantasy/Science Fiction category for the Cybil awards this year!

SQUEE!!!!!!

The announcement: http://www.cybils.com

The Cybils are the Children's and Young Adult Blogger Literary Awards. Nominations begin October 1st and end October 15th.

I'm so excited and honored and overwhelmed. I've been oscillating between dancing around and screaming and being so nervous I want to throw up. It's wonderful

Wow, how exciting Sommer! That's really awesome. But really, it makes perfect sense. You are one of the best bloggers I know of! And I mean that!

Awesome news, Sommer! Congrats!

So it's nothing big like landing an agent or a book deal, but I just got a wonderful review from my critique partner on the manuscript I've been editing for almost a year now!

GingerWrite wrote:So it's nothing big like landing an agent or a book deal, but I just got a wonderful review from my critique partner on the manuscript I've been editing for almost a year now!

That's plenty big! Great job!

My name has a typo and per request my co-writer, Orlanda's name will be added into the first line, but the essence is already there; first sneak peek about Crystal Shade based on the first seventy pages.

http://wbrondtkamffer.com/2011/10/02/cr ... i-preview/

And more will come. I already read those sneak peek articles, but they will be released on the next week. They're also giving positive previews about Crystal Shade (I'm really glad for this, because I asked for cruel previews from the critiques.). So I'm happy now.

I just found out that I was one of six "top pitches" out of over 100 in the YAtopia contest to get a full ms request from an agent And was encouraged to submit a full length query (the contest was to do a 2 sentence pitch)

While I wasn't the one to get the full ms request, I am so happy to have been a finalist

GingerWrite wrote:I just found out that I was one of six "top pitches" out of over 100 in the YAtopia contest to get a full ms request from an agent And was encouraged to submit a full length query (the contest was to do a 2 sentence pitch)

Go you with your bad self! That's awesome!

Glad I clicked on this thread, although I'm not a Sqeee-Guy. I'm more of a fist-pump, air-punching, "(Expletive of choice)--yeah!" guy.

Bottom line is our hard work and dedication does pay off in small ways at first and then hopefully larger paybacks come later.

I haven't been checking my sales because I've been so busy with work-work, my own basement remodel, and everyday toddler and prego-wife care but this morning I popped on over to my account at Lightning Source.

Some bookseller ordered 16 copies of my paperback. Not sure who but it feels good considering I haven't implemented any of my GTW (Getting the Word) out tactics yet. Ok...back to the dusty basement.

CheekyChook...that is a great story about you meeting someone on here and collaborating. Good stuff.

So, I started querying exactly two months ago, and it's been kind of a whirlwind. And I am very, very, VERY happy to announce that I just accepted an offer of representation with Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary. I am beyond excited to start working with her. I felt like she really "got" my book -- her agency works with a lot of literary-commercial "in-betweener" genre stuff, which my novel falls right into. She respects that I have a literary style while still writing a commercial book and has a plan of action to put me in front of editors who will respect that. Also she's very, very sweet and I loved talking to her.

I kind of can't believe it. I HAVE AN AGENT!

maybegenius wrote:So, I started querying exactly two months ago, and it's been kind of a whirlwind. And I am very, very, VERY happy to announce that I just accepted an offer of representation with Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary. I am beyond excited to start working with her. I felt like she really "got" my book -- her agency works with a lot of literary-commercial "in-betweener" genre stuff, which my novel falls right into. She respects that I have a literary style while still writing a commercial book and has a plan of action to put me in front of editors who will respect that. Also she's very, very sweet and I loved talking to her.

I kind of can't believe it. I HAVE AN AGENT!

CONGRATS! Two months! That's amazing. Well done.

Congratulations! That's just unbelievable! And quick! You should celebrate

Congratulations, maybe! Loved the story on your blog of how it "came to be".

Thanks, you guys! I'm still pretty much walking on air.

@Ginger - Oh, there was definitely some champagne last night

This post should really be called a Bransforums fairy tale. Yes, there is such a thing. First off, I admit that I have been completely MIA from the forums for months. I have been writing, blogging, and querying like a damn fool. My long-time critique partner, Cheekychook, is around all the time and she gives me the updates on everyone. Lame, I know. For those of you don't know, she and I met on these very forums, and it has been a very wild ride since.

After a handful of indie press submissions and nearly 100 agent queries, I am happy to say that I have contracted the first novel I wrote, Bring Me Back, with Turquoise Morning Press. This all went down last week and the contracts were just signed over the weekend. I am so excited, I can hardly think straight. Bring Me Back is my baby, it is me on a plate, written without any calculation as to what I would do with it when it was done--I saw a story, I saw my characters, and I put it on paper. Knowing it will be published is so gratifying. I can't begin to express how good it feels.

The icing on the writer's cake is that this takes me to a total of three contracted books this year, one of which was co-authored with my critique partner, Cheekychook. That one, which is called "Long-Distance Lover's", will be published by Ellora's Cave in December. My other contract was for "Love My Way", also through Ellora's Cave, and that should be out late winter/early spring. I will add that I accomplished all of this without an agent. Most of you probably already know that Cheekychook has contracted FIVE books this year, all without an agent.

Looking back on the last 14 months (started querying September 2010), my biggest piece of advice has two parts--keep going and stay open. I can tell you with 99.999999999% certainty that this journey will not happen the way you think it will. So, be open to things you may not have considered at the beginning, keep trying, and keep writing. Best of luck to everyone.