39 Comments

So exciting!!

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☺️☺️☺️ thank you, Sally!

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Sep 27Liked by Evelyn Skye

Congrats Evelyn, that's so exciting!! I love the behind-the-scenes snippets in the author diaires segments as someone who is very much in the beginning stages of trad pub (I'm still revising a manuscript with Thao!) I'm super curious about anything and everything you have to share with us x'D Looking forward to more diaires <3

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Thao is so great with revision! I’m happy I can help shine a light on the process for you!

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Congratulations!!! This is such exciting news and I can’t wait to hear more! 👏👏👏

I’m curious about whether your previous publisher/s got a first look before your agent reached out to other editors and then went to auction? That’s the case for any of my future works, but I’m based in Australia and I think it’s fairly common here to have that written into contracts, so I’m wondering if that’s a thing there too?

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Yes, it’s a thing! That’s a great idea for a topic, I will add it to the list!

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Ooh good to know! Thank you for adding it!

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Ahhh! I'm so excited for you! Can't wait to read all the behind the scenes stuff over the next year!

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Hooray!! Thank you, Alysha!

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Congratulations! Thanks for peeling back the curtain for the rest of us.

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thank you, and you are very welcome, Bruce!

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Thanks so much for explaining how book auctions work. I think all the ideas I have for your author diary are great ones. And I can't wait to hear about your new novel!

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I’m glad you found it interesting, Barb! And I am super excited to tell you soon about the new novel!!

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it is my dream to see one of my books go to auction - thanks for the inside look!

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You’re very welcome!! And I will be crossing my fingers that that dream comes true for you, Kerry!

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Congratulations! That is so exciting! 🌸 I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes diary entry. I worked in academic journal publishing, and while some aspects of the journal publishing process overlap with fiction publishing, there's still a bit of a difference. I'm looking forward to your upcoming installments. 😊

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Thank you, Steph! It’ll be neat to compare the commercial vs academic publishing processes. It’s also nice to know that you’ll be looking forward to future installments; it gives me a face to put to the reader as I’m writing it 🥰

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Huge congrats!!!!!!

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thank you, Rachel!

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I’m so so happy for you, Evelyn!! ❤️❤️❤️ And such a wonderful post! 🌸

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Thank you, Jane!! Working on this new book has really lifted my soul.

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Evelyn--Congratulation!!! I LOVED this! Your voiceover took me there WITH you--so that I was screaming for joy too! (And btw, you seriously could get voiceover work as an actor.)

I have spent something like 6 years trying to learn about publishing--thinking I knew how auctions worked--preempt deals--etc--and while I may have had a basic understanding, this tied all the missing pieces together in a pretty little bow. THANK YOU. [And btw, I'm currently making revisions for an agent who has asked me to resubmit when I'm done. And while NOTHING is guaranteed, it is a light on the horizon. When I read about others' happy stories (such as yours) it gives me the necessary pep in my step (aka hope) to keep working on the manuscript and pursuing my dreams--so again, many thanks.]

What I'd like to learn about in the future...one thing I can NOT figure out for the life of me is royalties. -While I know the basics of royalties and advances and agents' cuts--and while I also know that royalty rates are different based on hardcover/paperback/audible etc--what I can't find any data on is how sales are distributed (generally) within those categories. (And yes, I do know it varies by book and I'd imagine, genre.)

Any insight on that topic--along with all the others you mention--would be greatly appreciated! Thx and again, Congratulations!!!!!

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Diana, you are too kind! I grew up hating my voice because I thought it was too low, but now that I'm doing these article voiceovers and the podcast, I realized that having a female tenor actually gives a lovely resonance to recordings. So sometimes it just takes a while in life to get to where you're supposed to be, haha. (My voice does get squeaky when I am excited, although I'm learning to love that as pure, true expression of my emotions.)

Since you probably already know all this about advances and royalties, you might not need this post I wrote about how authors make money, but I'll drop the link here just in case it's helpful for you or anyone else reading the comments:

https://www.creativeinspiredhappy.com/p/book-deal-101-how-do-authors-get

In the meantime, I've added your diary request to my list. Thank you for the suggestion!

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Thank you for the link 💕

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CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Cue the screaming and cheering!! I’m so happy for you and can’t wait to read your new work!

Thank you for teaching me something I’d never heard of before with book auctions. What a fun opportunity to see people love your words so much that they fight over them!! I can’t wait to hear more behind the scenes about all of it.

🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤩

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Thank you, Mesa!! I am SO excited to get to share about the new book with you. And I'm really glad you learned something new in this post! Auctions are wildly fun for the ego, lol.

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Congrats Evelyn!! I can’t wait to hear about your upcoming book and share it widely! Loved the diary entry. My non fiction book went to auction so I was very fortunate. But now that I’m wanting to write fiction I’m eager to hear the differences. I have a novel I started and had over 80000 words on but now I’m going to restart it. So I’m excited! For diary entries I would love to hear more about agents. Is it important to get an agent specializing in fiction? (Mine says she’s got me covered but I’m wondering about the pros and cons there)…and can’t wait to hear if the second book is a sequel or new idea!!

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So cool that you got to experience an auction, too, Tanmeet! They're really fun. And I love your enthusiasm for restarting work on your novel!

That's a great idea for a diary entry, will add to the list!

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There is so much disbelief suspending in Finley Donovan. She is the ultimate hot mess heroine

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Yes! That's such an accurate description of her.

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All credit to @lee savino, who taught me that name for her favorite trope.

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I'd like to hear more about dev editing. I tried that route, but my editor promised advice and help, then she "ghosted" me which put me in a writing slump. I never paid and she never asked for pay in the end. So I wasn't a complete patsy!

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oof, I'm sorry you got ghosted, Beth. How unprofessional! I'm glad you weren't out money, though. Whew.

I will add a note to myself to hit on this topic when I write about editing. Thank you for bringing that up!

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This is the author’s dream! Coming true. Congratulations, Evelyn! Amazing.

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thank you so much, Cindy!

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