The week of Pat!;-)

Well, everything still feels surreal to me. Funny how everything has happened so fast since early January, when I made so little headway for the previous seven years or so.

David Forbes had been telling me to query Matt Bialer for months, repeating that Matt was a fan of the blog and would undoubtedly want to see some sample chapters. Did I listen? Of course not! No, for I wanted to complete my non-fiction manuscript, Time of your Life, just so I could submit material from both manuscripts.

Imagine my surprise when Matt requested the entire manuscript for The Eye of the Serpent, claiming to have loved the sample chapters! Imagine my shock when, a few weeks later, I was notified that he wanted to represent me, making me the newest client at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Inc!

I was expecting to work with him to strengthen various parts of the narrative before he felt that the manuscript was ready to be shopped around, a process that would indubitably lasts for weeks/months. Imagine my delight when he revealed that my manuscript didn't need any structural editing, and that he was comfortable submitting it in its current form!

Last week, he emailed me to let me know that this coming week would be "the week of Pat." Which brings us to today, the day when The Eye of the Serpent was officially sent out to publishers!;-) It's unbelievable, I know!

After discussing this on the phone a while back, we knew we wanted to pursue simultaneous book deals in the USA and the UK. We talked about editors and publishers that would be a good fit for me and the manuscript. At 250,000 words, The Eye of the Serpent is a big book, and Matt didn't want to send it to everyone at once. So he opted for a first offensive that includes five American and two British targets.

Yep, the wheels are definitely in motion now, no doubt about it! Much like Scott Lynch and Hal Duncan did prior to being published, I will henceforth use the blog to inform you guys of any progress or lack thereof. I am well aware that this might take months, but it's exciting nonetheless!

Wish me luck!;-)

14 commentaires:

Anonymous said...

That is awesome. I feel like this is happening to a friend, in some wierd, cyber-way! Question is, who's going to do the review, interview and giveaway???

SQT said...

Fantastic! I'm definitely sending good wishes your way.

Unknown said...

This rocks! Best wishes, luck, hope and chocolate!

Anonymous said...

Pat, make sure to put us on the ARC list and get ready for some interviews!

Good luck!

Frank
www.Phantastik-Coch.de

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Pat! All these giveaways for great books, I'd definitely like to see you give away a few signed copies of your own work! ;)

Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Pat! Like ebenstone said, I feel like this is happening to a friend, and I'm very excited for you. =]
Even more so, because I'm in the process of finishing MY last re-write.
Best wishes and all the luck. I will be buying this!

Alice said...

Awesome news Pat! I wish you the very best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic news Pat. Delighted to see you having such good fortune at last.

I hope you've started to think about what YOU'D like your cover art to be like, considering that US Bonehunters cover fiasco you highlighted.

If you get to have any say at all in it if/when it happens, try and and put your foot down, please.

Again, nice to see you get a decent break. Looking forward to see the final product eventually.

Scott Marlowe said...

cool, man. best of luck!

The Monk said...

Luck.

And I hope you get treated better than American publishers have dealt with Steve Erikson.

Stuart said...

250,000 words? And he didn't suggest cutting it?

Now I'm really impressed. :) My first draft will come in around 180,000 and I'm trying to figure out how to get it down to 150k. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it as much then (not to say, I'm not going to cut out the extra stuff, but you've given me hope that I don't need to hack it nearly as much).

Good luck Pat! And I'll echo Ebenstone and Chris. Having read you for a awhile here and on westeros, I feel like this is a story of "local boy makes good." :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! And good luck!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I can't wait to read it.

Best of luck to you!

Unknown said...

Yaaaaay! I'm wishing you LOTS of luck with this.