My book deal: it’s starting to feel real…

Have you entered my double Amazon giveaway yet, which I’m running to celebrate my good news? The details are here.

It’s been a week since my contract for the release of ISLA’S INHERITANCE was signed, and it’s starting to actually sink in that next year I’ll be able to hold my book in my hands. And fondle its pages. You know, if I wanted to.

If you’re wondering what happens immediately after you sign with a small press—other than the dance of joy, which I covered previously—the answer is that you fill in some forms. There’s financial information and contact details to provide (easy enough), an author bio to write (a little harder) and a form to fill in for your cover design preferences (hard!). The last one includes a box where I need to write a blurb (OMG, even harder!).

I still haven’t finished that last one. Writing the blurb is just as hard as writing that original query letter was. How do you summarise something you’ve agonised over for years in two paragraphs?

I was also sent the Turquoise Morning Press style sheet, and I’ve converted my manuscript to their style. That wasn’t too traumatic because the style isn’t that dissimilar to what I was using, but I did discover I use an alarming! number! of exclamation points!!

And I’ve signed up to their mailing list and received a very warm welcome. It made me go all dizzy with excitement, but I’m trying to play it cool rather than overwhelming them with slobber and glee.

But I do have some exciting news for you, which is actually the point of this post. I have a rough timeframe for when ISLA’S INHERITANCE will be coming out: the northern hemisphere fall of 2014. (Or autumn, as we’d call it here. Except here, of course, it will be spring. Confused yet?)