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The manuscript originally came to me after my boss at the time, Megan, received her own imprint at L,B: Megan Tingley Books. She decided to open up our submissions guidelines somewhat and allow unsolicited query letters, and I was in charge of reviewing these letters, as well as the manuscripts I requested to see. I liked Libby's description of the book and sent a letter that I'd like to see the whole manuscript, and the letter was returned to us as "address unknown." Luckily, we also had a conscientious intern who took the time to track down the author's email through her website which was (also luckily) on the original letter. It turned out that Libby had a major typo in her return address!
Well, I read the manuscript, loved it, my boss read it and saw something in it as well and told me I could ask for a revision, which I did. After I believe two revisions, we took it to our acquisitions meeting where it was well-received, but unfortunately several key members of the committee were not in attendance, and they were not as enthusiastic about it. So, I went back for another revision. Happily, though, because my boss saw my passion for this project and was willing to give it a chance, we were able to sign it up, and I made my first-ever call to an author to make the offer. That is still one of the highlights of my career so far.
Libby and I met for the first time for lunch at Silvertone (the BEST mac and cheese EVER) for my first expensed lunch. We had, of course, talked on the phone and had many correspondences
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At this point, our relocation to New York was taking place, so again things were a bit in limbo in terms of its publication date, but after many more revisions and several moving of lists, it was finally published in the Spring of 2004. Its first review was from Booklist--a star!
"The word delightful is overused in reviews, but it's difficult to find one that's more appropriate for this novelized memoir -- though warm and cozy would do in a pinch."--Booklist
It's since received many other glowing reviews, was picked by the NYPL as a Top 100 Title for Reading and Sharing, and was a Massachusetts
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This was a very sweet first for me, and also Libby's first published book. But the best part of all of this is that I gained a new friend for life in Libby. She wears glitter on her face, cooks a kick-ass meal and is a wonderful host, has traveled the world (and isn't done yet!), reads voraciously, and has a unique view of the world. Her personality really shines through in her writing, and I hope to work with her on many more books to come. But she and I will always remember our first time.
6 comments:
I've read and heard lots of stories-behind-the-stories of authors receiving The Call for the first time -- how neat to get to see things from your perspective.
Thanks, Chris. Thanks for reading!
This was a fun blog to find. It's message is full of magic.
Do you think Little, Brown will ever open up their submission policies again? Or request themes?
[Just a wish.]
Sorry--I doubt our submissions policy will ever change, we still get too many manuscripts than we can handle in a timely manner. But thanks for reading!
I don't remember how I happened to stumble on this book, but I'm glad I did. I loved it! Congratulations and good job!
Thank you Alvina, as I'm on the other side of the fence and so interesting to see what is happening as I wait -
Kit Grady
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