Another Bond Girl Sells!

My fellow 2007 Golden Heart “Licensed to Sell” finalist sister, Marilyn Brant, just sold her first two books to Kensington! Marilyn won the Golden Heart for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements in Dallas last summer with her manuscript, ACCORDING TO JANE. Way to go, Marilyn! To check out Marilyn’s first sale story (and who wouldn’t want to?), please visit her blog.

Why do I keep mentioning when another Bond Girl sells? To rub salt into the wounds of non-finalists? Uh, no. To give unpublished writers hope. And to show that finaling and/or winning the Golden Heart can help propel a writer on her way to that first sale. Sure, there are of those of us (not looking at anyone in particular…) who haven’t sold our GH finalist manuscripts. Finaling and/or winning the Golden Heart does not mean you will without-a-doubt, 100% sell that manuscript. But your finalist status definitely gets you a foot in the door in terms of marketing or re-marketing that manuscript. And who wouldn’t want some of that?

 

By Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

3 comments

  1. Oh, Cindy–thank you!

    I do seriously hope other writers will feel encouraged by my story because the timing of a sale we can’t control, but our work on writing craft and our persistence in the face of so many industry challenges we CAN.

    Anyone who’s heard me talk about this book (my 5th out of 7 manuscripts so far) knows what an uphill battle it was. I had to completely restructure the novel, and that was even after it won the GH…

    So, truly–if it could happen for me, there’s hope for everyone! And I look forward to reading about more new sales very soon!!

  2. Marilyn, you’re so right about what we can control and what we can’t. I think your story is even more inspiring because you did have to restructure the novel. A lot of writers would have passed out right there and never recovered. This isn’t an easy business. It’s rewarding, but not easy. When new writers hear what other writers have had to go through to sell, well, personally I think it’s better to be educated and informed about the industry so there are fewer surprises when their turn comes.

    I’ll continue to post the first sale stories of my ’07 GH sisters as they occur. And, if there are any ’08 finalists reading this, if you sell and want to tell your story on my blog, just email me. I’ll be happy to oblige.

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