Triple Huzzah!
Twenty-five-year old librarian Bethany Hagen’s sweeping YA debut, LANDRY PARK, pitched as “Gone with the Nuclear Wind,” to Nancy Conescu at Dial, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, for three books, by Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media (NA).
That’s right — Landry Park is going to be a real book! When my agent called this week to tell me that someone had made on offer, I almost fainted. Then I went through the stages of joy — shock; disbelief; repeating the same words over and over; crying while helping patrons figure out how to use their flash drive on the library computers.
After months of hard, slow toil, this has all happened so fast. Let’s recap:
Monday: Dream Agent emails to say she wants to represent me and my novel. I do happy jig at the library wearing heels. Alarmed coworkers remind me that they won’t cover my roving shifts if I break an ankle.
Tuesday/Wednesday: frantic line edits with agent. Eyes go numb from looking at the screen.
Thursday: Drop contract in the mail, more frantic edits.
Friday: Finish edits, write short bio, send picture, polish series overview aaaaannnnnd OFF TO THE EDITORS.
Weekend: Try to not obsessively research every editor and imprint.
Monday: Offer! Heart attack.
fin.
So yes, I will be published. Tentatively, it looks like fall of next year. I couldn’t be more excited. My editor called after everything was finalized just to tell me how excited she was that we’d be working together. Isn’t that incredible? And the Penguin Young Reader’s Group is INSANELY good. How good?
Beth Revis is a Penguin author. So is Ally Condie. And Marie Lu. And John Green.
JOHN GREEN, PEOPLE.
March 9th, 2012 at 3:51 am
Huge congrats!! I’m intrigued by the pitch for your book. I want to know more!
Btw, I’m a fellow client of Mollie’s. Guess that makes us sisters.
Congrats again!
March 9th, 2012 at 5:18 am
We are sisters! Except, I guess that would make Mollie our mom…oh, well.
Thanks for the congrats! What is your book about?
March 9th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
haha, true. Mollie strikes me as more of the brilliant master, with me as the clumsy apprentice. 😉
And my book is a historical fantasy set in the Old West. Think Deadwood with magic.
March 10th, 2012 at 7:43 pm
WHAT?! Lovelovelove that premise! Does that mean Ian McShane is in it too, cause that would just be amazing.
March 9th, 2012 at 4:27 am
YEAY!!!!!
March 9th, 2012 at 6:10 am
HUZZAH!
March 10th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Thanks lady! And thanks for being an awesome CP!
March 9th, 2012 at 6:22 am
CONGRATS! What amazing news
March 10th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Thanks, Lenore! Congrats from a fellow Kansan is something special
March 9th, 2012 at 6:42 am
Congrats, Bethany! (I follow Gennifer Albin on Twitter and saw her tweet.) I LOVE the concept of the book–it sounds amazing. I can’t wait to read it. Congrats again!
March 10th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Thanks, Elyssa! I’m partial to the book as well, but I’m guessing it will be volumes better by the time Nancy finishes with it…
March 9th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
That’s amazingly fast. Congratulations! 😀
March 9th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Congratulations!!!
March 9th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Bethany, congratulations! Oooh you’re a librarian (dude, that is my dream job.) I actually came to your website because I googled “revision request” and I was wondering if you could possibly e-mail me a little bit more on that. Iamterrifiedanddon’tknowhowtostart.
Anyway who the heck cares because ummmm YOU’RE GETTING PUBLISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN A MAJOR DEAL. With Nancy freakin’ Conescu who edited Michelle Zink’s Prophecy of the Sisters. <3 <3 And freakin' Penguin. Who publishes not only John Green and Beth Revis, but also Andrea Cremer AND Jessica Spotswood. Annnnnnnd you.
What an amazingly fast sell – I am so pleased to hear about it.
All the best-
March 10th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Thanks, Rachel! I’m not technically a librarian since I don’t have a Master’s in Library Science (just ye olde bachelor’s in Creative Writing) but as an “information specialist,” I do a lot of the same type of jobs: helping patrons do research or finding a good book or nudging sleeping people to make sure they aren’t dead.
And yeah–Nancy totally kicks butt! I can’t believe how awesome she is! And Penguin is such a dream house. LOVE.
March 13th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Congrats on the deal! The hook sounds amazing.
Nancy is a sweetheart. You couldn’t have picked a better editor (I work at Random House children’s and had met her a few years back when I was at Penguin).
March 15th, 2012 at 1:30 am
Thanks! And Nancy is great–she is so warm and engaging that I think working with her is going to be lots of fun!
March 30th, 2012 at 10:20 pm
Hey Bethany – Congrats! It’s breathtaking when it happens so fast. I’m also a Kansas writer (in Lawrence) and am friends with several Penguin authors (you’ve named at least one) – it’s such a great house! In any case, if you’re ever want to get together and talk shop, drop me a line.
Cheers,
Natalie
https://twitter.com/nataliecparker
March 31st, 2012 at 3:12 am
I’d love to meet sometime! Josh Neff told me about the Kansas writer’s meetup at the Jayhawker! Going to try to make it!