It happened.
After years of sending out novels to agents, I'm finally getting one published: JENNY WILL EAT YOU NOW.
After I signed on with my (wonderful, capable, not to mention charming) agent Jenna early this year, we started to polish up my novel, then titled JENNY GREENTEETH. I had had fellow writers read and give comments on it over the past couple years, so with their help, it was almost ready! A few edits later, and after Jenna constructed a great submission letter, it was done. Within a couple weeks of becoming her client, my agents and I sent the novel out on submission.
The initial reactions were instantaneous and glowing. I was shocked. I expected months of silence! Jenna shared with me comments from editors who had been "looking for just this kind of thing" and claimed it sounded awesome, cool, and a good mix of "heartwarming and gruesome." That was exactly what I wanted to hear!
And the process kept moving along. The MS got considered and rejected in short order. The compliments were wonderful, regardless, and affirmed to me that, if nothing else, we were on the right track. Publishers don't have to say nice things if they don't want to!
Then the novel got an offer from a publisher. Then it got TWO.
I am, and remain, completely stunned. I've labored on this novel for a while, unsure if it would find a home. JENNY is a story about love, loneliness, messy, monstrous desire, and being a swamp creature. The idea transfixed me. In selling it, though, it was hard to find anything like it to use as a "comp" title, at least until John Wiswell's SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN was published last year! But the market is unpredictable. At different steps in the process, I was sure I would have to eventually try my hand at the competitive world of self-publishing.
Instead, the book went to auction in March 2025. This involved a lot of email exchanges as opposed to anyone actually banging a gavel. (That I know of, anyway. The only gavel I'm aware of was in my heart.)
After a lot of back and forth, Jenna and I sold the novel to Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. The process of drawing up and agreeing to the contract took several months.
Working with my editor, Kimberly Laws, has been just wonderful. I had the good fortune to meet her in person at Stoker Con recently, as well! She's fun, funny, and, goddamn, does she believe in this novel. She was the one who texted to tell me that, now that it's been announced on Publisher's Marketplace, it ended up being the Deal of the Day on July 15:
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
