How to use this Page

NO FEE WRITING CONTEST:  PRIZE: $5,000.00. 

DEADLINE: 10-31-2014.

Black Balloon Publishing will accept submissions for the 2014 annual Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize between October 1st and October 31st, 2014. The winning author receives $5,000 and a Black Balloon book deal.* There is no reading fee.

WRITING CONTEST WEBSITE

Black Balloon Publishing invites entries of finished, unpublished and original fiction manuscripts of over 50K words to The Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize. The winning author receives a $5,000 cash prize and a book publishing deal with the company.Submit only unpublished fiction manuscripts (50,000 words and up) written in English. Short stories, previously published as collections, are still eligible. The initial entry process requires you to submit a partial manuscript of under 4,000 words.Black Balloon Publishing is a well-known author-friendly indie press based in New York, NY. The company publishes crossed genres of creative fiction, narrative, and nonfiction that showcase experimental forms of strong storytelling.

Black Balloon will announce a winner on Monday, February 2, 2015.**

Submission Guidelines:

• Fiction manuscripts only, please (novels or short story collections)
• Manuscripts must be complete, unpublished and original. Prior print or digital publication of individual stories from an unpublished collection is acceptable; please ensure your submission acknowledges all outlets in which individual stories have been previously published (if a work is discovered to have been posted or published elsewhere—and not openly acknowledged by the author in advance—we will remove the manuscript from consideration).
• Self-published novels and story collections are ineligible, including work that has been published digitally.
• Manuscripts must be over 50,000 words in length
• International English-language submissions are welcome
• Submissions must be received between October 1st and October 31st, 2014

DEADLINE: October 31, 2014

Use the link below to submit (scroll to the bottom of the page).

https://electricliterature.submittable.com/submit/35240

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Polis Books is an independent digital publishing company actively seeking new and established authors for our growing list. We are currently acquiring titles in the following genres. Submissions in the following genres should be to [email protected].

We are currently acquiring:

• Mystery

• Thriller

• Suspense

• Procedural

• Traditional crime (i.e. ‘cozies’)

• Science Fiction

• Fantasy

• Horror

• Supernatural

• Urban Fantasy

• Romance

• Erotica

• Commercial Women’s Fiction

• New Adult

• Young Adult

• Humor/Essays

We are not currently acquiring:

• Children’s Picture books

• Graphic novels

• Short stories or stand-alone novellas

• Religion

Submission Requirements:

• Query Letter

• Three Sample Chapters

• Author Biography (include information about personal blogs, Twitter handle, or other social media outlets you feel we should be aware of)

Query letter and sample chapters should be emailed as attachments (not in body of email) to:

[email protected]

They will reply requesting more information on a submission-by-submission basis. 

They give a small advance and 40% royalties.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Polis Books is an independent digital publishing company actively seeking new and established authors for our growing list. We are currently acquiring titles in the following genres. Submissions in the following genres should be to [email protected].

We are currently acquiring:

• Mystery

• Thriller

• Suspense

• Procedural

• Traditional crime (i.e. ‘cozies’)

• Science Fiction

• Fantasy

• Horror

• Supernatural

• Urban Fantasy

• Romance

• Erotica

• Commercial Women’s Fiction

• New Adult

• Young Adult

• Humor/Essays

We are not currently acquiring:

• Children’s Picture books

• Graphic novels

• Short stories or stand-alone novellas

• Religion

Submission Requirements:

• Query Letter

• Three Sample Chapters

• Author Biography (include information about personal blogs, Twitter handle, or other social media outlets you feel we should be aware of)

Query letter and sample chapters should be emailed as attachments (not in body of email) to:

[email protected]

They will reply requesting more information on a submission-by-submission basis. 

They give a small advance and 40% royalties.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

PLEASE NOTE: The deals listed are only the deals reported to Publishers Marketplace between June 2013 and June 2014. Not all deals are reported.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Here is another illustration from the NJSCBWI Conference. This fun illustration done by Deborah Cuneo helps us think out of the box when we roast our marshmallows this summer. Deborah won Honorable Mention in the Published Category for this illustration. Website:  www.deborahcuneoillustration.com  Blog:  http://deborahcuneo.blogspot.com

This is the third post about the State of the Children’s Market I presented at the NJSCBWI Conference this past weekend. Please view the post on Monday for the details about the slides.

I think you can see that the State of the Market is very good and editors and agents thought this would continue for the next year.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Penguin’s Grosset & Dunlap imprint will award a $10,000 contract to a writer who can write the first book in a new young adult series based on Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy film THE DARK CRYSTAL.

The world of The Dark Crystal is a world unlike any we have ever known. Under the triple suns, the skies roil with cloud formations not seen in our skies. Seedpods spiral up and rocks scuttle off. It is a world where the wise and noble urSkeks have been split into two imperfect races, Skeksis and urRu; and the Gelfling Clans, the species most like our own, go about their lives not knowing what their future holds. This is a world waiting to be explored and expanded upon with new stories, new quests.

You could be the author of a new novel
set in the world of Jim Henson’s
The Dark Crystal.

At The Jim Henson Company, we continue to be enthralled with the possibilities of this world and invite you to join us in our obsession. We have set up a portal to share what we know, a new website with all of the information about this place and these creatures: DarkCrystal.com. We invite you to use the resources, character descriptions, locations, and history on this site to join us in imagining the next Dark Crystal story.

Cheryl Henson Founder, DarkCrystal.com

Jason Kirschner’s above illustration was the winner of the NJSCBWI Artist Exhibit Award for an Unpublished Illustrator.

Yvonne Ventresca – Signed book deal with Skyhorse Publishing for a contemporary YA novel about a flu pandemic.

Robin Newman – Signed a book contract for her chapter book, “The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery (Creston Books, Agent: Fleissig) Plus, she received an SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant Letter of Commendation.

Linda Bozzo – Signed two book deals with Amicus for eleven nonfiction books about the military.

Susan Hood – Sold 2 new picture books to Random House. Plus, her book SPIKE, THE MIXED-UP MONSTER won a 2013 Int. Latino Award.

Ame Dyckman – Signed another book deal and picked up her Crystal Kite Book Award at the conference.

Adam Lehrhaupt – Landed an Agent when his editor Alexandra Penfold joined Literary Agency, Upstart Crow. His debut book, Warning: Do Not Open This Book! with Simon and Schuster is coming out 8/27/13.

Nancy Viau - Had two PBs come out this spring: LOOK WHAT I CAN DO! and STORM SONG. One PB forthcoming in 2014.

Pam Brunksill – Sold her first magazine piece to Highlights for Children It will appear in this September’s issue.

Laurie Wallmark – Magazine article printed in Cricket and a story in Boys Quest. She sold two additional articles to Boys Quest.

Dave Amaditz – His young adult novel, Dirty Secrets, was the winner of the 2012 SCBWI W-I-P Grant for a Contemporary Novel.

Wendy Greenley – Just discovered her poem “Elegy to my Hotel Bed” is included in the July/August issue of the SCBWI Bulletin.

Tracey Baptiste – Is working with Scholastic as an editor in their education department with a digital teacher training product called Scholastic U.

Eric Sailer took Honorable Mention in the NJSCBWI Artist Exhibit with the above illustration.

Left to Right: Agent Jessica Regel, Agent Stephen Barbara, Sheri Oshins, Leeza Hernandez, Kelly Calabrese, Connie Colon, Agent Marietta Zacker.

If you would like to see more photos taken at the conference click these links:

http://robinnewmanbooks.wordpress.com/

http://nerdychicksrule.com/2013/06/11/the-quotable-nerdy-njscbwi/

https://www.facebook.com/connie.t.colon/photos

Congratulations to all! I expect that I will be able to report back lots of other success stories once the bubble to the surface after the dust settles from the good things that went on at the conference.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Please note: The names below are of the agents who had the most children’s book deals report to Publishers Marketplace by a publisher, agent, or author. It is just a snapshot in time. When I ran the numbers in the beginning of the year, the names and numbers were different. Also you should know for various reasons not all deals are reported to Publishers Marketplace.

Many agents represent children’s books and adult books. Only children’s book deals were used. This is the type of information you can access if you sign up for the paid subscription to Publishers Marketplace. I consider this important information and part of the cost of doing your homework.

1. Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency)
has had 27 deals in the this category during the last 12 months - 4 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 9, 2013 – 11 PB – 11 MG – 8 YA

2. Ammi-Joan Paquette (Erin Murphy Literary Agency)
has had 26 deals in this category during the last 12 months - 3 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 3, 2013 - 9 PB – 7 MG – 12 YA

3. Erin Murphy (Erin Murphy Literary Agency)
has had 24 deals in this category during the last 12 months – 1 six-figure+ deal Most recent deal in this category: April 4, 2013 – 19 PB – 9 MG – 2 YA

4. Sara Crowe (Harvey Klinger)has had 21 deals in this category in the last 12 months – 12 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 10, 2013 – 11 MG - 14 YA

5. Holly McGhee (Pippin Properties) had 19 deals in this category in the last 12 months – 14 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 5, 2013 – 16 PB – 5 MG

6. Kelly Sonnack (Andrea Brown Literary Agency) has had 17 deals in this category in the last 12 months  - 2 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: February 26, 2013 – 14 PB – 3 MG - 1 YA 

7. Tina Wexler (ICM) has had 15 deals during this category in the last 12 months  Most recent deal in this category: March 20, 2013 – 2 PB - 8 MG – 7 YA

8. Rosemary Stimola (Stimola Literary Studio)has had 14 deals in this category during the last 12 months – 16 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 2, 2013 – 3 PB - 8 MG – 2 YA

9. Sarah Davies (Greenhouse Literary Agency)has had14 deals in this category in the last 12 months – 20 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: March 27, 2013 – 3 MG – 13YA

10.Paul Rodeen (Rodeen Literary Management) has had 14 deals in this category in the last 12 months – 2 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: April 10, 2013 – 13 PB – 1 MG

11. Brenda Bowen (Sanford J. Greenburger Associates) has had 13 deals in this category during the last 12 months - 7 six-figure+ deals Most recent deal in this category: February 15, 2013 – 10 PB – 3 MG – 2 YA

12. Teresa Kietlinski (Prospect Agency) 13 deals in this category during the last 12 months.  Most recent deal in this category: March 26, 2013 – 12 PB – 4 MG

HENRY HAZLITT CONTEST FOR BUSINESS FICTION

This contest catch my eye, because it doesn’t cost you to enter and it gives you a cash prizes, plus a chance to get published with an advance and royalties. 

Traditionally, business has been portrayed negatively in most novels. The purpose of this contest is to provide some balance to this situation, and thus provide a publication opportunity to debut novelists with a positive business mindset. 

I hope someone in the audience has a novel that fits.

NO ENTRY FEE
DEADLINE: April 30th, 2013
Unpublished Author
Pro-business theme
MG – Adult

The Henry Hazlitt Contest is a writing competition for the best new novel with a business or economics theme by a debut author.

The winner will receive the 2013 Henry Hazlitt Award for Business Fiction, which includes a cash prize of five hundred dollars ($500)  and an offer of a publishing contract that includes a royalty  advance of $2,000.

You must be an unpublished author, not previously or currently bound by a publishing contract. The novel must have a theme related to business, finance, entrepreneurship or economics. The novel’s theme should be pro-business. The target audience for the novel can be any age from middle-grade to adult.

No picture books. Deadline April 30, 2013.

http://www.fiscalpress.com/writing-contest.html

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

KIT & VESPER & JOYCE, YAY!

Kit Grindstaff’s debut novel hits the bookshelves on April 9th and she is having a Book Launch Party on the evening of April 19th from 7 pm- 9pm at The Doylestown Bookshop 16 South Main St, Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901. If you live in the area, it would be great if you could stop by and help Kit celebrate. Big Congratulations to you. I wish you the best of luck with the book. Kit said, “And the book’s publication is SO much due to your teaming me w/Michelle Poploff at the 2010 conference!” That is music to my ears.

Vesper Stampers new picture book In The Hall of The Mountain King. Vesper will be signing her book at the New Jersey SCBWI June Conference, but if you aren’t attending you can get one with this link: http://www.allisonflannery.com/buy-book/ Congratulations, Vesper! Love how successful you have become. Versper was featured on Illustrator Saturday in Aug 2011.  Here is the link: http://wp.me/pss2W-39y

Joyce Wan signed a contract with Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillian for her picture book WHALE IN MY SWIMMING POOL that she wrote and illustrated. It was a two-book deal, sold to editor Janine O’Malley by her agent Teresa D Kietlinski at Prospect Agency. If you attended the 2010 Writer’s Retreat in Princeton, you may remember the story, since that is the one she brought with her.  Congratulations, Joyce. We are so proud of your success.

Joyce will be teaching a workshop on Branding this June at the NJSCBWI annual conference. Don’t forget to register. www.regonline.com/njscbwi2013conference

Christian Trimmer will join Simon & Schuster Children’s as senior editor on April 15. Previously he was senior editor at Disney-Hyperion. GOOD LUCK!

Emily Graff has been named associate editor at Simon & Schuster. CONGRATULATIONS!

Other Industry News:

San Francisco-based publisher of science fiction & fantasy Night Shade Books, which has been struggling financially for several years, indicated in a letter to authors and agents earlier this week that the company plans to sell its assets to Skyhorse (as well as another entity, Start Publishing LLC.) The catch is that the sale cannot happen unless “a sufficient number of Night Shade authors agree to certain changes to their contracts.” Alternately, Night Shade will file for bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings.

In the letter, Night Shade explains their financial difficulties were exacerbated by Borders’ liquidation, so much so that they “have reached a point where our current liabilities exceed our assets, and it is clear that, with our current contracts, sales, and financial position, we cannot continue to operate as an independent publisher.” They claim the potential sale to Skyhorse and Start Publishing “will result in authors getting paid everything they are due as well as finding a future home for their books,” while the “revenue received from the sale would go towards paying off the debts of the company.”

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America originally supported the possible deal in a letter to members, saying “it was in our members’ best interests to encourage the deal to go through” because otherwise, liquidation could tie up contracts and owed royalties for years, if they are ever paid out at all. Should the asset transfer happen, Skyhorse would publish Night Shade titles under a dedicated imprint, with co-owners Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams staying on in consulting editorial roles.

But a number of Night Shade authors, including Jeff Vandermeer and Kameron Hurley, said they would not sign off on the new terms. So everything continues to hang in question.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

KUDOS:

Author Carol Murray sent me a  note this week thanking me for advising her to submit and sign with agent Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon. Kathleen sold Carol’s poetry collection, Cricket in the Thicket to Christy Ottaviano Books (her  imprint) with Henry Holt & Company. Melissa Sweet, who was featured on Illustrator Saturday has been contracted to do the illustrations.

At Knopf Books for Young Readers, Michele Burke has been promoted to senior editor and Allison Worchte moves up to editor. SO HAPPY FOR BOTH OF YOU!

Maria Ribas has been promoted to assistant editor at Harlequin Nonfiction and Harlequin Kimani.

NEWS:

Jonathan Cape Children‘s, which has been publishing new picture books and backlist titles by Roald Dahl and Joan Aiken, will now publish new fiction, led by Random House Children’s UK publisher Annie Eaton.

Penguin Australia announced it will rename its Books for Children & Young Adults as Penguin Young Readers.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

We have been discussing Self-Published books for the last few weeks and we have been talking for months about how the publishing industry is changing, so I thought I should make sure you don’t miss this article written by Wall Street Journal’s Alexandra Alter. It is an excellent article and one you really should read (the whole thing). It is long, but worth the five minutes of time. If for some reason you can’t take the time to read it, click on the above link and at least listen to the interview with Ms. Alter about her article.  But in the article, she talks about how Hugh Howey got his book off the ground.

This just might be the article that keeps you going when things seem bleak. I just ordered Part One  of WOOL on Amazon.  It is free for download to your Kindle.

Simon & Schuster has put down six figures for print rights to a post-apocalyptic thriller called “Wool” that it believes could draw the same readers that made “The Hunger Games” trilogy a success.

Simon & Schuster’s print-only editions of Hugh Howey’s Wool, which brought in over a million dollars as a self-published ebook was published yesterday. Howey’s long holdout for a traditional publishing deal came a reality and allowed him to keep his ebook rights.

Hugh Howey’s postapocalyptic thriller “Wool” has sold more than half a million copies and generated more than 5,260 Amazon reviews. Mr. Howey has raked in more than a million dollars in royalties and sold the film rights to “Alien” producer Ridley Scott. And Simon & Schuster hasn’t even released the book yet.

In a highly unusual deal, Simon & Schuster acquired print publication rights to “Wool” while allowing Mr. Howey to keep the e-book rights himself. Mr. Howey self-published “Wool” as a serial novel in 2011, and took a rare stand by refusing to sell the digital rights. Last year, he turned down multiple seven-figure offers from publishers before reaching a mid-six-figure, print-only deal with Simon & Schuster.

“I had made seven figures on my own, so it was easy to walk away,” says Mr. Howey, 37, a college dropout who worked as a yacht captain, a roofer and a bookseller before he started self-publishing. “I thought, ‘How are you guys going to sell six times what I’m selling now?’ “

It’s a sign of how far the balance of power has shifted toward authors in the new digital publishing landscape. Self-published titles made up 25% of the top-selling books on Amazon last year. Four independent authors have sold more than a million Kindle copies of their books, and 23 have sold more than 250,000, according to Amazon.

Publishing houses that once ignored independent authors are now furiously courting them. In the past year, more than 60 independent authors have landed contracts with traditional publishers. Several won seven-figure advances. A handful have negotiated deals that allow them to continue selling e-books on their own, including romance writers Bella Andre and Colleen Hoover, who have each sold more than a million copies of their books.

Print-only deals remain extremely rare. Few publishers want to part with the fastest-growing segment of the industry. E-book sales for adult fiction and nonfiction grew by 36% in the first three quarters of 2012, compared with the previous year. Mass-market paperback sales shrank by 17% in the same period, while hardcover sales declined by 2.4%, according to a recent report from the Association of American Publishers.

When “Wool” hits bookstores next Tuesday, publishing industry insiders will be watching the experiment closely. Simon & Schuster will release a $15 paperback and a $26 hardcover simultaneously, competing directly against Mr. Howey’s digital edition, which costs $5.99.

“We would have preferred to own all the rights, but that wasn’t going to happen,” says Simon & Schuster President and Publisher Jonathan Karp. “It was a very unusual circumstance.”

“Wool” became a viral hit last winter, a few months after Mr. Howey began publishing the five-part series on Amazon. The novel takes place in a postapocalyptic future where a few thousand remaining humans live in a giant, 144-story underground silo. Couples who want to have a child have to enter a lottery; tickets are distributed only when someone dies. Citizens who break the law are sent outside to choke to death on the toxic air. Those who are sent to their deaths are forced to clean the grime off the digital sensors that transmit grainy images of the ruined landscape to a screen inside the silo. The images are meant to remind residents that the world beyond the silo is deadly, but some begin to suspect their leaders are lying to them about what’s outside and how the world came to ruin.

Mr. Howey says he was watching cable news one day when he came up with the idea of a future where people get all of their information from a single, unreliable screen.

“Wool” landed just as the entertainment industry was searching for a high-concept, dystopian hit like Suzanne Collins’s young-adult “Hunger Games” trilogy or Justin Cronin’s postapocalyptic vampire novel “The Passage.” (Mr. Cronin blurbed “Wool,” calling it “an epic feat of imagination.”) The serial format helped build buzz and anticipation among binge readers who were desperate for the next installment, while the 99-cent price tag made each installment an easy impulse buy. “Wool” was the most favorably reviewed book on Amazon in 2012, with an average rating of 4.8 out of five stars. The novel seems to appeal to both men and women, and has attracted hard-core science fiction fans as well as general readers, much like “The Hunger Games.”

Mr. Howey grew up in Monroe, N.C., the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher. As a teenager he devoured popular science fiction books like “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Ender’s Game,” and always had a wild imagination. He studied physics and English at the College of Charleston, but dropped out his junior year to sail to the Bahamas. He cycled through a series of odd jobs, working as a yacht captain, a roofer, and a technician for an audio-video company. Four years ago, he decided to give writing a shot. He and his wife were living in a 750-square foot house in Boone, N.C. He was unemployed; his wife, Amber Lyda, was working as a psychologist. He had an idea for a story about a young spaceship pilot who travels across the galaxy in search of her missing father. He sold the novel, “Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue,” to a small Indiana publisher for less than a thousand dollars. Sales were meager.

“When he first published ‘Molly Fyde,’ I’d call his wife and say, ‘How many books has he sold? Should I go to Amazon and buy three more?’” says his mother, Gay Murrill, who owns a yarn shop in Charleston.

Mr. Howey kept trying. He got a 30-hour-a-week job at a university bookstore that paid only $10 an hour but gave him some flexibility. He got up at two or three in the morning to write, and wrote through his lunch hour and after dinner. He designed his own cover art, enlisting his wife and sister to pose in photos. He would often jolt up in bed in the middle of the night to scribble down ideas.

“It was almost a compulsion for him,” says Ms. Lyda. Ms. Lyda said she pleaded with him to leave his pen open on his nightstand, because the clicking noise of his pen kept waking her up.

“Wool” started as a short story that Mr. Howey dashed off in three weeks. He posted it on Amazon for 99 cents in July 2011. Within three months, the story had sold 1,000 copies. Mr. Howey was stunned.

“I told my wife, ‘Baby, we’re going to be able to pay a couple of bills off this short story,’ ” he said.

Readers begged for a sequel, and in November, Mr. Howey released another installment. He sold more than 3,000 copies that month. The next month, he released two more installments and sold nearly 10,000 copies total. In January, he released the final installment, for $2.99, and published all five as a single volume, for $5.99. Collectively, he sold 23,000 copies of all the editions that month. “Wool” shot up Amazon’s science-fiction best-seller list. Mr. Howey quit his job.

Literary agents started courting him. The BBC proposed a television deal based on the series. Most of the agents wanted to auction off print and digital rights to the highest bidder. Mr. Howey wasn’t interested. One agent, Kristin Nelson, said she didn’t think he should sign away digital rights, but that she could help him with foreign rights and film and TV deals. He signed with her in January of last year. They sold the series in 24 foreign countries. Several British publishers bid on the book, and Century won rights for a high-six-figure sum.

Ms. Nelson also sent “Wool” to U.S. publishers, and received a few low six-figure offers. Mr. Howey turned them down. Through Amazon’s self-publishing platform, he was collecting 70% of royalties, which amounted to nearly $40,000 a month. Most publishers offer a digital royalty rate that amounts to 10% to 15% of a book’s retail price.

That spring, Mr. Howey began selling the books on Barnes & Noble‘s BKS -2.57%Nook and Kobo’s e-reader and through Apple’s iTunes store. An agent at United Talent Agency began shopping film rights. Three studios bid on the book. 20th Century Fox and Ridley Scott, director of the blockbuster science-fiction films “Blade Runner” and “Alien,” optioned it. Indie writer and director J Blakeson is writing the screenplay.

After news of the movie deal broke, publishers pounced again. Mr. Howey flew to New York in May to meet with five major publishers. Four of them bid. Mr. Howey, who by then was making $120,000 a month, wasn’t swayed. Some of the publishers wanted to change the book’s title, a proposal that Mr. Howey called “comical,” since it would sabotage his online branding efforts. Others insisted that he immediately take down his digital edition, which would erase all records of the thousands of five-star reviews the book had accumulated, forcing him to start from scratch.

One meeting went better than the others. Mr. Howey sat down with Mr. Karp, the head of Simon & Schuster, who had heard about “Wool” from two of his top editors and from Dave Cullen, author of “Columbine,” a 2009 book profiling the shooters behind the 1999 mass killing. “When I read more about it and saw what a culture phenomenon it had become, I realized it was something we should take seriously,” Mr. Karp says.

Mr. Karp was unusually solicitous, asking Mr. Howey what kind of deal he would accept. Mr. Howey said he wanted a co-publishing deal, where he kept digital rights and Simon & Schuster held hardcover and paperback rights. Mr. Karp was noncommittal, and said he’d be in touch.

Sales soared over the summer. Mr. Howey and his wife moved to Jupiter, Fla. and bought a slightly larger house—900 square feet. Mr. Howey continued to write and self-publish new books, including a zombie novel and prequels to “Wool” that explore how and why the silos were built.

In October, Amazon discounted “Wool” for 24 hours as part of its Kindle Daily Deal, a discount program that highlights select titles. Amazon dropped the price on the “Wool” Omnibus, which has all five stories, from $5.99 to $1.99. Mr. Howey sold 20,000 in a single day. New offers from publishers poured in, some in the low-seven-figure range.

Then Mr. Howey’s agent got an email from Mr. Karp, asking if they would consider a print-only deal. Ms. Nelson says she wrote him back, “Is this for real?” and he wrote back, “Yes.”

Simon & Schuster now has to transform a digital hit into a traditional print blockbuster. The publisher is sending Mr. Howey on an 11-city tour, and has planned a bold six-figure marketing campaign that will capitalize on the film news and online reviews. They are releasing the book simultaneously in hardcover and paperback in an attempt to capture both the library and first-edition collectors market as well as retailers like Target and Wal-Mart WMT +0.85%. Much of the online marketing will fall to Mr. Howey, who has proved himself to be adept at digital self promotion. He’s still selling 50,000 e-books a month.

“A lot of the things we normally teach authors to do, Hugh has been smart enough to do himself,” says Richard Rhorer, who oversees marketing at Simon & Schuster.

Mr. Howey just returned from book tours in Germany, Scotland, Wales and England, where “Wool” recently hit the best-seller lists. He’s starting to feel more like an established author. “Publishing is changing so quickly that we are all equal experts,” he said. “We’re all trying to figure this out.”

Mr. Howey recalls feeling anonymous at a science fiction conference last summer in Chicago. He got excited for a moment when a woman approached him—he thought she wanted his autograph—but she was looking for the bathroom.

Nearby, fantasy writer George R.R. Martin, author of the best-selling series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” was signing hundreds of books. Mr. Howey went up and introduced himself. When it became clear that Mr. Martin had never heard of him, Mr. Howey told him his novel was No. 6 on Amazon’s list of science-fiction and fantasy best sellers, behind Mr. Martin’s five books. Mr. Martin gamely signed a book for Mr. Howey, inscribing it “To # 6—Keep trying!”

A few months later, Mr. Howey landed at the top of the list, just ahead of Mr. Martin.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

As I said yesterday, there were so many good things happening in the chapter, that I knew I would forget some of the news.  Still I know I have not received all the things I was told. 

Beth Ferry met her editor at last year’s conference and this year she showed up with a signed picture book contract. 

Darlene Beck-Jacobson landed an agent for her historical novel and it sold on Friday at the conference. 

Felicia Chernesky met her agent at a NJ SCBWI First Page Session and just signed a contract for her first children’s book – a rhyming picture book. There are more, but I have not heard back from everyone to make sure it makes the list.

Gayle Aanensen:  I loved singing Kathy her “Marching Song” and think we all sounded pretty good doing it–considering the number of introverts (like me)! Then followed Kate DiCamillo, both affirming and challenging.  Loved how Ame and Dan signed their book with such flair. Is he the next Dr. Seuss or what?  Thanks to all editors and agents who were more challenging than affirming, but in a good way. I left with that “thing with feathers” (Emily’s poem) deep in my heart.

Joanne Alburger:  Scott Treimel, the agent panel, Kathy Temean, and Jane Kirkland all said to do social media. Dan Yaccarino said to always say, “Yes!”, so I came home and created a blog. The faith and hope that was showered on all of us has been life changing.

Jeanne Balsam:  I had a terrific, enlightening critique with Stephen Fraser, inspiration from Kitty Griffin and Kate DiCamillo, and much, much more!

Saragail Benjamin:  FANTASTIC experience!  Kathy and her colleagues at NJ SCBWI always put together the most useful, helpful, inspiring conferences and this one may have been the best yet.  I made some good connections with other writers and with agents and editors–we’ll see how those pan out–but I’m grateful to Kathy/NJSCBWI for the setting they create, the culture they’ve established at these NJ conferences, making it so easy to connect with absolutely anyone.  Sessions led by John Cusick were especially thought-provoking, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is always informative and helpful.  Keynote speaker Dan Yaccarino was enthusiastic, full of energy, totally inspiring. I was grateful to him for sharing his experiences and positive approach to his career.  And I’ll never forget Kate DiCamillo, reading for 45 minutes in her clear, small voice, mesmerizing us all with tales from her life and career.  Her generosity as a writer and as a person, sharing so deeply, coupled with the magic she weaves with words–I know the experience is destined to become one of those memories I look to repeatedly for sustenance and comfort as I continue my own writing journey.

Susan Brody:  I’m channeling West Side Story: “Could it be? Yes, it could. Something’s comin’, something good…” Or so I’d like to hope!!! It was an awesome conference.

Connie Colon:  Rebecca Frazer gave my writing nice compliments along with some solid suggestions that I plan on trying right away. It was so great to see her — and all the way from London to boot!  I’m so glad I booked a consultation with Eileen Robinson. We ended up talking about several of my projects during our one-on-one time and I also felt like a made a new friend — she even gave me a hug goodbye on Sunday! I was really blown away by two workshops in particular this year: Felicia Chernesky’s Let Poetry Add Punch to Your Novel session and Laurie Calkhoven’s Meditation/Acting Techniques to

Write Integrity Press has announced their Books of Hope Contest. They are seeking books in series of three, and winners could receive a three-book publication contract! The series of books can be fiction or nonfiction, but must carry a message of HOPE in some form or fashion. Be creative. Give them characters they can love in your novels, and issues they can care about in your nonfiction.

One First Prize FICTION Winner will receive a $500 Cash Prize and their standard publication contract for the three-book series.

Two runners-up in fiction will receive their standard publication contract for at least one book, and perhaps all three.

One First Prize NONFICTION Winner will receive a $500 Cash Prize and their standard publication contract for the three-book series.

Two runners-up in nonfiction will receive their standard publication contract for at least one book, and perhaps all three.

There will be two rounds of judging:

1) Entries must include ALL of the following for Round One Judging by June 15, 2012. (These are just the basics – see the Nitty-Gritty details at the bottom of the post.)

• Submit a one-page, single-spaced synopsis of the entire three-book series.
• Submit a 100-word blurb for each book of the series.
• Submit the first chapter of Book 1 (length should be 2500-5000 words.)
• Entry fee of $25 paid through the Paypal link below. Be sure to write down the PayPal Transaction ID# because the Paypal Transaction ID# must be placed on the Cover Page of your entry, along with your Name, Address, Phone, E-mail, Website, and Series Title.

2) Finalists will be selected from these entries and notified by July 31st. In Round Two:

• Finalists will be required to submit a completed manuscript of Book 1 by November 30th. Full manuscripts should not be submitted prior to your being notified as a finalist.
• Instructions for submitting final manuscript will be sent with finalist notification.

Final Winners will be notified in January 2013.

Now for the Nitty-Gritty details (and these have been deal-breakers in the past, so please follow the guidelines – they’re here for a reason):

• Use Times New Roman font, size 12.
• Use double-line spacing, except for the synopsis and blurbs.
• Pages should have 1″ margins all around.
• Use black ink.
• Include a header on each page (except the cover page) that includes your last name and page number in top right corner.
• In the subject line of the e-mail entry, please indicate – BOOKS OF HOPE: Fiction or BOOKS OF HOPE: Nonfiction, so the manuscripts are routed properly.
• Entries should be submitted in a Word document, attached to the e-mail(editor [at] writeintegrity [dot] com).
• The e-mail itself should serve as an introduction – tell us who you are and a little about you. Nothing formal, fancy, or lengthy – just let us get to know you a little.

Your attached entry should include:

• Cover page with Name, Address, Phone, E-mail, Website, and Paypal Transaction  ID#.
• One page, single-spaced synopsis of the entire three-book series. Give us the ending, don’t leave us guessing.
• One 100-word description of each of the three books (300 words total – separated under each book title.)
• The first chapter of Book 1 (2500-5000 words in length.)

Final manuscripts should be in the 50,000-80,000 word range. Writers may enter manuscripts in b