Wednesday, March 2, 2011

You Gotta Have Friends

Tag, I'm it!  Tara Lazar wrote a post about the importance of having writer friends.  And then, well... she tagged me.  Why?  Because she and I have a particularly symbiotic relationship.  We each give ourselves credit for at least one picture book sale that the other has made!   (We think we have a decent shot of making that two each by the end of the year! :)

I have very few marketable skills (unless you happen to know of a position that pays for high Scrabble scores?)

But one thing I can do... I can spot a PB winner when I see one!

So, when Tara wrote The Monstore, I said, "Tara, this will sell.  Time to get yourself an agent."   I then gave her a referral to Ammi-Joan Paquette.  Joan and I had been in an online critique together years ago before she was an agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency.  I had a sense of her style and taste and thought it would be a good fit. (though, honestly, I didn't think any agent would say no tot hat manuscript!)

Joan fell in love and quickly sold it to Aladdin,/Simon and Schuster. 

Tara didn't really need my help  The Monstore would have sold without me. But it sure is nice to have a friend's vote of confidence to get you through the lows of this industry.

17 comments:

Joanne R. Fritz said...

What an inspiring story, both of you. I love hearing this kind of stuff.

Yay for writer friends! Especially ones with good connections.

And I'm sure both of you will have many more picture books published in the years ahead.

Megan K. Bickel said...

What a lovely story! Yay, friends!!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

You guys are both so awesome. I don't know how most of us would make it without our bloggy buddies! :-)

Unknown said...

Ahh, your made me smile. Because (a) I like both of you lots. And (b) I like that you like (and help) each other lots. :)

Sherrie Petersen said...

What a cool story! I love that you guys have helped each other out.

Catherine Denton said...

That's so fun how you both get credit for the other one's book.

You do realize with, "I can spot a PB winner when I see one", we'll all be sending you our PB manuscripts, right? ;)
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storyqueen said...

Okay, I am going with Corey FTW! I mean, not only did you know the PB would sell, you found her an agent as well?

You are awesome.

Shelley

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

What a great story, Corey! You're right our internet friends really make a difference in our lives.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

What a great story, Corey! You're right our internet friends really make a difference in our lives.

Lauren F. Boyd said...

Hey, Corey! Great post! I've got a PB manuscript on a publisher's exclusive submission policy, but if he rejects it, I'll send it your way to see what you think!

hy said...

Hey, Corey, that's awesome. A logical next step would be for you to continuing writing your great PB's -- and also become an agent. You know what sells. And you could submit your books to yourself, knowing that you'd think they'd soon to be brilliant best sellers.

Kelly H-Y said...

What an awesome, inspirational story!

Julie Hedlund said...

I loved both of your posts on this, and I am glad I count both of you as friends now too! :-)

Julie Hedlund said...

By the way, could you let me know when you think I'm ready for an agent? You seem to have extraordinary predictive powers LOL :-)

Megan Frances Abrahams said...

What a great story. I liked part 1 on Tara's blog too. Hy's right, it does make you kind of an agent.

The Monstore is a wonderful title. And I'm very intrigued about the other books you each have in the wings!

Anonymous said...

Lovely stories from both of you. I love how you are setting yourself up for all the funny comments too. Connections and good writing are both so important.

Ishta Mercurio said...

Great story! Corey, you might have a budding career as an agent-author matchmaker. :-)