Persistence Pays Off: Jenny Milchman's Happy Ending

A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to get to know then-aspiring author Jenny Milchman through her comments on this blog. We've e-mailed back and forth a bit, and I learned she had a good agent for her own suspense novel, but in the way of marketing efforts, things were proceeding more slowly than expected.

On her blog, Suspense Her Disbelief, (which I am sharing with permission) Jenny shared that she'd survived the excruciated ups and downs of 11 years, 3 agents, 5 novels, and 14 almost offers, and not surprisingly, this was beginning to get old. Old to the point where she'd about decided she'd had enough of playing by the traditional rules and was going to take the alternate route expressway, as so many other authors have done of late (some with amazing success, others not so much.)

Enter award-winning mystery novelist/fabulous person Nancy Pickard, who was touched by Jenny's story when she wrote to ask for her advice. Nancy did something authors almost never do (for reasons involving both time and legality) and asked Jenny to send her manuscript, COVER OF SNOW. After reading and absolutely loving it, Nancy recommended the manuscript to her editor, the highly-regarded Linda Marrow at Ballantine.

As rare and generous as personal recommendations are (I've made a few myself over the years), what happened next is far, far rarer. Linda Marrow loved the manuscript, it survived the myriad hoops that new acquisitions all must jump through, and was contracted for hardcover publication by Ballantine and in trade paper, with world rights, to follow via Random House. Can I hear a HUUUUGGGGEEEE hallelujah out there, BtO readers! Congratulations, Jenny! I'm looking forward to sharing more about COVER OF SNOW before its release.

What Jenny Did Right:

1. Had a talent, a dream and a belief in the stories she has to offer that enabled her survive the many ups and downs inherent in the journey.

2. Had the mental/emotional strength to keep writing and improving despite many setbacks. (Anyone who's had an agent and editor love a manuscript, only to see it die in committee, can tell you it's its own special level of Hell. Been there, done that, on more than a few harrowing occasions.)

3. Had the humility, self-confidence and professionalism to enable her to reach out and build a support group of more experienced (published) authors. Asked politely for advice rather than demanding or feeling entitled to special favors.

4. Approached the publishing dilemma as a large but solvable problem, one to be tackled by breaking it down into measurable steps.

5. Never, ever gave up.

Again, congratulations, Jenny Milchman on the sale of your debut novel, COVER OF SNOW. We wish you all the success in the world with your suspense!