Dishing Secrets About How Cherie Colyer Sold Embrace

Embrace had a long road to publication. It’s a great example of what can happen if you don’t give up, but to tell the story I need to start at the beginning. The idea for the book came to me while I was writing another novel, so it took me close to a year before I sat down to pen the first draft. That was in 2008.  After many revisions, I queried ten or so agents and received mixed responses from a request for a full to this isn’t right for my list. I was fortune to receive some comments that helped me know what I needed to work on. Grateful for the feedback, I rolled up my sleeves and revised the novel.  

In the winter of 2009 I sent more queries out into the world, received requests for fulls and partials, got encouraging responses that include you have a great voice and this has potential. Unfortunately, these praises were followed by one of two words I’d like to chop from agents’ vocabulary: but and however.

But the book had potential. So I did another round of revisions and then entered Embrace in Amazon’s 2010 Breakthrough Novel contest, Well I didn't win, it did well. The judge from PW also said it had potential. Once again, I took the comments I received from the different judges and from readers who read my excerpt and revised. This time when I went to query I decided to submit directly to publishers and picked the ones I felt were the best match for my novel. In spring of 2011 I received a response from Omnific Publishing that they felt Embrace would make a great addition to their young adult list. I still get a tingly feeling when I think about that email. There were more revisions to be done, but this time I had the guidance of my amazing editor.

I have my readers to thank for Hold Tight, book two in the series. It was their emails and letters that had me writing another book and turning my stand alone novel into a series. I’m happy to tell you that Hold Tight had a much smoother, quicker road to publication.

You can discover the magic of the Embrace series for yourself.

Embrace on Kindle or Nook

Hold Tight on Kindle or Nook

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  Cherie