I’ve been asked a whole bunch of times how exactly the sale of Pale Grey Dot to Turnstone Press went down, and since I have a terrible memory I figured this would be a good chance to write it out.
So join me for a glimpse into the wild (and slow) world of traditional indie publishing.
In the beginning…
The major push to write the book happened in 2018, with work prior to that including a ton of reviews by my first team o’ beta readers (Jennifer, Kirby, Pat, and Toronto SFF‘s very own Suzanne), the Toronto SFF Saturday group, and my second round o’ beta readers (Michelle, Randal, and Anahita).
I sent out about seventy requests to both US and Canadian agents and publishers, usually in batches of five. The theory here being that if you get five responses with zero nibbles, then your query, synopsis, or first X number of pages may need another look. Or, if you are getting lots of full manuscript requests that result in rejections, you know that the manuscript needs reviewing.
Despite a fair number of nibbles, this continued off-and-on until…
March 17, 2021
…I submitted to Turnstone Press, a reputable publisher based out of Winnipeg that’s older than I am. At the time, I didn’t think much of it.
If anyone wants a copy of my synopsis or other query info, I’d be happy to share.
May 31, 2021
A Turnstone representative asked for a twenty week exclusivity period. This means I wouldn’t be able to query or sign with anyone else during that time. It makes sense–if they’re going to take the time and energy to seriously pursue a manuscript, they wouldn’t want the rug swept out from under them.
Now, I’d gotten nibbles before but this was the first exclusivity request. It meant I had a big decision about whether to spend twenty weeks on this. So I did my research into Turnstone and found them to be well known, long lasting, and with a lot of repeat authors. Everyone in the industry I knew spoke highly of them.
So I agreed.
Twenty weeks.
Or so I thought.
October 21, 2021
The twenty weeks were up and I sent a follow-up. They said they were still interested and asked if I had any plans to turn this into a series.
I gave the standard “It’s a standalone novel with series potential” line, and they asked for a synopsis of Book #2, which I quickly whipped up. They were understanding that, since Book #2 is not finished yet, the synopsis would be pretty rough-and-dirty.
For those following along from the Toronto SFF, Book #2 is what I’ve been bringing to the group.
December 17, 2021
Turnstone asked for a bit more time.
Good sign, bad sign? Who knows! Either way, I agreed.
January 18, 2022
At this point, Turnstone asked for an interview over Zoom. “Sure,” says I.
This was pretty exciting, as one can imagine, since it meant I’d shortly get to meet them and discuss the future of Pale Grey Dot.
May 3, 2022
Alright, I lied about the “shortly” thing. One thing I’ve learned is that the publishing industry is sloooooooow. Patience was not an easy thing.
At any rate, I met with Jamis, Melissa, and Sharon from Turnstone on Zoom. Delightful people! I was impressed with their knowledge of Pale Grey Dot, as they had excellent insight into the plot, the characters, and any potential edits that might be needed going forward. I was also pleased at their Quality Comes First attitude. It’s clear they’re interested in putting out the best possible work.
Basically, they knew their stuff, and they knew my stuff.
One interesting idea put forth was splitting the manuscript, which was sitting at 109k words, into two smaller books. Ultimately we didn’t go this route (instead choosing to cut about 7k words), but it was an interesting idea.
From the conclusion of the interview, we agreed that they’d send over a contract for my review. Yay!
June 18, 2022
I received the first draft of the contract! Did I mention the publishing industry is slooooow?
This is where I pulled in Justin, David, Adrienne, and Michelle for assistance. They have expertise in the industry, and their advice was very useful. I also had a meeting with a lawyer via Artists’ Legal Advice Services. This is a group of volunteer entertainment and intellectual property lawyers in Canada. It’s free, so definitely worth checking out.
We had a few comments (based mostly on how any sequels would be handled), and Turnstone was amenable to these clarifications. Honestly, it was probably fretting about nothing.
August 31, 2022
On this date, we officially signed the contract. Yes, so over two months between the first draft of the contract and it being signed. See the above mentions of sloooowness.
In total, it took 518 days from submission to a signed contract.
Conclusion of Part 1
Now that the wait was over, it’d be nothing but fast and smooth sailing.
In Part 2, we’ll explore the timeline from a signed contract up to now, along with the future roadmap to publication!
Ha ha, I’m just kidding. It’ll mostly be more waiting.
