How One Debut YA Author Landed a Six-Figure Book Deal!

[Georgia McBride]

You may not yet have heard of Amy Hunington, but something tells me you will. I posted info about her deal here a few months ago. But here is info about her deal in her own words (including the actual query letter), from her blog.

How It Happened: The Scoop On My Book Deal for SLEEPWALKING

I know I’ve only given you, Chitlins readers, the bare-bones story of how I got a three-book deal for SLEEPWALKING. Since I didn’t actually put pen to paper-contract until three weeks ago, I was feeling too superstitious to go into detail about it. But since several of you have written to ask me how it happened (amongst you a few aspiring writers), here's the story.
I told you about the process of writing the book.
Well, in late August I sent a few chapters of the manuscript to Stacey, my agent. She was enthusiastic. So, after fiddling with the text for a bit longer, I sent her the complete manuscript in October. She was even more enthusiastic.
And here is where the incredible time-line starts. November 5th Stacey and I had a phone chat to talk about some changes she wanted me to make before sending it to publishers. She asked me if I had written a query letter or pitch for the book that I might want her to use. I worked on a pitch letter that I felt was representative of the book and sent her this: Read the rest.

[Florence Kincaid]

Congratulations, Amy! You must be so excited! :-D

[Cassandra Ross]

Whow, nice deal. This book sounds very much like my own and I've been working on my book for almost two years. Nice to know there is interest in ghost stories. Congrats Amy.

[LM Preston]

Wow! That is so awesome. The story sounds interesting too. I can't wait for it to come out.

[Janet Flora Corso]

Congrats Amy! That is an inspiring story :)