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My First Call by Stephanie Julian

My call story is a little unusual.

I had to make it myself.

I had submitted a book to Avalon Books. I'd been submitting and receiving rejections for a few years so I wasn't surprised when I didn't hear back from Avalon for three or four months. But when six months had passed, I thought, what the hell, it can't hurt to call.

I was a little surprised to hear the person who answered the phone say, "Oh, hang on a minute," but I figured maybe the receptionist was busy or flustered or whatever.

I later learned that the woman who'd answered the phone was not the receptionist but the editor's assistant and she'd recognized my name.

When the editor picked up the phone second's later, I learned why the assistant had passed me on so quickly.

"I'm so glad you called," she said. "We've been trying to reach you but the phone number on your query letter is wrong. We want your book."

Oops. How the hell had I done that? And woohoo! I'd sold my first book!


Comments

  1. Yikes, Stephanie! That WAS good that you gave her a call!!! Congratulations on that first sale!

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  2. LOL - It's crazy how things like that happen. I'm so happy you made The Call!

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  3. Great story with a happy ending. I'm glad you picked up the phone and took care of matters!

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  4. Somewhere out there, thanks to your story, somebody is double checking the number on their transmittal letter--and correcting it. Wonderful story and wonderful outcome.

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  5. What a great story! I'm sure you would have been kicking yourself over the typo/wrong number if not for the good, good news! Instead, I bet you were patting yourself on the back for having the guts to call and editor check on your book. I love it!
    Amelia

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  6. Good grief! Happy you took the initiative. What a "First Call" story and what a happy ending!

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  7. Wow! How totally cool! See, never be afraid to call. Just don't call like 300 times. That makes the editors afraid.

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