If you receive my monthly/bi-monthly/whenever the mood strikes me newsletter (and if you don’t, you can sign up here), you’ll know that I recently sold the North American mass market paperback rights to Harlequin for their WWL Mystery line. The first book to be released was Skeletons in the Attic (July 27, 2021), with The Hanged Man’s Noose scheduled for October 26, 2021, Past & Present in January 2022, followed by A Hole in One (April 2022), and A Fool’s Journey and Where There’s a Will (to be scheduled). Here’s a Behind the Scenes look at how it happened:

During the early days of my publishing journey, I connected with fellow author Susan Van Kirk. We were both “aspiring” and met via a shared editor, Lourdes Venard. Throughout the years, Susan and I have supported each other on social media, and eventually met at Malice Domestic. And throughout the years, we’ve also shared some not-so-great moments in the wild world of publishing, including being “orphaned’ when our respective publishers shuttered their doors (or in Susan’s case, their mystery line). We’ve both moved on since, and we’ve continued to be there for each other. We’re also fans of each others work and have been vocal in our praise: I’ve “blurbed” (provided a review for) her book Death at Tippet Pond, and she’s blurbed Where There’s a Will for me.

At any rate, one day a couple of years ago Susan emailed to tell me that Harlequin was looking for cozy mysteries for their WWL Mystery line. Because they were only interested in the North American Mass Market rights (these are the small paperbacks 4.25″ x 6.87″) and because my books were only available in trade paperback (6″ x 9″), e-book and audio, my books qualified for submission. I wrote a solid query letter, citing sales numbers and reviews, and providing a brief bio and synopsis of Skeletons in the Attic and The Hanged Man’s Noose. I heard back within a couple of days. Harlequin was interested in reading both. I sent off a PDF copy of each book and waited.

And waited. Now, to be fair, Susan warned me the wait could be a while, but by the 15-month mark, I’d pretty much assumed I’d get a polite pass. And then, in June 2020, this email came in:

Dear Judy,
We’ve had a chance to read Skeletons in the Attic and The Hanged Man’s Noose, and we think both books would be a great fit for Worldwide Mystery. Since our program publishes books with lower levels of cursing, we would need your permission to reduce the instances of “hell” in The Hanged Man’s Noose.

Of course I said yes (btw, there were 16 “hells” in Noose, which actually surprised me), signed the contract, and submitted the required files for publication. Cover art came next, first for SITA and then for Noose, though the artwork is completely up to Harlequin; the author has no input. I find it interesting how different their covers are from mine, but I trust that they know their target demographic. And now, 14 months after signing the contract, and 29 months since my original query, the first book has been released.

And the moral of the story? Patience may be a virtue, but it’s also requirement for authors. Stay tuned for future updates, and thanks for following my Behind the Scenes series.

 

Books in the WWL series are only available to subscribers of Harlequin Reader’s Service or direct purchase at Harlequin.com. Here’s the link to Skeletons, priced at $6.99 US/$7.99 CAD, and currently on sale for 20% off.