Book Divas

A story of an editor...and a very special manuscript.

I first read the manuscript that would become HUSH, HUSH on my birthday, which was Tuesday September 16th, 2008.  And what a heavenly birthday it was. From page one, I knew I had to be the one to publish HUSH, HUSH. As I read on and on, a feeling of panic rose from my chest to my throat: How could a book this good not have been snatched up already? What if I was too late? The next day, I emailed the agent to let her know how much I loved the book. She let me know she’d already turned down a pre-emptive offer. The panic I had been feeling surged but so did my excitement. This was the first of many, many signs that I wasn’t alone in my obsession for this book. And so, I took the manuscript to my publisher and together we presented the book to our entire sales, marketing, and publicity staff and asked them to kindly read it over the weekend. We promised them they wouldn’t be sorry.

The emails started on Saturday and went through to Sunday, from different trusted colleagues, telling me how completely infatuated they were with Patch, how the manuscript was impossible to put down, and begging me to sign the book up. Sure, no pressure. Again, I was thrilled that, in a job where decisions can be so subjective, there was an overwhelming consensus that this was the book Simon & Schuster must have.

We won HUSH, HUSH in a best bids auction and I found out the good news when the agent called and said simply, “It’s yours.” After screaming and maybe a little bit of crying, I called Becca and spoke to her for the first time. We were both trying our best to be professional, swallowing the squeals in favor of actual words and communication. But her voice matched mine; we were both disbelieving of how lucky this day turned out to be.

And ever since those days, more than a year ago, it really has been a team effort. Becca has been a complete joy and her professionalism from day one has astounded me. My colleagues here have jumped into the making, promoting, and selling of this book with fervor and passion and it’s been a complete delight from the first second, the first word on page 1.

And now, to all of our delight, it seems that readers are feeling the same way about HUSH, HUSH that we do. That, for us, is the best reward of all. To make a connection through a book, to get people reading and talking about reading, is the reason we’re all in this together.

See Ginger Rue's writing tips in Part Three of "Punched in the Face While Reading."