Most writers go through a fairly laborious and time intensive process to land them their first book deal. They take months (some even years) to write the manuscript, edit and revise the heck out of it, send it to beta readers and then edit some more. They'll query agents (or nowadays even editors directly, depending on the publisher), cross their fingers for a full request and then wait - often months - for the call. Once the author has representation, the agent will submit the manuscript to editors at publishing houses, who'll go through their own review process before deciding whether they want to offer a contract.
I've certainly tried all of this. Written and queried three separate books in differing genres, while getting to various points within the process. But none of those books are getting published yet because this story - the one about my publishing deal - happened quite differently for me thanks to Wattpad. Here it is, including a special cameo from Anna Todd (yes, Ms. imaginator1D herself!).
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In October 2015, Wattpad teamed up with XOXO After Dark - Simon & Schuster's website for the best books in romance, urban fantasy and women's fiction - to run a contest through the profile. Entries had to be no more than 2,000 words with the theme of "Confessions." The top five stories with the most Wattpad readers' votes would go to the final round, where Pocket Star (a S&S imprint) editors would pick the winner.
The winner was going to be announced on October 24th at the end of the XOXO Connects all-day online convention where romance fans could chat with authors, get exclusive sneak peeks of content, and learn about writing and publishing.
The contest was open between October 9 and 18th. I didn't even have a clue it was happening until an awesome Wattpader named Jody Lynn tweeted about it on October 15. She was lamenting how she didn't have enough time to enter and that was my initial feeling, as well. But after checking out the contest rules, it kept nagging at me. I couldn't get it out of my head, and I ended up brainstorming all night. By the next day, I knew what I wanted to write about.
Over the next two days, I wrote and polished a short piece about an unfulfilled workplace romance called LOOK, BUT DON'T TOUCH.
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I posted the entry on the last day and then obsessively watched the reads and votes go up until the first round closed. I was in the top 5! Now it was all in the editors' hands. I read the other four finalists' entries and our stories were all very different. I felt like I had a shot, but didn't know what the editors were looking for so couldn't get my hopes up.
