Okay, so.
I’ve been sitting on this for a while now (which will come as no surprise—this is a business of patience, secrets, the occasional meaningful look), while behind the scenes, things have most assuredly Been Happening.
And then last week, the deal memo hit Publisher’s Marketplace, which means that I can finally share it:
NYT bestselling author of THE REPLACEMENT and THE SPACE BETWEEN Brenna Yovanoff’s PAPER VALENTINE, in which a girl haunted by the troubled ghost of her best friend finds herself sucked into a darkly mesmerizing string of murders, in which a serial killer who leaves a paper-heart ‘valentine’ on his victims’ bodies draws ever closer, again to Ben Schrank and Jocelyn Davies at Razorbill, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2013, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (NA).
Here is a quiz. I am:
a) Thrilled to be working with Razorbill again (they’ve done such a beautiful job with The Replacement)
b) Excited to see Paper Valentine take shape (they helped me make The Space Between into the book I always knew it could be)
c) Ecstatic to have Ben and Jocelyn in my corner as I dive into my weird, creepy ghost story (with kissing)
d) All of the above
(P.S. I’m not giving you a hint)
Facetious quizzes aside, I DO want to treat this with the gravity it deserves. But I’m really bad at being earnest. I wish I could say something profound and articulate about goals and dreams and milestones, but as soon as we approach the things that really matter to me, my talking almost always breaks down.
Most of the time, it’s easy not to think about this being my job. I mean, with enough dogged insistence and enough avoidance, I can regard sitting down to the keyboard and writing books as “something I do every day.” That’s accurate and true. It’s reductive. It’s manageable.
This is not one of those times. Seeing my name in print—my work summed up in a tight, hooky paragraph—always seems to bring on that crashing realization that this is what I do now. It is actually a profession. Like that aptitude test I took in high school. My life is distinctly this, and not something else. Not any of those other jobs I had. This is the state of things now.
This is the career.
It’s everything I ever wanted.
Also, significantly less monumental, but still exciting in its own way: I get to make a new tag.
Hello, Paper Valentine tag—hello!
Brenna Yovanoff 
Yay!!
:D
Hehe. This is turning out to be a great week. I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!
And a bit selfish.
I AM SO HAPPY FOR ME!!! I GET TO READ MORE OF BRENNA!!!!!
I promise PAPER VALENTINE will find a lovely home next to my arc of THE REPLACEMENT!
*giggle*ghosts and murder *gleeful smile*
I’m glad you’re excited, because I’M excited—this is going to be the most fun EVER!
I know, I know, I say that about every new project. It’s just SO HARD to focus on the book that’s finished-but-hasn’t-come-out-yet, when there’s this shiny new book smiling coyly at me.
However, when I force myself to settle down and focus, I have to admit that I love The Space Between dearly, and also, it’s already done. So it can just sit there being loved by me and we never again have to fight each other over plot points. And I can work on Paper Valentine :)
Congratulations again!!
Thanks! :)
I want to read this book. Now would be nice, but seeing as that probably won’t happen…..*sigh* It’s going to be a long wait.
Weeeell, not to tell you how to spend your time . . . but you can occupy yourself by reading The Space Between :D
And Forever.
And The Scorpio Races.
And The Blood Keeper.
And Lola and the Boy Next Door, and The Future of Us, and The Fault in Our Stars, and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Sweetly, and Between the Sea and the Sky, and Black Heart, and . . .
(Okay, now I’m just saying all the books I’m waiting for. But a nice fat list is very bolstering. It’s a start. It should get you there.)
There are only three books on that list that weren’t previously on my list (The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Between the Sea and Sky, and Black Heart), and now I have some more to add. Also, I’m currently on page 37 of Forever. And I really really want an ARC of The Space Between. And The Scorpio Races. And any of those other books.
I’m going to say almost exactly what my sister said, with a few minor changes. That list of books is amazing. There are only three on it (Black Heart, Between the Sea and Sky, and The Future of Us) that weren’t on my version of it, and they are now being added. All the same, it seems such a long time to wait between The Space Between and Paper Valentine. I can’t wait for either.
What does that mean, in a two-book deal?
It means that I’m now under contract for Paper Valentine and also an undetermined second book that I’ll write after PV.
It’s actually the same arrangement as my first deal—The Space Between is the second book in a two-book deal, but it didn’t exist yet when Razorbill bought The Replacement, and it’s not a sequel or a companion.
I’m not a voice of authority or anything (I still feel like a newbie most days) but I really like doing it this way, because aside from the simple awesomeness of selling books, it’s nice to feel settled in and to have A Plan.
Ahhhh. That’s good then. Another book to look forward to, eventually.
That is so exciting, both for you and for us! :D
I have to admit, it was very hard to spend all this time not talking about it!
A ghost story!! Oooh, this was a wonderful secret to hold onto! Congratulations and I am very, very excited!
And *sigh* Spring 2013 probably sounds very close to you, but that sounds like a horribly long wait to me.
I wanted to tell you the other day when we were talking ghost stories in the Merry Fates comments, but I had to keep quiet :D
Spring 2013 sounds very far to me too, but then I remind myself that there’s been a 14-month gap for both my other books—from selling The Replacement until publication, and from The Replacement to The Space Between. So in that context, the beginning of 2013 is not really that far . . .
Or, if it is too far, the Merry Fates anthology comes out Fall 2012 :)
Many congrats to you! Though I must admit that the serial killer part makes me wary, but that’s because I’m a softie. Please tell me the kissing will make up for the gruesome bits. ;)
I don’t think I’m being TOO spoilery when I say that so far, Paper Valentine is shaping up to be much less gory than my first two books. A lot of the violence happens off the page, so while I’m not making promises, it looks to be very psychological and not so much gross-out. Also, kissing ;)
That’s not spoilery at all, and it reduces my anxiety about reading it when it comes out…because I absolutely plan to read it. :)
OMG, congratulations! I LOVE that title, btw.
Barring catastrophe, disaster, or something with a similar title, this might be the first book I’ve ever named on the first try!
Wonderful news! Congratulations!
Does it feel real yet? Any of it? ;O)
From time to time. In fits and starts ;)
I’ve said it before, but I’m always amazed at how you’ve been here from the beginning! Thanks for sticking around :)
Congratulations!!!
Thanks!
And my summer is now dedicated to twisting it tighter :)
(I’m so obsessed with serial killers it’s not even funny. Except, why would it be funny, even if I were less obsessed? These are the things I ask myself . . .)
So. Excited.
No words.
:D
Yay! I’m having so much fun with this one (probably because we just haven’t gotten to that part of the process where there’s drudge-work and crises of confidence), and I’m glad it has a spring pub date, because it’s a VERY summery book.
Cool! Too bad we have to wait till Spring 2013!! Congrats, Brenna.
btw, have you ever seen the X-Files episode called Paper Hearts?
Thanks! It actually seems like a long time to me too, until I remember that next fall we’ll have the Merry Fates anthology, and that will tide me over :)
And no, I have not seen that X-Files! But. All the X-Files episodes are streaming on Netflix. So now, I will!