Book News by Paul Greci

Doing research for the Sequel to Surviving Bear Island.

I’m thrilled to announce that there will be a Sequel to Surviving Bear Island coming out in 2018, and another middle grade adventure to follow!!

From Publishers Marketplace: June 14, 2017 – Paul Greci

Children’s: Middle grade

JLG winner for Surviving Bear Island Paul Greci‘s untitled sequel, pitched as another Alaskan Hatchet and Far North-like adventure/wilderness/survival tale, to Eileen Robinson at Move Books, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2018, by Amy Tipton at Signature Literary Agency.

Thanks to my agent Amy Tipton for finding a home for more of my middle grade adventure stories!! We’ve been working together for six years now!

And, I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Eileen Robinson and all the other fine folks at Move Books!!

The Sequel is set in Interior Alaska where there are many free flowing rivers.

The sequel (title forthcoming) took about a year to write utilizing the early morning hours before my teaching day began, plus some of the previous summer.

The second book in the two-book deal is a yet-to-be-written middle grade adventure (which I’ll share more details about at a later date), so I read with interest Caroline’s post last Monday. This will be the first time I have a contract for a book I have not yet written.

I’ll have a little more news to share regarding my young adult fiction writing sometime soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection.

 

Surviving Bear Island: Four Details

Below are a few brief things about Surviving Bear Island. A little history and a look toward the future.

1. Surviving Bear Island, my debut novel, a survival story set in the wilds of Prince William Sound, Alaska comes out March 25^th (Move Books). Having completed the first draft of this novel 10 years ago, and then countless drafts since then, I feel incredibly fortunate to have found a home for this book. As my agent was trying to sell a different manuscript we started working on getting Surviving Bear Island ready for submission.

2. When I wrote Surviving Bear Island I didn’t envision it being illustrated. In fact, I first wrote it as a young adult novel and then six years into the revision process, it morphed into both first person and middle grade. One thing the illustrator James Madsen said about Surviving Bear Island is: "This book in particular has been one of my favorites because I grew up an avid outdoorsman and there’s no where I’d rather be than in the mountains or around wildlife."

I feel fortunate to have my book matched with an artist who has spent a lot of time in the outdoors. In the past fifteen years James has illustrated more than 75 books. Below is one illustration from the book. James also did the cover.

James Madsen

3. Surviving Bear Island is a 2015 Junior Library Guild selection. Again, I feel incredibly fortunate that the Junior Library Guild is putting their energy into getting my book into school and public libraries.

4. As of a couple days ago you can now pre-order Surviving Bear Island on Amazon.

As Surviving Bear Island nears publication I'm working on two books. One is an MG adventure set in Interior Alaska. The other is a contemporary YA novel.

Thanks for reading!

Trailer: Surviving Bear Island

It was a total surprise to me when my editor told me they were working on a trailer for Surviving Bear Island, due out in March 2015 from Move Books. It is mostly visual, and the audio is all sounds in nature—some cool growling noises at the end.

I’ve put the trailer below if you’re interested in checking it out.

I’m curious if you watch book trailers when you come upon them, and what you think of the concept of book trailers in general? I didn’t give them much thought until I found out there would be one of Surviving Bear Island. In your opinion what is the role(s) of a book trailer? Where do you think a book trailer would have the most impact? If you have thoughts on this topic I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by.

From Concept to Contract

As I peered over my shoulder at the twisted, ten-year path that led to my first book deal, I paused and thought something understated like, “Okay, this is really happening.” Below, I’ll paint my journey with a broad brush, year-by-year, to give a long-view. It’s easy to be discouraged day-to-day when you receive rejection after rejection, or are creatively stalled while writing. I’ve been in both of those places multiple times.

Everyone’s writing journey is unique, and I’m sharing part of mine in the hopes that whenever you’re considering giving up, instead, you’ll take a breath and keep going.

2002. I had an idea for a story, which I chewed on for a couple of years as I rode my bike to and from work.

2004. I started writing my story down on notebook paper.

2006. I finished a meandering first draft and erroneously thought it was pretty good.

2007. I took a writing class and wrote and revised a second book that got some attention at a writer’s conference and made me realize that my first book needed work and revised it.

2008. I wrote and revised a third book that resulted in several offers of representation from agents (queried over 100) and I signed with one who was not successful in selling the book. Meanwhile, I kept rewriting my first book.

2009. I wrote and revised a fourth book that I have yet to put out to the world beyond my critique partners and I kept rewriting my first book.

2010. I wrote and revised a fifth book and did a major revision on my first book. My first book took second prize in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's Annual Contest.

2011. I parted ways with my first agent, queried my fifth book (again queried over 100) and obtained representation from my current agent, Amy Tipton.

2012. As she tried to sell my fifth book, I suggested we work on my first book together and get it ready for submission. As my fifth book climbed to the editorial boards of a few houses but did not result in any offers, we did two major revisions of my first book.

2013. My agent started subbing my first book while my fifth book was still on submission. We got an offer on my first book in November from Move Books, which I accepted.

2014. I’m in the middle of revisions with Move Books on a novel I started writing in 2004.

So, what does all this mean???

Like most publishing stories, it shows that you never know what will happen or why, or when you and your story will be in the right place at the right time.

Sure, you have to make choices about what story to work on, when to put a story away, when to start a new one, what craft books to read, what conferences to attend, what goals to set for yourself, when to submit and for how long, and a zillion other things related to your writing life.

 One of the keys is to keep making those decisions.

Don’t give up.