The day I found out I had a book deal – guest post by TM Logan

Today I’d like to welcome TM Logan, author of Lies, to the blog to talk about the day he found out that he’d got a book deal.

Over to you Tim…

The day I found out I had a book deal
It was April Fool’s Day. A Friday afternoon. I was at work, about to go into a meeting, when I saw an email from my agent pop up on my phone. The subject line was simply ‘Hello’.
I had a little ‘What if…?’ moment, and made a mental note to check the email later.
An hour later I came out of my meeting and caught up on some other work issues. I picked up my mobile, looked at the subject line of the message from my agent, put the phone down again. Didn’t open the email.
I realise this sounds a bit weird. I guess most people would have read the email straight away. To be honest, I was trying not to think too much about LIES at this point: the manuscript had gone out some weeks earlier and so far I’d heard nothing back. The doubt was starting to creep back in – a previous book of mine had gone out to publishers in 2013, had lots of positive feedback but didn’t get picked up. Maybe LIES was destined to go the same way.
Since that previous experience I had chosen my moments when looking at emails from my agent, so I could prepare myself for whatever news she had. Depending on the update, I reckoned I’d either be banging my head on the desk or dancing around the office – but at this point no-one at work had any idea that I had written a book, and I wanted to keep it under wraps until I had something concrete to tell them.
Driving home, I tried to think about Playoff Weekend instead. This is the last big event in the UK ice hockey calendar. My team – the Nottingham Panthers – had qualified for the first time in three years and I was looking forward to a weekend of games to round off the season.
Basically, I was trying not to think about the book.
I didn’t actually sit down to look at the message until 5.30pm, several hours after it had landed. I took my laptop into the kitchen and opened the email.
Hi Tim,
I have some lovely news which I wanted to tell you on the phone but I didn’t want to interrupt your work day unceremoniously! So since the day’s drawing to a close and I want you to have this news before the weekend… We have two offers for LIES!
I read on, not really believing it, feeling my heart banging in my chest. One of the offers was a two-book deal with Bonnier, who wanted to publish LIES on their Twenty7 imprint.
The email continued.
They said about LIES: “…It’s hard to put into words how refreshing it was to read this, amidst a sea of perfectly competent but ever-more-unexciting psychological thrillers. I think Tim’s writing style is incredibly accomplished for a first novel, and had me gripped from the word go – and it was interesting to see that as I circulated the manuscript to more and more people internally, in each case they came to me within minutes of beginning the manuscript to say they were already hooked…”
I read it all, then read it again, not really believing it. Said something unprintable. The stupid part of my brain was saying: April Fool? (surely it was too late in the day…)
Still not really believing it, I told my kids. They both came over and hugged me and we all sat down, in a state of collective shock. I had been waiting for this moment for such a long time, but now it was here I didn’t know quite what to do. At this point, my wife walked in from work to find the three of us sitting in the kitchen, stunned into silence. She assumed the worst.
‘What’s up?’ she said, looking at my expression. ‘Is everything alright? Are you OK? What’s happened?’
‘I got a book deal,’ I said, finally managing a smile.
It wasn’t an April Fool. But it didn’t feel real at the time, and there are moments when it still doesn’t now, if I’m honest…

You can find TM Logan over on twitter @TMLoganAuthor.

Lies is published by Bonnier Zaffre/twenty7 and is available in ebook now.

When Joe Lynch stumbles across his wife driving into a hotel car park while she’s supposed to be at work, he’s intrigued enough to follow her in.

And when he witnesses her in an angry altercation with family friend Ben, he knows he ought to intervene.

But just as the confrontation between the two men turns violent, and Ben is knocked unconscious, Joe’s young son has an asthma attack – and Joe must flee in order to help him.

When he returns, desperate to make sure Ben is OK, Joe is horrified to find that Ben has disappeared.

And that’s when Joe receives the first message…

Author: dave

Book reviewer, occasional writer, photographer, coffee-lover, cyclist, spoon carver and stationery geek. View all posts by dave