Tuesday, March 30, 2010

My First Sale

As many of you know, Louise Fury has joined the team at camp L. Perkins Agency. I was regaling her with the torrid story of my first sale, and she said, "You must put that in your blog," so here it is for your entertainment pleasure.

As many of you know, I used to be journalist. I had left a rather slimy agent for training with someone I greatly admired, but was tough as nails. I had only made one sale in my first 5 months (cover story of US Magazine, so not too bad), but she was riding me hard to deliver.

I was riveted by a story on CNN about a family who was begging the Catholic Church to exorcise them of the entity that was molesting them nightly. I turned to my journalist-husband and said, "I really want to read that book when it comes out," and he said, "You're a journalist. Go get the book." And I did. I traveled by bus to Scranton, PA, met the family and the ghost busters and the local reporter covering the story (and saw my first velvet painting in a living room), and came back with the rights all signed up.

My boss was not a horror fan, so she didn't think the book would sell. She wouldn't let me send a messenger to the publishing companies with the proposal, so I walked it there myself in heels, my feet blistering by the end of the day.

A few days later, I had 7 publishers interested in the book. The auction started at $5000 and after two days of bidding, the book sold for $110,000.

The book went on to make number 15 on the NY Times best-seller list, and was made into a made-for-TV movie with Sally Kellerman, who was nominated for an Emmy.

And the point of that story for Louise, and all my agents in training, is that you must follow your instincts on a book, and go after it if you believe in it.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post, Lori. Following instincts and going after what you believe in.... a life lesson for us all ;-) xxx

Saritza Hernandez said...

"Go get the book." This is going up on my wall to remind me every day of what we do. We get the books! :D

Chantal Kirkland said...

Wow. That was pretty poignant. Good job--and wow. What a dedicated lady you are!

ryan field said...

This is so weird. I actually remember this. My parents had a vacation house in Mt. Pocono, PA for years and Scranton wasn't far away. When I saw the piece on the news, I was bored and I actually went driving around to see if I could find the house where they lived. That was one interesting story.

Rebecca Leigh said...

A wonderful story that is inspirational to us all! thank you for sharing!!

Tahereh said...

WOW.

that is one incredible story.

!!!!

thanks for sharing :D :D

Kelly@TearingUpHouses said...

I'm impressed with your tenacity! Inspiring.

Kelly

Kwana said...

Thanks for this story. So inspirational!

Genius said...

Wow, this is really inspiring. Two words: dedicated and determined!

Kimberly Steele said...

Wasn't the movie called "The Haunted"? If it is the same, let me just say I LOVED that movie! It was genuinely scary, like a more convincing modern day Amityville Horror. I'm a horror movie freak, so that's not easy to do! Louise Fury deserves massive kudos.