April Theme: When it (Finally) All Comes Together
If you add all the years together, Goddess Girls co-author Joan Holub and I have about 50 years writing experience between us. That's a lot of years! During that time we've enjoyed the "highs" (new book sales, good reviews, lovely fan letters) and survived the "lows" (rejection letters, less-than-sterling reviews, books going out of print). Though longevity in this business is no guarantee of success, it certainly helps. Because the more books you write, the more you learn your craft, and the greater chance you have of writing something that really catches on with readers.
Goddess Girls started out as a four-book series. Though Joan and I had individually written other middle grade fiction series before GG, neither of us had written a series that went beyond 3 - 6 books. "How many books do you think we'd need to publish to consider this series a success?" Joan asked me that first year we began work on the series. I thought about it for a few seconds, then tossed out a number that seemed a little bit pie in the sky but not entirely unattainable. "A dozen," I said.
Well...two years later our eighth GG book is about to hit the bookstore shelves, and we are at work on our very first Super Special, to be followed by three more GG books for that grand total of twelve. And we hope there will be even more Goddess Girls books to follow!
We haven't become fabulously wealthy in the process (darn!), but we are starting to earn royalties on the first books in the series. Plus, our publisher (Aladdin Books, Simon & Schuster) has contracted with us for a second Greek-mythology-based series. Heroes in Training (ages 7 - 10) debuts in August with Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom. This one's a four-book series too....to start with, anyway.
--Suzanne Williams
Goddess Girls started out as a four-book series. Though Joan and I had individually written other middle grade fiction series before GG, neither of us had written a series that went beyond 3 - 6 books. "How many books do you think we'd need to publish to consider this series a success?" Joan asked me that first year we began work on the series. I thought about it for a few seconds, then tossed out a number that seemed a little bit pie in the sky but not entirely unattainable. "A dozen," I said.
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| Book #8: Medusa the Mean pubs Apr. 3 |
Well...two years later our eighth GG book is about to hit the bookstore shelves, and we are at work on our very first Super Special, to be followed by three more GG books for that grand total of twelve. And we hope there will be even more Goddess Girls books to follow!
We haven't become fabulously wealthy in the process (darn!), but we are starting to earn royalties on the first books in the series. Plus, our publisher (Aladdin Books, Simon & Schuster) has contracted with us for a second Greek-mythology-based series. Heroes in Training (ages 7 - 10) debuts in August with Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom. This one's a four-book series too....to start with, anyway.
--Suzanne Williams
Congrats on such a successful series, Suzanne and Joan!
ReplyDeleteConfession time. I know the series is aimed at children, but I'm totally hooked on it. I love the clever story lines, snappy word play, and interwoven mythology!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly and Trudi!
ReplyDelete