On Back Lists and Plot Twists with NYT Best-selling Author Samantha Sotto Yambao

Today, I'm delighted to have NYT bestselling author Samantha Sotto Yambao on the blog. (Sam was kind to me early in my writing journey, posting about my novel on her blog and giving me some good advice not long ago.)

Recently, Sam's career hit the big time, culminating in making the New York Times bestseller list with her wonderful novel Water Moon.

Take it away, Sam!

 

If you told me a year ago that I would be writing this post a few minutes after my UK
publisher revealed the new covers for the re-release of my entire backlist, I would not
have believed you. But the plot twist fairies had other plans.

I am not a shiny and new writer. When my debut came out in 2011 and met some mild
success, I thought there was no looking back. I was wrong. My option was rejected by
my editor and I had to write a new story from scratch. This book did not fare much
better. My sophomore novel would have died on submission if not for a Hail Mary save
that was only slightly better than not being published at all. The book was purchased for
no advance and was only released as an eBook in 2017. Still, I was grateful to stay
published and keep my foot wedged inside the traditional publishing door. I was wrong.
Again.

My (then) agent chose not to go on submission with my third book and so I decided to
self-publish it. I did the same for my fourth. With every new release, my readership
shrank. I wondered if this was my sign from the universe to change course, but before I
could even come up with my Plan B, 2020 made it very clear that I was not going to be
able to do anything new anytime soon.

And so I wrote. One last book. To stay sane. To say goodbye. To escape as far as I
could. When I was done, I sent it to my agent. Where it stayed, unread, for a year. It was at this point that I decided to dive back into the query trenches and unknowingly
embark on the strangest turn my publishing journey would take.

Offers from multiple agents.

A pre-empt offer the day after we went on submission.

International auctions.

A bestselling book with twenty-eight translations.

A second book that would hit the New York Times list a year later.

And now, a backlist that has found new life.

I wish I could tell you why all these things happened. If I did, I could probably write a
bestselling book on how to become an overnight publishing success. Unfortunately, the
only story I can share is about saying yes to yourself for almost twenty years, and
hoping that one day, someone else will say yes too. I don’t think such a book would do
very well, but then again, who knows? The plot twist fairies might have their own ideas.

Click here to go to Sam's website.

Click here to visit the Amazon site with all her novels.

Click here for Sam on Instagram.

A New Puppy!

We have a new puppy. She’s a seven-month-old yellow Lab we’re calling Jadis**. She’s also 80 lbs (36 kg). 

Basically, she’s like a two-year-old who weighs 80 lbs.

 This is what my morning is like:

 I walk downstairs.

 Jadis: Alpha Female (me), I am so, so happy to see you!! I will run to you with all the strength in my body so you will know how much I love you.

 Me: oofff. plop.

 Jadis (stream of consciousness): Why are you on the floor? Are you sad? I will lick your face. Ooo, your pajama top smells nice. I will taste it with my tongue. Maybe we can play tug-of-war with your shirt. That would be fun. See, I can pull your shirt hard. Oh, it ripped. You should buy a new one. Can I have the old one?

 Me: I need coffee. Lots of coffee.

Okay, this is not a me-in-my-pajamas-getting-licked-to-death, but this is pretty much the same thing. Me getting lots of doggy love.  

 **For those of you who haven’t read The Chronicles of Narnia’s The Magician’s Uncle, Jadis is the evil queen. I love irony, so our sweet girl carries a weighted name. (Our last dog was a female black Lab I named Jezebel. I just can’t help myself…)