first drafts + how I got my first book deal

I usually only send out newsletters when I have updates or fun things to share, but I’ve been thinking about first drafts a lot and I realized I’ve never really talked about how I got my first book deal, so I thought I might do that now :)

Four years ago, in December 2021, I finished the first draft of my very first book. It was titled something different then, but it eventually became my debut, Say You’ll Be Mine.¹ I was over the moon the moment I finished that draft. Before then I had only ever written a few pages of a story. I had never completed one. I’d always given up or gotten stuck. I didn’t really know how to write a book until Say You’ll Be Mine, and for that reason it will always be special to me.

But I’ll never forget the first time I read it all the way through. I printed out all 300+ pages, punched holes in them, put the manuscript in a 3-ring binder, and read it cover to cover in one day. I was living at my parents’ house during the pandemic, and the moment I read the last page, I closed the binder and walked into their room.

“The book is bad,” I announced.

It was late at night. My parents were watching something on TV, but I remember they paused it immediately. They could see I was incredibly upset.

“But you worked so hard on it,” my mom said.

“Yes. And it’s bad. It’s so bad.”

I could barely sleep that night. I was just drowning in this overwhelming sense of dread.

I came so close to giving up on that book. Because I didn’t know how to revise it. I’d never done that before. I didn’t know if I was capable of making that hot mess of a story into something real.

I gave myself a few weeks and tried not to think about it. I put the binder on the floor under my desk and refused to look at it. I worked my day job and read lots of books for fun, and then when it was time for our family Christmas vacation, I took the binder with me, and I read the story again.

It didn’t feel as horrible this time, and I started to see things I could fix. I marked the manuscript up with a ballpoint pen, crossing things out, scribbling things in the margin. And I spent January to June of the next year revising the book on and off. I entered it in writing mentorship programs. I didn’t get into the first one I applied to (Author Mentor Match), so I revised some more, and submitted it to a second one (RevPit). And I got into that one. With the help of that mentor, I revised the book again. I sent it to beta readers, some of whom ended up becoming published authors as well, and also very dear friends (Ellie Palmer! Maggie North! ❤️).

Once I felt like I couldn’t do anything else to improve the book, I began to query agents. By that point I was active on writer Twitter (#rip), and I had heard plenty of horror stories about the query trenches. Querying is hard. You end up hearing a lot of “No’s” and you have to mentally prepare for that kind of rejection. I asked for lots of advice from different authors, and I’m so thankful that I started querying around the same time as a lot of my friends. Having that support and community made the process so much better. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to do that, or any part of publishing, alone.

I sent my first queries out in July 2022, and I was also pitching the book on Twitter in different pitch contests (again, #rip. I don’t know where newer writers are gathering these days to find community, but I do know some pitch contests, like #DVPit, have continued on BlueSky, and others have continued on Discord).

I got some interest from agents during the pitch contests on Twitter, and I added some of those agents to my querying list. I received my first request for a phone call at the end of August, and received my first offer of representation from an agent during that call. I was then given 2 weeks to nudge all the agents I’d queried. I had three more calls, and three more offers, but from the second I hopped on the phone with Johanna Castillo, I knew that’s who I would be signing with. It’s been a little over three years since we had that first phone call, and I couldn’t ask for a better agent. She’s phenomenal at every aspect of her job, on top of being kind and honest and having a keen editorial eye. She’s truly just the best.

Johanna had some edits for Say You’ll Be Mine, so I did more revisions on the book. Then on October 31st, she sent the book out to editors. I was in New York a few months ago and had lunch with my editor, and she was telling me how she remembered speaking with Johanna that Halloween about the book, and how she came home and started reading it that night after she finished taking her daughter trick-or-treating. The next day, she called Johanna, and we ended up all having a meeting via Zoom the following day, November 2nd. That afternoon, she made an offer and my whole life changed!

This was a very abnormal and quick submission period. Sometimes submission can take weeks or months, and I have friends who have been on submission for two years before getting a book deal. All of that is incredibly normal! There is no typical path to publishing, and no path is better than another. (To add another data point, I was on submission earlier this year, with what will be my fourth book, and it took us about a month to sell that one).

There was a tremendous amount of luck involved at every stage of my journey, and I share all this just to say, when I printed out that first draft, and said the book was bad, I was telling the truth.

My first draft of Say You’ll Be Mine was really, really bad.

But the book would never have existed, would never have sold, would never have changed my life, if I hadn’t written that first draft.

I’m drafting my fourth book right now. I’m on page 358 and I still have a lot more to write. I’m not convinced that this book is good yet. I’m almost certain that this first draft is really, really bad.

But, I think I can make it better. In fact, I know I can. But I have to get this draft finished first.

If you’re writing a first draft right now, I’m cheering for you! We’re going to make it to the other side, and it’s going to feel so wonderful when we get to write:

The End²

1. It was originally titled Just Pretend You’ll Be My Jaan, and my UK publisher liked the original title a lot, which is why the book is called Say You’ll Be My Jaan in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, and a couple other countries.

2. And if you’re wondering, “Naina, did you write this whole newsletter because you’re in the depths of despair and wanted to procrastinate instead of going back to drafting your book,” the answer is, “Yes, but how dare you point that out!”