Happy Addendum to One of Our Success Stories!

I'm delighted to bring you this story from BOTH points of view -- author and agent!

I posted Alexandra's original success story in January.  Here's the happy update from Alexandra Ballard and Kent D. Wolf:

FROM ALEXANDRA:

I have some great news to share with you! As you know, back in December I had the good fortune to be a part of the Baker’s Dozen auction. Through that contest I “won” my amazing agent Kent Wolf, who spent the winter helping me revise my YA novel and prepare it for submission. We sent The Art of Losing out to publishers at the end of May, and three weeks later we sold it, at auction, in a two-book deal to Joy Peskin at FSG (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux), with a release date of winter, 2017. It has all been so exciting and I am so grateful to you, Authoress, for everything that you do for writers. It is so great to know that we have someone like you out there, helping to make stories like mine possible.

FROM KENT:

From the moment I read Alexandra's entry I knew that her novel was going to be something special. The voice, the writing--IT WAS THERE. I felt it in my agent DNA. It's rare for me to have that kind of instant reaction so come auction day I was chomping at the bit. However, just minutes before the start of bidding my computer froze! By the time I rebooted the manuscript had been won. Not only did I have to wait a week to see Alexandra's novel, but I had to suffer through the agent trash talking. OMG THE TRASH TALKING! My Twitter account almost withered and died.

Long story short, I finally got my grubby paws on the book, read it, fell in love, wooed Alexandra, and fended off the trash talkers. But here's the best part: not only did Alexandra trust my editorial suggestions, she turned around a MAJOR revision within weeks and knocked it out of the park her first try. She makes it look so easy. I'm pleased as punch that she's found a home with Joy Peskin at FSG. And thank you Authoress for bringing us together!!