Laura Lippman writes:
The first book I wrote was the first book that got published, but there was a gap of almost three years.
Most of that time was spent looking for an agent. The first agent gave me a quick, professional (if disappointing) answer: Just not for me. The second agent was a nightmare. Took the manuscript, then refused to read it and wouldn't take calls. This went on for six months. (Bear in mind, I don't think I began trying to call her until three months had lapsed.) I was reduced to faxing a note to her, asking for the manuscript back. It returned with a note that said: "Looks like you've really got something here!" Yes, I thought. About 300 pages. That's what I've got. I will admit to being pleased when two friends I made, post-publication, ended up shucking this same agent -- and becoming far more successful in the process.
My friend Michele Slung, who had been shepherding me through this process, was horrified by my treatment at the hands of Agent #2. She asked me to send my book to Vicky Bijur, on the grounds that Vicky was always professional, swift and kind. About two weeks later, as I was preparing to leave the office on assignment, Vicky called. She told me she liked my book very much and began giving me notes. Copious, thoughtful notes. About ten minutes in -- "On page 157, you have Tess..." -- I asked tentatively: "Are you considering me then as a client?" She said she hoped I would be her client and that I would be receptive to these changes before she sent the book out that fall.
I was very receptive. Vicky sent the book out to 10 publishers that autumn, as promised. Per our agreement, I knew I was responsible for photocopying costs, and I used to stare at the ceiling at night, calculating: 10 times 300 times -- three cents? Five cents? How far in the hole would I be?
On a lovely October day, 1995, three editors made offers for the Tess Monaghan series. Only one, however, asked to speak to me about my vision for the books beyond Baltimore Blues. That was Carrie Feron and we're still together, 10 books (and one merger) later.
Baltimore Blues is very much a first novel, with all that term implies. (Raw energy, rookie mistakes.) But given the career path I've chosen -- crime novelist working at book-a-year pace -- I'm glad that I set for myself the task of writing my first novel in a year's time. True, it probably would have been a better book if I had taken years to write and finish it. But then the subsequent books might have seem hurried or slipshod by comparison. I'm not saying it's mandatory to write a book a year, just that it's what I wanted to do because I was keen to write my way out of my day job.
I'm not sure if I'm a "success" yet by the world's standards, but my measure of success was leaving my day job. I did that eight years after I began that first book. So, short answer: Eight years, seven books, four contracts. That's how long it took me.
Laura Lippman is the author of the award-winning Tess Monaghan series. The most recent book in the series, By a Spider's Thread, is currently nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Her next book, To the Power of Three, is a standalone, despite what Amazon says.
