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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Another for the DNR list: Whitney Scharer.

Scharer, who has locked her Twitter, Whitney Scharer, sold her debut novel for over one million dollars in an auction involving fourteen publishing houses, and it was been named most anticipated book of 2019 by Oprah.com, and various other sources.

Age of Light.

Ever heard of it?

Here she is mocking Dawn's kidney donation:

https://twitter.com/kidneygate/status/1447625881208467457/photo/1

[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBcADuJXIAUkBs6?format=jpg&name=4096x4096[/img]
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Non-literary person with question for the pros:
How does someone get a million bucks and 14 offers for her first book? 
Was she already a celebrity in some other sphere? Was there something very on-trend about her as a person or her book idea? [/quote]

I'm a novelist who had an 80k advance and I was pretty proud of myself!!

The answer to your question is that some writers get an early buzz and hype which equals a big advance although it may not amount to anything in terms of sales.

Where does buzz come from? Often from connection to a celebrity, or endorsements from other powerful writers. Sometime it is just a good book that everyone gets panicky about, into a mob mentality about, FOMO on a big scale. That's where the bidding war begins. (Mine was a modest three-house bidding war)

In Scharer's case, my guess would be her MFA contacts and writing friends like Celeste Ng started buzzing about her to publishing industry insiders. There is always the hope that a writer who has connections will sell big b/c of those connections. If you have a heavy weight behind you, like Celeste Ng, then you are a good bet. These two are tight.

Another example is Chip Cheek, also a Chunky Monkey with an 800k advance. Despite his connections and a big publicity push, his book went nowhere.

See: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney who wrote a good book The Nest, and recieved this kind of treatment by dint of her close friendship with Amy Poehler.

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