Cassie Evans asked Pippa DaCosta:

. How long did it take you to get your first book published? How often do you write? Who is your publisher? Do you edit your own work or send it to an editOr?

Pippa DaCosta Hi Cassie, and thank you for your questions.

How long did it take you to get your first book published?

My first traditionally published book was written after I pitched the idea direct to the publisher, Bloomsbury. We were already in talks about the Veil Series, which they wanted, but I’d already self-published Beyond The Veil, and had the sequel Devil May Care scheduled to be published, and didn’t want to let my fans down by pulling those books from my release scheduled. So, I said no to the publisher (one of the hardest decisions of my life!), but a few weeks later pitched them the idea for City of Fae. They wanted it, asked for a synopsis and first few chapters, and the rest, as they say, is history. So, my road to publication is a little unusual. From when I first spoke with them (May 2nd 2014) to the publication of City of Fae (which happens to be tomorrow, May 7th 2015!) it’s taken almost exactly a year.

I’ve always written, but never submitted to agents or publishers before then, mostly due to a full time career in marketing, but also because it seemed like an impossible dream. It was only when I left my career to look after my two little girls, that I looked again at chasing my dream.

How often do you write?

I write every day. Sometimes just a few hundred words, other times a few thousand. It depends if I’m working on a first draft (I can write about 10k words in a day if it’s a first draft) or if I’m editing, in which case the word count drastically decreases (literally!). I also have two children and husband to look after, so I can’t write all day and often stick to just a few hours in the evening (I’d happily write all day if I could get away with it!).

Who is your publisher?

My publisher for City of Fae is Bloomsbury Spark, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing (Bloomsbury also publish that little known series, Harry Potter. You may have heard of it ;) ). They’re an amazing bunch of cool people with their fingers on the pulse of modern publishing.

Do you edit your own work or send it to an editor?

I edit my own work as much as I can and then send it off to my editor, either freelance, or in-house via the publisher. My process usually looks something like this:

1, Finish first draft (oh my lawd, this stinks. I’m never writing again)
2, Immediate re-read (fix enormous plot holes and maybe cry a little because there’s SO MUCH WORK!)
3, Developmental edit (go deep and fix plot, pace, motivations, etc)
4, Line edit (rewrite scenes at the sentence level. This is where the book starts to resemble something worth reading)
5, Read through (Is my editor going to throw the manuscript back in my face and say: No, bad author! – p.s. She wouldn’t really do that).
6, Send it to my editor (resist the urge to continue tweaking it. Oh look, a shiny new idea for the next book! Get stuck into next first draft)

The editor sends it back. I take a deep breath. And repeat steps 2-6. In fact, that’s a pretty good summary of my everyday writing life right there!

Thanks for your questions!

Pippa.

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