What Are The Odds?

Something tragic happened to me a few weeks ago. I lost my editor.  No. Thank goodness, she didn’t die but she left my publisher for another job (in non-fiction).  Okay, someone’s wondering, “So what! They’ll give you another editor.” And they did. A nice lady who should be sending me edits soon. But you need to understand, all authors are insecure.

The one that left is the same editor who pulled my book from the slush pile and decided it had merit, the same editor who understood where I was going with my series and took as much delight in the twists and turns as I did. She’d even suggested a story line for book number three that they hadn’t even bought, giving me a warm and fussy feeling that they might buy one, maybe two more from me. My new editor and/or my publisher could decide the series isn’t one they have faith in and not offer another contract. I may no longer have a cheerleader shouting my potential for more sales. So if you’re into odds, my odds of 95 out of 100 of getting another contract has now dropped to 75 out of 100.  And I'm actually being an optimistic as usual (still with a dash of a cynic).