So a while ago I read “The Rain” by Virginia Bergin and BOY did I love that book with its feisty yet often annoying heroine and its brilliant premise. So I’m very pleased to be joining the blog tour, The Life Cycle of the Rain – hope you enjoy my stop!
THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE RAIN
We all remember learning about the water cycle at school don’t we? How the sun heats the water, and the water evaporates and… blah blah blah. The Water Cycle was never a topic that set our school books on fire BUT maybe if Ruby Morris had paid more attention to her Geography teacher then she’d know exactly which clouds might kill her! So we’re here to educate you, because don’t forget, just one drop will kill you. From the writing process to publication, join us for a blog tour with a difference, as we learn about a FAR more interesting cycle – The Life Cycle of The Rain by Virginia Bergin.
1. The sun heats the ocean i.e. Virginia Bergin gets an excellent idea
2. Prevailing winds pick up the manuscript and deliver it to the Agent Louise Lamont
3. Pressure (also known as excitement) begins to build within the publishing cloud of Macmillan with Editor Rachel Petty
4. Virginia Bergin is as high as a cirrocumulus cloud as her book begins to form
5. Storm clouds gather over Frankfurt and Bologna
6. A downpour of marketing and publicity support
7. Take shelter in your local bookshop – Totnes Bookshop
I am hosting Step 5 – Storm clouds gather over Frankfurt and Bologna. So over to Cathryn Gregory – Rights manager at Macmillan Children’s Books.
The Life Cycle of THE RAIN – Storm clouds gather over Frankfurt and Bologna
I don’t know if any of you have ever visited a trade fair, like say for instance a Children’s Book Fair, but they are often held in huge soulless exhibition centres with no windows. Of course, there are pretty pictures of books, and beautiful illustrations decorating the stands, but spend too long in there and one begins to wonder what is going on in the outside world…
“Is the sun still shining out there or (you can see where I’m going with this!) have the dark storm clouds that had begun to appear on the horizon take over the sky and MAYBE KILLER RAIN HAS FALLEN AND KILLED EVERYONE ON EARTH APART FROM THE CHILDREN’S BOOK WORLD AND I HAVE TO BE THE SAVIOUR OF EVERYONE”
See? Spending too long at a trade fair can send a Rights Manager MAD.
But at Frankfurt Book Fair, October 2013, thoughts weren’t on the weather outside but on the storm brewing inside the venue. A storm of excitement caused by a book by as yet unknown author Virginia Bergin. The German publishers were already in on the frenzy, having come in with a pre-empt the day after receiving the manuscript. Apparently most of the editors stayed up all night texting each other while reading it! Our scouts (the people who let the foreign publishers know about any new and exciting books) at Frankfurt warned us of the storm ahead, telling us how they had to keep running for cover in total alarm whenever it clouded over with interest. The French and the US donned their galoshes and bought the book straight out of Frankfurt in a whirl of excitement.
The pressure continued to build around THE RAIN, with foreign publishers requesting waterproof editions to read to see them through the wet winter months (that may be a slight exaggeration, but hey, I see a theme and I run with it). And then… drip, drip, drop little April showers! At Bologna Children’s Book Fair in the Spring of 2014, we finally had a finished edited manuscript to show off and Ruby Morris’ story continues to spark excitement around the world, with the most recent publishers to buy it being the Turkish (who of course are famous for their grey and drizzly rainy weather).
Now that the finished copies are in, and look amazing, we’ll be sending them out to our foreign customers and publishers who have yet to discover THE RAIN and we’re confident that this will prompt them in to action – as well as have them reaching for the bin bags and sticky tape!
Watch out world, #TheRainIsComing
Thank you so much Cathryn!
About the Author:
Virginia Bergin grew up in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and went on to study psychology, but ruined her own career when, dabbling in fine art at Central Saint Martins, she rediscovered creative writing. Since then she has written poetry, short stories, film and TV scripts. Most recently she has been working in online education, creating interactive courses for The Open University. She currently lives in Bristol and is writing the sequel to THE RAIN.
Want to follow the tour? Next up http://redheatherduff.blogspot.co.uk/ so head over and see whats next…
Happy Reading Folks!
