If you've been following reviews from Chicklit Club (which I don't doubt that you do!) you may have come across a reviewer whose initials are SS. Yes, people. I am SO proud of my dear fellow reviewer, Swati Sharma who is now a writer! Her debut novel, Fashionably Yours is out now! Here's Swati, sharing her book deal moment. Over to you!
Five Years! I had tried to get published as the women fiction writer for five years before getting my publishing deal with Harlequin India in the most dramatic way possible. Fashionably Yours was previously known as The Diary of A Bombay Girl and I had conceptualized this novel two years ago and had sent out publishing proposals everywhere. While I heard back few positive rejections from some of the publication houses, few extremely rude ones, I am still waiting to hear from couple of others. After getting turned down almost by all of the big publication houses, I had spent the next one year in re-writing the book and once again started to sent out the publishing proposals but this time to the small, independent publications and while my book was still under consideration at one particularly popular indie-publisher in India, I got the whiff of the Harlequin India’s Annual Passion Aspiring Authors Auditions 2013 only an hour before the deadline. Though I had never won any competition before but I was still tempted to try my luck and without thinking twice, I sent in my entry. Two months passed and I was literally biting my fingers while waiting for the announcement of the winners and then few days later the result was finally announced. No, I didn't win. I was totally heartbroken and in a complete mess for days and weeks when one fine day a email from the publishing head of Harlequin India sneaked it’s way in my inbox. She said that though there could be only one official winner but she would still like to read my complete manuscript as she loved my voice. I couldn't believe my eyes and had to read the email zillions of time to make the sense of it. Once the news sunk in, I sat to do edit, polish and shoehorn my manuscript and after 10,000 deleted words and 20,000 new words, it landed in Harlequin office and from here on the interesting and nerve-racking game of back and forth emailing, editing and re-editing started. Two months later I was offered the publishing contract and even today it all seems like a lovely dream.
Here's the cover and blurb of Fashionably Yours:
“Maya Kapoor swaps the snowy mountains for the glittering ocean.”
Maya Kapoor arrived in Mumbai with a glamorous dream, quite literally. Maya wants to be a serious fashion writer for the high-end fashion magazine, Glamorous, but luck is not in her favor. Instead, she lands a job with a local fashion magazine, Style. Maya hates everything about it but for now this is all she has. Despite all the odds, Maya is excited about living an independent, fashionable life in the city of dreams.
At twenty-five, love has eluded Maya. But when she bumps into the dashing photographer, Aryan Malik, she falls head over heels for his gorgeous smile and charming manner.
But Maya seems to be stuck in a rut - her credit card bills are sky-high, her melodramatic mother can’t stop ranting, the boss is unbearably cruel, her younger sister has decided to tie the knot, and she’s not sure if Aryan could love a simple, confused girl like her.
Will Maya get the fairytale life she dreamed about or will she let everything slip through her fingers? Read her diary and find out.
Fashionably Yours is available on Kindle now.
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