Contract love

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I love my Canadian publisher, HarperCollins Canada. After a winter away, I came home to a pile of mail, including the contract for The Next Novel. I don't get a new book out that often, so I forget how striking the first page of their contracts is. It reads:

We believe that a book's most precious element is its creator; that the publisher's role is to produce a work of lasting value and offer it to the public with confidence and commitment; that the author's opinions on publication matters are relevant and should be heard; and that quality should be as much of the essence as timeliness in this agreement. Our contract expresses these beliefs. 

See?

One book, two spots on bestseller list! The plot thickens.

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Iris, my editor and publisher, just emailed me that Mistress of the Sun was #1 on the Globe and Mail Historical Fiction list! She and Norma, the receptionist at HarperCollins Canada, "enjoyed the sight of it for several minutes," and then Norma pointed out that Under the Sun by Sandra Gulland was also on the list, further down. "We are mystified by this," Iris wrote, "an error on someone's part. But, you have to admit it's pretty nice to be in two places on one bestseller list."

I do indeed! I jokingly wrote back that if The Next Novel were titled Under the Sun it could be called a bestseller before it was even written, much less published.

MISTRESS now one month on Globe & Mail Canadian Bestseller list!

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I saw my editor and publisher Iris Tupholme yesterday at the HarperCollins office in Toronto. The sweetest thing is the big screen in the reception saying, in huge letters, "Welcome, Sandra Gulland." I always get a kick out of it, and love that fact that for all these thirty years, Norma is still there and leaps up for a hug.

I had a short coffee-meet with my new publicist, Lindsey Love (what a perfect name!), so Iris and I chatted briefly in the comfy lobby chairs. Iris was well pregnant with her youngest when we first met in my agent's office, and now that youngest is ready for a career. We each remember stories going way back.

Iris expressed her very great pleasure that Mistress of the Sun has been on the Globe & Mail Canadian bestseller list for a month now, and in the top 10! I was touched by how she described each Saturday, when the paper arrives. She can't bear to look right away. She sneaks up on it. First, she'll look at the non-fiction. And then, finally, glance at the fiction list to see if Mistress is there. Hurrah! Sometimes, later on in the day, she'll go back to look again.

"You're worse than I am!" I told her.

Iris has other authors on that list, some of whom practically live on that list. I was touched how excited she was by Mistress's success. She — and my book is a "she," no? — might fall off the list next Saturday, but it's a hard list to get on, and "a month is a lot," Iris told me.

Every time I think of this conversation, I smile.