Publishers Marketplace: J R Lankford


	ISBN 0061849278 Pub Date: April 13, 2010

THE QUEEN’S DAUGHTER & WATERMARK

DEBUT NOVELPRO HISTORICALS

Online Workshop Launches Careers

BELLAIRE, TX (January 5, 2010) --

On the heels of an innovative workshop’s first YA author success -- the Kirkus-starred In the Name of God, and Three Witches by Paula Jolin, both from Roaring Brook Press -- a second author's debut YA historical workshopped in NOVELPRO will be published this year by HENRY HOLT FOR YOUNG READERS.

Pre-orders are arriving at online booksellers for Susan Coventry's debut, THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER, which tells the story of Princess Joan, the youngest daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II. Joan loves her parents, but feels like a political pawn when she is forced to choose between them. Married off to the King of Sicily, ten years her senior, but unable to forget Lord Raymond, her childhood crush, is Joan too warped by political ambition to learn who to trust and who to love?

A debut also workshopped at NovelPro and due to be published in April by Avon A is WATERMARK, A NOVEL OF THE MIDDLE AGES by Vanitha Sankaran. “Watermark is a powerful novel about the destructive forces unleashed by ignorance and superstition. Readers will care deeply for the courageous Auda, who finds love where she least expects it, in the shadow of the Inquisition." (New York Times bestselling author Sharon Kay Penman)

What’s in the water at this small workshop, which at the moment has only 18 members?

Founder J R Lankford says, "Well, first, we have high admission and participation standards. Next, we've found a way for authors with a great book concept and great prose to shorten the time from first draft to a submission-ready manuscript that wows publishing professionals and avid readers alike.”

That NovelPro “way” involves thorough whole novel critiques per detailed guidelines in clinics that last from 4 to 6 weeks. Member authors submit first drafts (and revisions) and come away with comments that help them leapfrog to a quality that might not otherwise occur until a 5th, or even 20th, draft.

Lankford adds, “Because talent is a prerequisite and then we focus on craft, our eight published authors have earned high praise for their novels, including three starred reviews. I expect great things for both Susan's and Vanitha’s books, which give uniquely delightful and absorbing glimpses of history."

Other NovelPro members earning prior kudos include, Lynn Hoffman for his Booklist-starred novel, bang BANG, of which Kirkus said, “brilliant might be too big a word for this novel, but not by much; and Lankford herself, whose next installment in her critically acclaimed The Jesus Thief series is due out in 2010 as well. The Jesus Thief received a starred review from Booklist, was nominated for awards, optioned for film, translated into five languages and it reached the Amazon mystery/thriller bestseller list in its first two weeks. Also making appearances on their respective Amazon bestseller lists were former members Pat Brown for her gay detective series, L.A. Heat, L.A. Boneyard and L.A. Mischief; and Dave Shields for his cycling sagas, The Race, The Tour, and Tour de Life. Shields’s books brought him repeat guest appearances on CNN, FOX, and ESPN.

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