Tag Archives: Publisher’s Weekly

America's Forgotten Suffragists, History, Publishing journey, Virginia Minor, Women's History

Another Book Contract!

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After a lot of waiting and years of research, I’m so happy to announce this contract:

I am so thrilled to be sharing her “forgotten” story with the world. The biography is really a dual biography of her and her husband, Francis, because they were “partners in crime” on the subject of suffrage–and equal in all things (which was unusual for their time). However, there is far more information available on Virginia, but I was able to reconstruct a good portion of Francis’ career as a lawyer, as well as his suffrage work.

One of the reasons this book is so important to me is that the way we’re taught about the Suffrage Movement in school is that is was pretty much taken care of by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a handful of other women. But that is far from the truth. The movement was actually progressed by thousands of women of all races and class levels. Writing them back into history is so important to a fuller understanding of the movement and its repercussions to us today.

America’s Forgotten Suffragists is a cradle to grave biography because it is the first one ever written about Virginia and Francis. Among the things you’ll learn about them:

  • Their early lives, education, courtship and wedding.
  • Virginia’s work during the Civil War in the health department and Francis’ work as a war claims agent.
  • Virginia’s founding of the Woman’s Suffrage Association of Missouri two years before Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone formed their national organizations.
  • How Virginia and Francis came up with the New Departure (the 14th amendment theory) and argued it through the court system all the way to the Supreme Court.
  • Virginia’s tax revolts (refusing to pay her taxes until women get the vote)
  • Her work with Susan B. Anthony to campaign for women’s suffrage in Nebraska
  • Virginia’s unorthodox funeral and will.
  • Posthumous honors for both

If you want a little preview of the biography, go to virginiaminor.com, a companion website I built for the book.

An Incredible Year
I’m going to take a minute to brag. This is my fourth book contract in six months (the one you may not know about is with our local chapter of the League of Women Voters for a book on 60 years of their history), along with a contract for a magazine article related to America’s Forgotten Suffragists.

HOWEVER, this explosion of luck is a long time coming. There is no such thing as overnight success, though it can appear that way. I have been writing seriously 13 years. In that time, I had one agent, got a lot of rejections, left her, self-published six books, got a book optioned for a movie/TV, got a wonderful new agent, Amy Collins, racked up more rejections and then finally everything hit. Hard work, never giving up (and believe me, it was tempting) and a great agent were for me the recipe for success.

I am firm believer that you have to work hard to achieve great things. That is what I have done from the beginning and that is what I will continue to do.

And for those of you who have noticed my contracts are all for non-fiction, don’t worry, I’m still writing fiction as well. I have four books I want to complete in 2022, in addition to my non-fiction on Fierce Females on Television. I may not finish all of them, but two are already started so it’s possible. I’m hoping to be able to slow down a little after next year, but this is what I mean about working hard to get my career jumpstarted.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Madame Presidentess, Movies/TV

I’m Quoted in Publisher’s Weekly!

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I’m over the moon to say I am quoted in a Publisher’s Weekly article on Taleflick, the company through which I got my TV/movie option for Madame Presidentess. It may seem silly to be excited about this, but Publisher’s Weekly is very much about the traditional publishing industry, and rarely delves into anything with independent publishing or self-published authors.

In case you don’t want to read the whole article (which you should), here’s my quote, where I talk about what Taleflick has done for me:

I highly recommend Taleflick. But I would also recommend going with the $88 package. If you’re a writer, you can write your own logline, etc. and no one knows your book better than you. I didn’t even know the $300+ package was an option. It must be new.

Madame Presidentess, Reviews

Publisher’s Weekly Gives Madame Presidentess a Positive Review!

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An “intriguing…dramatic story of struggle”

Short version of the review-y parts:

“Evelina’s intriguing account of Victoria Woodhull—spiritualist, suffragette, stockbroker, and politician—deftly extols the many “firsts” of this 19th-century feminist trailblazer…Evelina moves assuredly through the many layers of Victoria’s colorful life; such potent issues as family torment, marital abuse, and female subjugation all are linked in this dramatic story of struggle.”  

The rest of the review is mainly a summary of what the book is about.

This is a HUGE deal for an indie author like me because it’s very hard for us to get the major publishing publications – of which Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus are the most widely respected – to review indie books. I’m proud to say this review was not paid for in any way.

Haven’t bought Madame Presidentess yet? It’s available in print and ebook from all major retailers and the audio book is currently in production. More news on that as it happens!