Deal Announcements feature my most recent deal as an agent and the story behind it. Writers and readers should experience how an agent knows when they’ve struck gold and sign an author, the beginning of the journey to publication.

I’m thrilled to announce the publication of KayLynn Flanders‘s Shielded!

Monica Jean at Delacorte has preempted debut author KayLynn Flanders’s Shielded, a YA fantasy about a princess hiding a magical secret in a kingdom ravaged by war. The key to saving not only those closest to her, but the kingdom itself, is also the very secret that could destroy her. Publication for the first book is scheduled for summer 2020; Laura Crockett at TriadaUS brokered the deal for world English rights.

Once upon a time…

In spring 2017, I read an enchanting, classic fantasy about a princess in disguise, whose repressed magic would guide her through the wild lands and into enemy territory, where she could then pretend to be someone else for the royal family and find a way to stop a ruthless mage from wrecking havoc across the land. This wasn’t an assassin princess, this wasn’t a princess with killer magical skills from the beginning––she’s instead an endearing, wonderfully relatable young woman who just wants what’s best for her family and kingdom, while still struggling to come to terms with who she is and what she’s capable of.

KayLynn and I are editorial people, and let me tell you, it was an experience and an absolute joy to highlight, color-code, comment thread––and yes, even crash Word––as we worked to polish this up for submission. I do this with all of my clients, but since KayLynn is a freelance editor herself we could really dig into the meaty bits. It’s so special to both of us, and we wanted to get it just right.

We submitted the manuscript on KayLynn’s birthday, and one year later we found the absolute perfect editor for Shielded––again, on KayLynn’s birthday. Everything came full circle.

And the rest…is history.

Congratulations, KayLynn! You’re going to be a published author!