As you know, we have a book coming out in Spring of 2020. Everyone asks about the process of getting a book published and so I decided to write about it.
The path ahead may be long. Follow the light!
"I want to write a book". This is something that I commonly hear when people learn that I have a book coming out in spring 2020. I am always amazed at how little people know about the long process of birthing a book! I intend to do a series to illucidate the steps involved in writing a book because I have found there is a lot of interest out there!
1. The first step is to really believe in this book that is living inside of you and to know that it is unique and will fill a void out there. When you start researching in your genre, it may seem like there is no space for a new book. But, there is always that unique perspective that you offer that speaks to a certain set of people. The first step is finding out what is unique about your book and believing in it! Because it is going to take a lot of work and challenges to birth that book and if you dont believe in it then no one else will either!
Once you believe in your book you need to start researching books in your genre. You need to decide whether or not you want to self publish or get a publisher. I knew right away that I did not want to self publish. I wanted to work with professionals! So many times in running your own business you need to be the expert of all aspects. The expert in recipe writing, design of space, running a cafe, operating a website, taking photographs, expert in HR, expert in book keeping, an expert in running a shipping business and organizing systems for labels, inventory and ordering and an expert in editing (I really need help with this as I am the RUN-ON QUEEN!!!). I knew that I did not want to be an expert in all areas of publishing a book. Just writing the book would be enough. I started to talk with friends that had published books and asked them which agents they used. I started looking in books and finding out who their publishers and agents were. Finally, my dear friends Lisa Kvirist and John Ivanko shared with me their book proposal that landed them their first publisher. They were so open with me about the steps and stages of writing a proposal and getting a book deal. At this same time in my research, my friend Steve Sando introduced me to his agent. I remember the email starting with "My two favorite gals". I love Steve's way with words and informality. So with my introductions to some agents and a desire to write a great book proposal, I started to dig in.
Next week I will talk about part II - Writing the book proposal and landing an agent!