:: How I Got A Book Deal…

Hello! How are you?! I am good! I’ve been up since very early this morning working on the book and trying not to worry about getting through the next couple of scary-retail months. It’s the super quiet time now, as most shopkeepers will know. This is the time when people are tightening their purse strings after that big holiday splurge time. So most little businesses like us spend February and March snacking on healthy, thrifty meals with a determined brow, focusing on the busier months that lie ahead, buying lottery tickets and generally breathing deeply.

But back to the book. Lots and lots and lots of people ask me how I got a book deal. At dinners, at weddings, on email, in the shop. I think so many people have a book idea, and it’s really cool to get the inside story on just how the HECK that idea can be turned into a real, live book. As a published author, people kind of consider that I must know about this stuff. I guess I kind of do. But my story is not everybody’s story. I think I was pretty darn lucky, actually. Here goes…

When I was a teenager, I spent my days reading Dolly Magazine from cover to cover every day, writing poetry (quite sappy, bad poetry) and making sure my English books were in tip top, super-neat condition. I practiced writing nicely in aqua ink with my calligraphy set. I read a lot. I was all about the word. I loved everything to do with writing and wanted to grow up to be a journalist or, better still, an author.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago. I sat in my living room one morning and I thought about how things were going for me. I thought about the things I had been able to do, and also the things I had always wanted to do. The book was top of the list. So I whizzed up to my computer and I googled Hardie Grant (my now publisher). I chose them because a lot of the cookbooks I liked were published by them, and I thought that cookbooks were a lot like craft books, in terms of aesthetic and format. That done, I sent an email to info@hardiegrant.com.au or whatever the contact address was. Here’s what my ‘proposal’ said ::

“Hello Hardie Grant People!
It’s Pip here, from Meet Me at Mike’s. I was wondering if you would like to publish a book of projects and pictures, detailing the work of some great people in the Australian craft world at the moment. I think it would be great! I would love to curate and write a book like that! Let me know what you think!
Pip xx”

About a month later I got an email back, asking me to go in for a meeting. We had a chat. A few weeks later a contract was signed and I started work on our book! It was that easy. I know there are a lot of writers who SHOULD be published who NEVER get the chance, so I do feel very fortunate to have the opportunities I have. Yes I do!

I guess the thing about my approach is that I didn’t procrastinate, plan, worry, make excuses, fear or wonder. I just dived in. I just thought about what I wanted to do, and then I asked the right person. I think you can apply this approach to all areas of life, you just have to stop fearing rejection and take some risks. There is really nothing to lose.

We are way down the track now, and I am a few days away from finishing the text component of my second book. I still have lots of final samples to make. And illustrations to do. And there is a photo shoot and lots of edited text to go over down the track too. But it’s a great process that I really do enjoy. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it.

Financially, there is not a huge reward, even for writing a successful book like ours. A royalty is paid twice a year – and it’s a very, very small percentage of the cover price of the book. You would make more money working the same hours at Safeway. Probably you would make TWICE as much working the same hours at Safeway. Honestly. But there is something really great about working hard on a project and seeing it through. You can’t beat it. It’s more about the pride and satisfaction you feel. It’s kind of unbeatable, exciting and weird all at the same time.

Apart from the unbeatable and the exciting, you get to meet lots of great people when you make a book. While you work on it you are chatting with designers and stylists and editors and photographers. In my case I also got to work with the people who contributed to the book. Some of them were lovely! Then, after you are published you might get to talk on the radio or be interviewed by nice people from the newspaper. And then there are all the great people who support you by actually buying and reading your book. THEY are really, really great, and they are people you probably would never meet otherwise. That’s cool, right?!

Of course, aside from that are all the snippy people who think THEY should have written a book like yours. That they could have done it better etc etc. These are the people who think you are too big for your boots, or a goody two-shoes, or just plain undeserving. That’ s not much fun. But you can’t grizzle and you have to take the bad with the good. Maybe they could have. So off they should go. Go do it, I say! Take a punt and see what happens. I bet you COULD write a great book too, Snippy.

So there is the extremely short version of How I Got A Book Deal! It’s probably not How To Get A Book Deal… but it’s my version. I wonder if there are any other writers reading this… I’d love to hear other people’s stories about publishing and book deals! Do you want to write a book? Do you?!