For a few weeks now, I’ve been working fairly intensely on a book idea. I haven’t talked about it on this site yet, but if it works out, you’ll hear more soon enough.
The other day, I finally sent it off to an editor interested in looking at it. It’ll take some time before I hear back. If it works out, I dance. If not, I can try taking it to other people. It’s potentially a very long process, that can lead to a ginormous number of email rejections.
I Sold My Soul on eBay didn’t work the same way. The publishers came to me after seeing all the publicity from the eBay auction and asked me to write the book. They essentially took care of the hardest part about getting published — getting someone interested in your work.
Now, with this book, I don’t have that same opportunity. It’s just me on my own, trying to generate interest in an idea I’m really excited about. It’s much harder but I do have a few connections of which I can try to make use.
For anyone interested, the proposal itself included: a potential title/subtitle, a lengthy outline of the entire book (what each chapter would look like), a description of the target audiences, a list of reasons why the book would sell 239842323 copies, an explanation of why I need to be the person that writes this book, a list of my media appearances and speaking engagements, a list of books similar in topic/nature that have fared well, and the sales history of my last book.
I also included a sample chapter (slightly over 7,000 words) that can later be expanded upon if needed. I’m not sure if this is how other authors do it, but it was the recommendation given to me by a trusted friend.
Now, it’s up to the corporate overlords. We’ll see what happens.
