Got A Book Agent, Wrote A Proposal, & Landed A Book Deal, from the workbench

We promised you folks a post all about the whole book-deal process back in March (when we spilled the beans about our upcoming book here).

And the only reason I can think of that it has taken us this long to write is because we have been so busy in fact writing our 260+ page book behind the scenes along with juggling the bambino and the journal and all of the projects that go along with those things. Haha. So forgive us for the delay. Many of you folks expressed an interest in how it all went down (a few years ago we never would have known how to navigate the waters of book proposals and agents and potential publishers to somehow “land” a book deal), so we are glad to share. Here is how it all happened, in bullet form (with photos of Burger acting out our emotions, naturally):

• About two years ago (after blogging for about two years) we were contacted by a few agents & independent publishers about a potential book deal.
• We went crazy for the idea (we enjoy to write and share our projects).
• We chatted with John’s sister about the folks who contacted us (she works in NYC with a large magazine publisher – so although she does not do books she knows who is who for the most part).
• She gently explained that they were a bit less “legit” than some other folks that we could potentially work with if we held out, so we chose to simply wait and see what happened.
• We sort of forgot about it.
• About six months later (a year and a half ago), we were contacted by a NY/Boston literary agency (Zachary Shuster Harmsworth) – so we asked John’s sister about them and she got truly giddy and said they were highly recommended (their agency simply emailed us out of the blue asking if we would like to pursue a book).
• Uh… yes! We got excited. And naturally, we dove right in.

• We immediately began working with an agent to put together a book proposal (this is what they send out to potential publishers to “shop” around a book idea and see who is interested).
• A proposal is typically 70-150 pages, so it takes a while to put together. The process starts with a book outline and you write an intro and a conclusion and explain why your book would be distinct/lively/exciting. You in short plead your case.
• It took us a year to complete our book proposal. Not lying. It was a ton of work! And we kept tweaking things until we enjoyed it (no sense in pitching a book that you are only feeling so-so about, so we took our time developing something that we thought was lively and fresh and exciting).
• After a year of work on that 100-ish page document we got to a place where our agent thought it was time to send it out. So she did.
• Then she had a baby. So another agent took over after the “pitching” process. That was a little nerve-wracking but it was such an exciting time so we tried to simply remember to breathe and eat and stuff. This was our nervous face:

• It turned out that after our literary agency pitched our proposal to about twenty publishing houses, seven of them were interested in bidding on our book. We were crossing our fingers for one or two (which we heard was typical – hey, you only need one!) so it was an insanely exciting and unbelievable reaction. We still get glassy-eyed when we think about that day.
• After publishers indicate that they are interested, there is an “auction” (yes, it is sort of like ebay – haha) and they each extend a bid about what they want to do/pay (everything from a book advance to royalties is indicated in their bid along with where they “see” the book going – so one publishing house might indicate that they see a giant pricey coffee table book while another wants a smaller less pricey handbook).
• It was especially helpful to learn which publishers hoped to do big pricey books and which ones were more of a small shop atmosphere who do a more customized look at a more affordable price point while believing in a lot of collaboration (obviously that type appealed to us a lot more).
• By the end of auction day our heads were spinning as we compared the offers and picked a publisher. Our pick? Artisan/Workman. Workman is a large publisher who is known for all sorts of best-selling books (like What To Expect When You are Expecting) – but Artisan is their smaller boutique agency that manages a much smaller volume of books per year in a real hands-on way that is full of collaboration. They understood that we did not want to create a giant $50 coffee table book and that we simply hoped something fresh, lively, and affordable – and full of strong ideas and strong photos.
• They in fact offered us a two-book deal, which is especially encouraging because they were saying “we have faith even before your first book comes out that it’ll be strong and we will want to do a second book with you” – so yeah, we were over the moon. We have no idea what the second book will be about (since we did not touch on that in the proposal) so it is pleasant and open-ended now. Which we like (who knows what we will want to write about after the first book comes out).
• About eight months ago we all signed on the dotted line to make things official (which is in fact when we shared the book deal news with you folks – we could not wait!). Then we… you guessed it… dove right into writing the actual book.

• After about seven months of nearly nonstop writing (behind the scenes while we continued to journal and enjoy on Clara), we handed in our 100+ page manuscript outline, which felt fairly darn good. Although it is around 120 pages now, when the walkthroughs and photos are brought in it should hit the 260+ page mark. This momentous hand-in day was over a month ago. We are right now gearing up for the photography stage (working on the book’s layout, fleshing out all the walkthroughs, and beginning to secretly complete and shoot hundreds of projects with a pro photographer).
• We are also coordinating with a few other guest bloggers who we’d enjoy to feature (you know we enjoy to share the enjoy slash eye candy).

• Let us simply say we fully understand why the title of “author” is a full time job. It has been kind of crazy being stay at home parents to Clara, keeping up with the journal and the projects that we share, all while writing a book and doing secret projects for the book behind the scenes. But we could not be more excited to see how it all turns out! And when we are done we will likely sleep for at least five days straight.

• The book is slated for release in the fall of 2012 (although there are occasional murmurings of the spring of 2013). Is not it remarkable how much longer books take to make than journal posts? Especially since most of the content is already completed and the release date is still a year (or more!) away. All that pro photography and layout and production stuff takes time though, and we are sure it’ll be well worth the wait!

As for what our book is about, the concept is that it is an idea book. A giant compilation of over 250 ideas for showing your home some enjoy (our tentative title is in fact Spruce: 257 Ways To Show Your Home Some Enjoy). The number might change as we continue to execute the projects that we have detailed in our manuscript (some might be excellent and lead to other ideas while some might fail – so it is flexible). We simply want it to be a lively book that you can flip through to see tons of numbered ideas, and then you can start on any page and do any project in the order that it appeals to you. Informal simply felt right to us, and the idea that every project or suggestion could be altered a bit (so everyone can do their own spin to fit their house and their style) seems fitting.

A decorating bible with explanations about boxpleats and start-to-finish home staging, it is not. It is more of a spark. A starting point. A junkload of ideas to pick and choose from and adapt to fit your home. Some are more involved, some are especially straightforward. Some are free, some might be something that you have to save up for a little to take on. In short it is the journal. Only a book. And instead of getting a post or two a day, you get 250+ ideas with photos and checklists and walkthroughs and illustrations (along with a lot of extra pointers, sidebars, and commentary) and a little dorky humor a la us.

Oh and virtually all of the 250+ projects/photos/illustrations will be new for the book – so it is nothing regurgitated from YHL or anything. Some of the ideas might be the same (ex: paint a piece of furniture or reupholster a bench) but those general concepts had to be included – so we chose we’d execute them in a fresh way (instead of seeing the same bench that I painted three years ago for the journal, you might see a dresser painted in a fully distinct way that we secretly completed this winter). Sure it is extra work, but we truly want the book to look fresh and be full of distinct “takes” on a ton of decorating ideas – both classic and unexpected (and fairly much everything in between).

So there it is. A big ol’ rundown of the book process, what we have been up to, and how it all went down. I would certainly encourage anyone who is looking to be published to work with an agent (if they do not email you, I’d certainly try emailing them a proposal to see if they’d like to take on your project). Let us simply say that I can name fifty times that having an agent to assist navigate the contractual terms, timeline, and general process came to the rescue – so it is certainly something we likely could not have gone without.

Does anyone else out there have publishing pointers to share with others who are hoping to get into author-ship? Has anyone in fact tried to author a book in the past? Any self publishing experiences to share (we were too scared to go that route, but hear it can work too). As for book ideas, waaaay before John and I were bloggers we tried to write a proposal for a hilarious pet naming book (say the people who named their dog Hamburger) but after realizing how much work it was… it simply sort of fizzled out. Perhaps someday we will give it another go. We owe it to Burger. Haha.

Update – Some of the most frequent requests that we get are for info about professionally blogging (how we made our site, how we grew our following, how we make money, etc) so we shared all of the details about how we began a journal, grew our traffic, and turned it into a full time job.