Book update: editing and publishing

Writing a book is a journey. What’s the expression…it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. I think that’s an appropriate metaphor for this process.

I used to think that writing a book was 99% writing, and then 1% the details required to sell it. I’m thinking now that the actual writing of the book is probably 40% of the process, and that might be generous.

The writing of my book happened this past July while I was in Scotland. I left for Scotland with about 20 pages written and a high-level outline. My goal was to return with the entire first draft completed.

I wrote every single morning. Sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for 2 hours. It just depending on how deep I got into it that day. And by gosh, I got it done. By the time I left Scotland, I had 49,000 words of a first draft. #fistbump

Along this journey I’ve had a writing partner in Stan Rapp. I met Stan in late 2007 when, along with Halyard Capital, they shared their idea of a new agency model called Engauge and asked if I’d be interested in selling my agency, Spunlogic, to join them. Six months later we were acquired by Engauge and Stan became an important part of my life.

Over the last 10 years, Stan has been a friend, mentor, and colleague. We stayed in touch after we sold Engauge to Publicis, talking on the phone every few months.

Then in early 2017 we met up for lunch while I was in New York and I started to tell Stan about the book I was working on. Stan is a very accomplished author and by the end of lunch we had decided to partner together on the book. I would be the author, and Stan would be the editor and would write the Forward.

We worked closely together through 2017 to nail the theme and direction of the book, meeting several times for all-day sessions. By the end of 2017, we had a proposal, the first 20 pages, and an agent with a goal of finding a publisher.

Our plan in 2018 was simple: let our agent try to find a publisher, and should that not happen, I’d write the first draft in July and we’d work to self-publishing by year’s end.

Lo and behold, it’s been difficult finding a publisher that will take a chance on this first-time author. Most liked the concept but felt I couldn’t move enough books. I’m excited to prove them all wrong :)

So at this point, we’re likely going to self-publish the book (or find a small, independent publisher.) We’re deep into the editing phase of the book, and we’ll start working on cover art and the nuts and bolts of book publishing over the next 30 days.

The goal is to launch the book officially by end of January 2019. I can’t wait to get it out there!