Ty's Book!

I can't believe this is actually happening. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that I get to share Ty with the rest of the world!

The last time I wrote a publishing update, I may or may not have mentioned that Walnut Springs has had my manuscript for over a year--almost a year and a half. I kept checking in with the editor every few months, who would tell me the same thing: That she would let me know as soon as they made a decision.

In that time, Covenant Communications wrote a very nice, personal "rejection" about how much they wished they could choose Ty's book because they loved the honesty and emotional response from the book. My manuscript made it through to the top of the review process, but it came down to how marketable it would be, and she said I was a "victim of the market"--that LDS books are struggling in general so they had to be extra selective. Rejection aside, it still made me feel good that the book itself was not the problem.

Walnut Spring became my last hope, and I've always felt good about them and believed it would happen. . . but the part of me that didn't want to get crushed had to keep in the back of my mind that they could likely say the same thing. But I figured no news was still good news, so I kept waiting and waiting. . .

Finally, on August 25th, I wrote the editor a letter that Dan helped me word to "draw them out" as Dan put it. Basically, I suggested that, given the long length of time they had my manuscript, I might need to move on, for fear that it would not get published during this extended waiting period.

I did not expect to hear a reply the next day, let alone while I was shopping with both kids at Wal-Mart! I believe I was taking my time down the cereal aisle when I heard my phone beep and I pulled it out to check my email. My heart thumped when I saw the editor's name "Linda Prince," with the subject line, "Taumafai Inquiry." Preparing myself for bad news, I opened the email and skimmed through her opening lines so fast, looking for the apology and rejection words that I'd seen so much of.

Instead, I read:

"Dear Erica,

Thanks for your inquiry. I just told our president that we needed to make a final decision about Taumafai right now. After I reminded him of the engaging nature of the book (it's not often I can't "put down" a nonfiction manuscript), your writing skills, and the relevance of the topic, he said, "We'll do it!" So, we're on. We would go to press in December (well before Christmas, since we don't work over the holidays) for a January release. Does that fit with your schedule?

When it comes to marketing and promotion, the best thing about Taumafai is that it isn't just for parents who have lost an infant to SIDS, but for anyone who has lost a child to death. It's a great gift book for those grieving the loss of a child--or any loss, for that matter. On that note, we'll need a copy of your marketing plan.

A few more things:

• Here's our generic contract for your perusal. Feel free to ask questions. I'll need your full legal name and your street address for the contract. (BTW, Currawong House is our current company name; Walnut Springs Press is an imprint--a brand. We'll probably publish your book under Currawong Press, our newest LDS imprint.)
• As I mentioned previously, Taumafai needs a more descriptive title, one that makes it obvious what the book is about. A clarifying subtitle is not enough, because booksellers and retail customers often don't read past the main title. We'll brainstorm titles but would like to get your ideas as well. Something about the loss of a child, but not specifically about SIDS, will be best. We'll run a few titles by Deseret Book in order to make a final decision. They distribute many of our LDS books; in other words, they sell them to stores (Wal-Mart, grocery stores, LDS independent bookstores, etc.), along with their own books. (All of our books are sold in DB stores, whether or not DB distributes them to other stores.) And although it's unlikely that DB will distribute this book, when we get their input on a book's title and cover, they almost always order a lot more copies for their stores.

I look forward to working with you on this great little book.

Best,

Linda"

I didn't even catch every word once I read, "Let's do it!" Skim, skim, skim, my mouth dropping open as I scanned the rest of the email, mostly seeing, "blah blah blah details details. . ." Who cares?? I'M GETTING PUBLISHED!"

I let out a quieted squeal, smiling so big and laughing. Aiyana immediately sensed a change in my demeanor, and she brightened from her previous bad mood, her cheeks pinching together with an excited smile as she mimicked me. I squeezed her tight, saying something along the lines of, "Ty's book is getting published! Mommy gets to share Ty!"

All thoughts of shopping stopped short, and I wandered up and down the aisles aimlessly, knowing I still needed to get food into my cart before Aiya and Aaron both ran out of steam. I called Dan, who couldn't pick up because he was in meeting. Not fair! I just wanted to scream and shout, not text in CAPS! But I did manage to get a hold of my sisters and my mom, crying each time I spoke Ty's name. I even had Jen read me the email over the phone, word-for-word since I could no longer access the email on my phone. Wow, this was really happening!

A part of me is still afraid something's going to fall through. I had heard some poor rumors about Walnut Springs recently, which is what encouraged me to inquire right away. I had also heard good things, though, too. So . . . I'm just going to keep on hoping everything goes well from now till January!

In the meantime, last week I was crazy-busy with combing through my manuscript and fixing grammar (HUGE thanks to my dad who went through every word to catch my grammatical errors with comas, semi-colons, better word choice, etc), and I added a few things to some chapters, etc.
Then I had to whip together a marketing plan, after having some ideas but no real knowledge of what that looks like (also thanks to Lynette for putting my marketing points into an appropriate format).

Now it's back to waiting for a little bit while we brainstorm titles with my editor (I have an editor!!) and she looks over my marketing plan. *Crossing my fingers from here on out!