Pitchin' ' a Book

One of my problems has always been saying yes to everything that sounds fun and interesting and then discovering too late that I don't really have enough time to go around for everything I said yes to. At the moment I find myself with a little more time than usual and decided to pitch some ideas to my publisher.

I had to go out today to look over photo choices for the City Bird/Country Bird book. It's so exciting now that all the photos are going into it! It's been educational to learn about how long it takes a book to go from idea to print. This has been going for almost two years. I'm glad we're taking the time with it, I would much rather get it right and than get it fast. I really do think this book will be helpful for anyone to attract birds, even apartment dwellers like myself.

After we got the current book out of the way, I started pitching other ideas. One is for a peregrine book and I'm very excited that it's a go and will probably end up being series! Whoot! That one I thought would be an easy sell. I was nervous, I had sent a chapter off to one of the owners of Adventure and she did not receive that email and I had to read it aloud in the conference room. I normally have no problem with public speaking, but as I read the excerpt I found myself transported to fourth grade reading out of my Living Indiana History Textbook (shudder). What is interesting about pitching a book is that you have a sense of the market for the book you have a shot. If you can ease the publisher with sales numbers, you have a fighting chance. With bird books I have a pretty good idea. I have a good idea of what bird books sell and why good bird books don't sell better (one reason is that customers do not buy photoless bird books--they want lots and lots of photos).

So, then came the Disapproving Rabbits pitch again. The publisher is nervous. I can quote website traffic, emails and links but it's not enough. They ask if I know how many rabbit owners are out there? Do I know if there are rabbit specialty stores like bird stores. What's the rabbit market? These are not questions I can easily answer. I'm going to try and come up with a mock up of a book but there's still a chance that this publisher will say no. I know in my gut that this book will sell, but I just can't prove it like I can bird books.

Cinnamon was ready to lay down a heavy disapproval to the publisher, but a mouthful of carrot tops saved many lives today. You can still see a distinct harumph on her face.