As some of you may know, I have put my book writing on hold the day that Karlo announced that HE wanted to write a book. What a surprise this was. No sooner did I start my own book, he comes up with this idea. Knowing that the chances of me getting published where far less than me winning lotto
(without ever buying tickets), I decided to put all my efforts into Karlo's book. After all, his might actually make us some money, while mine was just another creative project to keep me busy.
Luckily I had already done a little research on where to begin with the very intimidating task of contacting publishers. The more I read, the more hopeless the whole process seemed. But then again, what do you have to lose?
Not long after Karlo got his idea and started to jot down some ideas, I decided to take a very bold step and contact a publisher that we have some sort of "work connection" with. I thought using our association to the company we work for couldn't hurt. And I was right. It got my initial email read and paid attention to. We started right off with some clout and were no longer just nobodies with a dream of being published.
It's been 3 months of talking to this publisher and submitting our initial proposal and book outline. That was probably the hardest part of the whole ordeal. Writing the book is one thing, but selling it to a publisher is a whole 'nother daunting task. Karlo is a wiz at the technical stuff. That flows out of his brain like air out his . . . Nose, yes nose, that's what I was going to say. But the creative, business end of the writing was up to me. I was the one that had to sell this book to the publisher.
But first Karlo needed to explain to me, in laymen terms, what this book is all about. Now before you get all excited to read Karlo's book, let me warn you. It's about 5-axis CNC milling. You still interested? I didn't think so. The problem is, neither am I. But yet, I need to become an instant expert. And I think I did.
We sat down for endless hours one weekend and Karlo rambled on while I tried to formulate brilliant cohesive sentences. After submitting it, I got a response that told me that if I ever considered another career, I should strongly consider becoming a book publicist! I had to look up exactly what a publicist does and once I found out, I determined that was a good compliment to get - especially if we were hoping to get past this initial stage.
Well, we finally got the good word from the publisher yesterday. Our outline was reviewed by the most highly respected "
expert" in the field and he loved it. Without even seeing our "sample chapter" they have already committed to publishing it. I'm still in shock.
All day today I kept thinking how incredibly proud I am of Karlo. After all, English is his 4th language and he is completely self-taught. He never had the benefit of one single language or grammar class and now he's going to be a published author. Then it also hit me that I'm also proud of myself. After all, we just got a commitment from a publisher and they have yet to see one word written by Karlo. I was the one that wrote the proposal and outline. I achieved what, four months ago, I thought was an impossible task.
