How This Book Came to Be (Part Two)

Finding a Publisher

Did you miss Part One? Check it out here.

I saw Ken post on Facebook about David Archuleta's new memoir, so I decided to reach out. I thought maybe he could point me in the right direction. Kind as ever, Ken said he knew a few publishers and would check into it for me.

Two weeks later, Rick and I were in Galveston, Texas, about to board a cruise, when Ken called— someone was interested! He connected me with Michael Tan, who emailed almost immediately to set up a call. I couldn't possibly wait a week to talk and still enjoy our cruise, so I scheduled it for one of our first stops on land.

Rick and I scrambled to research what to ask a publisher. I was so nervous—worried about spotty reception and not sounding like I knew what I was doing (which I didn't)— but Michael was warm and very easy to talk to. We spoke for over an hour about the book and the process. He sent me detailed guidelines for submitting a proposal, and I promised to get started as soon as I got home.

Once back, I shared everything with Lindsay, and she jumped right in to help me put a proposal together. Together, we selected two sample chapters for the proposal. Lindsay also connected me with her friend, Molly Frisinger, an author and editor, and she helped polish the proposal beautifully to meet industry standards.

We sent it to Michael, made a few tweaks based on his feedback, and then moved to the next phase: three authors would review the chapters and assess the book's potential. That process took about a month. When the reports came back, I was thrilled—they believed in the project and recommended moving forward.

The next step was a review by the publisher's board, scheduled for the following month.

(Part 3 coming soon!)