Jan

7

A journey to a book ~ Part 11

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Being the eleventh in a series of posts about a book proposal, from concept to print.

Click on the category ‘A journey to a book’ in the left sidebar to bring up all of the posts in the series.

Just in time for Quilt Market in May 2008, I got Home: A Heartfelt Nap Quilt back from the printers and flew to Portland with it in my hot little hand. It was a fabulous trip. I networked until my networker was worn out.

doves.gifOne of the very best things that happened was that I met Karen, my acquisitions editor for Easy Appliqué Blocks, at the Martingale booth. She introduced me to a bunch of the sales and marketing staff… it was a blur! I told her how thrilled I was that this was all happening and she said they were happy to have my book.

That was an amazing moment. I tried to take it all in… I could actually step into the Martingale booth and say, I’m one of your new authors. Surreal!

The day before Market opens, there’s a series of breakout sessions for shop owners called “Schoolhouse.” These are little 15 or 30-minute presentations about all of the latest and greatest gadgets, books, tools, you name it, in the quilting industry. I attended as many as I could, always thinking in the back of my mind that in a year’s time that could be me up there giving a presentation about Easy Appliqué Blocks!

The day I flew home from Portland I had some time before I had to leave for the airport, so I got out my little notebook and wrote nonstop. My head was brimming with ideas. That’s the great thing about immersion trips like these… you gain so much inspiration and things just connect up in your brain. I got all my notes down as fast as they were coming from the right side of my brain. You guessed it… one of the topics was a full presentation for Schoolhouse 2009! I was all hopped up about it and hoped that Martingale would let me do it when the time came.

Stay tuned!
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Oct

26

A journey to a book ~ Part 6

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Being the sixth in a series of posts about a book proposal, from concept to print.

Since the plan was to not include any projects in Easy Appliqué Blocks, Martingale returned my sample quilt. Now I needed to stitch up those eight blocks independently to complete the stack of 50. I also started working on my writing sample and Table of Contents. They had sent me the set of Author Guidelines, which included information on how the manuscript was to be coded. I actually loved coding the manuscript! It’s a way of indicating what’s a heading, what’s a subheading, what’s a caption, what’s a box, where the photos and illustrations go, etc. Fun! (If you’re a little nerdy like me.)

During this time I sent a couple questions.. The first was, did we name specific products? The answer was no, they preferred not to name specific products or fabrics. Not a problem, just needed to know.

Second, per their author guidelines, did they really want me to send just printouts of all of my patterns and illustrations? Surely they would want me to send them my computer files…??

The answer came back no. Just send printouts, and their illustrators would take it from there. I was puzzled. That was going to be a lot of work for them, and actually I was a little apprehensive that the patterns would lose some little essence of “me” when re-rendered. But, I knew going into this that I would not have control, so I rolled with it.

teddybear.gifBefore my December 7 deadline, I sent in the eight blocks, the writing sample, printouts of the illustrations that corresponded, and the Table of Contents. I also had to send my date of birth for the Library of Congress. ( How exciting! Well, I already have an authority record actually, but it’s pretty cool to think about.) Plus a copy of my schedule. I pulled together all of the show dates for the next year when I would be busy with my booth, plus one measly vacation (that never happened) and Shop Hop, etc. I thought it mighty considerate of the company to ask for my schedule so that they could work around it.

The next step would be to receive feedback from Karen about the sample chapter and my coding skills. Stay tuned!

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Oct

1

A journey to a book ~ Part 4

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Being the 4th in a series of posts about a book proposal, from concept to print.

After sending in the proposal for “The Little Book of Big Appliqué” to Martingale & Company in July 2007, I started working on Teapots 2 to Appliqué. The work involved in putting out my own books is a quite a bit different — but that’s a whole ‘nother story!

As I worked on the teapot designs, a month went by, two months, three months, and I really tried not to obsess over it. On October 17, 2007, I was at my computer when I received a phone call from Karen, acquisitions editor for Martingale & Company. She told me that they had decided to proceed with my book, CD and all!

kingqueen.gifHow lucky am I, to have my very first proposal accepted by my first choice of publisher. Thank you Martingale & Company!

Karen told me she would be sending me the contract and author guidelines, and after I received them I could call her with any questions that I had. I hung up the phone and did the happy dance. :)

Stay tuned,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Sep

23

A journey to a book ~ Part 3

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Being the 3rd in a series of posts about a book proposal, from concept to print.

On December 31, 2006, I retired from my pesky day job. Yay! I battled my way through to the other side, and now my time, not to mention my mental energy, was my own!

flowerbasket.gifBy June 2007, the blocks were ready, and it was time to decide which publisher I wanted to submit to first. (Just in case you don’t know this, you cannot send simultaneous proposals. You have go one at a time, and wait until you hear back before submitting to the next one.)

I took a look at my bookshelf and what I saw was that I had more
That Patchwork Place titles than any other. Plus, I had heard very good things from other authors about working with the editorial staff there. I made That Patchwork Place my first choice.

Awhile back I had emailed them to ask for a proposal packet, which came promptly. I also asked what I considered to be a crucial question… did they use Adobe Illustrator? The response was, “Yes, we do,” with a little smiley face. Hot dog, I thought. I can hand them my files and it’ll be such an easy workflow!

I set to work on the manuscript and the proposal. A book of appliqué designs needs some appliqué notes as well, so I thought I would include my “Kay’s Hand Appliqué Tips.” I had a set of notes for both the freezer-paper-on-top method and the back-basting method already. Plus, I figured if the book was actually accepted, I could write up some notes about raw-edge machine appliqué too without too much trouble. I had used all three methods in stitching up the blocks.

I followed the instructions in the proposal guidelines as carefully as I could. The hardest part was filling out the “Author Background Questionnaire.” I had to include a bio, my qualifications for writing the book, my previous writing experience, and gack! personal references. I prevailed upon Tracey Brookshier of Bento Box fame and well known quilter and author Bettina Havig, whom I know through a mutual friend. Both these ladies consented to let me list them as references. Thank you!!

I also had to write a 300-400 word description of my book, then a 20-50 word version for punchier copy, as well as describe the three most important concepts, why I thought quilters would be interested in the book, and what inspired me to write it.

It’s a fact that in 1981 I kissed the Blarney Stone, so I put my best foot forward and wrote up all of the answers to the best of my ability. I pulled the designs, photos of the stitched-up blocks, and the appliqué tips into a draft manuscript. I sent the entire package, including the blocks themselves and a sample quilt, to Martingale & Company (parent company of that Patchwork Place) in July 2007.

Within a week I received an email confirming that the package had arrived. They advised me that the review process could take up to 90 days. Stay tuned!

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs