“So, What Ever Happened to Your Book?”

As many of you might recall, in early 2017 I announced that I would be working on a book of my photographs featuring homes and buildings from every state in the New England region, throughout every season. Things did not go quite according to plan, and so many people have kindly followed-up to see where the book is in the process.

It’s a short story, really, but I thought I would make it long and give you some of the details (and lessons learned). We often talk about our successes but rarely about our disappointments. I think the best way to do so is via a timeline, which extends from the end of 2016 through the present. I’ll sprinkle in some images from the may-or-may-not be forthcoming book as well!

Although I have felt tempted once or twice (just keeping it real!) I won’t be sharing actual names of parties involved or the companies they work for. Let’s just refer to my original publisher as “Front Door Press” or FDP for short.

Dec 2016: I was contacted by FDP and asked if I was interested in having a book published featuring my photography. I was understandably flattered and agreed to meet with representatives from FDP. They went out of their way to meet me in my Connecticut hometown and shared samples of other FDP published books and discussed their concept for the book.

I was impressed with the company, a small independent publisher and woman-owned business with a strong distribution network throughout New England, as well as the quality of their books. I also was met with such enthusiasm about my photographs that I had to consider the project.

Mar 2017: Although I was initially concerned about my ability to produce the content for the book given my full-time job and the needs of my family, my husband Brian convinced me that it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. How many people get published, never mind get approached directly by a publisher? Not too many. I felt very fortunate. Throughout the first quarter of 2017, I worked with FDP to finalize the contract.

At this point, I would like to give a shout out to The Author’s Guild, a membership-based organization that will provide contract reviews and legal advice in addition to many other resources for authors. The $125 membership fee was well worth the extensive legal review completed on my contract, and the contract changes that I was able to negotiate based on their advice became critical later as you will see. Publishing contracts are unique and complex, even at their most basic (which mine certainly was) and an aspiring author should always find a lawyer knowledgeable in this area.

Shortly after signing I received the first half of my advance, with the second half to be paid upon delivery and acceptance of the work required in the contract along with reimbursement of a portion of my travel expenses.

Mar 2017-June 2018: The projected publication date for my book was Fall 2018, and in addition to gathering a minimum of 400 images from around New England and editing them, I also had to caption at least a third of those with interesting tidbits about the architecture, location, or history. I had some images in my inventory that I could publish, but most of them weren’t of sufficient resolution so I had my work cut out for me!

I hit the road, alternately alone, with my husband, with my entire family, or with friends and visited iconic locales in every state. I enjoyed this part of the process, but in most cases, my travels were focused on gathering the content I needed for the book versus rest and relaxation. I saw New England towns that perhaps I never would have visited otherwise, and for that I am grateful.

At this point, I should say that I did not embark upon this project for the money, as the advance and potential royalties could never fully compensate me for the time spent. It was a labor of love, but one I was excited about. I communicated fairly often with FDP about my progress and our interactions were always positive, upbeat, and friendly. They were a fun team to work with and I learned a bit more about the inside of the publishing world.

Spring 2018: As I was finalizing the content, we began to brainstorm potential book titles. Although I had the opportunity to voice my opinion, the final decision belonged to FDP. They had to consider factors such as other book titles in the niche we were targeting.

We also worked on cover design, including the selection of a photo, placement of title, and font type and color. The title and cover that were ultimately selected are below. It was thrilling to see my name on the cover and at that point, it felt like the book was becoming real!

Other than any remaining edits FDP might request, the book content was substantially complete and delivered, which should have triggered the second and final payment on the contract advance. Since there were loose ends, and we had such an amicable working relationship, I didn’t specifically request payment upon delivery.

In hindsight, I should have. If there is one overall takeaway from this experience, it is to remember that publishing is a business. The publisher will always protect their financial interests. As an author, I should have been more mindful of protecting my financial interests along the way but it’s easy to get caught up in the creative process and camraderie.

Sept 2018: In September, I had my first uncomfortable conversation with FDP. I had a call with the editor and she indicated that they were changing direction on the organization of the book (they were responsible for layout and design). Instead of organizing the images seasonally as planned, with 100 images or so per season, they wanted to arrange the book loosely by architectural style.

I was concerned about this as I am not an architecture expert by any stretch, but she assured me that it was intended for the layman and just to show what I have learned about architecture over the years. I was also disappointed to learn that this would mean pushing publication of the book until Spring 2019.

The delay took the wind out of my sails but to soften the blow FDP sent me a mock-up of the first 150 pages of the book (about half of the book). I was so pleased with the layout! They had contracted with a graphic designer to add other elements that pulled everything together beautifully. For my part, I needed to draft additional text to describe the architectural categories.

Nov 2018: Mid-November I delivered the architectural text, which to be honest was the most excruciating part of the process. It was challenging to research and write. With one last task of writing an introduction, I was truly done! At that point in time, I did request the final payment of my advance and was looking forward to developing our marketing plan. FDP responded that they would get back to me after Thanksgiving, and to enjoy the holiday.

Jan 2019: Fast forward to early January. I did not hear back from FDP after Thanksgiving, and with the holidays frankly pushed it aside. On January 4th I followed up to see where things stood and ask that we settle our financial matters. In hindsight, the lack of communication after Thanksgiving should have triggered me to follow-up sooner, although it likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

Much to my shock and dismay, I received an email response from FDP three days later indicating that their backlist (list of already published titles) was being sold to another publisher and they would be shutting down their operations. Since my book was not yet published, it was essentially in limbo. Since FDP only published one or two books a year, I was likely their only author in this situation.

The new publisher (let’s call them “Back Door Press” or BDP) was interested in working with me. However, they wanted changes to the book and I had no opportunity prior to the deal being closed to speak to them directly to fully understand the scope of the changes, or to negotiate a new contract. FDP indicated that the new publisher could either pay me once I had made the requested changes for them, or I could settle with FDP.

FDP preferred the former since it relieved them of their remaining financial obligation, but I decided to settle under our contract since there was so much uncertainty surrounding the book, and no confirmed publication date. The final advance payment was already months overdue, and I had no interest in pushing payment out indefinitely. With this, it meant I was potentially losing out on the opportunity to work with BDP since I would have to reach out to them directly, but I decided to take my chances.

You can imagine that at this point I was “feeling all the feelings”. I felt a deep sense of betrayal that my editor, my partner on the project, would expect me to just take this change in stride. Intellectually I know it wasn’t personal and she was making a business decision, but it bothered me that she thought I would move to BDP so easily just based on her word.

I was completely deflated and felt physically ill when I thought about the endless hours I had spent on the project that could have been spent in so many other ways. I had never pursued being published so the fact that FDP approached me and essentially persuaded me to partner with them on a book stung. Even though I received the full advance, it was so disappointing to realize that there would be no book in my hands when all was said and done.

As an aside, I mentioned earlier that some of the contract changes I negotiated, as recommended by The Authors Guild, were critical to my ability to exit the contract and receive payment. The first change was that I requested to be paid in two installments, one at the signing of the contract and one at delivery and acceptance of the content. The original contract had three installments, with the third to be delivered upon publication. In this scenario, I would have had very little choice but to go with BDP or walk away from both the book and a portion of my advance.

The second was the addition of a requirement that “Both parties must agree in writing to any assignment of Author’s obligations under this agreement. Should the Publisher wish to assign this agreement as part of a sale or assignment of all or substantially all of its assets Author will be consulted regarding the Publisher’s intention to do so prior to making such assignment.” Without that requirement, FDP would not have had to notify me at all about the sale until it was complete and could have transferred my contract to BDP without my approval.

Although The Author’s Guild suggested these changes (among many others) I am fortunate that I was able to successfully negotiate them. Not all of my requested changes were made, but as it turns out these two were critical.

Jan 19-May 19: Having exited the agreement and settled with FDP, my next step was to reach out to BDP directly to see if I could strike a deal with them on my own. I had to mail a letter as I had no contact information for the publisher. I gave up on hearing from them until five weeks later when I received an email from BDP. Miraculously, after some back and forth, I was assigned an editor and they indicated they did, in fact, want to work with me.

BDP did not think that the original book concept created by FDP would be easily marketable. To work with BDP, I would need to provide additional content for a new concept and the earliest publication date I would see would be Fall 2020, a full two years later than my original proposed publication date with FDP. My assigned editor was busy with looming projects, and we agreed to discuss further in Fall 2019.

Fall 2019: So here we are! After a long summer break, I have reached out to my editor at BDP to see if she is ready to discuss the project. I’ll be honest – I don’t know what is going to happen. We have to agree on a concept and sign a contract, and as I now know things shift and change.

Before signing on the dotted line, I have to think long and hard about how much additional effort I want to expend to make the book a reality. I know what it takes now, and although I enjoyed the process there is an opportunity cost to it. I have thought about other avenues, like pitching other publishers, or self-publishing, but I want to play this out first. Pitching and/or self-publishing are totally new things that would take a great deal of time and research on their own.

Above all, I have learned that I do have what it takes to complete such a large scale project if I want to. It was a daunting task, and there were times during the process where I was tired or overwhelmed. Whether I have it in my hands or not, I did create a book that I am very proud of.

Mostly I appreciate the incredible support I have received from the people in my life and from all of my followers on social media. So many of you said you couldn’t wait to purchase it which was so humbling! The book would have been dedicated to my husband, Brian, who spent countless hours driving me around, stopping whenever I asked him to, and suggesting places that we could visit. So supportive and encouraging. Love you, Brian!

If you are still reading this, thanks for hanging in! Would love your feedback below, and if you have any suggestions or advice I’m all ears.