… unfortunately, I got news.

I’ve written before about how a major Canadian publisher asked me to submit a proposal for my book. It’s been two months since I dropped it off and “Mr. Somebody” just got back to me by email. His response was “no.” For those who crave the juicy details, I’ve included his email and my own response below.

Oddly enough, I feel pretty good about the whole thing. I’ve been reading Seven King’s book on writing, which happens to be called On Writing. It took King almost ten years to publish his first story, so I can hardly be disappointed with my own minor setback. (This pump-me-up comparison would work better though if I could forget that King was only about eight years old when he first started writing — yikes!) Still, the truth is, I’m pretty stoked that I even captured Mr. Somebody’s interest in the first place. I know my book’s far from perfect. In the last few weeks, I’ve been cleaning it up. So far, I’ve only submitted the book to Mr. Somebody. In the New Year, I’ll submit it across the board. Wish me luck!

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Hi Bruce,

I looked over all of the material that you delivered to me and have now had the chance to review your proposal with our editorial board.Unfortunately, we came to the conclusion that this project didn’t fit our list, so I am passing on it. I’ll send everything back in the mail to you. Do you want me to send it to you at xxx? Thank you for thinking of us, and best wishes with your book.

Sincerely,

“Mr. Somebody”

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Hi “Mr. Somebody,”

Thank you for considering my proposal. I really appreciate you taking the time to give an unproven writer a chance.

It’s not necessary to return the proposal. Please feel free to dispose of it as you see fit.

I realize that a person in your position hardly has time to deal with signed authors (let alone rejected ones) but should you have a moment, I’d love to grab a coffee or lunch with you and pick your brain on my proposal’s pluses and minuses. I’m also in the early planning stages of a new book (a non-fiction career book) which I’d be delighted to discuss with you.

If you’re unavailable (or if that sounds like a huge pain in the neck), I completely understand and look forward to meeting you again one day in the future.

Best,

Bruce Freedman

A friend of mine got married three Sundays ago. The wedding was a lavish affair at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. I know this friend from my Hong Kong days. I was excited for his wedding. Many of my friends were flying in all the way from Asia.

But then instead of deciding to simply go to New York for a fun-filled wedding weekend, I thought this would also be a good opportunity to visit my cousin Michelle, who lives in Baltimore. So I decided to fly to Baltimore on Friday and make my way by train to New York on Sunday.

But then instead of deciding it would be enough to simply go to New York on Sunday after visiting my cousin in Baltimore on Friday, I agreed that it would be fun to drive with my cousin and her friends to Washington, DC on Saturday afternoon, and then spend Saturday night in DC and then take the train to New York on Sunday morning.

But then instead of deciding it would be enough to simply go to New York on Sunday after visiting my cousin in Baltimore on Friday, and driving to DC on Saturday afternoon, and spending Saturday night there, and then taking the train to New York on Sunday morning, I decided that Monday morning might be a good day for me to try and wrangle up a US publisher.

But then you can probably guess where this story is headed.

Regular readers of my irregular blog will remember that about six weeks ago, I bumped into a prominent Canadian publisher who asked me to submit a proposal for my book. I wanted my proposal to stand out from the pack so I prepared a small gift basket, full of rejuvenating creams and other anti-aging remedies. In the basket, I included a CD of my video, a stack of bookmarks and of course the proposal itself. Attached to the basket was a handwritten card. The card read as follows: (more…)