To celebrate the launch of my new book ‘Wabi Sabi: Japanese wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life’ next Thursday August 30, I did a Facebook Live Broadcast from the Headquarters of Hachette on London’s Victoria Embankment, talking about Bringing Book Dreams to Life with my Commissioning Editor Anna Steadman.
You can WATCH THE REPLAY HERE
I know how the publishing world can feel impenetrable when you are on the outside of it, and I also know that many of you have a book dream, so I wanted to make the most of the opportunity of my book launch to lift the veil for you. Anna is the brilliant Commissioning Editor (Non-Fiction) for Piatkus, an imprint of Little, Brown Publishing Group, which is owned by the publishing giant Hachette – not only is she the one who put ink on the contract of my book deal, but also guided me brilliantly in many ways throughout the writing process.
My experience with Anna and Piatkus has been absolutely fantastic, and although I have been carrying around the idea for my new book for about two decades, I find it pretty staggering that we took it from concept (i.e. conversation with my agent over steaming bowls of noodles at a ramen bar) to the book being published next week in under a year.
In our ask-us-anything conversation, Anna and I will be talked about:
- What makes a great concept for a book
- Whether you need an agent
- How to pitch your book
- The steps involved in taking an idea from concept to publication and beyond
- Why Anna commissioned my book Wabi Sabi
