The editor watched my presentation. When it was over, he said, "I think there's a book here."
I asked a friend who saw the presentation, "What do you think?"
She said, "Sure!. I haven't seen anything else on the subject. Why not?"
The editor and I talked on and off for the next two years. I changed jobs. Then he changed jobs. Then I changed jobs and moved half-way across the country.
Finally I thought, I write all the time -- all kinds of documents. How hard could a book be, right? So I wrote a detailed outline and sent it to the editor.
And he said "yes," so I said "yes," and we signed a contract and set up a tentative schedule. And I started writing.
First, I had to get 25 people to agree to complete a short survey, so there was Internet research to identify the right 25 people. Then I had to convince them to answer the survey. Then I had to keep after them to actually do it.
Then I started my own writing. Every time I finished drafting a section, I thought of something else I wanted to include. Finally, there was so much new stuff, I did a new outline and submitted it. The editor still liked where I was going.
Then I realized I wasn't making any money on the book until the final version was submitted, and I still had to pay the bills. So I took on a project, which meant that precious little got done on the book for two whole weeks! But I got the bills paid. And the deadline slipped a little.
I took on a second project but this time I managed at least one hour on the book every day, so the deadline only slipped a tad. I finished the draft and sent it off.
A week later I got comments back -- nothing drastic, but some rewrites were necessary, and some additions. And, of course, as I made the recommended additions, I thought of other things I wanted to add. So things took a little longer, but I finally finished and, on Saturday, June 6, 2009, I finally sent in a hard copy and an electronic copy via FedEx.
The book is called "A Horse of a Different Color: Marketing in the Public Sector." If you go to http://www.psmj.com, you will find a link that will tell you more about the contents, price and availability. And you can even purchase it there if you like.