186: How to Become a Published Author with Lindsey Smith

In this episode, I chat about a helpful site speed test from Google and then I interview Lindsay Smith, AKA the Food Mood Girl, all about the traditional publishing process. Hey, hey, hey, wonderful listener. You are listening to the Food Blogger Pro Podcast and welcome. We are so thrilled that you're here. Today's episode is sponsored by our friends, our sister site, WP Tasty. WP Tasty sells WordPress plugins for you, aka food bloggers. They have a recipe plugin, a Pinterest optimization plugin, and a keyword auto linking plugin that can help you run your blog more efficiently and more confidently. To learn more, you can head on over to wptasty.com and for today's tasty tip. That is the helpful, actionable tip that we have for you in each episode episode of the podcast I'd like to chat about Think with Google. It sounds way more intense than it actually is, but it's an incredibly helpful tool for website owners. Not only does it give you access to insights and tools, it also gives you an easy way to test your site speed. It's a simple tool to use, so you just go to testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com and you can submit your URL to be tested. Now, why is this important? Well, right on the test page it says most sites lose half their visitors while loading. Site speed is a huge user experience factor, and your site speed can be suffering in quite a few different ways. This testing tool also sends you an individualized report where you can actually get your loading time, estimated visitor loss, and ways you can improve your site speed. So for instance, I tested my food blog through this tool and it says that my homepage has a loading time of 8 seconds, which is actually considered to be fair. Even so, it's estimated that I have 28% estimated visitor loss due to site speed alone. As for ways that I can increase my site speed, Google has a few suggestions, including, but definitely not limited to compressing my images. This is a great, easy to use tool to get personalized site speed reports. And the URL again is testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com. And now the episode. So right off the bat you'll notice that this episode is a bit different than all of our other episodes because I'm actually interviewing our interviewee today, and that is Lindsay Smith, AKA the Food Mood Girl. Lindsay is a fellow Pittsburgher and I met her a few years ago at a blogger meetup. I recently attended Lindsay's book publishing conference and I learned so much about the Fascinating world of book publishing. I told Bjork that we needed to have Lindsay on the podcast, and he suggested that I actually interview her about what I learned about the traditional book publishing process. And that's exactly what happened. Lindsay has been publishing for years and she's gone the traditional route and the self publishing route, but this episode is focused on the traditional publishing process, and she talks about fine tuning your book idea, the important parts of book proposals, and what you can do if you have a really awesome book idea right now. It's a great interview and I'm excited and admittedly a tiny bit nervous about my interviewing skills for you to check it out. So without any further ado, Lindsay, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, I'm so excited that we got to do this. And just a little bit of background for anyone who's listening. You know that if you're around the Food Blogger Pro podcast for any extended period of time, you know that I don't typically do the interviews, but today I'm really excited to interview my friend and fellow Pittsburgher Lindsay about what she's up to, to and kind of the traditional publishing process. So thank you again for joining us today.

Yeah, I'm excited.

Yeah. So to start out, why don't you go into a bit of your story and how you got interested in the publishing process?

Sure. So I became a published author for the first time when I was in fourth grade, believe it or not.

That's amazing.

I had my poems featured in an anthology. And early on, I think I got the bug because within the year of being published in the book, I negotiated a consistent poetry column in a local newspaper. I was constantly pitching my work out to different newspapers and any kind of press that I could get. So I got the bug early on. That was like fourth and fifth grade. And then when I was in eighth grade, I made a vision board in one of my classes. And on it I put that I wanted to publish a book. And so fast forward to after college. I went to school for pr. I decided to go back to school for nutrition. And I really wanted to. I knew that I wanted to write a book, and I knew that I wanted to share my story. So at that time, I looked at it. You know, when I work with people, I always ask people, what's your beyond the book goal? You know, what do you. What do you really envision for yourself? What do you want? Because that really plays a huge role in the publishing process and what you choose, you know, which route you choose to Go. So at that time, my goal was to be to speak more to, you know, get pressed, to get my message out there. And so I thought self publishing was the way to go. So I self published my first book in 2012. And then since then I've done everything from self publishing to small press publishing to traditional publishing, owning my own press. So you could say that the little girl in fourth grade kind of knew what she wanted to do.

That's awesome and just super inspirational. I think that we all have these childhood goals and, you know, sometimes we get there and sometimes we don't. Sometimes they change. But it's really cool that you stayed consistent and really just flourished in that goal. That's really, really amazing. So you mentioned that you now have a press. And can you talk a bit about what that is and what you're doing now with your press?

Sure. So I started a press with my friend Amanda, who we had been working together for years in publishing. How it kind of came about though, is in 2014, I created a program where I taught people how to write and publish books. And I focused on the tradition or the self publishing model. And I helped over 3,000 students through that. And I ended up leaving that behind in like 2016 because personally I got a traditional book deal and, you know, was very interested in that and that process and I wanted to learn all that I could when it came to that. And so within that time period, within 2014-2016, my friend Amanda and I had been talking and we'd been working together because she's an editor and she was helping me with certain projects that I was working on or that I was helping others with because I was also doing some coaching and helping people really get their books together. So she was a huge help in that process. And we had had the opportunity to work together over those years. And I always said I wanted to create a publishing company that offered something different for people and that put out interesting books that maybe aren't being represented by traditional publishers. And so that was in that time period. And then we developed a conference together called Pitch, Publish, Promote. And we focus on, you know, helping people get their works published and teaching them and they can come to the conference and pitch agents and publishers. And so we've been doing that for three years and slowly building the publishing house kind of secretly. And so that led us to really going, I think 2019 is the full. You know, we've been doing it for several years, been testing certain books in certain ways. Some actually we've ghost written and Published to like, see if we could do certain things. So we've been kind of secretive about it. But 2019, we're going out strong with the titles that we're putting out. And since we're small, we only do a few a year. You know, pretty much like two every season. So like six, six titles a year. But we want to, we really want to, you know, compete with the bigger houses definitely.

And pitch, publish, promote. It was actually a couple of weeks ago here in Pittsburgh and you mentioned on your Instagram stories and I was like, well, this is awesome. Like, publishing is such an interesting topic. I don't know much about it and it's you that's putting it on. So I attended and that's kind of where we got the idea for this podcast interview. But I learned so much. And is that typically how like publishing conferences are set up? Kind of. You have some workshops at the beginning and then you have some pitching at the end.

So it's a little. They're all a little different. Amanda and I spent years going to these publishing conferences and kind of seeing what we liked, what we didn't like. One of the things that we're really interested in especially doing for 2019 is we really want to be known for experience based publishing. So we don't want to just publish a book and see you later. We want to create experiences that go along with our books. So one of our books was turned into a screenplay that did a production in June. We have. We're starting to do card decks instead of just books and we're trying to. We just did a workshop in a salt cave that was so cool.

I saw that on Instagram too.

So we're really trying to do interesting things and I think that's one of the things that we are trying to bring to the conference and that's a little bit different and that will be even more noticeable in the coming years as we've been growing. Is really trying to also create experiences for people and create something that people remember. I think most of the publishing conferences that I've been to, it's like the bottom floor of a basement. It's just like, this is the information, this is why you're here. But we're trying to make it a little bit more fun and have some interesting things. But we do. One thing that is unique about ours is we do the. We have agents and publishers and you get to book time with them to talk about your book and your work. A lot of places will just do speed pitching where you just have like, you know, an agent is meeting, you know, 200 people in a matter of, you know, an hour or two hours. This, you actually get like 10 minutes to sit down, go over your work. So that's how it differentiates a little bit. The other thing is, you know, we've talked about doing different tracks for self publishing and traditional. Our conference does lean a little bit more from a traditional angle because we have agents and publishers. But I always, you know, because I do come from self publishing, I don't think that there's anything wrong with self publishing and I am a fan of it. And so I try to also, you know, make that known as well, that it's, you know, even if traditional publishing isn't necessarily best for you or may not be right for you right now, it's, you know, self publishing should not be taboo.

Exactly. Yeah, well, and it seems like it's just such a different process and we'll get into that a little bit later in this interview. But just so you know, as you're listening to this, this interview is actually part of a two part series. So Lindsay's interview today is actually going to focus on more traditional publishing and then we're going to have another inter interview next week from Chelsea and that's going to focus more on self publishing. But you did mention that you had agents and publishers at your conference. And I feel like we have talked about this a bit before on the podcast, but I still feel like it's a bit confusing. Like what's the actual difference between the two? And how does one's role play with the other one?

Yeah, that's a great question. So in traditional publishing. Well, here's the thing, there's publishers that are, you know, your standard top five, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, those, those publishers, you know, the, the agents are the gatekeepers. Because if you figure if people just cold pitch those publishers all day long, they would not be able to publish the quality of books that they do. So what happens is they utilize agents, which are basically self employed freelancers to research and go over all of the different pitches that they're getting and really weed them out to then be able to go to a publishing house, the editors at publishing houses, and take those pitches to them because they took the time to weed through all of those. Now there's also publishers that accept unsolicited queries from authors I know, like Chronicle Books, for example, is a pretty big publisher. You've seen their work pretty much in every bookstore, novelty gift shop or anything like that. Anthropology, things like that. Their books are everywhere. But they do also seek unsolicited, you know, pitches via their email, I think, on their website. So there are publishers that do that, and then there are small publishers like my publishing press that we accept pitches as well from individuals. We follow similar standards that you would need to send to an agent. So we are particular about that because for anyone pitching the quality of what you send, either an agent or a publisher, you know, that if you like following directions, I can't stress that enough is the biggest thing. I mean, honestly, like 97% of the reason why pitches don't go through or queries don't go through is because people don't follow simple directions. And honestly, that says a lot about working with you, you know, if you're not able to follow the directions. So that's what agents are weeding out to then pitch to publishers. But like I said, publishers can also accept pitches. Some of them do. A lot of them don't. And then in person conferences like ours, for example, my editor from Macmillan was there, and that's the only time that you would get access to her to pitch unsolicited. Got it.

That's really interesting. So typically, it's the agent who kind of connects the author and the publisher.

Yes.

Yeah, got it, got it. That's super interesting. Well, and like you said, your publisher was there and her name was Laura, and you published Eat yout Feelings with Laura. So do you want to talk a bit about that book?

Sure, yeah. So I did pretty much the same thing. I decided in 2015, I got the idea actually for a different book, similar concept, just different, just different all around. And Chronicle was my ideal publisher for the original book that I had. It was called Hanger Management, and it was about being hangry. And I started going to conferences because while I knew that I could pitch a traditional query letter via email, for me, I just felt like I do better at in person things. I wanted to meet, you know, these people that I would be connecting with. I wanted to, you know, hear them, get the feedback. I wanted that in person experience. And I wanted to be able to learn from them as well if they had any, you know, insights or they thought things needed to be changed. So I spent several months going around to different conferences, pitching my. Pitching my book. And I actually got representation from offers from around eight different agents for that proposal. And I spent a lot of time working on that proposal. I think people, you know, that's one other thing is, you know, for nonfiction specifically, you are pitching a book proposal. So you're not actually writing the book. You're talking about, you know, an overview of the book, your platform, your bio, sample chapters, and, you know, the outline and also little descriptions of what will be included in each chapter. And so you don't actually write the book because for nonfiction, it could change or they could say, well, we like your platform, but we think that this is an industry trend right now. Could you write something about this or that will be tweaked specifically with nonfiction? So I spent a lot of time on my proposal really trying to make it the best that it could be. I actually hired someone specifically that edits and was a former agent. And this person was able to really help me solidify and gave me really great insights. And when I pitched and sent my proposal, honestly, all the agents said it was the best proposal they ever saw. Because I really did my research, I did my homework, and I think that's what helped set it apart because I didn't have huge social media numbers like a lot of people think that you need to have. But I had a solid idea, a good foundation, and I, you know, and I did. I did the work and it showed. And so I had eight offers. And then I ultimately chose the person that I thought I would work best with and that I thought got the project. And I'm, you know, really glad that I did. His name's Eric. He's actually going to be. I don't know if I should announce this, but he's actually going to be at Pitch publish promote 2019.

Nice. Oh, that's exciting.

Yeah, so he. And he's gonna be there all weekend, too, and we're gonna do some really fun things with him. But we. Yeah, he. So then from there, I actually met and pitched Laura as well at the conference. So that I went to. So I met Laura and my agent Eric at the same time. So I had a unique. I also had a unique lens because I got to meet an editor that Eric was going to pitch, and she liked it too. So, you know, the book deal, My book deal happened pretty fast. And then once it got to. So that I signed with Eric in June of 2016, and I had a book deal in August.

That's amazing.

Yeah. And I think one of the things too that was interesting is I pitched. And this is why also with nonfiction, you know, you can get excited about your idea, and it's great. And like, I was super amped about my idea, and I, you know, obviously, like, people agents loved it. Anytime I talked to people about it, they loved it. And then once Eric submitted it to McMillan, they came back to me and said, hey, we really love the idea, but we love Lindsay as a brand more, and we don't feel like this book is doing her justice. You know, we want something more all encompassing. And so do you. Do you.

Sorry, do you mind if we take a quick second right here and talk a bit about your brand? Because I don't think we mentioned that at the beginning, and I think that's important to, like, understanding how solid this story is. So do you want to talk about, like, you being the Food Mood girl?

Yeah. So I started my brand. My first book in 2012 was called Junk Foods and Junk Moods. And it was then that I branded myself as the Food Mood Girl. I wanted to have a brand that when people heard it, they knew what it was. They knew what I was dealing with. I wanted to focus on food and mood and mood and food, and go back and forth in between the two. Because my personal story was that I suffered from anxiety as a kid, and I was hospitalized, and I started going to a wellness center when I was 13 years old, and it changed my life. And so I had been into these things and wanted to share this perspective with people on mental health and food and mood. And so in 2012, that's when I launched that. And so that was the start of my foundation. And I didn't, you know, social media, I love it, but it's also really not my thing. I do more in person things. I do more connecting. You know, people are always like, you have so many connections, or, you know, in publicity. Like, I love doing pr. I do PR for myself, and. And so I just have a lot of connections. And those connections, I think, are ultimately what the agent and the publisher saw, because it may. You know, at the time, I think I had, like 1500 Instagram followers during the proposal, but I had been on, you know, 15 TV shows across the country.

And you just did one yesterday, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, you know, they. I think those types of things, too, are the foundation that they saw. And they saw that I stayed consistent with something for almost 10 years, like the food and mood angle. And all of my work was created around that. And so whenever we pitched the book idea for the hanger management one, that's when they said, we love it. But you, as a brand, you have so much more. You're more encompassing. You've done all of these amazing things, and you do all this speaking, and you've been on all these segments, and you've Written all these articles, like that's what we want to focus on. We want something that's more encompassing to your brand overall. And so, and so they came back to me actually and were like, hey, can you get together another proposal in like a day?

Yeah, sure, of course.

So I came up with eat your feelings in like 24 hours.

That's amazing.

Had to do like a whole new book proposal. But it was funny because I actually had to grieve hanger management because I was so, so excited about it. Like I had spent a year like writing or like I'd spent, yeah, almost a year like from the idea to writing my proposal to pitching it and people being excited about it to then one day being like, well that's not happening.

Yeah, exactly.

Well.

And you like even like formed your pitch all around it. So you said that you showed up with like a hangry bag and like you were just all in on this idea. So it's really interesting that an awesome idea that people like might not be the idea you end up going with.

Yeah, I think it's important to note that because you know, I think and now sitting on the other side of it where we're looking for projects, you know, as a publishing company and like looking for authors to bring on from sitting on that other side, I see how it happens because you could think an idea is the greatest idea and everyone could like it. But then there, there's parts of the process where you have to sift through it and you know, does this make sense? Does this fit what, you know, what I said at the very beginning? Does this fit your beyond the book goals? Like my, the hanger management thing, it would have been funny and it would have been what I like in like, I wanted to walk into Urban Outfitters and see that there. I didn't care if people knew that that was me or not. I just, it was a funny book. I like to write with humor and I thought it was an opportunity for me to do that. However, from a shelf life perspective, Macmillan was looking at it as a long term investment. This is something that extends beyond that year gift, like funny haha thing that you give someone. This is actually something that can have a longer shelf life on the bookshelf and through events and could be a continuous success as opposed to something that could sell thousands of copies within that gift genre. But it may not go past, you know, it may have an expiration date essentially. And so, you know, it's important to know that and it's not. And that's too like your idea. It could be a great idea and people could love it. It could need tweaked. I think one of the things that you always have to remain is open and you have to do your research. You know, you have to see what's out there on the market, you know, what makes yours different. You know, what. What angle are you bringing to this? And, you know, really get clear on some of those things, definitely.

And I think that is really important. That's something that I didn't realize going into the conference. I actually had a chance to talk to Laura. I did a pitch for her and it was like the most. The biggest hot mess I've ever done. But, like, I had some ideas and she kind of helped talk me through it. And then she was like, have you ever read this book? And I was like, no, I've never heard of it. And she was like, this is similar to what you're talking about. Why don't you read that? And I think it'll help you. So I bought it off of Amazon that day, and I've been reading it and it's been great. And it's been helping me kind of formulate my ideas a lot better. Just because I know what's out there. I'm not copying it, but I already know how a similar topic has been talked about, so I know how I would want to do it differently.

Yeah. And that's, you know, that is really important to note. It's because it's not that the ideas are bad or it's not that. I mean, I don't know what the idea is. And I'm, you know, after this, we should talk about it because I'm interested. But your idea, but it's one of those things that you really have to do some research on it because if it has been, you know, a lot of things have been done before. There are three other books called Eat yout Feelings, you know, on the market, or 4. Like, there are other books with the same exact name. It's just a matter also of positioning and how it is being brought to the table. So there's one eat your Feelings book that's a memoir that has like a recipe at the end of every section. There's another one that is self published. And I don't. I didn't. I haven't bought any of these books, so I'm only going off the descriptions. And then there's another one that's actually like, eat your feelings. Like, yes, I'm sad, I want grilled cheese. I'm Eating like the grossest grilled cheese that you can find, which is. That's all fine. That's all fine. But mine is eating for your emotional and mental well being. And so I mapped every single chapter, recipe, chapter into feelings. So if you're sad, stressed, tired, hangry or bored, those are the recipe chapters. And within each of those recipe chapters, they're broken down into cravings. So if you're craving something sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy, or a drink, then I go even further. So that's very unique. There's no other books that are like that. So even though they're similar concepts, it's about what makes your stand out, what makes it different and what flair and what personality are you going to bring to it.

Definitely. And I think with bloggers kind of bringing it back to blogging, we do this all the time. So. So when I'm shooting a brownie recipe and I need a unique way to style that I go to Pinterest and I look at all the other brownie recipes because there are thousands if not millions of brownie recipes on the Internet today. And I see how else, how everyone else is styling them. And again, it's not copying, it's just kind of finding, like you said, finding the way that you want to do it, which I think is just an extremely sometimes frustrating process, but it's also really rewarding once you finally finalize it.

Yeah, exactly.

So going back to just having an idea, I'd really like to kind of take this interview in a spot where I have this idea and I don't know what to do with it. I want to go the traditional publishing route, but maybe you can talk a bit more about. So I have this idea. Where do I go from here?

So I think the biggest thing, if you have an idea and you're, you know, excited about it, there's several things that you can do. I highly, highly, highly recommend, you know, you can research nonfiction book proposal. I'm assuming most people on here are nonfiction.

I would assume, yeah. So that would be like a cookbook or a memoir or something like that.

Yeah. So I would get a nonfiction book proposal template and start looking through that to start seeing how, you know, you may flesh out that idea. I think that really the book proposal is a business plan essentially for the book. And most people resist wanting to create this or they want to kind of, you know, not really put the time and energy. But I'm telling you that if you put the time and energy into it, it's going to help you so much because it helps you flush that idea out. You know, you start one of the sections is comparisons, just like what we were talking about, book comparisons. You know, you should know what your book comparisons are for hanger management. I think mine were actually. Let me, I'm at my computer, I'm going to pull these up really quick because I think that they're it's really, I want to read one to you because I think that it's really, I'm like, it's really good. But I think this really will help you understand and get the essence of how these ideas start to get flushed out. And it's by things like this. So even, okay, I'm going to read two things, even this introduction, because I started thinking, okay, hanger management, you know, what happens when you're hangry and what is the feeling? So the very first paragraph of my proposal in the overview is this. Do you ever get so hungry you become enraged? And nothing can stop you from scarfing down an entire pepperoni pizza. Hell, you don't care if the pizza was handcrafted by Julia Child or thrown together by a child. You just want it and want it now. What then happens is you're not just angry, you're downright hangry. And then that's when I go into, and you're not alone, according to a survey, this and this and blah blah, blah. And I really go into it, but I grab the reader's attention. And for me, I really got into the mindset of the idea of what, what does happen when you're hangry and it doesn't have to, you know, I'm using this as an example, but whatever your idea is, just what is that feeling? What do people, you know, what are they experiencing? What did, what happens to them? What do they, you know, what's going on for them, start to dive a little bit deeper into that. Because what I find is oftentimes people that write books is we are ahead of where the reader wants to be. So if you're writing a gluten free cookbook, your reader, they may be gluten free and they're looking into it for some new recipes. But also you're writing for that person that just got that celiac diagnosis. You know, you're writing for that person that is thinking about cutting gluten out because they, you know, their stomach's not feeling so great, you know, so you may be using, you know, all these different grains and you know, gluten free grains and be doing all these things, but your reader's Like, I'm just trying to survive, you know. Right. So it's important to kind of also when you have that idea is to go into it from what lens, where your reader's at. And so for me, you know, even saying something like a pepperoni pizza and it's. Because that may not be my thing, but like, that's probably gonna be my readers thing, you know, like, these are things that I may not like. I'm to the point where I, I mean, I still get hangry for sure, but I'm, I'm past a lot of these points, so I had to really take myself into how the, how those people are feeling.

Right. And I think that's really important just.

Because.

You know what you want to say and you know your experiences, but you don't know your readers experiences and you don't kind of know where they are in that journey. So kind of taking it back a couple steps and really focusing on like the big picture will almost help you kind of narrow down your idea.

Yeah. And then I think the second thing is, you know, I'm looking at the proposal now. Is that market analysis, who is the target for this? You know, is it the person I'm going to use gluten free now? Is it the person that they've been gluten free for 10 years and they're over all of the options and want something new, you know, or is it the person that's just starting? Is it a millennial? Is it a baby boomer? You know, like, what? Who are these people? Because that's really who you're going to be writing to. My friend right now, he's writing or he has a book coming out this in the fall of 2019, I believe, and it's about, it's called. Well, actually, they just changed the name. I don't know if I can announce it, but the original title was Grown Up Drinks and They're Cocktails inspired by the 90s. And so he has like the Fresh Mint of Bel Air and all these things.

That's amazing.

Yeah, it's really awesome. And so his market analysis would be, you know, 90s, you know, kids that grew up in the 90s, like, what are their ages now? Where are they shopping? You know, really understanding those things because that will not only help you flesh out the idea more, but it can also help you understand who, you know, who's going to be reading this book. And I think those, you know, people don't think about these things. We just think, oh, the idea I have to make an outline. I have to do this. All of those things can come once you get really clear on these and, you know, other initial things.

Right. And those will all come together in the book proposal. And you mentioned the comparisons. Now would that be considered a part of the book proposal? And can you talk a bit more about that?

Yeah. So that would be the next one. So the, that would be the competitive analysis. And that's where you really look at what books fit the similar style and shelf space that you are looking to fit where you feel this book fits in the marketplace. And it's important to find to find the similarities, but then also the differences. So for example, for the competitive analysis for Hanger management, I did thug kitchen, 50 shades of chicken, what the F Should I Make for Dinner? And everybody poops £410 a year. And so the funny thing is I purposefully chose cookbooks and then a random book that seems like it has nothing to do with it, but here's why. So. Okay, I'll just read one of them. Let me see. Okay, so Thug Kitchen. This book is a New York Times bestseller. The book offers practical and real health advice and recipes in a lighthearted and humorous way, making it not only great for health the health conscious but also a wonderful gift book. Unlike this book, Hanger Management will include recipes with under five ingredients, making the recipe super easy to prepare and helpful for hangry. Newbies in the kitchen feel like culinary pros so that there's an example of it's similar in this way, but here's how it's different because you want to show that there's room on the marketplace for it, but you have a new, you know, a new way of highlighting this. And then the everybody poops 410£10 a year. This one was my favorite book or my favorite one because I said, well, this book certainly. Well, this book certainly contains no recipes, at least we hope not. It does take a taboo subject and makes for a quick and funny read about health and the digestive system. This makes for a gift book or bathroom read. Similarly, Hanger management will provide health information and a digestible, funny and relatable way. Unlike everybody poops £410 a year. Hanger Management will provide how to advice and recipes to help readers overcome their hangry episodes. So for Hanger management, I pitched it as WebMD meets Buzzfeed because I wanted to create science information and break it down in a funny way, which is exactly what this book did. So by seeing these comps, it helps the agent recognize oh this is more than a cookbook. This is more than a, you know, a gift book. This really has the opportunity to be something unique. And it's because of the comps that I picked.

Definitely. And you know, exactly what you mean when you say WebMD meets Buzzfeed. Like, you can almost picture it in your mind. Like, oh, I can start to understand the kind of content, the kind of writing style, all of that. So I can totally tell why that is important. And something that really stuck out to me is, on your proposal, you're kind of speaking like you speak. Is that kind of frowned upon or is that totally okay?

So the proposal should be written in the style of the book that you're writing.

Got it.

So, yeah, so mine specifically was more in the way that I speak. I also, you know, I also tried to make it, you know, even something like a comparison where I could have easily said, you know, this book is like, it because it's funny, it makes a nice bathroom read, and, you know, it gets the information out there in a funny and digestible way. Instead, I said something like, well, this book certainly contains no recipes. At least we hope not. It does take a step. You know, something like that shows. It also shows the agent that and the publisher, essentially, that I am speaking like that that's who I am, and that's how I'm going to write this book.

Right. And I think that's really important for food bloggers, especially if you are thinking about doing a cookbook, that you are creating a brand with your blog. So it's good to kind of display that brand and to be that brand in every kind of aspect that you promote that brand. And in your book proposal, that is just one of the ways that you can be your brand. Would you agree?

Oh, yeah, 100%. And it will really set you apart. I know, I'm like, really, you know, talking about this proposal, but I do think it's very, very important. And I think. I think it should be something that should be taken very seriously, because if not, your chances of getting seen or there are a million juice books out there, books on juicing and smoothies, and they still come out every single year. So it's not that it's a crowded marketplace or there's too many of these. It's within things like the book proposal that makes yours the one that they choose. You know what I mean?

Yeah, definitely. That's really, really fascinating. And so once you have your perfect proposal crafted and ready to go, what then will you do with it?

So that's when, you know, you would start querying agents, you know, you write a query letter to start pitching them via email. You come to a conference like Pitch, Publish, Promote, to meet them in person, and then once you get their attention, then if they're interested, they'll ask for the proposal. So that's whenever you would then send this over. So that's kind of how the process works. Now, there are some publishers, like we, as a small press, like to see a query letter. But I also want to see a proposal because it tells me. It does tell me the type of author that, you know you're going to be. You know, if you send me a proposal that's like three pages long, I'm going to realize that maybe you're not, you know, committed to it. Now, that's not to say we do select authors just from meetings and ideas. And, you know, one of our authors that we're launching this spring is someone that I reached out to, you know, because I liked their work and I thought it would make an interesting product. And so that happens as well. But for the most part, the agent will request the book proposal, and then that's when you'll send them that. Or if it's a small press or it's kind of all different, some agents or small presses will ask for nonfiction. They'll say, send me a query letter and a proposal. Some want to see them both. Some want the query letter first, and then they want. They'll let you know if they want more. And that's where it comes down to really researching the guidelines of every individual.

Following the directions.

Yes. It all comes back to what we learned when we were, like, three years old.

Absolutely. Well, and that was, like, one of the number one takeaways that I took from the conference. And that's like, it's so simple. And it's like you said, we've known it since we were we. But, like, it's so important when you're competing against hundreds of other authors trying to get the attention of the same person, you are.

Being on the receiving end now, I'm, like, blown away, honestly, the fact that people don't. I just. It still blows me away. I'm like, wow, if you just follow directions, you have a really good shot at. Because, I mean, we got. We probably got, like, several pitches this week alone. And none of them came with query letters. They all just said, you know, one was, like, attached as my proposal, and then their email signature was, like, 10 lines long. I'm like, what is happening? Like, your email Signature is larger than your actual message that you sent. You know, and I'm just like, I'm not opening it because I don't even know if this is spam, you know, Like, I don't, I'm just, honestly, that one just got deleted. And it could have been, it could, it could have been like the best thing I ever read, but I'm just not gonna read it.

Exactly. And your time is limited. I think we all understand that as bloggers who might have full time jobs, who might have part time jobs, who might have families, like, we're all balancing a lot and publishing houses are the exact same way.

So think of it like when people, you know, you've taken the time, it's just no different than a blog. You've taken time to write. Create a really, you know, great blog that you feel proud of and that you're working towards. And then you get an email and someone's like, you know, one of those spammy emails that's like, hey, can you link back on this thing? Or, you know, whatever. Or it's like, hey, can I send you my $5 granola bar? You know, in exchange for like all these beautiful photos that you take? You know, like, it's just, it doesn't feel good. And so you can imagine that, you know, that's what. It's no different than what agents are going through. And publishers, like, they want a great, the great next thing, they want to see this amazing work. And if they're getting these, you know, not following, if you're not following directions, then it feels, it just feels yucky. It feels no different than, you know, any email that you would get for your blog from someone that's trying to pitch you something.

Right? Totally. And that is just such a great takeaway. I think we're gonna start wrapping up here. But I wanted to ask you, how can having a blog, having a brand kind of help with this whole publishing process? I know we've talked about this a bit beforehand, but maybe not the publishing process, but maybe like the promotional process, how can that help?

Well, I think all of it is really part of your overall platform strategy. And so if your blog is something that you can utilize and you can showcase your work and what you've done, I think that's great. I think it's funny because my publishers, on this little card that they made for me, called me a blogging sensation. And I just joke about that all the time because I barely blog. That was like, I just joke about that, like everywhere I go and I'm like, I'm glad you guys think so, but I literally barely, like, I think I have like three blogs out this year, blog posts. Because for me, my platform, while I have, you know, people can read my articles and things like that, I do spend more of my time pitching articles, pitching media opportunities in person, things I'm always trying to, because I just, I thrive that way. I thrive more off of connections in that regard. And so to me, those are. It's not a better value than someone that's been consistent blogging and has followers. It's just a different value. And your goal with the blog or whatever you're bringing to the table is to showcase that value. And so if you're thinking, oh, I don't have, you know, a million followers on Instagram or blog hits or whatever, maybe you have really great connections and you've been, you know, maybe you, maybe you work full time at a company that has, you know, 20 locations and they want you to do something for all of their employees at every location that is huge. Like that right there is a, is something to note and it's noteworthy. And it's important for an agent to know because you have to utilize the resources that you have and don't compare yourself to other people's platforms. I think all the time that's one thing that I used to maybe do where I'm like, oh, I don't have the Instagram followers. I can't even do the swipe up thing. And whatever it is, you compare yourself to that. And I'm just like, the funny thing is, though, I live a life that I love. I've built a brand that I'm proud of, and I've done it in the way that feels good to me. This is what I do full time, and I've done full time for 10 years. And I feel great about that fact. If I had more followers than this or that, it doesn't matter. Because what I was able to showcase to agents was exactly what I have and what I'm proud of. Not necessarily, because I think if you go into it with that energy as well, agents are going to see that. They're going to see that you're excited about the speaking opportunities or that you're willing to leverage the resources that you do have. You may not have, you know, 5,000, 10,000 blog hits a month, you know, 20,000, whatever it is, but you may have, you know, 300 awesome readers that are fully engaged that love you no matter what. And then, you know, these other opportunities from Connections that you have in your. In your town or whatever. And that is very, very valuable. So don't, I would say, don't underestimate what you've created for yourself with your blog and then your, you know, the rest of your platform as well.

Yes. Oh, my gosh, I love that so much. And I think this is actually a perfect place to leave off. So thank you so much, Lindsay, for joining us on the Food Blogger Pro podcast today. I wanted to ask you where people can follow along with what you're doing and maybe check out the pitch, Publish, promote, conference and your books, all of that fun stuff.

Yeah. So, well, thank you for having me. This was super fun. I love nerding out and talking about this stuff. It really excites me. You can check out one idea press. If you have a book idea, you're maybe thinking about a small press. You think we may be a great fit. Oneideapress.com you can send us a note, a proposal. Follow the directions.

Follow the directions.

But I'm happy to connect too. I mean, I'm happy to just, you know, kind of learn. I like learning about people and what ideas you have as well. So you can follow me on Instagram as well. Connect there. And my stuff is foodmoodgirl.com and then our publishing conference is pitchpublishpromote.com and we will be announcing the launch. We already have it booked and ready to go, so we'll be. But we'll be announcing it that in January.

Great. Oh, I'm so excited for that. I will be there first in line again.

Awesome.

Well, thank you so much, Lindsay. This was a blast. And I'll talk to you soon.

All right, thank you.

And that is that we hope this interview opened your eyes to the awesome world of traditional book publishing and sparked some inspiration if you're working on your own book. But before we wrap up today, it's time for our reviewer of the week. And this one comes from username Yum Yoga and it says every podcast Bjork does is full of insight and great information I can use right away. Each interview is a wonderful balance of real challenges bloggers face all the time, how to overcome them, humor and practical tips that help me stay motivated and help me improve a little more each day. You and Lindsay are awesome. Keep up the great work. Thanks so much for the review. Yam Yoga. We always appreciate reviews and they actually help get the podcast in front of other people. So be sure to leave a review for us on itunes. It also gives you a chance to be featured in an upcoming episode of the podcast. So thanks so much for tuning in and from all of us here at fbphq, make it a great week.