Alt Summit // From Blog to Book

Books have an amazingly special quality that I feel can not be replaced. I love looking through books and tagging the pages with a post-it. Highlighting is one of my favorite hobbies! Lately, it seems to be that design and craft books are on the rise. Even though, I don't have the passion to write a book, many bloggers are getting the book bug. I find the whole process fascinating, I couldn't wait to attend this seminar to find out more. 

The panel consisted of: Julia Rothman, Kate Woodrow of Chronicle Books, Grace Bonney of Design Sponge, Amy Butler, and Lia Ronnen of Artisan Books. 

This panel was the most through and had the most inventive presentation. They organized it as chapters of a book, and Julia Rothman illustrated all of the slides. Here's what stuck with me: 

• Know about every other book in your same category - read through as many as possible
• Look at reader's comments on Amazon and other sites, so see if they have questions on something that was potentially missed
• When picking a publisher, go with who understand your voice the most. Make sure that they give you time, effort, and attention! Take time to decide if it's a right fit. 
• When picking an agent, date them! Know if they can connect you with the right people, and if you can work well with them. 
• Know what to expect up front - ask lots of questions! 
• Organize your book production - allow extra time for creativity 
• Envision your cover early! Show examples of covers you like and don't like
• Growing more now, you as the author need to promote your book! 
• Writing a book helps legitimize your name/brand. 

Overall, the emphasis was that writing a book is lots of hard work, time, and money! You don't write a book to make lots of money, make sure that it's something you really, really want before diving into it!

For another recap of this seminar, Chronical Books did a storify recap made up of tweets! Click here to check it out. :) 

Happy Wednesday!