how to get a book deal

1. Write something that isn't advertising.
2. Trash it.
3. Repeat.
4. Daily. For years.
5. Assemble 65,000 words you don't hate.
6. Spell check.
7. Spell check.
8. Describe #5 in a sentence. The most important product copy you'll ever write.
9. Embed #8 in a letter to a few excellent agents.
10. Spell check.
11. Repeat #9 and #10 until someone is kind enough to request #5.
12. Wait.
12. Wait.
12. Wait.
13. Realize that timelines in Publishing are way different than in Advertising.
14. Discover the five stages of rejection.
15. Repeat #14.
16. Until, one day, to your astonishment, an agent falls in love with your work.
17. Which makes you fall in love with the agent.
18. Happily, she'll take it from here.

how to quit your day job

In case you missed Wednesday's post on the excellent Stuff White People Like, the blogger's got a book deal. According to the NY Times today, the contract is from Random House for $300K. Not bad for an unpublished author unheard of outside the blogosphere. Until now. Congrats, Clander. I mean (now we know) Christian Lander.

Oh, BTW, if you are Erin Malone, please rest assured that I am available.