One of the questions often asked of Jill by aspiring writers is “How did you land a book contract with a major publisher?” Like many things over Jill’s career, her “Into The Planet” book was a decades-long “overnight success.”
From Jill - Getting a Book Deal
In November 2016, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket during a reception at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. It was an alert about a call I had been waiting for. I excused myself from a group of revellers sipping champagne and found a quiet corner to connect with my literary agent. Rick started to roll through details about a publishing offer from Penguin Random House Canada and Harper Collins in the US. Mere hours earlier, while grabbing a rental car in the airport parking garage, I had learned that an offer was forthcoming. Rick had explained that I should be on standby. He had arranged a half dozen meetings in the city in the coming days, but this might change everything. Mere hours after my book proposal hit the desks at Penguin Random House Canada, they expressed interest. Rick explained, “This is a great offer, but you have two hours to accept. They don’t want to get into a bidding war.” If you don’t decide tonight, you could lose them if you shop around.
“Sign it!” I enthusiastically yelled through the phone. These were the publishers that I wanted to work with. My dream had come true.
By 2016, I had already authored numerous successful self-published technical diving manuals and an illustrated children’s book. Still, I was in the market for a legacy publisher for a more personal book — a memoir that would become Into The Planet - My Life as a Cave Diver. A couple of years earlier, I had sat down for lunch with a prominent agent in New York City at a Park Avenue restaurant. He wined and dined with me while discussing his process of finding and placing books with publishers. I was deeply flattered by his interest while noting his silk pocket square and expensive watch. He fit my stereotype of a successful agent and had represented many famous sports stars and a recent U.S. President. But I left that meeting lacking a personal affinity. I did not connect with this older, wealthy man. He lived differently and seemed attached to a very traditional marketing model. I was sure I would need to self-promote through social media to make the project successful. I left lunch and strolled through Central Park, calling him from the bar in the Explorers Club. “Thanks so much for a lovely lunch, but I don’t think I am ready to move forward with you.” I declared.
Later that summer, celebrated journalist Marina Jimenez wrote a three-page feature called “Descent of a Woman” in The Toronto Star, one of Canada’s largest newspapers. The cover of the weekly Insight section sported a full-page image that I had shot from inside an iceberg in Antarctica. It was a well-researched, visually rich story that made me proud. What happened next was unexpected. My emails and DMs were peppered with outreach from close friends and colleagues the following morning. There was a Toronto literary agent that was extremely eager to talk. He was not finding my phone number online, so he contacted everyone I had a close connection with. We agreed to meet downtown at a hotel with a great cafe. I was a bit nervous, so I stood against a pillar in the marble lobby, absorbing the coolness from the stone. I looked up in expectation with each person who came through the golden brass revolving doors. Finally, a humble, slight man in heavy-framed glasses, comfortable jeans and a polo shirt walked straight to me and held out his hand, “Jill, I’m Rick. Great to meet you!” I had already done my homework, and at that moment, I knew I had found my agent.
Even though I had a background in advertising and design, I needed to familiarize myself with the industry specifics and norms for drafting a successful book proposal. Rick schooled me quickly, and I spent nearly three months preparing a model document of over 20,000 words. With his help, I researched and included everything a potential publisher needs. I detailed my social media platform and connections, describing my plan for marketing and outreach. I outlined the chapters, wrote two lengthy sections and listed other successful books from similar categories. I was exhausted when it finally went out as a formal pitch. I thought I would have time to relax and regroup, but within hours, I had a deal and felt the heavy weight of responsibility for writing my book. Instead of meeting with other publishers, I interviewed editors at various Penguin Random House imprints. Each editor and their team had different ideas about the direction and flavour of my manuscript, but when I met Bhavna Chauhan at Doubleday, I knew I had found the right team. I left with a tote bag of relevant books that would inspire me, and Bhavna promised to ship an entire case of other books I should read before launching into my own story.
From the day I signed my contract to the day Into The Planet hit bookstores across North America, almost three years had elapsed. Many people ask me about the process of writing and publishing a book, so in future issues of The Explorers Mindset, I’ll regale you with what happened in those three years as I crafted, edited and released my first book with a major publisher.
Spoiler Alert: It became a Canadian Best-Seller.
And Now…A few choice words from William Shatner
Robert’s Canadian Jukebox - Natalie MacMaster
On a warm evening last summer, after paddling along the Tay Canal in Perth, Ontario, Jill and I stumbled upon a regional music festival being held in the town’s park. We heard the undeniable sound of a Celtic fiddle cutting through the air and the rhythmic pounding of an Irish Bodhran bouncing off the old stone buildings at the park’s edge.
“Oh my god,” I said, as I caught a glimpse of the stage, “That’s Natalie Macmaster!” I grabbed Jill’s hand and led her through the undulating crowd to get a better view of this breathtaking fiddle virtuoso.
I feel Gaelic music deep in the marrow of my bones. A few generations back, my people came to North America from Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland - via Armagh, Northern Ireland. And Jill’s kin are from the Welsh borderlands of England. It is no wonder we feel so comfortable and “at home” here in Southern Ontario, where working-class Scots and Irish landed over 200 years ago to work the timber, mines, and rivers. We live in a converted grain mill, built by one of these immigrants. Most of the towns near us, including our own, are named for places in Scotland and Ireland. No surprise then that nearby Perth, Ontario invites Celtic music royalty to play at a summer music festival.
From her website: “One of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia’s most important exports and a superstar in the Celtic music world (though she’s far too humble to admit it), fiddler and step-dancer Natalie MacMaster has built a sterling, multi-decade career on electrifying playing and must-see live performances”.
If you ever get a chance to see Natalie Macmaster play, put on some comfortable dancing shoes and try to get a spot near the front of the stage. You will experience the unique feeling of Celtic music flowing through your body and soul.
Many of you know that Jill is an accomplished photographer. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, which is considered by many to be a measure of success for outdoor/adventure shooters. Robert is also a photographer of note - he spent a good chunk of his early adult life as a U.S. Navy photographer, posted with the acclaimed Seabee Battalions. After his time with the ‘Bees, he was a photo instructor at the Navy school, specializing in Photojournalism. Rather than National Geographic, Robert’s work featured at intelligence briefings and on the pages of Stars and Stripes. Of course, this was in the “before digital times” of dark rooms, enlargers, physical processing and printing, and computers were something that took up an entire room at MIT. Today, almost everyone carries a high-definition camera in their pocket. And, “art is in the eye of the beholder.”
Robert often finds beauty (or at least interesting subjects) in the most mundane places - like a discarded Starbucks cup in the gutter next to Jill’s truck in Kingston or this image of a shop window down the street from their home:
Thanks for spending some of your valuable time with us. As we go forward, look for more features like group chats and more frequent audio and video content. Cheers!
I have enjoyed your book it so many times, specially your audiobook! I have read books by people that write beautiful but don’t say much or it takes that too long to get to a point or other that tell a story but the color is missing. Your book has both, a riveting story, told in a such a beautiful and in some spots in a frightening way! Thank you for taking the time to tell your story! There are many books that I love but I have two books that are close to my soul, that uplift and inspire me! One of them
Is yours and the other is “Life, Love and Elephants” by Daphne Sheldrick! I actually gift them to everyone I know!
I saw William Shatner’s video yesterday! Oh so Un-Canadian😂😂😂! Yeap, those farms need to disappear along with many other ways we have designed to destroy the environment and torture animals for our benefit! I actually have respect for someone who goes out a hunts an animals and eats the whole thing! Not my thing I couldn’t do it but at least it’s not quite as hypocritical. But I digress and that’s when my crazy is showing🤪!