Candace Cameron Bure and I had been working on getting a book published for about two years already. We really believed that the writing was good, and with her celebrity status I assumed that getting a contract would be a cake walk, but after two years we realized it wasn't as easy as we had hoped. The missing ingredient: a hook.We needed a hook for the book that made it different from all other books out there. My first reaction was, "The writing is the hook! The minute the reader opens the book, they'll see how different it is. It's inspiring, it's funny, it's just so good!" But that wasn't enough. First of all it wasn't that good, and secondly even if the writing was incredibly good we were still missing that certain something that made this book different from all the others that line the shelves.
| I tried coming up with titles that might be a hook. Tried steering the writing to reach a unique audience. Tried making the book a motivational tool instead of a regular diet book... but in the end, we still lacked a viable hook. |
It wasn't until we finally reached the point where we decided to make Candace the hook that the project saw the light of day. Making Candace the hook meant that I had to take a back seat to our co-authoring experience so that she could be front and center. Candace's face would be on the book. Candace would be the main ingredient of the book.
Let's face it. Other than Iris, and Paula (thanks guys) there aren't too many people in the world who really care if I lost weight or how I took it off. On the other hand there are thousands of people who are interested in how Candace stays fit and healthy, and how this mother of three still looks so good at age thirty something. By the way--happy birthday, Candace!
In the end, I'm glad that we went through this learning curve. It's been about three years now since the first draft of the book, and looking back at it, I see that it it was nowhere near ready for print. The delay gave us the needed time to write, and rewrite until we were more than satisfied with the final outcome.
B & H Publishing says the book is expected on shelves in January 2011. Some things are worth waiting--and worth striving--for!
