We just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York. It was our first time there! We did a lot of New York-ish things and fell in love with the city and its people. (Also its food, the Barnes and Noble bookstore, and a MAGICAL place called Eataly—but that’s a whole different post.)
The most thrilling thing we did was meet our publisher, Erin Stein, and a lot of the other people on the Macmillan Imprint team who are amazing—and making the Snazzy Cat Caper book series happen.
Macmillan’s Imprint Team in the Flatiron
Neil and I left our hotel really early and breathed in the Flatiron district before we met the team. We ooh-ed and aww-ed at the glorious architecture and spent some time in the Lego store there where Neil DROOLED over the James Bond car set.
Top Secret: The original FFBI (Furry Feline Burglary Institute) Headquarters is the NY Flatiron Building! You’ll discover more about the FFBI’s history in Snazzy Cat Capers book 2—the Fast and the Furriest.
The beautiful NY Flatiron Building!
The fabulous Erin Stein. Her office is glorious—a cornucopia of all the best, most fun things.
The whole visit with the Macmillan Imprint team is a bit blurry because we were so nervous to finally meet them. But we came away with a few things you might be interested to know:
Erin Stein’s office is as legendary as she is.
#teamworkmakesthedreamwork is so real in this industry. LOTS of people from different disciplines are involved in creating a book! And what I think this means for people who are publishing/want to publish a book is that you really, really want (and need) people who genuinely believe in your work to be championing for it.
Publishing teams sometimes appreciate help! For book 1, we’d offered to make a “toolkit” of assets for the marketing and sales team (something Neil and I learned how to do in our Disney days for different brands we worked on) and the Imprint team used them for some marketing. We’re going to do the same for book 2. If you’ve got a book coming out and if its within your means to help with creating assets, it doesn’t hurt to ask if they’d like extra stuff! And if you’re an artist and want to know more about making an asset toolkit, drop us a line and we'll try to help!
IF you have the opportunity to meet your publishing team in person (or if you don’t have a publishing team yet, but you have the chance to go to a conference and meet people you might want to be your publishing people one day), it’s so wonderful to actually see real faces.
One of the highlights of the trip was holding the Snazzy Cat Capes book 2 (The Fast and the Furriest!) Advanced Reading Copies. They’re real!! And they’re coming September 2019. Stay tuned to see those beauties unboxed.
Us! In front of the MET. This place was so amazing. The Egyptian stuff! The paintings! And a da Vinci sketch!
The things we loved about NYC: The architecture! The people! The energy! The art! The doorways and buildings and food!
Barnes and Noble bookstore at Union Square in NYC! It was BEAUTIFUL and we signed a few books.