Chronicle Books Blog

Every month a Chronicle editor is sharing the list of books he or she is currently reading. This month we hear from Kate Woodrow, a senior editor in Art.

I feel like I’m in a good book cycle right now – you know how it ebbs and flows? – so am excited to share some of the most recent things I’ve read that are piled up at my house.

The best book I’ve read this year was Alice Munro’s newest short story collection Dear Life (currently on loan to my editor pal Laura Lee Mattingly—there’s such a good book sharing and discussing culture at Chronicle). My favorite novels are stories about the ordinary, told very plainly but powerfully. And Munro is the master of this in her short stories, with a graceful economy of words. What a talent. The stories in this collection each hang around a turning point in someone’s life, a departure or arrival, maybe something unexpected like an accident or a spontaneous affair. They left such an impression on me (and what a gorgeous cover! hot coral type set over an impressionist oil painting) and now I want to read everything by Munro. So I’ve just started her 2001 stories Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.

Dear Life sent me into a short story spiral, in the best possible way. I quickly read George Saunders’ Tenth of December. Upon publication reviewers were somehow calling this the best book of 2013, which I thought was maybe a little presumptuous for January?? But they’re on to something. Saunders is hysterically sharp. Like Munro, he also tells a story simply, but with such twisted wit. These stories are definitely dark, but they’re not depressing. They’re wry and surreal (literally supernatural) and often laugh-out-loud funny. A friend was reading it at the same time I was and we just kept texting each other, “WHOA…whoa! WHOA!!!”

From there I read one more short story collection, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (isn’t that a great name?). Someone at the Booksmith on Haight Street, one of my favorite bookstores in San Francisco, recommended it and I never would have found it without her tip that if I liked Munro, I might like Wells. Indeed, ordinary lives drawn bare. This time an expose of American misfits.

This month I also read The Dinner by Herman Koch. This novel, translated from Dutch, has been billed as “the European Gone Girl.” Well, I devoured Gone Girl on the beach last summer along with the rest of America, so naturally wanted to see what this one was all about. I didn’t find it had the same maniacal twists as GG, but the characters were loathsome and their moral compasses did waver around an unsavory crime. I was impressed the author managed to set the entire novel at a single dinner table without it feeling claustrophobic. It was a good juicy read, but if you haven’t read Gone Girl, I would just start there!

The last two books still hanging around my nightstand couldn’t be more different from one another: Nicholson Baker’s A Box of Matches and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Baker’s novel, recommended to me by another editor friend at work, is a quiet wintery book, good to read by the fire in a cabin (I read most of this in Tahoe doing just that). The narrator, up before dawn and everyone else, lights a fire in his wood stove each morning and observes everything he sees and in his mind in hyper detail. It’s about nothing (paper towels, a hole in a sock, coffee grounds), and really everything (relationships, domesticity, grief). This is a good palate cleansing book. And then of course Goodwin’s biography of Lincoln and the rivals he chose to make up his cabinet is a different thing entirely. One of my dad’s favorite books, I was determined to read this last fall. I managed to finish just in time to see the movie Lincoln, which made it all come to life. He is indeed a political genius—I found myself trying to adopt some of his strategies at work! And I loved getting to talk to my dad about it.

After all, the best part about books is getting to discuss them with the people who love them as much as you do.

Thanks for reading!

September has us all in a creative flurry at Chronicle Books: the editors are signing up exciting new projects for 2014 (already!) and we’re finalizing designs for 2013 projects, all while eagerly watching finished copies of everything on the Fall 2012 list travel out into the world. It’s a constant seasonal juggle and we often wonder, “What year is it?!”

In short: we’re working hard to make good things today, and every day. We strive to stay inspired—and meet all our looming deadlines—by doodling dreams and tracking to-do lists in the many journals and notebooks we publish. Here’s a roundup of all the new notebooks that we (and you!) get to choose from this fall!

Which one would you most like to use?

I ran around the office snapping pictures of all of these new notebooks. The lighting’s a bit off in some, but don’t we have some interesting surfaces here at our office in San Francisco?

Jill Bliss’ Wildflowers Mini Eco-Journal Set for petite and pretty perspectives.

The florals on The Art of Instruction Notebook Collection are from vintage educational charts and make me want to muse the day away.

Junzo Terada’s Animal Marching Band Journal and Lab Partners’ Lucky Cat Journal have shapely three-piece cases that make even the most mundane meetings amusing.

A trio from John Robshaw, perfect for globetrotting (or at least armchair globetrotting) and rambling reveries.

Mixtape Mini Eco-Journals for music lovers on the move.

For folks who prefer the look of yesteryear, these journals were each inspired by vintage ephemera. Suzy Ultman’s Storybook Journal and Wendy Addison’s Theatre of Dreams Journal.

From Liberty of London, three perfectly purse-worthy journals.

Even the craziest ideas are good ideas (and turquoise foil stamping is never a bad idea!). Good Ideas / Bad Ideas Journal.

Four flexible paperback journals for everyone else. From left to right, A Whale of a Tale painted by Melanie Mikecz, Make Something Good Today by Jen Renninger, Petit Collage Paris Journal by Lorena Siminovich, and the Moomin Journal.

Kate Woodrow
Senior Editor

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Tell us what you think in the comments below and you’ll be eligible to win one of the Carpe Diem journals we’ll reward to three lucky seizers of the day (offer valid in the US and Canada only).

Getting things done is so much easier when those things are well-designed. Enter letterer and illustrator Mary Kate McDevitt.

Mary Kate never ceases to amaze me. She makes original hand lettering look so darn easy! And now she’ll make all your messy ideas look pretty exceptional, too.

She illustrated a journal called Carpe Diem that will help you wrangle all your grand plans in one place—and in a place where they’ll look better than ever. It’s a sturdy hardcover journal printed with full-color interior pages (nice uncoated stock) with blingin’ gold foil (see Step No. 7—absolutely essential) on the cover and spine. So sharp!

I asked Mary Kate to send me some pics of how she’s been using Carpe Diem.

How to carpe diem:

Step 1. Start with a sketch.

Mary Kate McDevitt’s sketch for the cover of the Carpe Diem journal.

Step 2. Make lists of how to get from A to B. Try not to get distracted by all the X, Y, and Z you need to tackle in between.

Step 3. Treat yourself to ice cream. And/or beer.

Step 4. Give yourself a high-five. Distract your brain by writing a haiku.

Step 5. Okay, break’s over. Get down to business.

Step 6. Refine and perfect the sketch.

Step 7. Add foil.

Kate Woodrow
Editor

Photographs and illustrations by Mary Kate McDevitt.


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We’re currently enjoying a fabulous Florence Broadhurst moment, thanks to the tastemakers at Kate Spade who have chosen the iconic wallpaper designer to kick off their Year of Pattern campaign.

Broadhurst’s Japanese Floral is Kate Spade’s favorite print of the season; they’ve used the feminine but graphic floral in black and white on slingbacks and sneaks, a scarf, a few frocks and tops, several bags, a traveling bus turned pop-up shop, and the walls of a studio for their Spring 2012 campaign photoshoot.

For those of you who don’t already love Broadhurst, here’s a sneak peek inside our illustrated biography of her life. I highly recommend it—if you love pattern design, trust me, you want this book on your shelf (or more likely out on your coffee table). Dear Florence is a fascinating character in the history of pattern design and her story, which tragically ends with a mysteriously unsolved murder, is such a page turner. Enjoy!

Kate Woodrow
Editor

Purchase: Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives.

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My Alt Summit panel mates were Chronicle author and artist Julia Rothman, Design*Sponge founder and author Grace Bonney, Chronicle author and artist Amy Butler, and Lia Ronnen, an executive editor at Artisan Books.
Photo by Justin Hackworth.

On Wednesday you heard from my colleague Guinevere about all the inspiration we unearthed at Altitude Design Summit, the design blogging conference we just attended. And if you follow me on Twitter, I apologize for bombarding you with Alt this and Alt that all week long. But I met so many smart, creative people—I’m exhilarated and exhausted all at the same time, and completely abuzz with new ideas for Chronicle!

I spoke on a panel (with my dynamo peers above) about how to turn your blog (or any creative idea) into a book. We shared lots of specific advice on how to come up with a good idea, write a proposal, navigate a typical contract, and what to expect from the design, production, and promotion processes.

If you were there, thanks for listening and for taking the initiative to tell me about your ideas afterward. I’m always looking for smart new concepts, so kudos for not being shy! And please keep ‘em coming.

For everyone who wasn’t able to attend, I’ve distilled my tips into these key takeaways. Since it’s what I’m most commonly asked, I focused here on how to come up with a winning idea and put together an attractive proposal. If you dream of writing a book or working with Chronicle on an idea, I hope you’ll find direction here. Identify your next steps of action and Make. It. Happen.

By the way, the uber talented Julia Rothman illustrated these beautiful slides for our presentation. Isn’t she the best??

How to Come Up With a Good Book Idea

1. Research and read your competition. Likely the most common piece of advice you’ll hear, but the most important place to start. Go to bookstores, your favorite gift shops in your neighborhood, and Anthropologie or Williams Sonoma or wherever you dream of seeing your book and spend time getting to know the books in your category. Identify what you love about likeminded books. Make lists of what they offer so you can figure out what you can offer that someone else hasn’t already. There’s nothing worse than pitching an editor only to find out she’s just published something very similar. Also look on Amazon to see what reviewers are saying about your competition—maybe they’ll point to a missed opportunity.

2. Think about value and identify an impulse to purchase. Spend time thinking about what value you can offer and how that presents a need to buy. A publisher is going to be thinking about the buying occasion for your book—why would someone (someone who doesn’t know and love you) buy your book? And a consumer is likely going to invest in content they can refer back to again and again. What do they get from it? The last five books you bought, why did you buy them? Did they teach you a skill? Did the package have an irresistible object quality you put proudly on display? Did they make you laugh—more than once? Was it to gift to someone on a specific occasion like Mother’s Day?

How to Make Yourself Attractive in Proposals

1. Write a formal business letter meets email to your best friend. Convey the spirit of your idea and your personality, while also showing me you’ve done your homework. The spirit part—bloggers are lucky because you’ve already vetted your tone and content on your readers. If your blog’s funny and you want to write a funny book, write a funny pitch. Reading your proposal should give me a real sense of what it will be like to read your book. Then the business letter part is pretty straightforward.

2. Fully but succinctly hit the high notes, including:
       - An overview of your idea. Your editor will have to pitch the concept to a roomful of people, and ultimately the people selling your book will have 30 seconds to pitch it to store buyers. I’m looking for a smart one-liner sales handle plus a succinct description of the concept. And I’d be grateful if you’ve crafted a perfectly clever one for me!
       - Your bio and blog stats. Also include how you plan to reach your audience and promote the book.
       - Quantified description of the book’s realistic audience. While we like you to quantify your audience, unfortunately not all 85 million moms in America are going to come to your business book for moms. Think less about the census and more about your realistic ability to reach potential consumers. For example, “the 12,000 people who follow me on Twitter, especially entrepreneurial women who have left their full time jobs and want to either earn an income or feel fulfilled creatively.”
       - A list of competitive books. Focus on what’s been published in the past 5 years and specify how yours differs.
       - An outline or annotated list of chapters.
       - A sample chapter or two. This is really important—writing a sample will teach you a lot about what your book is and your ability to sustain the concept or tone across more than just the description. And for a visual book, it will help us understand the balance between text and art.

3. Mock it up. Make it pretty. If you want to work with Chronicle, you know we’re visual people. The more visually compelling your proposal, the more interested we are. If your blog’s crafty or about design, make sure your proposal is full of images. To me there’s nothing worse than getting a craft, fashion, design, or art book proposal with no images! You can look at what products we publish and fit your work into our formats. If you’re thinking beyond books (stationery, games, kits, other gift products—I hope you are!), a super simple thing to do is to take an existing product of ours and make a physical mockup of your proposed product. This always gets my attention and I’m surprised how few people do it.

4. Show how your brand expands beyond one book. Chronicle wants to invest in authors who have more than one book in them. So you do definitely want to fully develop that one main book idea (and actually it drives me nuts when someone just proposed a laundry list of unbaked ideas because it makes me think you haven’t thought it through). But you might also want to show us how your brand extends beyond that first book.

5. No typos. We’re editors. Seriously, no typos at all.

To read some audience reactions and get even more snippets of advice from our Blog to Book panel, check out this easy-to-follow Twitter timeline that Guinevere (the brains behind Chronicle’s Twitter feed) put together using Storify.

And if you have any more questions for me on the best way to pitch a project to Chronicle, by all means, ask away in the comments below.

Yours in the pursuit of good ideas,

Kate Woodrow
Editor