You might think by now I would be in the throws of writing the book. A year ago if you told me I had gotten a book deal what would I be doing a few weeks later I would say “swatching, and knitting and sketching oh my!” my first deliverable was a LIST! It was very exciting, let me tell you! Okay actually it was exciting because it will effect everything I do for the next 9 months but I just thought it was funny, very anti-climactic. It was still fun though, and I quiet enjoyed writing that list.
Continue reading “Book writing is slow business” »
I’ve been sitting on some very exciting news for about a week now, but I was away on vacation when I received it. Back in June when I went to TNNA, I did something crazy! I put together a book proposal about two days before I left, with the kids at my knees all the while. I printed out a few color copies, put together a notebook with some yarn and photo inspiration and showed up at the Potter Craft booth with it in hand. I set a time to speak to an editor, and we spoke for about an hour. I had a really good time talking with her, and left with a very happy feeling in my heart. Six months of very patient (hah!) waiting and I now can share with you the very happy news that I have accepted an offer from Potter Craft (a division of Random House) to produce my book!
I have to thank my good friend and partner over at Petite Purls, Allegra as it was her suggestion in the first place. I had been telling her for months I had wanted to publish a book of kids knits but that I lacked a really solid idea, something to make it special. I was then working on a little side project, a small idea I had and I e-mailed her photos of the FO, to which she replied “you should do a book of those”. It was like a little light bulb went off and I realized, my goodness she is right, that would make the perfect book (in fact I am hoping that little project makes it into the book). So off I went putting together my book proposal, which consisted of many photos, a few sketches, a portfolio/bio of my knitting patterns, market research on the particular idea and lots of other examples, it was 7 pages long. I also had a few family and friends review it for me, checking for any errors. I was very pleased with it, just like Petite Purls, it had come together with a bit of serendipity. I don’t want to give away too many details, I want to leave some surprises for later but I do promise you I will be documenting the process here on my personal blog, as well as a few posts over at Petite Purls. It is of course, kid-centric and will be a wonderful collection of knits for kids of various ages.
This is an incredible opportunity for me, and I feel so pleased that Potter Craft is as excited as I am, they are an amazing publisher and I feel very lucky to be working with them. I also need to thank Allegra for telling me I needed to go for it, to my fantastic Agent Linda for getting me through the last bit of the process with lots of support, and to my family and friends for putting up with my anxiety these past 3 months as things slowly came to a close. And of course to my published friends for all of their advice. Now I get to actually write and do all the designing, the next 12 months are going to be crazy and I could not be more excited to get started!
My name is Brandy Fortune, and I design knit-wear for kids. I love Crème Brulée, Sci-Fi, 70 degree weather and reading a good book in bed. I spend my time knitting, sewing, taking pictures, co-editing the web-zine 
