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Dear Readers,
As you may know, I have a book contract with HarperCollins experimental imprint, Harper Studio. I signed the deal over the Holiday season and began writing The Savvy Auntie Guide to Life soon after.
You may have heard the news today that the publisher of the imprint, Bob Miller, has left HarperCollins and Harper Studio. My book is still in contract and there is no doubt that it will be published as scheduled.The news however gives me the opportunity to talk about Debbie Stier, SVP and Associate Publisher at Harper Studio. Debbie and I met on Twitter, having heard about each other from mutual social media industry friends. I think we bonded over the amazing kids from Tanzania on Twitter. Within days of our first tweet, I was having lunch in Debbie's midtown office and after about an hour, we decided on our book.It's our book indeed. Debbie has been mentoring me, guiding me and inspiring me since the day we met. While I am relatively new to the publishing industry, I am confident that I have partnered with the best possible publisher for my brand and more importantly for my audience - you dear readers.
The publishing industry -- like many industries housed in spectacular buildings stacked next to each other row by row in New York City -- is very set in its ways. And like most industries, publishers have been challenged by fast moving digital media technologies. And many folks who were just about born into the publishing industry have to ramp up quickly to these new technologies and work with the significant changes they bring about. And for many, my guess is that those changes are hard. After all, after years of working in publishing, there are few major surprises. The new media age is changing the publishing industry forever. It's not just a surprise; for many its a shocking shift.
I am confident that Debbie Stier is - if not the most - certainly one of the most capable of not only coping with the shifts in strategy, but actually being on the front lines of what those new strategies should be. I have no doubt that today it takes someone with a true entrepreneurial heart to take full advantage of new digital landscape - and Debbie is that person.Debbie is present and presents at digital and social media events and conferences all over the country. She's highly active in social media. She consumes new technology like most New Yorkers drink coffee. She's inspired by movers and shakers. She's motivated by motivated people. She's actually passionate about the changes in the industry. Harper Studio may stay the same. It may ride the new waves as they come about. It will always be modernizing, taking risks and being what it was designed to be: an experiment in new publishing.
No one is sure what the future holds for Harper Studio right now. But I have no doubt that Debbie is the future of publishing.Dear readers, our book is in the best hands in publishing. But who else would I dare share you with?XOXO,Auntie Melanie
Dear Readers, It's been a while since I've written, and I apologize. Seems like my little company has grown some amazing wings and it's been a while since I've had time to consider how I got here. I'm trying to take more time to appreciate my life and all the details that make it beautiful. A few days ago, an acquaintance sent me an email asking various questions about my business so she might borrow some of my tips to help kick start her own entrepreneurial success. I revealed as much as I could to help her. How much did it cost to design your Website? Tens of thousands, I told her. I invested in a company, a dream, not a New York City apartment.How long did it take you to get Savvy Auntie off the ground? A year, I explained.How long did it take to see success? Twenty-three minutes, I said. That's how soon after I launched that I received an email from a digital media buying agency.Maybe I just need more patience with myself, she concluded.Patience. It's something I've been working on. Until recently, I wouldn't have characterized myself as someone with much of it. Even as a child, I remember wanting what I wanted when I wanted it - NOW! It wasn't because I was a spoiled-brat... or a child without boundaries. I just simply saw a target and wanted to achieve it. I didn't take my parents' no-s for an answer. Nor anyone else's. I just saw what I wanted and went for it. Even if it took a lot wishing on wish chips. (I did get that pink room, by the way.)But a lack of patience isn't always a good thing. We make decisions too quickly, make purchases without thinking of options, make the first right instead of the third left just because it's the first open path we see.So I've been practicing patience.... and realizing more and more the difference between being patient (waiting for things to happen to me and my business) and practicing patience (being in control of making smart decisions in the right time... even if it takes longer than I expected.)Being patient means sitting on couch waiting for success to knock on your door like a pizza being delivered.Practicing patience means investing time and often money into your business.... like cooking a stew.... watching it simmer and cook... adding a little more flavor here, stirring it a little there...Yes, it's true, many awesome things have happened since I launched SavvyAuntie.com exactly 1.5 years ago tomorrow. Some of the nation's most reputable and recognizable brands have invested their sponsorship dollars in Savvy Auntie. I've had enormous support from aunts and others who see value in the resources Savvy Auntie provides. I've appeared on TV, on radio, in newspapers, magazines, online, in video... just about anywhere I can think (maybe a billboard one day?) I've been approached by investors, potential corporate partners, even a cable network! And most recently, I signed a book deal with HarperCollins. It's happened relatively quickly, but I have many other goals that are taking much longer than I expected.So... in the meantime, I take whatever I've earned and throw it right back into the stew... Yes of course I want to eat it now! I'm hungry! And I've been cooking this stew since I thought of the idea for Savvy Auntie in June 2007. But I know that the best stews are slow cooked over an even temperature. They are not too diluted or - um - full of beans. So right now, I'm not taking vacations. I'm not buying clothes (except for when I need them for TV appearances). I'm not ordering in or going out to eat as much as I used to.I'm making stew.Mmmm smells good, doesn't it? I can't wait to invite you over for the feast.XOXO,Auntie Melanie
Dear Readers,I am so incredibly excited and proud that I have been offered a book deal with none other than HarperCollins' new and innovative imprint: Harper Studio! Harper Studio is not even two years old and is already publishing books by Best Selling Author, Gary Vaynerchuk, Emeril Lagasse, LeAnn Rimes, Isabella Rosselinni, Amanda Hesser, Goldie Hawn and umm me. ME!It was always a dream of mine that SavvyAuntie.com would some day become a book - the ultimate source for cool aunts, great aunts, godmothers and all women who love kids. And now, thanks to Harper Studio, it's coming true! What an honor!
The book, entitled: The Savvy Auntie Guide to Life, is expected to be published in a while...and in the meantime, there's lots to do! First, I am assembling top Savvy Experts in fields from childrens' pop culture to throwing the most fabulous baby showers, from indulging nieces and nephews, to helping them cope with their own issues. The guide will be thick with important information, and chock-full of fun stuff too. It can be read cover-to-cover, or used a reference guide at any time. It's a book a soon-to-be aunt will buy for herself, siblings and close friends will give a soon-to-be book aunt this gift as a fabulous way of announcing she's going to be a Savvy Auntie! It's a way for aunts to welcome friends into the Savvy Auntie club! Or for moms who are aunts too and need a new perspective on the children in their lives! And of course, long time aunts and godmothers will all find great tips in this guide as their nieces and nephews get older. Plus, it's the perfect goodie bag gift for expecting moms to give her baby shower guests as a thank you!
Of course, I'll be sharing my journey on writing this book with you all here, just like I did when developing SavvyAuntie.com.Special thanks to Debbie Stier, SVP, Associate Publisher, for finding me, and Bob Miller, President and Publisher, Harper Studio, for somehow agreeing with Debbie that they should work with me on The Savvy Auntie Guide to Life!And most of all, thanks to you, Dear Reader, for sticking with me through this 'auntrepreneurial' journey of mine.
Of ours.Thank you!XOXO,Auntie Melanie
