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Several weeks ago, Lisa and I sent two major updates on the publication of our Essential Thyroid Cookbook. In the first update, we stated that it would be self-published this month. Soon after, we announced that a senior editor at one of the largest publishing houses in the world pursued us, expressing keen interest in publishing our cookbook.

To say that that curveball turned everything on its head is a colossal understatement.

And the outcome of all of this is something that we’re celebrating in a big, big way.

We hope that you’ll join us in celebrating the fact that this long-awaited cookbook has found a much better publishing “home” and will be distributed waaaaay further and wider than initially anticipated.

In other words, it’s going to impact so many more people who are suffering from hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s.

When you consider:

1. Quicker to market; or
2. Broader impact…

I think you would have made the same choice that we did.

You can read more about our journey below and you can download the gift that we’ve created just for you, a “mini cookbook”/sneak peak of what you can expect when the complete Essential Thyroid Cookbook is published.

Get the “minibook” >

In preparation for our choices of ingredients for our recipes, Lisa and I created a nutritional “springboard” that is the foundation of this cookbook. We spent weeks sleuthing out the most supportive nutrients for the thyroid and immune system and then researching the foods that are dense sources of these nutrients. Each recipe or recipe combination had to contain at least 5 supportive nutrients to “make the cut.” The final cookbook will contain over 100 thyroid- and immune-supportive recipes and in these sample recipes, with the exception of the beverage, you can find the broad spectrum of supportive nutrition at the bottom of each recipe.

A funny thing happened on the way to the publisher…
Although we were already savvy about the pitfalls of publishing with a big house, given that they don’t typically pursue small cheeses like us, we approached this opportunity with no less focus and intensity as we have with everything else related to this cookbook.

As is our way, we left no stone unturned.

But it took a ton of work and pushing ourselves to our mental, emotional, and even physical limits (late nights, early mornings, forgotten lunches, ruminating in the middle of the night) to turn over those stones and make sure that we were doing the right thing not only for ourselves and this cookbook, but also for YOU – the hypothyroid/Hashimoto’s community.

At the time they reached out, given that we were about to publish, I thought, “OMG. The timing. THE TIMING?!” $*&#?@

We had a publishing plan. And we were working it – hard.

We asked our designers to “hold the presses” and spent countless hours on multiple conference calls with the potential publisher, our attorneys, one of the top cookbook agents in NYC, and several of our author friends and colleagues.

It is with profound gratitude to friends and authors Amie Valpone, author of Eating Clean; Melissa Joulwan, author of the Well Fed series (1, 2, 3); Ana Gabriel Mann and her husband, multiple NYT bestselling author, John David Mann; Alissa Segersten, author of Nourishing Meals, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, and The Elimination Diet; and Dr. Aviva Romm, author of the foreword to our cookbook and of the forthcoming The Adrenal Thyroid Revolution for helping us navigate a tough, tough few weeks.

The choices in front of us became so overwhelming, we even considered printing and warehousing these cookbooks ourselves and hiring a shipping/warehouse manager.

As soon as Aviva heard what we were going through, and as someone who has published with a big house, she immediately emailed to say, “Call me.” We simply cannot thank her enough for all of the ways in which she has supported this cookbook and us.

Through all of this, it became abundantly clear that the way in which Lisa and I had initially planned on publishing was NOT the way to go.

After all of the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this labor of love, it was not the way to usher this cookbook into the world. It would have been a huge mistake. A massive mistake.

Although we didn’t realize what an error it would have been at the time, you may be wondering why were we even considering it in the first place. It’s because we wanted this book to market as soon as possible because of YOU – because we were taking what seemed to be the path of least resistance to just get this cookbook into the world and in your hands.

It’s not like us to take the path of least resistance. And “complacent” isn’t something that Lisa nor I can even fathom.

And magically, this quote from Marie Forleo came across my radar right about the time that this storm started brewing…

“Saying, ‘This doesn’t work and I’m going to do something to change it,’ takes guts. I gravitate towards people like that. They’re brave and optimistic and creative. They remind me how malleable the world really is, if only we’d do one thing.

“Reject complacency.

“That’s it. That’s all it takes to catapult your career. Heal a relationship. Start a business. Drop an unhealthy habit. Write your book.

“Reject complacency.”

(Given that our book is written, I’m going to take the liberty of adding, “Write Publish your book.”)

Go big or go home?
It also became clear that it would be a mistake to go with a big publishing house.

We’re still self-publishing, but in a different, much smarter way. We’re going with a boutique, hybrid publisher/distributor that offers the benefits of both traditional and self-publishing and that allows us to maintain full creative control and all intellectual property rights. 

Jackpot!

We’d be crazy to not take advantage of what’s been uncovered as a result of the last couple of months’ stone-turning, even though it means significant out of pocket expenses.

If you think that we (and our husbands) haven’t taken this extremely seriously and taken several hard gulps, you’d be dead wrong.

When Aviva found out about our plans, she wrote, “Brava for a brilliant independent choice!!!! Seriously impressed!”

Part of what our investment gets us is not only far-reaching distribution, but also better quality paper and printing.

I know, I know, it seems like a dream come true for authors to get a fat book advance (not to mention, not having to make significant out of pocket investments) and to have the cachet of having an esteemed imprint on their book cover and verso page.

But it wouldn’t have been a dream for us for reasons that are beyond the scope of this post, and know that one of them was that this book wouldn’t have seen the light of day until Spring 2018. That’s right – 18 more months. That’s how long it often takes to get a book catalogued and marketed the way that the big houses require.

Ultimately, being pursued like this was one of the best gifts Lisa and I could have received and I’m grateful. We haven’t ruled out working with a big publishing house for our future books.

When…when?
No one wants this cookbook published more than Lisa and I do.

Of all of the consultants, authors, and experts we’ve consulted, they’ve all said something like, “You absolutely owe no one an apology. You’ve worked your a**es off and changing direction is something to celebrate. You deserve this.”

Thank you for staying with us. Thank you for your patience in what has turned out to be a much, much more difficult journey than Lisa and I could have ever, ever, ever anticipated.

It has nearly brought me to my knees.

If you’ve read this far, some of you may even be rolling your eyes or thinking, “My gosh, these girls can’t get it together.”

If you feel that that would be an inordinate and unfair response (thank you), consider that we got our share of less-than-nice comments – and plenty of unsubscribes – after the cards-on-the-table, heart-on-our-sleeves, painfully raw post about this crazy journey that we published last fall.

We also received a tremendous outpouring of love, kindness, and patience, which is what we’re staying focused on.

As for the curmudgeons, we get it – and it’s okay if we lose people.

Okay, so we have a pretty good idea of when this book will be published. But I’m reticent to say when because I’ve said, “Soon!” so many times and then, in October, we narrowed it down to January 10 and aren’t getting this book to market on that date.

We’re in the process of working with our production, printing, and distribution managers to establish the best possible timeline for launching our book in 2017 – date TBD. But know that we’re moving mountains to get it out to you ASAP and you’ll be the first to know our new publication date once we land on it. 

You may think, “Sheesh, if the content is done, why does it take so long?” It’s just the way it goes with you’re working with a publisher/distributor.

And what we’ve got going now sure beats Spring 2018.

“Art is not a thing, it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard
Lisa and I have approached this cookbook with the utmost literary and culinary excellence. We’ve also approached it as a work of art. “Good enough” isn’t good enough and we think you’ll agree that it’s beautiful.

I feel that Elizabeth Gilbert was speaking directly to us when she wrote:

“You don’t just get to leap from bright moment to bright moment if you choose to live as a free artist (pursuing your passions) in this world.

“How you manage yourself between those bright moments when things aren’t going so great is a measure of how devoted you are to your vocation, and how equipped you are for the weird demands of creative living.”

Once again, you can get our “minibook” here >