From First Word to Publication ~ Undertaking Love by Kat French

Chapter Seven 2012 ~ Contracts, titles and new ideas.

So, it was official. Contracts arrived in the mail, and I was torn between the urge to sign them or frame them. We had an official ceremony at the kitchen table, with my eldest boy gamely in charge of the camera. The resulting shots make me look vaguely crazy-lady, but are precious none the less because they record a momentous and very much longed for moment.

And so the ball was rolling. Edits arrived over the ensuing months, and thankfully it wasn't the terrifying process I'd feared. The authonomy team were gentle with me I think, I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the publishing world. It was universally agreed that my title (The Lighthouse) was actually quite rubbish for the story - HarperCollins used much more diplomatic words than that of course, and most excitingly, a competition was organised to name the book! 

Lots of entries later and a shortlist was produced and sent to me. I mulled over it for a long time, trying to imagine the options on a cover in the Asda (my mothers mecca for buying books. If mine is ever in there, she will have a melt down). I *may* have drawn these imaginary covers in my diary too... you know, just to be certain. One stood out for me as perfect, and happily it was the same entry that HC leaned towards too. And that's how The Lighthouse became known from there on in as Undertaking Love. 

Want to know a funny story about titles though? A good while afterwards, maybe even a year or more, I was chatting to the guy who runs authonomy - you know the one who left that first comment when I uploaded? Well, he let me know that on the day I uploaded the book, he happened to spot it on the front page of the site in the 'Pitch Me' box, which randomly generates books every time you click on the page. Anyhow, do you know why he clicked on it at all? Because he likes lighthouses. Simple as that. If I'd called it anything else, who knows if any of this would have ever happened? That title wasn't wasted after all. :)

Publication was set for April 2013, by ebook first with the possibility that it might go into print depending on how it fared. It was around the point when I started to think about what to write next...