Babylune

Decision Time

by kate baggott on January 18th, 2007

I was looking over the long list of discomforts this morning. Nothing else I have written comes close to describing my physical state after giving birth. The posts making up the “Down There” Omnibus are probably the most honest.

I am looking back because last October I met a publisher at the Frankfurt Book Fair and, as a result of our conversation I wrote a proposal for a book about recovering from childbirth. I wrote it very quickly so she’d still  remember me and referred to my writing background and my work on this blog. It’s been a few months and I haven’t heard back from the publisher.

I know, conventional writers’ wisdom (ha!) says that waiting three months for a reply to a proposal is normal. In truth, though, I know that if they were blown away and excited about the proposal, they would have responded a long time ago. There are many reasons why I am a good person to write about childbirth recovery. In writing this blog, I research the topic every single day. I know what the latest research says and where to find it for further reference. Through the comments readers leave, I know what new mothers are thinking (including the ones who hate this blog) and the problems they are likely to encounter. At the same time, more than 30 000 people have read Babylune over the past year and, based on the comments I get, most of you are indeed new mothers or about to become mothers.
In the other hand, there are a lot of reasons why I shouldn’t write this book. I don’t have a medical background (although, when in doubt, I just conduct an interview). The other reasons are that most women recovering from childbirth don’t have time to read books, much of the subject matter is not pretty and most pregnant women (at least those about to deliver for the first time) operate under the illusion that their physical woes will be over once the baby is born.  And, for many women with difficult pregnancies, the postpartum period really is so much easier.

There’s also the issue that the customer for the book, the people who actually buy it, is different from the reader. I imagine the people buying the book will be looking for a baby shower present while the new mother, or mother-to-be, is the reader. That means, the cover needs to be a gifty pastel pink and blue and there has to be a really smiley cute baby on the cover. And then, the unsuspecting reader will open the cover, begin to read and find out that I am actually a sarcastic smart ass prone to the time-saving stupidity.

So, what do you think? Should I spend another day researching and re-writing the book proposal for another publisher or is a book about postpartum recovery a lost cause I shouldn’t waste my time on? If I did publish a book on the topic, would you buy it for a friend about to have a baby?

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POSTED IN: Breastfeeding, Finances, Labor & Delivery, Mental Health, Nutrition