What it takes to get a book like Blue Monday published

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a book published?

It starts with the author. In the case of my book Blue Monday about the 1981 Expos, the journey began in October of 2016. I had initially thought of writing another general Expos history book but then I decided to zero in on the 1981 team, the only one to made the playoffs in franchise history.

I conducted interview after interview and had written a good chunk of the book by January, 2017 at which time I started approaching publishers. I got an encouraging response in July of 2017 from Scott Fraser, the acquisitions editor at Dundurn Press in downtown Toronto.

It sure helped that Fraser had been a die-hard Expos fan. He loved my theme, my proposal, my extensive table of contents and two sample chapters. We worked out a contract and Blue Monday the book was born. My deadline for the manuscript was October, 2017 for 70,000 words, 20 photos and half a dozen illustrations/charts.

Over the winter of 2017-2018, Allison Hirst, a developmental editor at Dundurn, took my tome, read it, studied it, proofread it, shaped it, re-shaped it, made it sing and made some suggestions about improvements. She also ran her eyes over my photo cutlines. I made her an Expos' fan out of the process.

From there, a proofreader looked at the manuscript, scouring it attentively for typos, missing words and other gremlins. Next was a copy editor, who went over the manuscript meticuously, line by line. Of course, I did my own proofreading, editing, re-editing, re-shaping it. Then a graphic designer gave it a wonderful visual look.

In the meantime, other important people at Dundurn were at work, including my hard-working publicist Michelle Melski and director of sales and marketing Synora Van Drine.

"A lot happens behind the scenes in the months leading up to your book's publication,'' Melski told me.

Blue Monday was presented to Dundurn's sales rep teams in Canada and the U.S., including Ampersand and Ingram Publisher Services. Those teams then went out and pitched the book to bookstores like Barnes & Noble, libraries, Walmart, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. and other accounts. Dundurn's internal sales team pitched it to Indigo/Chapters, McNally Robinson, Ben McNally's, the Book City chain of stores, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., airport gift shops and numerous independent outlets.

On the publicity front, Melski held a number of meetings with the trade journals. She travelled to New York and Chicago, pitching Dundurn's Fall 2018 season of books to magazines such as Booklist, Bookwire, NetGalley, Publishers Weekly, Library Thing, and Library Journal. In Canada, the Canadian magazine that is heavy on the book scene is Quill & Quire.

Melski has also had seasonal meetings with Canadian newspaper book editors, pitching Blue Monday. Radio and TV station producers were sent the galleys, which are digital proofs of the manuscript.

I have done my own publicity with many media outlets and I have spent an inordinate amount of time pushing the book on social media, most notably Twitter and Facebook, with occasional public posts along with 100s of private messages to followers and friends. I have also been lining up book signings and interviews in the coming weeks and months.

Blue Monday will be released Oct. 13 in Canada, Nov. 6 in the US. So here's how it all evolved: work began October of 2016, the manuscript was due in October of 2017 and the book will be released in October of 2018 -- at a time when people will be focused on post-season play.. 

The book's release coincides closely with the date of the Blue Monday game: Oct. 19, 1981. The subtitle is The Expos, the Dodgers and the Home Run That Changed Everything.

"We are very excited for it,'' said Brandon Forsyth, the sports-book buyer for Indigo. "We will absolutely be merchandising this strongly in our stores, and at the moment, I do see it as our biggest baseball book for 2018.''

You can't get a better endorsement than that. Similar sentiment is being shown by many other bookstores.

"I ordered that book as soon as I saw it in the catalogue,'' said Jim Sherman of Perfect Books in Ottawa. "It brings back wonderful memories of that team and some memorable road trips from Ottawa to watch them live. I remember the agony of that day all too well.''

Fans keep coming forward with their own Blue Monday story.

"Like many of us, I was there that Monday to remember the greatest moment our Expos ever had. Nothing came as close,'' Montreal sports artist Peter Chokly told me. "My lasting memory of that day was how nobody wanted to leave their seats after the game. We all just sat there in disbelief.''

That was the feeling former long-time Expos board of directors member Arnold Ludwick had as he sat beside Expos general manager John McHale. When the game was over, Ludwick was very sad himself but moreso as he looked at a grieving McHale.

"It was tough to see a large man like John cry,'' Ludwick said in an interview this week.