I just got off our conference call with a senior editor at a very well-known publishing house. (If I recall correctly, I think their name is on a skyscraper in NYC.) The senior editor - I'll call him "Ford" - was a very nice guy who had worked with Mike and Miles before. Ford started the conversation by saying our proposal was "really well put together" and our "approach is really unique" and he is planning to present it to his Editorial Board next Wednesday. The Editorial Board is the group made up of the Publisher and Associate Publisher and representatives from Marketing, Sales, International, etc.. They are the governance body that can authorize him to make us an offer. He walked us through the process that it would go through after we finish the manuscript - he edits, copy editor edits, typesetting, then production. If we finish manuscript by end of January, it should hit bookshelves in October, which is a prime time for marketing new books. He said they would do a global launch through their operations in Singapore, London, Canada and Australia. He said foreign translations could work too if demand merits. Wait a second... did he say Singapore? OK, now I am totally getting ahead of myself and, when none of that actually happens, I am setting myself up for some serious disappointment. And some serious embarrasment as well, since I decided to share news real-time on this blog for some crazy reason. The only question I had for Ford was whether he liked our working title or not. His reply: "Ninety percent of the time, I ask the author for a new title before I take it to the Editorial Board. I think your title is strong and I'm keeping it as is." Oh well, after we got off of the call, Miles let us know the other big publisher who expressed interest is pushing it up their management chain and we should hear something back from them next week as well. So this week ends with a big smile on my face. I hope I have a reason (or maybe even two reasons) to smile next Friday. If not, my smile might be upside down.