I did a book a few years ago called BRAIN REBOOT: New Treatments for Healing Depression. Where did I find that book? In the slush pile? No. Through a referral? No. Because I knew the author? No.
New projects came in an infinite variety of ways. In this case, I wanted to do a book on this subject, because I had heard a lot about it and new that new treatments had helped many, many people. But I needed an author.
The author had to be a doctor. And it had to be someone with a pedigree. A book by your local physician may have merit, but it’s not going to garner as much attention as someone affilated with a famous hospital or school.
So I called up Harvard and asked for the Psych Dept. I told whoever answered the phone what I was looking for. I suggested that perhaps it could be posted somewhere. Then I hung up.
I did not expect a response to this. I didn’t know anyone at the Harvard Psych Dept. and didn’t think my request would land anywhere or even be taken seriously. Harvard gets a lot of calls, some of them from crackpots. Well, she probably didn’t think I was a crackpot, but I had no reason to believe that a random call from a stranger would make a dent.
The next day, I heard from Dr. Michael Henry, head of the bipolar clinic at Mass General, which is affiliated with Harvard. He also lectures at Harvard Medical School. He wanted to write the book. I told him how to write a proposal, and the book sold soon after.
If only life were always that easy! This kind of process usually takes more than one simple call. It can even take years to get a project off the ground. In another post, I will tell a much more usual story about how this process can play out. But I wanted to tell this story, because it illustrates the point I would like to make.
Try. That’s all. Don’t assume anything. Pick up that phone. Send that email. Do not expect failure. Do not expect anything. Just put it all out there and see what happens.
I got lucky that time. Maybe you will get lucky too. The more you put out there, the “luckier” you will get.
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