My book has crash landed and it’s a Taurus! Today, my book on Taylor Swift’s songwriting genius and imaginative cosmos, Into the Taylor-Verse, comes out (in the UK). I had one goal in this life and, now that I’ve accepted I’ll never compete in the Winter Olympics, it was to write a book about Taylor.
I was leafing through my diary the other day and found this mega earnest page from 2021:
It reads:
Also been listening endlessly to Red (Taylor’s Version) and how could life not feel beautiful with Taylor taking me to a more magical existence. Just between us did the love affair maim you too / Cuz in this city’s barren cold I still remember the first fall of snow / And how it glistened as it fell / I remember it all too well. Taylor’s music makes me feel like it’s not only okay to be endlessly in those deep feelings I’m in, but that it’s sublime to live that way.
Was I okay? No, but I was determined to share this feeling with the world. Around this time I started to tentatively put my toe in the waters of writing a longer, smarter book about Taylor than any I had seen published. I emailed quite a few publishers about my idea and despite some kind responses from individual editors, there was generalised pushback from higher levels either because they hadn’t heard of her (??), or they thought there would be no readership. I can’t believe I’m arguing that writing a Taylor book makes me some kind of underdog but this is what I’ve been through guys.
I was already working as a freelance writer and editor, but maybe not in the mode you’ve heard of. I didn’t have an agent or know much about royalties or have launch parties. These did not seem like possible things for me. After much prodding by friends, I started (nervously) approaching agents, thinking it would come to nothing and my existing clients might not like it if I got too big for my boots. The one thing I decided was that I wanted someone nice. I’m sure some people would be fine working with someone brusque or intimidating provided they’re good at their job, but I’m just over it. My nervous system is busted and I just want to be around decent, nice people for the rest of my life. The problem is there’s a lot of agents in the world, so how do you choose who to approach and how do you persuade them to take you on? I was really lucky to have a friend who knew more about the agency side of publishing than I did. She gave me the name of an excellent agent who I spoke to and turned out to be very nice, and most importantly for my current career moves is a Swiftie. She didn’t make me feel nervous at all. We immediately agreed to work together.
We created a presentation to send out to publishers. This took over a month and was honestly harder than writing the book. It was thousands of words long and had sample chapters, mocked up pages, and tonnes of market research. Eventually the pitch document was sent out to dozens of editors and went through the acquisitions process. This is where the editor, who thinks you and your book are just wonderful darling, takes the project to a room of people with potentially… differing opinions. With non-fiction writing, you usually haven’t written the book yet, just a proposal. This means that your credentials, in this case being a deranged-level Swiftie, are very important. Some publishers turned the book down after baulking at the cost of colour printing. Some thought they couldn’t possibly publish it in time for the Eras tour coming to Europe, a really important moment for sales. I imagined getting no offers after all the hard work my agent had put in and how much I’d hyped up my family about this dream project. But the process was as nice as it could have been, from my perspective at least. Every communication was respectful. Even the rejections came with some beautiful comments. After a creative career that I’ve found really hard on my self-esteem at times, it was nice to be told that I had done a good enough job, even if this wasn’t the project for them.
It was a waiting game, where I refreshed my inbox about 1000 times a day to see who had passed and who was still in. I only updated my patient family and best friends about 100 times a day. After a tussle between some publishers, my agent delivered the good news. I was thrilled to end up with an offer from my first choice, Transworld, who just seemed on the level, was full of Swifties and published some impressive people like the feminist writer Gina Martin. I didn’t play it cool, I was like “yes, yes, you please”. I’ve always told my friends who dream of being published that it’s best not to pin too many hopes on it. It won’t give your life meaning or let you enter a delightful garden of money and praise where all is well. No work project can do that. There also isn’t tonnes of money sloshing around for marketing and not every book can get the white glove treatment. But I’m sorry to report that in reality this has been the greatest experience of my life. Second and third place are: seeing the northern lights and eating wild strawberries by a summer lake.
Firstly, writing the book. I have never been happier and I am already nostalgic for it. Being forced to switch my phone off due to the short writing schedule of just a few months made me concentrate on my priorities. Unlike many people, I really enjoy isolation. All I did was listen to Taylor, write down facts and thoughts about her and try to make the book as fun for readers as it was for me to write. I had, for fun/because Swifties are insane, already made myself spreadsheets of subject matter she covers in her lyrics, cool quotes I liked (with sources), and elaborate rankings of her songs. I was ready for it. For years, I felt really strongly about writing about pop music but didn’t have an outlet. Reading music criticism for the first time in the 90s had left me with a bitter sense that the kind of music I love most would never, ever be taken seriously. I am currently reading Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger and in it she quotes Philip Roth on doubles: “It’s too ridiculous to take seriously and too serious to be ridiculous”. That’s how I see pop. It’s not “serious” – it’s fabulous. But it’s not ridiculous in the sense you should sneer at it. It’s spectacular, ridiculous, serious and so unserious all at the same time. That’s what I like about it, and indeed all my favourite art.
When I sat down to write this book, for once I felt so clear on what I wanted to do. For existing fans, I would create a book that is a gorgeous warm bath of songs, stories and references from every era of Taylor’s work (for the music she constantly puts out and I can’t keep up with in print, a tonne of free additional content is available on the newsletter I write with three Swiftie friends, Swiftian Theory). I also wanted it to work for people who are either recent converts or don’t really know about Taylor at all. I’d love to hear what absolute newbies make of this book! I strongly recommend listening to each of the songs as you go along, and maybe having a drink each time I mention Mary’s Song (Oh My My My). The third type of reader I took into consideration was: me. It’s tempting to try and be the friend to all fans, who only praises Taylor and never has a single complex or critical thought about her, but that’s not how I show my love. I want there to be all the sweet gift-y books in the world, but as much as this book is gorgeous to look at, I needed it to be for the smart Swiftie, the one who wants to think about Taylor’s music as well as her love life. I made a celebratory TikTok where I promised my editor I would write her a Levels of the Game or Mystery Train, but about Taylor Swift. I may not have reached these heights but I made a serious effort and I hope that it’s just the first of many interesting books about Taylor’s music. I hope every single one has catty allusions to previous Taylorians, like an academic book about dormouse anatomy where the author clearly loathes all the other dormouse anatomists. Don’t worry about which “influential but fundamentally flawed Taylor Swift book that mentions Mary’s Song a mere six times” they’re talking about. It’s gonna be me.
I’m always up for talking publishing finance and “how to get published”, although you might not like the answer – drop any questions in the comments. The money I made from this book is important to me because I’m really proud of financing my life from my dream work. Without talking details just yet, I will say this book is especially meaningful to me because for the first time in my career, when people spend their hard-earned money on a copy I will receive royalties. It creates a direct link between seeing reviews and sales numbers and the years of hard work it took me to create this book – I’m counting every minute of Taylor adoration since I first heard Love Story on the radio in 2008. One of my favourite things is reading reviews where people say they bought my book as a gift and the person loved it. What could be nicer than being part of a ritual where people show they care.
I have a tonne more to say on the topic of writing this book, from the tightrope of writing about a real, living celebrity who I want to not be mad at me, to the absolute flop era of my trying to organise a launch party and having a freakout about the attention and cancelling it. Don’t worry, a white wine with ice in it will still be raised this week. Thank you for joining me on my journey into the Taylor-Verse, and beyond.
You did it!!!!! Can't wait to read it and give it to my loved ones <3
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️absolutely thrilled to be hyperlinked through the word “friend” xx