The idea of writing a book about tattoos was not mine.  I knew I wanted to write a book, because I had just finished writing a dissertation (and had enjoyed the hell out of it).  So, when casting about for an idea, I had naturally drifted to topics that suited my training in archaeology.

But I was also being tattooed in this same time period – a process that took about one year on the calendar.  Over the course of many tattoo sessions and about 50 hours of actual tattoo time, I had ample opportunity to chat with Greg James, the tattoo artist who was doing my tattoo.  When I mentioned that I was interested in writing a non-fiction book, he suggested that I write one about tattoos.  I had already done the research.

It was a brilliant idea.  As someone steeped in his industry and art, he had given a lot of consideration to many of the topics that I had researched in order to make a good decision about my tattoo.  He was (and is) also at the top of his industry and had been featured in books, magazines, and documentaries.  He knew what he was talking about and a book idea was born.

It was then up to me to review the current books available on tattoo, which I had already done getting ready for my tattoo, but this time with an eye toward what an archaeologist might be able to convince somebody to publish.  I immediately gravitated toward the history, archaeology, and anthropology of tattoos and started coming up with outlines for various tattoo books.  Ultimately, I settled on a mixture of these approaches, as you’ll see in the proposal.

So, you see why I never tell people that they have to think of a great non-fiction book idea.  You’ll also see, in later posts about writing the proposal and also the offer from the publisher, that my idea changed over time and then didn’t end up being the book that I wrote after all.  Even so, this was Step 1. I had an idea and I was excited about it.  In a process that can be long and fraught with pitfalls, I think excitement is important.

Next post: Step 2.  Writing A Non-fiction Book Proposal