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Much Ado About Publishing

The Twilight Zone Effect

By Nina L. Diamond

Huh? What? You’ve gotta be kidding.

She knew nothing about my old friend and his problem, and asked me to do this article because she knew that I’d been writing about science and medicine for Omni and other national magazines. I accepted the assignment immediately. I was about to get a crash course in alcoholism at exactly the time I needed it so I could understand what my friend was dealing with.

My first call was to the publicist of a well-known treatment center so that I could set up interviews with doctors and counselors. That publicist had her life changed that day, too. We became friends – she’s one of my best friends to this day – and I ended up teaching her about magazine and book publishing, editing her manuscripts, and helping her get a gig ghostwriting for a Simon & Schuster author, as well as getting her first book published.

Pam and I have been each other’s sounding boards for all our professional adventures for nearly 14 years.

The 500-plus magazine and newspaper articles I’ve written during the last 25 years have turned out to be a karmic romp through a multitude of subjects that have managed to trigger more coincidences than one can reasonably call coincidences, and have opened countless doors to helpful information (often, just at the perfect time) and wonderful opportunities.

Welcome to The Twilight Zone Effect.

My first book, the unfortunately titled Purify Your Body (the publisher’s title idea, certainly not mine), was about natural health and alternative medicine, so, of course, “life imitated art,” and I was sick and taking herbal remedies the entire time I wrote that last draft. I figured that by the time I’d finished writing I’d lived out everything in the book except the prostate chapter.

My book opened many doors for me and plenty of other people, too, including a journalist friend’s journalist brother who was looking for an agent for his first book. I recommended my Purify Your Body agent, she took him on, and he’s had a number of books published since.

My second book, Voices of Truth, was a collection of conversations with scientists, thinkers, and healers. I found my publisher because he knew a guy whose book I was editing.

When I ghosted books on men’s and women’s hair loss, life imitated art for a few of my friends, and I was able to help them make treatment choices.

You can’t imagine the bizarre experiences I had while ghostwriting the book on angels, and then the one on people who claim to be in communication with the dearly departed.

So, you can imagine my concern when I found myself collaborating on not one, but two books – at the same time – with grief as their theme. The coincidences were off the charts. I completed the books within the same month, and then, once again, life began to imitate art. I was not amused.

Now I’ve been working with a scientist author on a book about how men’s and women’s brain differences affect their thinking, communication, abilities, and behavior in all kinds of relationships.

So, what’s happening to me now?

Really, don’t ask.

What role does coincidence, “life imitating art,” being in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time, and other aspects of The Twilight Zone Effect play in writing, editing, publishing, marketing, and promoting your book?

Why, it’s everything, of course.

Who crosses your path and changes your life is pretty much out of your control.

You’ve heard the old saying that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. If you’re prepared, when these Twilight Zone doors open, you can walk right in and benefit from them.

You can’t plan for The Twilight Zone Effect, though. You can’t say, “I think I’ll plan to sit down on the plane next to a stranger who turns out to be an Oprah producer.” But, you can be ready if that’s who ends up sharing your air-sickness bag.

When you write, look for an agent and publisher, and then market and promote your book, leaving the door open to serendipity will propel you more than anything you could ever plan if you notice things, react to them, and follow up on chance meetings.

You know that elevator speech that everyone tells you to create? The one where you can sum up your books and yourself in 30 seconds? Well, an author looking for an editor to help him with his manuscript before he shopped it to agents was in an elevator one day talking about this book to a colleague when they were overheard by an old friend of mine. When they all got out of the elevator on the same floor, she apologized to the author for eavesdropping, then told him she could recommend an editor who might be able to help him. I was 1,000 miles away. She got his card, called me, and gave me his number. I called him, edited his book, and he found a publisher.

Sometimes, when you need something, it actually shows up.

You know what I need now? I need to know why men are nuts. And, whaddya know? I might actually be able to find out. The men’s and women’s brain book I’ve been working on has to be good for something.

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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.

Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.

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