Bijal P. Trivedi—Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine Forever

Breath from Salt

Breath from Salt

BREATH FROM SALT:
A DEADLY GENETIC DISEASE, A NEW ERA IN SCIENCE,
AND THE PATIENTS AND FAMILIES
WHO CHANGED MEDICINE FOREVER

Bijal P. Trivedi
BenBella Books, September 8, 2020, $28.95, Kindle: $20.08
ISBN-10: 1948836378; ISBN-13: 9781948836371
ASIN: B084RM6ZCF

Trivedi reports:

Breath from Salt grew out of a Discover magazine assignment. My mission was to investigate the backstory behind a new drug, Kalydeco (ivacaftor), that was being touted as a revolutionary life-saving medicine for 4% of children with a rare and fatal disease, cystic fibrosis. That was in 2012.

While researching the story, I interviewed a couple whose son had died of the disease. Despite the heartache, they didn’t walk away from the cystic fibrosis community. Instead, they doubled down to help with efforts to find a treatment. They’ve raised more than $250 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, money that was invested in drug research.

Bijal P. Trivedi

Bijal P. Trivedi

Meeting them made me want to follow the story—and produce a book about it. Over the next seven years, I interviewed families, physicians, scientists, patients, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs.

By 2019, a pharmaceutical company had developed three more FDA-approved medicines for cystic fibrosis. There are now treatments for more than 90% of those born with this lethal hereditary disease. These medicines also made medical history: they launched the age of personalized medicine.

This was my first book and it took about a year to figure out the story and write a proposal, which I did by following instructions laid out in Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published by Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato, along with insight and feedback from colleagues.

I shopped the proposal around to 10 agents. I went with Ethan Bassoff, who is now with the Ross Yoon Agency. Ethan garnered interest from three publishers, all with very modest advances. I chose BenBella Books. They were incredibly flexible and supportive during the entire project.

Since my advance was modest, I had to fund most of the travel, all of the transcription and the illustrations for the book.

For my next book, I’d hire a research assistant (a smart, young college grad) much earlier in the process and find an independent artist to work with rather than hiring a firm.

Contact info:

Bijal P. Trivedi, bijal_trivedi@mac.com, https://www.bijaltrivedi.com/, https://www.bijaltrivedi.com/breath-from-salt, @BijalPTrivedi
Book: https://www.benbellabooks.com/shop/breath-from-salt/
Publicist: Lindsay Marshall, lindsay@benbellabooks.com
Agent: Ethan Bassoff, ethan@rossyoon.com


NASW members: will your book be published soon? Take advantage of this opportunity for shameless self-promotion. Submit your report for Advance Copy.

Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book, or had done differently.

See https://www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines.

Review Advance Copy archives at https://www.nasw.org/member-article/advance-copy.

Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 150 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at https://www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

Send book info and questions about book publishing to Lynne Lamberg, NASW book editor, llamberg@nasw.org.

Follow @LynneLamberg

Hero image by kerttu from Pixabay.

November 18, 2020

Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.

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