OF WORDS AND WILL | I’m Just a Manuscript

You probably heard the Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm Just a Bill" at some point in grade school. For anyone who missed out on such a key part of childhood: The song follows the journey of a legislative bill as he hopes to become a national law. After much back and forth between collaborators — and some instrumental breaks — the bill eventually receives the stamp of approval and becomes a law.

This summer I interned for Folio Literary Management, which is a literary agency based in New York City. As I learned about the publishing industry, I couldn't help but notice that the process of getting published mirrors the catchy "I'm Just a Bill." True to the song, writing a book manuscript is only half the battle — authors must work their way through interns, literary agents, editors and publishers in order to see their book on a shelf at Barnes and Noble.

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