We have some extremely exciting news.

About six months ago, we got an email from our literary agent saying that she had just gotten an email from an editor at LB Kids with an offer to publish one of our books.

This is how the email made us feel.

We were pleased for the obvious reason: that another of our books is being acquired by a major publisher.

But we were particularly excited in the photo above because that email was a pivotal moment in a journey that began long ago, and which will continue for several more years, at least.

Only the most astute among you will remember this post from November of 2011, reflecting on our visit to New York City to visit with “the titans of the publishing world.”

At the time, we were purposefully coy about the identity of our hosts and the true purpose of our visit (not wanting to jinx ourselves, you know), but today we are delighted to say that the gorgeous glass elevator and towering atrium of that monument to the gods of publishing was conveying us to the offices of none other than the Hachette Group, home of the esteemed Little, Brown and Company.

Back then, Robbi was in a very different state of mind and body.

Back then, I was nervous out of my mind at the thought of sharing our work with the titans. Robbi had to ply me with herbal tea to calm me down.

Back then, we had yet to start making and publishing children’s books through Bobbledy. But our heads were already swirling with ideas, and with the help of our agent, we set up a meeting with an editor and art director at Little, Brown’s children’s book imprint LB Kids (This editor, whose name is Erin, is the same person who hired us to do the Super Hero Squad book back in the fall of 2010). We brought a bunch of Idiots’Books and a handful of potential children’s book manuscripts with us and spent an hour or so sharing our work and presenting our ideas.

The meeting was a pleasant blur, and we left having no idea whether or not it would lead anywhere. A few months later, Erin reached out to say that she had really liked our stuff, and that one manuscript in particular had captured her imagination. She and I passed it back and forth for a while without coming up with a satisfying draft.

But Erin had another idea, which was to adapt our Idiots’Books title Babies Ruin Everything into a children’s book. The original is an open lament on the part of the older sibling upon the arrival of the new baby. It’s a book for adults, with an adult sensibility, but there were kernels that Erin thought might translate to the children’s market.  Apparently, there is a niche for books that one might gift to parents expecting a second child. Again, Erin and I passed a manuscript back and forth. Last  spring we went back to New York to meet with her and discuss possible edits.

This time, Robbi was not pregnant (thank goodness), and I was somewhat less nervous (though nervous still).

We both still felt like fish out of water in that big, bad city.

When we got home, I noodled with the manuscript a bit more, and when I was finished, sent it back to Erin. Last summer, she pitched to her colleagues, who were, apparently, enthusiastic enough to make an offer.

And so the exciting email.

And then began nearly six months of contract negotiations between Erin and our agent. Not that there was any great controversy, mind you. These things just take a good long time to sort themselves out.

But in the middle of last week, we finally got the green light from our agent. The details had been sorted out, and we were free to start talking about the book itself.

And so this past Friday morning, we loaded everyone into the car and drove north. We left the kids in Brooklyn with an extremely kind and generous friend and headed back to the LB offices for the third time.

This time, Robbi was still not pregnant and I was far less nervous. After all, we were no longer selling ourselves. We had our foot in the door. It was time to make a book.

And so we met with Erin and the art director, PattiAnn and discussed the work ahead—everything from trim size (how big the book will be) to whether or not the book should have endpapers to character studies to cover ideas to timeline.

And, because it was Valentine’s Day, we shared cupcakes decorated in the colors of the day. I suppose I might have taken a photograph before Robbi got her hands on them.

Two whirlwind hours later, the meeting ended. It was a thrilling creative brainstorm. We learned a lot. Even though we’ve been making books together for a long time, this will be the first time that we’re making a new book, from scratch, with an editor and art director. We have a lot to learn. Which is a big part of what we’re looking forward to.

This time we had the presence of mind to get a photo of us with Erin, who has been an amazing champion of ours. Through more than two years of fits and starts, edits and revisions, she has had the patience and vision and belief in us to make this crazy dream a reality. We just can’t thank her enough. 

Among the perks of being an LB Kids author and illustrator: free mugs!

And free books!

Lots and lots of free books.

Now we are home and trying to figure out how to wedge yet another project into an already full creative docket.

And so our adventure continues…in a completely new direction. A completely overhauled version of Babies Ruin Everything (with 100% new illustrations by Robbi) will be published by LB Kids in the spring of 2016.

For anyone who is counting, it will have been more than four years between that initial meeting with Erin and the time when the book hits the shelves. That’s just how it goes in the commercial publishing world. The funny thing is that, in that same time period, Robbi and I will have published more than 30 books of our own.

But we’re talking about apples and oranges, and lucky for us, we don’t have to choose between them.

We have a feeling this orange will be pretty special. The excitement has yet to subside. It continues to be kind of nutty in the barn.

Just wanted to share the good news. We’ll post about the rest of the adventure as it unfolds.