Lindstrom Literary Management LLC

With all this good news, it would be natural for anyone to assume that Nick has gotten lucky. But his story is a fine example of the kind of determination, talent and resourcefulness that it sometimes takes to succeed in today’s difficult publishing business.

Nick first approached LLM in early 2005 with a proposal for a book called Veterinary Confidential. He is a staff surgeon with the world-renowned Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. The book was to be a compendium of essays about working as a modern veterinarian surgeon, an updated take on James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small. But somehow, the project felt too clinical to us, so we passed on it. Nick subsequently found another agent who took the proposal to the major publishers. In an extraordinary coup, the agent secured personal meetings for Nick with many top editors. After professing much interest, every single publisher turned the proposal down.

Nick came back to LLM with a second proposal: he’d taken note that the original project was perceived by editors to be lacking in the ‘warm and fuzzy’ factor. This proposal we loved and we agreed to represent it immediately. Angel’s Talking would tell the animals’ stories from the pet’s point of view. Nick worked tirelessly to recreate the personalities of many of the pets he had known and treated. It was warm, it was fuzzy, it was funny and touching. We took it back to publishers; once again, after showing interest, every single company rejected the project. Hmmm...back to square one.

News and Views

We were perplexed, but Nick was not going to quit. We went back to the original Veterinary Confidential proposal and reworked it. It had to be significantly different in order to approach the same companies a third time. But Nick applied his talent, determination and a strong measure of good cheer to bringing the right elements to the project that were lacking the first time around. As any of his reviews will tell you, Nick Trout is a gifted writer. But that alone isn’t enough to secure success. Without his grit, wit and perseverance, Tell Me Where It Hurts would not make the NYT list today.

Here are just two review comments:

“Trout, a staff surgeon at Boston’s Angell Animal Medical Center, has exactly the traits that any pet owner would wish to find in a vet: he’s smart, sensitive, experienced, emphatic and has an excellent sense of humor. He also happens to be an excellent writer.” -- Publisher’s Weekly

“I laughed, I worried, I laughed some more, I teared with a lump in my throat and I came to think of Nick Trout as a guy I’d like to have a beer with. This book is wonderful and oh yes, I also learned a lot about veterinary medicine and veterinarians. They are as necessary as a dog’s hug. If you love dogs, you’ll love this book.” - Mordecai Siegal, author of Dog Spelled Backwards.

Of course we’re thrilled with Nick’s success and look forward to an exciting future for Tell Me Where It Hurts and his forthcoming books.