Synchronicity 33 1/3 proposal makes the cut

Word came tonight that my 33 1/3 book proposal for the Police’s Synchronicity is on the shortlist under consideration. The original 597 proposals have been whittled to 170. That means my odds have dropped from about 3.3 percent (how fitting) to about 1 in 8. Series Editor David Barker writes that this next step of winnowing the long list to create this round’s slate of selections will take six to eight more weeks. So, while it’s a relief to make it this far, the pressure remains.

Parsing the list — which includes many albums that I’d love to read about — I’d say I’m really competing against 150 or so proposals. I stripped 20 out because there were either two for the same album or for the same group, and they’ll obviously not pick two proposals about the same book and aren’t likely, given the limited number of books they can put out, to do two by the same artist in the same batch. All just speculation, of course, but it makes me feel better.

In the next few weeks I plan to approach the camps of Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland and Sting to see if I can gauge their interest in participating. If they don’t, there still is a wealth of information out there to fuel a book.

I have been Twittering about the band and the proposal process over the past few weeks and will continue to do so. To follow me, go here.