Foreword written by Sweetie Belle:
When Jontyjig first came to me about writing the foreword I was a little hesistant. As one of the publicists responsible for the "How-to" project. I guess it’s kind of fitting that I describe what a terror and absolute pleasure this project was. The terror being; I did not realize what a flop it would be among among my fellow equestrians, even some of my closest connections were hesistant about How To Get Your Cutie Mark. One problem we kept running in to was how unappealing the title was to the common pony audience, we (Jonty and I) kept being pushed to change the title but that was a thing Jonty would never ever change and I really do agree with his reasons. Much how I stand by every aspect of the message Jonty sends with this book. It’s hard with several other ponies breathing down your neck about it. However, part of my job was to get How To out there and this was an important project to me. After several attempts at the office. Running into the title problem and the infamous intentionality of the rough opening. Nopony would even give it a second glance. I really did believe it was a novel that needed to be published and once I realized what we weren't tapping it became amazingly clear that this needed to be released in a different process. Months passed and I spent many nights pounding my head against the wall, trying to think of a solution. Luckily it came to me. Jonty was in the middle of another re-write at the time until I called up and told him "Stop! Right now! We need to bring this to the schools!" Immediately, Jontyjig was on board and the whole Journey of How To really began. The message it sends to fillies, was especially strong and getting them on our side proved to be something absolutely vital. We released How To in schools as a “Contemporary example of a controversial flop.” As part of the writing curriculum. This was surprisingly easy, as it turns out if schools are given anything even resembling new texts or books, they’re completely on board. The popularity of the book in the school process was giving me the tiniest hope. Even though ponies were reading it for the reasons I had not hoped. They were reading it. If there was any of this crazy ride I remember the most. It was the moment my old schoolteacher called me and told me she had recently done a project for school. She gave the fillies of her class an assignment to read of book of their choice and write to the publisher of why they enjoyed it. Nearly 30 out of the 40 letters that arrived in the office of Rich Publishing were practically singing praises about the book. This, had gotten their attention. I got a call the very next day asking to send it in. Before I knew it, the very next month, How To, finally got its 2 seconds in the media. Mares, Colts and even full-grown adult ponies were giving the thumbs up. The message (as I have always believed) is one that everypony could relate to. Me, especially. Getting my Cutie Mark was something that I could re-live a million times. The only novel that ever came close to describing my experience was How To. Jonty and I had worked so hard for it. We both gave ourselves a pat on the back because now everypony wanted to read the Unnofficial Hoofbook of How To Get Your Cutie Mark.