How to Get Your Book Published in 7000 Easy Steps – A Practical Guide. STEP 2: PERUSE THE INTRODUCTORY STUFF FROM THE PUBLISHER
Contract – Review this document and fret over whether you should have it looked at by a lawyer, or at least someone who maybe works in a law office.
In my case, I opted for a lawyer “friend” I vaguely know from church, though I’m pretty sure this is not her area of expertise. Kindly, she agreed to look it over, however, and after dropping it off at her office, I went home to nervously wait in front of my computer for about five hours for her response. (Didn’t she know how urgent this was?) Finally I panicked, and decided to take matters into my own hands, lest the publisher change her mind at any minute should I delay any longer. I looked over the contract one last time for anything obvious (like they wanted one of my children, for example – which actually wouldn’t be such a bad thing), signed it and hurriedly emailed it back.
This began yet another couple of days of frantically checking my email for some sort of acknowledgement of the stupendous. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, maybe something like an ecard with confetti that bursts all over the screen. Something.
Instead, I was eventually, unceremoniously, forwarded the author handbook and was instructed to read it.
Author Handbook – Depending on your publisher, you may or may not receive such a handy tome. If you do, however, spend some time reading through this useful document and try not to be scared. Fight the feelings of doubt that are already beginning to creep in.
In my case, this document was a 129-page volume with tons of information, which in and of itself threw me into panic – again. (Get used to this feeling. It’s going to come up quite a lot.) My eyes glazed over as I tried to take it all in, wondering how I would ever master all of this information. While I was at first eagerly, and then more and more listlessly, scrolling through the file, my chest feeling tighter as the sidebar slowly inched lower, I came across many alarming new terms such as:
ARC’s
Cover mechanicals
First pages
Endorsements
Tip sheets
Meta data
Warehousing
Off-set printing
Marketing (this one’s dangerous; more later)
Plus many, many more. Too much to take in upon first perusal, certainly. Try to remember to check back to it throughout the process, however, if questions arise, as the publisher, editors, proofers and project managers you will eventually work with along the way will undoubtedly respond – in an exasperated sort of tone – when asked a particularly obvious question by you, “That’s in the handbook, you know.” Sorry.
Try not to get too hung up on any one item. You’ll figure it out eventually.
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STEP 2: PERUSE THE INTRODUCTORY STUFF FROM THE PUBLISHER appeared first on Michelle Cox.
