.jpg)
Okay, I confess -- and as you can see -- I missed a deadline. When we set up this blog it was agreed that I'd post every Wednesday. Well, this has been a busy week, and yesterday was a particularly busy multitasking day. (Maybe next week I can tell you more about what I'm currently working on.) But I let my fellow bloggers down. Susan and JoAnne are the understanding types, but if I didn't get something put up today or if I let this happen again next week and the following week, then they aren't going to be very pleased with me. It is also likely that if I break the pace of blogging they will lose their own enthusiasm for posting.
I guess it is like that anytime we work on a team. We have to hold up our part of the project. We make a commitment, and the rest of the team is depending on us.
Publishing is a team activity. You may feel alone at your computer, but you really are a part of a bigger team. Though you may go through the job and never see their faces, you have editors, typesetters, designers, marketers, publicists, salesmen, printers, warehouse stockers, and more working with you on each book project and depending on you to do your part at the appointed time so they can do their job too. When one or more team members get out of step I've seen the whole book process start to collide like a line of wind-up tin soldiers out of sync.
So let's encourage the teammates we work with in every area of life. Go team!
Wish you could see out my window. The snow is falling in big flakes, and I'm feeling the need for more Christmas shopping -- and a Gingerbread Latte. At least our local mall (8 highway miles from the office) does have a Seattle's Best Coffee shop. Ah, but I still have more work to do so I don't let my teammates down -- again.
Becky
I guess it is like that anytime we work on a team. We have to hold up our part of the project. We make a commitment, and the rest of the team is depending on us.
Publishing is a team activity. You may feel alone at your computer, but you really are a part of a bigger team. Though you may go through the job and never see their faces, you have editors, typesetters, designers, marketers, publicists, salesmen, printers, warehouse stockers, and more working with you on each book project and depending on you to do your part at the appointed time so they can do their job too. When one or more team members get out of step I've seen the whole book process start to collide like a line of wind-up tin soldiers out of sync.
So let's encourage the teammates we work with in every area of life. Go team!
Wish you could see out my window. The snow is falling in big flakes, and I'm feeling the need for more Christmas shopping -- and a Gingerbread Latte. At least our local mall (8 highway miles from the office) does have a Seattle's Best Coffee shop. Ah, but I still have more work to do so I don't let my teammates down -- again.
Becky
6 comments:
Great post. Since I don't work and haven't got a contract, I was trying to apply your words to my life. Aside from the teamwork of marriage and parenting and church work, that is. Well, I didn't correctly save some very important notes and research, and lost them all. Several pages. I'm so depressed. Total stupidity on my part because my new jump drive was still in its carton. I didn't save to hard drive. I saved only to floppy - okay, so I'm a dinosaur. All my 'what if' notes & research to my cozy are gone forever but thank God my chapters were still in my email box from my crit group. I have only myself to blame and because I wasn't "responsible" I've let myself down. I suppose I could look at it as the wife/mom/researcher/writer part of me is a team... and someone got sloppy and out of step. Thanks for the post, Becky.
SNOW?? Egads, I can't imagine it! But I bet it's pretty from inside!
Glad I'm on y'all's team!! You are winners in my book.
So is it okay to ask you Barbie Girls...like...questions?
Mary
Sure, you can ask us questions that you are curious about. We might answer. May even keep the creative blogger juices flowing. (grin)
Okay, this is a two parter.
1) I've been asked to do a Meet the Author event at my local library and they expect me to bring books, sell them and autograph them. (I've got a church event planned, too).
So, do I buy them from Barbour with my author's discount, sell them for their retail price and keep the difference? Do you somehow provide them and the money goes to you? What are the sales tax issues to deal with?
If this were a book signing in a book store, I'd expect the bookstore to handle all those details.
2) How many books should an author buy herself? I've heard huge numbers -- 500, and smaller numbers, including none. And is there a difference if it's a Heartsong or a Trade Fiction? With the Trade fiction I can always just buy more, right? But do the Heartsong's stay available after they've been published or is it a one time printing situation?
There, that will give someone something to blog about. :)
There's no rush on this for me right now, just something I need to figure out someday.
Okay, I can address some of your general issues about author promotions on a future blog. I'll email you direct on some of your more specific questions. To get questions answered about your particular needs, just email me direct. I may miss such questions in a comment.
Post a Comment