Publication or Bust: On Contracts, Publicists, and Other Loose Ends

Setting out on the last stretch toward the land of milk and honey (i.e., the book in hand!)

What happened to October? They must have skipped it this year. At any rate, despite my galloping rate of jotting here once a moon, I got in nary a post the whole month.

So, what's the jig scribbler?

Naturally I assign blame to the nearest culprit, the BOOK. Though I shouldn't malign it so; it has been the source of my continuing enlightenment in the field of publishing.

 Earlier this year, I got a crash course on doing an agent search, (and all that entails, from researching markets to crafting an effective query letter to taking rejection with a stab of stoicism); on soliciting blurbs from luminaries in academe, politics and daytime television, a task for which I had to muster up a nerve I poorly lack (and for which it was necessary to develop the patience and tenacity of one of those hollow youths one sees panhandling on the off-ramps of freeways); and on navigating the publication process itself.

As go-between for my client and the publisher, I have been charged with a host of instructive tasks, such as reviewing and translating into everyday wording the legalese of contracts; more word-crafting, this time of back cover blurbs and bio; and collaborating with a cover designer to come up with an eye-catching melange that will veritably push those books off the shelf (or at least compel those virtual tomes to jump into the hopper of POD (print on demand).

My latest and, it appears, last task has been to research the publicity and marketing end of the business and recommend a publicist for my client. As with all information-gathering these days, Google stood ready at my side, and the wealth of knowledge of those who blog about such things poured into my empty coffers. Thus armed with solid expectations about cost and services, we settled on an assertive and experienced go-getter out of New York named Susan Schwartzman. All signs are good that Ms. Schwartzman will get the book moving out of the gate at a decent clip.

So, loyal readers, some of you know the identity of my client. For those of you who yet wallow in dark ignorance, it's time to light the candle. (Drumroll.) The creation of my client's author website was an extremely valuable learning experience, one that I worked on with web developer Nicole Yox of Pinnacle Marketing Impressions. I invite you to browse the pages and galleries and share your impressions in the comment box.

The light at the end of the tunnel grows ever brighter. With time opening up for new projects, I am back to exploring my own memoir avenues and tackling (with less than stellar success) November's NaNoWriMo challenge. But more on that in a later post!