Self-Publishing - Chapter 6: "On a Wing & a Prayer"

Self-Publishing–Chapter 6:

“On A Wing & A Prayer”

by David Russell

The title was a toss-up, either this popular World War II favorite or the line from Norse Mythology, about it being “In The Hands Of The Gods”; those fierce gods Thor, Loki, Freya, Odin and others up in their Northern heaven battling for control UP THERE who would pull the strings on all things that occur DOWN HERE.

That was my cute way to lead into today’s report. Huzzah!! The final story wording the final art and all the required promotion materials have arrived at Dog Ear Publishing in Indianapolis.

Frank’s work and my work are done, the story and art for “Pop-Pop’s Magic Chair” are done. Now we get out of the way for the Dog Ear team to take over.

Editors and Educators compare our effort to tens of thousands of previous books they’ve published. They tinker. they tweek, believing they can better the story as well as it’s grammar, punctuation and educational content, all which will make the book more reader friendly. Having been involved with many editors in the past, normally I put most into the class of frustrated writers or artists. But, then there’s that one special person who isn’t, who gets it right and makes your work better than you dreamed it could be. Hopefully, our work will require minimal guidance and their work ends with a smile.

Next, it moves to the hands of the layout artist pros who make the decisions as to where the art and story should go on each page. Where the art looks best, it’s page size, where the story is most readable.

Their finished work goes to the inkers and painters who work to match their character outlines and color choices to be as close to Furlong’s choices as their press allows of them. With that information, typographer’s compute and set all typefaces, preparing the work for the print process where the presses roll out the pages for the the binders who when they’re finished bring forth…..Ta-Da!! A book.

Such a bare, lonely thing it is, after all that. Just sitting there, waiting to be read.

Getting that accomplished is the PR team task who’s initial role is to place the book into the E-Catalogues of book sellers such as Amazon, Border’s, Barnes & Noble and others world wide. But, it’s still just sitting there.

To remedy begins, hopefully, by getting the book off the shelf and into the hands of those influential folk who review Children’s Book. Task # 2 for the PR folk. Then, it becomes Opening Night. You keep fingers crossed for, if not great, at least good or passable revues. Ultimately, the ones who do get the reviewer’s approval move forward to the crap table hoping the dice rolls in their favors. While the losers drop out of sight, replaced by the next class of new books.

All that effort are steps designed to elevate the unknown writer or artist from the status of unknown to that of established. And success.

In a quiet moment, one wonders why so many try, when at the end, so few succeed.

Let me end this semi-maudlin piece with a bit of optimism. Today is my 82^nd birthday. My wish is that before my next birthday, countless parents and children the world over have as much pleasure and enjoyment reading “Pop-Pop’s Magic Chair”, as Frank had drawing it and I had writing it.

In up-coming weeks, self-publishing process articles break every step down, reporting step by step how an idea becomes a book. Chapter 7, TBA.