Tuesday, October 30, 2018

No Perspective




As I mentioned previously, after wringing my brains out for the better part of four + years, off and on, I became completely devoid of of any kind of perspective on what I had done.

Today I took a wee look at the manuscript and - while there is still work to be done - and I'm not entirely sure - still - that it is going to be of use to people, I'm in way too deep to stop now.

Ms Editor has 'notes to self' sprinkled throughout and I can see where she is going with those notes.  However a book is a static thing and weaving is active.  How well will my words and the photos illustrate what I am trying to convey?

I just don't know.

However. 

However, I do have the DVD that was done for Interweave Press.*  I am hoping that between the book, the DVD, the video clips I've loaded onto You Tube and these blog posts, that people will be able to figure things out and find the best practices for their own approach to weaving.

Ms Editor has commented that it might be possible to embed live links to the You Tube videos for the pdf version and/or provide the URLs for the print version so that people can go look if they want to see the actions.

And this is one reason why I hired professional help.  I have learned over the years to do some things on the internet, but this sort of thing (embedding video links, publishing something like a book for on line purchase) is way above my pay grade!

Several people have asked about the print version of the book, what kind of format it will be.

We are looking at 8 x 10" page size and there are options for soft cover and hard cover.  Of course hard cover will cost more, but it might be possible to have three or four formats - a pdf/Kindle, soft cover, hard cover.

Each format would have it's own price of course and some time and effort will be required to figure it all out.  I think each format also needs it's own ISBN number and once the ms is 'done' and sent out to the review readers, perhaps there will be time to get those things sorted out.

As mentioned previously I have been convinced to offer a pre-publication opportunity.  It won't exactly be 'pre-publication' as much as it will be a chance for me to order in a significant number (thank you to all who took the time to respond on my survey) of printed books and have them shipped to me for signing.  I would then ship to those people who 'pre-ordered' from me.  Printing a larger number of books takes several weeks so they would be shipped out sometime in late January, early Feb, depending on when they arrive here.

There may also be an additional incentive to purchase directly from me in the pre-pub opportunity - still working on that.

Once the actual ms is completed and sent out for the reviewers, there may be more tweaks to be done based on feedback, plus I may have opinions/feedback of my own.  Apparently I have opinions.  I'm sure you'd never have guessed!

My flight to meet for the final view/editing is booked for Nov. 27, which was my father's birthdate.  We are still hoping to push publish on Dec. 2, which was my brother's birthdate.  That will give several days for the two of us to sit and review the entire thing and then...leap...


And before I forget -

One of the things I have been asked about is wholesale orders for shops.  Once I have final pricing figured out, I will work out a wholesale price for shops and they can order from me as part of the pre-pub order that I will be putting in.  Stay tuned...

Currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

* wait until a sale comes along, which they do especially around holiday time...

4 comments:

Jacquie said...

I am so pleased to hear there is to be a PDF version - I'm in the UK and shipping adds a chunk to the book price (and hopefully, without printing cost the PDF version will be a little less expensive; sometimes they are, sometimes not) plus i have a very small house and am running out of book space, despite frequent culling. Although I prefer 'real' books, I have learnt to remember to look at e-books, and I print off just the pages referring to what I'm doing at the time.

But the other reason I'm posting is because I'd not realised you had YouTube videos, how had I missed those? A treat for me over the next few days.

Thank you for having the courage to write this book - even if some or a lot of it is covering ground already published elsewhere, different people explain things in different ways and have different tips and tricks to pass on. This will apply to your book because you explain things clearly. Looking forward to seeing it.

Anonymous said...

I missed getting Magic and don't want to miss this. I am looking forward to getting a hardback copy.

Laura Fry said...

I have been told by a number of students that my explanations are clear and make sense. I am hoping that I have been able to convey that through the text. :) One of the reasons I thought of publishing via a website was to just do the pdf, thinking of the savings to people. And then a flood of people said they wanted a print copy! Since blurb.ca can do both, it seemed like a good compromise. :)

Anonymous said...

Your book will be my Christmas present to myself!
Stephanie Change