Thinking about Writing a Book?

Most people have writing a book on their bucket list. For those who live in the St. Louis area, the St. Louis Publishers Association (SLPA) has an upcoming event to help turn that dream into a reality. On Wednesday, August 14th the SLPA is hosting a Vendor Service Provider Showcase at the Lodge Des Peres. Free and open to the public, the night will feature 17 vendors who offer services ranging from editing, book coaching, printing, design, publishing services, illustration and videography. For more information, visit the SLPA website. Hope to see you there!

One Last Look

Now that I have taken the comments from my two book reviewers, who happen to be WWII veterans, double-checked facts and made corrections in the manuscript, I am giving the book one last review before sending it off to an editor. I want it to be as clean as possible before she receives it, because there is no reason to pay an editor to correct items that I should have caught. Authors really need to take advantage of the built-in review capabilities of their word processing programs.

As I am looking at the book, I can't help but wonder if I should go into more detail in a few areas. But then I realize that at some point you just have to say enough is enough. This book needs to be finished. So I set a deadline for myself to have the book to the editor by Friday of this week. I will be on vacation next week, and I don't want to think about this book. It will be in capable hands, and I will get it back in two weeks.

Bon voyage, little book!

Hiring an Editor

Avoidance is sometimes a necessary strategy, so I am putting off the press release for the moment. The information I had come up with was enough to satisfy my first brush with the media. Back to the book... After I had my book reviewed by the institutions mentioned in the book as well as a professional genealogist and a St. Louis County librarian, I hired an editor. When she emailed suggested changes back to me, they were few and mostly inconsequential. Now, I would love to think that I am such a great writer that the manuscript was pretty perfect when I sent it to her, but I know that is not the case.

In retrospect, it might have been better to give her the book after the book designer had laid it out. Quite a few changes were made once I was able to see how the book would look. The problem with having the editor review the text after the lay out is that you rack up additional fees with the designer when changes are made. On the other hand, the editor never saw the final draft of the book. I had settled up the bill with her long before then. I did, however, have other sets of eyes review it, including someone who works at the local newspaper. My advice is to get the editor involved after the entire book is laid out. That's what I'll do next time.

Writing the Book

Using the experience of my own house history research, the outline of the book came together pretty nicely for me. My book is essentially broken down into three sections: preparing to do the research, actually doing the research, and finally compiling all the research. What involved the most amount of time for me was identifying all the different resources available in St. Louis County, which is the heart of section 2. As a follow up, I contacted all the different libraries and research centers referenced in my book and asked them to review section 2 of the book. I wanted to make sure that if I said the library had a certain book or microfilm that they indeed had it. The added value of them looking at section 2 was that I got quite a bit of additional input into what I consider to be the gut of the book.

As I look back now, I realize that from the time I began writing the book in early 2008 to the first draft being completed and ready to be sent to the editor in April of 2009, a period of sixteen months had elapsed. Wow! Obviously I did not work on the book 24/7. My husband and I own a couple of small businesses and we also have two children, so like most people I don't have a great deal of spare time. But by setting aside a small amount of time each evening to write, it did get done. Persistence will pay off.

Next up...what happened after the book went to the editor.