Now that I’m nearing the final stages of preparing Pajama School for publication I’m trying to make sure that every element of the book is as professional as possible. I just came across this page of Common Typographical Errors on the Aeonix Publishing Group website. The article identifies numerous typographical errors that make a book look unprofessional. Many of the items listed are small details, but they make a big difference in the overall look and feel of the book. Every self-publisher should carefully study this list and make every effort to avoid these errors in their own work so that the finished product looks professional.

After many hours of writing, researching, praying, and collaborating with friends I am finally ready to announce the title of my upcoming book. Many of you have expressed your support and encouragement as I have tackled this endeavor and it is exciting to be at this point in the process! So, without further ado, may I introduce to you my book:

Pajama School – stories from the life of a homeschool graduate

Pajama School is currently in the final stages of editing. Once the edits have been implemented and the interior design completed, I will be doing a small print run and sending the book out for reviews and endorsements. If you or someone you know would be interested in receiving an Advance Review Copy for review and/or endorsement, please e-mail me for more information. Lord-willing, Pajama School will officially be released and available for purchase in March, 2009. In the meantime, you can find more information on the Pajama School website and stay up-to-date by checking back regularly for progress reports.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

BTW, you can also click here to become a fan on my Facebook page. 🙂

Almost four months after officially launching this journey, I am excited to announce that I am ready to reveal the title and cover of my book. Next Tuesday is the day. The moment I just know you’ve all been waiting for. 🙂 I’ll be announcing the title and subject matter, presenting the cover design and providing a link to the official website. Thanks for your patience and for those of you who have offered prayer support, helpful advice, and even financial contributions toward this project. I still have a long ways to go, but I trust that the Lord will continue to direct each step of the way. It’s exciting to at least be at this point!

An Interested Reader graciously pointed out that I have not revealed any additional information about my book for a while. I truly am sorry for the delay, but I am waiting for two things:

1. The final cover design image from my designer. We’ve basically finalized everything, now I’m just waiting for her to implement the final decisions so that I can present an image of the book cover when I announce the title.

2. Finish the website for the book. I’ve been working on a website and have the basic layout done. I just need to tweak the shopping cart system and add the rest of the content on the pages of the site.

I’m definitely getting closer to the end, but now that I’m back into my fall schedule, it’s been harder to devote as much time to all these details related to my book project! And I know that the speed certainly won’t be slowing down at all anytime soon!

Thanks for your patience. And rest assured…I promise that I will announce the title before the book is published! 🙂

Earlier this week I finished a read-through of my book and now it is in the hands of my family members for their critique and editing assistance before I send it out to others for critique and editing.

The front cover design is finished and I’m having a photo shoot in the morning so that I will have a current bio picture for the back cover. Then will follow the task of writing a bio and the back cover copy.

I met with a good friend of mine last week to discuss the interior page design and layout. After reading my previous post on page layout, she offered her services to me and I am SO relieved to not have to learn how to use a new software program on top of everything else right now!

I also met with another friend who has agreed to be my Marketing Manager. She is starting to compile contact lists and work on some other marketing-related research. I am so grateful for her input and help!

One thing that I am definitely learning is the importance of collaborating with others. My tendency is to try to do everything myself, but it has been invaluable to have the assistance of friends with various aspects of this self-publishing business! I know I will have a much better product in the end because of the expertise of those who are contributing to each aspect of the project.

So, my advice to all self-publishers…get help! There’s a reason there is a whole industry devoted to publishing books. 🙂

This morning I awoke to find my laptop displaying the “blue screen of death.” It was a very sick feeling, but not as sick as it would have been if I had not been backing up my files regularly. After spending all day trying to troubleshoot the problem and praying that the Lord would restore my computer, it is finally up and running again! Praise the Lord! I was reminded of the importance of having a good backup plan in place. Here are a few things I recommend for authors:

1. Use an external hard drive and run an automatic backup of your book files each night.

2. If you have access to an off-site server (perhaps through your website), keep a copy of your most current work in a password protected directory to which you can upload via ftp.

3. Periodically save your current book file to a usb drive that you keep with you.

It seems like a good idea to have backups stored in numerous locations so that you are still covered even in the event of some major catastrophe. Yes, I have a lot of work on my computer that I wouldn’t want to lose, but right now, my book files are by far the most important. I don’t even want to think about how horrible it would be to lose them!

Can you hear me whooping and hollering?! 🙂 Somehow, by God’s grace, I have reached the first milestone toward the completion of my book. I finished the initial writing phase this afternoon with a page count of 257. Here are the steps I plan to take at this point:

1. Read through the whole manuscript and see what gaps need to be filled, what thoughts need to be clarified, what sections need to be reordered and what extraneous content needs to be deleted. (Ideally, I want the finished book to be 256 pages, because of the efficiency it will lend to the printing process.)

2. Distribute manuscripts to the family members and friends who have offered to help with editing, proofing and critiquing the book. (I’m still debating whether to also hire a professional editor to go through the book once we finish this stage…)

3. Do a small initial print run of Advance Review Copies (ARCs) to send out for reviews and endorsements.

4. Incorporate suggestions and endorsements into the final manuscript and proceed with the first printing.

Of course, there are many other details to tend to that relate to other areas of publishing – like website design, marketing strategies, acquiring the ISBNs and Library of Congress number, etc., but this is an outline of the steps that pertain to the book writing/editing/printing. I’m probably even forgetting things in that area anyway! There is surely still much work to be done, but it’s exciting to finally be at this point!

Scot McKnight has a short post reminding writers of the importance of reading good writers. I think it is helpful to consider deliberately and intentionally selecting books and authors based on acquiring a particular writing style or improving my writing in an area where I know I am weak. I’ve never really thought about it from that perspective before. McKnight’s post is worth checking out even for the comments contributed by many others articulating their favorite authors. Lots of great suggestions there!

HT: Andy Naselli at Between Two Worlds

I’m sitting in the airport terminal getting ready to board my flight and relishing the thought of spending the next couple of hours writing. Preparations for my trip this past week have resulted in a total of zero pages of writing, so I’ve fallen significantly behind schedule. I’m hopeful that my time away from a lot of my regular responsibilities will allow me to make a lot of progress on my book. And maybe, by the time I return – in 2 weeks – I’ll be ready to officially anounce my title and reveal the cover design… 🙂

You know that feeling when you have in mind what you’re trying to say, but you can’t find just the right word to say it? Usually I turn to a thesaurus, but my friend Olivia just alerted me to this very handy website that I think will be a great tool for such situations. Introducing…OneLook’s Reverse Dictionary. As stated on their website, “OneLook’s reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word.”

What a brilliant idea! I’m sure I’ll be a regular visitor!