It's with no small measure of nostalgia that I write this blog. You see, yesterday was the end of an era.
I'm a member of a group of published LDS authors called "LDStorymakers." A few years back one of our members, Linda Paulson Adams, came to us with a problem. Her publisher had gone bankrupt right in the middle of her series, and she wasn't able to find another company who wanted to take her on in the middle of a project. She had screaming fans demanding the next installment, and no way to appease them. After some careful consideration, BJ Rowley, the brains behind the entire outfit, came up with an idea:
What if we formed our own publishing company to produce Linda's book? Thirteen of us thought that was a tremendous idea and we formed a sub-group called "LDStorymakers, Inc." Since that time, we published not only Linda's second book, but "Writing Secrets" and "Publishing Secrets," which have been very helpful to aspiring authors in giving them the information they need to get published. We produced "Fool's Gold" for Shirley Bahlmann, "Mysterious Ways" for BJ Rowley, and "The CTR series" for Lisa J. Peck. We had such a good time!
But, as most things do, our time has come to an end. We accomplished what we set out to do, and then some. Not only have Linda's fans gotten their wish, but we've had a whole lot of fun in the process. We all learned so much about typesetting, advertising, editing, and producing a book from the other side of the fence. Our friendships were strengthened (and sometimes tested) and we're now a closer group than we were before.
As we close the doors on our publishing arm, I can look back on the experience as one of the most educational of our lives. I know I'll never look at the publishing of a book the same way. I almost think that all authors should go through this kind of experience so they can fully understand the process. I can't say I'll miss the hours of intensive editing, but I will miss seeing our logo on the spine of a book when it's all over and knowing that I got to contribute in a very valid, very real way to something pretty dang cool.
4 comments:
Sniff Sniff. I'm right there with ya. It was a great experience. Onward and upward.
Yep -- we've got a whole bunch of great stuff up our sleeves, including continuing the fabulous writers conferences we're becoming famous for. Well, maybe not famous, but certainly, well known.
Tristi is right. It was fun, especially putting stickers on CTR books!! Everyone was so helpful and wonderful. Oh, the good old days.
Believe it or not, Lisa, to this day I still have dreams about sticking stickers on books. That was quite an experience! Who knew hours and hours of slave labor could be so fun?
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