A Sweetheart of a Cover

Here’s our latest cover—and isn’t it just too pretty! Jen Stephen’s The Heart’s Journey Home is due to release February 1, and the title couldn’t be more appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Then factor in the outstanding photo Jen’s friend who’s a professional photographer took for her and the lovely pink glow our designer Marisa added, and you’ve got the perfect release for sweethearts’ month! The cover alone is going to bring in those sales, and when you add in this truly special, heartwarming story . . . well, do you think maybe we’ve got a winner? Do you think Jen’s excited?

We’re working on the edit now, and my friend who trained me at Abingdon Press is busily editing Deb Kinnard’s Season’s in the Mist. We’ve just begun work on that cover and are juggling a number of ideas to see which one stays aloft. Marisa has already begun on the cover of Joy’s devotional, Under His Wings, which is also going to be gorgeous! Wait till you see it—think swans!

Just so I don’t get bored or anything, I’m finishing up production on our fall 09 list. I uploaded corrected pages for Joy’s novel Rain Dance to our printer’s ftp site a little while ago, and the proofs went back with approvals today too. We’ve been working on promotional materials at the same time. We also had a few last corrections for Michelle’s It’s Not About Him. I uploaded those last week and shipped back the proofs, so that’s already in process. Both need to be in the warehouse in a couple of weeks, and we’re cutting it close. Meanwhile, Alice has the copyflow proofs of Mystified M.D. for one last pass through, and then as soon as those corrections come back and I get the changes input, it will go to the printer. At which point we get really serious about the spring list.

Whew! As if that weren’t enough, as usual I’ve run down a dozen rabbit trails taking care of the urgent day-to-day issues that crop up. Joy has been more than snowed under herself with a ton of marketing projects on top of all her other commitments. At the same time we’ve been working through a raft of promising submissions trying to make a decision. We have a couple of outstanding nonfiction proposals we’re very seriously considering to fill out our spring list, and those fiction proposals keep coming in. I sure wish there were more duds. That would make things easy. But there’s a lot of good stuff coming our way, which forces us to turn down some we’d take on if there were more time and money available. I hate that, but it’s a fact of life in the publishing business. However, I suspect we’ll be adding a couple more authors to our team very soon!

Now—gotta get back to editing or I’m going to be up till midnight!

I Stand Corrected . . .

Ummmm . . . undoubtedly all you alert readers instantly recognized The Tears of the Sun as the title of the 2003 Bruce Willis movie. I haven’t seen the movie, but it’s a great title, which is why it sticks in my mind.

Obviously we aren’t going to give Peg Phifer’s book a title bound to pull up the movie on a search. The correct title is To See the Sun, which Peg took from the verse in Ecclesiastes 11:7 “Light is sweet; and it pleases the eye to see the sun.” Our ambition is to make To See the Sun as recognizable as the movie, if not more so!

I apologize for the mix-up, Peg! We’ll make sure the title on the book is the right one. That’s the only one that counts, right?

Building the Team . . . Again!

Eeeek!!! Behind again. This was supposed to be posted before we left to go camping for the weekend, but as usual a few monkey wrenches got thrown into the machinery. Honest—I’m running as fast as I can!!

During the 12 years I worked for Abingdon Press we had crazy busy times, busy times, slow times, and dead times. But it never seems to let up when you’re running your own business. There’s always a fire drill of some sort.

I finally got our first 2 fall projects proofread, corrected, and uploaded to the printer’s ftp site last Thursday morning. And what an ordeal it turned out to be. I meant to have everything uploaded by the previous Friday at the very latest. Well, ha! After scampering down a dozen different rabbit trails chasing a variety of urgent have-to-do-right-now tasks, I got down to the last corrections on Rain Dance with the deadline staring me in the face . . . and ran smack into a huge software incompatibility issue with one of my designers, Marisa. We’re on different versions of Quark, our publishing software, and to complicate matters even further, she’s on a Mac and I’m on a PC. Vista. Need I say more?

I’ll spare you the gory details. The short version is that Jay and I planned to head out to the campground at noon Thursday. So I had a bazillion things to do in addition to this one last little task. And after slogging through numerous workarounds, by Wednesday evening I was ready to rip my computer’s guts out, blow the whole project off for the weekend, and worry about it when I got back. But bless her heart, Marisa finally got it fixed just in time for me to check and upload the file Thursday morning. I could have kissed her!

Why is it that whenever you plan something special or you’re ready for the weekend to begin, every single thing goes awry up to the very instant you have to leave? Have you ever noticed that?!

But enough travail. We have lots of fabulous news to report!

New Authors and Projects

First off, we’ve added a familiar face to the Sheaf House author list. Everyone should know Peg Phifer by now since she’s been our webmistress for some time. We decided to make it official and schedule her novel The Tears of the Sun for an October 2011 release. So please welcome Peg to our author team! As long as she’s doing everything else, she might just as well add published author to her other titles. And we’re thrilled to have her with us in all her various capacities!

We’re going to be adding several more new faces shortly as well. For several months now, Joy and I been talking about adding some nonfiction titles to round out our publishing list, and we have several proposals that we’re considering very seriously for 2011. We’ve already contracted 2 from our current authors for 2010 that we’re very excited about. The first is a reprint of Joy DeKok’s devotional Under His Wings, a bestseller she coauthored with Christine Bolley, that was originally published by Barbour. We’re going to bring it out with a new cover in March. With its birdwatching focus, it’s perfect for a spring release. Then, in addition to her novel Blue Christmas (September 2011), we’ve added Diane Moody’s book Confessions of a Prayer Slacker, or COPS, as we affectionately call it, to the schedule for August next year.

As far as fiction is concerned, first up for 2010 is Jen Stephens’ The Heart’s Journey Home, the first book in the Harvest Bay Series, which releases in February. What a perfect title and story for Valentine’s Day, and wait until you see the cover Marisa came up with! It’s gorgeous, and I think Jen is just a little bit excited about it. LOL! I’ll post it here as soon as Marisa does a bit of tweaking on the title treatment. The cover is guaranteed to get readers to pick up the book, and then this heartwarming story is going to get them hooked and keep them reading!

Deb Kinnard’s haunting time-travel novel, Seasons in the Mist, follows in April, and we’re going to get started on that cover very shortly. Can’t wait to see what Dineen Miller comes up for that one! Then in May we’re issuing reprints of the first 2 books of my American Patriot Series, Daughter of Liberty and Native Son. Along with covers consistent with Wind of the Spirit in the same 6” x 9” size, they’ll have slightly revised and updated text.

On the fall fiction schedule, we have Cameron Bane’s power-packed, heart-grabbing end-times thriller, Heading Home; the dynamite final installment of Michelle Sutton’s Second Glances Series, It’s Not About Her; and to round out 2010, a thrilling new mystery by A. K. Arenz, Mirrored Image, that will keep readers on the edge of their seats late into the night.

Ingram Update. Last week I received the Ingram new vendor packet and forwarded it to Cary at APG. She’ll enter all our titles into their database—ipage, it’s called. Cary also has her sales teams out calling on retailers, and hopefully we’ll start seeing some serious sales as a result. To see APG’s fall catalog, go to http://www.apgbooks.com/ and click on Fall 2009 Catalog. We have 2 full pages, with our fall releases on p. 6 and our spring and 2008 releases on p. 50.

So far the schedule for 2011 is as follows:

Apr: Cottage Seven by Kristin Elizabeth Marshall
May: The Heart’s Lullaby (Harvest Bay Series, Book 2) by Jen Stephens
Sept: Blue Christmas by Diane Moody
Sept: Crucible of War (American Patriot Series, Book 4) by J. M. Hochstetler
Oct: The Tears of the Sun by Peg Phifer

We’ll also have new titles from Michelle and Alice. We’re planning on layering several nonfiction projects into this schedule as well, and we’re starting to project into 2012. Whew! There’s enough her to keep us busy for a while, don’t you think?

Sleepless in Nashville

Most nights I sleep like a baby, but every once in a while I have a night when I can’t beg, borrow, or steal any snooze time. Last night was one of those nights. Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and lain there worrying about everything that’s on your agenda—your finances, your relationships, your work, whatever—convinced that the world as you know it is on the verge of the proverbial train wreck? A truly spectacular one. Well, this wasn’t one of those nights, thankfully, though I occasionally do have one as, I suspect, most of us do. But it was bad enough.

I couldn’t go to sleep. I was all keyed up. The pillow felt like a brick. I kept tossing and turning and running down my to-do list, comparing it to our finances. I asked myself what in the world I think I’m doing trying to run a publishing house and how on God’s green earth I’m going to manage to pull this out of the hat. But each time the quiet realization kept returning: God is in control . . . God is in control . . .

Around 3 o’clock I finally dozed off, though I kept waking up again every hour or so. Don’t you hate when that happens? Amazingly, when I got up I didn’t feel any the worse for wear, and I’m still going, I guess because I’m so excited!!

Remember in my last post when I said that APG’s sales director, Cary’s “experience in the business is deep and wide and high, and we seem to have considerable favor with her. She’s definitely going to be a huge asset to us as we grow the business.”

And I asked you all to pray for us.

Obviously you did. And obviously Cary came through too. Uh, well, God came through because this latest development is a total God thing. It sure isn’t due to anything Joy and I have done, though we are doing our very best to be faithful to this incredible calling.

I was online this afternoon when an e-mail came through. I stared, stunned, at the subject line.

INGRAM IS TAKING US ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooooooooooo hoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you don’t know, Ingram is a distributor, the 25,000 lb gorilla in the publishing wilderness. If you’re in with Ingram, every door to sales in the world is open to you. Trouble is, Ingram doesn’t even want to talk to a publisher if they have fewer than 10 books out. We won’t have 8 until this fall. They want a certain level of sales. Ours are still uncomfortably low because . . . we only have 5 books out so far. Well, duh!!

I secretly thought Cary was crazy to even suggest applying to them at this point. But they looked at all the marketing materials I sent her to wave in front of their noses. She did the waving and, Lordy, she must have a golden tongue! Either that or she has serious dirt on somebody over there. LOL! But seriously, you and I both know who really opened this most unlikely door for a tiny publisher in the green hills of Tennessee.

Oh, ye of little faith. I am humbled. God knows all my shortcomings far too well. No way am I capable of the task I’ve been called to do. No way do I deserve the doors that keep on opening up and the dear friends who keep on coming alongside to hold up my arms when they grow weary. No way do I deserve the authors who have entrusted me with their beautiful babies. Or any of the many sweet blessings the Lord keeps pouring down. What incredible, unimaginable grace that He would choose this weak vessel to shine forth His great glory!

I feel somewhat akin to the group of Christians who were praying passionately for Peter when he was imprisoned. Then the Lord sprang him. After Peter got over the shock of actually being free, he found his way to the house where they were praying for him.

And they didn’t believe it. Naw, they told the girl who answered the door. Get a clue. Peter’s in prison! He can’t be here! Why do you think we’re praying for his release?

Helloooooo!!!!

So I’m taking a deep breath and pausing for a moment to revel in the goodness of His love. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I thank you with all my heart. Make this business whatever You will it to be. Large or small, if your hand is on it, then I am content. You are far more precious to me than ten thousands of books sold and all the fame and fortune the world can contain. Isn’t there an old song that says “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I’d rather have Him than have riches untold”? That’s how I feel.

So what now? Well, rest assured that this is just a first step. We still have a looong way to go even after I finish filling out this mountain of paperwork and send Ingram my check for $750 to get us set up on their system. Now Joy and I have to get even more serious about promoting Sheaf House and Sheaf House books. We need to acquire and produce not only more excellent fiction, but outstanding non-fiction as well, and that’s currently in the works. (But please, don’t anybody send us any more proposals just yet!) We need to throw some money at this business, but with extreme wisdom and discretion and with God’s guidance. We need to listen for His voice even more intently than before and make sure we stay on the road and the timeline He has set out for us. Not run ahead. Not lag behind. And rest in the assurance that as we are obedient all the resources we need will be provided each step of the way.

Top of the list on our acquisitions sheet is an administrative assistant to free us up to focus on marketing and production instead of on administrative tasks. And we’ll do that just as soon as the Lord blesses us with the money to afford it!

Pray!

New Authors and the Usual Minutiae

Before this gets to be a major literary work, I figured (that’s Tennessee speak) I’d better do another update. I have good intentions, really I do! But I keep getting buried by the day-to-day minutiae, so before I’m in up to my neck again, here we go.

First things first: the long overdue introduction of our new authors! Ta Dah!!!

First up is Kristin Elizabeth Marshall, whose speculative literary novel about one perfect day in heaven with Jackie Kennedy captured both Joy and me with the first chapter. We knew we had to publish this little gem. Katherine attended Boston University, majoring in psychology and graduating cum laude, with distinction. She began a career in advertising in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and subsequently moved to New York City, where she worked in the marketing research departments of several of the largest ad agencies in the world.

Kristin is an avid reader, has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the Caribbean, and is interested in art, gardening, and cooking. Married with three grown children, she resides in Westchester County, New York. Cottage Seven is her first novel, and we are privileged to publish it. It will release in April 2011.

Then there’s my buddy and fellow Tennessean by adoption, Diane Moody (who still hasn't sent me that head shot!), whose boys-in-the-band novel Blue Christmas is just too good to turn down. Diane is a freelance writer, columnist, editor, and author. Born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, she is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. She and her husband spent 15 years serving churches in Florida. After leaving church ministry they moved to Tennessee, where Ken heads an Internet-filtering company called Hedgebuilders.

When she’s not reading or writing, Diane indulges an eclectic taste in music and movies, great coffee, and the company of good friends. She and Ken live in the rolling hills just west of Nashville and a stone’s throw from my digs. They are the proud parents of two grown and extraordinary children, Hannah and Ben.

Please welcome Kristin and Diane aboard!

Updates: Currently I have a stack of proposals to go through that’s threatening to topple over on my head. It didn’t take long for authors and agents to discover our humble little publishing house. So until I can sift through everything I have on hand, which is going to take a while, I’m not accepting any more submissions.

Included in the proposals we have on hand are several very promising nonfiction projects. We’ve known from the beginning that it’s difficult to make a go publishing fiction exclusively. So Joy and I have several very promising projects we’re considering, including several we’ve definitely decided to add to our list. Joy’s out-of-print devotional, Under His Wings, which we currently have up on our Devotional Books page, is a natural product for us and was a bestseller, so we’re reissuing it with a new cover next March. And Diane is working on a wonderful book on prayer titled Confessions of a Prayer Slacker. We’ve put it on the schedule for an August 2010 release. That will quickly give us 2 nonfiction projects to offer. Meanwhile, Joy is also working on a couple of new projects that we’ll add to the list as soon as we figure out a production schedule.

My meeting with Cary, the marketing director at APG, turned out to be a blast! Talk about making a connection. Jay came along—he was a top sales rep with Warner Press some years ago—and we all just clicked. Jay was as impressed with her as I was. Her experience in the business is deep and wide and high, and we seem to have considerable favor with her. She’s definitely going to be a huge asset to us as we grow the business.

Because of several issues at APG that happened last winter and early in the spring before Cary came back as a full-time employee, she decided to hold her client publishers’ spring releases for a re-release this fall. So we’re temporarily scaling our marketing/promo back to coordinate with what they’ll be doing. That means this spring’s sales will be less than we had hoped, but we’re praying that the shortfall is more than made up for this fall when APG’s efforts are hitting on all eight cylinders. In the meantime, Joy is sending out galleys of our fall books to places like Publishers Weekly and also placing ads to come out late summer and early fall.

Cary took a trip up north last week to meet personally with the good folks at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Baker and Taylor, and CBD, and she took a lot of material on Sheaf House and our books and authors along. She’s also submitted our application to Ingram, and she’s confident that we have a good chance of getting an agreement with them, which would be HUGE for our distribution. Prayer appreciated!!

Another development from our meeting is that now that I’ve finally gotten the pub rights back for the 1st 2 volumes in my American Patriot Series, Daughter of Liberty and Native Son, we’re going to bring out a new edition of each next May that’s consistent in format with Wind of the Spirit. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about that! And yikes! Now I need to get busy on Crucible of War!

Award. A couple of weeks ago, I received notification that One Holy Night won the 2009 Christian Small Publishers Book of the Year Award for fiction! Woooo hooooo!!!! That’s pretty gratifying both as a publisher and an author! We’re going to do more promo based on that and also feature OHN for the holiday trade again this winter. And we’re encouraging our authors to submit their books to contests whenever possible. A final or a win is a great marketing tool and also offers favorable publicity for Sheaf House that benefits our whole team.

eNewsletter. As if we didn’t have enough to do, we’re also working on a quarterly newsletter that will offer news about our authors and happenings at Sheaf House, sales on selected books, and drawings for free books. I want to send out the first issue in the next couple of weeks. So if you haven’t signed up yet on the Sheaf House Web site, be sure to do so asap to make sure you’re entered in our first drawing!

Okay, enough already! Told you this was going to turn into a major literary tome! But I don’t want to bend your ear too much since we all have work to do. Time’s a’wasting, so let’s get back at it!