New Cover and Logo!

I now have the final front cover for Diane Moody’s Confessions of a Prayer Slacker—at least as final as it’s going to be until we have the endorsement that will go at the top. So without further ado: TA DAH!!!! Here it is!!

Doesn’t it just make you laugh? Doesn’t it illustrate all too well the struggles we all have with our prayer life? I’ll tell ya, I relate. So as soon as Diane turns in the final manuscript, you can bet I’m going to be reading that baby for my own improvement. LOL!

What’s especially wonderful about this cover is that Diane and her daughter, Hannah, came up with it all on their own. I didn’t have to think about it once, and what a blessing that was for my overtaxed brain! Don’t you just love it when all the stars align like this? WARNING: Don’t y’all go try this kind of thing at home! Hannah happens to have a degree in design, and she knows what she’s about. Delving into the intricacies of design on your own could prove dangerous to your mental health if you don’t have the expertise to negotiate the curves safely!

We also have the new logo for our Journey Press imprint. What do you think? Isn’t it totally cool? Joy and I did a lot of thinking about what kind of image would represent this division the best, and with journey in the title a compass seemed to convey the message perfectly. Our illustrator, Jim Brown, did a bang-up job of turning our vision into reality. This will represent our resources for the journey very well. In fact . . . hmmm . . . Resources for the Journey might just be a good tagline for this imprint.

Update: This has been a very good week. The photo shoot at Joe Bonsall’s farm went beautifully. We got a bunch of amazing shots and had a delightful time doing it. Joe was more than gracious as we tromped around the fields and took a ton of shots against some astoundingly lovely backgrounds. Man, my face would have hurt after all that similing into the camera, but he took it all in stride. We sure appreciate his willingness to share this precious treasure with us, and I know his fans will as well when they get a look at this book. Talk about an idyllic—and secluded—location! Believe me, after all the jaw-droppingly scenic, winding, back country roads we wandered down to get there, I’d never be able to find it again without a map and a guide and a GPS. Being a girl from the country, I sure envy Joe for having this piece of heaven where he can find peace and refreshment for his soul.

Coming up: Marisa designed a beautiful interior for The Heart’s Journey Home. I finished the edit, so the text has now gone to her to flow into Quark. We’ll soon have the copyflow back for Jen to do one last read. As soon as her final corrections have been entered in the Quark file, it’ll be proofread, those corrections will be entered, and then it’ll be ready for the printer. In the meantime, as soon as I have final text for Seasons in the Mist from Deb, it will go to Marisa to design the interior, and then flow the text, and the process starts again.

Meanwhile, Under His Wings is all ready except for a few final corrections we’re waiting for, and Praise for Parents of Teens is being edited by my fellow editor buddy, Linda Allen. I’ll start working with the designer on the Perspectives cover soon—which reminds me that I need to send all the info for this project to Peg so she can put it up on our Web site—and after a quick read-through on COPS, it will go to Linda for the edit.

The time is also approaching at warp speed when I need to get our designers busy on the Heading Home and Mirrored Image covers. Oh, and yes, I need to write Crucible of War! Can’t forget about that since I only have a year to complete the manuscript, when I really need more like 18 months. And did I hear someone shout that the holidays are coming up? Can anybody please lend me another 24 hours a day?!

Finally—The BIG Announcement!

It’s finally official! Joy and I have known this was going to happen for over a month, but we wanted to wait until the ink was dry on the contract before we made an official announcement. And it just took a while to work a few kinks out.

We’ve just signed a contract with Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys for a project tentatively titled Joseph S. Bonsall: One Man’s Perspective, which will release in September 2010. On the gorgeous album cover to the left, Joe is, of course, the second guy from the right with the Superman insignia on his chest.

I know I don’t need to tell you how huge this is for us. In addition to being the tenor and sparkplug for the Boys, Joe writes songs and is also a published author, with several books to his credit, including GI Joe and Lillie, the touching story of his parents, which sold . . . um . . . shall we say, excellently well.

Needless to say, he has an immense platform and isn’t shy about promoting his work—nor should he be. Joe is one terrific writer whose voice is as authentic as his life, and he speaks to the concerns, beliefs, and values of us here in the heartland. Even better, he’s a staunch and outspoken Christian who isn’t afraid to wear his faith on his sleeve. Joy and I only had to read a couple of his perspectives pieces to know that we HAD to publish this book—and if he keeps on writing, more books into the future as well, including a fiction project that sounds perfect for Narrow Road! So we welcome Joe onto our team!!

This book will be sold on the Oaks’ Web store and at their concerts, not to mention retail stores. So another benefit for us is that it will give Sheaf House increased visibility and credibility and should also help us to fund new projects into the future. You can bet Joy and I are jumping up and down! This is one more confirmation that God has a big plan for this little publishing house.

Joy is making plans to work with Joe’s agent and publicists to get the word out to the public. He’s already tweeting it to his considerable list of Twitter followers, and he’s getting a ton of responses. The photo shoot for the cover is set for Monday, and I’m scheduling production.

I’ve lined up the designer, my old buddy John Boegel, who I worked with at Abingdon Press for a number of years. He has as lovely a touch with design as Marisa and also has years of experience designing specialty products. I especially wanted him for this project because he’s here in Nashville, as is our printer, which will enable us to oversee the production in person. Since the first edition is going to be our first hardcover, we want to monitor the process closely and make sure we get it right.

We haven’t issued any press releases yet, though we’ll do so soon, but you’re all free to tell anyone about it if so inclined. In fact, we appreciate it if you spread the word. In addition, please pray that this project goes beautifully, that we make wise decisions, keep the budget under control, get those sales coming in, and attract more outstanding projects like this.

We feel that we have the best fiction team going, and we’re now in the process of assembling the best nonfiction team around, with upcoming projects like Joy’s Under His Wings, Beth’s Peace for Parents of Teens, and Diane’s Confessions of a Prayer Slacker, in addition to Perspectives. We also have a couple more big nonfiction projects scheduled for 2011, and I’ll share the details on those soon. Plus, we have a fantastic new logo for Journey Press and an amazing cover for COPS, designed by Diane’s daughter Hannah! It’s PERFECT!!! I’ll post on all of these as soon as I can.

We are totally excited and thrilled about each one of our team’s books and all the new books the Lord is bringing to us! It’s definitely an exciting time for Sheaf House, and we’re thrilled to have each one of you along for the journey! Your encouragement and prayers mean more to us than we can say.

Expansion Joint

Hey, we’re expanding this joint! Things are a’cookin’!

In my last post, I announced our 2 new imprints, Journey Press for nonfiction and Narrow Road for grittier fiction. Joy takes over the position of managing editor of Journey Press, which means she’s now acquiring all nonfiction projects. I also mentioned that we were looking for a qualified person to take over acquisitions for Narrow Road.

Well . . . ta dah! The Lord obviously was way ahead of us on this one. As usual. Our good buddy and author of our August 2010 release, John Robinson, aka Cameron Bane, stepped forward and held up his hand! And as anyone who’s ever been in the military knows, that’s one thing you don’t want to do! LOL! After reading his resume and putting our heads together, Joy and I concluded that we’re going to have to kiss the big lug the next time he’s in the vicinity. With his experience in business and as an author, he’s the perfect man for the job. So welcome aboard, John—again!

As of now, John takes over as managing editor of Narrow Road, which means he’ll be acquiring fiction for this line. It’s going to start out a bit slowly at first. Rod Power’s As Time Goes By will kick off the imprint in January 2011, and then John’s own new series will debut in September with Relentless. Since that fills up our list for 2011, we’ll have to schedule into 2012 and beyond, with 2-3 new acquisitions per year at first. As we get the sales we need to expand our production capabilities, we’ll increase that total.

In the meantime, Joy is going to roll out Journey Press with the reprint of Under His Wings in March, followed by Beth Shriver’s Peace for Parents of Teens in April, Diane Moody’s Confessions of a Prayer Slacker in August, and that other project I’ve mentioned a couple of times that we’re getting close to finalizing. And we already have 2 more projects we’re contracting for 2011 for this imprint. I’ll announce those soon as well.

The Journey Press logo is almost ready, and I’ll post that as soon as I have the final version in hand. It’s a beauty! Then we’ll have to start thinking about the Narrow Road logo . . .

Please pray that God gives us the wisdom to continue navigating the rough seas of this difficult economy and keep this ship afloat. Our confidence is that the One who calls will also equip and supply as He has so graciously in the past.

Defining Our Vision

Last week Joy came down from Minnesota to my house for several days of face to face. Here she is at my kitchen table, where we set up shop on our laptops. And boy, did we have a blast! We HAVE to do this more often! We are so on the same page about everything concerning Sheaf House it’s amazing. The more we work together, the more I know why God brought her into this crazy venture.

Joy and I did a lot of work, brainstorming, and planning during the too few days we had together, but we also took time to have some fun. She arrived Tuesday afternoon, and the next morning we met Diane Moody at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and to pick up her proposal for a terrific new project we’re very interested in. Later we had lunch with my daughter Anna at a cool little coffee shop in downtown Dickson and had a great time visiting. Thursday we had a very productive and encouraging lunch meeting with Cary Johnson, the sales and merchandising director at APG. And then Friday we had a fabulous lunch with . . . well, I’ll leave that for a later post. LOL!

I know you’re all thinking, “Good grief, Mama—that’s a lot of eating!” All I have to say is that serious sacrifices are called for in the service of a good cause!

However, work we did. One of our projects was the following preliminary vision statement for Sheaf House. We may tinker with this a bit as time goes on, but it will guide our work for the time being.

Sheaf House Publishers, composed of the Sheaf House, Journey Press, and Narrow Road Press teams, is constituted as an organism, rather than an organization—a living association of individuals who know, care for, and respect one another deeply. Because we encourage each team member to pray every day for every other team member individually and by name, interceding for his or her personal welfare as well as for the success of each project, the membership of each team is intentionally limited in order to best nurture relationships among team members. Sheaf House Publishers encourages and supports the establishment of other such publishing ventures, each obedient to its own unique calling, each working, as guided by the Holy Spirit, for the coming of God’s kingdom.

This statement was inspired by a passage from a book I recently read: The Narrow Road. A collaboration between Jars of Clay and Brother Andrew, the book includes his autobiography, which tells the story of how he began smuggling the Bible into communist countries. It also offers stories of Bible smugglers today as well as believers persecuted for their faith. The vision The Narrow Road presents is similar in many ways to the one Joy and I have for Sheaf House.

In brainstorming our own vision, we came to the conclusion that if Sheaf House continues to grow without limits, it will stop being a living organism and become yet another organization just like any other publisher—the very thing we’re determined to avoid. We feel deeply that Sheaf House is called to a very specific mission and ministry, and to accomplish that we’re going to have to keep the business side of the venture at a manageable level.

To that end, we’re going to limit the 3 imprints, or teams, we now have—Sheaf House, Journey Press, and Narrow Road Press—to around two dozen authors each. We feel that will ensure a publishing list that’s large enough to be profitable, while keeping each team small enough that members can support, encourage, and pray for each other individually.

Joy is going to take on the position of managing editor of Journey Press, while continuing as vice president of marketing and promotion. She will acquire all projects for this imprint and will also function as the “shepherd” for this team. I will continue to acquire projects for the Sheaf House imprint, and for the time being for Narrow Road Press as well. And I’ll be the shepherd for these 2 imprints. Thankfully our teams are still small, but we’re praying that the Lord will bring a qualified person alongside to take over acquisitions for Narrow Road and to care for members of this team as it grows. I know He has good things in store!

On Sunday before Joy headed home, we took time to scope out a location for a writers retreat. I’ll share details on that along with pictures in the next post. We also have another announcement coming up that will make a huge difference for our ministry, so be sure to keep an eye on this blog!

Joy and I are so excited about the new opportunities God is bringing to us that we can hardly stand it! Your prayers and encouragement and the wisdom you share with us keep us going, dear friends. We appreciate each one of you and pray for God’s richest blessings upon your lives!

We're Developing a Reputation

Before I let you see the cover for Deb’s Seasons in the Mist, let me tell you a bit about how this one came about. As you may know, Seasons is a historical time-travel novel. The heroine, an American grad student specializing in medieval history, is on her way to Oxford for an archeological dig. She gets waylaid and ends up spending the night at an ancient Cornish manor. The next morning while snooping around she unwittingly walks through a portal in time and to her horror finds herself in the original manor . . . in 14th century Cornwall.

That was the scene I wanted to grab for the cover. Deb and I threw around some ideas and pulled some comps off istockphoto and other sites, and we came up with a background we loved—this doorway at left. Aren’t those golden trees just lovely? And even better, behind them you can see the misty façade of a house that can easily double as our manor. The colors are warm and glowy, giving an evocative feel to the scene that’s just right for this story. And we thought if we could only find a female figure that could be grafted in to look as if she’s walking through the doorway, it would be perfect! But would that be possible to find just the right image for our heroine? And if we did, would it be possible to integrate her seamlessly into the scene so the cover didn’t look cheesy?

Little did we know . . .

Enter Dineen Miller, who did such a bang-up job of creating the Wind of the Spirit cover. Both of us began exhaustive, hours-long searchs for our heroine. She had to be full-length and have her back to the camera, and she had to at least come close to resembling the young woman described in Deb’s story. Do you know how few photos are available that fit that bill? Well, if there’s more than one, they’re very well hidden! However, Dineen finally snagged this one, and what can I say? She could only be closer to what we were looking for if her hair were a few shades lighter. And we can certainly live with that—she’s supposed to be in shadow, after all!

Then I had an idea for a bit of a bonus. Back to istockphoto and an hour or so of filtering through all the images they had related to medieval times . . . and I found this knight. Well okay, so he’s in full plate armor, which is definitely 15th century rather than 14th. But after doing a bit of digging I found that knights were already adding pieces of plate armor to their arms and legs in this century, so we’re not all that far off. Besides, he was going to be in the background, which would make him pretty small, and the details wouldn’t be that obvious. And how many readers know anyway? Medieval knight = plate armor, right?

In the meantime, Dineen came up with a pattern for the background that is period appropriate. And she stirred it all together with a pinch of salt and created . . .




this . . .

Now, this small RGB image doesn't really do the cover justice. In the original large CMYK file the colors and detail are fabulous. The pattern of the surround is a whole lot clearer too. But this will give you an idea. So what’cha think? Needless to say, when I opened the file my jaw hit the floor. It’s absolutely mindbogglingly smash-up spot on! I’ll let Deb share her reaction when she first saw it. I think all 3 of us have been spending parts of the last couple of days sitting and staring at it with our mouths hanging open. Dineen told me she prayed a lot while she was creating this masterpiece, and if I weren’t already a fervent believer in prayer, I sure would be now!

Alll righty, then! I think we’re developing a bit of a reputation for fabulous covers, and our spring list isn’t going to disappoint anybody in that regard. If these books don’t spring into readers’ hands and walk out the door with them, I’ll be astonished. All we need is for people to pick them up, and then start reading what’s inside, and they’re going to be hooked big time!