Supremely spoiled

I feel spoiled to work for such an excellent book company and under such fine tutelage. Why, you may ask, is this being spoiled? Because I have such high standards for book quality that I find many other publishers disappoint by comparison.

I'm learning the ins of publishing, from the first conceptual stages of acquisitions through the editing and design process, all the way up to the marketing stages of a book. On any given book I work on, I have my hand in it all.

The up side? I know more about the whole process than many who work in large publishing houses because I have to know what happens and how to control it at every stage. The down side? It has made me spoiled for when I'll eventually have my own book published.

I know what great design is, and when I view books out in the marketplace, I'm often disappointed. You need a great story, of course, but before any reader picks up the book, they see the cover. If that cover is cheesy or kitschy, well, that can be a turnoff right from the start.

Working in publishing has helped me understand that you have to trust your publisher, editor, and designer implicitly if the book is to succeed, but being the do-it-myself type of girl that I am, I'll want to have my hand in the design pie as well.

It's a little too early to really be thinking of such things since I still don't even have an agent, but I can't help wondering what my book will look like. Matte finish with spot gloss on the cover image? Could be nice. Some embossing with a gloss overlay? Maybe cloth over board to give it a sophisticated feel. The possibilities (in my mind, at least) are endless.

But in the end, it will be up to the publisher. That means I'd better sign a contract with a good one*, now doesn't it.


*Note: The quality of publishers doesn't depend upon size. I work for a smaller house that produces excellent quality books. But that is probably a discussion for another day.

P.S. To answer the question you're probably asking: I write fiction, but I work for a nonfiction publisher. Hence, why I'm not going through them to publish my book.