A Month In Layout

The past month, my book has spent the holidays in Layout.  I have been very pleased by the progress and how quickly it is moving along, even while the publisher's employees have been taking their Christmas vacations and such.  The Layout department took the manuscript I wrote and the pictures from the illustrator, and started putting it all together into a real book!  During December I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present than the PDF files I received with the front cover, and then one with all the pages done.  I was able to virtually "turn" the pages on the computer and read my PDF book to my kids!!  Hmm, maybe that doesn't sound as exciting as it really is, but trust me, if you write a children's book, the moment you can show your kids something that looks like a book with your name in the author's spot, and turn the pages and read it to them, is a GREAT moment!

As far as changes that are still being made, I received three different versions of the front cover, and I was able to choose one.  They were similar as far as the illustrations went, but used different colors and fonts for the title.  Any of them would have been fine.  I chose the cover that had the most animals in the illustration, since my book is about animals.  The manuscript I wrote was written in stone after the editing stage, and the illustrations are what they are now that the illustrator has completed her job.  In Layout, as the term implies, Layout is the only thing that can change.  I have not asked for many changes, either because the publishers are very good at what they do and know a lot more about it than I do, or just because I don't know any better!

The final layout of the book, Amazing Animals By Design, in printed hard copy, was mailed to me on Tuesday.  I cannot wait to get this in my hands!  When I receive this proof, I will be checking it for things like print mistakes that need to be corrected, and good color.  Once I approve the proof and return it, my book will move into the last step - Printing - and a Marketing Representative will be contacting me.

You know what that means.  It means I'm going to be contacting all of you to come to my book signings and buy my book!  I can't wait to show you a little bit more of what it will actually look like.  None of the illustrations on this blog right now are what will be in the book at all.  That is all in production, so I've just used doodles and clipart here.

The New Year has begun, and I will always remember 2012 as The Year I Got My First Book Published!

Happy New Year!