We’re in the throes of a big project this week, so I’m going to keep this post to the point. As I mentioned last week, the time has come to send out sales kits. A month ago, I only had a vague sense of what that meant, but I’ve been enlightened now (in a “trial-by-fire” sort of way).

These kits are sent to the sales reps at Ingram (our distributor) and contain all of the documents they need to help promote and sell our title to booksellers, including the tipsheet, marketing plan, and a short info sheet on Ooligan Press. Since we are eager to start sharing Sean’s story, we are also including a chapbook with three sample chapters plucked from one of the meatiest parts of the story.

One of the fun aspects of planning for sales kits is getting to play around with presentation. Ultimately, the goal is to start turning reps and book buyers into Wax Bullet War enthusiasts, so we want the whole package to work together toward that goal. After a bit of brainstorming, my team and I decided to give these industry documents a bit of military flair: we’re packaging everything up in manilla folders dressed up to look like military personnel files.

This all sounds easy in theory, until you start adding everything up: sixty sales kits means sixty tip sheets, sixty marketing plans, sixty chapbooks . . . Needless to say, the printing alone took a fair bit of time. Then there’s assembling all of these items to worry about. Of course, there was some front end design work done on the chapbooks and the folders, too.

We’re about half way through the process now. Fortunately, it has been a team effort and we’re on target to drop the finished kits in the mail before the week is through. And, lucky us, this week is ushering in the end of daylight savings time. (When I announced that in our workroom yesterday there were several cheers from the tired masses. Don’t forget to set your clocks back and enjoy that extra hour!)

Until next week,
Laurel