This week, we have been carrying on with a lot of the same marketing tasks that I mentioned in my previous post. Meanwhile, other important pieces have been coming together behind the scenes.

We are in the process of applying for cataloging in publication (CIP). A CIP record is bibliographic information that is put together by the Library of Congress. Usually the CIP data is included on the copyright page of the book (pick up any of your own books and take a look at the copyright page—you should find the CIP information there), and it allows librarians and booksellers to better process and categorize the book.

The Wax Bullet War will be made into a trade paperback and an e-book, and we have been working on production-related tasks for each format. Mary, one of the Wax Bullet War team members, has diligently been working on coding the e-book. Sarah, another team member, has been collecting print bids so that we can decide where to have the book printed, as well as how to have the book printed. Part of this process is finding out about any special production elements: will the cover be shiny or matte? Or will it be matte with a spot gloss? (Have you seen covers that have a matte finish but have shiny letters? That’s called spot gloss. It gives the book some added texture and dimensionality.) There are lots of ways books can be produced, so getting print bids lets us know what we can afford and then allows us to make decisions accordingly.

Until next week,
Laurel