The Many Facets of Marketing

Now that we’re through the editing phase of the book, the word marketing seems to be coming up a lot more often. I’ve mentioned this in past posts, but to lend a bit more specificity to the vague allusions, here’s what we’ve been working on.

Our two main marketing documents—the marketing plan and the tipsheet—were completed quite some time ago. These provide the framework for all of the marketing efforts we’ll undertake going forward. Now the time has come to start executing some of the plans and ideas contained in those documents.

One of the first major projects will be soliciting blurbs—the endorsements you usually see on the back of a book. Last week, we finalized the letter we will send out and went over our contact list one more time. We are also finalizing the description and short author bio that will go on the back of the book. We have had several drafts in the works, but now we are finessing them into one final, polished bit of text to draw readers in (no easy task!). Finally, we are also starting to work on designing postcards to promote the book.

If that sounds like a diverse list of projects to cram under the marketing header, that’s because almost everything is marketing in one way or another at this point in the process. Design, endorsements, and back cover copy can all impact a potential reader’s first impression of the book. And how we spread the word (through designed postcards, for example) certainly impacts how many people hear about the book in the first place.Going forward, it’s safe to assume that just about anything we work on will have a marketing component to it. Next week I’ll talk about sales kits (and you guessed it: that’s marketing too).

- Laurel Boruck

A Crawl to the Deadline, a Sprint to the Finish

I was talking with a friend today about how odd the passage of time is. It brought to mind the old saying, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Though I wasn’t originally thinking of this phrase in terms of book publishing, it occurred to me that it’s relevant just the same. If posts here start to sound redundant, it’s because the detailed work at each stage of the process takes time—but blink and publication day will be here. Sometimes it feels like a crawl to the next deadline and a sprint to the finish line.

Over the past couple of weeks, my team and I have been working on creating a marketing implementation timeline. The coming months will surely race by, so creating these smaller deadlines will help us stay focused as we wade through the day-to-day tasks.

We are also starting to think through important production-related questions. From the beginning, the plan has been to use some of Sean’s photos and artwork in the book. However, including images requires special consideration: Will the images be in color or black and white? Will they need to be printed on special paper? How does this affect sustainable production? It’s important to make these kinds of big decisions early on, because they can have an impact on everything from the interior design to the budget.

- Laurel Boruck

Just a little bit self-congratulatory . . .

Although I hinted at this in last week’s post, now I can really say it: we have a finished manuscript.

I was reading through past Start to Finish posts as I was planning what I would write this week, and it made me pause to consider this milestone. We’ve been talking about editing Wax Bullet War for a long time: Kait’s first post as project manager for this book was almost exactly a year ago, and in it she wrote about handing the manuscript over to our Editing department. In the twelve months since, this book has gone through what feels like countless rounds of revisions—in fact, the word “edit” (in all of its various forms) appears 57 times in past posts.

Sean has been wonderful to work with through it all, and we’ve had the dedication of many skilled editors to get us to where we are now. Together they have worked through the developmental edits that covered the big picture things; the fact-checking; and multiple rounds of copyediting to catch small typos, misplaced punctuation, and all of their finicky friends. As I mentioned last week, Marco wrapped it all up (with an assist from Sarah, our Editorial Department Lead) by going through the entire book to check for any straggling issues.

The process for editing a book looks different every time, but the ingredients are always the same: creativity, technical knowledge, collaboration, and lots of hard work. Next week I’ll update you on some of the marketing and production work we’re starting to do; we don’t like to be too self-congratulatory around here, but this week I wanted to stop and celebrate a job well done by Sean and all of our editors!

- Laurel Boruck

An Important Benchmark

Last week included an important benchmark in The Wax Bullet War’s publication process: the pre-sales conference call with Ingram Publisher Services (our distributor). This is when we pitch the book to the Ingram sales team, who will play a big part in getting Sean’s story out into the world. All of the Ingram staff included on the call were really excited about the potential of this book, and they offered us great feedback on ways to refine our tipsheet before it goes out to their sales reps. They also offered up a few ways that we might further promote the book in the coming months.

On Monday, only a few days after the conference call, the newly-formed Wax Bullet War project team convened for the first time. Our group of ten includes a great mix of experienced Oolies and first-year students, and I think it’s fair to say that we’re all looking forward to the challenges ahead. First up is a final editorial review of the manuscript to make sure that everything is stylistically consistent. By this time next week, we should have a finalized manuscript.

One of the most amazing things about working on The Wax Bullet War is seeing the enthusiasm of everyone who comes in contact with Sean’s story—from those assigned to the project team, to our sales reps clear across the country, and everyone in between. The publication date is still several months out, but having a finished manuscript will be the first step toward sharing this story with the rest of the world. We hope you are as excited as we are!

- Laurel Boruck

A Week of Transitions

Ooligan Press is shifting its focus from editing The Wax Bullet War to the book’s marketing ventures, including the ever-present question of budgeting. I have been busy fully handing over the reins to Laurel, combing through past emails and documents to make sure that nothing gets misplaced during the completion of this transition. Laurel’s excitement for the project—despite jumping in midway through the project—is a wonderful thing to see. The slow period for the book is largely over, and Laurel will be digging into the business end of things as she and Abbey conduct their sales call with Ingram later today.

While I am sad to be stepping down from my management duties for The Wax Bullet War, I will not be saying goodbye to this particular project just yet. As the previous project managers did before me, I will continue to help out during the process in whatever capacity needed.  It has been exciting to see the book develop over time, and there is nothing quite like the feeling of having assisted with that process. Sean’s passion for this book and his willingness to participate in its production and promotion has been our driving force, and I look forward to seeing the novel’s completion.

- Whitney Smyth

Promotional Preparations

The last few weeks have been unusually quiet at Ooligan. But while some of our publishing peers are attempting to soak up the last bit of summer before classes, meetings, and press work resume, Whitney has been helping me prepare for a busy fall term.

This week, we spent time talking through our upcoming deadlines and strategizing about which tasks we need to prioritize over the next few weeks. Behind the scenes, our Editing department is wrapping up the very last of their duties in preparation for a finished manuscript. Additionally, Sean met with Ooligan’s social media guru, Lauren Hudgins, to have official author photos taken. And even though the book won’t be published until spring, we're already working on several marketing-related projects, which will comprise a large portion of the assignments for The Wax Bullet War team this fall.

One of our on-going tasks is culling some of Sean’s photos and paintings to use in his book and for promotional purposes. The good news is that you don’t have to wait to see some of these images: Sean has posted photos from his time in Iraq on his website, which you can see here. The Brothers Davis will also be exhibiting their artwork at Six Days Gallery in Portland’s Alberta Arts District on October 4; if you can, be sure to check it out!

- Laurel Boruck

Gearing up for the start of a new season

Despite the sun’s attempts to send us all into a lethargic stupor, Laurel and I are working hard to maintain a sense of energy as deadlines quickly approach for The Wax Bullet War.

An official ISBN number has been assigned to both the print book and the e-book. We have also received the consolidated fact-checking document from our editing department; using their notes, we will decide what changes need to be made to the manuscript before we hand it over to the design department. From there, the design team will send out the call for an interior designer.

An extra element of the interior design that we’ll need to consider for The Wax Bullet War is what images to include in the book. Laurel and I are currently working with Sean to review several pieces of artwork composed by both Sean and his brother that can potentially be used in the book. Since art is such a large part of Sean’s memoir, we’d really love to include what we can. Sean also took a plethora of photos during his deployments, some of which we hope to incorporate into the final design of his novel as well. 

Currently, Laurel and I are completing the tipsheet and back cover copy for the book. Once these write-ups are finished, we can share the necessary information with our design department so that the full exterior of the novel can be finalized. We has also started the process of requesting blurbs from the literary community.

This summer has presented interesting challenges surrounding the project management of The Wax Bullet War. The most pressing of these has been that neither Laurel nor I have been physically present at Ooligan’s base of operations. While many of the tasks that we do can be completed via the internet, the time lag associated with email requests can be trying at times—not to mention the stress of trying to align both of our schedules so that we can discuss the more pressing issues regarding the book’s production. However, Laurel’s summer internship and my summer job are both winding down this month, which means that September will be crunch time! During that time, we’ll be busy checking and re-checking that everything is correct and ready to go for our first round of meetings with Ingram Publisher Services.

The next update for The Wax Bullet War will be September 17. See you then!

- Whitney Smyth

Cover Update: The Art of War

The Wax Bullet War front cover design by Gina Fox

Just like writing and editing a manuscript, creating a book cover is a process that involves a lot of revision. Whitney wrote an update for our Start to Finish page last month announcing that we had voted on a cover for The Wax Bullet War. Since then, designer (and recent graduate) Gina Fox has been putting the finishing touches on the cover, which we are excited to finally be able to share with you. Like Whitney mentioned, we wanted a design that captured the nuances of a book that is about war and art—not an easy task to accomplish—and we love the way it turned out.

-Laurel

A More Tangible Object

Summer term at Ooligan Press is different from the rest of the year. While some of us have graduated, and others go their separate ways over the break, work at the press continues. Things are still relatively relaxed with the production schedule for The Wax Bullet War, but that will change rapidly the closer we approach autumn.

Even though the final cover has been chosen, recent Ooligan graduate Gina Fox has been tweaking some minor elements of the design over the last month in an effort to make it as praiseworthy as possible. Once this is completed and signed off on by all appropriate parties, we will be able to post the finished image and finalize our marketing tipsheets in preparation for publishing the book. Sean will be meeting up with Riley, one of our design specialists and incoming department managers, for a photo shoot sometime in the upcoming summer months, giving us a snazzy new author photo to go on the back of the book. Having a cover image has done wonderful things for the publishing team’s morale, as it helps bring the book to life in a new way: The Wax Bullet War has suddenly become a tangible object for our shelves.

Editing has been working their magic on The Wax Bullet War for the final time this summer as they tackle the Herculean task of fact checking, with a goal of completing this final round of revision by the end of July. Simultaneously, The Wax Bullet War is being submitted for vetting: since Sean’s book is a memoir and therefore discusses actual events tied to the military, we must submit a request for permission to publish certain materials.

Finally, I’m happy to introduce my co-manager, Laurel Boruck, who will be stepping fully into my shoes at the end of August. Ooligan is in the middle of a press-wide restructuring; one of the major changes included in this reorganization is that project managers will be leading the production schedule of a book for a full year, as opposed to six months. This will increase continuity with the projects, as well as help with the long-term memory of the press. Laurel is more than qualified, having been manager of the Marketing department last term. She worked closely with alumna Mary Breaden and myself during the development of the marketing plan for The Wax Bullet War, which she will be implementing in September. While Sean and I are sad to see Mary go—with Mary having been such an integral part of this project since its early stages—we are happy to welcome Laurel to the team!

The next Start-to-Finish update for The Wax Bullet War will be August 19th. See you then!

-Whitney Smyth