Publishing, Climate Change, and Advertising

Publishing

I am amazed how many steps are involved in getting a book published. And that’s after it’s written. First you need all the editing—multiple passes at that. Next is the layout and formatting of the inside. The cover has the design part and the layout part. Once all that’s submitted, then there are the proof copies. Plus, you need to make sure all the listings read correctly and get ISBNs if you want the book to be portable beyond the platform on which it was originally published. Plus, you need to make sure the author or authors have the things they need to promote, getting the finished book out to people to review, and more. Seriously, it is quite the impressive feat in so many ways getting a book published. But, that final product is so worth the work. Some interesting musings on the weekend several of my poems were released in the anthology Primal Elements.

Climate Change

Man did it rain today. We’ve gotten almost 1.5 inches of rain in a couple hours. Thankfully, the storms only brought a bunch of rain for where I live. I haven’t heard of any major tornadoes or anything. Bad flooding has hit several areas of the state though. I love thunderstorms and all, but I hate hearing about the damage they can do. Storms like this have happened as far back as we have records, but the weather lately has made me wonder again about this whole climate change debate. We broke records already several times for heat and humidity in this part of the country. That is part of what brings us the nasty storms. We also had a record snowstorm this year, and within the last couple years we’ve had record setting cold days over the winters. When you look at the crazy weather patterns here and in many other places in the world, how can you not see that something’s going on?

Advertising

Advertising, people. If you’re running a business, you need it. I don’t care what kind of business you’re talking about, either. Here’s an example. I’m part of a Civil War re-enactment group whose mission is to educate about what really happened during the Civil War. First, we do it because there is a lot of misinformation and partial truths around. Also, we do it so we don’t forget what led to the Civil War. We were at an event this weekend and few people came through. At first, we weren’t sure if it was the heat or what. Then we talked to some friends who live right in the area and they said they saw no advertising for the event. That is a big piece of why no one showed up. They didn’t come because they didn’t know it was happening. It can be distasteful for some people, but they cannot avoid it. Being an author, artist, or musician is no different. You’re running a business with only one employee. You’ve got to figure out advertising. Okay. I’m getting off my soapbox now.