Questions and more questions....

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ChunkyC

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Another new thread to keep track of!

I've started this one as a place to ask questions about the project. I'll put up answers by editing the post with the question so that we don't have to scroll all over the place to find the response. We should end up with a pretty straightforward Q & A thread.

I would like to keep the thread clean, so please only post questions, such as 'how much is an ISBN' or such. I'll scour the forum for questions like that that have already been asked and answered, then copy them over here.

I'm at the day job, so it may take me a little bit of time to do that search.

bebaksoon
 

Christine N.

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Q: When will the flyer be ready? I need time to get them copied before Saturday if I'm going to hand them out.

A: As of today, Sept.26/05, we're still waiting on the final cover art for the book. Once that's in place, it should only take a day or two to finish the posters and flyers and get them uploaded. Jenna was hoping to get the cover yesterday, so it could show up at any moment now.
 
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Kim Gogo

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Q: If I were to order 20 copies on October 15th from lulu, along with potentially hundreds or thousands of others, when is the earliest I could receive my copies of the book?

I had hoped to have the anthology included in a book fair that is to be held in the last weekend of November. It will cost me $25 to be included in the fair so I don't want to commit to it until I know for sure if I will have the books on-hand to sell. If it doesn't look possible, I can post the flyer on our org's table, at the very least. That won't incur any out-of-pocket expenses for me, but I would much rather attend, and avail myself to a book signing to enhance the potential for better sales.

kim

A: If buying directly from LULU, there are numerous options, especially domestically. Click here and scroll to roughly midway down the page to see the timing estimates for their various shipping methods.
 
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Shwebb

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Q: Okay, I asked this in another thread, but I'll post it here:


Who is dealing with the National Red Cross?

I spoke to our local chapter, and they said they have an online store; they can sell the books through them. I will be given the particulars via email on contact info. Let me know, I will forward the info to the person contacting National Red Cross.

A: I believe Jenna may already have been in contact with the Red Cross in order to set up the overall donation plan. I'll double check with her and post an update here.
 
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ChunkyC

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Q: Is there any word on the official press release?

A: The most recent version posted in the press release thread is only missing a few bits such as the finalized release date and full ordering information. Once those are in place, Jenna will let us know and give us a definitive date when we can start sending out our personalized/localized versions of the release. We will want to do this fairly close to the release date itself. We don't want to get the promotional campaign moving in high gear until the book is ready. Just prep your version of it and list of who you'll send it to so it's ready to go at a moment's notice.
 

Shwebb

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Q: Should we go ahead w/ emailing the talk shows? I sent one to the Oprah show, but when I saw the website (which I referenced) is being redone, I am a bit hesitant. I also don't want to send an email to a show where Jenna wouldn't or couldn't appear. In short, could you offer some clarity on this issue? Thanks!

A: See below for Richard's input regarding the site. As for contacting talk shows, I would only do a preliminary contact if at all, one to feel out their willingness to consider putting Jenna on. As for her availability, we obviously can't commit her to anything at this point, but she is willing to consider possibilities as long as the logistics work. This is something that will probably remain fluid for some time yet.
 
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Richard

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The website isn't going to be good to go for a while - until I see the cover-art (whenever it arrives ;-)) I can't really make a site to wrap around it. It's only going to be the bland piece of paper until then, and thus not really what we want people to see.
 

Shwebb

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(I've always been told I ask too many questions . . .)

Q: When the flyer and press release is made ready, what would be the recommended paper to print it on? I don't want to take a beautiful piece of copy and ruin it with the wrong sort of paper. Thicker, of course. Semi-gloss?
Somethin' special?

A: This is a question to ask the copy house you take it to. A matte or glossy finish is not as important as a paper that will reproduce colours with accuracy and vibrancy. I have a personal preference for matte finishes because they don't reflect light as much. In many of the places these will be put up, there will be flourescent light fixtures, and a glossy paper will 'glare' under this kind of lighting.

When we have the posters and flyers ready, we'll test them out on our Xerox digital copiers and I'll make sure to include the Xerox item number/description of the paper that gives us the best result. Copy centres using different brands of copier should be able to then suggest the paper they use that's closest to the Xerox paper.

See the next post for thoughts about adding info to the poster/flyer by affixing a label after printing. We'll pick an appropriate label and provide the AVERY product number & size as well.
 
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Kim Gogo

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Shwebb said:
(I've always been told I ask too many questions . . .)

When the flyer and press release is made ready, what would be the recommended paper to print it on? I don't want to take a beautiful piece of copy and ruin it with the wrong sort of paper. Thicker, of course. Semi-gloss?
Somethin' special?

What some of us are doing is approaching local printers, office copy stores, etc and asking them if they would be interested in printing, say, 100 flyers for free, in trade for free advertising, and then each of us would edit the flyer with acknowledgement on the bottom stating "Printed courtesy of...Ottawa Copy Shop Inc.", or whatever.

kim

CC's Addition to the A: Basically right, Kim. However, the downloadable files will be PDFs, which won't be editable by most folks, which is what we want so that there are no inadvertent changes made to the layout. There will be a spot at the bottom of the poster/flyer where information like who donated the copies can be hand written. Another possibility would be if the printer/copy shop wanted to print themselves labels or stickers denoting their donation, that would go in the empty space at the bottom and be small enough to leave the majority of that space open for you to write in the date of a book signing or whatever. The space will be a white rectangle, so a white label will look fine stuck in the corner of it.
 
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mommie4a

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Q: Chunky - Are there other name authors whose work will be in the book, even regional, that would be helpful to drop? I know that Jennifer Lawler is well-known among freelancers. Anyone else in addition to Wheaton, Hatcher and Card (the latter two I'd never heard of, she said timidly). I know it all depends on what you read and sometimes where you live.

Thanks.

A: I did some checking, but it looks like Jenna is the only one with this answer. I want to avoid passing any of these on to her for a day or so since she's so overloaded right now. I'll pass it along before the weekend if she doesn't drop by this thread and post an answer herself before then.
 
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Shwebb

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Here's another thing to consider regarding taking things to the printers--

It is going to depend on what sort of equipment the printing companies have. Around these parts, some businesses use the old offset printing press that may be 4-color printing. If that's the case, then we'd need to have the camera-ready artwork separated by color.

If that isn't an option, then I could either use my own printer ($$!) or, would I just need to find a printer who has a digital printing press?

Response from CC: Search for a copy shop like Kinkos, or an office supply store. What would be ideal is a place that can print from a computer to a colour copier or colour laser printer. Don't even bother with injet printers. The cost would be prohibitive.
 
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Alphabet

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Q: Will there be a version of the flyers/posters that do not have a big white box at the base... for those that might not have anything to be written in there.

A: Y'know, I don't see why not. We'll do it. So, we will have two posters and two flyers for each market, one version with the box and one without. By markets, I mean North America (11x17 poster, 8.5x11 flyer) and Europe (B4 poster and A4 flyer)
 
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maestrowork

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Q. Will there be a complete list of contributors, maybe even by region... It could be useful in publicity -- to show how many people are involved. And some writers might be known/famous in their communities or nationally (beside Card or Hatcher or Wheaton) so a list would pique certain interest.

A: That's something I definitely will ask Jenna when she catches her breath. I believe she's the only one with the full author list at this point in time.
 
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Shwebb

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maestrowork said:
Q. Will there be a complete list of contributors, maybe even by region... It could be useful in publicity -- to show how many people are involved. And some writers might be known/famous in their communities or nationally (beside Card or Hatcher or Wheaton) so a list would pique certain interest.

So sorry to throw a potential monkey wrench into the works, but it would be really cool to have a spot to personalize the flyer to add the local/regional contributor in with the celebrity names to make it look seamless. When they see the double punch of celebrity names AND a local writer, it might tip the scale a little, too.
 

maestrowork

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Shwebb said:
So sorry to throw a potential monkey wrench into the works, but it would be really cool to have a spot to personalize the flyer to add the local/regional contributor in with the celebrity names to make it look seamless. When they see the double punch of celebrity names AND a local writer, it might tip the scale a little, too.

Personally I think that's just too much to ask -- personalizable (?) flyers, etc. What Jenna or CC can provide, perhaps, is a Photoshop file with layers that anyone could easily add/remove/move texts to personalize. But to design it specifically to create that "seamless" customization (?) is too much work. Then we'll have to have two versions of everything because some people are not going to personalize it...
 

ChunkyC

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Ray's right. We'd potentially have to create over one hundred different posters/flyers, or allow people to edit the files themselves. As I said above, we're not crazy about that since it would potentially lead to other elements of the poster being changed, even if only by mistake. The whole idea of providing downloadable poster/flyer files is to have a single design out there worldwide. Even if we did want folks to customize them, how do we provide the files in formats everyone is going to be able to open and edit? It would quickly become a nightmare. My company is donating one of our staff member's time and expertise to create these, after all. She still has a full time job's worth of clients to take care of, so it's important we keep this as straightforward as possible.
 

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Use the white spot on the flyers to add the contributors' names if there is no advertiser's name to put there. Print up sticky labels so you don't get writer's cramp.
 

mommie4a

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When media calls back and wants interviews

Hi Chunky -

Scfirenice posted a question in book promotions somewhere about how she's been contacted by media and they want an interview and a picture. She sent out her own SOS thread about 2 hours ago I think. Likewise, that would be a great thing for you to answer for all of us - what would you/Jenna et al like us to do when we get contacted - even if we start getting contacts now, before the book is out?

Here is her post:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=341753&postcount=1

Thanks. :)

CC's response: thanks for the heads-up, mommie. Here's how I responded to her post:
Officially, the big thing Jenna doesn't want folks to do is send out the draft press release, or commit in any way to a release date at this point. However, you can say something like "we're hoping to have Stories of Strength available for purchase by the middle of October."

Jot down some notes -- 'talking points' you'd like to cover during the interview. You can cull some from the draft of the press release. Stuff like:
  • Jenna, and why she started the project
  • what the project is all about
  • 100% of the profits to the Red Cross disaster relief fund
  • Lulu's contribution of their profits
  • well known contributors and their accomplishments -- example: Hugo and Nebula award winner Orson Scott Card (their websites will have book titles and list awards they've won if you feel like going that far)
  • the absolute write community - mention how 'over one hundred writers have donated their talents'
  • your involvement, how proud you are to be a part of this, etc.
Always try to refer to the anthology by name as opposed to saying "the book" or "the anthology", we want the title "Stories of Strength" in people's minds.
Link to the entire thread here.
 
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WVWriterGirl

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CC:

My dad's company has offered a small donation towards the publication of the anthology. Are funds still needed? Please PM me with any information regarding donation funds. Thanks!
 

mdin

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Here's a question:

Q: How is the CIP author information going to be listed? Just the editors? Just the three names on the cover?

A: You're referring to Cataloguing in Publication info, correct? Good question, I'll look into it.

Update: I've sent an email to Lulu about this, but in the meantime, this is an entry I found regarding how multiple authors are dealt with in CiP info in Canada:
Why is only one author's name shown at the top of the CIP entry when the book has two authors? Why aren't both author's names shown there?

This question, as you might have guessed, is often asked by the authors themselves! in cases where a book has two or three authors, library cataloguing rules state that the first author mentioned on the title page must be used as the "main entry" on the cataloguing record; the others are recorded as "added entries". When a catalogue record is printed the main entry displays at the top of the catalogue record and the added entries appear after the description of the book. However, this format of main and added entries is a convention for display purposes only; added entries can be searched as well as the main entry in catalogues and databases.

I'll update again when I learn more.
 
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Shwebb

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Q: Charlie, I was wondering how much trouble it would be or if it would be feasible to have a layout for bookmarks for the SoS that we could have printed up, if we wanted.

A: Funny you should ask -- Sharlene has one already designed. As with the posters & flyers, we're just waiting for the reworked cover so we can make the appropriate changes. We'll have a few files for that as well; for printing 5 or 6 at a time on letter and A4, and also for twice as many on a page on ledger and B4 paper.
 
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sthrnwriter

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Q: I know Lulu has international shipping, but does that include India? I have a friend there that wants to buy the book when it is released and wasn't sure if India was included in their international shipping policy. She'll buy the e-book version if she has to but doesn't really want to. Any help with this will be great. Thanks in advance!



A: It does indeed include India. Lulu will ship anywhere on the planet, with a few caveats. Here's the info from their site on international shipping:
International packages are delivered via the postal services of the US and the destination country. There is no tracking or delivery confirmation available for international packages, and Lulu cannot ship to international PO Boxes. You will see the letters USPS in the Tracking Number field of your Order History page after your international package ships.
So, it appears as long as you have a street address, it'll get to you no matter where you live.
 
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Christine N.

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Re: Bookmarks... For my own book, my art director made me up a template, with five bookmarks on the page, landscape, 8.5x11. I took the page to Staples (I also know Kinko's does this too) and had them copied on cardstock. They also cut them, but you can cut them yourself if you want and save money.

Cost me around .30 each... every other printer I looked into wanted at least .50 each.
 

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Q. I keep coming in here looking to see if there is any news on the press release. When it happens, will you place it on a new thread so that we don't have to constantly scan here? I keep thinking I might have missed it and I spend a lot of time browsing through some of the threads several times.

A: It's going to be the biggest thing we've all been waiting for, so I have a feeling Jenna will start a new thread for that.
 
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