From the Tool Shed A Book's Calendar

Calendars and schedules must be considered in producing a book. One is of course the schedule in getting the book prepared for publication; one is for the production (the printing) phase, and one is the promotional phase. It is this last item, how one distributor looks at plans (it is no doubt fairly typical) that is considered on this shelf of the Tool Shed.

• Publishing Calendar
  
  
• Talk to The Cat

The following comes from Ronald Ted Smith at BookWorld, a major distributor. He says: "Here's something you might like to keep. The ideal calendar for publishers (to us, at least, and probably for other distributors as well) is as follows. (It's included in the Bookworld October [1997] newsletter, which you're invited."

Quite likely the second most important factor in successful publishing is the calendar. (The first is content and design, of course.) If you hit the market in the wrong month, you can strike out entirely because you can't get presented to the buyers. So it pays to know the industry's calendar, and to plan accordingly.

It's not rocket science. The whole scheduling subject is simply a matter of knowing that your distributor catalog takes a couple of months or more, especially if it's in full color as BookWorld's is. And that Barnes & Noble wants to see your books four to five months ahead of the proposed in-store date. And so forth.

Comments or suggestions?
Write to catspawpress@aol.com; we'd love to hear from you. Thanks for dropping by, and come again--we'll be adding new "shelves" and "rooms " in the Tool Shed from time to time, and there's always new material to put in the Tool Shed!

You can also take a publishing class: Pat Bell is a faculty member of the Writers College, where she teaches an on-line class on publishing. Check out When is The Next Publishing Class? for her current schedule.

Don't have time to take a class? You can also arrange for consultations with her. Help is close at hand!