While I've edited a lot of books and articles in the number of years I've been a professional, I've never done anything quite like my latest project, which was working with another writer to put his newspaper columns into a book. But before I tell you about that, let me back up to the beginning of this whole thing. Four years ago, I was contacted by Arcadia Publishing , asking if I would do a book about Winnsboro for their Images series. I think they found me online, which shows that an online presence can pay off, and they wanted my small town included in the series. Since I am relatively new to this area – sixteen years – I told the editor that I would be happy to do the book if I could work with the Official Winnsboro Historian, Bill Jones. They agreed, and Bill agreed, so we worked for a little over six months to put the first book together - Images of America, Winnsboro. As the title suggests, it is a book comprised mostly of photographs. After that book came o...

This post was first published here on April 26, 2012. Left is Sally, a friend I sold my first book to in 2006. Seated is Bill, an old friend (91 yrs to be exact), then me, Morgan Mandel, to my right is Rosemary, a grammar school friend. I'd grown complacent with putting my romantic thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse , on Kindle and other electronic media; but still, whenever I ran into certain friends, inevitably they'd ask when was my book Launch Party. Well, that proved print books were still in demand, at least in certain circles, so I bit the bullet and got my book published through CreateSpace, not an easy task to accomplish. I checked the proof when it came in, found some errors to correct, so sent off for another. When everything looked all right with the book, I placed larger orders. With books in hand, it was time to set up the party. Here's what I did: Reserved the venue - Arlington Heights Historical Museum - five weeks in adva...

This morning I held a book launch for my first published book, and, since I am also my own publisher, I was the one who had to organise and run the event. Here are some considerations that worked for me, and some wish-I’d-thought-of-that-earlier ideas that occurred to me during and afterwards: 1. Food and books. It seems like a good idea at the time to treat one’s guests to yummy cake... Luckily I have two small children, so, as par for the course, I grabbed a packet of wet wipes as I dashed out the door – and placed it on the table beside the books for cleaning any sticky fingers. 2. Crack open as many of your sale copies of your book as you have time for, and check that there is nothing obviously amiss. I had a book with two folded pages, with the print broken across the fold line - embarrassing when someone picked it up for a browse and pointed it out. 3. Hire a “publicist”. If you own a teenager (or can borrow one), this is a perfect job for them. I’d had in mind that...