{"id":8701,"date":"2016-09-14T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildbookbuzz.com\/?p=8701"},"modified":"2023-12-07T21:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T21:37:02","slug":"book-review-my-publishing-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandra.oddjar.com\/book-review-my-publishing-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: My Publishing Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Publishing Journey: The guided journal for authors \"\"to record their publishing adventures<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a lovely gift book for authors and authors-to-be disguised as a children’s book.<\/p>\n

Or, at least, I thought it was a children’s book when I opened the envelope sent to me by one of the book’s editors. The first thing I saw was the illustrated\u00a0rooster on the back cover, so I thought, “Why did\u00a0someone send me a children’s book?”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"back<\/a><\/p>\n

Turning the book over to look at the cover (see image at the top of the post) only further reinforced my sense that this was a children’s book until I saw the title and remembered my correspondence with co-editor Tamara Dever.<\/p>\n

As you can tell, my first reaction wasn’t, “I recognize this as a book for authors<\/em>,” but so what<\/em>. Thanks to a whimsical\u00a0cover and colorful interior pages, all illustrated by Elizabeth Dotterer<\/a>, this is an unusually\u00a0attractive book for adult authors.<\/p>\n

So what is My Publishing Journey<\/em>?<\/h3>\n

\"My<\/a>My Publishing Journey\u00a0<\/a><\/em>is a 62-page hardcover book that allows new authors to document some of their\u00a0experiences — and their reactions to them — while writing and publishing their books. Wrapped around pages where authors can write down their answers to the journal questions are short essays by authors on specific topics, such as “before writing” and “building your team.”<\/p>\n

I expected the three women identified as authors\u00a0to\u00a0weigh in with their advice as the owners of a book design and production company<\/a>, but they contribute only one page of text. Not surprisingly, it’s the page on how to select a design professional. For that reason, I see them as co-editors, not co-authors, but that’s a small point.<\/p>\n

Each\u00a0short essay by contributors — there are 10 of them — is followed by a few pages of questions about the chapter topic and space to write answers. For example, the marketing and publicity section lets authors record launch party details, detail how they used social media for promotion, and explain what book marketing tactics did and didn’t work for them.<\/p>\n

Who will love it?<\/h3>\n

I absolutely love this book’s design, but I’m not the target audience for its contents. I think that professional writers and veteran authors like me are\u00a0past the point of logging our\u00a0reactions to how others responded when we\u00a0told them about our\u00a0current book project.<\/p>\n

I think the questions and the design are a little too touchy-feely for most business book authors, too. For the same reason, I think it will appeal to women more than men.<\/p>\n

So who will\u00a0appreciate both its content and design? It’s mostly women who are:<\/p>\n