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What Is It Like To Make A Book from Seth Godin
The roller coaster of shipping
Perhaps something like this has happened to you. Here’s an annotated graph of what it’s like to make a book, with ‘joy’ being the Y axis with time along the bottom (click to enlarge)…
1. The manic joy of invention. The idea arrives, it’s shiny and perfect. I can’t wait to share it.
2. The first trough of reality. Now that I’ve pitched the idea to someone (and I’m on the hook), the reality of what has to be done sets in precisely as the manic joy of invention disappears.
3. Wait! The epic pause of reality. It’s not quite as bad as I feared. I can see a path here, maybe. I’m still in trouble, sure, but perhaps…
4. The horrible trough of stuckness. The path didn’t work. The data isn’t here. Critical people have said no. People in critical roles have said no. I can’t find any magic. Sigh.
5. Flow. This is why we do it. The promises made as a result of #1 pushed me through the horrible trough, and the lights are coming on and my forward motion, my relentless forward motion, may just be contagious. Let’s not talk about this, because I don’t want it to dissipate.
6. The pre-publication lizard-brain second-guess. I see the notes that have come back to me, all that red pen, the not-quite-ebullient look on the face of a trusted reader. I am sniffing everywhere for clues of impending doom, and yes, there they are.
7. The realization that it’s good enough. This is the local max, but not the universal one. Optimists welcome. It’s not perfect, but it’s going to ship, and good luck to it.
8. Post-partum ennui. “Why haven’t you read my book yet?”
9. Life. And this is the long haul, the book in the world, the hearing about a book you wrote ten years ago that’s still impacting people. The crepe paper grand opening bunting has been taken down and there is no one left to write a snarky review, because the book is on its own, touching, spreading and being.
And then, sometimes, #1 happens again. Or not.
Reblogged from Seth Godin…too good not to share!
The People’s Book Awards Nomination
This is just a quick post to let you know that Take Me to the Castle has been nominated for The People’s Book Awards. I am over the moon. Thank you to those of you who have read it, and if you enjoyed it I wanted to ask if you would be willing to vote. There is a winner picked for the kindle and print categories each month. At the moment I am in between J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K Rowling!!
Thank you also for following this blog and for your likes and interesting comments. I am really enjoying following your blogs, especially this weeks posts on the great Robert Burns and your wonderful photographs. I hope those of you in the colder regions of the world are keeping warm. Here, in Vienna, it is freezing.
And have a good weekend.
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You sieze the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white–then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow’s lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.–
Nae man can tether time or tide;
The hour approaches Tam maun ride;
That hour, o’ night’s black arch the key-stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
And sic a night he taks the road in
As ne’er poor sinner was abroad in.
Extract from ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ Robert Burns
F.C. MALBY 