Brad Webb’s session was all about landing a commissioned book deal and I am posting this for Pre-Press Publishing because Brad spoke about formatting the book, and I feel that this session related the most to what we do in Pre-Press.
Anyway, here are the notes and thoughts I had during the session.
People remember the mistakes more than the good things. Brad spoke at length about all the mistakes that the editor and the publisher made but only stopped on the good things every once in a while. It is clear that the bad things, the frustrating, easily fixed mistakes are what have stuck with Brad the most.
CHECK ALL THE FACTS!
Several times Brad said that he had to go into the proofs and edit things that he’d edited in previous proofs. He was constantly fact checking the things that the publisher was putting in the book. And with something like Ned Kelly, you have to make sure that you are 100% correct because there are fanatics out there who will slaughter you online if you don’t.
Probably the thing that I found most astonishing about Brad’s session, is that the editor did not read the whole work until several proofs had been done. How can you understand and edit the content if you haven’t even read it?
If you have an existing audience, you are more likely to take it to an editor or publisher.
