It’s been a while since I posted an update about the book, sorry about that!
In case you don’t have time to read, here’s the TL ; dr version, see below for the long version.
After a short delay, the book has gone to the printers to have the proof printed. There should be a unboxing video sent out later this week, or early next week. Books should start shipping about 1-2 weeks after that, so hopefully you should have the book by the end of June.
The Longer Version
Phew! I am very glad that May is over, we’re into June, and the book is off to the printers. I’m sorry that there has not been a book update sent out since the pre-orders closed in late April. I’ve been super busy finishing up the book. May was a long month, filled with all sorts of very busy, but not really exciting things to share about finishing a book. I mean, it’s exciting for me to check off “Assign ISBN number”, “File application for Library of Congress Control Number” and “Request and pay for “Cataloging in Publication and MARC record creation” off the To Do list but that is a really boring screen to share…. Along with writing and re-writing battle descriptions, looking up more details, rewriting some more, placing images on the pages, zooming in, placing more images, captioning each image, and numbering them.
It’s not very thrilling to share “Today I wrote 650 words about a siege, but I can only fit 375 words in the space on the page, so I had to trim, rewrite, trim some more, and still ended up 15 words too long.” or “I spent four hours today reading about a complicated political situation and how it impacted, if at all, the events of this battle. I’m still confused by everything and need to read it again, this time making a chart to keep track of everyone.”
In the middle of this, I had three extended family members end up in the hospital on the same weekend, two of them very serious, one in ICU, which left me making contingency plans for flying back East on short notice to attend a funeral, or two. Thankfully, all of them made it, and there were no funerals, but it’s very challenging to keep historical details in your head, when you’re trying to find the funeral clothes, shop airplane tickets, not worry too much and hang by the phone hoping for updates.
So now the book has gone to the printers to get a proof printed. This is when we find out if the images that looked so great on the screen , actually printed out well, and sometimes they don’t. Since I’m working with two printers, one for US orders and another for International, there are two proofs which need to be checked for print quality. While I’m waiting for them to arrive, it’s back to proof reading, grammar checking and error finding on the book file, because there are always things to fix or change. Oh, and sleeping, doing laundry and housework, because in the last week of finishing up a book, that all gets shoved to the side, and the book gets all my energy.
What’s Next?
Once I get the proof delivered, I’ll send out an unboxing video so you can see it. I love doing those, it’s like Christmas!
Then I get a new book file export with all the new changes uploaded to the printers , and send the email to start the printing process. The US printer will take about 5 business days or so to print the books and get them ready to ship. US buyers will get an email with a tracking number when their book ships. The printer for the international books prints them in different locations (UK, US and Australia) , and will also get a tracking number when their book ships.
Please let me know if you have any questions, and be on the lookout for the unboxing video later this week, or early next week!
All the best,
Marion
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