Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Baby steps to a book

The long process of making a book a reality took a big step forward this week: I finished the first round of edits and returned the draft to the publisher!

About three weeks ago, I received the edited version of the manuscript. The publisher hired a professional copy editor who did a fantastic job. The changes weren't major, but the improvement was. The text is much tighter now, with fewer extraneous words and convoluted sentences. He also trimmed some of my overused phrases, such as "One of the many ways" and "Blogging allows you to". It was a true pleasure to see my words made so much better by a true professional.

When you receive the revised draft, your job is to go through all of the edits and approve each one, or modify them as you see fit. The editor also inserts questions throughout for you to respond to: usually requests for clarification or pointing out that some text introducing the next section is needed. In addition, he does some basic fact checking, makes things consistent throughout (Internet or internet) and even tests web addresses for accuracy.

At first, I was overwhelmed by the sight. On my screen was the digital equivalent of 225 pages with red pen marks on them. After working through the first chapter, though, I started to see how much better the text was after the changes and really appreciate the seasoned edits. It's not too often in our professional lives that someone else comes in after you with the sole purpose of improving your work, while you still get all the credit :) It's like book therapy or something.

This round of edits carried some additional pressure because it was the last chance to make significant changes or additions. I rewrote quite a bit of the Preface, but the rest of the book remained largely the same. Hopefully, I won't discover a brilliant missing chapter or anecdote in the next few months.

Next, the publisher incorporates all of the edits into page proofs. For the first time, I'll be able to see what the text will look like on the page, with the final styles and layout. I'll receive these pages in late September and have three weeks to read through them and make all last minute tweaks and corrections. After that, the book goes to print for release in January!

Right now, the endorsements, forward, and cover are being finalized. I'll share those as soon as possible!

Pre-order The Blogging Church from Amazon.com

A few good links

A new version of Blogger, Google's free blog tool, is on the horizon.

C-SPAN has some excellent podcasts, but did you know a Road to the White House podcast was available? Very cool!

"I have reasons to believe that almost no one actually reads this stuff." Great post by Dave Winer about how little people actually read blogs. So often, it becomes nothing more than obsessive skimming to see how fast you can empty your blogging inbox.

Scott Hodge overhears a conversation between Starbucks' employees. The most successful organizations are led by a driven leader with an incredible vision that is owned by people at every level.

If you've ever wanted a (brief) overview of 37signals' systems architecture, look no further.

Another recent Google purchase, Writely, a slick online word processor, is now open to the public.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

One of our family's favorite authors is Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. She primarily writes for young adults. She has written over 150 books, including many classic series such as Shiloh, The Cat Pack, The Boys Versus the Girls, The Besseldorf Hotel, and more. Ben and I have read over 20 of her books together and sharing the Shiloh and Cat Pack books in particular will always be some of my favorite times with him.

If you have children between 7-10, find the letter N in the juvenile fiction area of your library and you'll come home with a bag full of humor, warmth, and timeless lessons.

When Ben was younger, he and I wrote a letter to Mrs. Naylor, including some drawings he had done of Marco and Polo, the feline stars of the Cat Pack books. Less than a month later we received a handwritten note that was incredibly sweet and thoughtful. She even mentioned that the pictures were hanging on her wall. If we weren't smitten before, we were then!

Another interesting fact is that Mrs. Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, where both of my parents spent parts of their childhood and later went to college. I, too, attended Anderson University during my freshman year. She returned to speak at the school a couple of years ago, which I was sad to miss.

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that Mrs. Naylor has an author's blog on Amazon. She's posting quite regularly and I absolutely love to read her thoughts. There is something so peaceful in her reflections, whether about growing up, her inspiration for writing, or just today, the importance of porches. I'm so glad she's decided to share her thoughts in this new way.

View the blog

The I's Have It

Thanks for all of the great feedback on whether The Blogging Church should include an index. The comments were overwhelming in favor of an index and so when the book is published in January, you'll find an index right where you'd expect! Without your votes and persuasive arguments, I most likely would've turned down the index, so you guys really made a difference.

Of course, all of you who voted for an index are now contractually obligated to purchase the book since it will indeed have an index. Just submit your receipts for verification and I'll update your records :)

Thanks again for the help!