The waiting game

[Michael Hopcroft]

I have a mansucript with everything needed to go sitting on my hard drive. Since I;'ve contracted out my printing and layout, I have to wait until they say they are ready to take on the project before I send them what I have.

Since the poeple i deal with at Windstorm usually work late into the night, it is a sore temptation to stay up and wait for them to send me an e-mail saying "OK -- send us the mansucript!" or "Not yet -- give us time to work out some details". But I don't know if n can endure long enough tonight. which frustartes me no end because I can;t find a normal time of the day at which I can call them and say "I have this book ready -- shall I send it to you?"

I already know they want the book becvause I've already cleared it with them. There are still a few details I might want to work out, though.

It also doesn;t help that i have two more mansucripts scheduled to head their way on the 1st -- and I have been assured those deadlines will be met. Overhwelming your printer and distrubtor is universally regarded as Not A Good IDea, but again they approved of the idea in advance. I just wish i knew whether they were ready.

[Mark Johnson]

If you haven't been talking to them, it doesn't sound like you are overwhelming them.  I would go ahead and contact them in a polite way.  If you don't want to do it yourself, have a friend be your representative.  "This is Mark from Universal Imports and I am calling in regards to the Hopcroft project, I was wondering when..." etc. etc.  This is the way I handle things in my daytime business and it works very well.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,
Mark

[Michael Hopcroft]

Trust me, they're overhwlemed. The president of the company gets 250 e-mails a day AFTER the spam is filetered away. She barely has time to read it all and still do her job.

Mkaing matters worse is that the second of my three mansucripts is not finished. One more to go and I'll have eveyrthing that was scheduled for them on the 1st of September done -- on the 1st of September. A publisher meeting his deadlines is probably not something they are used to. They don;t expect it. I wonder if they even want it, as their layout division is already playing catch-up on existing projects.

I had hoped to have some books ready in time for DunDraCon. I don;t know how likely that looks now. Maybe if I amend the order to have them rushed.... According to the layout guru, the grunt work of the graphic design shouldn;t take THAT long....

[jdagna]

Just upload the manuscript to your website (preferablly with an htaccess password or something to keep it relatively secure), and ask them to let you know when they have it (so you can delete it).  Then there's no need to wait for anything - when they're ready, they'll already have the file and won't need to wait for you to send it then.

You might also need a company that's more in tune with your needs if their style isn't working for you.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Given the amount of aid they are offering with publishing, ;layout, priinting costs and promotion., I;'d be a fool to drop this deal. I just need to figure out a way for each of us to accomodate the other's schedules. it's a balancing act. Sadly, i am unbalanced almost to the clinical point and I am horrendously difficult to make wait.

It's like the old saying -- "Give me some patience NOW, dammit!"