(picture from the Cornell University Library. The money represented in this image has very little to do with the money discussed in this post — First Second does not have anything whatsoever to do with bimetallism, thank you very much!) Over the winter holiday break, I watched the beginning of Murder, She Wrote, which I Read the Rest…
(from the Smithsonian Institute. Jane Stafford did not actually write graphic novels, though it would’ve been interesting if she had!) You’ve got a week off from work, so you may be taking advantage of this time to polish your manuscript until it shines and send it off to a publisher. That’s great! We’re not at Read the Rest…
(from The National Library of Ireland. You can tell these people work in publishing because of their moustaches. After obtaining a job in publishing, everyone is required to acquire a moustache for dramatic twirling when having possibly evil secret machinations.) “Doesn’t everyone in publishing know each other?” When I was out upon the town last Read the Rest…
(from the State Library of New South Wales. There they are required to dress much more professionally than we do.) As an author, how formally should you dress when meeting with your publisher? The two words that you want to think about while contemplating this question are: Situational Appropriateness. Depending on what you’re meeting with Read the Rest…
Photo from Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane (whatever that is). I would like this winter here now please. We publish books in seasons. There are three of them, and though they do bear some resemblance to the seasons of nature, it is not really an exact thing. Winter: January through April Spring: May through August Read the Rest…
(from the OSU Special Collections and Archives. As shown above, all contracts must be signed in rooms full of maps.) Why would you want to sign a multi-book contract with a publisher — a contract that gives them the right to publish not just your next book, but your next two or three books? After Read the Rest…
(from the George Eastman House. We try not to keep this much money in the office — and mostly we don’t put it through a shredder when it is around!) Should you ask your publisher for money? Let me first say that I’m talking about this in a marketing context, not a publishing one. We Read the Rest…
(photo from the Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums. No distributors were involved (or harmed) in the making of this picture.) What is a distributor? Despite popular opinion, when you would like a book from First Second, you don’t get it by having one of the First Second staff people go off to the building’s Read the Rest…
(photo from The Library of Congress. We use very similar phones here in the First Second offices.) Phones. Those are a thing that we have in our office, as well as the postal service and also computers. They’re like a primitive technology! Sometimes we use them to keep in touch with people. Should you be Read the Rest…
(from The New York Public Library collection. We were not involved with changing the titles on any of these books.) Sometimes when authors send us books, they are like, ‘the title is Arglefraster!‘ and we say ‘um, no.’ Here are some reasons why. (P.S.: We would totally say no to the title ‘Arglefraster!’ because the Read the Rest…
