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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Publishing Life » Page 6

The Publishing Life

Silly Saturday – February 29, 2020

By Steve Laubeon February 29, 2020
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Happy Leap Day!

Since this is an “extra” day I thought I’d provide a couple bits of trivia for you.

Did you know? …

When you open a physical book you have two pages. The left and the right. Those pages actually have names! verso and recto. Verso is the left hand page and Recto is the right hand page. This is commonly talked about in publishing production when communicating with a typesetter.

Printed books always begin on the Recto (right) page. Most non-fiction continues this with every chapter. But fiction has the freedom to start a new chapter on the verso page.

The title page is always recto.
The copyright page is always directly after that … verso.

The page number begins with recto. Since recto is always page one, your odd number pages should always be on the right hand side. I often see self published books that don’t do this. A sign of someone who doesn’t know the conventions of book printing.

____________

The last “letter” in the alphabet used to be “and.” Back in the old days you recited the alphabet and ended it with “and, per se, and.”  This was later corrupted into the term “ampersand” and the symbol (&) we use today to indicate the word “and.” (To the right is a picture from an 1863 textbook showing the last “letter” of the alphabet.”)

 

 

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Category: The Publishing Life

A Year in Review: A Look at 2019

By Steve Laubeon January 6, 2020
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It’s that time of year to reflect on the past year, to learn from our experiences, and to count our blessings. Here are some thoughts on the last tumultuous twelve months. The Industry The publishing industry seems to survive the bad press that loves to find the negative in everything. Each publisher continues to pursue the best content possible. The market is ever-changing, and some really smart …

Read moreA Year in Review: A Look at 2019
Category: Agency, Agents, Awards, Book Business, Book Sales, Christian Publishing Show, Christian Writers Institute, Contests, Conventions, Economics, Encouragement, Marketing, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Trends

Never Burn a Bridge!

By Steve Laubeon December 2, 2019
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The sale of Thomas Nelson to HarperCollins and last week's sale of Heartsong to Harlequin brought to mind a critical piece of advice:

Never Burn a Bridge!

Ours is a small industry and both editors and authors move around with regularity. If you are in a business relationship and let your frustration boil into anger and ignite into rage...and let that go at someone in the publishing company, …

Read moreNever Burn a Bridge!
Category: Agency, Book Business, Book Business, Career, Communication, Rejection, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Agents, Editors, Get Published, Rejection, Trends, Writing Craft

Book Manufacturing

By Steve Laubeon August 5, 2019
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If you ever get the chance to visit a printing press, do it. I've had the privilege to visit two of them. The first was Standard Publishing's printing press in Cincinnati. Their plant is quite large and they do a wide variety of printing, everything from books to curriculum to Star Wars coloring books.

The other plant was Bethany Press International in Bloomington, MN. During my years with …

Read moreBook Manufacturing
Category: Book Business, Publishing History, The Publishing LifeTag: book manufacturing, Get Published, printing

Four Questions About Publicity

By Steve Laubeon July 29, 2019
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by Steve Laube

Publicity is the art of telling the world about you and your book. We recently received a few questions about publicity via the green button you see in the right hand column of our blog (yes, it really works).

1.) When should a writer hire a publicist?
I think an author should wait to see what their publisher will provide in this area. If you do hire a publicist make sure …

Read moreFour Questions About Publicity
Category: Marketing, The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Marketing, Publicity

Books Are Still Selling

By Steve Laubeon July 1, 2019
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Despite the desire of many to declare the death of the book, they continue to sell at a breathtaking pace. (New Yorker magazine “Twilight of the Books”  and BBC future – “Are paper books really disappearing?”) According to the “Association of American Publishers’ StatShot Annual Report for Calendar Year 2018,” book publishers based in the U.S. had …

Read moreBooks Are Still Selling
Category: Book Business, Book Sales, The Publishing Life

What Are Average Book Sales?

By Steve Laubeon June 24, 2019
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A writer asked me, “What does the average book sell? An industry veteran at a writers conference recently said 5,000. What??? I know it all depends …. but … nowhere near 5,000, right?” My simple answer? It’s complicated. It depends. Average is a difficult thing to define. Each publishing company defines success differently. If a novel sells 5,000 copies at one publisher, …

Read moreWhat Are Average Book Sales?
Category: Book Business, Book Sales, Get Published, Money, The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Book Sales, Get Published, Trends

How Long Does It Take to Get Published?

By Steve Laubeon June 3, 2019
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How long does it take to get published? I came to the publishing business from the retail bookstore side of the equation. In the beginning, the biggest adjustment was understanding how long the process for traditional publishing takes. In retail there is instantaneous gratification (customer walks in, buys something, and walks out). With indie publishing there can be nearly instantaneous …

Read moreHow Long Does It Take to Get Published?
Category: Book Business, Book Business, Book Proposals, Contracts, Get Published, Marketing, Publishing A-Z, Self-Publishing, The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: Agents, Book Business, Contracts, Editors, Proposals, waiting

Gems of Writing Wisdom from Writers Conferences

By Bob Hostetleron May 8, 2019
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I attend and present at eleven or twelve writers conferences a year. That’s a lot. But it’s always a joy to renew friendships and talk writing and meet promising writers. It’s also amazing how much writerly wisdom flows at these events, some of it in such volume that attendees and faculty can struggle to hear and process all of it. So I thought I’d offer a little help and record here some (a small …

Read moreGems of Writing Wisdom from Writers Conferences
Category: Book Business, Career, Get Published, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Would You Buy Your Own Book?

By Steve Laubeon May 6, 2019
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When I ask a room of writers if they would buy their own book if they saw it on the shelf at a major bookstore I am met with a variety of reactions. Laughter. Pensiveness. Surprise. And even a few scowls. How would you answer that question?

But the question is meant to ask if your book idea is unique. Whether it will stand out among the noise of the competition.

It is not a question of …

Read moreWould You Buy Your Own Book?
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Get Published, Marketing, Pitch, Pitching, Platform, The Publishing Life, Writing CraftTag: Marketing, Pitching, Proposals
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