The other day I got the outside reader's report for the press I'm now working with. And it's really good. Glowing, even. There are certainly suggestions for improvement, but they're smart, reasonable, and helpfully detailed--moreover, it's the kind of work I could easily accomplish in a couple of months, even during term-time, without pulling my hair out.
So I'm meeting with the editor at MLA to talk about bringing the project to the publications board. It's not necessarily a lock for a contract, given the mixed reviews from the press I was previously working with, but I feel pretty hopeful. (On the blogosphere's advice, I disclosed my experience with that press when this one indicated its interest--and I shared all four of the previous two reviewers' reports, and my responses to those reports. I was apprehensive about doing so, but it turns out to have been the right move.)
I'm not gonna lie: it's been a tough six and half months, and the past few weeks I've felt sick to my stomach every time I opened my work email. But if this works out, it'll amount to maybe a seven-month delay, with the end result of having a smaller, better, more attentive press see the project through.
So. Fingers crossed.
7 comments:
Crossing fingers!
YAY YAY YAY YAY! This is wonderful news, and I hope it keeps getting wonderfuller.
Fingers crossed indeed!
Best wishes. Remember Alfred and the spider.
Fingers crossed, Flavia! Sounds like a huge step in the right direction.
I'm so glad that this appears to be working out -- and that honesty was indeed the best policy!
My guess is that the press board has been around the academic publishing block, and they all have friends who had experiences like yours with your previous press. (Or they even have their own experiences like that!) My bet is that your acquisitions editor wouldn't want to meet with you to discuss bringing the project before the board if ze didn't already want to publish your book--this might be just a meeting about how to respond to your new reader's suggestions, and what will and will not fly with hir board.
Openness and honesty are really the only ways to go. (I'm a big fan of both, because then I don't have to remember to whom I've told which story, who knows what, etc.)
I'm so glad to hear your good news! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good publication experience.
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