The book publishing process often remains a mystery to those outside the industry. The exact process for how a book gets from one step to the next within a certain amount of time usually varies from press to press. Some people might expect that things get done relatively quickly, perhaps in a year or less. Others believe that publishers simply move on once the book is completed. For authors, it might seem like an eternity of waiting for news and working to spread the word about their book on their own. The last couple of months before a book is officially published is a very important and busy time for a publishing press.

At the average publishing house, these last few months are spent ensuring that the title gets printed, arrives at the warehouse, and that the early copies are received at the publishing house. At the same time, the marketing and publicity work continues as it has for the past several months. The specifics of what this looks like depends on several factors and varies from press to press. Some factors to consider include the resources that the press has access to, whether the author has published before, how popular the press is expecting the book to be, and many others. There may be a dedicated fanbase for an author and their upcoming title, but if the press doesn’t have many resources, the amount of marketing it gets will be lower.

Here at Ooligan, the Love, Dance, & Egg Rolls team is hard at work preparing for our pub day. The first thing we have been working on is promoting the book across our social media platforms. Each member of the team has created their own posts on various topics that are aimed at generating excitement for the book. We have had the pleasure of focusing on the representation of and aspects of Filipino culture, including food and dance. We are also keeping an eye out for any mention of the book that we were not already anticipating. We love seeing publicity for the titles that our authors have worked so hard on.

As for the rest of the press, we are encouraging everyone to like, comment, and share the posts on their personal accounts so that we can boost the content and generate more viewers. We also have other members of the press who help keep an eye out for how the book is looking online. They are all great contributors to the creation of this book.

We have been very excited to plan the launch event for this book. This event is a great way to celebrate the author and everyone’s contributions that helped bring this book into the world. We are gathering ideas and determining their feasibility in order to make this event the best it can possibly be.

The publication process varies with each publisher, and this is just a glimpse into a small portion of the process. In some cases, this process can last up to two years. Of course, Ooligan Press is a small press made up of almost entirely students, so how we are able to get our books out into the world is different. How some publishing houses like the Big 5 do it may remain a mystery.