This past winter was another busy term for the Where We Call Home team! We recently received the full manuscript of the book, so our editorial department is working on copyedits while our designers get ready to create the galley of the book. As we enter publication year, the project team is hard at work making sure our sales and press materials are ready to be put out into the world.

The very first thing the team worked on this year was the interior design brief. We met and discussed how the book is organized as essays, thus requiring certain design specifications. We also talked about the possibility of light illustrations in the book, which we are keeping open.

Next up, one of our team members created our beautifully designed tipsheet. The tipsheet is a well-designed document that provides marketing information for sales representatives in one easy-to-find place. With the tipsheet designed, we’re another step closer to being ready to present Where We Call Home to sales representatives.

Right now, we have a light copyedit in progress for the entire manuscript. As that’s happening, the project team is diligently working on filling the contact sheet with individuals to send blurb requests and review requests to. This process takes a lot of web sleuthing as we want to cast out a large net of requests later on. We’re getting pretty close to having a good number of contacts in our contact sheet, which will then signal that we’re ready to start on the blurb requests and review requests themselves.

The rest of this term is going to stay just as busy. Next up, we’ll be working on the press kit and templates for blurb and review requests. The press kit will include a one-pager, which is very similar to a tipsheet, the press release, and information about the author, the book, and our press for publicity. At the same time, we’ll be personalizing and perfecting our templates for blurb requests and review requests. We’ll be sending those to potential reviewers and blurbers before the end of the term as this can be a particularly time-consuming part of the publishing process.

Because Where We Call Home is publishing in November of this year, next term is going to be just as full of things to do. We will be taking that time to work primarily on the Social Media Strategy Document and the Bulk Upload Sheet. We will use these documents to create social media posts to promote the book ahead of its publication date.

Here at Ooligan, we will also be preparing second-year students to graduate and training first-year students to take over management positions next term. The team will have no shortage of exciting things to do and learn as we move closer to publication this fall.