Cheers for Arcadia
Today is the official “ship-from” date for my new book Images of America: Red Lodge. That means the book is shipping from the warehouse today, and should be in stores by Monday.
For me personally, one of the joys of the book has been my relationship with the book’s publisher, Arcadia Publishing. It’s the best such relationship I’ve ever had -- even compared to larger and better-known commercial outfits.
One of the keys, I believe, is that Arcadia has a well-defined set of rules. The company publishes hundreds of books across the nation each focusing on historic photographs of a small community or neighborhood. To cut costs, they standardize the format of these books. They have very strict rules on what types of photos work, where they work, and how they need to be captioned. But -- and this is another key -- they explain those rules well. Perhaps because they often work with first-time authors, Arcadia provided reams of material explaining things I needed to do.
Many of those things were above-and-beyond normal author expectations. (For example, I had to do much of the layout on the book.) But they were well explained, in advance. Since I wasn’t surprised by these tasks, I didn’t resent them. Meanwhile, I knew that all of the tasks on Arcadia’s side were being performed effectively. (For example, I’ve been chatting this week with the publicist and salesperson on the best ways to market the book.)
One lesson that other publishers might take is the benefit of customer relationship software. Many of Arcadia’ emails to me were attached to a CRM number, implying (and I didn’t ask about details) that a software package had reminded an editor, marketer, or other individual of an upcoming deadline. Having software to organize and remember dates and rules frees the person up to be personable. And that was the final key: a set of friendly, responsive individuals.
Well, there’s one more final key: the royalty checks. Those won’t start arriving for some time, but given our experience so far, I’m optimistic.
I'm always interested in feedback, below or via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
For me personally, one of the joys of the book has been my relationship with the book’s publisher, Arcadia Publishing. It’s the best such relationship I’ve ever had -- even compared to larger and better-known commercial outfits.
One of the keys, I believe, is that Arcadia has a well-defined set of rules. The company publishes hundreds of books across the nation each focusing on historic photographs of a small community or neighborhood. To cut costs, they standardize the format of these books. They have very strict rules on what types of photos work, where they work, and how they need to be captioned. But -- and this is another key -- they explain those rules well. Perhaps because they often work with first-time authors, Arcadia provided reams of material explaining things I needed to do.
Many of those things were above-and-beyond normal author expectations. (For example, I had to do much of the layout on the book.) But they were well explained, in advance. Since I wasn’t surprised by these tasks, I didn’t resent them. Meanwhile, I knew that all of the tasks on Arcadia’s side were being performed effectively. (For example, I’ve been chatting this week with the publicist and salesperson on the best ways to market the book.)
One lesson that other publishers might take is the benefit of customer relationship software. Many of Arcadia’ emails to me were attached to a CRM number, implying (and I didn’t ask about details) that a software package had reminded an editor, marketer, or other individual of an upcoming deadline. Having software to organize and remember dates and rules frees the person up to be personable. And that was the final key: a set of friendly, responsive individuals.
Well, there’s one more final key: the royalty checks. Those won’t start arriving for some time, but given our experience so far, I’m optimistic.
I'm always interested in feedback, below or via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
