Hey all!
Just a quick update on where we are with How to Get Fired!, my new book which is published but which nobody can buy yet, unless you order it from this website, which you’ll already know if you’re reading this blog, so I don’t really need to be telling you. But I did. Ha!
Anyway, in the last few months I have established a publishing company (Big Pow! Books), found a printer, found a distributor, and registered for ISBNs, barcodes, and all the other fun stuff that comes with figuring everything out as you go. Turns out, most of this stuff isn’t hard – it just costs money, which I will theoretically make back once How to Get Fired! becomes the most popular book in the entire world, a feat which is likely impossible since the book contains neither wizards nor vampires. I think the next book I write will be about a vampire-wizard, or a wizard-vampire; I haven’t made up my mind.
The process of finding a distributor is generally the most important, and thus most difficult, part of dealing with books. I submitted to about eight, got rejected by two or three outright, but actually ended up having four or five express an interest. I think the key is having a decent business and marketing plan, doing a bit of research to show that your book might be different than the others on the market, and having something tangible to show them.
At any rate, the book’s official release date is going to be April 1. So, now it’s time to turn to publicity, the delicate art of paying somebody to tell you how great you’re going to be. Finding a publicist is seriously the easiest thing in the world; the hardest thing is knowing whether or not the person you hire will do anything worth paying for. Jury’s out – we’ll see what happens, but I’ll keep you posted.
To sum up: if any of you are thinking about publishing a book and would like to know more about the whole process, feel free to email me any time, and I’ll tell you everything I know. I can’t say yet whether my efforts are going to pay off, but it’ll be an interesting ride either way.
Finally entering the 21st century
Posted by: Jeff @ 10:33 am
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Awesome Keywords: blog, career, comments, how to get fired, introduction, jeff havens, uncrapify
Hello all,
Well, the world has beaten me. After years of everyone telling me how far behind the curve I am and how much I’m missing out on, I have finally decided to leave the 19th century and start my own blog. Part of my resistance has undoubtedly been the word ‘blog’ itself, which sounds to me like mild gastrointestinal ailment. “Are you OK?” “No, I just blogged a little, I don’t think the hot peppers are sitting well.”
However, since there is an outside chance that people might be interested in what I’m doing, here we go. This blog will consist primarily of updates about the various shows I’m putting together – Uncrapify Your Life!, How to Get Fired!, and the others that I’m currently working on – along with posts from around the country as I travel to perform and whatever other interesting thoughts I have that relate to either the professional or personal worlds. I promise not to post anything resembling a Twitter feed – for example, I will never mention what I’m eating or how much I love my new shoes – and I promise to keep my exclamation points to a bare minimum. And except for the end of this sentence, I WILL NOT CAPITALIZE ENTIRE BLOCKS OF TEXT IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE WHAT I’M SAYING LOOK MORE IMPORTANT THAN IT ACTUALLY IS.
So there you go. The point here is to have fun, share ideas, and hopefully build a community that – dare I say it – might actually work toward something positive. To that effect, I will be soliciting opinions and comments from time to time about various topics. I will be vetting all comments before they are posted, though, so please try to be civil. No cursing, no character assassination, no conspiracy theories, no pictures of naked people, no pictures of almost naked people, no pictures of people who look like they’re thinking about getting naked, etc.
And with that, let the games begin. (I wanted to put an exclamation point there, but I resisted.) It’s taken me five years to get around to setting one of these up. Now, let’s see what all the fuss is about.