I’ve been reviewing the contract from NRP. One thing’s for sure: I’m certainly not going to get rich from selling this book! For NRP to just recoup its expenses for editing, publishing, publicity, etc., we’ll have to sell over a thousand book. And then I don’t get much of a royalty per book after that. But to be able to see my name on the cover of a book is going to be such a thrill, I honestly don’t care about the profit margin.
The only thing that really worries me about the contract is a line that says that NRP shall have “sole determination of the book and cover design.” I don’t mind them designing the book for me but I do hope I’ll have some say in the final product. How a book looks is vital to how it is perceived.
So, I sent Nayt a list of three questions:
1. What format do they want for my written manuscript (software, font type, font size, line spacing, etc.)?
2. Do I have to get a Federal Employer ID Number? (I have no idea what one of those is.)
3. Do I really have no say in the book/cover design?
I am anxious to read Nayt’s response, especially to the third question.
PORTRAIT OF GIRL - 1908
I just went onto the FUMFA Book Prize page and saw that Elizabeth had not posted either of the photos I sent to her. I wonder if they weren’t good enough or if she just has not had time to post a photo, yet. Should I e-mail her and ask or let her contact me if she wants a different photo? I want to be helpful and cooperative without being an obsequious pain in the neck. A fine line to tread!
In the meantime, I just finished reading through Frozen Voices (FV) beginning to end one more time. I had some edits to make, just a few words here and there, but for the most part, I was still fairly satisfied with how the novel read. I am curious to see what the various editors (the student team and Nayt) will suggest for edits this fall. I am to turn over my manuscript to NRP by August 29, 2015. Then the fun will begin!
I’ve also begun work on my author’s questionnaire. So far, I answered the question about the description of book/statement of purpose. I enjoyed writing about what I hoped to accomplish by writing FV, although I did feel a bit dishonest. I was discussing what I planned to do after it was already done. As they say, hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy to state the purpose of the book after it’s completed versus when I first started writing it.
Anyhow, I have four more pages of questions to answer, so I’d best get to them. I told Nayt that I hoped to complete the questionnaire by the end of the month, which only gives me two more weeks.