Monday morning, bright and early

I’ve switched up my hours a little bit and this week I’m here bright and early. Is it just me, or are there fewer phone calls in the morning?

Since my last blog post I’ve sent out 100+ e-mails about the new Black Ranger book, copy-edited the text on the dust jacket of one of our upcoming releases, The Maps of Chickamauga, become acquainted with the paper-shredder (I find this job very fun; I’m not sure why everyone else thinks it’s such a chore), and organized the Savas Beatie magazine rack (among other things). Now let me fill you in on what’s been going on at Savas Beatie this morning:

• (around) 8:40 A.M.: David Farnsworth (head of Casemate, our distributor) calls. I think it’s important because Ted shut his door. Before that happens, I hear Ted mentioning our upcoming books Flying Drunk and Confessions of a Military Wife, and the conversation seems to be about presenting the titles to buyers, working with media consultants, and publicity. Hmm . . . I keep hearing the word “co-op” and I’m not sure what it means. Maybe it’s another one of those obscure words that can only be found in a publishing dictionary.

Ted filled me in on what a “co-op” is. It has to do with the books that we see on display on tables when we walk into Borders or Barnes and Noble, and the books whose covers face out on the ends of shelves (these are called end caps). Apparently publishers and distributors pay bookstores for this special placement. I always thought the arrangement of the display shelves and tables depended only on how well the books are selling, not on how much money a publisher puts in to advertise their books.

• 9:06 A.M.: Sarah told Tammy to check on a UPS delivery of The New Civil War Handbook. Author Mark Hughes has a number of book signing events lined up on the East Coast in early August, and we want to make sure that each venue receives their books in time for their signing.

• 9:47 A.M.: Joe Balzer (author of Flying Drunk) called and enthusiastically informed Tammy that he’d just finished a very successful radio interview at the EAA air show AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I didn’t catch the name of the station, but I did find out that they liked him so much that they invited him to come back for a longer, more in-depth interview.

That’s all for today. Come back on Wednesday to learn some interesting tidbits about Tammy Hall, my next interview victim.