Category Archives: Thoughts on Building a Book

Something Tangible!

 

The decals for the cover of the book have arrived and they look WONDERFUL!

Sorry, you’ll just have to wait until the book is here to see them. I’m just so doggone mean about that kind of thing. At least you know that I can keep a secret. 😎

Now, if a truck with 2 pallets of books would just arrive, maybe I could sleep through the night without bad book dreams.

The Cabins of Wilsonia IS coming soon, I just know it!

Meanwhile, I’ve been messing around with the look of this blog. It’s just nervous fidgeting.

Book Report

IMG_7338

Sometimes, no matter how much planning is done, no matter how many assurances are given, things don’t go right.

The printer said it would take about 6 weeks to produce the books, so when I sent the final product off on July 18, it seemed reasonable to expect that we’d have The Cabins of Wilsonia in hand by mid September.

After receiving the book, the printer told me that they cannot bind my book and will have to send it to an outside source for that very important step. That added some time, but they could not tell me how much longer.

A few weeks ago, the printer notified me that the outside binder will not have the books finished until November 19. The printer needs to do one final step before shipping them to me, and then it will be a minimum of 5 days in a truck before the book arrive in Three Rivers.

My idea is to ask for the binder to ship directly to me and allow me to complete that final step. If they agree, that should put the book in your hands around Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, I don’t know when the books will be ready or in your hands. All I can offer is one of my favorite cliches:  “More will be revealed in the fullness of time.”

The good news is that I have reinstated the early bird price of $70, which includes tax and shipping. This price will be good until November 19. If you would like to pre-order a copy of the book, the check can be made out to Cabinart and mailed to P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271.

When things don’t go my way, I often reassure myself that no one died and no one got cancer. Thank you for your kind patience and please administer dark chocolate.

Preorder your copy of The Cabins of Wilsonia using Paypal via this Add to Cart button:

Preorder price has now expired. It is $86, including tax and mailing.

An Idea

 

I have an idea. The next obstacle is getting the so-far-not-very-cooperative printer to cooperate. It could shave 2 weeks off the process, if they are flexible.

I’ve given up on the private jet rescue scenario. This one is realistic, but depends on a non-service oriented company working harder to please one very unhappy customer.

Ahem. That would be me.

Don’t worry. I have been and will continue to be professional and polite even in the face of their incompetence.

And no, they do not read this blog. My project is not of very much significance to them. However, it is of supreme importance to me and I am doing all that I can to get those books to my customers!!

Do you have any idea how much restraint it took to not shout that last sentence?

Book Report

 

On Monday, September 29, the book printer’s customer service representative sent me this message:

I have some distressing news regarding the schedule for these books.  The soonest the outside binder can get books completed and back to us is November 19.   We’ve been working with them for the past week to get a better date. They did pull it in from 11-24, but their workload is extremely heavy and that’s the best they can do.  It’s that time of year for all book manufacturers.   They did tell us that they will stay on top of it and move it in more if space should open up.  We’ll stay on them with weekly checks.

I’m really sorry.  I know this is not what you wanted to hear.  If there was anything I could do, I would most definitely be right on it.  I know how very important this is to you.

And now you know what I know.

Please excuse me for a while. I need to go smash something.

Waiting for Wilsonia Wearing Worrying Wondering

Wilsonia cabin drawing

This cabin looks worn out. I thought it belonged to the Park Service, because many of the neglected cabins do. It doesn’t. It is in some sort of family dispute.

I am in some sort of delivery dispute. The book The Cabins of Wilsonia WILL be delivered, but no one can say when.

Here is what I’ve been told:

1. It went on the press on the night of September 11. (Don’t know how long on the press)

2. It will go to an outside binder, but no one can say how long that company will take. No one is saying where that company is, so there is no information about shipping to and from them either.

3. There will be work done to finish up the cover back at the printer. No one is saying how long that will take.

4. It will take about 5 days in a truck after that.

I spent 3 years making something, and then turned it over to strangers far away who will turn it over to other strangers even further away. I don’t remember the stress, angst, and flat out anxiety of this part from my other book. But, my other book was printed in California, it only took a year to do, and I had a partner to share the burden with.

Am I beginning to look like the cabin in the drawing above? Don’t answer that, please!

Full Price

Pull up a chair.

Pull up a chair.

The pre-order price for The Cabins of Wilsonia expired. The new price is $86, which includes tax and mailing (within the USA). If you are someone I see regularly, deduct $5 because instead of putting it in a fancy-pants box and taking it to the Post Office, I’ll simply place it in your hands.

This button will take you to Paypal. Or, if you prefer, you can write an old-fashioned check, put it in an old-fashioned envelope, address to my old fashioned P.O. Box, and put an old-fashioned stamp on it. That’s P.O. Box 311, Three Rivers, CA 93271 

And no, I still don’t know when to expect the books! Thanks for asking, and thank you for your patience. I could use a little bit of that myself.

What It Is and What it Isn’t

 

pencil drawing of Wilsonia cabin

What it is:

The upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia is an album. It is a collection of pictures designed to show the overview of a cabin community. It is pictures of the typical, pictures of the unique, word pictures of cabin life expressed in stories from cabin folks. It is designed to show the many architectural styles within the community.  It is a medley of little details, such as the way the sun lands on something ordinary and makes it beautiful. It shows things that are ordinary to cabin life that may be unusual in “normal” life. It is a picture of cabin life in the 20th century. It is pencil drawings made from photos that I spent days and days shooting, editing, cropping, choosing, and three years putting together. It is the celebration of a very special treasure of Tulare County and Kings Canyon National Park.

wilsonia cabin photo

What it Isn’t

It is not a directory of cabins. It is not a comprehensive, all-inclusive list of every cabin. It is not a history book. It is not a complete representation of every one of the 214 cabins in Wilsonia. It isn’t photos. It isn’t a list of cabins that used to be there. It isn’t a collection of cabins that currently belong to the Park. It isn’t a hastily thrown together piece of work.

And it isn’t yet in our hands.

Who Wants a Book About Wilsonia?

 

commissioned pencil drawing

When someone wants to self-publish a book, one of the biggest puzzles to solve is who will want to buy the book. If someone wants to publish a book traditionally, that is probably the most important question too.

Let’s answer that question about The Cabins of Wilsonia, an upcoming book about cabin life in a mountain community, told in drawings and quotations from the residents.

1. People who love Wilsonia

This could be people who have visited, who have a cabin, who used to have a cabin, who have friends with a cabin or who wish they had a cabin.

Surprising fact: many cabin folks have asked if their cabin will appear in the book. If it doesn’t, or if it doesn’t appear in the way that they think it should, they are not shy in letting me know they will not be buying a book!

2. People who love cabins

Did you know there is a website of beautiful cabin photos called “cabin corn”? (Not really called that, but I didn’t want to type the second word which actually begins with the letter “P” – you figure it out!) There are people who just love cabins and small homes and mountain living.

3. People who love pencil

This book will have 276 pencil drawings. There are people who love to draw, people who love pencil drawings, people who love detail, drawing students past and present.

4. People who love local information

There are people who buy all books of local history. The Cabins of Wilsonia is not yet a history book, but it will be some day. It is a look at life today in a cabin community in Tulare County. The folks who collect information about this place we live are likely to want this book.

5. People who love me

Ahem. This last one is a little embarrassing. However, my friend Mark used to tell me (because his Dad used to tell him), “If your friends and family won’t do business with you, who will?”

And now you know who comprises the market for the upcoming book, The Cabins of Wilsonia. Do you fit into one of these categories?

 

Doug, I Lost Your Email!

 

pencil drawingpencil drawing from the upcoming book The Cabins of Wilsonia

This is a personal note to a friend, but you are welcome to read it. Duh. I posted it on the internet!

Dear Doug,

Thank you for using the Contact button on my blog. I was delighted to hear from you, and meant to set your email aside for a thoughtful response later. Instead, I deleted it. My excuses are that it was at the end of a long weekend away from the computer so there were many emails to read and sort AND in spite of continually changing my password, my email is being messed with by some unknown entity which causes me to manically delete messages (or maybe the unknown entity is deleting them. . .?)

Excuses aside, thank you for contacting me! I have been so curious about that little A-frame – is it Doug’s family cabin? Does he ever go there? Will he be up here when I am? Will he be disappointed that I only drew the funny lounge chair? Will he be pleased that anything from the cabin appears in the book?

My choices about what appears and what doesn’t are not based on historical significance.  The book is about cabin life today in pictures (276 of them) and quotes by cabin owners and visitors. Not all cabins are included, because the goal is to show an overview album rather than a cabin-by-cabin directory. It is meant to show a balance of the typical and the unique.

I chose your chair, void of cushions, because it tells me a story about cabin life.

In other news, thank you for sending me a customer named Roger. He is gathering photos of a barn in Michigan for me to draw. (I’d rather he gather me a round-trip airfare, but no one does that.) Receiving a recommendation from such a fine artist as yourself really does my heart (and ego!) good.

Blessings to you, my old (as in long-time, not aged) friend,

Jana