A Voice from the Past

When I last shared a post, on Monday, Dec 19, 2011, I mentioned a new project I hoped to announce in a couple of months.

Now, eight and a half months later, it is finally clear that I underestimated my project by a factor of four. The good news--at least from my perspective--is that the work is complete and available for general consumption.

I trust regular readers won't be surprised to hear that the project involves a series of eBooks. I'll announce the details tomorrow and follow that with a daily post of the first chapter from each of the books. Those of you who have been following for some time will recognize the topics: the series is a collection, revision, and expansion of material I originally shared on this blog.

As I wrote the series of posts exploring the art of the long form, and thought about the ways in which wholes could be greater than the sum of their parts, I realized much of what I discussed in posts separated by a week or more in the blog schedule echoed themes, reinforced ideas, and conveyed more together than individually.

But I wasn't content with a simple blog-to-book project that was little more than a quick repackaging of the posts. Moreover, the longer form required the original posts to be more skillfully blended together. I seriously underestimated the editorial effort--and now have more sympathy for the slow publishing schedules we complain about. That quality editorial work simply takes time is only the first of a number of things I learned from this effort.

I would be thrilled, of course, if all of you scooped up the series and became evangelists. But going forward with the blog, I plan a series of posts on Wednesdays to share what I learned from this project. I will also make the case that what we undertake to do when we put on a publishers hat, instead of looking for a partner--which has been called vanity, self, and indie publishing--should actually be called artisan publishing.


Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net