Thursday, January 15, 2015
Books available in town.
Get your Butte Book without paying shipping. Dudley's Book Cafe downtown has them in stock, So does Visit Bend and the Deschutes Historical Museum. Five dollars from every sale goes to help Pilot Butte thanks to our benefactor. Pretty good when you consider the book is only $7.50.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Book Signing Party Announced!
Mother's Cafe (Eastside) is hosting a book signing party on Friday, June 13, 2014, from 4:30 to 6:00. We're expecting a good turnout and it should be a lot of fun. Carol will be there even though it's her birthday. Must be important if The Butte Lady shows up on her birthday. Either that or her husband isn't very romantic. ;)
This is truly a big event for Pilot Butte. Linda's book is the first book ever written about Pilot Butte. People are loving this book so much that a sequel is already in the works. Purchasing this book helps the Butte and also helps us in our efforts to document Pilot Butte history in a way that is both engaging and entertaining.
Btw, Mother's is a good friend to Pilot Butte. Not only have they been sponsors of both SMB's, they were a vendor this year insisting on being up top giving out their juices to our participants. Also, I end up having a lot of meetings and, most often, people tell me they want to meet at Mother's. This is a good fit all around.
This is truly a big event for Pilot Butte. Linda's book is the first book ever written about Pilot Butte. People are loving this book so much that a sequel is already in the works. Purchasing this book helps the Butte and also helps us in our efforts to document Pilot Butte history in a way that is both engaging and entertaining.
Btw, Mother's is a good friend to Pilot Butte. Not only have they been sponsors of both SMB's, they were a vendor this year insisting on being up top giving out their juices to our participants. Also, I end up having a lot of meetings and, most often, people tell me they want to meet at Mother's. This is a good fit all around.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
"Tales" book is now available in our online store
If you didn't get your copy at SMB 2014, fear not. You can buy it today in our new online store. Or, if you wait just a bit, it will be available at a really nice book signing that is planned for mid-June. Or get the best of both worlds by buying the book today and then taking it to the book signing. It's up to you. But if you are like many, you'll want to have this book. It gives you a good taste of what's to come when the 2nd and final edition is released in 2015. It's also a good way to support an important project related to Pilot Butte. We've looked high and low and this appears to be the first book ever written about the Butte. Follow the evolution of this book on this blog and on this webpage. We'll announce the next book signing here as soon as we have all the details.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Wow. We got it done.
I think it's right up there as one of the best days of my life. Linda and I were feverishly exchanging emails trying to get this book completed and to the printer in time to be published for SMB 2014. I'm sure we exchanged well over 100 emails in a day's time. Plus we both had other things going as well. Everything just came together as if other forces were at play. There's just something about this book that's hard to describe.
Another memorable day was when we got the first proof back from the printer. There are things you can't know until you hold the book in your hands. The weight of the paper seemed just right, the font was perfect, and the spacing of lines made it an easy read. The photos and illustrations all seemed to work. The cover was as good as it gets when you're limited to just black and white.
For our first outing as a publisher, PBSS did a fine job. Of course, a lot of that had to do with Linda. Part of the fun was I got to help her a bit with the writing and she helped us more than a bit on the publishing side.
Phase one now completed, we start working on the second and final edition. It's now clear this book is going to be a real page turner when the much expanded edition is published in about a year. You can help by buying a copy of this first edition, Who knows, it might even be of interest to collectors someday. More important, we'll raise money for Pilot Butte and give Linda more freedom to concentrate on the next edition.
Another memorable day was when we got the first proof back from the printer. There are things you can't know until you hold the book in your hands. The weight of the paper seemed just right, the font was perfect, and the spacing of lines made it an easy read. The photos and illustrations all seemed to work. The cover was as good as it gets when you're limited to just black and white.
For our first outing as a publisher, PBSS did a fine job. Of course, a lot of that had to do with Linda. Part of the fun was I got to help her a bit with the writing and she helped us more than a bit on the publishing side.
Phase one now completed, we start working on the second and final edition. It's now clear this book is going to be a real page turner when the much expanded edition is published in about a year. You can help by buying a copy of this first edition, Who knows, it might even be of interest to collectors someday. More important, we'll raise money for Pilot Butte and give Linda more freedom to concentrate on the next edition.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
It's All About The Book
You may have wondered how we got a top notched writer to make a 20 month commitment to write two editions of this book. Believe it or not, it started on craigslist, then a friend telling a friend about something they saw there, and soon Linda and I were meeting to hash out plans for the book. Its very much like what happens on Pilot Butte all the time and so we know this thing is going to be great. Come to think of it, the story about how this book came into being probably should be in the book. Let me give you a teaser just in case it does--it all started with another writer named Dusti Arab! (real name btw)
So there we were, two professionals who had never done anything quite like this and we needed to figure out how. It may be a bit easier for Linda because even though this will be her first published book, she has been a professional writer for more than a decade. Me, on the other hand, I have written books that were published, but I've never been a book publisher. So there is this learning curve for everyone involved. Beyond that, this arrangement isn't easy to formalize into a contract. Part of the problem is PBSS has no money for this. But a bigger part of the problem is that there are no boiler plate contracts we can find for this type of arrangement. We need to have a special contract drawn up for us and, again, with no money for that, there are obstacles.
All of that is going better-than-smooth because of a concept we came up with: "Its All About The Book." You see, one of the greatest tragedies than can befall any work of art is that it one day finds itself in a place where no one can enjoy it. No writer ever wants that to happen and, sadly, many publishers are only concerned about the financial bottom line. This concept has organized our thinking and made it possible for us to come up with what we are now calling "The Public Handshake."
Let me be clear, the initial handshake between Linda and I took place over a month ago. I'm fond of saying that a good lawyer can always find a loophole in a contract, but their are no loopholes when it comes to integrity. Under that mandate, Linda and I shook hands and agreed to do everything possible to make this book happen and be the success we know it will be. Then we set forth to make plans for the book, the needed legal agreement, and everything else. Like I say, all of that is going well.
This blog serves a lot of purposes. The main purpose is to keep everyone informed about what is happening and to create a buzz about the book long before it is published. That's important because the book lives and breathes by the quality of the Butte Stories we find. But this is also the place where our handshake is made public. As you read about the book's progress, it is almost as if Linda and PBSS are shaking hands over and over again telling everyone that, one way or another, we will be getting this book done so that everyone who loves Pilot Butte can enjoy it. In the end, it is all about the book and the people who will read it. As long as we keep that in mind, everything will turn out great.
One benefit for me is I get to read the stories before you do. All I can say is this thing is better than I ever imagined. The story called "Commando Rambo" is worth the price of the book all by itself.
So there we were, two professionals who had never done anything quite like this and we needed to figure out how. It may be a bit easier for Linda because even though this will be her first published book, she has been a professional writer for more than a decade. Me, on the other hand, I have written books that were published, but I've never been a book publisher. So there is this learning curve for everyone involved. Beyond that, this arrangement isn't easy to formalize into a contract. Part of the problem is PBSS has no money for this. But a bigger part of the problem is that there are no boiler plate contracts we can find for this type of arrangement. We need to have a special contract drawn up for us and, again, with no money for that, there are obstacles.
All of that is going better-than-smooth because of a concept we came up with: "Its All About The Book." You see, one of the greatest tragedies than can befall any work of art is that it one day finds itself in a place where no one can enjoy it. No writer ever wants that to happen and, sadly, many publishers are only concerned about the financial bottom line. This concept has organized our thinking and made it possible for us to come up with what we are now calling "The Public Handshake."
Let me be clear, the initial handshake between Linda and I took place over a month ago. I'm fond of saying that a good lawyer can always find a loophole in a contract, but their are no loopholes when it comes to integrity. Under that mandate, Linda and I shook hands and agreed to do everything possible to make this book happen and be the success we know it will be. Then we set forth to make plans for the book, the needed legal agreement, and everything else. Like I say, all of that is going well.
This blog serves a lot of purposes. The main purpose is to keep everyone informed about what is happening and to create a buzz about the book long before it is published. That's important because the book lives and breathes by the quality of the Butte Stories we find. But this is also the place where our handshake is made public. As you read about the book's progress, it is almost as if Linda and PBSS are shaking hands over and over again telling everyone that, one way or another, we will be getting this book done so that everyone who loves Pilot Butte can enjoy it. In the end, it is all about the book and the people who will read it. As long as we keep that in mind, everything will turn out great.
One benefit for me is I get to read the stories before you do. All I can say is this thing is better than I ever imagined. The story called "Commando Rambo" is worth the price of the book all by itself.
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