Publishing A Book

Initial Publicity and Book Publication

2006-11-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

While I waited for the book to be printed and distributed, my publisher began to notify their contacts about the book, sending information packets to bookstores, book review editors, book distributors (Borders, Amazon), and magazines such as Time, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Chief Executive Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Entrepreneur Magazine, HR Magazine, and Industry Week. The publisher also represented the book at various book fairs in the US and internationally, resulting in the sale of rights for the book to be published in mainland China. This was followed by monthly email reminders, a listing in Berrett-Koehler's fall catalogue, and an interview for an article in HR Magazine. The School of Business at the University of Michigan included an announcement of the book in their alumni activities section of the fall issue of Dividend Magazine.

The Berrett-Koehler fall catalogue described the book in the following way - "The story of FedEx is one of the most amazing success stories in modern business. It is the story of how everyone involved - from top executives to frontline employees - pulled together, sacrificed, and, in the face of daunting skepticism and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, came up with ways to do something that had never been done before. Roger Frock offers a unique view of what it took to make a historic entrepreneurial vision a reality."

Books were sent from the printer one month before the publication release date with Amazon offering a pre-release reservation opportunity three weeks before the formal release on October 21, 2006.

Jacket Cover

2006-07-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

July 21, received a request from the publisher for an author photo. On July 24, my wife as photographer, we spent much of the day with the digital camera shoot, reviewing the outcome, printing the results, examining the photos, and rating our efforts. The following day, sent several photos to the publisher with our comments and agreed on the one to be used for the back flap of the book jacket.

Also on the 24th, received a draft of the jacket copy for review. The front cover will have the title, subtitle, author, and appropriate background (purple of course). The back cover has a short overview of the book and five endorsements I obtained earlier. The front flap has a more detailed summary of the book. The back flap has one more endorsement, the author photo, and a brief bio. My comments were sent to the publisher on July 26.

The Copy Editor and Production Group

2006-07-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

One word of caution about working with the development editor - make certain that the final product accurately reflects the intent and style of the author. In my case, some of the recommended changes were made to quicken the pace of the story and shorten the manuscript. I accepted most of these suggestions reasoning that the editor was more knowledgable than I about the need for brevity in a book intended for the business reader. Some of these edits changed the tone of the book and I now realized that I should have been more insistent on retaining the deleated passages or at least incorporating the material in the form of end notes.

My manuscript next passed to Steven, a freelance copy editor, who sent his suggested changes to the first few sections of the material on April 4. Steven reviewed the manuscript for grammatical correctness and offered a very pleasant experience in contrast to the difficulties with the development editor. We were able to complete this part of the editorial process a few days before the May 15 due date. Steve sent the edited manuscript to the type setter compositor at Michael bass Associates (the production group).

While Steve and I were working on the grammar, Aline, the project editor from Michael Bass Associates sent a sample design for the book typeface on May 3. I suggested a slight increase in the font point size to which they agreed on May 8. Aline sent a hard copy of the First Pages of the book the first week in June. My wife and I both reviewed the manuscript. By July 1, MBA incorporated our changes and my responses to several questions raised by their proofreader. It is amazing how many typos and errors can creep into a book manuscript even after numerous editors have completed dozens of readings of the material.

June 20, the production group sent a draft of the index manuscript for review. I suggested a few additions, received the final index on July 21 and returned my approval on July 26.

The Development Editor

2006-03-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

My manuscript started out with over 100,000 words. At the suggestion of Steve, the publisher's content editor, I had condensed the introductory descriptions of key people, cut people that were not key players in the story, eliminated much of my personal background, and got rid of observations that "slowed up" the story. As I completed working with Steve, my manuscript stood at approximately 80,000 words

Then my publisher suggested hiring an outside development editor to "streamline" the manuscript. The process of working with a development editor is perhaps one of the most challenging tasks for an author. I know it was for me. Before the end of January, Valerie, my development editor provided me with suggestions that included rearranging the sequence of chapters, eliminating paragraphs that referred to upcoming events, chopping summary statements, and changing sentence structure and vocabulary. Next, entire paragraphs and sentences were chopped that sometimes left out important information - these changes I rejected. Each new iteration required a complete line-by-line comparison between my original manuscript and the revised version recommended by Valerie. The entire exercise was frustrating, unbelievably time consuming, and felt like an assault on my writing skills - probably a common experience for many authors. Then Valerie and Steve suggested a complete rewirite of the ending chapters and added an appendix. Finally, by mid-March we had trimmed the text to 60,000 words, about the "size that is acceptable for business books," according to my editors. Although the experience was often frustrating, the changes really did improve the manuscript.

Author's Day

2006-03-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

On January 20, My wife and I traveled to San Francisco for a personal meeting with the publisher's staff. First we met with the managing editor who outlined the schedule and what I should accomplish during the day. Next I met with my editor for an editorial/process overview and with the production staff who explained the production process and the format, layout, and design of the book. At lunch in their conference room, I met and made an hour-long presentation to the entire staff and invited guests about the book, its ideology and principles, and told about my background. I began the presentation with a short clip from the early FedEx ads and finished by answering questions from the audience. I later found out that part of the reason for the presentation was to acquaint the staff with the book, the other purpose was to evaluate my speaking and presentations skills.

After lunch, the marketing department spent two hours explaining all aspects of marketing, including publicity and promotion of the book. This for me was the most confusing part of the day, but they seemed to know what needed to be done. Next a wrap-up with my content editor and a detailed review with him and my developmental editor, followed by a second meeting with the managing editor for final questions. I don't know if other publishers have author's day or something similar, but I found the experience to be helpful and rewarding.

The Outside Readers

2006-02-02T05:18:00.000-08:00

The four outside readers sent their suggestions and comments to the publisher during November, all with favorable reviews. Each reader had different helpful suggestions for improving the manuscript. The readers first sent general comments, then followed up with specific recommendations in marked copies of the manuscript. I spent most of November and much of December incorporating their recommendations, which typically suggested "tightening the message" (eliminating unnecessary verbage), "gussying up" the key points (stressing the reason why each section of the book is important), adding more interesting first-hand stories, and including personal feelings about troubling events.

One of the readers provided a particularly detailed review of the draft, and we hired her to do developmental editing for the book. That should be completed before the end of March. Next, a visit to the publisher for "Author's Day."

Final Title

2006-01-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

On December 12, My editor and I agreed on the following title:

Main Title - FedEx
Subtitle - Changing the Way the World Does Business
Tagline - The Inside Story of an Upstart's Incredible Journey to Success

On December 21, the FedEx legal department turned down the use of FedEx, claiming such use would misrepresent the nature of the book (personal recollections of those who were there at the startup) and lead people to believe it is more technical in nature. Enough of that legal nonsense; the publisher on the following day finalized the title based on the most favorable responses from previous surveys:

Main Title - Changing the Way the World Does Business
Subtitle - The Inside Story of FedEx's Incredible Journey to Success

More than 50 of my friends and relatives helped to select the book title. It was an interesting exercise and one that I am pleased to have finished. My sincere thanks to everyone who participated.

Selecting a Title

2005-12-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

November was spent on the book title. With the help of my wife and friends we came up with 54 suggested titles and subtitles. The publisher added their own suggestions and created a survey to evaluate nine main titles and four subtitles. The survey was sent to their staff members, marketers, and dozens of my friends. We received mixed reactions, developed additional title candidates, and sent out a second survey with three top picks from the first survey and three new picks. We decided upon a final title of "FedEx It!" which, after checking with the FedEx legal department, was dropped at the end of the month. In December, we conducted a third title survey, using some of the most popular titles from the previous surveys and several new options. Responses were more uniform, with the publisher's staff and marketers favoring one choice and my contacts favoring others. In this case, I felt it was best to stick with the publisher's recommendations and add a tagline that hinted at the early struggles during the startup.

A Draft for Readers

2005-12-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

I completed the suggested changes by October 4 and sent an email copy to my editor followed by a hard copy. Ten days later, the editor and I discussed the latest changes to the draft manuscript. My editor suggested other changes and additions and recommended that I begin thinking about a title for the book. Next, I prepared a Preface to communicate the purpose of the book and the reason for writing the book now, nearly 35 years after the start of the company. I also revised and expanded the book Introduction. On October 24, having made the changes and additions, I sent six copies of the revised draft manuscript to the publisher for review by outside readers. The next step - we all get to offer suggestions for the book title.

The Publication Board

2005-12-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

On September 14, the publisher contacted me for additional material. I provided information on the material in the book, confirmed that the writing was my original creation, provided a summary of the positions I held with Federal Express, and expanded on the personal background material contained in the Proposal. The publisher needed the information for his presentation to the Publication Board.

Two days later, I received a confirming call that the Publication Board had approved the project to publish the book. The editor offered suggestions for improving the book including restructuring for shorter chapters, expanding upon the important themes, and stressing certain elements of the narrative. The publisher outlined a tentative schedule for the book that will include an initial review of the revised manuscript by outside readers, selection of a title for the book, professional copy editing, possibly a developmental editor, cover design criteria, and a probable release date. A Publication Agreement and a booklet on the publisher's editorial process arrived a few days later.

Help from a Friend

2005-12-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Ultimately, a friend who had been an editor for a large publishing company offered to help, and on July 27, 2005, I received the following welcome email: "I have read your proposal and am very interested in it. I believe that it has a great deal of potential. Would you have time to talk tomorrow?"

Following our talk, the publisher asked for a copy of the draft manuscript. After reviewing that document, the publisher asked me to write up my reasons for wanting to publish the book, why I thought the material would be of interest to prospective readers, and ways I might shorten the book. I sent my response on August 31.

Getting Started

2005-12-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

In the Spring of 2002, I decided to write a book about the startup of Federal Express, the difficulties and potential roadblocks we had to overcome, and the concepts and people that built the organization into a highly respected and successful international entity. I was the General Manager of the company during the startup, and was able to supplement my experience with interviews of other senior executives and other dedicated people who contributed time and effort to launch the new venture.

I completed my interviews near the end of 2003 and began preparing the book proposal and my first complete draft of the manuscript. For the next two years, I worked on writing, editing, researching, rewriting, and expanding the information for the manuscript. I sent out several versions of the book proposal to numerous publishers, and received a like number of obligatory or encouraging responses with various reason for rejection. Encouraging friends and family are especially important during the "writing and searching for a publisher" phase.