Sunday, November 29, 2009

Imaginary Jesus and the ARC


As you can see by the picture on the left, I just received a generous heap of Imaginary Jesus ARCs. Okay, I guess you can't see the heap but you can see a representative sample.

In "the Biz" we try to use jargon and slang to confuse you and make sure you know we are experts.  But I'll let you in on the secret.  An ARC is an Advanced Reading Copy, and it's generally used to send out to reviewers a few months before the book comes out.  A lot of magazines, for instance, have a lead time of several months, and if you want a review of the book to come out sometime near the time of your book, people need to see it ahead of time.  NOTE: No one calls the publishing business "the Biz" except for newby authors trying to impress people on their blogs. 

Anyway, this is a really fun day because for the first time I can hold something that looks suspiciously like a book in my hand and say, "Oh.  That's my book.  My name is on the spine.  My book has a spine!"  Up until this time my book had been completely spineless.  It's true!

This isn't the final product.  The design will be a little different when it comes out in April, the cover copy on the back will change a bit (right now it has my publicist's contact information on the back... I don't think she'll allow that to go on the actual cover).  We've made some changes internally as well, but overall this is pretty close to what the "real" book will look like!  Neat!

As always, you can buy your own copy, and one day it will arrive in YOUR mailbox.