At last, I have more to share about my publishing journey. It has been a busy few months! In August, with the indispensable help of my agent, Ali Herring, I joined the ranks of Kregel Publishing House authors. In September, I met my editor, Jean Bloom, via Zoom and we began the editing process soon after. Editing is the process of polishing and strengthening a manuscript. It’s one of the main reasons I took the long hard road to traditional publication rather than self-publishing. After spending so much time writing and revising the book, I felt it was “practically perfect in every way,” like Mary Poppins. I knew, however, that the fond eyes of this “book mother” might not be able to see its faults. I needed experienced, professional eyes on it. I’m deeply grateful for Jean’s guidance and input. A better book, a book that is worth reading, has emerged from the process.

The publishing process is far from over, however. Shortly before my editing deadline, I received a questionnaire from the marketing department. The most exciting parts of the questionnaire had to do with the title and the cover. What was my reasoning for the title I’d given the book? What other titles had I considered? I hadn’t thought about other titles, but my agent and I brainstormed and came up with some. The questions about the cover asked me to list objects, themes, Scripture verses associated with the book. I was also asked to find covers of recent books similar to mine and explain why I liked or didn’t like them. My agent also helped with this. This study of covers was really fun and helped me communicate with the marketing team things I would have had trouble explaining otherwise (for example, a dress on one cover was the exact shade of blue-green that I’ve envisioned for one of the shawls in the book).

The titling committee took all this information and did some brainstorming of their own. On the day before Thanksgiving, I received the news that my book has a new, intriguing title…The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady. I think many different kinds of people (and not just we prayer shawl makers) will pick up the book, wonder what it could be about, and give it a chance to touch their hearts.

Stay tuned…I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the cover!