{"id":666,"date":"2017-07-07T16:54:43","date_gmt":"2017-07-08T00:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?p=666"},"modified":"2017-07-10T03:48:30","modified_gmt":"2017-07-10T11:48:30","slug":"slagging-down-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2017\/07\/slagging-down-the-moon.html","title":{"rendered":"Slagging Down The Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The question I\u2019ve gotten most often on The Witch\u2019s Cauldron<\/em><\/a> book tour surprisingly doesn\u2019t have anything to do with cauldrons. It\u2019s \u201cWhat is it like working with Llewellyn?\u201d<\/p>\n

The easiest answer is, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve contracted for my third book with them, so obviously I\u2019m pretty happy about working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to it than that. \u00a0And considering the load of tired, out-dated rumor-mongering I saw on a recent thread where a friend asked if they should consider sending a manuscript to Llewellyn, I\u2019d like to talk about it. \u00a0Because people talking bullshit is a pet peeve of mine.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t speak for everyone\u2019s experience, but I can certainly speak from\u00a0mine.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"I Bring The Moon In Hand\" art by the author
\u201cI Bring The Moon In Hand\u201d art by the author<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m no stranger to P-word<\/a> publishing. \u00a0I was the associate editor of a Pagan publication for several years from the late 90\u2019s to the early 00\u2019s and part of that work included both receiving and soliciting books for reviews. \u00a0We got books from a wide variety of publishers \u2013 small and large, as well as self-published works. \u00a0I particularly remember receiving some work that was questionable in content and quality from Llewellyn in that time period. \u00a0It was a boom time, and the boom time in any industry means there\u2019s a pressure to release as much material as possible. \u00a0It\u2019s not a great recipe for generating quality content from the best qualified. But they certainly weren\u2019t the only<\/em> publisher turning out some less than stellar\u00a0work. \u00a0(I can think of quite a few publishers who put out books in that period they would rather forget.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But I get it. \u00a0I\u2019m of the generation that did a fair amount of eye-rolling at certain titles and authors back then. \u00a0There were a few titles in my personal library from Llewellyn, but they were in the minority. \u00a0Then I stopped keeping track of publishing in general for about a decade as I stepped away from being actively involved in the community.<\/p>\n

A decade later, I\u2019m back at PantheaCon, and catching up on\u00a0what I\u2019ve missed. \u00a0Titles and authors catching my eye in the vendor room, I was pleasantly surprised with what I was finding from books\u00a0bearing little crescent moon on their spines. \u00a0New names, works with historical focus, explorations of different traditions, bibliographies and good design. \u00a0I attended some of the Llewellyn suite events and met the attending staff. \u00a0I was intrigued and put them on my radar. \u00a0This wasn\u2019t the same old stuff from the 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I was contemplating several projects for publishing (self-done or proposing to publishers), but those\u00a0kept being put on the backburner. \u00a0That\u2019s when I saw the call-out for the The Witch\u2019s Cauldron<\/em>. \u00a0I thought to myself \u2013 that\u2019s a really neat series, and a good way to jump into the publishing pool, with the support of a major publisher no less. \u00a0But I had my reservations \u2013 and several folks warning me to be careful, though with the added note that they hadn\u2019t known anyone who had worked with Llewellyn in more recent years \u2013 so things could have changed. \u00a0(Which shows their wisdom \u2013 they admitted they didn\u2019t know if things were still the way they heard they were since they lacked personal or recent experience to reference.)<\/p>\n

When I was awarded the contract, I had a professional who is well-versed in the publishing world look it over for me \u2013 and she found it to be quite standard for the industry, with just a few suggestions. \u00a0And even though I\u2019m not a lawyer, I knew contracts could be negotiated, so we were able to come to a contract everyone was happy with \u2013 and quite easily.<\/p>\n

But I was still worried after turning in my first draft \u2013 how much would get cut out? Would it still be my voice? Would it get \u201cdumbed down\u201d (the common accusation I see tossed their way) or would the fun parts being taken out for being too witchy?<\/p>\n

The answer: NOPE.<\/strong> \u00a0Instead, the guidance I received encouraged me to dig deeper in some areas, to explain things in more detail. \u00a0The editing focus was on clarity (because surprise!<\/strong> not everyone lives in my head)<\/em>, and making sure references had their sources properly cited. \u00a0No content was cut out by my editors, my inherent SAT\/AP Honors English vocabulary well-preserved. The editorial staff was very complementary of my work \u2013 and I have to say they were a pleasure to work with. They helped to push me in all the right ways to put out a work I am proud of. \u00a0I really respect the folks I work with, and the process has definitely been an excellent experience.<\/p>\n

\"photoHow? Why? What changed? \u00a0Well, companies change as the market shifts (print publishing has seen a LOT of changes in the last decade) \u2013 affecting staff, policies, and focus. \u00a0My understanding is that\u00a0Llewellyn in the last decade made some conscious and focused changes, and it shows.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only been apparent to me, but to other friends whose opinions and work I value \u2013 Devin Hunter, Storm Faerywolf, Jason Mankey, John Beckett, among quite a few other folks I\u2019ve had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of in recent years. \u00a0It\u2019s a different era. \u00a0And none of these folks are pushovers when it comes to contracts or preserving their work and related content.<\/p>\n

So authors are not being bullied into crap contracts. \u00a0Content is not being \u201cwatered down\u201d or made for the \u201clowest common denominator.\u201d Not everything a publisher puts out will be for all audiences, but it would be silly to think otherwise.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019ve read my book and you\u2019ve had the reaction, \u201cwow, this doesn\u2019t seem like a Llewellyn book to me\u201d \u2013 well, there\u2019s more where that came from. \u00a0Time to allow for change \u2013 and remember \u2013 \u00a0don\u2019t judge a book by its spine.<\/p>\n

(Also to note, my publisher did not prompt me to write this post in any way. \u00a0Random posts from people talking out their rears may have though. Rule #4 of Witchcraft: seek the truth.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question I’ve gotten most often on The Witch’s Cauldron book tour surprisingly doesn’t have anything to do with cauldrons. It’s “What is it like working with Llewellyn?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2676,"featured_media":673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[305,306,106,231,188,26,232,162],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-author","tag-authors","tag-book","tag-books","tag-llewellyn","tag-pagan","tag-publishing","tag-pwords"],"yoast_head":"\nSlagging Down The Moon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The question I've gotten most often on The Witch's Cauldron book tour surprisingly doesn't have anything to do with cauldrons. 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