The Inclusive Speaker – November 2022 Book Update

It’s been about a month since I wrote my first official book update blog post, in which I shared about how my upcoming book came to be, and what drove me to want to write it in the first place. Since then, quite a few things have evolved, and it’s my pleasure today to update you on some very exciting milestones that were reached, and some of the cool things that have indeed moved forward.

Book cover

First of all, you may have noticed a few instances here and there on the site about the book cover itself. The design of the cover is pretty close to being final by now, and is a joint collaboration between my ideas and the creative juices of the very talented Azadeh Yaraghi from GogoTelugo, whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with since 2019. Azadeh has been instrumental in defining a lot of aspects of the Inklusiv brand over the past 3 years, so it made perfect sense to collaborate with her again to nail the book cover and make sure it would fit cohesively with the rest of the brand.

Working with the publisher

Choosing a publisher was not an easy task, but again, my friend Azadeh came to the rescue with a heartfelt recommendation for Suzanne Doyle-Ingram, who runs Prominence Publishing. The final, absolute final, OMG-please-take-it-away-from-me-so-I-stop-rewriting-the-same-sentences-over-and-over-again version of the manuscript was handed to the publisher about two weeks ago. And so, began the editing process with their Director of Publishing, Beth Nightingale. We’re still in the middle of that phase right now, which means that I have yet to receive the version with recommended edits and changes, which should happen in about one or two weeks. I can’t wait.

Though I have not yet seen the result of Beth’s revisions just yet, she did write to me earlier today to let me know that she “didn’t want the week to close before I told you how well-written your book is. I can tell the time and effort you have put into this project. I think you’ll be really happy with the end-product.” So yeah, this is nice, given the fact that I SPENT THE LAST FIVE YEARS WORKING ON THE DAMN THING! 🙂

By the time I get back to you all with another book update in December, I’m confident that we should be well on our way to have completed the dreaded editing phase and I’d have a good idea of what the final manuscript would look like.

Roadmap for next steps

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to publishing this book. This is my very first time doing this, so every step is an absolute discovery. It was very enlightening, through my collaboration with Prominence, to find out that the steps are as follows:

• Phase 01 (done) – Hand in the manuscript. This is where the process really begins.
• Phase 02 (we are here) – Editing and cover design. Usually takes between one to three or four months, depending on complexity, commitment, follow ups, and the number of iterations required. This is where we are right now.
• Phase 03 – Typesetting. Once the final version of the edited manuscript is approved. Usually, about two weeks for the first draft, then another two weeks or so to finalize the interior. Again, everyone’s mileage will vary based on iterations and changes.
• Phase 04 – Proof. Once the interior file and cover files are approved, it’s time to order a proof copy. This is the moment where it probably gets very real, and I can’t wait to reach that phase. Again, as usual, depending on edits required, one or more proofs may be required before we settle for what will be the final product.
• Phase 05 – Launch! Once everything is approved, then it’s launch time! We should be in late February by then.

Official launch date

A lot of you have been asking this question more and more frequently, so based on the timelines above, we are probably looking at the end of February for an official book launch. Based on what I’ll plan in terms of an event for the book launch, I might choose to delay a little bit to coincide with the presentation I’ll be delivering on this exact topic at Deque’s axe-con conference, scheduled for mid-March 2023. Since the conference attracts well over 28 000 people over two days, it seems like the smart thing to do!

Keep in touch and pre-ordering

If some of you would like to be kept in the loop on the process and its advancement, I’ve set up a basic mailing list to let people know about where we’re at, and share some of the exciting developments as we move forward with the phases. If you’re interested, consider signing in to the mailing list using the form below. Those who do will have exclusive access to behind the scene details, amazing freebies, and other cool assets as everything around the book also comes together.

This is also how you’ll be able to let us know if you’d like to pre-order the book (which essentially only means that your name will be put on a spreadsheet, so we can reach out to you sometime in February to offer you the opportunity to get your copy before everybody else).