Thursday, June 02, 2022

dancing girl press notes | june 2022

cover design for Liz McGehee's LOUSIANA ALCHEMY

Yesterday, I woke up to a mild sunny cusp of June day and was greeted with already a dozen or so submissions waiting in my inbox of new things I can't wait to read. Yes, it's that time again, the open submissions window for the dgp chapbook series, and one that feels a little less overwhelming now that my inbox is less of a morass and there is a bit more time weekly to devote to the press operations (including hopefully being able to read things throughout the summer as they come in and not just in a mad dash in the fall.)  

Today, I devoted an entire day to cover design exploits on handful of books that are in layout stage and it was nice to be able to actually finish what I was intending to do without running off to do other things like work or errands.  While my weekend will be focused on my writing and the next couple days devoted to freelance work, I at least will return to editing work mid-next week not feeling quite as behind as before and a couple new things are almost ready to start printing.. Tuesdays are for author copy and order fulfillment and shipping things. While initially I was doing a bit off all things each day, I find I am more productive if I center my days in a certain kind of task, even if it takes the majority of the day.

My enjoyment of different parts of the process has increased, even rather staid unexciting things like copyediting and typesetting feel more focused and grounded now that life is a little less hectic and subject to daily chaos. Or if it's chaos, it's more definitely orderly and self-guided chaos. 

some other highlights:

* I am working on the last few straggles of books delayed last year (the never ending covid delay saga that domino-like has affected the past couple of years.) This year's titles are mostly on schedule, which means I should actually be able to remain on schedule through the fall with new releases and dive right in on 2023 after the new year. There are a handful of tardy books coming out in the next couple of months, as well as a couple releases from this year's offerings due very soon. 

*Now that I actually have some time to do social media promotion a bit more regularly for the chapbook series, keep an eye on twitter, where I'll be posting samples and sneak peeks of both new and older books weekly.  I also post occasional production shots or reels on my instagram page along with other dancing girl press shop goodies, more of which will be coming over the course of the summer.

* Keep an eye out for news on some other new exploits including more anthology projects and a mini-chap series (it will be sort of a box set built around certain ideas or topics..still working out the particulars. I've been working on getting things together to make the long-delayed mermaid anthology book art project an actual thing, as well as thinking about more regular trade paperback anthology projects.