tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-351481292011-08-08T14:03:20.407-05:00This blog records the process of establishing a small, independent publishing house, Sheaf House Publishers—a dream with power to move the hearts of readers.J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.comBlogger1211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-54933894236981029052010-09-22T20:31:00.004-05:002010-09-22T20:51:01.709-05:00

By now many of you have probably heard that A. K. Arenz’s The Case of the Mystified M.D. won the 2010 Carol Award at the ACFW awards banquet in Indianapolis Sunday night! Alice got to go up on stage to receive her plaque and make a speech. And she did a terrific job! In the meantime, the rest of us Sheafers who were present were sitting in the back jumping up and down and celebrating, as you can

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-51132062214550153362010-08-21T20:12:00.007-05:002010-08-21T20:26:53.107-05:00

We’re highly blessed to have three new team members to introduce! First up is Angela Breidenbach. Mrs. Montana International 2009, Angie works with Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministries and the Jadyn Fred Foundation. She serves as the American Christian Fiction Writer’s publicity officer and is a multi-award winning inspirational speaker and author, writing freelance and inspirational

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-33057663421110551972010-07-30T17:29:00.001-05:002010-07-30T17:30:47.816-05:00

As you can see, we have a clean new look for the blog. A standard template, yes, but it coordinates better with our Web site. And I kinda like those exuberant birds . . . Let’s face it, you need to freshen up your look once in a while—hairdo, purse, shoes, accessories, blog. A woman’s gotta keep folks guessing, and I’m doing my best. LOL!

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-43867181811404469642010-07-29T08:00:00.000-05:002010-07-29T08:00:07.182-05:00

Because of the amount of spam comments I’m getting on all my blogs, I’m reactivating comment moderation. That means your comments won’t appear until I have time to go in and approve them. Just another little task to add to my day.The problem nowadays is Asian-language comments. If I can’t read the language, then I have no way of knowing what’s being said, and it more than likely isn’t nice. I

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-26862850194000312952010-07-27T15:33:00.008-05:002010-07-27T16:07:28.815-05:00

Things have gone from a simmer to a full boil here at Sheaf House. I keep intending to update you all, and my schedule has been just unreal, so as usual I’m way behind. I’ll try to bring everyone up to speed in as few words as possible . . . Oh, well, I have good intentions, but you know how wordy I am!As of a couple of months ago, we acquired a marketing and publicity director, and she’s been

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-36354060282153745232010-07-08T19:54:00.004-05:002010-07-08T20:03:13.577-05:00

If you’ve never seen what pure joy looks like, then you’ve never seen the face of an author holding her new “baby” for the first time. Diane Moody e-mailed these photos to me last week when her author copies of Confessions of a Prayer Slacker delivered, and she gave me permission to share them with you!Now doesn’t she look like one happy momma? Seeing that glow sure made my day! The only thing

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-40338435395346801222010-06-22T14:58:00.001-05:002010-06-22T14:58:04.304-05:00

Greetings, Pub Dream readers. I’m just dropping in to let you know about an interview, review and book giveaway I have up on the Sips ‘n Cups Cafe Blog featuring Sheaf House author Jen Stephens.  It’s a delightful look into Jen’s heart and life. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I’ll be giving away a copy of Jen’s debut book, The Heart’s Journey Home. So come on over and join Jen and me, Peg Phifer,

Peggynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-11577211299240271042010-06-04T18:12:00.004-05:002010-06-04T18:36:32.094-05:00

Kathy Harris, a fellow member of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers and Joe Bonsall’s agent, has posted an interview with Joe on her blog Divine Detour. I thought you all might enjoy learning more about Joe, and if you click on the link, it’ll take you right there. Some of you may already know Kathy, who’s an excellent writer herself, and who I predict will be published before much longer.I’m

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-8189229953386552842010-05-12T20:10:00.006-05:002010-05-12T20:35:12.372-05:00

Very brief. LOL! It’s been a long day, and I’m about brain dead, but I wanted to share Julie Saffrin’s photo since I didn’t have it in time for my last post. It’ll be posted on our author page on the Web site soon too. Thanks for sending it so quickly, Julie!A couple of other things. We’ve made a change on the Heading Home cover. Our sales director at APG, Cary Johnson, got some negative feedback

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-38545245941428149422010-05-01T20:30:00.006-05:002010-05-01T20:42:41.823-05:00

When you’re in a time crunch—a perpetual one, in my case!—the only way to get something done is to just do it! So I’m finally going to introduce our newest authors, and I apologize for taking so long about it. Michelle and Julie have only been with us since December, and it’s about time! Now without further ado . . .Julie Saffrin holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and English from the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-90395184725696188002010-04-27T19:47:00.003-05:002010-04-27T19:54:04.646-05:00

I’ve been intending to introduce our two new authors for a while—and keep getting run over by the day to day—but I’m going to save that announcement for later in the week. Today I received some news that isn’t nearly as happy. My business partner and head of Journey Press, Joy DeKok, will have to withdraw as an active participant in the business, at least for a while.I can’t say this is

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-71949964162217295892010-04-07T19:21:00.003-05:002010-04-07T19:29:46.873-05:00

Amish vampire novel, anyone?Seriously, the following is a recent article from Publishers Weekly. I found it quite interesting, and thought you might too. Obviously trends in what readers are buying have a big impact on the books publishers contract, and ultimately what writers write. Just like other publishers we’re also thinking about what we need to do to adjust to what’s happening in the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-71399718902398688422010-04-03T18:54:00.005-05:002010-04-03T19:35:19.667-05:00

First off, let me say how much I appreciate the encouragement, counsel, and prayers of all of you who jump into our dialog on this blog! No way could I keep on going without you guys. I love every one of you!All’s well that ends well, and what happened with Seasons in the Mist is exactly the reason I do business with local vendors whenever possible. When Ol’ Murphy rears his ugly head, local

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-78811830923222544212010-03-26T20:12:00.005-05:002010-03-26T20:29:08.122-05:00

I had a much happier post planned—one in which I was going to introduce our two newest authors—about time too! But I’ve been majorly covered up, as usual, which is hopefully fixin’ to change (as they say here in Tennessee!) very soon. But I’ll announce that later too.Of course, you know Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will. I’ve seen crises similar to this one during my tenure at

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-68225351635115183292010-02-13T06:00:00.016-06:002010-02-13T06:00:01.602-06:00

Tennessee doesn’t have this much cold weather. Not on average, anyway. January and February usually feature at least a couple of delightfully mild spells, with blue skies, balmy breezes, and the first spring flowers, as the morons of the plant world stick out their pretty little heads in time to get them lopped off by the next freeze. So what happened? Since the first of the year most of our

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-85766755382792679792010-02-01T19:58:00.007-06:002010-02-01T20:23:22.943-06:00

First off—The Heart’s Journey Home officially released today!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooooo hooooooo!!!!!! Mega congrats, Jen!!!! We’ve heard Amazon has already been shipping them to those who preordered, so our fine warehouse folks must have moved them out the door the instant they got them logged into their system.Next up is Under His Wings, a new edition of the bestselling devotional by Joy DeKok and

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-13083824121922770072009-12-29T17:17:00.001-06:002009-12-29T17:23:08.691-06:00

Umm . . . you can sure tell the holidays descended on me with a huge thud! Sheesh. I meant to update this blog weeks ago. What happened? Where did 2009 go? Did I miss something???I hope I’m not the only one who’s time challenged. My brain tells me it’s only been a couple of days, while the calendar insists weeks or even months have passed by. Maybe it’s just that I have the attention span of a

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-1697059860545452732009-11-07T18:38:00.009-06:002009-11-07T19:08:54.517-06:00

I now have the final front cover for Diane Moody’s Confessions of a Prayer Slacker—at least as final as it’s going to be until we have the endorsement that will go at the top. So without further ado: TA DAH!!!! Here it is!!Doesn’t it just make you laugh? Doesn’t it illustrate all too well the struggles we all have with our prayer life? I’ll tell ya, I relate. So as soon as Diane turns in the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-69517118781918051222009-10-30T08:42:00.005-05:002009-10-30T08:59:03.862-05:00

It’s finally official! Joy and I have known this was going to happen for over a month, but we wanted to wait until the ink was dry on the contract before we made an official announcement. And it just took a while to work a few kinks out.We’ve just signed a contract with Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys for a project tentatively titled Joseph S. Bonsall: One Man’s Perspective, which will release

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-90816073935449207692009-10-19T19:59:00.006-05:002009-10-19T20:12:01.938-05:00

Hey, we’re expanding this joint! Things are a’cookin’!In my last post, I announced our 2 new imprints, Journey Press for nonfiction and Narrow Road for grittier fiction. Joy takes over the position of managing editor of Journey Press, which means she’s now acquiring all nonfiction projects. I also mentioned that we were looking for a qualified person to take over acquisitions for Narrow Road.Well

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-87091328893923010532009-09-19T20:19:00.009-05:002009-09-20T18:13:59.519-05:00

Last week Joy came down from Minnesota to my house for several days of face to face. Here she is at my kitchen table, where we set up shop on our laptops. And boy, did we have a blast! We HAVE to do this more often! We are so on the same page about everything concerning Sheaf House it’s amazing. The more we work together, the more I know why God brought her into this crazy venture.Joy and I did a

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-27011947635487275692009-08-28T16:02:00.014-05:002009-08-28T16:49:27.705-05:00

Before I let you see the cover for Deb’s Seasons in the Mist, let me tell you a bit about how this one came about. As you may know, Seasons is a historical time-travel novel. The heroine, an American grad student specializing in medieval history, is on her way to Oxford for an archeological dig. She gets waylaid and ends up spending the night at an ancient Cornish manor. The next morning while

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-44268281833712377942009-08-25T19:25:00.005-05:002009-08-25T19:49:32.967-05:00

More excitement: another lovely cover!!! Isn’t it gorgeous? I love the peaceful feel of it, but at the same time it’s eye-catching. And best of all, it reflects the book very well. Believe me, this devotional is going to be a wonderful resource for parents of teens. Last weekend my daughter and her husband had problems with his almost-16-year-old son—they’re a blended family—and I know how

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-54638292371322815642009-08-23T16:57:00.007-05:002009-08-23T17:13:38.162-05:00

I wish you could see the stack of proposals piled on the floor around my desk waiting to be read. If you ever decide to hang out a shingle as a publisher, be assured that you won’t have to solicit submissions. They’re going to land in your mailbox and e-mail inbox with a resounding thud faster than a frog jumps into a mud puddle on a rainy day.Some of the proposals are going to be excellent, and

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-52665309206274954112009-08-16T15:22:00.005-05:002009-08-16T15:57:44.474-05:00

I’m going to hold off on introducing our newest author until we’ve finalized the contract, which hopefully will be shortly. In the meantime, I want everyone to see the cover of Joy’s devotional, Under His Wings. We’re really proud of this one—Marisa did her usual bang-up job, didn’t she? This will be our first nonfiction project, and along with Beth Shriver’s devotional, Peace for Parents of

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-49345054047564940892009-08-09T17:05:00.004-05:002009-08-09T17:26:02.441-05:00

Both Rain Dance and It’s Not About Him are finally in the warehouse! RD released the first of the month, and INAH releases at the beginning of September. Both Joy and Michelle are up to their eyebrows in promotions, and meanwhile I’m finishing up the last little tweaks on Alice’s The Case of the Mystified M.D. before I send it off to the printer. The Case of the Bouncing Grandma and RD are now

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-12895802486726202472009-07-07T20:56:00.007-05:002009-07-22T17:16:49.627-05:00

Here’s our latest cover—and isn’t it just too pretty! Jen Stephen’s The Heart’s Journey Home is due to release February 1, and the title couldn’t be more appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Then factor in the outstanding photo Jen’s friend who’s a professional photographer took for her and the lovely pink glow our designer Marisa added, and you’ve got the perfect release for sweethearts’ month! The

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-2834192470239711132009-06-22T20:28:00.004-05:002009-06-22T20:45:50.824-05:00

Ummmm . . . undoubtedly all you alert readers instantly recognized The Tears of the Sun as the title of the 2003 Bruce Willis movie. I haven’t seen the movie, but it’s a great title, which is why it sticks in my mind.Obviously we aren’t going to give Peg Phifer’s book a title bound to pull up the movie on a search. The correct title is To See the Sun, which Peg took from the verse in Ecclesiastes

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-16690861175223614862009-06-21T20:01:00.006-05:002009-06-21T20:18:38.290-05:00

Eeeek!!! Behind again. This was supposed to be posted before we left to go camping for the weekend, but as usual a few monkey wrenches got thrown into the machinery. Honest—I’m running as fast as I can!!During the 12 years I worked for Abingdon Press we had crazy busy times, busy times, slow times, and dead times. But it never seems to let up when you’re running your own business. There’s always

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-82085506718816282872009-05-20T20:10:00.007-05:002009-05-20T20:38:44.209-05:00

Most nights I sleep like a baby, but every once in a while I have a night when I can’t beg, borrow, or steal any snooze time. Last night was one of those nights. Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night in a cold sweat and lain there worrying about everything that’s on your agenda—your finances, your relationships, your work, whatever—convinced that the world as you know it is on the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-43669293268062854122009-05-01T12:13:00.014-05:002009-05-01T12:55:26.702-05:00

Before this gets to be a major literary work, I figured (that’s Tennessee speak) I’d better do another update. I have good intentions, really I do! But I keep getting buried by the day-to-day minutiae, so before I’m in up to my neck again, here we go.First things first: the long overdue introduction of our new authors! Ta Dah!!!First up is Kristin Elizabeth Marshall, whose speculative literary

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-20819718282754369062009-04-05T15:45:00.013-05:002009-04-07T10:52:11.200-05:00

Take a look at these beauties! We have a fabulous line-up of fall titles and the covers to match. With Joy’s Rain Dance and the 2nd books of Michelle’s and Alice’s series coming on the heels of Wind of the Spirit and My Son, John, I suspect Sheaf House is going to be getting lots of attention in the months to come—and best of all, blessing many readers in the process.Things are also looking up in

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-62944836358263730292009-03-21T08:28:00.012-05:002009-03-21T08:54:56.397-05:00

We made it safely to Dallas Thursday evening and checked into out cozy little suite on the northwest side, about 10 miles from downtown. We even have kitchen here, though of course we haven't had a chance to use it much. And this afternoon we leave to head back to Georgia.So far I have mixed feelings about the Expo. It's been great to reconnect with a whole bunch of folks from ACFW and CAN.

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-1294083337795111012009-03-09T19:23:00.004-05:002009-03-09T19:31:06.023-05:00

Time for more fun!! Here’s our latest cover—for Joy DeKok’s Rain Dance, which pubs in August. Isn’t it a beauty? I found this image on istockphoto.com. It really grabbed me, and then Joy when I showed it to her. We both love its evocative feeling and how perfectly it expresses the story’s theme.We also found a perfect picture for the back cover, and you’ll see that later, once that’s finished. In

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-85312612889392707822009-03-06T17:13:00.013-06:002009-03-06T19:01:12.880-06:00

As if I didn’t have enough to do . . .The first annual Christian Book Expo takes place March 20-22 at the Dallas Convention Center. I’ve known about it for months, of course. One of the organizations I belong to, American Christian Fiction Writers, has a booth, and they’ve been lining up our published authors to do signings since the first of the year. I just assumed our budget was too tight and

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-78764143059584440552009-02-21T21:54:00.003-06:002009-02-21T22:23:30.426-06:00

Wind of the Spirit is here! As you can see from the photo at left, I finally have this particular dream in my hands, and I am one proud mama!!! Believe me, no matter how many books you publish, the arrival of a new release never gets old!And this book is GORGEOUS! It’s one thing to see the cover on my computer screen, but to see it in “real life” on the actual book is something else altogether.

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-66366076477690542492009-02-07T13:32:00.008-06:002009-02-07T14:03:48.704-06:00

Boy, I sure wish I was as skinny as the folks in this image. LOL! But I digress. On to business.I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but I have it on good authority that The Case of the Bouncing Grandma showed up in Christian Book Distributor’s January fiction catalog—get this—right next to the mega bestseller The Shack!!! Wooooo hooooo!!!! We knew it was going to be in the catalog, but how awesome is

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-9694819003571842992009-01-27T16:12:00.024-06:002009-01-27T17:13:14.953-06:00

There are exciting times ahead for Sheaf House in 2009! Since I have a stack of work on my desk that’s nagging for my attention, today I’m just going to give you a brief summary of my meeting this past weekend with my new partner, Joy DeKok.Joy and her husband, Jon, are the proud new owners of an RV, and they decided to take their maiden voyage down our winter place in Perry, Georgia. They

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-53553525533787145522009-01-04T22:01:00.016-06:002009-01-05T08:31:17.918-06:00

Ah, a new year has begun, and as usual, I’m playing catch-up. I thought I’d do a quick tour of what we accomplished in 2008, and then in my next post bring everyone up-to-date on what’s coming up in 2009. So without further ado, here are the high points of the past year . . . well, at least as many as my addled brain can dredge up at this hour of the day.2008We published 3 books: One Holy Night (

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-28316932411589332672008-12-27T15:04:00.014-06:002008-12-27T16:27:14.930-06:00

This season seems to be an appropriate one to wax philosophical, and I’ve been spending some time thinking about how incredibly the Lord has blessed all of us in this country. So instead of updating you on what’s going on at Sheaf House—which I will get to in my next post—I want to share some thoughts related to the real meaning of Christmas.I don’t know about you, but at this time of year it’s

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-1419461658298848692008-12-17T17:52:00.005-06:002008-12-17T18:05:42.141-06:00

Fun! Yes, we’re having loads of fun here! At least, I keep telling myself that. You can tell by how long it’s been since I last posted—what has it been, a month?—that I’m in it up to my ears!Let’s see . . . since we last talked I’ve had 4 days of Thanksgiving celebrations, with the attendant cleaning, cooking, eating, talking, and repeat till you drop; 2 book signings—one down at our winter place

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-29243610948454963322008-11-20T09:00:00.013-06:002008-11-20T19:41:50.066-06:00

Good grief—remiss again! Life keeps passing me by while I’m pounding the keyboard. I meant to get in another update long before this, but in the midst of all the regular Sheaf House business and the blog tour for One Holy Night and setting up book signings, my designer and I have been working on the interior design for Wind of the Spirit and My Son, John. All was going along just ducky, too, when

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-45004123586472330282008-10-27T17:56:00.005-05:002008-10-27T18:11:08.359-05:00

Although some of you already know that Joy DeKok joined the Sheaf House team a few weeks ago, I’ve wanted to formally welcome her ever since she came aboard. Business and production issues have taken up too much of my time these past few weeks to do a proper job of introducing her until now, however—which is one of the reasons Joy is joining us as a partner and co-publisher. She’s going to take

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-8255420400102325522008-10-24T21:39:00.010-05:002008-10-24T21:53:42.571-05:00

Lots and lots of work, that’s what. LOL! First I came back down to our winter place in south GA a couple of weeks ago and managed to get reasonably reogarnized. Then I spent this entire week entering the edits for Wind of the Spirit into the master file. Thankfully there was nothing major, which is especially good news, considering that my editor friend is as anal as I am. She did a careful

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-11780347768218564372008-10-09T14:51:00.010-05:002008-10-09T15:17:44.783-05:00

Once again my carefully laid plans were derailed. I was overrun by my 2 and 4 year-old grandkids this the past week, and obviously little else got done. You’re just lucky I’m reasonably coherent. LOL! Now I’m scrambling to dig through the pile of notes and papers on my desk and get caught up with e-mails and get packed and button down the house so I can leave for our winter hideaway in south

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-56863177180363942392008-09-26T20:11:00.005-05:002008-09-26T20:22:26.399-05:00

This has been an encouraging week for Sheaf House, and we have more excitement to share. We have another author joining our team! Welcome Deborah Kinnard, known to her friends simply as Deb. If you’re a regular on this blog, you’ve already met her and know that she’s finishing up a fabulous medieval time-travel novel I’ve been lusting after for some time. We just finally decided to call a halt to

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-54528261009929882722008-09-24T18:55:00.006-05:002008-09-24T19:18:01.349-05:00

Could life be sweeter? We have another fabulous cover to celebrate with the final version of Kathi Macias’s My Son, John! This cover was designed by Marisa Jackson, a friend of Kaye Dacus who was also laid off by Guidepost. Didn’t she do an amazing job on this cover? She gave us several roughs to choose from, and all of them were great. It was a tough choice, but after a bit of dithering, Kathi

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-3216870068419140152008-09-10T20:53:00.002-05:002008-09-10T20:57:04.056-05:00

[Sound of horns blowing vigorously] TAH DAH!!!!!!I have a new baby! The much-anticipated final version of the Wind of the Spirit cover arrived today!!! Can you tell I’m excited?! It’s a good thing there aren’t any limits on the number of exclamation points you can use in a document, because I’d be locking up the computer. LOL!You’ve all seen the 2 photos we started out with. And I know several of

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-84814836914801032972008-08-28T20:57:00.005-05:002008-08-28T21:16:32.186-05:00

Boy, that was fast! I guess I assumed it would take longer to get things rolling. But today I received the first order from CBD! They’re buying 10 of each of our titles. Now, that may not seem like much, but for a teensy new publisher like Sheaf House who only has 3 books out, it’s HUGE! The books ship tomorrow, and CBD should have them in stock within a couple of weeks. Or less. They already

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-13143636799659908882008-08-21T22:22:00.007-05:002008-08-21T22:53:19.277-05:00

Ahhhhhh . . . sweet success.We have a deal with Christian Book Distributors (CBD)!!! I just talked to my contact there, and as we spoke he set Sheaf House up in their system. Terms 60% discount (ouch) and 30-day net. But once the books are out the door, we never see them again. No returns! And we get exposure in a market where huge numbers of our target customer base buy. To land this deal when

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-43580365563837757942008-08-12T21:00:00.005-05:002008-08-12T22:45:12.108-05:00

Have you ever felt like every time you tried to do something, the Evil One was standing in the road? LOL! Well the past week and a half has been pretty much like that. When things go haywire, they really go haywire.First, our idea for a viral campaign totally fell apart on the horns of Amazon’s incompetence or neglect or whatever. They’ve only stocked a few copies of One Holy Night at a time, and

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-50893058608318570352008-07-24T15:08:00.008-05:002008-07-24T15:40:07.941-05:00

A couple of weeks ago when I bemoaned my woes in trying to get the word out about Sheaf House books at my local writers group, they came up with a terrific idea. If it works, it’ll jump start the sales we so badly need if we’re going to keep Sheaf House afloat and continue publishing terrific fiction. It’s a marketing strategy often used in the music industry. And since we’re located in Music

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-34788218030120037172008-07-08T09:33:00.019-05:002008-07-15T16:27:47.928-05:00

Cross posted on The American Patriot Series Blog.We all know that creating a striking cover is one of the most effective tools for marketing a book. When I worked at Abingdon Press, getting approval for a book cover was one of the most important and stressful hurdles we faced. So when I began thinking about the cover for my own next project, Wind of the Spirit, I ran right into a question that

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-29423963426748030902008-07-08T09:25:00.004-05:002008-07-08T09:32:12.624-05:00

It’s about time I get around to formally introducing my intern for the summer and next-to-the-newest Sheaf House author, Jen Stephens! If you’ve been on the Sheaf House Web site lately, you’ve seen her sweet face on the Contemporary Fiction page. Jen grew up in a small Ohio town where she developed a passion for writing at an early age. She wrote her first novel in high school as well as dozens

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-4977993379953811372008-07-01T18:05:00.000-05:002008-07-01T18:05:37.000-05:00

I know I’m late getting on this, but it’s been a day. LOL! In case you haven’t already received the announcement, Christian Fiction Online Magazine debuted this morning. Mega congrats to Michelle Sutton and her team for turning this dream into fabulous reality!I’ve added a link to the site in the sidebar so all you have to do is click on it to have everything you ever wanted to know about

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-36307792282721592262008-06-17T15:15:00.000-05:002008-06-17T15:45:06.158-05:00

I thought you might like to see the ad Dineen Miller designed for us. Didn’t she do a great job? I especially like how it subtly emphasizes our theme of the sheaf of wheat. It also includes our new Sheaf House tagline: “Real life. Real faith. Real fiction.” I settled on that after throwing some ideas around with Michelle. It seems to be a natural for the books we’re publishing. Let me know what

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-251205798098616832008-06-07T08:50:00.000-05:002008-06-07T08:53:49.513-05:00

I apologize for the long hiatus since my last post! I seem to get behinder and behinder on this! So if you don’t hear from me for a while, you can be sure things are hopping. When you wear so many hats, things can get out of control now and again. Well, not out of control, but very, very busy. Good thing I love what I’m doing, otherwise, I’d be seriously stressed. But the older I get, the more I

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-45878905040928021862008-05-11T07:24:00.004-05:002008-05-11T07:31:12.397-05:00

Hey, everyone! I just want to let you know that Lena Nelson Dooly posted her interview with me on Friday, May 9th on her blog at http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/. She's also giving away a free copy of One Holy Night, so go on over and make a comment on Friday's post to be entered for a copy! And if you don't win but would like one of my OHN bookmarks, which are very pretty, send me your

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-87700968095788415462008-05-06T18:50:00.002-05:002008-05-06T18:53:41.251-05:00

Here it is, folks—the full cover for Bouncing Grandma! All we need now is the exact spine width and the cover will be finished. I’ll get that measurement from the printer as soon as we have a final page count. My guess is it’ll come out around 240 pages, but One Holy Night ended up shorter than I anticipated, so I’ll just have to see. It all depends on the the font and how the text lays out on

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-43148696194267339562008-04-02T20:55:00.004-05:002008-04-02T21:03:54.819-05:00

Here they are, folks: the fully rendered final version of the logo and the final designed front cover. Take a look at these! Aren’t they wonderful? Alice and I are pretty happy, as you can probably tell.At the moment, Alice is hard at work going through the edits for Bouncing Grandma. Meanwhile my designer is working on the interior and the back cover. And today I’ve been working on the copyflow

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-83036105691082237242008-03-20T19:18:00.002-05:002008-03-20T19:31:13.679-05:00

The fun just continues, folks! It doesn’t get any better than this. Here’s the logo for the Bouncing Grandma Series. Take a look and let me know what you think.The illustrator still has more work to do to give it a completely rendered look, but Alice and I are already pretty ecstatic about it. Personally, I think this perfectly captures the spirit of the main character of the series, Glory Harper

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-23185130354384527552008-03-10T20:10:00.002-05:002008-03-10T19:21:12.758-05:00

We are certainly having a good time here at Sheaf House! Actually, it ought to be illegal to have this much fun!!Take a look at the final illustration for Alice’s cozy mystery, The Case of the Bouncing Grandma. Is it perfect, or what? The title will go on the valance of the curtain, and Alice’s name will go across the bottom in the shadowed area.If you click on the image, you’ll be able to make

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-48496217207462846942008-03-04T16:45:00.000-06:002008-03-04T15:43:51.133-06:00

I thought you might like to see what Michelle’s full cover looks like. Here it is, and isn’t it pretty? We’re pretty thrilled with how the whole thing turned out. The back cover is just as cool as the front cover and ought to really draw readers into the story.The illustrator is working apace on the illustration for Alice’s front cover. As soon as we have the final version, my designer will put

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-79392600652768924672008-03-03T20:25:00.001-06:002008-03-03T19:26:10.868-06:00

I just responded to an e-mail questioning whether Sheaf House is a Christian Booksellers Association publisher, and I thought I’d better clarify this issue. I’ve added a more explicit explanation to the Sheaf House Web site so there’ll be no more confusion. I apologize for not making this clear. Actually, it just never occurred to me. LOL!No, Sheaf House is not formally a CBA-affiliated publisher

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-16221060650737500832008-02-26T19:12:00.005-06:002008-02-26T19:18:55.842-06:00

I’ve been intending to post this for a week now, but life has been crazy. If you’re like me, there’s waaaayy too much of that going on nowadays. LOL!So what do you think? This is the final final cover with all the tweaks incorporated. The designer fiddled with the skin tones and removed or softened those pesky shadows. I know it’s hard to tell on blogger, and even moving from my desktop computer

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-60035471357137088962008-02-13T16:21:00.007-06:002008-02-13T16:52:27.472-06:00

Well, not really, though there are days when it does feel like that. LOL! This title comes from a hysterical Mad Magazine article from the 1960s, that involved, I seem to recall, President Kennedy. That might be too early, but I’m pretty sure it was one of our presidents of the period. Maybe it was Johnson. Boy, doesn't that date me?Anyway, one thing I never have to worry about when I get up in

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-27812348773453348892008-01-28T20:35:00.000-06:002008-01-28T19:35:16.309-06:00

Hey, I’m pumped, and so is my buddy Michelle Sutton! Today my designer e-mailed 3 different preliminary versions of the cover for Michelle’s young adult novel, It’s Not About Me. And—TA-DA—here they are! So . . . what do you think? The major problem I can see is that we’re going to have trouble deciding which one to use. LOL! Although we’re leaning toward one, we need your input to decide which

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-62267875135864887422008-01-09T10:00:00.000-06:002008-01-09T08:59:52.292-06:00

Today we’re going to consider whether men read fiction. (Or possibly: Do men read?) Yes, we are finally going to delve into this engrossing subject—though it may be a short post since I’m a woman and I don’t have a direct channel into the male mind. However, I’ve been puzzling over this conundrum for some time, both as an author and a publisher, because obviously men constitute a huge potential

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-18181674787426477142008-01-03T17:35:00.000-06:002008-01-03T17:37:15.363-06:00

Ah, the long winter’s hiatus is finally past; the last of the holiday leftovers have been polished off, adding a bit more padding to your hips; and we’re beginning to make a bit of progress along the orbit toward the vernal equinox. I hope you had a delightful Christmas and that your New Year is going to be most blessed and prosperous! We’re finally back in south Georgia, where we’re spending the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-72571524460798721742007-12-06T16:00:00.000-06:002007-12-06T14:58:36.002-06:00

ACK! Where did November go???? Can you believe it’s December already? And you know what that means. ACK!! The craziness has already started, which means time to get any actual work done is going to be at a premium. But it’s all good, right? LOL! It just means I’d better get caught up fast after the Thanksgiving letdown.Trouble is, the past couple of days, our WiFi has been out at the RV park

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-45129589769056196532007-11-25T18:10:00.000-06:002007-11-25T18:17:21.363-06:00

Well, not exactly, though at the moment it feels kinda like that. But I had to think of a title, and being a child of the 1960s, that’s what sprang to mind. LOL!I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family close and many blessings to thank God for. We certainly are overflowing with blessings at my house! This year our big get-together is going to be at Christmas, and we only

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-61895781358163812622007-11-08T22:33:00.000-06:002007-11-08T21:32:21.256-06:00

No, this post isn’t about men’s fiction. Women are fickle, what can I say. We’ll get to that topic as I promised. But today I’ve been reflecting on this past year that I’ve spent developing Sheaf House, and I just wanted to share some thoughts.You know, one thing keeps on amazing me. I mean, I'm an editor, and editors see some pretty awful manuscripts. But every one I've looked at so far has just

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-88563952413494033892007-11-05T19:45:00.000-06:002007-11-05T18:54:31.055-06:00

I want to welcome yet another author to the Sheaf House team: Dennis Bates! Welcome aboard, Dennis!I became acquainted with Dennis on a small e-mail loop dedicated to marketing. At least that’s our story, and we’re sticking to it. In reality we’re a bunch of rebels, misfits, outcasts, and renegades who love to kvetch. You can imagine what a fine time we’re having. [naughty grin] No topic is

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-36176183090558909952007-10-31T13:50:00.000-05:002007-10-31T12:49:09.898-05:00

I have wonderful news that I’ve been meaning to share for days now, but somehow life keeps on happening. LOL! Of course, if you’ve visited the Sheaf House Web site recently, you already know about it. But I want to make a formal announcement here too.Last week a good buddy of mine from Christian Authors Network, Kathi Macias, formally joined the Sheaf House author team. The author of more than 20

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-15120711340603310052007-10-18T21:25:00.000-05:002007-10-18T21:21:46.186-05:00

Wouldn’t you know it? Just when you think you have everything covered, another head-banging problem pops up. Yesterday morning Tina called to tell me my proof is ready. Wow—that was fast. I hurry into town and settle down in the conference room to take a look.Cover—perfect. Check.Interior … oops. Why does the type look so large? And the margins so small? The stars just aren’t lining up right here

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-18089716088556822662007-10-16T21:15:00.000-05:002007-10-16T21:22:07.956-05:00

Scenario:Last Thursday I deliver the CDs with pdfs of the interior and cover of One Holy Night to the printer. The sales rep promises the proofs will be ready Monday afternoon. I make a mental note that more than likely that means the proofs will be ready Tuesday (today). Which means Wednesday I can head back down to south Georgia, where my husband and I are planning to spend most of the winter

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-11889686200046930752007-10-12T14:07:00.000-05:002007-10-12T14:28:08.432-05:00

The first giant step was Monday, when I signed with APG for full distribution. First thing Mr. Hill asked was whether the cover of One Holy Night was finalized or if changes were still possible. It was an out-of-body experience. For a brief instant I contemplated coming right across that table and slapping him. I decided that would probably be counterproductive, so I smiled sweetly and cooed, “

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-88448237701212154662007-10-05T19:03:00.000-05:002007-10-05T18:59:49.280-05:00

No, I didn’t intend to let this much time lapse between posts, but life keeps on happening. I suspect you all know that scenario too. There are times when it feels like I’m falling farther and farther behind in all the things I’m supposed to be doing. But God is in charge, so I refuse to let myself get stressed. And happily I do have progress to report.First and best, I landed a distributor!

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-47112487971705338062007-09-23T17:40:00.000-05:002007-09-28T14:05:32.474-05:00

Okay, guys, here it is. This is the final final version of the cover. LOL! I took everyone’s feedback into account, and this is the way we ended up. The image isn’t the best, and I apologize. I had to convert the original tiff file into a jpeg to upload it in blogger, and that degraded the quality of the color quite a bit. The image is really vibrant onscreen, but at least this gives you an idea

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-22210708192597748562007-09-11T15:05:00.000-05:002007-09-11T15:02:45.597-05:00

At last, here is the final front cover for One Holy Night! Please let me know what you think! I’m very eager to get some feedback. We’re going to be away camping for few days, but I plan to be home for several hours on Thursday to catch up with business, and I will check in to see if I’ve received any responses!To be honest, there were times when I didn’t think we were going to make it to this

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-29699251697234016882007-08-30T16:22:00.000-05:002007-08-30T16:19:37.668-05:00

Yikes! Only one more day left in August, and so much to do before One Holy Night goes out the door. In between loading up our 5th wheel and getting ready to go camping with our grandkids over the Labor Day weekend, I’m trying to mop up a few tasks related to Sheaf House … which reminds me I really need to mop these awful floors! Oh, well, that’s one task that’s going to wait until we get

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-69611253362631432542007-08-19T16:50:00.000-05:002007-08-19T16:48:37.848-05:00

I just couldn’t resist updating you on the cover of One Holy Night. We still have some work to do to finish the full composition, but here is the main image Jason put together in PhotoShop using 4 separate images.Is this beautiful, or what? Keitha, my designer here in Nashville, and I are tweaking it a bit to fully integrate it with the other elements of the cover, but Jason saved us a

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-37385610081504562682007-08-16T16:57:00.000-05:002007-08-16T17:43:22.838-05:00

Who would have known life gets even busier when you’re no longer working at a paid job? How in the world did I ever find the time to hold down even a part-time position? I don’t have a clue.Okay, so I didn’t get everything on my to-do list done the past couple of weeks—including writing this post. I meant to have a report up last week, but obviously I went AWOL. LOL! I was working—just not

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-45843672305614384812007-08-03T16:34:00.000-05:002007-08-03T16:59:57.052-05:00

Yesterday was my final day of work at Abingdon Press. There were many bittersweet moments as I finished up my last project and loaded the last of my stuff in my car. You’ve probably experienced similar moments: the sad farewells and hugs, the reminiscing and laughter and barely suppressed tears, the well wishes, a lovely card and an unexpected bouquet of yellow roses. And then the drive home,

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-36081935614626232942007-07-24T14:45:00.000-05:002007-07-24T14:45:52.538-05:00

One thing I’ve learned in this life: When one door closes, somewhere another door opens.This week is bittersweet for me. I’ve spent the past 12 years working for Abingdon Press, an imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House. I’ve made dear friends, worked on interesting projects with colleagues I esteem, and learned many new things as I honed my skills as an editor. Invariably I’ve been

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-79336527779378828762007-07-15T08:32:00.000-05:002007-07-15T08:36:45.975-05:00

Boy, has this been a week! I have so many priorities screaming for my attention that I need to first sit down and figure out which one is the most urgent! It’s been a busy week to begin with, both at work and at home, and on top of it we’re leaving for a week of camping early this afternoon. And we haven’t even started to figure out what we need to take with us or pack the camper. But I do want

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-14788397016103755792007-07-04T15:42:00.000-05:002007-07-04T15:50:31.248-05:00

With my first book set to release this fall, I’ve been thinking a lot about putting together my list for 2008. I’ve already heard from several authors who are eager to submit their proposals—I’ll be accepting submissions later this summer—and I’m getting really excited! The only thing that can hold me back now is if there isn’t enough money in the Sheaf House account by the first of the year to

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-56300299821373283472007-06-27T11:10:00.000-05:002007-06-27T11:08:33.597-05:00

And it’s a really big one.We’ve just started having conversations here at The United Methodist Publishing House about the possibility of developing a fiction line. I’m in the focus group that’s working on this. Our first meeting was Monday. And apparently, at this liberal main-line publishing house, I know more about the specifics of CBA (i.e., evangelical) fiction than most of the folks here,

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-65402510604501502712007-06-21T14:48:00.000-05:002007-06-21T14:47:30.311-05:00

Here's to taking that big leap forward! LOL!You must have been praying because there’s lots of good news this week! I received my block of ISBNs the other day, both 10-digit and 13 digit. My unique publisher number is 979. I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to have these in my hot little hands! I’ve already input them on the imprimatur page of the One Holy Night manuscript. And a few days

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-50437264581227016372007-06-12T19:35:00.000-05:002007-06-12T19:32:15.136-05:00

The bad news: Saturday we finally gave up on Hughesnet. The local tech had gotten the system back up and running … which lasted for almost a week this time. Now he says he’s done everything he can do, and he doesn’t know why it doesn’t work. Not exactly confidence building. Sigh.The good news: Wild Blue, now partnering with AT&T, will be on my doorstep Thursday morning to install what I devoutly

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-42062973572543125922007-05-31T13:45:00.000-05:002007-05-31T13:43:51.670-05:00

You know, this would be funny, if it weren’t so enraging. I apologize for the long hiatus between posts, but our satellite link is down yet again. Second time in a month. This time it’s been off since the 20th, and I’ve spent hours on the phone with the fine folks in India trying to decipher what they’re struggling to tell me. The local Hughesnet tech still hasn’t gotten out to our house to fix

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-62623670527150549482007-05-17T14:20:00.000-05:002007-05-17T14:22:02.819-05:00

Today I’m going to talk about the burning topic of pyromania … ooops! No, no—I mean pyrotechnics. Ummmm … okay, how about pyroclastic flow? No? Ah—Pyromarketing! Yes, that’s it! Greg Stielstra’s scheme for creating mega sales of your product.A while back, I downloaded the audio version of Greg’s Pyromarketing book from his Web site. (You can also download a print copy.) It provided entertainment

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-31334133746266484092007-05-09T14:35:00.000-05:002007-05-09T14:35:09.991-05:00

Before I get back to more discussion of marketing schemes, I thought I’d first update you on some necessary housekeeping I’ve made good headway with: forming an LLC, trademarking my logo, and registering the copyright for One Holy Night. I’ll dive into Pyromarketing in my next post.Money is tight right now, but these issues have been nagging at me, so I took the leap … and borrowed a chunk of $$$

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-10817159591415197272007-04-26T19:45:00.000-05:002007-04-26T19:48:00.906-05:00

Today I’m going to delve into marketing issues—specifically, Internet marketing schemes. The third question I posed some time ago was: How will I reach potential customers for Sheaf House books and persuade them to buy the books I publish? This is a burning issue I’ll need to address on an ongoing basis.Obviously the Internet is a huge marketing arena that offers access to a potentially limitless

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-27076936670071196292007-04-18T15:55:00.000-05:002007-04-18T15:57:48.079-05:00

I just have time for a quick post this evening since my husband and I are leaving to go camping with our Good Sam chapter for the weekend. Of course, my version of camping includes the fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom in our 5th wheel camper. No tent camping for this girl!I’m getting closer to locking into a printer for my first project. I want to get at least a couple of other

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-56666651485155859582007-04-11T14:45:00.000-05:002007-04-11T14:44:19.493-05:00

The excitement is so intense, I'm biting my fingernails! LOL! Seriously, since my last post, some exciting stuff has happened. First off, I found the perfect designer to do the book cover for my first project, One Holy Night. John Robinson just happens to work here at Abingdon too, and he’s not only a professional designer, but also very accessible, which is a major plus. And not only does he do

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-91066134161924050542007-04-04T15:30:00.000-05:002007-04-04T15:28:36.710-05:00

Before we get into the subject of today’s post, I just have to unveil the final version of the Sheaf House logo that will go on book spines.As you can see, there are two versions here. The larger is the version that will be used on all books except those with really thin spines. If the image is reduced too small, it becomes unreadable, so that’s where the version that features only the words

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-34356110071458574602007-03-26T16:10:00.000-05:002007-03-26T16:05:54.507-05:00

All right! I’m making a bit of progress in getting some of these pesky questions answered and making several important decisions. We got our taxes done this morning, and I talked to our accountant about which business model would be the best for this business, given our specific financial situation. His feeling is that an LLC should cover all the bases as far as liabilities are concerned, and it’

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-58379198969902641732007-03-16T08:35:00.000-05:002007-03-16T08:31:35.087-05:00

This has become a habit. It’s taking me longer between posts than I intended. I was hijacked by my wips—and if you’re an author, you know what that means! Gotta write while the muse is hot, and boy, was she hot! What a scene—oooh la la! But if I’m going to keep this project on schedule, I need to balance that by digging in and moving forward on a couple of important fronts. Of course, Jay and I

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35148129.post-39659441992071257892007-03-02T13:45:00.000-06:002007-03-02T13:43:10.350-06:00

I meant to get back to this much sooner, but last weekend my oldest daughter and her family drove down from the Indianapolis area to spend the weekend and help celebrate my oldest granddaughter’s birthday. I can’t believe she’s 10 already! Time marches on while you’re not looking. Anyway, we ended up with 6 adults, a 12-year-old, a newly minted 10-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 10-month-old in the

J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com8