Maria Peagler's Page

My eighth title is coming out next month: Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts. I had so much fun writing this book. Writing a quilting book is far more than a writing: I designed and made the quilts, developed the instructions, hired the photographer, book designer, two editors, illustrator, and pattern testers. It was a labor of love and I consider it my third child!

Here's the cover:

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Beneath the Cover has a great blog posting on publishers raising the bar for almost impossibly high author platforms , so books sell on their own with almost no marketing effort from the publisher. Patrice's book, The Web-Savvy Writer, really outlines great strategies for author platforms, marketing, and publ… Continue

Has anyone self-published a book with lots of graphics and photos? I self-published one of my books, but it had only a few graphics, and it was years ago before POD. The challenge I'm wondering about is the size of the files and getting them to the printer. My book would be about 100 pages, and it would have at least one or two graphics or photos on each page, and it would be in color. It seems extremely expensive. Any experience with this?

The publishing industry amazes me that they're able to turn a profit, even as long as I've been involved with it. I called a publisher today to find out the status of a proposal that they had requested. The Executive Editor didn't know who I was, didn't recognize my book proposal, and didn't know where it was. She then asked me, "Are you in a hurry to get it back?" Well, yes, another publisher is interested and I need it.

And this is a recognized industry leader in the quilt book publis… Continue

I've heard unofficially from the second publisher to whom I've sent my book. It's not on the upcoming schedule, so they don't think they're going with it. The Exec. Editor is on vacation, but I'll talk with her when she gets back.

I'm disappointed as I queried this published and they were interested as is a third publisher who'll be next in line.

I know this is the routine - this is my eighth book - and it doesn't get any easier. I've self-published one book previously, but it… Continue