Today I would like to tell in detail how the book came into being.
I always wanted to write a book about squirrels, that is, since the squirrel passion gripped me. But there was always so much else to do, so I postponed this project. The year before last I finally wanted to tackle it. But first I had to take care of a few appointments – the creative market and our exhibition in December. And then came Christmas and the new year 2016 – and then I had vacation and finally time to tackle my project! So I wrote to four publishers who publish animal books.
The very first book draft was a photo book! Here is the cover. Of course, the final result was quite different.
From some of them I got rejections, but from BLV Verlag I got a positive answer! Of course some details had to be clarified first, until it was certain that it really worked out with the book.
However, the book was to be published in October, in keeping with the autumn season, which goes so well with squirrels. And of course in time for Christmas. But I thought, somehow we’ll get it done. After all, I know my way around tight schedules.
More pages from the photo book as first drafts.
But by the time everything was settled, it was March. And the deadline for the manuscript was May….
My original idea had been to take a sabbatical month for the book. But that was not possible at such short notice. So everything had to be done alongside my job. But I took time off to write the texts. Because in the evening I was just too tired to do it.
It all worked out well and I finished on time! And I even wrote more than there was room for. However, my editor Danièle Böhm helped me a lot with the shortening. In general, she was a great editor who took great care of me!
Of course, the selection of the photos also took a lot of time, because they had to fit the texts. But we also managed that well and according to the schedule.
At some point we got the news that the publication date had been brought forward by a month. However, this did not affect the deadline and we were still very much on schedule. We also had enough time for the necessary corrections.
Since there is also a link in the book to download instructions for building a feeder, we had to create a corresponding manual with photos as a PDF file as well. This part was done by Rainer, because he is the expert. This was then also implemented very well together with our new editor Elena Gabler.
Assembly instructions for a self-made feeding box (excerpt). You can find the link in the book.
Yes, and at some point the book was finished and now we had to wait for the printed book! It was a long test of patience and we could hardly wait to finally hold the book in our hands!
Due to our vacation this was delayed even more, but on September 9 we could finally hold our book in our hands! Wow, that was such a great feeling, we were so proud and happy!!!
Many thanks to BLV Verlag for making this possible and also to our two editors Mrs. Böhm and Mrs. Gabler for the great support!
