Until recently, most incoming manuscripts to Xulon HQ had a title page and, maybe, an Acknowledgements page. This month, however, we have been inundated with Prefaces, Introductions, Author’s Notes, Forewords, and every flavor of frontmatter that only people who are paid to care about can actually define. Usually.
Here at Xulon Press, we're embracing all things American in July. We’ve debated the nuances of self-publishing historical and political writing, but we’d be grossly remiss if we didn’t recognize the individuals who protect our right to pen those opinions so freely.
In eighth grade, my American History class was required to memorize the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, and my teacher offered two points of extra credit for each word we memorized after that. I memorized the entire thing. Yes, you read that right. My fourteen-year-old-self memorized all 1,337 words of blissful Jeffersonian jargon in the Dec. of Indy. My love for Americana continued as a political science major in college, so it’s no wonder that few things get my nerd-nerves tingling like some good ol’ patriotic prose: Common Sense, The Federalist Papers…I know, I know, fight the inner urge to run outside…
This month, Xulon Press is all about self-publishing your recipes—we’ve gone cookbook crazy! One of the most important components of a cookbook is, of course, the pictures! To get the skinny on how to capture your picture-perfect casseroles, sauces and sides, we’ve tapped into the brains of our resident food & photography experts. Meet our panel: Krystina Murray, Xulon Editor, blogger and passionate foodie; Nick Lopez, Author Support Rep and photographer extraordinaire; and Sabine Khouri, our super-trendy, tech-savvy Product Coordinator. Me: Thanks for getting together! Our authors have been pretty excited about this month’s topic. We all know that pictures are…