Writing a book, is never easy, and often comes with a myriad of challenges. There were many instances during the various stages of this book that I asked myself, 500+ stitches? a dictionary? WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!!

Did you know for instance?

• That pages are printed in a run of 12, (ie: 136, 148, 160, etc.)? There is no adding one or two pages if you are over your allotted number.
• That the actual size of the book itself determines the number of words on a page, which of course is lowered if there are pictures?
• The content on each page of the book, is arranged individually, no magic program here or magic wand.
• That each photograph and illustration have an individual number or name to identify it?
• There are DEADLINES, and DEADLINES, and DEADLINES?

Thankfully I have always had a team of professional, talented, and caring women and men that create a book from my manuscript (a bunch of words) and visual content (snapshots and bags of stuff) that we all can be proud of.

As a reader you probably identify the cover, title and content with the author’s name, but in all fairness, it does take a village, and all hands-on deck (to use a few metaphors), to create a book.

Let me introduce you to the team of experts that were involved in the editing, producing, publishing, and promoting of the Hand Embroidery Dictionary.

Roxane Cerda, Acquisitions Editor: She took my initial idea, and helped to develop it into a viable proposal for the Editorial Staff. This is where the bones of the book are determined in the Outline, as well as the number of pages, illustrations, and photographs, which also helps to determine the price of the book.

Editorial Staff: This includes Amy Barret-Daffin our Publisher, Gailen Runge the Creative Director, and a host of the following editors. They make ALL the decisions, from the initial OK, to the cover and face of the book, and so much more!

Liz Aneloski, Senior Editor: Once the book proposal was approved, she presided over all the stages and aspects of the book. She held my hand, she listened, she advised, in her calm and easy manner. I can’t tell you how many emails and video chats we had!

Karla Menaugh, Developmental Editor: She took the first draft of the manuscript in her sturdy hands and determined what needed to be changed before the final draft was turned in. In this case we found that the content would run 15 pages over what I was allotted. YIKES! Through many hours/weeks, emails, and a few phone calls, we got that worked out for final manuscript.

Helen Young Frost, Technical Editor: She took on the next stage of the manuscript where the text was corrected and re-drew all the 1000+ illustrations for the illustrator to follow. As you can imagine, there were many emails, and yes quite a few phone calls involved during the entire progression of the book!

Linda Johnson, Illustrator: She took those hand-drawn illustrations and the ones already in the C&T library and created the remarkable illustrations for the book.

Estefany Gonzales and Lauren Herberg, Photographers: These ladies photographed each of the gallery and sample pieces for the book, including the samplers that held all 500+ stitches!

April Mosteck, Cover and Book Designer: She created the cover of the book, and every page within. Kudos to this talented artist for fitting all the illustrations into the chapter “Embroidery Stitch Dictionary”. Again, more challenging than we all thought it would be!

Tim Manibusan, Production Coordinator: He took over the next two stages of the manuscript. In these stages the photographs and the illustrations are put into the manuscript. Remember that each of these has its own individual number, not a job certainly for the faint at heart!

Jennifer Warren, Production Editor: She worked on editing the final rounds of the manuscript and inserted all the page numbers. If any re-arranging had to be done to fit the text, photographs, and illustrations on to the page, she took care of it.

In addition, to Tim and Jennifer, the remaining production staff, Alice, and Zinnia were called in to meet the deadline! WHEW, we did it!

Promotional staff: Lynn Ford, Alexandra Quilici and Jessica Vaughn: These ladies take the book under their wings and help to promote the book and get the word out to stores, shops and to you, the reader.

My deepest, heartfelt gratitude and thanks are sent to each one of these people, who were involved in this project. And yes, I still ask myself WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!! Luckily the resounding answer was, we’ve got your back!

Happy Stitching,

~Christen