Mr. Basketmaker asks the Five (or more questions) this week.

Eric: Where have all your Posts gone?
Lynne: Well, there’s been a lot going on as you know… rough spring, rougher summer, Jaxson, sick and then Chance, and then losing Chance… do I need to go on? Hard to get back to the blog without my loyal buddy sitting at my feet 24/7… been very hard.
Sorry, I know… Chancy is very missed.

Eric: Why is it that you do such a good job making others look good with your design work, but you do little promoting your own projects? For instance, why haven’t you have been promoting this great cook book we just published under our new imprint Luffa Press?
Lynne: You ever hear of the saying “The cobbler’s kids are always without shoes?” Or something to that effect. If I knew the answer to that question I could’ve saved a lot of money spent on me whining to my therapist on why I procrastinate and can’t get things done!

Eric: Why has this book been such a secret?
Lynne: It hasn’t necessarily been a secret but more about waiting to see the various proofs and then switching printers and then the books shipping much later than anticipated. Didn’t want to advertise without knowing when we would ever get the books! But we now have an inventory and I promise to post more pics here and maybe the process. But you can now purchase it right here on the blog (hit button in sidebar) or visit luffa press.com
Yes, I love the Luffa Press name. Thank you for the Luffa Press Tee Shirt for Christmas! We officially publishers! Now onto my book! Looking forward to us finally completing it.

Eric: Give me two of the biggest things you learned about getting this book printed using on demand publishing.
Lynne: Two biggest? Gosh where to narrow it. One of the main things was the time to get these books. I thought I was way ahead of the game to get them before Christmas. AND, I was stunned that we placed the largest order and we got our books drop-shipped last. That was frustrating because we had so many people to then ship the books to.

Also didn’t account for the cost to SHIP the books directly from the publisher—whether drop shipped directly or to us, the shipping was much higher than we planned. It was also stressful early on when I went to a more private self-publisher where you had to get “approved.” They don’t help you with anything… you have to know what you’re doing right up front but there were some minor hurdles in what they wanted for spine variances and color bleeds, etc.

Eric: How would you describe this book?
Lynne: Since it’s a cookbook AND a book sharing great basket photos, I designed it to be interactive in terms of all the colors and the little “note snippets” from the “cooks” to tie together Baskets and Food into one cohesive, fun and lively art-type book.

Eric: What aggravated you the most this week?
Lynne: Me not being able to find our step stool so I can fill up our new kitchen cabinets and then blaming you for it disappearing but forgetting that I’m the one that keeps dragging it to some other place in the house! AND Wordpress completely changing it’s format… another reason I’ve been ignoring this blog.
Yeah, well that would’ve been my answer if you asked me the questions this week… I didn’t take your step stool!

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