"I read your book." | Sung J. Woo

In preparation for the avalanche of media coverage that will be exploding like a volcano (talk about mixing some bad metaphors), I have set up a Google Alert with my name, and lo and behold, I actually got a hit.  The article is from my hometown newspaper, the Warren Reporter.  It all looks good, except they said my novel came out last month.  But hey, press is press, so I’m grateful.

The other bit of news I found today was that an email interview I did a little while ago got in The Korea Daily.  It’s been there for about two weeks, so if I hadn’t been so lazy setting up my Google Alert, maybe this would’ve been my first.  In any case, for those who want to read the interview in English that I’d originally done with the reporter, check out the exchange below.  The Korean version has been shifted around here and there, but it’s basically the same thing.

The contract copies of the book (comp copies that are designated in the contract) arrived yesterday, and this morning, I slid them into the top shelf of my bookcase and took this shot, and I was reminded of one of my favorite jobs growing up.

The year before I left for college, I worked at the Barnes & Noble in Shrewsbury, NJ, which, like so many stores nowadays, isn’t there anymore.  Each associate was given a section to take care of, and I ended up with scifi/fantasy, which was great because at that time, I read a lot of it.  I hadn’t discovered Philip K. Dick yet, but I was quite fond of folks like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s series), Isaac Asimov (Foundation series), and Stephen R. Donaldson (Mordant’s Need series).  Not only did I have to keep the shelves in order, I also had to keep tabs on what was selling out and had the freedom to display the books however I chose.  If there was a title I liked,  I faced the cover out, to catch the eyes of the potential customer.

So here’s what I hope, now that I’m standing on the other side — that there’s a book associate out there who likes my book enough to give it the cover treatment.

Two posts in one day?  Surely the apocalypse can’t be far.

Actually this is long overdue.  I’ve been working with a phenomenally talented guy named Noah Dempewolf.  I met him through KoreAm Journal (which, by the way, still welcomes your support), where he illustrated a pair of my articles.  I love his work, so it was a great pleasure to have him draw up portraits for two of the main characters in the novel, David and Sue.  These wonderful drawings are featured in a broadsheet that features the first chapter of the novel.  I plan to use it for marketing purposes as the pub date nears.

David

Sue

I should also mention that Noah did the banner graphic for this site as well.  The guy can do it all.

I finally have a cover for the book, and lemme tell ya, it wasn’t easy.  There were three other versions, one that even I attempted to mock up, but the “kid cover,” as I’m now calling it, was the one that was finally chosen.  The first one had four pairs of Asian shoes and was deemed too “chick-litty.”  The second one had three pairs of shoes, two Asian and one pair of Converse Chuck Taylors, but that, too, was ultimately too chick-lit.  The one that I had created included a pair of graphics by an artist I was working with, and it unfortunately gave off a graphic-novel vibe that threatened to confuse potential readers.

I believe the boy is holding a fish fillet sandwich.  Don’t ask.

In 2007, I wrote a Lives article for The New York Times Magazine.  At the time, they were using Bob Hambly for their simple yet effective black-and-white logos on top of each essay, and thinking of that logo made me think about having something similar to that in my novel.  After some searching, I found the perfect person to draw these up: my talented wife.  So here they are, a collage of the graphics that appear on each and every chapter of Everything Asian.

Has it already been a month and a half since I made my last entry?  How the hell do people write every day in their blogs?  It’s nothing short of astonishing.

Anyway, the loose proofs came today.  At this stage, the book is looking like a book, and here’s the strange thing: it doesn’t look real.  As I get closer to having this manuscript turned into an actual novel, the more surreal it all seems.  On every other page, I see my name, right there.  And on the other side, the title of the book I’ve been working on for what seems like forever.  It’s all utterly, terrifically strange.

On Monday, my editor sent me the copyedited manuscript. I need to return it by May 30, so basically, this weekend is where I need to read over the copy editor’s marks, make my own changes, and ship it back.

What I find most fascinating is the style sheet. If you don’t know what a style sheet is, here’s a definition from Angela Harms via google (search terms: “style sheet” copyediting):

One of the first things I do when copy-editing is to create a style sheet. A style sheet is vital for ensuring that a manuscript is consistent. It will include such things as character and place names, dates, and the author’s preferences for certain ways of writing. This lets us remember that Rebecca is called Becca, and not Becky, that she’s older than June, and that the author (or publisher) prefers to put two commas in “bread, eggs, and milk” rather than only one. The style sheet will follow the manuscript to publication, for use by proofreaders or anyone else who works with the text.

So the copyeditor assigned to my book wrote up one of these, and it’s a weird feeling. It’s weird that another human being has read my manuscript with such care.

Thank goodness for style sheets and thorough editors. Apparently, I spelled Korean fried rice two different ways — bee-bim-bahb and bi-bim-baap. I prefer the latter. And now, I’m hungry.