The Art Of Publishing Project Management by Tim Sanders

January 22, 2013

Rarely does a book succeed solely because it's written well.  In almost every case, a successful book stems from a masterfully led publishing project.  When I first started out as an author, my acquisitions editor (at Crown) served as my project manager.  However, as time goes by, he or she is more concerned with the profit and ;oss statement than the actual project, leaving the author to led it.  If you've worked on projects before, you know that projects don't run themselves, leaders do.  At Net Minds, we are building a project creation and management platform to streamline the process.  But there's still an art to it. 

Napoleon Bonaparte was often quoted as saying, "the leader's role is to define reality, then give hope."  You must be clear on where you are, but keep your team engaged with the promise of success.  For our Net Minds Select projects, we believe that the entire publishing project team be assembled at the beginning, including: Editorial, Design, Promotions and Media Relations.  This way, everyone can have a voice and synergies can be created.  Each member has a critical role in the project, and likely, insights for other team members that will turn out useful.  Here are some tips on running a smooth publishing project.

1. Get Your Team To Care About Your Project - Face it, no one cares about your book more than you do.  As the author, it's your baby.  But if you can transfer some of that passion for it to team members, you'll increase engagement and spur innovation.  To do this, make sure your teams know's what I call the 4 M's: Material (they must read the manuscript, either in full or at least what you've written so far.) Motivation (you need to share with them why you wrote the book, and why it's going to make a difference).  Market (identify the target reader you are writing the book for, and what your promise is to her if she reads it.) Map (clearly identify the schedule, the milestones and little successes that will be achieved along the way.)

2. Work In Prototypes, Not Word Clouds - Whether it's a design idea, a marketing concept or even a timeline, create a visual prototype instead of just talking about it.  The value of them is that your team can point to it and give candid feedback about whether it works.  Too often, we discuss ideas abstractly, thinking that the prototype (even a rough sketch or a power point slide) is too hard to do.  But in the end, you'll find that rapid feedback is the key to saving time and getting an idea from concept to reality.  And one thing I've learned spending time with project master Ed Catmull (from Pixar) is that a successful movie (or book) isn't just a big idea - it's thousands of little solutions that cannot be created in a vacuum.

3. Communication Is Everything - It's likely that most of your communication will be via email over the life of the project. This is where many of them break down. I've participated in deep research on to effectively use email, and several rules emerged that you should follow.  Never give bad news, disagree or criticize ideas over email.  When giving criticism in person or on the phone, focus on the execution and not the person.  Avoid reply to all unless you really need it for project tracking.  Less email improves your readership, which is key to leading a project.  Break the thread with a phone call if you go back and forth more than three times.  A quick chat will likely save you time. 

4. Run Effective Meetings - Those times you congregate are crucial, as the face to face element provides critical interactions.  Don't run bad meetings that go on and on and never seem to produce results.  Always have an agenda, with a defined set of deliverables for the meeting.  Start out meetings with a review of what's going right to set a positive tone.  Don't use meetings to dump information, send it out prior to the event.  Use meetings to either make decisions or better yet, create execution strategies around decisions that were already made.  Don't seek consensus, a project is a merticracy and in the end, you run the show.  Allowing consensus building will make meetings three to five times longer than they should be and in the end, someone will still feel like he isn't getting his way.  Take notes, especially on the promises made and due dates for their delivery. 

5. Don't Forget To Give Credit - This is critical in the middle of the publishing project, when publication and sales reports are still months away.  I call this period of the project "the Valley of Despair" where we get sapped for energy and can easily get upset at the slightest provocation.  Recognize accomplishments, even the small ones, and if possible commerate them with a note or a gift.  At Net Minds, all of our books will give credit to every team member for their specific contributions on the title page (as well as the acknowledgements, which are up to the author.)  As much as an author wants support for her book project, your team mates need credit just as much.

In the end, your project management effectiveness will show up with a better book that is more likely to find its target audience.  Never forget who the project was created for: the reader.  By keeping him or her at the center of the table, you'll steer your project to best selling heights. 

 

• author
• project management

• Previous Post
• Next Post

blog comments powered by Disqus