When I Came West (Part Twenty-two)
On February 4, 2009, I received a letter from the OU Press editor along with the final page proofs, which I needed to read and make any corrections by March 9th.
My reply stated, "Every thing looks fabulous and I couldn't be happier with the manuscript overall. Please tell everyone at the press thank you for all their hard work."
I found only four small things that needed to be corrected: a mis-spelling on the title of one of my books, a wrong date on a photo, the repetition of a word that had not been spotted earlier, and awkward spacing of a page layout.
That was it! The book was scheduled for a fall 2009 release…or so I thought…
In the late summer I had a disappointing email from Chuck Rankin explaining that the current downturn in the national economic affairs had caused OU Press to make a decision to not publish twenty-five percent of their scheduled fall 2009 list.
Bookstores were returning books at so rapid a rate that it appeared questionable whether some publishers would survive the glut of returns. Chuck urged conservatism and circumspection and hoped that I would understand that OU Press's decision to postpone publication of When I Came West until there was an appreciable upturn in the economic forecast was in the best interest of the book's chance to be launched into an enthusiastic reception.
He closed by saying that he was eager to have the book available in the coming year and that he still felt that it had the chance of being very well received.
He added, "When you can't put a book down, it augers well for its success. To me, that description fits your book perfectly."
