Category: On Publishing

On Publishing, On Writing, Thoughts

Yesterday I got bored

H.R. Gordon

Yesterday I got bored during a meeting, so I wrote a children’s book manuscript.

Shouldn’t I have been paying attention to the meeting? Well, yes, and in a way I was. But my business partner had it handled, and she has a tendency to talk a lot anyway, so I just let her go. And I wrote a children’s book manuscript.

It wasn’t anything fancy, and it was done in a few hours–if that. It was inspired by a thought the night before that reminded me of my childhood.

Perhaps you’ll read it someday. But right now, I’m busy publishing other people’s children’s books. And what a wonderful task that is.

-hrg

Check out some of the books I’m working with right now:

  • Five Hungry Mice won a Moonbeam Award in November! We just signed a contract with this illustrator for her next book (it involves monsters!
Tillie is a memoir, written in a diary-like fashion by Tillie’s son, Mark Goldman, a Buffalo historian. It may seem like your average memoir, but Tillie tells the story of New York City during a unique and vibrant era–from the perspective of a Jewish girl, no less. This launches on Mother’s Day, but is available for pre-sale, and I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks!
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On Publishing, Thoughts

Children’s books are magical—and so are the creators

H.R. Gordon

One of my favorite niches in the publishing world is children’s literature. I’ve collected children’s books since I was a child. My mother—a pre-kindergarten teacher—read to me each night and I volunteered in her classroom frequently growing up. The two of us still go into bookshops and look at children’s books. I start reading them aloud, then she tells me “No, No. You’re not reading it right!” And she reads the rest of the book aloud to me as if she’s putting on a play.

WNY Book Expo 2018_Group Shot
The authors gathered at the end of the 2018 WNY Children’s Book Expo for a group photo!

So when I spent the day surrounded by children’s book authors and illustrators from around the country at the Western New York Book Expo, I was thrilled. The Expo, hosted by local children’s bookstore Monkey See, Monkey Do, saw 37 authors in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center to sign books, do readings, and meet the kids (and adults—many teachers, librarians, and book lovers come childless!) of Buffalo and WNY.

 

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Goo Goo Dolls concert banner Dizzy Up the Girl at Sheas Buffalo
On Publishing, Thoughts

First book launch leads to stress and success

H.R. Gordon

It is easy to forget that our internal state is often projected outward, whether we want it to be or not.

Buffalo From A to Z book coverI launched my first book the weekend before last. As a young publisher, I’m ecstatic at the success of the event, but the lead up was stressful. I’m the director of marketing and publicity at Buffalo Heritage Press, and we launched our latest children’s title, Buffalo From A to Z, Come Take a Tour With Me, at the Goo Goo Doll’s show at Shea’s Perfoming Art’s Center in Buffalo, New York. The concerts were celebrating the Goo Goo Dolls’ 20th anniversary of the Dizzy Up the Girl album.

Why launch a children’s book at a rock concert? Well, Buffalo From A to Z is special. (Aren’t all of your books special when you’re in publishing?) The main character, Bob Uffalo, is a spunky little tour guide who takes kids on a tour around Buffalo, showing them the hotspots from A to Z. But it wouldn’t be a Buffalo book if it didn’t have the Goo Goo Dolls on the “G” page—betcha didn’t know they were from Buffalo!

Sneak peak of the “G” Page
Sneak peak of the “E” Page

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On Mental Health, On Publishing, On Writing, Thoughts

Sitting in Spilt Ink unveils new manifesto

H.R. Gordon

I’ve been blogging at Sitting in Spilt Ink since I was 16. I’m 23 now. The blog has been dormant for some time now—almost a year. It started as an accident. I was overwhelmed with life and school, and I just didn’t make blogging a priority. But I didn’t have the motivation to blog either; it didn’t feel like there was a purpose behind it.

IMG_8864
Excuse the red tongue. I had a sore throat and was eating cough drops.

In the past year, I also had some complicated health issues that made really knocked Sitting in Spilt Ink off my priority list. While dealing with those issues, I was finishing my master’s in integrated marketing communications. I graduated in May, and I was the recipient of the award for excellence in my program. Soon after, I left an spent a month in Denver, Colorado, where I completed a graduate certification program in book publishing from the Denver Publishing Institute.

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