Success stories:

There are many different ways to determine if your book is a success – both from Vineyard Stories’ point of view and from yours.

Everyone talks about providing “only the best” for you. For us, “only the best” means working with people we absolutely know are the top talents we can find to fit your book, and second giving you a book you’ll want to carry around and show people.

In the top talents area, we start with editors who have long experience in guiding writers without taking away the writer’s unique voice. We understand that the book is yours; and if you want to break a few rules, that’s okay. At the same time, we want to make sure the book is well-written, balanced, professional, and a real credit to you and your subject.

Since many of our books start with an idea, we also use great writers and wonderful photographers to capture the stories. We spend time with both, making sure they understand the mood we’re going for, the scrutiny the book will be put through, and (we hope!) the kudos that will accrue to them.

Finally, there’s the printer – the final, and most scary, part of publishing a book. Printers talk a different language than we mere mortals, and they seem to change that language on a regular basis. They offer you options you don’t understand, don’t offer you things you realize you need, and can be either incredibly customer service oriented or downright surly. I’ve come to view them as both my best friends and my worst enemies; I love them for what they can do for me, and I hate them for what they can do to me.

In the six years Vineyard Stories has been publishing books, we’ve shed printers we didn’t feel measured up. We’ve found new ones we love. We work exclusively with Canadian and Asian printers. And we are always looking for the best fit for our projects – both from a cost standpoint, a time standpoint, and a quality standpoint. If for any reason they disappoint, we are aggressive about seeking monetary rebates.

For us, ultimately, success comes in three different ways. First is if we’ve made you happy and proud. Second is if we’ve produced another beautiful book that will help us get to the client who wants the next beautiful book. And third is if we can sell the heck out of it.

And, time and again, we’ve done all three. Our books are awarded local, national, and international awards. They get attention from newspapers, magazines, and National Public Radio (NPR). Bookstores ask us what our new books are; even Costco is carrying some of our books. And Book Business Magazine, a highly regarded on-line trade publication, says, “Vineyard Stories is successful and growing.

Here’s one success story that we are most proud of, from Jim Athearn, who owns Morning Glory Farm:

Vineyard Stories approached us with the idea that we tell the story of our farm and our family with pictures and recipes. Though we had been considering the publication of a cookbook for years, Jan and John’s clear, concise business proposal plus contagious enthusiasm quickly led us to the decision to do it.

Sadly, John died unexpectedly as the book was getting underway, but Jan proved to be able to pick up his role in the business, in addition to her own, and guided all parties involved in making the book through the various deadlines and on to a well-publicized (understatement of the decade!) launch of the book about a year after we signed the contract. The book was a stunning success.

We discovered that Jan possesses knowledge about the book business that we didn’t even know existed. There are interplays of psychology and graphics, fonts, number of pages, etc. that are part of an art and craft of assembling a book. There are layout tricks we had never imagined.

She knew where to get the books printed and how to manage the contracts. She firmly led the photographer, author, and our own writing and proofreading through a tight time schedule, ignoring our whining that it can’t be done. Jan inspired and created this book and followed through with promotion that raised people’s consciousness of our farm to an unimagined level. Her recipe for a book was a hit.